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an intraocular lens with a hydrophilic polymer coating composition and method of preparing same are provided . specifically , a composition suitable for reducing tackiness in intraocular lenses is provided wherein an acrylic intraocular lens is treated by vapor deposition with an alkoxy silyl terminated polyethylene glycol polymer composition .
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reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . while the invention will be described in conjunction with the embodiments , it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to those embodiments . on the contrary , the invention is intended to cover alternatives , modifications , and equivalents , which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . as a preface to the detailed description , it should be noted that , as used in this specification and the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” include plural referents , unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . the use of “ about ” herein is intended to show that the value referred to is not an absolute limit , and may be within about ± 10 percent of the nominal value recited . as a basis for understanding the invention , it is necessary to discuss a processing apparatus which permits precise control over the addition of coating precursors and other vaporous components present within the reaction / processing chamber in which the coating is applied . the apparatus described below is not the only apparatus in which the present invention may be practiced ; it is merely an example of one apparatus which may be used . one skilled in the art will recognize equivalent elements in other forms which may be substituted and still provide an acceptable processing system . disclosed herein is a method of increasing the hydrophilicity of a biomedical device , where a surface of the device is vapor deposition coated with a material having a hydrophilicity which is related to the surface tension of a biological fluid which is present in or around the device . fluids which are present in or around the implant or device are typically hydrophilic ( typically , water - based fluids ), and a surface of the device is coated with a coating which increases the hydrophilicity of the device surface . the most common vapor - deposited coating used to increase hydrophilicity includes at least one oxide - based layer and at least one organic functional layer , where an organic functional layer provides the upper surface of the coating . when the organic functional layer is a peg - based layer , the vapor deposited coating typically exhibits a deionized water wetting angle ranging from about 5 ° or less to about 60 °; more typically , ranging from about 9 ° or less to about 50 °; most typically , ranging from about 15 ° or less to about 45 °. fig1 shows a cross - sectional schematic of an apparatus 100 for vapor deposition of thin coatings . the apparatus 100 includes a process chamber 102 in which thin ( typically 20 å ( 2 nm ) to 200 å ( 20 nm ) coatings , or thicker coatings in the range of about 200 å ( 20 nm ) to about 1 micron thick ( 1 , 000 nm ) may be vapor deposited . a substrate 106 to be coated rests upon a temperature controlled substrate holder 104 , typically within a recess 107 in the substrate holder 104 . depending on the chamber design , the substrate 106 may rest on the chamber bottom ( not shown in this position in fig1 ). attached to process chamber 102 is a remote plasma source 110 , connected via a valve 108 . remote plasma source 110 may be used to provide a plasma which is used to clean and / or convert a substrate surface to a particular chemical state prior to application of a coating ( which enables reaction of coating species and / or catalyst with the surface , thus improving adhesion and / or formation of the coating ); or may be used to provide species helpful during formation of the coating ( not shown ) or modifications of the coating after deposition . the plasma may be generated using a microwave , dc , or inductive rf power source , or combinations thereof . the process chamber 102 makes use of an exhaust port 112 for the removal of reaction byproducts and is opened for pumping / purging the chamber 102 . a shut - off valve or a control valve 114 is used to isolate the chamber or to control the amount of vacuum applied to the exhaust port . the vacuum source is not shown in fig1 . the apparatus 100 shown in fig1 is illustrative of a vapor deposited coating which employs two precursor materials and a catalyst . one skilled in the art will understand that one or more precursors and from zero to multiple catalysts may be used during vapor deposition of a coating . a catalyst storage container 116 contains catalyst 154 , which may be heated using heater 118 to provide a vapor , as necessary . it is understood that precursor and catalyst storage container walls , and transfer lines into process chamber 102 will be heated as necessary to maintain a precursor or catalyst in a vaporous state , minimizing or avoiding condensation . the same is true with respect to heating of the interior surfaces of process chamber 102 and the surface of substrate 106 to which the coating ( not shown ) is applied . a control valve 120 is present on transfer line 119 between catalyst storage container 116 and catalyst vapor reservoir 122 , where the catalyst vapor is permitted to accumulate until a nominal , specified pressure is measured at pressure indicator 124 . control valve 120 is in a normally - closed position and returns to that position once the specified pressure is reached in catalyst vapor reservoir 122 . at the time the catalyst vapor in vapor reservoir 122 is to be released , valve 126 on transfer line 119 is opened to permit entrance of the catalyst present in vapor reservoir 122 into process chamber 102 which is at a lower pressure . control valves 120 and 126 are controlled by a programmable process control system of the kind known in the art ( which is not shown in fig1 ). a precursor 1 storage container 128 contains coating reactant precursor 1 , which may be heated using heater 130 to provide a vapor , as necessary . as previously mentioned , precursor 1 transfer line 129 and vapor reservoir 134 internal surfaces are heated as necessary to maintain a precursor 1 in a vaporous state , minimizing and preferably avoiding condensation . a control valve 132 is present on transfer line 129 between precursor 1 storage container 128 and precursor 1 vapor reservoir 134 , where the precursor 1 vapor is permitted to accumulate until a nominal , specified pressure is measured at pressure indicator 136 . control valve 132 is in a normally closed position and returns to that position once the specified pressure is reached in precursor 1 vapor reservoir 134 . at the time the precursor 1 vapor in vapor reservoir 134 is to be released , valve 138 on transfer line 129 is opened to permit entrance of the precursor 1 vapor present in vapor reservoir 134 into process chamber 102 , which is at a lower pressure . control valves 132 and 138 are controlled by a programmable process control system of the kind known in the art ( which is not shown in fig1 ). a precursor 2 storage container 140 contains coating reactant precursor 2 , which may be heated using heater 142 to provide a vapor , as necessary . as previously mentioned , precursor 2 transfer line 141 and vapor reservoir 146 internal surfaces are heated as necessary to maintain precursor 2 in a vaporous state , minimizing , and preferably avoiding condensation . a control valve 144 is present on transfer line 141 between precursor 2 storage container 146 and precursor 2 vapor reservoir 146 , where the precursor 2 vapor is permitted to accumulate until a nominal , specified pressure is measured at pressure indicator 148 . control valve 141 is in a normally - closed position and returns to that position once the specified pressure is reached in precursor 2 vapor reservoir 146 . at the time the precursor 2 vapor in vapor reservoir 146 is to be released , valve 150 on transfer line 141 is opened to permit entrance of the precursor 2 vapor present in vapor reservoir 146 into process chamber 102 , which is at a lower pressure . control valves 144 and 150 are controlled by a programmable process control system of the kind known in the art ( which is not shown in fig1 ). during formation of a coating ( not shown ) on a surface 105 of substrate 106 , at least one incremental addition of vapor equal to the vapor reservoir 122 of the catalyst 154 , and the vapor reservoir 134 of the precursor 1 , or the vapor reservoir 146 of precursor 2 may be added to process chamber 102 . the total amount of vapor added is controlled by both the adjustable volume size of each of the expansion chambers ( typically 50 cc up to 1 , 000 cc ) and the number of vapor injections ( doses ) into the reaction chamber . further , the set pressure 124 for catalyst vapor reservoir 122 , or the set pressure 136 for precursor 1 vapor reservoir 134 , or the set pressure 148 for precursor 2 vapor reservoir 146 , may be adjusted to control the amount ( partial vapor pressure ) of the catalyst or reactant added to any particular step during the coating formation process . this ability to control precise amounts of catalyst and vaporous precursors to be dosed ( charged ) to the process chamber 102 at a specified time provides not only accurate dosing of reactants and catalysts , but repeatability in the vapor charging sequence . this apparatus provides a relatively inexpensive , yet accurate method of adding vapor phase precursor reactants and catalyst to the coating formation process , despite the fact that many of the precursors and catalysts are typically relatively non - volatile materials . in the past , flow controllers were used to control the addition of various reactants ; however , these flow controllers may not be able to handle some of the precursors used for vapor deposition of coatings , due to the low vapor pressure and chemical nature of the precursor materials . the rate at which vapor is generated from some of the precursors is generally too slow to function with a flow controller in a manner which provides availability of material in a timely manner for the vapor deposition process . the apparatus discussed above allows for accumulation of the specific quantity of vapor in the vapor reservoir which can be charged ( dosed ) to the reaction . in the event it is desired to make several doses during the coating process , the apparatus can be programmed to do so , as described above . additionally , adding of the reactant vapors into the reaction chamber in controlled aliquots ( as opposed to continuous flow ) greatly reduces the amount of the reactants used and the cost of the coating . one skilled in the art of chemical processing of a number of substrates simultaneously will recognize that a processing system which permits heat and mass transfer uniformly over a number of substrate surfaces simultaneously may be used to carry out the present invention . a method of the invention provides for vapor - phase deposition of coatings , where at least one processing chamber ( including an expansion volume and auxiliary valving and other apparatus ) of the kind described above , or similar to the processing chamber described above is employed . use of a processing chamber of the kind described in detail herein permits precise charging of vaporous reactive species which react with a substrate surface under stagnated conditions . the kind of processing chamber which provides for stagnated reaction may be used in combination with other kinds of process chambers which permit a continuous flow of reactant components across a substrate surface during coating deposition ( not shown in drawings herein ). this latter kind of processing chamber is commonly used in the art for chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) of thin films , for example . a multi - chambered coating deposition system which employs a combination of the stagnation reaction processing chamber of the present invention with processing chambers of the kind used in the art for cvd , where substrates are moved between various processing chambers while the substrates are under a controlled environment , is contemplated . use of the stagnated reaction condition processing chamber of the kind described in detail herein permits precise charging of vaporous reactive species which react with a substrate surface under the stagnated conditions . this reaction under stagnated reaction conditions is employed during at least one individual deposition step to produce a given deposited layer , or is employed during deposition of at least one layer of a multilayered coating . each coating precursor is transferred in vaporous form to a precursor vapor reservoir in which the precursor vapor accumulates . in the instance of simple , single - layer coatings , the vapor reservoir may be the processing chamber in which the coating is applied . a nominal amount of the precursor vapor , which is the amount required for a coating layer deposition is accumulated in the precursor vapor reservoir . the at least one coating precursor is charged from the precursor vapor reservoir into the processing chamber in which a substrate to be coated resides . in some instances at least one catalyst vapor is added to the process chamber in addition to the at least one precursor vapor , where the relative quantities of catalyst and precursor vapors are based on the physical characteristics to be exhibited by the coating . in some instances a diluent gas is added to the process chamber in addition to the at least one precursor vapor ( and optional catalyst vapor ). the diluent gas is chemically inert and is used to increase a total desired processing pressure , while the partial pressure amounts of coating precursors and optionally catalyst components are varied . the example embodiments described below are with reference to formation of oxide coatings which exhibit a controlled degree of hydrophilicity ; or , are with reference to use of a bonding oxide layer with an overlying silane - based polymeric layer or a bonding oxide with an overlying peg polymeric layer to provide a hydrophobic surface on a substrate . however , it is readily apparent to one of skill in the art that the concepts involved can be applied to additional coating compositions and combinations which have different functionalities . due to the need to control the degree and scale of functionality of the coating at dimensions as small as angstroms or nanometers , the surface preparation of the substrate prior to application of the coating is very important . one method of preparing the substrate surface is to expose the surface to a uniform , non - physically - bombarding plasma which is typically created from a plasma source gas containing oxygen . the plasma may be a remotely generated plasma which is fed into a processing chamber in which a substrate to be coated resides . depending on the coating to be applied directly over the substrate , the plasma treatment of the substrate surface may be carried out in the chamber in which the coating is to be applied . this has the advantage that the substrate is easily maintained in a controlled environment between the time that the surface is treated and the time at which the coating is applied . alternatively , it is possible to use a large system which includes several processing chambers and a centralized transfer chamber which allows substrate transfer from one chamber to another via a robot handling device , where the centralized handling chambers , as well as the individual processing chambers are each under a controlled environment . to obtain the planned reaction on the initial , uncoated substrate surface , the initial substrate surface has to be prepared so that the reactivity of the surface itself with the vaporous components present in the process chamber will be as expected . the treatment may be a wet chemical clean , but is preferably a plasma treatment . typically treatment with an oxygen plasma removes common surface contaminants . in some instances , it is necessary not only to remove contaminants from the substrate surface , but also to generate — oh functional groups on the substrate surface ( in instances where such — oh functional groups are not already present ). when a silicon oxide layer is applied to the substrate surface to provide a substrate surface having a controlled hydrophobicity ( a controlled availability of reactive hydroxylated sites ) or hydrophilicity , the oxide layer may be created using the well - known catalytic hydrolysis of a chlorosilane , such as a tetrachlorosilane , in the manner previously described . a subsequent attachment of an organo - chlorosilane , which may or may not include a functional moiety , may be made to impart a particular function to the finished coating . by way of example and not by way of limitation , the hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity of the coating surface may be altered by the functional moiety present on a surface of an organo - chlorosilane which becomes the exterior surface of the coating . the oxide layer , which may be silicon oxide or another oxide , may be formed using the method of the present invention by vapor phase hydrolysis of the chlorosilane , with subsequent attachment of the hydrolyzed silane to the substrate surface . alternatively , the hydrolysis reaction may take place directly on the surface of the substrate , where moisture has been made available on the substrate surface to allow simultaneous hydrolyzation and attachment of the chlorosilane to the substrate surface . by controlling the process parameters , both density of film coverage over the substrate surface and structural composition over the substrate surface are more accurately controlled , enabling the formation of very smooth films , which typically range from about 0 . 1 nm to less than about 15 nm , and even more typically from about 1 nm to about 5 nm in surface rms roughness . for oxide films used to provide a hydrophilic surface , the thickness of the oxide film typically ranges from about 10 å ( 1 nm ) to about 200 å ( 20 nm ). when the oxide film is used as a structural ( mechanically structural ) and / or a bonding layer , the thickness of the layer may be greater , typically up to about 1 , 000 nm ( 1 . 0μ ), and more typically up to about 500 nm ( 0 . 5μ ). these films can be tailored in thickness , roughness , hydrophobicity / hydrophilicity , and density , which makes them particularly well suited for applications in the field of biotechnology and electronics . in addition , the structure of the films can be tailored to provide various functional coatings in general , particular where mechanical performance properties of the coating structure are important . as previously discussed , oxide films deposited according to the present method can be used as bonding layers for subsequently deposited biocompatible coating materials , such as ( for example and not by way of limitation ) polyethylene glycol ( peg ). the molecular weight of the polyethylene glycol will determine its physical characteristics ( e . g ., as the molecular weight increases , viscosity and freezing point increase ). polyethylene glycol is also available with varying numbers of functional ( i . e ., binding ) groups , such as monofunctional ( one binding group ), difunctional ( two binding groups ), and multi - functional ( more than two binding groups ). the molecular weight and functionality of the polyethylene glycol will in combination determine the particular applications in which it is most useful . polyethylene glycols which are useful in the present method typically range from about 400 to about 1000 in molecular weight . polyethylene glycol ( with a structural formula : —( ch 2 — ch 2 — o )—) is a well - known , non - toxic class of polymers useful in biotechnological and biomedical applications . for example , peg is widely used as a drug coating , and as a component of many medications ( e . g . laxatives , ophthalmic solutions and others ). it has been studied in blood and issue engineering , as a material retarding bacterial growth and is widely used as a coating in analytical tools and in medical devices such as , for example , catheters or capillaries . peg is known to be hydrophilic and to reduce adsorption of protein and lipid cells due to its highly hydrated surface . in the present instance , peg is applied for surface treatment of substrates and devices which require hydrophilic , bio - compatible interfaces with body tissue and fluids or with biological reagents . the vapor deposition techniques described previously herein were used to coat devices such as implantable ( intraocular ) lenses with a hydrophilic oxide / polyethylene glycol coating . prior to deposition of the coating , the device surface was pre - treated by exposure to an oxygen plasma ( 150 - 200 sccm o 2 at an rf power of about 200 w and a process chamber pressure of 0 . 3 torr in an applied microstructures &# 39 ; mvd ™ process chamber ) for 5 minutes in order to clean the surface and create hydroxyl availability on a substrate surface ( by way of example and not by way of limitation ). following oxygen plasma treatment of the lens , sicl 4 was charged to the process chamber from a sicl 4 vapor reservoir , where the sicl 4 vapor pressure in the vapor reservoir was 18 torr , creating a partial pressure of 2 . 3 torr in the coating process chamber . within 5 seconds , a first volume of h 2 o vapor was charged to the process chamber from a h 2 o vapor reservoir , where the h 2 o vapor pressure in the vapor reservoir was 18 torr . a total of five reservoir volumes of h 2 o were charged , creating a partial pressure of 5 . 0 torr in the coating process chamber . the total pressure in the coating process chamber was 7 . 3 torr . the substrate temperature and the temperature of the process chamber walls was about 35 ° c . the substrate was exposed for a time period of about 10 minutes after the final h 2 o addition . the silicon oxide coating thickness obtained was about 100 å . to apply the peg coating , methoxy ( polyethyleneoxy ) propyltrimethoxysilane ( gelest pin sim6492 . 7 ) ( mw = 450 - 600 ), was charged to the process chamber from a peg vapor reservoir , where the peg vapor pressure in the vapor reservoir was about 500 mtorr . four reservoir volumes of peg were charged , creating a partial pressure of 250 mtorr in the coating process chamber . after charging of the reservoir volumes , the substrate was exposed to the peg precursor vapor for a time period of 15 minutes . no charging of water vapor from a reservoir to the process chamber is necessary with this peg precursor . an alternative precursor which may be used to form a peg coating is methoxy ( polyethyleneoxy ) propyltrichlorosilane ( gelest p / n sim6492 . 66 ). however , use of this peg precursor requires the addition of water vapor . the temperature of the process chamber walls was within the range of about 25 ° c . to about 60 ° c ., and was most typically about 35 ° c . the peg precursor source vessel and delivery line temperature was within the range of about 70 ° c . to about 110 ° c ., and was most typically about 100 ° c . the peg coating thickness obtained was about 20 å ( 2 nm ). it is contemplated that any ethyleneoxy ( ethylene glycol ) terminated silylated precursor ( silane ) with the functional group r ═ ho ( ch 2 ch 2 o ) n ch 2 — could be used with the present vapor deposition techniques , including , without limitation : a chlorosilane or methoxysilane functionalized peg - forming organosilicon derivative functionalized on either one or both peg chain ends ; an alkyltrichlorosilane ( rsicl 3 ) or alkyltrimethoxysilane ( rsi ( och 3 ) 3 precursor , where r contains ethylene glycol ( oxide ) groups . application of the peg by a molecular vapor deposition process is performed in a vacuum . the application method steps include : a ) subjecting a surface which is planar or a surface having any one of a variety of three - dimensional shapes to an oxygen - comprising plasma in a processing chamber which is at a subatmospheric pressure ranging from about 0 . 1 torr to about 1 . 0 torr ; b ) subsequently , without prior exposure of the oxygen - plasma - treated surface to ambient conditions which contaminate or react with the plasma - treated surface , exposing the surface to a silicon tetrachloride vapor in the presence of moisture , to form a thin ( 2 nm to 20 nm thick ), hydrophilic silicon oxide ( siloxane ) layer on the surface ; c ) subsequently , without prior exposure of the hydrophilic silicon oxide layer to ambient conditions which contaminate or react with the hydrophilic silicon oxide layer , exposing the oxide layer to a functionalized silane precursor vapor containing peo / peg groups , to react these groups with the hydrophilic silicon oxide layer , to form a layer selected from the group consisting of a monolayer , a self - aligned mono - layer , and a polymerized cross - linked layer . optionally , repetition of one or more of the above - recited steps may be used , where an additional step is carried out : d ) repeating steps a ) through c ); or b ) through c ); or just c ) a nominal number of times without exposing the substrate to ambient contaminants . typical process conditions for steps a ) through c ) in a process chamber of the kind previously described ( having a volume of about 1 . 5 to about 2 . 0 liters ) used in combination with a reservoir having a volume of about 300 cc are as follows . it is understood that one skilled in the art could adjust ( scale ) the process conditions provided below to accommodate a larger or smaller process chamber or a larger or smaller reservoir . for manufacturing operations , the process chamber ( and coordinated reservoirs ) would typically be considerably larger . step a ): plasma treatment of the substrate surface is carried out with an oxygen gas flow rate in the process chamber ranging from about 50 sccm to about 400 sccm when the process chamber volume is in the range of about 1 . 5 - 2 . 0 liters ), with a process chamber pressure ranging from about 0 . 2 torr to about 2 . 0 torr . rf power to the plasma generation source is in the range of about 100 w to about 300 w , and the treatment time is about 1 minute to about 10 minutes , typically about 5 minutes . step b ): sicl 4 vapor is injected from a vapor reservoir of approximately 300 cc using an injection at a sicl 4 vapor pressure of about 18 torr . subsequently , 5 injections of water vapor at 18 torr from a vapor reservoir are added to the process chamber . in the alternative , a single injection of water vapor at 90 torr may be used . the sicl 4 / water vapor combination is permitted to react with the surface for a time period ranging from about 1 minute to about 30 minutes , typically about 10 minutes . the film thickness may be adjusted by adjusting the amount of time the reaction is permitted to proceed . step c ): peg - comprising precursor deposition is carried out at a process chamber temperature ranging from about 25 ° c . to about 40 ° c ., preferably at about 35 ° c . the peg source and delivery line temperature typically ranges from about 70 ° c . to about 110 ° c ., preferably the temperature is about 100 ° c . peg - comprising precursor and other reactant vapors are injected from a vapor reservoir of approximately 300 cc . typically about 4 injections of peg - comprising precursor at 500 mtorr reservoir pressure are made . when water vapor is used , water vapor is typically injected at this time , by way of example and not by way of limitation . the reaction time period for the peg - comprising precursor or the combination of reactants is in the range of about 5 minutes to 30 minutes , typically about 15 minutes . two peg - comprising precursors were evaluated , 2 -[ methoxy ( polyethyleneoxy ) propyl ] heptamethyltrisiloxane ( c 11 h 30 o 3 si 3 ( c 2 h 4 o ) 6 - 9 ch 3 ; and 2 -[ methoxy ( polyethyleneoxy ) propyl ] trimethoxysilane ( ch 3 ( oc 2 h 4 ) 6 - 9 ( ch 2 ) 3 osi ( och 3 ) 3 . the resulting di water contact angle on a substrate prepared in the manner described above , with respect to each precursor , was about 32 degrees on a silicon substrate and 22 degrees on an acrylic substrate . table 1 below provides test data for the silicon substrate and acrylic substrates in the form of lenses , with oxide and peg - comprising coating layers applied in the manner described above . oxide / polyethylene glycol coatings providing hydrophilicity can also be deposited , using the present method , over the surfaces of other medical devices and implants , including those which are intended for temporary use ( such as contact lenses and catheters , for example and without limitation ) and those which are intended for “ permanent ” ( i . e ., at least 5 to 10 years ) implantation ( such as intra - ocular lenses , synthetic blood vessels and heart valves , stents , joint ( such as a hip or knee ) or hard tissue ( i . e ., bone or cartilage ) replacements , and breast implants , for example and without limitation ) within the body . the application of a hydrophilic oxide / peg coating over surfaces of the medical device or implant improves both the hydrophilicity and biocompatibility of the device / implant . in instances where it is desired to create multilayered coatings , for example and not by way of limitation , it is advisable to use oxygen plasma treatment prior to and between peo / peg coating deposition steps . this oxygen plasma treatment activates dangling bonds on the substrate surface , which dangling bonds may be exposed to a controlled partial pressure of water vapor to create a new concentration of oh reactive sites on the substrate surface . the peo / peg coating deposition process may then be repeated , increasing the coating thickness . a computer - driven process control system may be used to provide for a series of additions of reactants to the process chamber in which the layer or coating is being formed . this process control system typically also controls other process variables , such as ( for example and not by way of limitation ), total process chamber pressure ( typically less than atmospheric pressure ), substrate temperature , temperature of process chamber walls , temperature of the vapor delivery manifolds , processing time for given process steps , and other process parameters if needed . the hydrolysis in the vapor phase using relatively wide range of partial pressure of the silicon tetrachloride precursor in combination with a partial pressure in the range of 10 torr or greater of water vapor will generally result in rougher surfaces on the order of 5 nm rms or greater , where the thickness of the film formed will typically be in the range of about 20 nm or greater . thinner films of the kind enabled by one of the embodiments of applicants &# 39 ; invention typically exhibit a 1 - 5 nm rms finish and are grown by carefully balancing the vapor and surface hydrolysis reaction components . for example , and not by way of limitation , for a thin film of an oxide - based layer , prepared on a silicon substrate , where the oxide - based layer exhibits a thickness ranging from about 2 nut to about 15 nm , typically the oxide - based layer exhibits a 1 - 5 nm rms finish . we have obtained such films in an apparatus of the kind previously described , where the partial pressure of the silicon tetrachloride is in the range of about 0 . 5 to 4 . 0 torr , the partial pressure of the water vapor is in the range of about 2 to about 8 torr , where the total process chamber pressure ranges from about 3 torr to about 10 torr , where the substrate temperature ranges from about 20 ° c . to about 60 ° c ., where the process chamber walls are at a temperature ranging from about 30 ° c . to about 60 ° c ., and where the time period over which the substrate is exposed to the combination of silicon tetrachloride and water vapor ranges from about 2 minutes to about 12 minutes . this deposition process will be described in more detail subsequently herein , with reference to fig6 a through 6c . a multilayered coating process may include plasma treatment of the surface of one deposited layer prior to application of an overlying layer . typically , the plasma used for such treatment is a low density plasma . this plasma may be a remotely generated plasma . the most important feature of the treatment plasma is that it is a “ soft ” plasma which affects the exposed surface enough to activate the surface of the layer being treated , but not enough to etch through the layer . the apparatus used to carry out the method provides for the addition of a precise amount of each of the reactants to be consumed in a single reaction step of the coating formation process . the apparatus may provide for precise addition of different combinations of reactants during each individual step when there are a series of different individual steps in the coating formation process . some of the individual steps may be repetitive . one example of the application of the method described here is deposition of a multilayered coating including at least one oxide - based layer . the thickness of the oxide - based layer depends on the end - use application for the multilayered coating . the oxide - based layer ( or a series of oxide - based layers alternated with organic - based layers ) may be used to increase the overall thickness of the multilayered coating ( which typically derives the majority of its thickness from the oxide - based layer ), and depending on the mechanical properties to be obtained , the oxide - based layer content of the multilayered coating may be increased when more coating rigidity and abrasion resistance is required . the oxide - based layer is frequently used to provide a bonding surface for subsequently deposited various molecular organic - based coating layers . when the surface of the oxide - based layer is one containing — oh functional groups , the organic - based coating layer typically includes , for example and not by way of limitation , a silane - based functionality which permits covalent bonding of the organic - based coating layer to — oh functional groups present on the surface of the oxide - based layer . when the surface of the oxide - based layer is one capped with halogen functional groups , such as chlorine , by way of example and not by way of limitation , the organic - based coating layer includes , for example , an — oh functional group , which permits covalent bonding of the organic - based coating layer to the oxide - based layer functional halogen group . by controlling the precise thickness , chemical , and structural composition of an oxide - based layer on a substrate , for example , we are able to direct the coverage and the functionality of a coating applied over the bonding oxide layer . the coverage and functionality of the coating can be controlled over the entire substrate surface on a nm scale . specific , different thicknesses of an oxide - based substrate bonding layer are required on different substrates . some substrates require an alternating series of oxide - based / organic - based layers to provide surface stability for a coating structure . with respect to substrate surface properties , such as hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity , for example , a silicon wafer surface becomes hydrophilic , to provide a less than 5 degree water contact angle , after plasma treatment when there is some moisture present . not much moisture is required , for example , typically the amount of moisture present after pumping a chamber from ambient air down to about 15 mtorr to 20 mtorr is sufficient moisture . a stainless steel surface requires formation of an overlying oxide - based layer having a thickness of about 30 å or more to obtain the same degree of hydrophilicity as that obtained by plasma treatment of a silicon surface . glass and polystyrene materials become hydrophilic , to a 5 degree water contact angle , after the application of about 80 å or more of an oxide - based layer . an acrylic surface requires about 150 å or more of an oxide - based layer to provide a 5 degree water contact angle . there is also a required thickness of oxide - based layer to provide a good bonding surface for reaction with a subsequently applied organic - based layer . by a good bonding surface , it is meant a surface which provides full , uniform surface coverage of the organic - based layer . by way of example , about 80 å or more of a oxide - based substrate bonding layer over a silicon wafer substrate provides a uniform hydrophobic contact angle , about 112 degrees , upon application of a sam organic - based layer deposited from an fdts ( perfluorodecyltrichlorosilanes ) precursor . about 150 å or more of oxide - based substrate bonding layer is required over a glass substrate or a polystyrene substrate to obtain a uniform coating having a similar contact angle . about 400 å or more of oxide - based substrate bonding layer is required over an acrylic substrate to obtain a uniform coating having a similar contact angle . the organic - based layer precursor , in addition to containing a functional group capable of reacting with the oxide - based layer to provide a covalent bond , may also contain a functional group at a location which will form the exterior surface of the attached organic - based layer . this functional group may subsequently be reacted with other organic - based precursors , or may be the final layer of the coating and be used to provide surface properties of the coating , such as to render the surface hydrophobic or hydrophilic , by way of example and not by way of limitation . the functionality of an attached organic - based layer may be affected by the chemical composition of the previous organic - based layer ( or the chemical composition of the initial substrate ) if the thickness of the oxide layer separating the attached organic - based layer from the previous organic - based layer ( or other substrate ) is inadequate . the required oxide - based layer thickness is a function of the chemical composition of the substrate surface underlying the oxide - based layer , as illustrated above . in some instances , to provide structural stability for the surface layer of the coating , it is necessary to apply several alternating layers of an oxide - based layer and an organic - based layer . with reference to chlorosilane - based coating systems of the kind described in the background art section of this application , where one end of the organic molecule presents chlorosilane , and the other end of the organic molecule presents a fluorine moiety , after attachment of the chlorosilane end of the organic molecule to the substrate , the fluorine moiety at the other end of the organic molecule provides a hydrophobic coating surface . further , the degree of hydrophobicity and the uniformity of the hydrophobic surface at a given location across the coated surface may be controlled using the oxide - based layer which is applied over the substrate surface prior to application of the chlorosilane - comprising organic molecule . by controlling the oxide - based layer application , the organic - based layer is controlled indirectly . for example , using the process variables previously described , we are able to control the concentration of oh reactive species on the substrate surface . this , in turn , controls the density of reaction sites needed for subsequent deposition of a silane - based polymeric coating . control of the substrate surface active site density enables uniform growth and application of high density self - aligned monolayer coatings ( sams ), for example . we have discovered that it is possible to convert a hydrophilic - like substrate surface to a hydrophobic surface by application of an oxide - based layer of the minimal thickness described above with respect to a given substrate , followed by application of an organic - based layer over the oxide - based layer , where the organic - based layer provides hydrophobic surface functional groups on the end of the organic molecule which does not react with the oxide - based layer . however , when the initial substrate surface is a hydrophobic surface and it is desired to convert this surface to a hydrophilic surface , it is necessary to use a structure which comprises more than one oxide - based layer to obtain stability of the applied hydrophilic surface in water . it is not just the thickness of the oxide - based layer or the thickness of the organic - based layer which is controlling . the structural stability provided by a multilayered structure of repeated layers of oxide - based material interleaved with organic - based layers provides excellent results . after deposition of a first organic - based layer , and prior to the deposition of a subsequent layer in a multilayered coating , it is advisable to use an in - situ oxygen plasma treatment . this treatment activates reaction sites of the first organic - based layer and may be used as part of a process for generating an oxide - based layer or simply to activate dangling bonds on the substrate surface . the activated dangling bonds may be exploited to provide reactive sites on the substrate surface . for example , an oxygen plasma treatment in combination with a controlled partial pressure of water vapor may be used to create a new concentration of oh reactive species on an exposed surface . the activated surface is then used to provide covalent bonding with the next layer of material applied . a deposition process may then be repeated , increasing the total coating thickness , and eventually providing a surface layer having the desired surface properties . in some instances , where the substrate surface includes metal atoms , treatment with the oxygen plasma and moisture provides a metal oxide - based layer containing — oh functional groups . this oxide - based layer is useful for increasing the overall thickness of the multilayered coating and for improving mechanical strength and rigidity of the multilayered coating . following the deposition of a multilayered coating as described above , a surface oxide layer can be used as a bonding layer for subsequent deposition of biocompatible coating materials , such as ( for example and not by way of limitation ) polyethylene glycol ( peg ). polyethylene glycol can be deposited using molecular vapor deposition ( mvd ™) to provide a surface layer over underling layers of other materials . a technique for adjusting the hydrophobicity / hydrophilicity of a substrate surface ( so that the surface is converted from hydrophobic to hydrophilic or so that a hydrophilic surface is made more hydrophilic , for example ) may also be viewed as adjusting the number of oh reactive sites available on the surface of the substrate . one such technique is to apply an oxide coating over the substrate surface while providing the desired concentration of oh reactive sites available on the oxide surface . a schematic 200 of the mechanism of oxide formation in shown in fig2 . in particular , a substrate 202 has oh groups 204 present on the substrate surface 203 . a chlorosilane 208 , such as the tetrachlorosilane shown , and water 206 are reacted with the oh groups 204 , either simultaneously or in sequence , to produce the oxide layer 205 shown on surface 203 of substrate 202 and byproduct hcl 210 . in addition to chlorosilane precursors , chlorosiloxanes , fluorosilanes , and fluorosiloxanes may be used . subsequently , the surface of the oxide layer 205 can be further reacted with water 216 to replace cl atoms on the upper surface of oxide layer 205 with oh groups 217 , to produce the hydroxylated layer 215 shown on surface 203 of substrate 202 and byproduct hcl 220 . by controlling the amount of water used in both reactions , the frequency of oh reactive sites available on the oxide surface is controlled . in the preferred embodiment discussed below , the silicon oxide coating was applied over a glass substrate . the glass substrate was treated with an oxygen plasma in the presence of residual moisture which was present in the process chamber ( after pump down of the chamber to about 20 mtorr ) to provide a clean surface ( free from organic contaminants ) and to provide the initial oh groups on the glass surface . various process conditions for the subsequent reaction of the oh groups on the glass surface with vaporous tetrachlorosilane and water are provided below in table 2 , along with data related to the thickness and roughness of the oxide coating obtained and the contact angle ( indicating hydrophobicity / hydrophilicity ) obtained under the respective process conditions . a lower contact angle indicates increased hydrophilicity and an increase in the number of available oh groups on the silicon oxide surface . 4 the substrate temperature and the chamber wall temperature were each 35 ° c . for both application of the sio 2 bonding / bonding layer and for application of the fots organo - silane over - lying monolayer ( sam ) layer . we have discovered that very different film thicknesses and film surface roughness characteristics can be obtained as a function of the partial pressures of the precursors , despite the maintenance of the same time period of exposure to the precursors . table 3 below illustrates this unexpected result . in addition to the tetrachlorosilane described above as a precursor for oxide formation , other chlorosilane precursors such a trichlorosilanes , dichlorosilanes work well as a precursor for oxide formation . examples of specific advantageous precursors include hexachlorodisilane ( si 2 cl 6 ) and hexachlorodisiloxane ( si 2 cl 6 o ). as previously mentioned , in addition to chlorosilanes , chlorosiloxanes , fluorosilanes , and fluorosiloxanes may also be used as precursors . similarly , the vapor deposited silicon oxide coating from the sicl 4 and h 2 o precursors was applied over glass , polycarbonate , acrylic , polyethylene and other plastic materials using the same process conditions as those described above with reference to the silicon substrate . prior to application of the silicon oxide coating , the surface to be coated was treated with an oxygen plasma . a silicon oxide coating of the kind described above can be applied over a self aligned monolayer ( sam ) coating formed from an organic precursor , for example and not by way of limitation from fluoro - tetrahydrooctyldimethylchlorosilane ( pots ). prior to application of the silicon oxide coating , the surface of the sam should be treated with an oxygen plasma . a fots coating surface requires a plasma treatment of about 10 - 30 seconds to enable adhesion of the silicon oxide coating . the plasma treatment creates reactive oh sites on the surface of the sam layer , which sites can subsequently be reacted with sicl 4 and water precursors , as illustrated in fig2 , to create a silicon oxide coating . this approach allows for deposition of multi - layered molecular coatings , where all of the layers may be the same , or some of the layers may be different , to provide particular performance capabilities for the multi - layered coating . functional properties designed to meet the end use application of the finalized product can be tailored by either sequentially adding an organo - silane precursor to the oxide coating precursors or by using an organo - silane precursor ( s ) for formation of the last , top layer coating . organo - silane precursor materials may include functional groups such that the silane precursor includes an alkyl group , an alkoxyl group , an alkyl substituted group containing fluorine , an alkoxyl substituted group containing fluorine , a vinyl group , an ethynyl group , or a substituted group containing a silicon atom or an oxygen atom , by way of example and not by way of limitation . in particular , organic - containing precursor materials such as ( and not by way of limitation ) silanes , chlorosilanes , fluorosilanes , methoxy silanes , alkyl silanes , amino silanes , epoxy silanes , glycoxy silanes , and acrylosilanes are useful in general . some of the particular precursors used to produce coatings are , by way of example and not by way of limitation , perfluorodecyltrichlorosilanes ( fdts ), undecenyltrichlorosilanes ( uts ), vinyl - trichlorosilanes ( vts ), decyltrichlorosilanes ( dts ), octadecyltrichlorosilanes ( ots ), ditnethyldichlorosilanes ( ddms ), dodecenyltricholrosilanes ( ddts ), fluoro - tetrahydrooctyldimethylchlorosilanes ( pots ), perfluoroodyldimethylchlorosilanes , aminopropylmethoxysilanes ( aptms ), fluoropropylmethyldiclorosilanes , and perfluorodecyldimethylchlorosilanes . the ots , dts , uts , yts , ddts , fots , and fdts are all trichlorosilane precursors . the other end of the precursor chain is a saturated hydrocarbon with respect to ots , dts , and uts ; contains a vinyl functional group , with respect to vts and ddts ; and contains fluorine atoms with respect to fdts ( which also has fluorine atoms along the majority of the chain length ). other useful precursors include 3 - aminopropyltrimethoxysilane ( aptms ), which provides amino functionality , and 3 - glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane ( gptms ). one skilled in the art of organic chemistry can see that the vapor deposited coatings from these precursors can be tailored to provide particular functional characteristics for a coated surface . most of the silane - based precursors , such as commonly used di - and tri - chlorosilanes , for example and not by way of limitation , tend to create agglomerates on the surface of the substrate during the coating formation . these agglomerates can cause structure malfunctioning or stiction . such agglomerations are produced by partial hydrolysis and polycondensation of the polychlorosilanes . this agglomeration can be prevented by precise metering of moisture in the process ambient which is a source of the hydrolysis , and by carefully controlled metering of the availability of the chlorosilane precursors to the coating formation process . the carefully metered amounts of material and careful temperature control of the substrate and the process chamber walls can provide the partial vapor pressure and condensation surfaces necessary to control formation of the coating on the surface of the substrate rather than promoting undesired reactions in the vapor phase or on the process chamber walls . when the oxide - forming silane and the organo - silane which includes the functional moiety are deposited simultaneously ( co - deposited ), the reaction may be so rapid that the sequence of precursor addition to the process chamber becomes critical . for example , in a co - deposition process of sicl 4 / fots / h 2 o , if the fots is introduced first , it deposits on the glass substrate surface very rapidly in the form of islands , preventing the deposition of a homogeneous composite film . examples of this are provided in table 4 , below . when the oxide - forming silane is applied to the substrate surface first , to form the oxide layer with a controlled density of potential oh reactive sites available on the surface , the subsequent reaction of the oxide surface with a fots precursor provides a uniform film without the presence of agglomerated islands of polymeric material , examples of this are provided in table 4 below . step 1 . pump down the reactor and purge out the residual air and moisture to a final baseline pressure of about 30 mtorr or less . step 2 . perform o 2 , plasma clean of the substrate surface to eliminate residual surface contamination and to oxygenate / hydroxylate the substrate . the cleaning plasma is an oxygen - containing plasma . typically the plasma source is a remote plasma source , which may employ an inductive power source . however , other plasma generation apparatus may be used . in any case , the plasma treatment of the substrate is typically carried out in the coating application process chamber . the plasma density / efficiency should be adequate to provide a substrate surface after plasma treatment which exhibits a contact angle of about 10 ° or less when measured with 18 mωd . i . water . the coating chamber pressure during plasma treatment of the substrate surface in the coating chamber was 0 . 5 torr , and the duration of substrate exposure to the plasma was 5 minutes . step 3 . inject sicl 4 and within 10 seconds inject water vapor at a specific partial pressure ratio to the sicl 4 , to form a silicon oxide base layer on the substrate . for example , for the glass substrate discussed in table iii , 1 volume ( 300 cc at 100 torr ) of sicl 4 to a partial pressure of 4 torr was injected , then , within 10 seconds 10 volumes ( 300 cc at 17 torr each ) of water vapor were injected to produce a partial pressure of 10 torr in the process chamber , so that the volumetric pressure ratio of water vapor to silicon tetrachloride is about 2 . 5 . the substrate was exposed to this gas mixture for 1 min to 15 minutes , typically for about 10 minutes . the substrate temperature in the examples described above was in the range of about 35 ° c . substrate temperature may be in the range from about 20 ° c . to about 80 ° c . the process chamber surfaces were also in the range of about 35 ° c . step 5 . introduce the chlorosilane precursor and water vapor to form a hydrophobic coating . in the example in table iii , fots vapor was injected first to the charging reservoir , and then into the coating process chamber , to provide a fots partial pressure of 200 mtorr in the process chamber , then , within 10 seconds , h 2 o vapor ( 300 cc at 12 torr ) was injected to provide a partial pressure of about 800 mtorr , so that the total reaction pressure in the chamber was 1 torr . the substrate was exposed to this mixture for 5 to 30 minutes , typically 15 minutes , where the substrate temperature was about 35 ° c . again , the process chamber surface was also at about 35 ° c . an example process description for run no . 3 was as follows . step 1 . pump down the reactor and purge out the residual air and moisture to a final baseline pressure of about 30 mtorr or less . step 2 . perform remote o 2 plasma clean to eliminate residual surface contamination and to oxygenate / hydroxylate the glass substrate . process conditions for the plasma treatment were the same as described above with reference to run no . 2 . step 3 . inject fots into the coating process chamber to produce a 200 mtorr partial pressure in the process chamber . then , inject 1 volume ( 300 cc at 100 torr ) of sicl 4 from a vapor reservoir into the coating process chamber , to a partial pressure of 4 torr in the process chamber . then , within 10 seconds , inject ten volumes ( 300 cc at 17 torr each ) of water vapor from a vapor reservoir into the coating process chamber , to a partial pressure of 10 torr in the coating process chamber . total pressure in the process chamber is then about 14 torr . the substrate temperature was in the range of about 35 ° c . for the specific examples described , but could range from about 15 ° c . to about 80 ° c . the substrate was exposed to this three gas mixture for about 1 - 15 minutes , typically about 10 minutes . step 4 . evacuate the process chamber to a pressure of about 30 mtorr to remove excess reactants . fig3 a and 3b are schematics of afm ( atomic force microscope ) images of surfaces of silicon oxide bonding coatings as applied over a silicon substrate . the initial silicon substrate surface rms roughness was determined to be less than about 0 . 1 nm . fig3 a illustrates a deposition process in which the substrate was silicon . the surface of the silicon was exposed to an oxygen plasma in the manner previously described herein for purposes of cleaning the surface and creating hydroxyl availability on the silicon surface . sicl 4 was charged to the process chamber from a sicl 4 vapor reservoir , creating a partial pressure of 0 . 8 torr in the coating process chamber . within 10 seconds , h 2 o vapor was charged to the process chamber from a h 2 o vapor reservoir , creating a partial pressure of 4 torr in the coating process chamber . the total pressure in the coating process chamber was 4 . 8 torr . the substrate temperature and the temperature of the process chamber walls was about 35 ° c . the substrate was exposed to the mixture of sicl 4 and h 2 o for a time period of 10 minutes . the silicon oxide coating thickness obtained was about 3 nm . the coating roughness in rms was 1 . 4 nm and ra was 0 . 94 nm . fig3 b illustrates a deposition process in which the substrate was silicon . the surface of the silicon was exposed to an oxygen plasma in the manner previously described herein for purposes of cleaning the surface and creating hydroxyl availability on the silicon surface . sicl 4 was charged to the process chamber from a sicl 4 vapor reservoir , creating a partial pressure of 4 torr in the coating process chamber . within 10 seconds , h 2 o vapor was charged to the process chamber from a h 2 o vapor reservoir , creating a partial pressure of 10 torr in the coating process chamber . the total pressure in the coating process chamber was 14 torr . the substrate temperature and the temperature of the process chamber walls was about 35 ° c . the substrate was exposed to the mixture of sicl 4 and h 2 o for a time period of 10 minutes . the silicon oxide coating thickness obtained was about 30 nm . the coating roughness in rms was 4 . 2 nm and ra was 3 . 4 nm . fig4 shows a graph 400 of the dependence of the water contact angle ( an indication of hydrophobicity of a surface ) as a function of the substrate exposure time for a silicon substrate coated directly with an organo - silane coating generated from a ddms ( dimethyldichlorosilane ) precursor . the silicon substrate was cleaned and functionalized to provide surface hydroxyl groups by an oxygen plasma treatment of the kind previously described herein . ddms was then applied at a partial pressure of 1 torr , followed within 10 seconds by h 2 o applied at a partial pressure of 2 torr , to produce a total pressure within the process chamber of 3 torr . in fig4 , graph 400 , the substrate exposure period with respect to the ddms and h 2 o precursor combination is shown in minutes on axis 402 , with the contact angle shown in degrees on axis 404 . curve 406 illustrates that it is possible to obtain a wide range of hydrophobic surfaces by controlling the process variables in the manner of the present invention . the typical standard deviation of the contact angle was less than 2 degrees across the substrate surface . both wafer - to wafer and day - to day repeatability of the water contact angle were within the measurement error of ± 2 ° for a series of silicon samples . fig5 illustrates contact angles for a series of surfaces exposed to water , where the surfaces exhibited different hydrophobicity , with an increase in contact angle representing increased hydrophobicity . this data is provided as an illustration to make the contact angle data presented in tables herein more meaningful . fig6 a shows a three dimensional schematic 600 of film thickness of a silicon oxide bonding layer coating deposited on a silicon surface as a function of the partial pressure of silicon tetrachloride and the partial pressure of water vapor present in the process chamber during deposition of the silicon oxide coating , where the temperature of the substrate and of the coating process chamber walls was about 35 ° c ., and the time period the silicon substrate was exposed to the coating precursors was four minutes after completion of addition of all precursor materials . the precursor sicl 4 vapor was added to the process chamber first , with the precursor h 2 o vapor added within 10 seconds thereafter . the partial pressure of the h 2 o in the coating process chamber is shown on axis 602 , with the partial pressure of the sicl 4 shown on axis 604 . the film thickness is shown on axis 606 in angstroms . the film deposition time after addition of the precursors was 4 minutes . the thinner coatings exhibited a smoother surface , with the rms roughness of a coating at point 608 on graph 600 being in the range of 1 nm ( 10 å ). the thicker coatings exhibited a rougher surface , which was still smooth relative to coatings generally known in the art . at point 610 on graph 600 , the rms roughness of the coating was in the range of 4 nm ( 40 å ). fig7 a shows a three dimensional schematic 700 of the film roughness in rms , nm which corresponds with the coated substrate for which the coating thickness is illustrated in fig6 a . the partial pressure of the h 2 o in the coating process chamber is shown on axis 702 , with the partial pressure of the sicl 4 shown on axis 704 . the film roughness in rms , nm is shown on axis 706 . the film deposition time after addition of all of the precursors was 7 minutes . as previously mentioned , the thinner coatings exhibited a smoother surface , with the rms roughness of a coating at point 708 being in the range of 1 nm ( 10 å ) and the roughness at point 710 being in the range of 4 nm ( 40 å ). fig6 b shows a three dimensional schematic 620 of film thickness of the silicon oxide bonding layer illustrated in fig6 a as a function of the water vapor partial pressure and the time period the substrate was exposed to the coating precursors after completion of addition of all precursor materials . the time period of exposure of the substrate is shown on axis 622 in minutes , with the h 2 o partial pressure shown on axis 624 in torr , and the oxide coating thickness shown on axis 626 in angstroms . the partial pressure of sicl 4 in the silicon oxide coating deposition chamber was 0 . 8 torr . fig6 c shows a three dimensional schematic 640 of film thickness of the silicon oxide bonding layer illustrated in fig6 a as a function of the silicon tetrachloride partial pressure and the time period the substrate was exposed to the coating precursors after completion of addition of all precursor materials . the time period of exposure is shown on axis 642 in minutes , with the sicl 4 partial pressure shown on axis 646 in torr , and the oxide thickness shown on axis 646 in angstroms . the h 2 o partial pressure in the silicon oxide coating deposition chamber was 4 torr . a comparison of fig6 a - 6c makes it clear that it is the partial pressure of the h 2 o which must be more carefully controlled in order to ensure that the desired coating thickness is obtained . fig7 b shows a three dimensional schematic 720 of film roughness of the silicon oxide bonding layer illustrated in fig6 b as a function of the water vapor partial pressure and the time period the substrate was exposed to the coating precursors after completion of addition of all precursor materials . the time period of exposure of the substrate is shown on axis 722 in minutes , with the h 2 o partial pressure shown on axis 724 in torr , and the surface roughness of the silicon oxide layer shown on axis 726 in rms , nm . the partial pressure of the sicl 4 in the silicon oxide coating deposition chamber was 2 . 4 torr . fig7 c shows a three dimensional schematic 740 of film roughness thickness of the silicon oxide bonding layer illustrated in fig6 a as a function of the silicon tetrachloride partial pressure and the time period the substrate was exposed to the coating precursors after completion of addition of all precursor materials . the time period of exposure is shown on axis 642 in minutes , with the sicl 4 partial pressure shown on axis 646 in torr , and the surface roughness of the silicon oxide layer shown on axis 746 in rms , nm . the partial pressure of the h 2 o in the silicon oxide coating deposition chamber was 7 . 0 torr . a comparison of fig7 a - 7c makes it clear that it is the partial pressure of the h 2 o which must be more carefully controlled in order to ensure that the desired roughness of the coating surface is obtained . fig8 a is a graph 800 which shows the hydrophilicity of an oxide - based layer on different substrate materials , as a function of the thickness of the oxide - based layer . the data presented in fig8 a indicates that to obtain full surface coverage by the oxide - based layer , it is necessary to apply a different thickness of oxide - based layer depending on the underlying substrate material . in particular , the oxide - based layer was a silicon - oxide - based layer prepared in general in the manner described above , with respect to run no . 4 in table iii , but where the nominal amounts of reactants charged and / or reaction time of the reactants were varied to provide the desired silicon oxide layer thickness , which is specified on axis 802 of fig8 a . the graph 800 shows the contact angle for a deionized ( di ) water droplet , in degrees , on axis 804 , as measured for a given oxide - based layer surface , as a function of the thickness of the oxide - based layer in angstroms shown on axis 802 . curve 806 illustrates a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a single crystal silicon wafer surface . curve 808 represents a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a soda lime glass surface . curve 810 illustrates a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a stainless steel surface . curve 812 shows a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a polystyrene surface . curve 814 illustrates a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over an acrylic surface . graph 800 shows that a single crystal silicon substrate required only about a 30 . ang . thick coating of a silicon oxide - based layer to provide a di water droplet contact angle of about 5 degrees , indicating the maximum hydrophilicity typically obtained using a silicon oxide - based layer . the glass substrate required about 80 å of the silicon oxide - based layer to provide a contact angle of about 5 degrees . the stainless steel substrate required a silicon oxide - based layer thickness of about 80 å to provide the contact angle of 5 degrees . the polystyrene substrate required a silicon oxide - based layer thickness of about 80 å to provide the contact angle of 5 degrees . and , the acrylic substrate required a silicon oxide - based layer thickness of about 150 å . it should be mentioned that the hydrophilicity indicated in fig8 a was measured immediately after completion of the coating process , since the nominal value measured may change during storage . fig8 b shows a graph 820 , which illustrates the relationship between the hydrophobicity obtained on the surface of a sam layer deposited from perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane ( fdts ), as a function of the thickness of an oxide - based layer over which the fdts layer was deposited . the oxide layer was deposited in the manner described above , using tetrachlorosilane precursor , with sufficient moisture that a silicon oxide surface having sufficient hydroxyl groups present to provide a surface contact angle ( with a di water droplet ) of 5 degrees was produced . the oxide - based layer and the organic - based layer generated from an fdts precursor were deposited as follows : the process chamber was vented and the substrate was loaded into the chamber . prior to deposition of the oxide - based layer , the surface of the substrate was plasma cleaned to eliminate residual surface contamination and to oxygenate / hydroxylate the substrate . the chamber was pumped down to a pressure in the range of about 30 mtorr or less . the substrate surface was then plasma treated using a low density , non - physically - bombarding plasma which was created externally from a plasma source gas containing oxygen . the plasma was created in an external chamber which is a high efficiency inductively coupled plasma generator , and was fed into the substrate processing chamber . the plasma treatment was in the manner previously described herein , where the processing chamber pressure during plasma treatment was in the range of about 0 . 5 torr , the temperature in the processing chamber was about 35 ° c ., and the duration of substrate exposure to the plasma was about 5 minutes . after plasma treatment , the processing chamber was pumped down to a pressure in the range of about 30 mtorr or less to evacuate remaining oxygen species . optionally , processing chamber may be purged with nitrogen up to a pressure of about 10 torr to about 20 torr and then pumped down to the pressure in the range of about 30 mtorr . an adhering oxide - based layer was then deposited on the substrate surface . the thickness of the oxide - based layer depended on the substrate material , as previously discussed . sicl 4 vapor was injected into the process chamber at a partial pressure to provide a desired nominal oxide - based layer thickness . to produce an oxide - based layer thickness ranging from about 30 å . to about 400 å , typically the partial pressure in the process chamber of the sicl 4 vapor ranges from about 0 . 5 torr to about 4 torr , more typically from about 1 torr to about 3 torr . typically , within about 10 seconds of injection of the sicl 4 vapor , water vapor was injected at a specific partial pressure ratio to the sicl 4 to form the adhering silicon - oxide based layer on the substrate . typically the partial pressure of the water vapor ranges from about 2 torr to about 8 torr , and more typically from about 4 torr to about 6 torr . ( several volumes of sicl 4 and / or several volumes of water may be injected into the process chamber to achieve the total partial pressures desired , as previously described herein .) the reaction time to produce the oxide layer may range from about 5 minutes to about 15 minutes , depending on the processing temperature , and in the exemplary embodiments described herein the reaction time used was about 10 minutes at about 35 ° c . after deposition of the oxide - based layer , the chamber was once again pumped down to a pressure in the range of about 30 mtorr or less . optionally , the processing chamber may be purged with nitrogen up to a pressure of about 10 torr to about 20 torr and then pumped down to the pressure in the range of about 30 mtorr , as previously described . the organic - based layer deposited from an fdts precursor was then produced by injecting fdts into the process chamber to provide a partial pressure ranging from about 30 mtorr to about 150 mtorr , more typically ranging from about 100 mtorr to about 300 mtorr . the exemplary embodiments described herein were typically carried out using an fdts partial pressure of about 150 mtorr . within about 10 seconds after injection of the fdts precursor , water vapor was injected into the process chamber to provide a partial pressure of water vapor ranging from about 300 mtorr to about 1000 mtorr , more typically ranging from about 400mtorr to about 800 mtorr . the exemplary embodiments described herein were typically carried out using a water vapor partial pressure of about 600 mtorr . the reaction time for formation of the organic - based layer ( a sam ) ranged from about 5 minutes to about 30 minutes , depending on the processing temperature , more typically from about 10 minutes to about 20 minutes , and in the exemplary embodiments described herein the reaction time used was about 15 minutes at about 35 ° c . the data presented in fig8 b indicates that to obtain the maximum hydrophobicity at the surface of the fdts - layer , it is not only necessary to have an oxide - based layer thickness which is adequate to cover the substrate surface , but it is also necessary to have a thicker layer in some instances , depending on the substrate underlying the oxide - based layer since the silicon oxide layer is conformal , it would appear that the increased thickness is not necessary to compensate for roughness , but has a basis in the chemical composition of the substrate . however , as a matter of interest , the initial roughness of the silicon wafer surface was about 0 . 1 rms nm , and the initial roughness of the glass surface was about 1 - 2 rms nm . in particular , the oxide - based layer was a silicon - oxide - based layer prepared in the manner described above , with respect to fig8 a . the graph 820 shows the contact angle of a di water droplet , in degrees , on axis 824 , as measured for an oxide - based layer surface over different substrates , as a function of the thickness of the oxide - based layer in angstroms shown on axis 822 . curve 826 illustrates a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a single crystal silicon wafer surface described with reference to fig8 a . curve 828 represents a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a glass surface as described with reference to fig8 a . curve 830 illustrates a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a stainless steel surface , as described with reference to fig8 a . curve 832 shows a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over a polystyrene surface , as described with reference to fig8 a . curve 834 illustrates a silicon - oxide - based layer deposited over an acrylic surface described with reference to fig8 a . the fdts - generated sam layer provides an upper surface containing fluorine atoms , which is generally hydrophobic in nature . the maximum contact angle provided by this fluorine - containing upper surface is about 117 degrees . as illustrated in fig8 b , this maximum contact angle , indicating an fdts layer covering the entire substrate surface is only obtained when the underlying oxide - based layer also covers the entire substrate surface at a particular minimum thickness . there appears to be another factor which requires a further increase in the oxide - based layer thickness , over and above the thickness required to fully cover the substrate , with respect to some substrates . it appears this additional increase in oxide - layer thickness is necessary to fully isolate the surface organic - based layer , a self - aligned - monolayer ( sam ), from the effects of the underlying substrate . it is important to keep in mind that the thickness of the sam deposited from the fdts layer is only about 10 å to about 20 å . graph 820 shows that a sam surface layer deposited from fdts over a single crystal silicon substrate exhibits the maximum contact angle of about 117 degrees when the oxide - based layer overlying the single crystal silicon has a thickness of about 30 å or greater . the surface layer deposited from fdts over a glass substrate exhibits the maximum contact angle of about 117 degrees when the oxide - based layer overlying the glass substrate has a thickness of about 150 å or greater . the surface layer deposited from fdts over the stainless steel substrate exhibits the maximum contact angle of about 117 degrees when the oxide - based layer overlying the stainless steel substrate has a thickness of between 80 å and 150 å or greater . the surface layer deposited from fdts over the polystyrene substrate exhibits the maximum contact angle when the oxide - based layer overlying the polystyrene substrate has a thickness of 150 å or greater . the surface layer deposited from fats over the acrylic substrate exhibits the maximum contact angle when the oxide - based layer overlying the acrylic substrate has a thickness of 400 å or greater . fig9 illustrates the stability of the hydrophobic surface provided by the sam surface layer deposited from fdts , when the coated substrate is immersed in deionized ( di ) water for a specified time period . each test specimen was plasma treated , then coated with oxide and sam deposited from an fdts precursor . each test specimen size was about 1 cm2 on the two major surfaces , and was coated on all sides . each specimen was immersed into distilled water present in a 6 inch diameter round glass dish , without any means for circulating the water around the sample , and was allowed to stand in the water at atmospheric pressure and at room temperature ( about 27 ° c .). after the time period specified , each specimen was blown dry using a gentle nitrogen gas sparging ; there was no baking of the test specimens . after drying , a di contact angle was measured on the test specimen surface using the contact angle test method previously described herein , which is generally known in the art . fig9 shows a graph 980 which illustrates the stability of an approximately 15 å thick layer of a sam deposited from fdts over an acrylic substrate without and with various oxide coatings applied over the acrylic substrate surface . curve 986 shows the contact angle when the sam was applied directly over the acrylic substrate . curve 988 shows the contact angle for a test specimen where a 150 å thick silicon oxide layer was applied over the acrylic substrate surface prior to application of the sam layer . curve 990 shows the contact angle for a test specimen where a 400 å thick silicon oxide layer was applied over the acrylic substrate surface prior to application of the sam layer . while increasing the thickness of the oxide layer helped to increase the initial hydrophobic properties of the substrate surface ( indicating improved bonding of the sam layer or improved surface coverage by the sam layer ), the structure was not stable , as indicated by the change in contact angle over time . in an effort to provide a more stable structure , we applied a multilayered structure over the acrylic substrate , with the multilayered structure including a series of five pairs of oxide - based layer / organic - based layer , to provide an organic - based surface layer . curve 922 shows the stability of the hydrophobic surface layer obtained when this multilayered structure was applied . this indicates that it is possible to provide a stable structure which can withstand extended periods of water immersion by creating the multilayered structure described . the number of pairs ( sets ) of oxide - based layer / organic - based layer which are required depends on the substrate material . when the substrate material is acrylic , the number of sets of oxide - based layer / organic - based layer which should be used is approximately five sets or more . for other substrate materials , the number of sets of oxide - based layer / organic - based layer may be fewer ; however , use of at least two sets of layers helps provide a more mechanically stable structure . the stability of the deposited sam organic - based layers can be increased by baking for about one half hour at 110 ° c ., to crosslink the organic - based layers . baking of a single pair of layers is not adequate to provide the stability which is observed for the multilayered structure , but baking can even further improve the performance of the multilayered structure . the integrated method for creating a multilayered structure of the kind described above includes : treatment of the substrate surface to remove contaminants and to provide either — oh or halogen moieties on the substrate surface , typically the contaminants are removed using a low density oxygen plasma , or ozone , or ultra violet ( uv ) treatment of the substrate surface . the — oh or halogen moieties are commonly provided by deposition of an oxide - based layer in the manner previously described herein . a first sam layer is then vapor deposited over the oxide - based layer surface . the surface of the first sam layer is then treated using a low density isotropic oxygen plasma , where the treatment is limited to just the upper surface of the sam layer , with a goal of activating the surface of the first sam layer . it is important not to etch away the sam layer down to the underlying oxide - based layer . by adjusting the oxygen plasma conditions and the time period of treatment , one skilled in the art will be able to activate the first sam layer surface while leaving the bottom portion of the first sam layer intact . typically , the surface treatment is similar to a substrate pretreatment , where the surface is treated with the low density isotropic oxygen plasma for a time period ranging from about 25 seconds to about 60 seconds , and typically for about 30 seconds . in the apparatus described herein the pretreatment is carried out by pumping the process chamber to a pressure ranging from about 15 mtorr to about 20 mtorr , followed by flowing an externally - generated oxygen - based plasma into the chamber at a plasma precursor oxygen flow rate of about 50 sccm to 200 sccm , typically at about 150 sccm in the apparatus described herein , to create about 0 . 4 torr in the substrate processing chamber . after activation of the surface of the first sam layer using the oxygen - based plasma , a second oxide - based layer is vapor deposited over the first sam layer . a second sam layer is then vapor deposited over the second oxide - based layer . the second sam layer is then plasma treated to activate the surface of the second sam layer . the process of deposition of oxide - based layer followed by deposition of sam layer , followed by activation of the sam surface may be repeated a nominal number of times to produce a multilayered structure which provides the desired mechanical strength and surface properties . of course there typically is no activation step after deposition of the final surface layer of the multilayered structure , where the surface properties desired are those of the final organic - based layer . it is important to mention that the final organic - based layer may be different from other organic - based layers in the structure , so that the desired mechanical properties for the structure may be obtained , while the surface properties of the final organic - based layer are achieved . the final surface layer is typically a sam layer , but may also be an oxide - based layer . as described previously herein , the thickness and roughness of the initial oxide - based layer can be varied over wide ranges by choosing the partial pressure of precursors , the temperature during vapor deposition , and the duration time of the deposition . subsequent oxide - based layer thicknesses may also be varied , where the roughness of the surface may be adjusted to meet end use requirements . the thickness of an organic - based layer which is applied over the oxide - based layer will depend on the precursor molecular length of the organic - based layer . in the instance where the organic - based layer is a sam , such as fots , for example , the thickness of an individual sam layer will be in the range of about 15 å . the thicknesses for a variety of sam layers are known in the art . other organic - based layer thicknesses will depend on the polymeric structure which is deposited using polymer vapor deposition techniques . the organic - based layers deposited may be different from each other , and may present hydrophilic or hydrophobic surface properties of varying degrees . in some instances , the organic - based layers may be formed from a mixture of more than one precursor . in some instances , the organic - based layer may be vapor deposited simultaneously with an oxide - based structure to provide cross - linking of organic and inorganic materials and the formation of a dense , essentially pinhole - free structure . fig1 a and 10b provide comparative examples which further illustrate the improvement in structure stability and surface properties for a sam which is deposited from a fots precursor over a multilayered structure of the kind described above ( with respect to a sam deposited from fdts ). fig1 a shows a graph 1000 which illustrates the improvement in di water stability of a sam when the organic - based precursor was fluoro - tetrahydrooctyldimethylchlorosilanes ( fots ) and the multilayered structure described was present beneath the fots based sam layer . curve 1008 shows physical property data ( contact angle with a di water droplet ) for an approximately 800 å thick layer of a sam deposited from fots directly upon a single crystal silicon substrate which was oxygen plasma pre - treated in the mariner previously described herein . the di water droplet contact angle is shown on axis 1004 in degrees ; the number of days of immersion of the substrate with overlying oxide and sam layer in place ) is shown on axis 1002 in days . for a silicon substrate ( which provides a hydrophilic surface ), with the fots applied directly over the substrate , the stability of the organic - based sam layer , in terms of the hygroscopic surface provided , decreases gradually from an initial contact angle of about 108 ° to a contact angle of less than about 90 ° after a 14 day time period , as illustrated by curve 1006 . this decrease in contact angle compares with a decrease in contact angle from about 110 ° to about 105 ° over the 14 day time period , when the structure is a series of five pairs of silicon oxide / fots sam layers , with a sam surface layer , as illustrated by curve 1008 . fig1 b shows a graph 1020 illustrating stability in di water for the same fots organic - based sam layer applied directly over the substrate or applied over a series of five pairs of silicon oxide / fots sam layers , when the substrate is soda lime glass . the di water droplet contact angle is shown on axis 1024 in degrees ; the number of days of immersion of the substrate with overlying oxide and sam layer in place ) is shown on axis 1022 in days . when the fots sam layer was applied directly over the substrate , the stability of the organic - based sam layer , in terms of the hygroscopic surface provided , decreased gradually from an initial contact angle of about 98 ° to a contact angle of less than about 88 ° after a 14 day time period , as illustrated by curve 1026 . this compares with a decrease in contact angle from about 108 ° to about 107 ° over the 14 day time period , when the structure is a series of five pairs of silicon oxide / pots sam layers , as illustrated by curve 1028 . fig1 a and 11b show schematic views of the top surfaces of high throughput screening ( hts ) micro - plates , where water droplets were applied to small wells in the plates . fig1 a illustrates the ability of the water droplet to flow into the wells in the plate with no coating on the polystyrene substrate of the screening plate . fig1 b illustrates the ability of the water drop to flow into the wells in the plate when a 150 å thick oxide layer was applied by molecular vapor deposition ( mvd ™, applied microstructures , inc ., san jose , calif .) over the polystyrene surface , followed by mvd ™ of a layer of biocompatible , monofunctional peg ( mpeg ) at a thickness of about 20 å . in particular , precise control of liquid volume and flow in testing micro - arrays is critical to the accuracy and consistency of analytical results achieved from such testing . the material to be tested , typically a water - based material , is pipetted ( commonly by robot ) into very small channels ( wells ) formed within a screening plate . for example , a 1536 - well screening micro - plate typically measures about 130 mm . times . 85 mm × 10 mm ( l × w × h ) and contains 1536 small wells . in a 1536 - well screening micro - plate , a well typically has a volume of about 12 μl . a micro - plate well normally has a diameter ranging from about 1 . 0 mm to about 2 . 0 mm and extends to a depth ranging from about 1 . 0 mm deep to about 5 . 0 mm deep . as a result , the aspect ratio ( the depth of the well divided by the diameter of the well ) of a well ranges from about 0 . 5 : 1 to about 5 : 1 . typically , an aspect ratio ranges from about 2 : 1 to about 4 : 1 . most micro - plates are made of very hydrophobic materials , such as polystyrene or polypropylene , each of which has a water contact angle of around 100 °. water readily beads up on these materials , making it difficult to fill narrow wells formed within micro - plates made from such hydrophobic materials . the difficulty in filling these wells will become more severe in future micro - plates with higher well density . the droplet size of a droplet of water - based material applied to each well often ranges from about 1 mm to about 3 mm . allowing for even small amounts of imprecision in application of a droplet of water - based material , it is apparent why a droplet may trap air in the well and sit at the top of the well . this occurred when the polystyrene substrate of the micro - plate 1100 ( shown in fig1 a ) was not prepared by the method of the invention , as illustrated by bubbles 1102 of the water - based material droplets on the upper surface 1103 of micro - plate 1100 at each well 1104 . fig1 b shows how the water - based material flowed into the wells in the micro - plate 1110 , to provide a relatively flush upper surface 1112 of the water - based material on the upper surface 1113 of micro - plate 1110 at each well 1114 . the droplets of water - based material were comprised of deionized water . the micro - plate polystyrene substrates were at 25 ° c ., and the length of time permitted for the water - based material to flow into the wells was about 2 - 3 seconds with respect to the test results illustrated above . the oxide / peg - coated micro - plates were prepared as follows : the surface of the polystyrene plate was exposed to an oxygen plasma ( 150 sccm o 2 at an rf power of about 200 w in an applied microstructures &# 39 ; mvd ™ process chamber ) for 5 minutes in order to clean the surface and create hydroxyl availability on the polystyrene surface . sicl 4 was charged to the process chamber front a sicl 4 vapor reservoir , where the sicl 4 vapor pressure in the vapor reservoir was 18 torr , creating a partial pressure of 2 . 4 torr in the coating process chamber . within 5 seconds , a first volume of h 2 o vapor was charged to the process chamber from a h 2 o vapor reservoir , where the h 2 o vapor pressure in the vapor reservoir was 18 torr . a total of five chamber volumes of h 2 o were charged , creating a partial pressure of 6 . 0 torr in the coating process chamber . the total pressure in the coating process chamber was 9 torr . the substrate temperature and the temperature of the process chamber walls was about 35 ° c . the substrate was exposed for a time period of about 10 minutes after each h 2 o addition . the silicon oxide coating thickness obtained was about 150 å . to apply the mpeg coating , mpeg ( methoxy ( polyethyleneoxy ) propyltrimethoxysilane , gelest p / n sim 6492 . 7 , mw = 450 - 620 , or methoxy ( polyethyleneoxy ) propyltrichlorosilane , gelest p / n sim 6492 . 66 , mw = 450 - 620 ) was charged to the process chamber from an mpeg vapor reservoir , where the mpeg vapor pressure in the vapor reservoir was about 2 torr . four chamber volumes of mpeg were charged , creating a partial pressure of 650 mtorr in the coating process chamber . the substrate was exposed to mpeg vapor each time for a time period of 15 minutes . the substrate temperature and the temperature of the process chamber walls was about 350 ° c . the mpeg coating thickness obtained was about 20 å . the hts micro - plate embodiment illustrates the use of a hydrophilic coating to draw a water - based substance into wells in an hts micro plate which is formed from plastic in one embodiment , the interior of the wells has been coated to provide a hydrophilic surface , while the exterior surface of the plate remains hydrophobic because it has not been coated . this may be accomplished using a masking material over the plastic surface exterior of the wells during application of a coating which provides a hydrophilic surface over the interior of the wells . the hydrophobic surface surrounding a well helps force the water - based droplet into the hydrophilic interior of the well , and reduces the possibility of well - to - well contamination of samples being tested . the above described exemplary embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention , as one skilled in the art can , in view of the present disclosure expand such embodiments to correspond with the subject matter of the invention claimed below . all references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety including any references cited therein . although the present invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments , changes and modifications can be carried out without departing from the scope of the invention which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the claims .
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US-201113107243-A
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a method in a data processing system for selecting a java virtual machine for use with a browser . a user is prompted for an input , wherein input identifies a virtual machine to be used with the browser . a profile is altered for the browser to include an identification of the virtual machine identified by the input . the profile is used to select a virtual machine for use with the browser .
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with reference now to the figures , and in particular with reference to fig1 a pictorial representation of a distributed data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented is depicted . distributed data processing system 100 is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented . distributed data processing system 100 contains a network 102 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within distributed data processing system 100 . network 102 may include permanent connections , such as wire or fiber optic cables , or temporary connections made through telephone connections . in the depicted example , a server 104 is connected to network 102 along with storage unit 106 . in addition , clients 108 , 110 , and 112 also are connected to a network 102 . these clients 108 , 110 , and 112 may be , for example , personal computers or network computers . for purposes of this application , a network computer is any computer , coupled to a network , which receives a program or other application from another computer coupled to the network . in the depicted example , server 104 provides data , such as boot files , operating system images , and applications to clients 108 - 112 . clients 108 , 110 , and 112 are clients to server 104 . distributed data processing system 100 may include additional servers , clients , and other devices not shown . in the depicted example , distributed data processing system 100 is the internet with network 102 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the tcp / ip suite of protocols to communicate with one another . at the heart of the internet is a backbone of high - speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers , consisting of thousands of commercial , government , educational , and other computer systems , that route data and messages . of course , distributed data processing system 100 also may be implemented as an umber of different types of networks , such as for example , an intranet or a local area network . fig1 is intended as an example , and not as an architectural limitation for the processes of the present invention . referring to fig2 a block diagram of a data processing system which may be implemented as a server , such as server 104 in fig1 is depicted in accordance to the present invention . data processing system 200 may be a symmetric multiprocessor ( smp ) system including a plurality of processors 202 and 204 connected to system bus 206 . alternatively , a single processor system may be employed . also connected to system bus 206 is memory controller / cache 208 , which provides an interface to local memory 209 . i / o bus bridge 210 is connected to system bus 206 and provides an interface to i / o bus 212 . memory controller / cache 208 and i / o bus bridge 210 may be integrated as depicted . peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) bus bridge 214 connected to i / o bus 212 provides an interface to pci local bus 216 . a number of modems 218 - 220 may be connected to pci bus 216 . typical pci bus implementations will support four pci expansion slots or add - in connectors . communications links to network computers 108 - 112 in fig1 may be provided through modem 218 and network adapter 220 connected to pci local bus 216 through add - in boards . additional pci bus bridges 222 and 224 provide interfaces for additional pci buses 226 and 228 , from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported . in this manner , server 200 allows connections to multiple network computers . a memory mapped graphics adapter 230 and hard disk 232 may also be connected to i / o bus 212 as depicted , either directly or indirectly . those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in fig2 may vary . for example , other peripheral devices , such as optical disk drive and the like also may be used in addition or in place of the hardware depicted . the depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention . the data processing system depicted in fig2 may be , for example , an ibm risc / system 6000 system , a product of international business machines corporation in armonk , n . y ., running the advanced interactive executive ( aix ) operating system . with reference now to fig3 a block diagram of a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented is illustrated . data processing system 300 is an example of a client computer . data processing system 300 employs a peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) local bus architecture . although the depicted example employs a pci bus , other bus architectures such as micro channel and isa may be used . processor 302 and main memory 304 are connected to pci local bus 306 through pci bridge 308 . pci bridge 308 also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor 302 . additional connections to pci local bus 306 may be made through direct component interconnection or through add - in boards . in the depicted example , local area network ( lan ) adapter 310 , scsi host bus adapter 312 , and expansion bus interface 314 are connected to pci local bus 306 by direct component connection . in contrast , audio adapter 316 , graphics adapter 318 , and audio / video adapter ( a / v ) 319 are connected to pci local bus 306 by add - in boards inserted into expansion slots . expansion bus interface 314 provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter 320 , modem 322 , and additional memory 324 . scsi host bus adapter 312 provides a connection for hard disk drive 326 , tape drive 328 , and cd - rom 330 in the depicted example . typical pci local bus implementations will support three or four pci expansion slots or add - in connectors . an operating system runs on processor 302 and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system 300 in fig1 . the operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as os / 2 , which is available from international business machines corporation . “ os / 2 ” is a trademark of from international business machines corporation . an object oriented programming system such as java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provides calls to the operating system from java programs or applications executing on data processing system 300 . instructions for the operating system , the object - oriented operating system , and applications or programs are located on storage devices , such as hard disk drive 326 and may be loaded into main memory 304 for execution by processor 302 . those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in fig3 may vary depending on the implementation . for example , other peripheral devices , such as optical disk drives and the like may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in fig3 . the depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention . for example , the processes of the present invention may be applied to multiprocessor data processing system . the present invention provides a method , apparatus , and instructions for selecting a virtual machine for use with an application and in particular for use with a browser in the depicted examples . the present invention provides a graphical user interface ( gui ) associated with the web browser that allows a user to specify which java virtual machine will be used by the browser . this mechanism is used in supporting decoupling the browser from a fixed java environment , which allows for using releases of java virtual machines independently from releases of browsers . in addition , the present invention provides for allowing for different java virtual machines to be selected for different profiles when multiple user profiles are present for the browser . as used herein , the term “ browser ” refers to browsers in addition to hypertext markup language ( html ) browsers , such as netscape communicator for os / 2 . in addition , a browser may encompass other applications that navigate in a java based network . in the depicted examples , the processes and interfaces described are for a browser , such as netscape communicator operating in an os / 2 operating system . these examples are not intended to limit the invention to a particular browser or operating system . the processes and interfaces of the present invention may be applied to other types of browsers and operating systems . with reference now to fig4 a block diagram of components used to select a java virtual machine for use with a browser is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . internet browser 400 contains a user profile manager 402 , which is employed to manage one or more user profiles for internet browser 400 . internet browser 400 may be implemented by modifying a known browser , such as , for example , netscape communicator , which is available from netscape communications corporation . selection module 404 contains the processes used in providing a user an ability to select a jvm . selection module 404 presents a gui 406 to the user , which allows the user to select a jvm . selection module 404 queries user profile manager 402 within internet browser 400 for user profile information to display to a user in selecting a jvm . information is displayed to the user through the gui 406 . selections or changes in jvms are received as user input through gui 406 . this user input is returned to user profile manager 402 when a jvm is to be started by internet browser 400 , the user profile information is employed to start jvm 408 . with reference now to fig5 a - 5c , graphical user interfaces employed to select a java virtual machine are depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . these interfaces are dialogs that may be displayed to a user in a browser , such as netscape communicator used with os / 2 as an operating system . turning first to fig5 a , a preferences dialog 501 is displayed to the user in response to the user selecting a preferences option from the browser . preferences dialog 501 contains a number of categories including an os / 2 preferences category 503 , which may be used to select os / 2 specific preferences for the browser . various properties may be set by selecting ibm java properties button 505 . in fig5 b , graphical user interface ( gui ), java advanced properties dialog 500 , provides the user with an interface to select a jvm for use with the browser . this dialog is displayed in response to selecting ibm java properties button 505 from fig5 a . in particular , java advanced properties dialog 500 displays a path field 502 in which a path for an existing jvm may be displayed for the user to accept by depressing ok button 504 or to enter a new path for the jvm that is to be used with the browser . in addition , the user may “ browse ” for jvms by depressing browse button 506 . in the depicted example , the user browses a local machine in which the file is prefilled with javai . dll , which allows a user to select from any available jvm file . depending upon the implementation , the user may browse the network for the desired jvm file . selection of browse button 506 results in browser dialog 508 in fig5 c being displayed to the user . gui 508 displays path field 510 in which the path for a jvm may be displayed to a user . file types may be selected in type field 512 with particular storage devices being selected in drive field 514 . by using type field 512 and drive field 514 , various directories and files may be displayed in directory field 516 and file field 518 , respectively . selection of a file will result in the name of the file being displayed in file name field 520 . depressing ok button 522 in browse dialog 508 results in the selected file being used as the selected jvm . with reference now to fig6 a diagram of a user profile data structure managed by a user profile manager is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the user profile data structure is configured using the interfaces illustrated in fig5 a - 5c in the depicted examples . user profile data structure 600 contains information used to configure behavior of the web browser for a particular user . in the depicted example , user profile data structure 600 includes a profile name 602 , a java class path 604 , java parameters 606 , a java path 608 , and a java class path option 610 . profile name 602 is used to uniquely identify the profile from other profiles when the browser contains multiple user profiles . java class path 604 is used to identify the path in which classes are loaded for use by the jvm . java parameters 606 contain parameters used by a jvm when the browser initializes or starts a jvm for use with the browser . these parameters may include , for example , initial heap size , garbage collection information , java stack size , and reporting options for jvm information . java path 608 includes the path and file name for the jvm that is to be used with the browser . java class path option 610 provides information that may be used to depend an extended class path to the beginning or end of the system defined class path . user profile data structure 600 also includes other information ( not shown ) employed to define the behavior of the browser . user profile data structure 600 also includes , for example , the browser start up home page , font preferences , and default browser window size . with reference now to fig7 a high level flowchart of a process used to select a jvm for use with a web browser is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the process begins by obtaining user profile data ( step 700 ). this data is obtained from the user profile manager within the browser . data is displayed to a user through a gui ( step 702 ). a determination is then made as to whether the jvm is to be changed ( step 704 ). for example , this step may be used to change the version of the jvm that is to be used with the browser . although the depicted examples use a user profile data structure to switch jvms , this information also may be maintained in other data structures in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . if the version is not to be changed , the process terminates . otherwise , the new jvm is obtained ( step 706 ). the new jvm is obtained through a gui presented to the user in which the user may select the path and file name for the new jvm to be used with the browser . depending upon the implementation , the process could search the system for various jvms that are present and present these as choices to the user for selection . thereafter , the new settings for the jvm are written or sent to the profile manager in the browser ( step 708 ) with the process terminating thereafter . with reference now to fig8 a flowchart of a process used to select a jvm is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the process begins by a user selecting a java properties button , such as , for example , ibm java properties button 505 in fig5 a , in the browser ( step 800 ). next , a java properties dialog box is displayed to the user ( step 802 ). then , a determination is made as to whether the user has selected the browse button in the java properties dialog box ( step 804 ). if the user has selected the browse button in the java properties dialog box , a determination is made as to whether the user has selected a new path to the jvm ( step 806 ). if the user has not selected a new path to the jvm , the process returns to step 802 . this return to step 802 from step 806 typically occurs when the user selects the cancel button in the java properties dialog . on the other hand , if the user has selected a new path to the jvm , the user profile property is set ( step 808 ), with the process then returning to step 802 . the user profile property set in step 808 is the java path to the jvm and the file name of the jvm . this property may be set using java path 608 in fig6 . with reference again to step 804 , if the user has not selected the java properties dialog box , a determination is made as to whether the user has manually typed in a new path to a jvm ( step 810 ). if the user has typed in a new path , the process proceeds to step 808 to set the user profile property using the path typed by the user . otherwise , a determination is made as to whether the user selected the ok button from the java properties dialog ( step 812 ). if the ok button has not been selected , a determination is made as to whether the user has selected the cancel button ( step 814 ). if the user has selected the cancel button , the process terminates . otherwise , the process returns to step 802 as discussed above . with reference again step 812 , if the user has selected the ok button from the java properties dialog , the user profile property containing the class path is written to the user profile manager ( step 816 ). with reference now to fig9 a flowchart of a process for starting a jvm by the browser is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the process begins by checking the profile manager to determine if the java path name exists ( step 900 ). for example , a java path may be “ os2 . ibmjava . java . path ”. a determination is made as to whether the java path name is set for a user profile in the profile manager ( step 902 ). if the java path is not set for the user profile in the profile manager , an assumption is made that the default java path will be found in the default system environment path ( step 904 ). the default system environment is the value of the classpath variable before starting the browser . next , a determination is made as to whether the javai . dll can be loaded ( step 906 ). the process also proceeds to step 906 from step 902 if the java path is set in the profile manager . if the javai . dll can be loaded , the jvm environment is initialized ( step 908 ), and the applet is executed ( step 910 ) with the process terminating thereafter . this applet may be one received by the browser from the internet or an intranet . with reference again to step 906 , if the java . dll cannot be loaded , a failure return code is sent to the browser ( step 912 ) with the process terminating thereafter . thus , the present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for updating jvms used by a browser . the present invention provides this advantage by decoupling the jvm from the browser and allowing the user to select a jvm for use with the web browser through a gui . multiple user profiles may contain different jvms or versions of jvms for use with the browser . in this manner , multiple users may have different selections for the jvm being used by the browser . for example , a network administrator may use the interface of the present invention to test a new version of the jvm before committing the change to a main profile , which typically is a default profile for a particular user id . additionally , a user may have multiple profiles for a particular browser . the present invention also may be used with multiple browsers in which multiple jvms are present for the different browsers . in such a situation , the multiple jvms also may be selected for different versions of the browser . additionally , the present invention may be applied to selecting different jvms for different windows in which different windows may be running the same or different jvms . in addition , the processes of the present invention may be applied to dynamically switching jvms rather than just switching jvms when the browser or jvm is initialized . it is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system , those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in a form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry but the distribution . examples of computer readable media include recordable - type media such a floppy disc , a hard disk drive , a ram , and cd - roms and transmission - type media such as digital and analog communications links . the description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description , but is not limited to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed . many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art . the embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention the practical application and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated .
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US-12733998-A
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embodiments of the invention provide a planter system for supporting living plants on a vertical surface that includes a fabric folded into one or more vertically - arranged knife pleats ; the pleats are secured and horizontally segmented into vertically arranged , upward facing pockets by a securing mechanism . the upward facing pockets are adapted hold a plant growth medium . other aspects of the invention include a simple system for removing failing plants , and replacing them with healthy plants , already embedded in growth medium within a root liner pouch . the invention further includes an irrigation system .
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a vertical garden panel , as provided by embodiments of the invention , resolves a number of issues that make currently available façade greening systems less than fully satisfactory . the system provided herein is lightweight , inexpensive , and can make use recycled non - toxic felt materials that allow for the simple insertion of plants already stabilized in their own soil . as the plants grow their roots integrate into a thick plastic non - degrading felt . plants can simply be removed as desired by pulling them from the pockets , and be replaced with a new plant . the panels of the system are backed with a rigid plastic board that provides a lightweight framework to support the planted pockets , and further , prevents moisture from touching the wall upon which the system is mounted . the pleated method of system construction is easy to manufacture , which also makes the system affordable . the pleated fabric of the vertical plant growth system directs water to wick away from the front of the panel keeping the front surface dry , while wicking water to the plants below . embodiments of vertical garden panels , as provided by the invention , are versatile in that they can also be used for hydroponic applications , where any choice of growing medium can be applied to the pockets . embodiments of the vertical garden panels have a wide range of uses including green urban renewal , office and retail décor , education , noise reduction , water and air filtration , energy and water conservation , food production , and any application for growing plants on walls . in terms of efficient utilization of space , vertical garden panels conserve horizontal indoor space , generally a floor , for example , and exploit generally otherwise unused vertical space . fig1 provides a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention . a vertically arranged planter system 100 for living plants is fabricated substantially of a fabric , typically a felt membrane 10 that is folded in a knife pleat configuration . the pleats are connected by a securing mechanism 12 to create an array of pockets 14 that support a growing medium 24 and plants 28 . the pleated pocket planter allows for the watering of plants 28 from irrigation tubing 16 , the collection of excess water in a channeled frame 20 , and removal of excess water through a water outlet 22 . fig2 provides a side view of the system for supporting living plants , with details that relate to the system and to methods for operating the system . the system , as a whole , can by hung or mounted on wall or amenable vertical surface by hanging tabs 1 . the system can be irrigated by providing water at a top level 2 of the system ; irrigation may occur by any conventional irrigation system or by hand . water , having entered the system , wicks downward 3 . as water wicks down , it flows down a water concentration gradient , and into the growth medium 4 within pockets or growth compartments 14 of the system , where it is available to plant roots . air also enters the system 5 , through the fabric material , or through the surface of the growth medium . a removable felt pouch or rootliner 8 allows for simple insertion and removal of plant material . water continues to flow by capillary action 6 from the upper level of the system to the lower level of the system , where it enters into growth compartments below . root wrappers 8 are shown lining a growth compartment , where they serve as a containment layer that contributes to containing soil within the compartment , and generally enhances the efficiency of wicking ; this layer may be made from the same materials as the fabric . root wrappers provide a way to easily change out plants from the vertical growth system , and may be prepared with growing plants , prior to their insertion into the vertical planter system . a lightweight rigid plastic backing board 9 supports the plants and protects the wall . the open fluted plastic board also prevents condensation on the back . excess water 11 drips from the bottom of the panel , where it can be collected and drained , or recirculated , or directed to a planter system below . the fabric of the planter system may be made of any suitable material , such material needing to be wettable , of sufficient strength and integrity to support wet growth medium and plants for the long term . in some embodiments , the fabric is a felted or otherwise non - woven material , which may be made from non - woolen materials , such as recycled pet plastic water bottles . other suitable materials include polyester / acrylic tangle material , synthetic fibers , adhered synthetic fibers , natural fibers , glass , ceramic , metal , plastic , or stone . fig3 provides a side view of an embodiment of vertically arranged planter system 100 for living plants , with a focus on details of the felt 10 as it is attached to the mounting board in a knife pleat configuration . the knife pleats may be understood as a folding configuration that begins at the top of the fabric of the planter system , and extends a distance downward to form a pocket or growth compartment of desired pocket depth . the fabric is layered onto itself to return a fold of fabric to top of the pocket of the fabric . extending further below the upper fold , a second fold is created ; the fabric is layered a third time on itself and extended again to the distance of desired pocket depth . thereafter , extending still further below , again , the process is repeated at the top of the next pocket ; and the assembly method continues until the desired number of pockets is created . fig4 provides a side view of the of an embodiment of vertically arranged planter system 100 for living plants that includes a channeled frame 20 to support the vertical garden with an additional moisture protective panel 9 . water is circulated through the system with water pump 30 that is connected to an irrigation tube 16 that lifts water to the top of the panel and is released into the felt through emitter holes 2 . water then wicks down through the felt 10 and absorbed into the growth compartments 14 . water not absorbed by the plants is collected the bottom portion of the channeled frame 20 and drained out the bottom through the water outlet 22 and into the water storage tank 32 where is it stored for future use .
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US-80729910-A
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the invention relates to an actuating mechanism for a swivel - mounted actuating arm , especially for driving a lid of an item of furniture . said mechanism comprises a spring device including a biased actuating element and a translatory mechanism which translates the movement of the actuating element into a swiveling movement of the actuating arm . said translatory mechanism comprises at least one adjusting device for varying the translation ratio between the movement of the actuating element and the swiveling movement of the actuating arm .
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fig1 a shows a schematic view of an embodiment of an inventive actuating mechanism 1 in the closed position with a flap 3 pivotable about a horizontal axis , fig1 b shows an enlarged view of detail b from fig1 a . this actuating mechanism 1 is fixed by means of a suspension device 15 on one vertical inner wall of a body of furniture 4 . the actuating mechanism 1 has a pivotably mounted actuating arm 2 , which is provided with the flexibly connected levers 2 ′, 2 ″ to move the flap 3 between an open and a closed position . the spring device 5 in the embodiment shown is designed as a compression spring pack , which has at least one or more compression springs — preferably arranged in parallel . the spring device 5 acts on a movably mounted setting member 13 with a force which acts in the direction of ( toward ) the flap 3 . the setting member 13 is thus linearly displaced in proportion to the loading of the spring device 5 . a transmission mechanism 7 converts the linear motion of the setting member 13 into a pivoting motion , which in turn acts on the actuating arm 2 to move the flap 3 . the transmission mechanism 7 comprises an adjustment device 8 to alter the transmission ratio between the linear motion of the setting member 13 and the pivoting motion of the actuating arm 2 . in the figure shown the transmission mechanism 7 comprises an interlever 9 so as to pivot mounted about the axis of rotation 14 , the interlever 9 being acted on from one side by the spring - loaded setting member 13 and on the other side abutting on a setting contour surface 12 formed on or attached to the actuating arm 2 via a thrust roller 11 . the setting contour surface 12 is formed or arranged on the end of the actuating arm 2 in the form of a curved control cam 10 . the control cam 10 is mounted on the axis of rotation 17 , and when the flap 3 is moved , it meshes with the thrust roller 11 . the interlever 9 is thereby pivoted by the spring - loaded setting member 13 clockwise about the axis of rotation 14 , as made clear in the following figures . fig2 a shows the actuating mechanism 1 from fig1 a , 1 b in a half - open position . fig2 b shows an enlarged view of detail a from fig2 a . the actuating mechanism 1 comprises a spring device 5 which is designed as a compression spring pack . the spring device 5 in the view shown is already partly unloaded in comparison to the spring device 5 from fig1 . the control cam 10 mounted on the fulcrum ( axis of rotation ) 17 rolls along the thrust roller 11 , as a result of which the interlever 9 mounted at the axis of rotation 14 is rotated clockwise by the spring - loaded setting member 13 . the application force of the thrust roller 11 is determined by the tension force of the spring device 5 and by the respective position of the control cam 10 with the setting contour surface 12 relative to the thrust roller 11 . fig3 a shows the actuating mechanism 1 from fig1 a , 1 b and fig2 a , 2 b respectively in the open position . fig3 b shows an enlarged view of detail c from fig3 a . the compression springs of the spring device 5 are essentially in a relaxed condition , whereby however a certain force acts at all times on the interlever 9 , so that the furniture flap 3 can be held in any position over at least a part of the pivoting path . in fig1 to 3 , for reasons of clarity , the transmission ratio has not been changed by the adjustment device 8 , since the point of application 6 has not been displaced within the crank guide 18 . fig4 a and 4 b show a further embodiment of the invention in a lateral and in a perspective view . the spring device 5 , unlike those in fig1 to 3 , is designed as a tension spring pack . the spring - loaded setting member 13 in the figure shown is displaceably mounted along the guide rod 51 . the spring - loaded setting member 13 acts upon a trough - shaped push rod 54 , which is coupled at its other end with the interlever 9 . the relevant point here is that the push rod 54 is not connected with the spring suspension 55 , i . e . the trough - shaped push rod 54 is displaceably guided behind the spring suspension 55 . the interlever 9 is pivotably mounted on its axis of rotation 14 , whereby the spring device 5 , via the push rod 54 , exerts a counter - clockwise force on the interlever 9 . the actuating arm 2 ( and thus a flap 3 , not shown ) in the figure shown is in the open position . the actuating arm 2 is pivotably mounted on the fulcrum 17 and has a control cam 10 with a setting contour surface 12 . the thrust roller 11 is pressed by the force of the spring device 5 onto the setting contour surface 12 . when the actuating arm 2 is now moved downwards , the setting contour surface 12 rolls down along the thrust roller 11 , so that the interlever 9 is pivoted clockwise about the axis of rotation 14 . this also displaces the push rod 54 to the left and pushes the spring - loaded setting member 13 , in the direction of the arrow a shown , gradually to the left , as the result of which the spring device 5 is tensioned . the spring suspension 55 is mounted in an essentially fixed position by the two pins 53 , allowing only slight play compensation by the two longitudinal hole type guides 52 . in principle , the spring suspension 55 could also be disposed completely fixed . but since the guide rod 51 is movably mounted on the pivoting axis 16 opposite the suspension device 18 , a compensating movement of the spring suspension 55 can be enabled by the longitudinal hole type guides 52 . the adjustment device 8 for adjusting the transmission ratio comprises a rod 19 or a threaded spindle mounted on the interlever 9 along which the point of application 6 of the push rod 54 is displaceably mounted . fig5 a and fig5 b show the actuating mechanism 1 from fig4 a , 4 b in a half - open position of the actuating arm 2 . it can be seen that the interlever 9 mounted on the axis of rotation 14 has been pivoted clockwise by the closing movement of the actuating arm 2 . this movement has also caused the trough - shaped push rod 54 to be moved further to the left against the spring - loaded setting member 13 linked thereto . the springs of the spring device 5 are gradually tensioned in this process and the resultant force presses the thrust roller 11 against the setting contour surface 12 of the actuating arm 2 . this force can be measured by the adjustability of the transmission ratio to compensate for the weight of the flap 3 , so that the flap 3 is preferably held in every pivoted position of the actuating arm 2 . fig6 a and fig6 b show the actuating mechanism 1 from fig4 a , 4 b and fig5 a , 5 b in the fully closed position of the actuating arm 2 ( and with it a flap 3 , not shown ). the interlever 9 mounted on the axis of rotation 14 has been pivoted still further clockwise by the closing movement of the actuating arm 2 . this has pushed the trough - shaped push rod 54 , no longer visible , behind the fix - mounted spring suspension 55 , so that the spring - loaded setting member 13 is in the outermost end position relative to the guide rod 51 , so that the springs of the spring device 5 are also in a condition of maximum tension . in fig4 to 6 the transmission ratio has not been changed for reasons of clarity , since the point of application 6 has not been moved in its position relative to the rod 19 . fig7 a and fig7 b show the actuating mechanism 1 from fig4 a , 4 b to fig6 a , 6 b with a tension spring pack as spring device 5 . in the figure shown , the transmission ratio has been altered by a displacement of the point of application 6 on the interlever 9 , which is achieved by the adjustment device 8 on the interlever 9 . the point of application 6 is displaceably mounted on a rod 19 , whereby the rod 19 is preferably designed as a threaded spindle . a geared wheel 25 — preferably a toothed wheel — which can be adjusted with a hexagonal member 26 , is provided to adjust the point of application 6 . the gear wheel 25 meshes with an intermediate wheel 27 , which is integrally fixed to the threaded spindle 19 . the point of application 6 is displaced via a bolt 28 , not shown , inside the coupling piece 20 , the bolt 28 being provided with an internal thread . any rotation of the hexagonal member 26 thus effects a rotation of the gear wheel 25 , which moves the intermediate wheel 27 integrally mounted on the threaded spindle 19 , whereby the rotation of the threaded spindle brings about a height ( location ) adjustment of a bolt 28 ( i . e ., location of bolt 28 along spindle 19 ) provided with an inner thread . a self - locking worm gear with play - free , or at least with minimal play , can hereby be enabled to displace the point of application 6 . the adjustment of the hexagonal member 26 can obviously also be done without tools , for example with a knurled screw turned by hand . the point of application 6 can thereby also be displaceably guided within a crank guide 18 . the crank guide 18 can also have a curved shape or a curvature , as the result of which the tensioning of the spring device 5 and with it the characteristic curve area thereof , can be altered . different lever ratios are created by the altered position of the point of application 6 , since the relative positions of the individual points of rotation are also altered . in the figure shown , the pressure of the thrust roller 11 on the setting contour surface 12 is reduced due to the displaced position of the point of application 6 , so that lighter furniture flaps 3 can be advantageously moved and damped according to their weights . fig8 a - 8 d and fig8 a ′- 8 d ′ show various potential applications of the inventive actuating mechanisms 1 . the views each show a lateral view of the furniture bodies 4 on which a furniture flap 3 opening upwards is disposed . the upper rows according to fig8 a - 8 d each show the closed position of the furniture flap 3 , while the lower views in fig8 a ′- 8 d ′ show a lift - up flap , in fig8 b ′ a bifold upward flap , in fig8 c ′ a high - lift flap and in fig8 d ′ a swing - up flap in an open position . fig9 a and fig1 a show exploded views of the actuating mechanism 1 from fig1 to 3 ( compression spring pack ) and the actuating mechanism 1 from fig4 to 6 ( tension spring pack ), fig9 b and fig1 b show the respective actuating mechanism 1 in mounted condition . the actuating mechanisms 1 are mounted on the furniture body 4 by means of a suspension device 15 . the threaded spindle 19 is passed through a rod end bearing and integrally connected to an intermediate wheel 27 . also to be seen is the bolt 28 , which has an inner thread and sits within the coupling piece 20 . the threaded spindle 19 engages in the thread of the bolt 28 , so as to displace the setting member 13 in the axial direction of the threaded spindle 19 . a fitting 21 is provided to link both levers 2 , 2 ′ with the flap 3 . fig1 a shows a lateral view of an exemplary bifold flap 3 arranged so as to open upwardly with an inventive actuating mechanism 1 in the closed position . fig1 b shows the enlarged detail c from fig1 a . the actuating mechanism 1 is fixed via a suspension device 15 to one vertical side wall of the furniture body 4 . a furniture flap 3 is disposed on its pivotably mounted actuating arm 2 at a hinge point 22 . the furniture flap 3 is flexibly attached via a horizontal pivoting axis 24 to the flap part 3 ′. to pivot the flap part 3 ′ in relation to the furniture body 4 , a hinge 23 with at least two hinge arms is provided , which allows a pivoting motion about a horizontal axis . fig1 a , 12 b show the actuating mechanism 1 in the open position . in this case the design can be such that the actuating arm 2 is acted upon over at least a part of the pivoting path by a torque which allows the flap 3 , 3 ′ to dwell in any position between an open and a closed position . fig1 a and 14 b show the lateral view of the actuating mechanism 1 according to a further embodiment of the invention . the actuating arm 2 in fig1 a is in a slightly open position , and in fig1 b in a further opened position . the actuating mechanism 1 is fixed by means of a suspension device 15 to a vertical side wall of a furniture body . the spring device 5 is pivotably mounted on a fixed swiveling axis 16 . this spring device 5 comprises a compression spring pack , which acts on the setting member 13 with a force in the direction of ( toward ) the setting contour surface 12 of the control cam 10 . the setting member 13 , contrary to the linear movement shown in fig1 to 13 , performs a pivoting movement . the transmission mechanism 7 in the figure shown has two levers 33 , 33 ′ which are rotatably and fixed - mounted respectively on a fulcrum 34 , 34 ′. a transmission element 32 which can be adjusted by a user is disposed between the two levers 33 , 33 ′, with the position of the transmission element 32 determining the transmission ratio of the path of the setting member to the angle of rotation of the actuating arm 2 . if the transmission element 32 is being adjusted further downwards between these two levers 33 , 33 ′, the setting member 13 can move further to the right . this increases the expansion path and with it the range of action of the spring pack 5 . the lever 33 ′ has a thrust roller 11 on its end facing away from the fulcrum 34 ′, the roller 11 being pressed against the setting contour surface 12 of the control cam 10 . the control cam 10 is rotatably fixed on its fulcrum 17 . the control cam 10 is disposed or formed on the end of the actuating arm 2 , by which a flap 3 is movable into the open or closed position . fig1 a and 15 b show the embodiment from fig1 a and fig1 b respectively with transmission element 32 moved further downwards . by adjusting the transmission element 32 in the direction of the fulcrum 34 of the lever 33 , the setting member 13 can be displaced further to the right , which results in a greater expansion path for the spring device 5 and an increase in the transmission ratio . the transmission ratio can thus be adjusted in simple fashion , depending on the position of the transmission element 32 . in the embodiment shown , the lever 33 ′ has at least one longitudinal hole 36 , along which the transmission element 32 can be guided . this is fixed with the aid of the locking screw 35 . however , the transmission element 32 can be attached just as well on the lever 33 connected with the setting member 13 . fig1 shows an exploded view of the inventive embodiment from fig1 a , b and fig1 a , b . the two levers 33 , 33 ′ can be seen , their stationary fulcrums 34 , 34 ′ being offset with respect to the suspension device 15 . the lever 33 ′ has a longitudinal hole 36 , while a locking screw 35 passes through the lever 33 ′ and the transmission element 32 and fixes these in place . the length of the longitudinal hole 36 determines the upper and lower end range of the transmission ratio . fig1 a shows a further embodiment of the invention . fig1 b and 17 c each show enlarged detail views . the setting member 13 on which the force of the spring device 5 acts is coupled with the actuating arm 2 via an interlever 9 and via the control cam 10 . in this embodiment , provision is made that the transmission mechanism 7 comprises at least two adjustment devices 8 a and 8 b to vary the transmission ratio between the movement of the setting member 13 and the pivoting movement of the actuating arm 2 , as shown in fig1 b and 17 c respectively . the position of the bearing point of the setting member 13 on the interlever 9 can be adjusted by the adjustment device 8 a and 8 b , so that the transmission ratio can be exactly defined . the interlever 9 is fixed and pivotably mounted on the fulcrum 40 . advantageously , provision is made that the transmission ratio is differentially adjustable by the at least two adjustment devices 8 a and 8 b . the design can thereby be made such that adjustment device 8 a is provided for coarse adjustment and adjustment device 8 b for fine adjustment of the transmission ratio . the position of the point of application of the setting member 13 on the interlever 9 can be exactly set by the adjustment devices 8 a and 8 b , and thus also the transmission ratio . fig1 c shows an enlarged detail view from fig1 b in the transitional area between the setting member 13 and the interlever 9 . the adjustment device 8 a provided for coarse adjustment comprises a rack 37 connected with the interlever 9 , which engages an adjustable element 38 with at least one detent tooth 39 ( not shown ), adjustable by a user . the detent tooth 39 is lifted out of a gap in the rack 17 by torsion of the adjustment device 8 a and replaced in an adjacent gap . the fine adjustment device 8 b comprises an eccentric cam 30 , where provision is advantageously made that the regulating range of the eccentric cam 30 corresponds to the tooth width of the rack 37 , thus enabling a continuous adjustment range of the position of the bearing point of the setting member 13 on the interlever 9 . fig1 a shows a lateral view of the transmission mechanism 7 fixed onto the suspension device 15 from fig1 a and 17 b respectively . fig1 b shows the same transmission mechanism 7 without cover , so that the internal parts are visible . the spring - loaded setting member 13 is adjustably mounted on the interlever 9 . the interlever 9 is pivotably mounted on a fulcrum 40 . the actuating arm 2 is in the fully open position so that the control cam 10 of the thrust roller 11 can be brought out of engagement . the detent tooth 39 belonging to the adjustment device 8 a engages in the rack 37 disposed or formed on the interlever 9 . the adjustment device 8 a is provided for coarse adjustment of the transmission ratio . the adjustment device 8 b also acts on the rack 37 , whereby an eccentric cam 30 alters the position of the bearing point of the setting member 13 on the interlever 9 . the adjustment device 8 b is provided for fine adjustment of the transmission ratio . fig1 a shows the coarse adjustment of the transmission ratio by means of a screwdriver 41 , and fig1 b an enlarged detail view from fig1 a . the adjustment device 8 a is actuated with the screwdriver 41 in order to alter the position of the bearing point of the setting member 13 on the interlever 9 . in order best to counterbalance the various sizes of the flaps 3 and thus various weights , the force on the setting contour surface 12 of the control cam 10 must be adjustable . by turning the adjustment device 8 a , this winds down the rack 37 , the setting member 13 is lifted out of the toothing at a rotation of 45 ° and the detent tooth 39 re - engages following a rotation of the adjustment device 8 a by 90 °. fig2 a shows the fine adjustment of the transmission ratio using a screwdriver 41 , fig8 b and fig8 c each showing enlarged detail views . once the coarse adjustment has been performed as described in fig1 a , 19 b , the screwdriver 41 is positioned on the adjustment device 8 b . this fine adjustment of the transmission ratio occurs via the previously described eccentric cam 30 . the area of adjustment of the eccentric cam 30 preferably corresponds to the tooth width of the rack 37 . a smooth adjustment of force is possible due to the combination of coarse and fine adjustment . fig2 a shows an exploded view of the two - stage adjustable transmission mechanism 7 from fig1 to 20 ; and fig2 b shows an enlarged detail view . the setting member 13 loaded by the spring device 5 is displaceably coupled to the rack 37 via the bolt 42 ( adjustment device 8 a ) and with the eccentric cam 30 ( adjustment device 8 b ). the bolt 42 projects through the adjustable element 38 , on which at least one detent tooth 39 is disposed . the eccentric cam 30 projects , in the mounted state , through the opening 43 in the rack 37 . by turning the bolt 42 and the eccentric cam 30 , the transmission ratio can be varied precisely by a smooth force adjustment . the front end of the interlever 9 forms a cover plate 44 . fig2 shows a further embodiment of the invention in a lateral view . instead of a setting contour 12 , the setting member 13 is connected via at least two levers 31 , 31 ′, flexibly joined together , with the actuating arm 2 . to adjust the transmission ratio , the position of the bearing point of the setting member 13 on at least one of the levers 31 , 31 ′ is adjustable . the adjustment devices 8 a and 8 b known from fig1 to 21 are used for coarse and fine adjustment respectively of the transmission ratio . the setting member 13 can be displaced by the adjustment devices 8 a and 8 b along the surface 49 . to prevent or at least to reduce striking noises when closing the flap 3 , a damping device 47 may be provided . here , for example , a linear damper can be used , which rests on a tab 48 on its side facing away from the flap . on its front end the damping device 47 has a stop 46 , which co - operates with a projection 45 disposed or formed on the actuating arm 2 when closing the flap 3 . a piston rod connected with the stop 46 is displaced by the projection 45 into the interior of the damping device 47 . it is advantageous in this case if a fluid cylinder is provided , but in principle all other damping devices known according to the state of the art can be used ( for example rotation dampers ). fig2 shows a perspective view of the embodiment from fig2 . two levers 31 , 31 ′ are linked to the outside of the lever 31 , which are connected with the actuating arm 2 fastened to the axis of rotation 17 . actuation of the adjustment devices 8 a and 8 b leads to a change in the position of the setting member 13 on the surface 49 of the lever 31 . when the flap 3 is closing , the projection 45 presses against the stop 46 of the damper 47 , whereby the final closing path of the flap 3 is damped . fig2 a and fig2 b show the embodiment from fig2 and fig2 respectively in lateral views , where the actuating arm 2 is in the fully open position in fig2 a and in a half - open position in fig2 b . to prevent any collision with the levers 31 ′, 31 ″ when the actuating arm 2 is fully open , a cavity 50 is provided on both levers 31 ′, 31 ″. the articulated hinge with the axis of rotation 17 of the actuating arm 2 can be seated , at least partly , in the cavity 50 . the present invention is not limited to the examples shown , but covers or extends to all variants or technical equivalents which may fall within the scope of the following claims . the position details selected in the description , such as for example above , below , lateral etc ., relate to the usual mounting position of the actuating mechanism 1 or to the figure directly described and shown , and should be transferred accordingly to the new position , when there is any change in position . the actuating mechanism 1 was realized in the drawings shown as a lever solution . it is , however , equally conceivable and possible to use a toothed wheel variant . it may also be advantageous to dispose the inventive actuating mechanism 1 on both sides of a cupboard - type piece of furniture . in the figures shown , a translational movement or a pivoting movement of the spring - loaded setting member 13 is shown . however , it also lies within the scope of the invention to convert a rotational movement of the setting member 13 ( e . g . by a torsion spring ) into a pivoting movement of the actuating arm 2 , in which case an exact and defined adjustment of the transmission ratio is provided by the adjustment device 8 . the invention also makes provision for the inventive actuating mechanism 1 to be used with absolutely identical construction on both side walls ( left / right ) of a piece of furniture , i . e . without mirror - image components , and with completely identical design thereof .
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US-65147207-A
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a lorentz actuator provides a force between a first part and a second part of the apparatus , comprising a main magnet system , attached to a first part of the apparatus and providing a first magnetic field ; a subsidiary magnet system , attached to the first part and arranged in a halbach configuration , providing a second magnetic field ; and an electrically conductive element attached to a second part of the apparatus and arranged so as to produce a force between the first and second parts of the apparatus by interaction of an electric current carried by the electrically conductive element and the combination of the first and second magnetic fields .
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[ 0030 ] fig1 schematically depicts a lithographic projection apparatus according to a particular embodiment of the invention . the apparatus includes a radiation system ex , il that supplies a projection beam pb of radiation ( e . g . uv or euv radiation ). in this embodiment , the radiation system also comprises a radiation source la ; a first object table ( mask table ) mt provided with a mask holder for holding a mask ma ( e . g . a reticle ), and connected to a first positioning device m 1 m 2 to accurately position the mask with respect to a projection system pl ; a second object table ( substrate table ) wt provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate w ( e . g . a resist - coated silicon wafer ), and connected to a second position device p 1 , p 2 to accurately position the substrate with respect to the projection system pl ; the projection system (“ lens ”) pl ( e . g . a refractive or catadioptric system , a mirror group or an array of field deflectors ) to image an irradiated portion of the mask ma onto a target portion c ( e . g . comprising one or more dies ) of the substrate w . the projection system pl is supported on a reference frame rf . as here depicted , the apparatus is of a transmissive type ( i . e . has a transmissive mask ). however , in general , it may also be of a reflective type , for example ( with a reflective mask ). alternatively , the apparatus may employ another kind of patterning device , such as a programmable mirror array of a type as referred to above . the source la ( e . g . an excimer laser , an undulator or wiggler provided around the path of an electron beam in a storage ring or synchrotron , a laser - produced plasma source , a discharge source or an electron or ion beam source ) produces a beam pb of radiation . the beam pb is fed into an illumination system ( illuminator ) il , either directly or after having traversed a conditioner , such as a beam expander ex , for example . the illuminator il may comprise an adjusting device am for setting the outer and / or inner radial extent ( commonly referred to as σ - outer and σ - inner , respectively ) of the intensity distribution in the beam . in addition , it will generally comprise various other components , such as an integrator in and a condenser co . in this way , the beam pb impinging on the mask ma has a desired uniformity and intensity distribution in its cross - section . it should be noted with regard to fig1 that the source la may be within the housing of the lithographic projection apparatus ( as is often the case when the source la is a mercury lamp , for example ), but that it may also be remote from the lithographic projection apparatus , the radiation beam which it produces being led into the apparatus ( e . g . with the aid of suitable directing mirrors ). the latter scenario is often the case when the source la is an excimer laser . the current invention encompasses both of these scenarios . the beam pb subsequently intercepts the mask ma , which is held on a mask table mt . having traversed the mask ma , the beam pb passes through the lens pl , which focuses the beam pb onto a target portion c of the substrate w . with the aid of the second positioning device p 1 , p 2 ( and interferometer if ), the substrate table wt can be moved accurately , e . g . so as to position different target portions c in the path of the beam pb . similarly , the first positioning device m 1 , m 2 can be used to accurately position the mask ma with respect to the path of the beam pb , e . g . after mechanical retrieval of the mask ma from a mask library , or during a scan . in general , movement of the object tables mt , wt will be realized with the aid of a long - stroke drive module ( coarse positioning ) and a short - stroke module ( fine positioning ). however , in the case of a wafer stepper ( as opposed to a step - and - scan apparatus ) the mask table mt may just be connected to a short stroke actuator , or may be fixed . a long stroke drive module ls is moved by a planar motor , for example , as described in wo 01 / 18944 . a magnet plate mp is fixed to a machine frame of the lithographic projection apparatus and the long stroke drive module ls is provided with a first set of coils sp 1 that generate a force when a current is sent through the coils sp 1 . the force can levitate and move the long stroke drive module ls along the magnet plate mp . the substrate table wt is moved with respect to the long stroke module drive ls with the aid of lorenz actuators comprising a second coil sp 2 and a magnet ms . if a current is sent through the secondary coil sp 2 a force can be generated between the long stroke drive module ls and magnets ms provided to the substrate table wt to finely position the substrate table wt . the substrate table wt can be moved up to six degrees of freedom ( x , y , z , rz , ry and rx ) with respect to the long stroke drive module ls . 1 . in step mode , the mask table mt is kept essentially stationary , and an entire mask image is projected at once ( i . e . a single “ flash ”) onto a target portion c . the substrate table wt is then shifted in the x and / or y directions so that a different target portion c can be irradiated by the beam pb ; 2 . in scan mode , essentially the same scenario applies , except that a given target portion c is not exposed in a single “ flash ”. instead , the mask table mt is movable in a given direction ( the so - called “ scan direction ”, e . g . the y direction ) with a speed v , so that the projection beam pb is caused to scan over a mask image . concurrently , the substrate table wt is simultaneously moved in the same or opposite direction at a speed v = mv , in which m is the magnification of the lens pl ( typically , m = ¼ or ⅕ ). in this manner , a relatively large target portion c can be exposed , without having to compromise on resolution . [ 0037 ] fig2 a shows a cross section of the actuator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the same actuator is shown , in perspective , in fig3 . in use , the actuator generates a force in a first direction ( or its opposite ) which may be used to drive a short - stroke drive module for positioning of the mask table mt or the substrate table wt . in fig2 a this first direction is a horizontal direction within the plane of the figure . the actuator comprises a first magnet sub - assembly 1 , a second magnet sub - assembly 11 ( ms in fig1 ) and a coil 21 ( sp 2 in fig1 ). the first and second magnet subassemblies 1 , 11 define a space between them in a second direction , perpendicular to the first direction . the coil 21 , 22 is located in this space . the combination of the first and second magnet sub - assemblies 1 , 11 forms a magnet assembly that is mounted on the substrate table wt or the mask table mt to be driven by the actuator . the coil 21 is mounted on the long - stroke module ( not shown ) or , in the case of a mask table mt of a wafer stepper apparatus that does not have a long - stroke module ( as described above ), on a fixed portion of the apparatus . although the magnet assembly may alternatively be mounted on the long - stroke module and the coil on the substrate table or the mask table , the present configuration is preferred since it facilitates the provision of power and cooling to the coil . the first magnet sub - assembly 1 is composed of a first main magnet 2 , a second main magnet 7 , a first subsidiary magnet 5 , a second subsidiary magnet 4 and a third subsidiary magnet 3 . the second magnet sub - assembly 11 correspondingly has a first main magnet 12 , a second main magnet 17 , a first subsidiary magnet 15 , a second subsidiary magnet 14 and a third subsidiary magnet 13 . in a preferred arrangement , the main magnets are permanent magnets consisting of ni - coated vacodym722hr having a magnetic remanence of b r = 1 . 47 tesla ( t ) and the subsidiary magnets consist of ni - coated vacodym362tp with a magnetic remanence of b r = 1 . 30 tesla ( t ) and high coercitive field strength , as produced by vacuumschmelze gmbh . each of the magnet sub - assemblies is arranged such that the component magnets are adjacent to one another in the first direction , as defined above . in this arrangement , a subsidiary magnet is located on either side of each of the main magnets . for example , the first main magnet 2 of the first magnet sub - assembly 1 is located between the first subsidiary magnet 5 and the second subsidiary magnet 4 of the first magnet sub - assembly . similarly , the second main magnet 7 of the first magnet sub - assembly 1 is located between the second subsidiary magnet 4 and the third subsidiary magnet 3 . the second magnet subassembly is arranged in a similar fashion such that , in the complete magnet assembly , the corresponding magnets in the two sub - assemblies 1 , 11 are facing each other . each of the magnet sub - assemblies has a back iron 6 , 16 , respectively . in each subassembly the back iron is located on the other side of the magnets to the space that is defined between the magnet sub - assemblies . the back iron adjoins each of the main and each of the subsidiary magnets in the sub - assembly and preferably entirely covers the surfaces of the magnets . the back iron also preferably tapers , at least partly , in the direction away from the space between the magnet sub - assemblies . the back iron is preferably formed from cofe . the coil 21 ( sp 2 in fig1 ), having two sides 21 a and 21 b ( as shown in fig2 a ), is located between the magnet sub - assemblies 1 , 11 ( ms in fig1 ) and is comprised of orthocyclic windings . the coil is arranged such that , where it is located between the first and second magnet sub - assemblies , the wires that it is composed from are perpendicular to both the first and second directions defined above . as shown in fig2 a , the wires are oriented in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the figure . the magnets in the first and second magnet sub - assemblies 1 , 11 are oriented such that the magnetic polarizations of the first main magnet 2 in the first magnet subassembly is parallel to the magnetic polarization of the first main magnet 12 of the second magnet sub - assembly and in a direction perpendicular to the first direction , defined above , namely perpendicular to the direction of the force generated by the actuator . the second main magnets 7 , 17 are oriented such that their magnetic polarizations are parallel to one another and anti - parallel to the magnetic polarizations of the first main magnets 2 , 12 . the subsidiary magnets of the magnet sub - assemblies are arranged in the so - called halbach configuration . the subsidiary magnets are oriented such that their magnetic polarizations are perpendicular to those of the main magnets . as stated above , each of the main magnets is located between two subsidiary magnets of the magnet sub - assembly . these pairs of subsidiary magnets are oriented such that their magnetic polarizations are anti - parallel to one another . furthermore , the pairs of corresponding subsidiary magnets in the first and second magnet sub - assemblies ( which , as described above , face each other across the separation between the two magnet sub - assemblies ), for example the first subsidiary magnet 5 of the first magnet sub - assembly and the first subsidiary magnet 15 of the second magnet sub - assembly , are also arranged such that their magnetic polarizations are anti - parallel to one another . the resulting magnetic field that this configuration produces , as shown in fig2 b , regions of approximately uniform magnetic field between the two pairs of main magnets . the two sides of the coil 21 a , 21 b are located in these regions . when an electric current is passed through the coil , the current flow through the two sides of the coil is in opposite directions . therefore , since the directions of magnetic field in the two regions in which the two sides of the coil 21 a , 21 b are located are also opposite , the force exerted on the two sides of the coil is in the same direction ( perpendicular to both the magnetic field and the current flow ). [ 0047 ] fig4 shows , in cross - section , the configuration of an alternative actuator of the present invention . this configuration comprises two coils 81 a , 81 b and 82 a , 82 b . therefore the structure of the first and second magnet sub - assemblies 51 , 71 is different to those depicted in fig2 a . each magnet sub - assembly is comprised of a first main magnet 57 , 77 , a second main magnet 55 , 75 , a third main magnet 53 , 73 , first subsidiary magnet 56 , 76 , second subsidiary magnet 54 , 74 and , as in the previous configuration , a back iron 52 , 72 . the main magnets are oriented such that the magnetic polarization of the first main magnet 57 of the first magnet sub - assembly is parallel to that of the first main magnet 77 of the second magnet sub - assembly , the magnetic polarization of the second main magnet 55 of the first magnet sub - assembly is parallel to that of the second main magnet 75 of the second magnet sub - assembly , and the magnetic polarization of the third main magnet 53 of the first magnet sub - assembly is parallel to that of the third main magnet 73 of the second magnet sub - assembly . as in the configuration of fig2 a , all of the main magnets are oriented such that their magnetic polarizations are perpendicular to the direction of the force produced by the actuator . in addition , the first main magnets 57 , 77 and the third main magnets 53 , 73 are oriented such that their magnetic polarizations are anti - parallel to those of the second main magnets 55 , 75 . the first subsidiary magnets 56 , 76 are located between the first main magnets 57 , 77 and the second main magnets 55 , 75 and the second subsidiary magnets 54 , 74 are located between the second main magnets 55 , 75 and the third main magnets 53 , 73 . consequently , the second main magnets are located between the subsidiary magnets of each magnet sub - assembly . the subsidiary magnets of the first magnet sub - assembly 51 are oriented such that their magnetic polarizations are mutually anti - parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic polarization of the second main magnet 55 . the subsidiary magnets of the second magnet sub - assembly are oriented in corresponding fashion and such that the magnetic polarization of the first subsidiary magnet 56 of the first magnet sub - assembly 51 is anti - parallel to the magnetic polarization of the first subsidiary magnet 76 of the second magnet sub - assembly 71 and the magnetic polarization of the second subsidiary magnet 54 of the first magnet sub - assembly 51 is anti - parallel to the magnetic polarization of the second subsidiary magnet 74 of the second magnet sub - assembly 71 . the resulting magnetic field between the main magnets of the two magnet sub - assemblies is approximately uniform . the coils are arranged such that the first portion 81 a of the first coil is located between the third main magnets 53 , 73 , the second portion 81 b of the first coil and the first portion 82 a of the second coil are located between the second main magnets 55 , 75 and the second portion 82 b of the second coil is located between the first main magnets 57 , 77 . when an electric current is passed through the coils 81 a , 81 b and 82 a , 82 b , the directions of the flow of electric current in the second part 81 b of the first coil and the first part 82 a of the second coil are mutually parallel and are anti - parallel to the directions of the flow of electric current in the first part 81 a of the first coil and the second part 82 b of the second coil 82 . since the direction of the magnetic field between the second main magnets 55 , 75 is opposite to the directions of the magnetic field between the first main magnets 57 , 77 and the third main magnets 53 , 73 , the forces produced on each of the parts 81 a , 81 b , 82 a , 82 b of the coils ( in a direction perpendicular to both the direction of the flow of current and the magnetic field ) are in the same direction . while specific embodiments of the invention have been described above , it will be appreciated that the invention may be practiced otherwise than as described . the description is not intended to limit the invention .
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US-22297502-A
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an optimized light source and a method of manufacturing the same . the light source is made up of an array of individual lighting elements and is optimized for electrical , optical and economic performance , as well as a method for configuring such an array . the a process for selecting individual lighting elements is based on characterizing and sorting individual lighting elements based on performance so that the performance of the overall array is improved by combing individual lighting elements whose individual performance might not otherwise meet the performance of the overall array .
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the present invention is directed to a method for selecting individual lighting elements from a large population in order to populate an array of lighting elements which may be used in the manufacture of a light source . the present invention is also directed to the manufactured light source resulting from the method taught by the present invention . fig1 is an exemplary embodiment of a solid state light 100 according to the present invention . the light 100 may be manufactured with leds according to the method taught in the present invention . the light 100 may include an led array 110 , which may be made up of individual leds , 120 , 125 , 130 , 135 , 140 and 145 . the led array 110 may be optimized according to the present invention in a manner where the leds are selected so that the led array 110 performs optimally for a selected parameter ( s ). depending on the application of the light 100 , the leds used to make up the led array 110 may be of different colors . in one embodiment , the leds 120 and 125 may be green leds , the leds 130 and 135 may be blue leds , and the leds 140 and 145 may be red leds . this is only one embodiment of the light 100 , and the led array 110 may be made up of any number of leds , and of various colors . fig2 is a schematic representation of the led array 1 o illustrated in fig1 . fig2 shows the leds 120 , 125 , 130 , 135 , 140 and 145 that make up the led array 110 , and may be selected according to the teachings of the present invention . the diodes 210 , 220 and 230 may be incorporated into the design of the circuit to protect the circuit from electrostatic discharge (“ esd ”). fig3 is a general exemplary flow diagram of a method 300 according to the present invention that may be used to select leds in the manufacturing process of the solid state light 100 . the steps of the method 300 will be described with reference to the elements and features of the solid state light 100 depicted in fig1 . however , the steps of the method 300 are not confined to the manufacture of the solid state light 100 , and may be used in the manufacture of nearly all lights that include an array of individual light elements . the first step of the method 300 is step 310 , where the design of an led light to be manufactured is identified . step 310 may include considerations such as the number , type and color of leds that will be used to make up the led array 110 . after the designs of the light 100 and the led array 110 are determined during the step 310 , at least one parameter to be optimized is identified in step 320 . parameters that may be selected may include forward voltage , dominant wavelength , peak wavelength , uniform light output , total luminous flux and color rendering index . the parameter ( s ) chosen may be based on considerations by the manufacturer of the led array 110 , such as the final use and application of the led array 110 , and may be different depending on what the manufacturer decides is important for its led array 110 . during steps 330 and 340 , led dies in a production batch available for the manufacture of the led array 110 may be tested and the results of the testing may be recorded . although the parameter ( s ) selected to be optimized during the step 320 may be important , it may not be the only performance test that is performed on the led dies in the production batch . the led dies in a production batch may undergo testing for several of the parameters mentioned above , in addition to other characteristics . after the led dies are tested in step 330 , the led dies may be sorted into groups during step 350 according to the parameter ( s ) selected in step 320 . this may be performed if only one parameter is chosen , or it may be performed if two or more parameters are chosen . the sorting of the led dies may include dividing the range of measured values for the selected parameter into smaller sub - ranges . the sub - ranges used for the sorting of the led dies may be as precise or coarse as desired , and may also be dictated by the parameter ( s ) selected in step 320 . after the led dies have been sorted according to the selected parameter ( s ), during step 360 , the sorted led dies may be specifically matched with other led dies according to their measured parameter performance . the matching process may include matching led dies from one group with led dies from another group so that when combined to make up the led array 110 , the parameter performance of the assembled led array 110 is optimized . this matching process may be performed by matching led dies grouped in an upper sub - range of the normal distribution with led dies grouped in a lower sub - range of the normal distribution . alternatively , the matching process may ensure that the led array 1 10 has an even distribution of led dies from all sub - ranges or groups . the matching process performed during step 360 may vary depending on the parameter ( s ) selected to be optimized . the matching process may also depend on the number of led dies that are to be used in the led array 110 , and the color of led dies to be used in the led array 110 . additionally , the matching step 360 may allow led dies that traditionally may have been discarded to be used , e . g ., when matched with led dies having complementary performance for a particular parameter . the selected sub - ranges may be chosen in a manner that maximizes the number of led dies that are used from a given a production , optimizing the yield . the matched led dies may then be used to produce the led array 110 during step 370 . when the matching process of step 360 is performed , the led array 110 will have improved performance for the selected parameter ( s ), and fewer led dies from a production batch will have to be discarded , resulting in a higher yield . the led array 110 produced in step 370 may then be used to manufacture the light 100 in step 380 . in a first embodiment , the light 100 may be a light source with optimized electrical , optical and economic performance with respect to the dominant wavelength parameter according to the present invention . the design of the light 100 may be identified during step 310 of the method 300 , and may include the led array 110 . the led array 110 in turn may include green leds ( 120 , 125 ), blue leds ( 130 , 135 ) and red leds ( 140 , 145 ). although the led array 110 may be made up of any number of leds of any color , for ease of illustration in this example , it will be assumed that the led array 110 is made up of only two leds . during step 320 of the method 300 , dominant wavelength is selected as the parameter to optimize . after dominant wavelength has been selected in step 320 , the led dies are tested in step 330 . during the testing of the led dies in step 330 , the values of the dominant wavelength are recorded for all the tested led dies as described in step 340 of method 300 . after these test results are obtained , the matching step 360 may be as simple as dividing the led dies into two sub - ranges , and selecting one led die from each of the two sub - ranges to make up the led array 110 . in the exemplary embodiment , if the range of the resulting normal distribution is 10 nm , the two sub - ranges may be an upper and lower band , with each band being 5 nm wide . the process of matching the led dies includes selecting one led die from the lower 5 nm sub - range , and a second led die from the upper 5 nm sub - range . fig4 shows the resulting dominant wavelength performance distribution of a 2 - led array with the same design as the led array 110 , but manufactured according to traditional methods of randomly selecting leds from passing components . fig5 shows the distribution of the dominant wavelength performance of the led arrays 110 manufactured according to the method of the present invention . fig6 is a table comparing relevant statistical data from the charts illustrated in fig4 and 5 , quantifying the performance improvements realized by implementing the method according to the present invention . first , the standard deviation of the led arrays manufactured according to the present invention ( 1 . 21 nm ) is approximately 43 % smaller than the standard deviation associated with the distribution of led arrays manufactured according to traditional methods ( 2 . 14 nm ). this indicates that the performance of the led arrays exhibits a much tighter distribution around the desired dominant wavelength for the led arrays manufactured according to the present invention . second , the overall range of the dominant wavelength performance of the led arrays manufactured according to the present invention ( 5 nm ) is considerable smaller than the range of the led arrays manufactured according to traditional methods ( 9 . 5 nm ). if even greater precision is desired , the matching step 360 may be modified so that more than two sub - ranges are utilized . in the exemplary embodiment , instead of establishing only an upper and a lower sub - range , the range of the normal distribution of dominant wavelength performance may be broken up into four sub - ranges . sub - range 1 may be 0 - 2 . 5 nm , sub - range 2 may be 2 . 5 - 5 nm , sub - range 3 may be 5 - 7 . 5 nm and sub - range 4 may be 7 . 5 - 10 nm . accordingly , led dies from sub - range 1 and sub - range 4 may be matched , and led dies from sub - range 2 may be matched with led dies from sub - range 3 . this results in a further improvement of dominant wavelength performance . in an alternative embodiment , peak wavelength may be selected as the parameter to be optimized . the method for optimizing the led array 110 for peak wavelength performance is similar to that described with respect to dominant wavelength , except the testing , recording , and matching are performed with respect to peak wavelength measurements . in yet another alternative embodiment , forward voltage may be selected as the parameter to be optimized . the method for optimizing the led array 110 for forward voltage performance is similar to that described with respect to dominant wavelength , except the testing , recording , and matching are performed with respect to forward voltage measurements . in yet another alternative embodiment , total luminous flux may be selected as the parameter to be optimized . the method for optimizing the led array 110 for total luminous flux performance is similar to that described with respect to dominant wavelength , except the testing , recording , and matching are performed with respect to total luminous flux measurements . in yet another alternative embodiment , the color rendering index (“ cri ”) may be selected as the parameter to be optimized . for cri , since the presence of all wavelengths of visible light in a given source results in the highest score , the method is slightly different . unlike the previously noted embodiment of optimizing the dominant wavelength by matching complementary led dies , in selecting led dies for an led array 110 according to an embodiment to optimize the cri value of the light , the led dies are selected from the dominant wavelength distribution so that an even distribution of the wavelengths present in the production batch is included in the led array 110 . this allows for the presence of as many wavelengths as possible in the led array 110 , resulting in an optimized cri measure . in yet another alternative embodiment , the uniform light output may be selected as the parameter to be optimized . the method for optimizing the led array 110 for uniform light output performance is similar to that described with respect to cri , except the testing , recording , and matching are performed utilizing total luminous flux measurements instead of dominant wavelength . in yet another alternative embodiment , more than one parameter may be selected to be optimized . although optimizing more than one parameter is more involved , the substantive steps of the method according to the present invention remain the same . fig7 shows a performance matrix that may be used in an embodiment where dominant wavelength and forward voltage are selected to be optimized . after all led dies are tested for all the selected parameters , each parameter may be divided into sub - ranges based on performance . in the exemplary embodiment , each parameter is divided into two sub - ranges : dominant wavelength performance is divided into sub - ranges dw 1 and dw 2 ; and forward voltage performance is divided into sub - ranges fv 1 and fv 2 . the led dies are then sorted according to their performance for all the selected parameters . in this embodiment , the led dies are sorted into four groups ( 710 , 720 , 730 , 740 ). after the sorting has been completed , the led dies are matched according to the recorded performance in the selected parameters . in the present embodiment , led dies from group 710 are matched with led dies from group 740 , and led dies from group 720 are matched with led dies from group 730 . the performance of the led array 110 resulting from this embodiment is optimized for both forward voltage and dominant wavelength . in another embodiment of the present invention , an led light may include led array 800 as illustrated in fig8 . the led array 800 includes three strings ( 810 , 820 , 830 ) of six leds each . back - to - back zener diodes 840 and 850 may be incorporated in the design of the circuit to provide esd protection for the circuit . for led array designs that incorporate long strings of leds , such as the one illustrated in fig8 , it is important that the current flowing through each of the strings is balanced . unbalanced current through each of the stings may result in improper operation , or premature damage to the circuit and / or failure . traditionally , to ensure balanced current through each of the strings , the production led dies are tested for forward voltage against a narrow specification range . this generally leads to many failing led dies , resulting in low yields . this yield may be substantially increased if the led array 800 is manufactured according to the teachings of the present invention . according to the present invention , during steps 330 and 340 of the method 300 , each led die is tested for its forward voltage performance , and the results are recorded . next , the tested led dies are sorted according to their forward voltage performance . then , during step 360 , the led dies are matched with other led dies according to their respective forward voltage performances so that the total forward voltage of each led string is matched to the other strings , resulting in balanced current through each string . this matching allows for a higher yield in usable led dies since the matched led dies compensate for the forward voltage performance of the other led dies , even if the performance of the individual led dies fall outside the narrow specification traditionally used . for example , where the ideal forward voltage for each six - led string is 12v with an acceptable specification of ± 0 . 6v , the ideal forward voltage per led is 2v with an acceptable range of ± 0 . 1v . traditionally , any led performing outside this ± 0 . 1v range may be discarded . however , maintaining the 12v ± 0 . 6v per string specification of this example , the present invention prevents led dies performing outside the specified range of 2v ± 0 . 1v from being discarded . if the production led dies include led dies having forward voltages of 2 . 3v , 1 . 7v , 2 . 2v , 1 . 8v , 2 . 0v and 2 . 2v , these led dies are combined to form a string that would be within the specification for the entire string with a total forward voltage of 12 . 2v . however , applying the traditional method would have required that the 2 . 3v , 1 . 7v , 1 . 8v and both 2 . 2v led dies be discarded since they perform outside the specification range of 2v ± 0 . 1v . accordingly , the present invention allows more led dies of a production batch to be utilized , resulting in a higher yield and reduced overall costs . in another alternative embodiment , total luminous flux of the strings may be the parameter selected . the method for optimizing the yield for manufacturing led array 800 for total luminous flux is similar to that described with respect to forward voltage , except the testing , recording , and matching are performed utilizing total luminous flux measurements instead of forward voltage . it is understood that the above - described embodiments are illustrative of only a few of the many possible specific embodiments , which can represent applications of the invention . numerous and varied other arrangements can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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US-93763807-A
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a spring member for cooperative engagement with a rotatable drag adjustment wheel . the spring is anchored with the deck plate and has an associated , resilient arm for engagement with notches on the drag wheel . the spring inhibits rotation of the wheel to resist adjustment thereof and interacts with the notches to produce an audible click to remind the user to movement of the wheel .
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as detailed in fig1 - 4 , drag actuation is effected by a drag wheel 460 having a rotational axis in substantially parallel alignment with the crankshaft 251 . the wheel 460 is captured between longitudinally spaced , depending walls 600 and protrudes through a rectangular slot 462 slightly beyond the outer surface 602 of the reel body 20 . the walls 600 are joined by a longitudinally directed wall portion 601 , which in conjunction with the depending walls 600 , provides a substantially enclosed shroud about the wheel 460 . a pair of aligned apertures 603 are formed through the walls 600 with the wheel 460 having a threaded bore 604 ( fig4 ) aligned with the apertures 603 . a threaded bolt 466 passes freely through the apertures 603 and is threaded in bore 604 for suspending the wheel 460 in the shroud . drag braking is accomplished by effecting forward movement of the drag plate 210 which applies pressure at the back of the spool 131 through the intermediate back spool washer 230 and flat drag washer 233 . the drag plate 210 has diametrically opposed tabs 470 bent generally perpendicularly in a common direction out of the plane of the drag plate 210 . the deck plate 21 has locating apertures for receiving each of the tabs 470 . the one aperture 603 is in direct alignment with the bolt 466 suspending the drag wheel 460 . the forward end 472 of the bolt is slotted at 471 and is accessible through the aperture 603 . with the drag plate 210 positioned upon the reel body 20 , the one tab 470 will seat closely in the slotted end 471 of the bolt 466 . this arrangement of the drag plate 210 prohibits rotation of the bolt 466 as the drag wheel 460 is manipulated . as a result , rotation of the drag wheel , which is confined longitudinally between the previously described walls 600 on the reel body , effects fore or aft movement of the bolt 466 relative to the reel body 20 , depending upon the direction of rotation . rotation of the wheel in a first direction forces the drag plate 210 forwardly in the vicinity of the tab 470 mating with the bolt 466 , thereby increasing drag braking pressure on the spool 131 . retraction of the bolt 466 and reduction of the braking pressure is accomplished by rotation of the drag wheel 460 oppositely to the first direction . the degree of drag braking is then precisely controllable . a spring member 608 interacts with the peripheral edge 610 of the drag wheel 460 to add resistance to turning the drag wheel 460 and to audibly indicate when turning of the drag wheel takes place . the outer edge 610 of the wheel 460 is provided with uniformly circumferentially spaced , v - shaped notches 612 . the notches 612 define an irregular outer surface that facilitates manipulation of the wheel 460 by the user . the notches also interact with the spring 608 as will be described hereinafter . the spring 608 which is formed from a flexible , resilient wire , is anchored about a cylindrical post 614 extending rearwardly from the back wall of the deck plate 21 at a vertically spaced position from the axis of the bolt 466 . the spring 608 is coiled intermediate its length with turns 616 disposed closely about the post 614 . two legs of the spring 608 extend oppositely from the post 614 . a first lower leg 618 of the spring 608 originates from adjacent the base of the post 614 and is trapped between an abutment ramp 621 formed on the deck plate 21 and an anchor lug 623 projecting from the deck plate 21 . the opposite leg 624 of the spring 608 departs the post 614 from the rear region thereof just forward of the adjacent surface 625 of the wheel 460 and is directed upwardly and angularly inwardly from the vertical . the end 626 of the leg 624 is offset so as to align axially with the length of the notches 612 in the wheel 460 . with the reel viewed from the rear in fig2 and 3 , it can be seen that the spring overlaps with a portion of the wheel 460 and engages the outer edge of wheel 460 at approximately the four o &# 39 ; clock position . the spring 608 thus applies a constant radial pressure on the wheel in the direction of the bolt 466 , thereby reducing the possibility of rattling . the end 626 of the spring 608 binds within the notches 612 to inhibit rotation which , as previously indicated , is most important with a reduced drag setting . further , an audible click is produced as the end 626 follows the outer edge of the wheel 460 . the spring end 626 traverses the outer ridges 628 between the notches 612 and upon encountering the notches 612 is propelled against the wall 630 within each notch by the restoring force in the spring arm 624 . because the wheel 460 is fabricated from a lightweight plastic , the sharp rap of the spring end 626 against the walls 630 within the notch will vibrate the wheel which can be sensed by the user . thus fine adjustments of the drag can be detected by the user , even should the clicking sound be muffled . a modified embodiment of the invention is shown in fig5 and 6 . the drag wheel 760 , rather than being provided with circumferential notches , has radially extending , rectangular notches 632 disposed about the face 733 of the wheel 760 . a rearwardly directed post 714 is integrally formed with the deck plate 21 and has a squared or shaped cross - section . a resilient member 735 is mounted on the post 714 and comprises a sleeve 734 shaped internally to conform with the shape of the post 714 and a resilient arm 736 connected by a connecting arm 738 to the sleeve 734 . the sleeve 734 is press fit on the post 714 with the connecting arm 738 seated flushly against the facing wall of the deck plate . in operation the arm 736 is deformed laterally by the ridges 726 between the notches 632 and , as with the wire spring , inhibits rotation of the wheel and alerts the user to rotation of the drag wheel with an audible click . another modified embodiment of the invention is shown in fig7 and 9 wherein a drag wheel 860 is provided and has a brass or stainless steel hex nut 862 cast or formed at the midportion of the wheel 860 . the nut 862 has the female threads engaging with the threads of the bolt 466 . the nut being of metal forms a better and longer lasting threaded connection with the threads on the metal bolt 466 . the shape of the outer periphery of the nut forms a positive junction with the material of the wheel 860 so that the wheel and nut will rotate with each other . the outer periphery of the wheel has knurling 861 or the like to enhance the purchase on the wheel for turning the wheel . a concentric groove 863 is formed in the rear face 864 of the wheel with a plurality of equally spaced notches 866 formed in the one wall of the groove so as to open radially outward of the hub of the wheel . a spring 868 formed of flexible resilient wire is anchored by coils 870 about cylindrical post 614 and has its first lower leg 872 trapped between abutment ramp 621 and anchor lug 623 in substantially the same manner as the embodiment shown in fig2 and 4 . the opposite leg 874 of the spring departs the post 614 from the rear region of the post and is directed upwardly from the post . the end portion 870 of the leg 874 is formed into a c - shape out of the plane of the leg 874 . the back 878 of the c - shaped end portion 876 is flat and lies in the concentric groove 863 with the upper end 880 of the end portion 876 lying substantially parallel to the notches 866 in the groove 863 in the wheel as the end 880 is seated in one of the notches 866 . the spring 868 reduces rattling of the parts and inhibits rotation of the wheel 860 . as the wheel 860 is rotated , audible clicking sounds will be generated as the spring end 880 traverses from notch to notch in the wheel . the spring force is such as to create the sharp clicking sounds and to positively retain the wheel in place until moved by force overcoming the spring restraining force . it should be understood , of course , that the specific forms of the invention illustrated and described herein are intended to be representative only , as certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein disclosed . accordingly , reference should be made to the appended claims in ascertaining the full scope of the invention .
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US-53931483-A
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the invention provides a plurality of plasma tuning rod subsystems . the plasma tuning rod subsystems can comprise one or more microwave cavities configured to couple electromagnetic energy in a desired em wave mode to a plasma by generating resonant microwave energy in one or more plasma tuning rods within and / or adjacent to the plasma . one or more microwave cavity assemblies can be coupled to a process chamber , and can comprise one or more tuning spaces / cavities . each tuning space / cavity can have one or more plasma tuning rods coupled thereto . some of the plasma tuning rods can be configured to couple the em energy from one or more of the resonant cavities to the process space within the process chamber and thereby create uniform plasma within the process space .
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a microwave processing system is disclosed in various embodiments . however , one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the various embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details , or with other replacement and / or additional methods , materials , or components . in other instances , well - known structures , materials , or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of various embodiments of the invention . similarly , for purposes of explanation , specific numbers , materials , and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention . nevertheless , the invention may be practiced without specific details . furthermore , it is understood that the various embodiments shown in the figures are illustrative representations and are not necessarily drawn to scale . reference throughout this specification to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” or variation thereof means that a particular feature , structure , material , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention , but do not denote that they are present in every embodiment . thus , the appearances of the phrases such as “ in one embodiment ” or “ in an embodiment ” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment of the invention . furthermore , the particular features , structures , materials , or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . nonetheless , it should be appreciated that , contained within the description are features which , notwithstanding the inventive nature of the general concepts being explained , are also of an inventive nature . referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , fig1 a - 1c illustrate different views of a first microwave processing system according to embodiments of the invention . the first microwave processing system 100 may be used in plasma curtain deposition system or a plasma enhanced deposition system . fig1 a shows a partial cut - away top view of a process chamber 110 in a first microwave processing system 100 . the top view shows an x / y plane view of a first interface assembly , a second interface assembly 112 b , and a plurality of additional chamber walls 112 coupled to the first interface assembly 112 a and the second interface assembly 112 b thereby forming the process chamber 110 . for example , the chamber walls 112 can have wall thicknesses ( t ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the first interface assembly 112 a can have a first interface thickness ( t i1 ) associated therewith , and the first interface thickness ( t i1 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second interface assembly 112 b can have a second interface thickness ( t i2 ) associated therewith , and the second interface thickness ( t i2 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the process space 115 can have a length ( x t ) associated therewith , and the length ( x t ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm . the top view shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 168 a having a first em energy tuning space 169 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 168 a can include a first cavity wall 165 a , a second cavity wall 166 a , at least one third cavity wall 167 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , the first cavity assembly 168 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 112 a using the first cavity wall 165 a , and the walls ( 165 a , 166 a , and 167 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t a ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t a ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the first em energy tuning space 169 a can have a first length ( x t1a ) and a first width ( y 1a ) associated therewith , the first length ( x t1a ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the first width ( y 1a ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . the top view also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 168 b having a second em energy tuning space 169 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 168 b can include a first cavity wall 165 b , a second cavity wall 166 b , at least one third cavity wall 167 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 168 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 112 b using the first cavity wall 165 b , and walls ( 165 b , 166 b , and 167 b ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t b ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t b ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the second em energy tuning space 169 b can have a second length ( x t1b ) and a second width ( y 1b ) associated therewith , the second length ( x t1b ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the second width ( y 1b ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . in some exemplary systems , a first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a , 164 b , 164 c , 164 d , and 164 e ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 112 a and can be configured to isolate the process space 115 from the first em energy tuning space 169 a . the first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a , 164 b , 164 c , 164 d , and 164 e ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 a , 170 b , 170 c , 170 d , and 170 e ) and ( 175 a , 175 b , 175 c , 175 d , and 175 e )} to a first interface assembly 112 a . for example , the first set of plasma - tuning portions ( 170 a , 170 b , 170 c , 170 d , and 170 e ) can be configured in the process space 115 , and the first set of em - tuning portion ( 175 a , 175 b , 175 c , 175 d , and 175 e ) can be configured within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . a second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f , 164 g , 164 h , 164 i , and 164 j ) can be removably coupled to the second interface assembly 112 b and can be configured to isolate the process space 115 from the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f , 164 g , 164 h , 164 i , and 164 j ) can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 f , 170 g , 170 h , 170 i , and 170 j ) and ( 175 f , 175 g , 175 h , 175 i , and 175 j )} to the second interface assembly 112 b . for example , the second set of plasma - tuning portions ( 170 f , 170 g , 170 h , 170 i , and 170 j ) can be configured in the process space 115 , and the second set of em - tuning portion ( 175 f , 175 g , 175 h , 175 h , and 175 j ) can be configured within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . still referring to fig1 a , a first plasma - tuning rod ( 170 a , 175 a ) can comprise dielectric material , can have a first plasma - tuning portion 170 a that can extend a first plasma - tuning distance 171 a into the process space 115 at a first location defined using ( x 2a ). for example , the first plasma - tuning distance 171 a can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a first em - coupling region 162 a can be established at a first em - coupling distance 176 a from the first cavity wall 165 a within the first em energy tuning space 169 a established in the first cavity assembly 168 a , and the first em - tuning portion 175 a can extend into the first em - coupling region 162 a . the first em - tuning portion 175 a can obtain first microwave energy from the first em - coupling region 162 a , and the first microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the first location ( x 2a ) using the first plasma - tuning portion 170 a . the first em - coupling region 162 a can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the first em - coupling distance 176 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the first em - coupling distance 176 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a first plasma - tuning slab 161 a can be coupled to a first control assembly 160 a that can be used to move 163 a the first plasma - tuning slab 161 a a first em - tuning distance 177 a relative to the first em - tuning portion 175 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 170 a , 175 a ) within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . the first control assembly 160 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 161 a can comprise dielectric material and can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the first em - coupling region 162 a to the first em - tuning portion 175 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 170 a , 175 a ). thr first em - tuning distance 177 a can be established between the first em - tuning portion 175 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 161 a within the first em energy tuning space 169 a , and the first em - tuning distance 177 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning rod ( 170 a , 175 a ) can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith , and the first diameter ( d 1a ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning slab 161 a can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith , and the first diameter ( d 1a ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first em - coupling region 162 a , the first control assembly 160 a , and the first plasma - tuning slab 161 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). for example , first control assembly 160 a can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1a ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a second plasma - tuning rod ( 170 b , 175 b ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a second plasma - tuning portion 170 b that can extend a second plasma - tuning distance 171 b into the process space 115 at a second location defined using ( x 1b ). for example , the second plasma - tuning distance 171 b can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a second em - coupling region 162 b can be established at a second em - coupling distance 176 b from the first cavity wall 165 a within the first em energy tuning space 169 a established in the first cavity assembly 168 a , and the second em - tuning portion 175 b can extend into the second em - coupling region 162 b . the second em - tuning portion 175 b can obtain second microwave energy from the second em - coupling region 162 b , and the second microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the second location ( x 1b ) using the second plasma - tuning portion 170 b . the second em - coupling region 162 b can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the second em - coupling distance 176 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second em - coupling distance 176 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a second plasma - tuning slab 161 b can be coupled to a second control assembly 160 b and can be used to move 163 b the second plasma - tuning slab 161 b a second em - tuning distance 177 b relative to the second em - tuning portion 175 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 170 b , 175 b ) within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . the second control assembly 160 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 161 b can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the second em - coupling region 162 b to the second em - tuning portion 175 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 170 b , 175 b ). for example , the second em - tuning distance 177 b can be established between the second em - tuning portion 175 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 161 b within the first em energy tuning space 169 a , and the second em - tuning distance 177 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning rod ( 170 b , 175 b ) can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning slab 161 b can comprise dielectric material and can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second em - coupling region 162 b , the second control assembly 160 b , and the second plasma - tuning slab 161 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). for example , the second control assembly 160 b can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1b ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a third plasma - tuning rod ( 170 c , 175 c ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a third plasma - tuning portion 170 c that can extend a third plasma - tuning distance 171 c into the process space 115 at a third location defined using ( x 2c ). for example , the third plasma - tuning distance 171 c can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a third em - coupling region 162 c can be established at a third em - coupling distance 176 c from the first cavity wall 165 a within the first em energy tuning space 169 a established in the first cavity assembly 168 a , and the third em - tuning portion 175 c can extend into the third em - coupling region 162 c . the third em - tuning portion 175 c can obtain third microwave energy from the third em - coupling region 162 c , and the third microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the third location ( x 2c ) using the third plasma - tuning portion 170 c . the third em - coupling region 162 c can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the third em - coupling distance 176 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the third em - coupling distance 176 c can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a third plasma - tuning slab 161 c can be coupled to a third control assembly 160 c and can be used to move 163 c the third plasma - tuning slab 161 c a third em - tuning distance 177 c relative to the third em - tuning portion 175 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 170 c , 175 c ) within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . the third control assembly 160 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 161 c can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the third em - coupling region 162 c to the third em - tuning portion 175 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 170 c , 175 c ). for example , the third em - tuning distance 177 c can be established between the third em - tuning portion 175 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 161 c within the first em energy tuning space 169 a , and the third em - tuning distance 177 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning rod ( 170 c , 175 c ) can have a third diameter ( d 1c ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning slab 161 c can comprise dielectric material and can have a third diameter ( d 1c ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third em - coupling region 162 c , the third control assembly 160 c , and the third plasma - tuning slab 161 c can have a third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) associated therewith , and the third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the third control assembly 160 c can comprise dielectric material and can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1c ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 d , 175 d ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fourth plasma - tuning portion 170 d that can extend a fourth plasma - tuning distance 171 d into the process space 115 at a fourth location defined using ( x 2d ). for example , the fourth plasma - tuning distance 171 d can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fourth em - coupling region 162 d can be established at a fourth em - coupling distance 176 d from the first cavity wall 165 a within the first em energy tuning space 169 a established in the first cavity assembly 168 a , and the fourth em - tuning portion 175 d can extend into the fourth em - coupling region 162 d . the fourth em - tuning portion 175 d can obtain fourth microwave energy from the fourth em - coupling region 162 d , and the fourth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the fourth location ( x 2d ) using the fourth plasma - tuning portion 170 d . the fourth em - coupling region 162 d can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fourth em - coupling distance 176 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fourth em - coupling distance 176 d can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fourth plasma - tuning slab 161 d can be coupled to a fourth control assembly 160 d and can be used to move 163 d the fourth plasma - tuning slab 161 d a fourth em - tuning distance 177 d relative to the fourth em - tuning portion 175 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 d , 175 d ) within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . the fourth control assembly 160 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 161 d can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fourth em - coupling region 162 d to the fourth em - tuning portion 175 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 d , 175 d ). for example , the fourth em - tuning distance 177 d can be established between the fourth em - tuning portion 175 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 161 d within the first em energy tuning space 169 a , and the fourth em - tuning distance 177 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 d , 175 d ) can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning slab 161 d can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth em - coupling region 162 d , the fourth control assembly 160 d , and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 161 d can have a fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) associated therewith , and the fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fourth control assembly 160 d can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1d ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 e , 175 e ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fifth plasma - tuning portion 170 e that can extend a fifth plasma - tuning distance 171 e into the process space 115 at a fifth location defined using ( x 2e ). for example , the fifth plasma - tuning distance 171 e can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fifth em - coupling region 162 e can be established at a fifth em - coupling distance 176 e from the first cavity wall 165 a within the first em energy tuning space 169 a established in the first cavity assembly 168 a , and the fifth em - tuning portion 175 e can extend into the fifth em - coupling region 162 e . the fifth em - tuning portion 175 e can obtain fifth microwave energy from the fifth em - coupling region 162 e , and the fifth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the fifth location ( x 2e ) using the fifth plasma - tuning portion 170 e . the fifth em - coupling region 162 e can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fifth em - coupling distance 176 e can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fifth em - coupling distance 176 e can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fifth plasma - tuning slab 161 e can comprise dielectric material and can be coupled to a fifth control assembly 160 e and can be used to move 163 e the fifth plasma - tuning slab 161 e a fifth em - tuning distance 177 e relative to the fifth em - tuning portion 175 e of the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 e , 175 e ) within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . the fifth control assembly 160 e and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 161 e can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fifth em - coupling region 162 e to the fifth em - tuning portion 175 e of the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 e , 175 e ). for example , the fifth em - tuning distance 177 e can be established between the fifth em - tuning portion 175 e and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 161 e within the first em energy tuning space 169 a , and the fifth em - tuning distance 177 e can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 e , 175 e ) can have a fifth diameter ( d 1e ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fifth plasma - tuning slab 161 e can have a fifth diameter ( d 1e ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fifth em - coupling region 162 e , the fifth control assembly 160 e , and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 161 e can have a fifth x / y plane offset ( x 1e ) associated therewith , and the fifth x / y plane offset ( x 1e ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fifth control assembly 160 e can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1e ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . still referring to fig1 a , a sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 f , 175 f ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a sixth plasma - tuning portion 170 f that can extend a sixth plasma - tuning distance 171 f into the process space 115 at a sixth location defined using ( x 2f ). the sixth plasma - tuning distance 171 f can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a sixth em - coupling region 162 f can comprise dielectric material and can be established at a sixth em - coupling distance 176 f from the first cavity wall 165 b within the second em energy tuning space 169 b established in the second cavity assembly 168 b , and the sixth em - tuning portion 175 f can extend into the sixth em - coupling region 162 f . the sixth em - tuning portion 175 f can obtain sixth microwave energy from the sixth em - coupling region 162 f , and the sixth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the sixth location ( x 2f ) using the sixth plasma - tuning portion 170 f . the sixth em - coupling region 162 f can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . the sixth em - coupling distance 176 f can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , or can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a sixth plasma - tuning slab 161 f can comprise dielectric material and can be coupled to a sixth control assembly 160 f and can be used to move 163 f the sixth plasma - tuning slab 161 f a sixth em - tuning distance 177 f relative to the sixth em - tuning portion 175 f of the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 f , 175 f ) within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the sixth control assembly 160 f and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 161 f can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the sixth em - coupling region 162 f to the sixth em - tuning portion 175 f of the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 f , 175 f ). for example , the sixth em - tuning distance 177 f can be established between the sixth em - tuning portion 175 f and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 161 f within the second em energy tuning space 169 b , and the sixth em - tuning distance 177 f can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 f , 175 f ) can have a sixth diameter ( d 1f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the sixth plasma - tuning slab 161 f can have a sixth diameter ( d 1f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the sixth em - coupling region 162 f , the sixth control assembly 160 f , and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 161 f can have a sixth x / y plane offset ( x 1f ) associated therewith , and the sixth x / y plane offset ( x 1f ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the sixth control assembly 160 f can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1f ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 170 g , 175 g ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a seventh plasma - tuning portion 170 g that can extend a seventh plasma - tuning distance 171 g into the process space 115 at a seventh location defined using ( x 2g ). the seventh plasma - tuning distance 171 g can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a seventh em - coupling region 162 g can be established at a seventh em - coupling distance 176 g from the first cavity wall 165 b within the second em energy tuning space 169 b established in the second cavity assembly 168 b , and the seventh em - tuning portion 175 g can extend into the seventh em - coupling region 162 g . the seventh em - tuning portion 175 g can obtain seventh microwave energy from the seventh em - coupling region 162 g , and the seventh microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the seventh location ( x 2g ) using the seventh plasma - tuning portion 170 g . the seventh em - coupling region 162 g can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the seventh em - coupling distance 176 g can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the seventh em - coupling distance 176 g can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a seventh plasma - tuning slab 161 g can comprise dielectric material and can be coupled to a seventh control assembly 160 g and can be used to move 163 g the seventh plasma - tuning slab 161 g a seventh em - tuning distance 177 g relative to the seventh em - tuning portion 175 g of the seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 170 g , 175 g ) within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the seventh control assembly 160 g and the seventh plasma - tuning slab 161 g can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the seventh em - coupling region 162 g to the seventh em - tuning portion 175 g of the seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 170 g , 175 g ). for example , the seventh em - tuning distance 177 g can be established between the seventh em - tuning portion 175 g and the seventh plasma - tuning slab 161 g within the second em energy tuning space 169 b , and the seventh em - tuning distance 177 g can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 170 g , 175 g ) can have a seventh diameter ( d 1g ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the seventh plasma - tuning slab 161 g can have a seventh diameter ( d 1g ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the seventh em - coupling region 162 g , the seventh control assembly 160 g , and the seventh plasma - tuning slab 161 g can have a seventh x / y plane offset ( x 1g ) associated therewith , and the seventh x / y plane offset ( x 1g ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the seventh control assembly 160 g can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1g ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . an eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 h , 175 h ) can comprise dielectric material and can have an eighth plasma - tuning portion 170 h that can extend an eighth plasma - tuning distance 171 h into the process space 115 at an eighth location defined using ( x 2h ). the eighth plasma - tuning distance 171 h can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . an eighth em - coupling region 162 h can be established at an eighth em - coupling distance 176 h from the first cavity wall 165 b within the second em energy tuning space 169 b established in the second cavity assembly 168 b , and the eighth em - tuning portion 175 h can extend into the eighth em - coupling region 162 h . the eighth em - tuning portion 175 h can obtain eighth microwave energy from the eighth em - coupling region 162 h , and the eighth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the eighth location ( x 2h ) using the eighth plasma - tuning portion 170 h . the eighth em - coupling region 162 h can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the eighth em - coupling distance 176 h can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the eighth em - coupling distance 176 h can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). an eighth plasma - tuning slab 161 h can comprise dielectric material and can be coupled to an eighth control assembly 160 h and can be used to move 163 h the eighth plasma - tuning slab 161 h an eighth em - tuning distance 177 h relative to the eighth em - tuning portion 175 h of the eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 h , 175 h ) within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the eighth control assembly 160 h and the eighth plasma - tuning slab 161 h can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the eighth em - coupling region 162 h to the eighth em - tuning portion 175 h of the eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 h , 175 h ). the eighth em - tuning distance 177 h can be established between the eighth em - tuning portion 175 h and the eighth plasma - tuning slab 161 h within the second em energy tuning space 169 b , and the eighth em - tuning distance 177 h can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 h , 175 h ) can have an eighth diameter ( d 1h ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the eighth plasma - tuning slab 161 h can have an eighth diameter ( d 1h ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the eighth em - coupling region 162 h , the eighth control assembly 160 h , and the eighth plasma - tuning slab 161 h can have an eighth x / y plane offset ( x 1h ) associated therewith , and the eighth x / y plane offset ( x 1h ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the eighth control assembly 160 h can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1h ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a ninth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 i , 175 i ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a ninth plasma - tuning portion 170 i that can extend a ninth plasma - tuning distance 171 i into the process space 115 at a ninth location defined using ( x 2 ). for example , the ninth plasma - tuning distance 171 i can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a ninth em - coupling region 162 i can be established at a ninth em - coupling distance 176 i from the first cavity wall 165 b within the second em energy tuning space 169 b established in the second cavity assembly 168 b , and the ninth em - tuning portion 175 i can extend into the ninth em - coupling region 162 i . the ninth em - tuning portion 175 i can obtain ninth microwave energy from the ninth em - coupling region 162 i , and the ninth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the ninth location ( x 2 ) using the ninth plasma - tuning portion 170 i . the ninth em - coupling region 162 i can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the ninth em - coupling distance 176 i can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the ninth em - coupling distance 176 i can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a ninth plasma - tuning slab 161 i can comprise dielectric material and can be coupled to a ninth control assembly 160 i and can be used to move 163 i the ninth plasma - tuning slab 161 i a ninth em - tuning distance 177 i relative to the ninth em - tuning portion 175 i of the ninth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 i , 175 i ) within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the ninth control assembly 160 i and the ninth plasma - tuning slab 161 i can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the ninth em - coupling region 162 i to the ninth em - tuning portion 175 i of the ninth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 i , 175 i ). for example , the ninth em - tuning distance 177 i can be established between the ninth em - tuning portion 175 i and the ninth plasma - tuning slab 161 i within the second em energy tuning space 169 b , and the ninth em - tuning distance 177 i can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the ninth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 i , 175 i ) can have a ninth diameter ( d 1i ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the ninth plasma - tuning slab 161 i can have a ninth diameter ( d 1i ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the ninth em - coupling region 162 i , the ninth control assembly 160 i , and the ninth plasma - tuning slab 161 i can have a ninth x / y plane offset ( x 1i ) associated therewith , and the ninth x / y plane offset ( x 1i ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the ninth control assembly 160 i can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1i ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a tenth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 j , 175 j ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a tenth plasma - tuning portion 170 j that can extend a tenth plasma - tuning distance 171 j into the process space 115 at a tenth location defined using ( x 2j ). for example , the tenth plasma - tuning distance 171 j can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a tenth em - coupling region 162 j can be established at a tenth em - coupling distance 176 j from the first cavity wall 165 b within the second em energy tuning space 169 b established in the second cavity assembly 168 b , and the tenth em - tuning portion 175 j can extend into the tenth em - coupling region 162 j . the tenth em - tuning portion 175 j can obtain tenth microwave energy from the tenth em - coupling region 162 j , and the tenth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 115 at the tenth location ( x 2j ) using the tenth plasma - tuning portion 170 j . the tenth em - coupling region 162 j can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the tenth em - coupling distance 176 j can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the tenth em - coupling distance 176 j can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a tenth plasma - tuning slab 161 j can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a tenth control assembly 160 j and can be used to move 163 j the tenth plasma - tuning slab 161 j a tenth em - tuning distance 177 j relative to the tenth em - tuning portion 175 j of the tenth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 j , 175 j ) within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the tenth control assembly 160 j and the tenth plasma - tuning slab 161 j can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the tenth em - coupling region 162 j to the tenth em - tuning portion 175 j of the tenth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 j , 175 j ). for example , the tenth em - tuning distance 177 j can be established between the tenth em - tuning portion 175 j and the tenth plasma - tuning slab 161 j within the second em energy tuning space 169 b , and the tenth em - tuning distance 177 j can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the tenth plasma - tuning rod ( 170 j , 175 j ) can have a tenth diameter ( d 1i ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the tenth plasma - tuning slab 161 j can have a tenth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the tenth em - coupling region 162 j , the tenth control assembly 160 j , and the tenth plasma - tuning slab 161 j can have a tenth x / y plane offset ( x 1j ) associated therewith , and the tenth x / y plane offset ( x ij ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the tenth control assembly 160 j can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1j ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the top view of first microwave processing system 100 includes a top view of a first cavity - control assembly 145 a that is shown coupled to a top view of a first cavity - tuning slab 146 a . the first cavity - control assembly 145 a can have a first diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first cavity - tuning slab 146 a can have a second diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the second diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 145 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 146 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . in addition , the top view of first microwave processing system 100 includes a top view of a second cavity - control assembly 145 b that is shown coupled to a top view of a second cavity - tuning slab 146 b . the second cavity - control assembly 145 b can have a first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second cavity - tuning slab 146 b can have a second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 145 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 146 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig1 b shows a partial cut - away front view of a process chamber 110 in a first microwave processing system 100 . the front view shows an x / z plane view of a plurality of additional walls 112 coupled to each other , thereby creating a partial cut - away front view of a process space 115 in the process chamber 110 . the first microwave processing system 100 can be configured to form plasma in the process space 115 . the front view shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 168 a having a first em energy tuning space 169 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 168 a can include a first cavity wall 165 a , a second cavity wall 166 a , at least one third cavity wall 167 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 168 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 112 a using the first cavity wall 165 a . the front view also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 168 b having a second em energy tuning space 169 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 168 b can include a first cavity wall 165 b , a second cavity wall 166 b , at least one third cavity wall 167 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 168 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 112 b using the first cavity wall 165 b . a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 a - 170 e ), a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e ), a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 f - 170 j ), and a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j ) are shown in fig1 b . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 a - 170 e ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e ) can have a first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - e ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - e ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 a - 170 e ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e ) can have a first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - e ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - e ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 f - 170 j ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j ) can have a second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2fj ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2fj ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 f - 170 j ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j ) can have a second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1f - j ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1f - j ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . fig1 b shows that the first microwave processing system 100 can include one or more plasma sensors 106 coupled to a chamber wall 112 to obtain first plasma data . in addition , the first microwave processing system 100 may be configured to process 200 mm substrates , 300 mm substrates , or larger - sized substrates . in addition , square and / or rectangular chambers can be configured so that the first microwave processing system 100 may be configured to process square or rectangular substrates , wafers , or lcds regardless of their size , as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art . therefore , while aspects of the invention will be described in connection with the processing of a semiconductor substrate , the invention is not limited solely thereto . as shown in fig1 b , a first em source 150 a can be coupled to a first cavity assembly 168 a , and a second em source 150 b can be coupled to a second cavity assembly 168 b . the first em source 150 a can be coupled to a first matching network 152 a , and the first matching network 152 a can be coupled to a first coupling network 154 a . the second em source 150 b can be coupled to a second matching network 152 b , and the second matching network 152 b can be coupled to a second coupling network 154 b . alternatively , a plurality of matching networks ( not shown ) or a plurality of coupling networks ( not shown ) may be used . the first coupling network 154 a can be removably coupled to the first cavity assembly 168 a that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a first interface assembly 112 a of the process chamber 110 . the first coupling network 154 a can be used to provide microwave energy to the first em energy tuning space 169 a in the first cavity assembly 168 a . the second coupling network 154 b can be removably coupled to the second cavity assembly 168 b that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a second interface assembly 112 b of the process chamber 110 . the second coupling network 154 b can be used to provide additional microwave energy to the second em energy tuning space 169 b in the second cavity assembly 168 b . alternatively , other em - coupling configurations may be used . as shown in fig1 b , a controller 195 can be coupled 196 to the em sources ( 150 a , 150 b ), the matching networks ( 152 a , 152 b ), the coupling networks ( 154 a , 154 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 168 a , 168 b ), and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 150 a , 150 b ), the matching networks ( 152 a , 152 b ), the coupling networks ( 154 a , 154 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 168 a , 168 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 . for example , the em sources ( 150 a , 150 b ) can operate at a frequency from about 500 mhz to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 195 can be coupled 196 to the plasma sensors 106 and process sensors 107 , and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 106 and the process sensors 107 to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 . in addition , the controller 195 can be coupled 196 to gas supply system 140 , to a gas supply subassembly 141 , and to a gas showerhead 143 . for example , the gas supply system 140 , the gas supply subassembly 141 and the gas showerhead 143 can be configured to introduce one or more process gases to process space 115 , and can include flow control and / or flow measuring devices . during dry plasma etching , the process gas may comprise an etchant , a passivant , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . for example , when plasma etching a dielectric film such as silicon oxide ( sio x ) or silicon nitride ( si x n y ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a fluorocarbon - based chemistry ( c x f y ) such as at least one of c 4 f 8 , c 5 f 8 , c 3 f 6 , c 4 f 6 , cf 4 , etc ., and / or may include a fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and can have at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 . additionally , for example , when etching polycrystalline silicon ( polysilicon ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a halogen - containing gas such as hbr , cl 2 , nf 3 , or sf 6 or a combination of two or more thereof , and may include fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 , or two or more thereof . during plasma - enhanced deposition , the process gas may comprise a film forming precursor , a reduction gas , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . as shown in fig1 b , the first microwave processing system 100 can include a pressure control system 190 and port 191 coupled to the process chamber 110 , and configured to evacuate the process chamber 110 , as well as control the pressure within the process chamber 110 . in addition , the first microwave processing system 100 can include a movable substrate holder 120 for processing substrate 105 . the front view of first microwave processing system 100 includes a partial front view of a first cavity - control assembly 145 a that is shown coupled to a front view of a first cavity - tuning slab 146 a . the first cavity - control assembly 145 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 146 a can have a first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 145 a can be used to move 147 a the first cavity - tuning slab 146 a cavity - tuning distances 148 a within the first em - energy tuning space 169 a . the controller 195 can be coupled 196 to the cavity - control assembly 145 a , and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the cavity - tuning distances 148 a to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 in real - time . for example , the cavity - tuning distances 148 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the cavity - tuning distances 148 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). in addition , the front view of first microwave processing system 100 includes a partial front view of a second cavity - control assembly 145 b that is shown coupled to a front view of a second cavity - tuning slab 146 b . the second cavity - control assembly 145 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 146 b can have a second x / z plane offset ( z 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second x / z plane offset ( z 1ba ) vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 145 b can be used to move 147 b the second cavity - tuning slab 146 b second cavity - tuning distances 148 b within the second em - energy tuning space 169 b . the controller 195 can be coupled 196 to the second cavity - control assembly 145 b , and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second cavity - tuning distances 148 b to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 in real - time . for example , the second cavity - tuning distances 148 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second cavity - tuning distances 148 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). fig1 c shows a partial cut - away side view of the process chamber 110 in the first microwave processing system 100 . the side view shows a y / z plane view of a plurality of chamber walls 112 coupled to a first interface assembly 112 a and to a second interface assembly 112 b , thereby creating a partial cut - away y / z plane view of the process space 115 in the process chamber 110 . the first microwave processing system 100 can be configured to form uniform plasma in the process space 115 . a partial side view of a first em energy tuning space 169 a in the first cavity assembly 168 a and a partial side view of a second em energy tuning space 169 b in the second cavity assembly 168 b are shown in fig1 c . a partial side view of the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 a - 170 e ), a partial side view of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e ), a partial side view of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 170 f - 170 j ), and a partial side view of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j ) are shown in fig1 c . side views of a first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a , 164 b , 164 c , 164 d , and 164 e ) and a second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f , 164 g , 164 h , 164 i , and 164 j ) are also shown in fig1 c . for example , first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a , 164 b , 164 c , 164 d , and 164 e ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 a , 170 b , 170 c , 170 d , and 170 e ) and ( 175 a , 175 b , 175 c , 175 d , and 175 e )} to a first interface assembly 112 a . each of the first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a , 164 b , 164 c , 164 d , and 164 e ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 112 a . in addition , the second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f , 164 g , 164 h , 164 i , and 164 j ) can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 f , 170 g , 170 h , 170 i , and 170 j ) and ( 175 f , 175 g , 175 h , 175 h , and 175 j )} to a second interface assembly 112 b . each of the second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f , 164 g , 164 h , 164 i , and 164 j ) can be removably coupled to a second interface assembly 112 b . as shown in fig1 c , a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a , 161 b , 161 c , 161 d , and 161 e ) can be coupled to a first set of control assemblies ( 160 a , 160 b , 160 c , 160 d , and 160 e ), and first set of control assemblies ( 160 a , 160 b , 160 c , 160 d , and 160 e ) can be used to move ( 163 a , 163 b , 163 c , 163 d , and 163 e ) the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a , 161 b , 161 c , 161 d , and 161 e ) the first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a , 177 b , 177 c , 177 d , and 177 e ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 175 a , 175 b , 175 c , 175 d , and 175 e ) within the first em energy tuning space 169 a . in addition , a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f , 161 g , 161 h , 161 i , and 161 j ) can be coupled to a second set of control assemblies ( 160 f , 160 g , 160 h , 160 i , and 160 j ), and the second set of control assemblies ( 160 f , 160 g , 160 h , 160 i , and 160 j ) can be used to move ( 163 f , 163 g , 163 h , 163 i , and 163 j ) the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f , 161 g , 161 h , 161 i , and 161 j ) the second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f , 177 g , 177 h , 177 i , and 177 j ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 175 f , 175 g , 175 h , 175 i , and 175 j ) within the second em energy tuning space 169 b . the first set of control assemblies ( 160 a , 160 b , 160 c , 160 d , and 160 e ) can be coupled 196 to the controller 195 , and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a , 177 b , 177 c , 177 d , and 177 e ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 . in addition , the second set of control assemblies ( 160 f , 160 g , 160 h , 160 i , and 160 j ) can be coupled 196 to the controller 195 , and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f , 177 g , 177 h , 177 i , and 177 j ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 . the controller 195 can be coupled 196 to the em sources ( 150 a , 150 b ), the matching networks ( 152 a , 152 b ), the coupling networks ( 154 a , 154 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 168 a , 168 b ), and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 150 a , 150 b ), the matching networks ( 152 a , 152 b ), the coupling networks ( 154 a , 154 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 168 a , 168 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 . for example , the em sources ( 150 a , 150 b ) can operate at frequencies from about 500 mhz to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 195 can be coupled 196 to the plasma sensors 106 , the process sensors 107 , and the cavity sensors ( 108 a and 108 b ), and the controller 195 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 106 , the process sensors 107 , and the cavity sensors ( 108 a and 108 b ), to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 115 . the side view illustrates a process chamber 110 having a total width ( y t ), and a total height ( z t ) associated therewith in the y / z plane . the total width ( y t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm , and the total height ( z t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm . fig2 a shows a partial cut - away top view of a second process chamber 210 in a second microwave processing system 200 . the top view shows an x / y plane view of a first interface assembly 212 a , a second interface assembly 212 b , and a plurality of additional chamber walls 212 coupled to the first interface assembly 212 a and the second interface assembly 212 b thereby forming the second process chamber 210 . for example , the chamber walls 212 can have wall thicknesses ( t ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the first interface assembly 212 a can have a first interface thickness ( t i1 ) associated therewith , and the first interface thickness ( t i1 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second interface assembly 212 b can have a second interface thickness ( t i2 ) associated therewith , and the second interface thickness ( t i2 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the process space 215 can have a length ( x t ) associated therewith , and the length ( x t ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm . the top view of the second microwave processing system 200 shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 268 a having a first em energy tuning space 269 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 268 a can include a first cavity wall 265 a , a second cavity wall 266 a , at least one third cavity wall 267 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 268 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 212 a using the first cavity wall 265 a , and walls ( 265 a , 266 a , and 267 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t a ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t a ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the first em energy tuning space 269 a can have a first length ( x t1a ) and a first width ( y 1a ) associated therewith , the first length ( x t1a ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the first width ( y 1a ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . the top view of the second microwave processing system 200 also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 268 b having a second em energy tuning space 269 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 268 b can include a first cavity wall 265 b , a second cavity wall 266 b , at least one third cavity wall 267 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 268 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 212 b using the first cavity wall 265 b , and walls ( 265 b , 266 b , and 267 b ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t b ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t b ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the second em energy tuning space 269 b can have a second length ( x t1b ) and a second width ( y 1b ) associated therewith , the second length ( x t1b ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the second width ( y 1b ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . in some exemplary systems , a first set of isolation assemblies ( 264 a , 264 b , 264 c , and 264 d ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 212 a and can be configured to isolate the process space 215 from the first em energy tuning space 269 a . the first set of isolation assemblies ( 264 a , 264 b , 264 c , and 264 d ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 270 a , 270 b , 270 c , and 270 d ) and ( 275 a , 275 b , 275 c , 275 d )} to a first interface assembly 212 a . for example , the first set of plasma - tuning portions ( 270 a , 270 b , 270 c , and 270 d ) can be configured in the process space 215 , and the first set of em - tuning portion ( 275 a , 275 b , 275 c , and 275 d ) can be configured within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . a second set of isolation assemblies ( 264 e , 264 f , 264 g , and 264 h ) can be removably coupled to the second interface assembly 212 b and can be configured to isolate the process space 215 from the second em energy tuning space 269 b . the second set of isolation assemblies ( 264 e , 264 f , 264 g , and 264 h ) can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 270 e , 270 f , 270 g , and 270 h ) and ( 275 e , 275 f , 275 g , and 275 h )} to the second interface assembly 212 b . for example , the second set of plasma - tuning portions ( 270 e , 270 f , 270 g , and 270 h ) can be configured in the process space 215 , and the second set of em - tuning portion ( 275 e , 275 f , 275 g , and 275 h ) can be configured within the second em energy tuning space 269 b . still referring to fig2 a , a first plasma - tuning rod ( 270 a , 275 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a first plasma - tuning portion 270 a that can extend a first plasma - tuning distance 271 a into the process space 215 at a first location defined using ( x 2a ). the first plasma - tuning distance 271 a can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a first em - coupling region 262 a can be established at a first em - coupling distance 276 a from the first cavity wall 265 a within the first em energy tuning space 269 a established in the first cavity assembly 268 a , and the first em - tuning portion 275 a can extend into the first em - coupling region 262 a . the first em - tuning portion 275 a can obtain first microwave energy from the first em - coupling region 262 a , and the first microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the first location ( x 2a ) using the first plasma - tuning portion 270 a . the first em - coupling region 262 a can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the first em - coupling distance 276 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the first em - coupling distance 276 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a first plasma - tuning slab 261 a can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a first control assembly 260 a , and can be used to move 263 a the first plasma - tuning slab 261 a a first em - tuning distance 277 a relative to the first em - tuning portion 275 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 270 a , 275 a ) within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . the first control assembly 260 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 261 a can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the first em - coupling region 262 a to the first em - tuning portion 275 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 270 a , 275 a ). for example , the first em - tuning distance 277 a can be established between the first em - tuning portion 275 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 261 a within the first em energy tuning space 269 a , and the first em - tuning distance 277 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning rod ( 270 a , 275 a ) can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning slab 261 a can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first em - coupling region 262 a , the first control assembly 260 a , and the first plasma - tuning slab 261 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the first control assembly 260 a can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1a ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a second plasma - tuning rod ( 270 b , 275 b ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a second plasma - tuning portion 270 b that can extend a second plasma - tuning distance 271 b into the process space 215 at a second location defined using ( x 2b ). for example , the second plasma - tuning distance 271 b can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a second em - coupling region 262 b can be established at a second em - coupling distance 276 b from the first cavity wall 265 a within the first em energy tuning space 269 a established in the first cavity assembly 268 a , and the second em - tuning portion 275 b can extend into the second em - coupling region 262 b . the second em - tuning portion 275 b can obtain second microwave energy from the second em - coupling region 262 b , and the second microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the second location ( x 1b ) using the second plasma - tuning portion 270 b . the second em - coupling region 262 b can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the second em - coupling distance 276 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second em - coupling distance 276 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a second plasma - tuning slab 261 b can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a second control assembly 260 b , and can be used to move 263 b the second plasma - tuning slab 261 b a second em - tuning distance 277 b relative to the second em - tuning portion 275 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 270 b , 275 b ) within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . the second control assembly 260 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 261 b can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the second em - coupling region 262 b to the second em - tuning portion 275 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 270 b , 275 b ). for example , the second em - tuning distance 277 b can be established between the second em - tuning portion 275 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 261 b within the first em energy tuning space 269 a , and the second em - tuning distance 277 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning rod ( 270 b , 275 b ) can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning slab 261 b can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second em - coupling region 262 b , the second control assembly 260 b , and the second plasma - tuning slab 261 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the second control assembly 260 b can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1b ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a third plasma - tuning rod ( 270 c , 275 c ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a third plasma - tuning portion 270 c that can extend a third plasma - tuning distance 271 c into the process space 215 at a third location defined using ( x 2c ). for example , the third plasma - tuning distance 271 c can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a third em - coupling region 262 c can be established at a third em - coupling distance 276 c from the first cavity wall 265 a within the first em energy tuning space 269 a established in the first cavity assembly 268 a , and the third em - tuning portion 275 c can extend into the third em - coupling region 262 c . the third em - tuning portion 275 c can obtain third microwave energy from the third em - coupling region 262 c , and the third microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the third location ( x 2 ) using the third plasma - tuning portion 270 c . the third em - coupling region 262 c can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the third em - coupling distance 276 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the third em - coupling distance 276 c can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a third plasma - tuning slab 261 c can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a third control assembly 260 c and can be used to move 263 c the third plasma - tuning slab 261 c a third em - tuning distance 277 c relative to the third em - tuning portion 275 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 270 c , 275 c ) within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . the third control assembly 260 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 261 c can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the third em - coupling region 262 c to the third em - tuning portion 275 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 270 c , 275 c ). for example , the third em - tuning distance 277 c can be established between the third em - tuning portion 275 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 261 c within the first em energy tuning space 269 a , and the third em - tuning distance 277 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning rod ( 270 c , 275 c ) can have a third diameter ( d 1c ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning slab 261 c can have a third diameter ( d 1g ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third em - coupling region 262 c , the third control assembly 260 c , and the third plasma - tuning slab 261 c can have a third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) associated therewith , and the third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the third control assembly 260 c can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1 ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 d , 275 d ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fourth plasma - tuning portion 270 d that can extend a fourth plasma - tuning distance 271 d into the process space 215 at a fourth location defined using ( x 2d ). for example , the fourth plasma - tuning distance 271 d can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fourth em - coupling region 262 d can be established at a fourth em - coupling distance 276 d from the first cavity wall 265 a within the first em energy tuning space 269 a established in the first cavity assembly 268 a , and the fourth em - tuning portion 275 d can extend into the fourth em - coupling region 262 d . the fourth em - tuning portion 275 d can obtain fourth microwave energy from the fourth em - coupling region 262 d , and the fourth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the fourth location ( x 2d ) using the fourth plasma - tuning portion 270 d . the fourth em - coupling region 262 d can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fourth em - coupling distance 276 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fourth em - coupling distance 276 d can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fourth plasma - tuning slab 261 d can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a fourth control assembly 260 d , and can be used to move 263 d the fourth plasma - tuning slab 261 d a fourth em - tuning distance 277 d relative to the fourth em - tuning portion 275 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 d , 275 d ) within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . the fourth control assembly 260 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 261 d can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fourth em - coupling region 262 d to the fourth em - tuning portion 275 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 d , 275 d ). for example , the fourth em - tuning distance 277 d can be established between the fourth em - tuning portion 275 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 261 d within the first em energy tuning space 269 a , and the fourth em - tuning distance 277 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 d , 275 d ) can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith , and the fourth diameter ( d 1d ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning slab 261 d can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith , and the fourth diameter ( d 1d ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth em - coupling region 262 d , the fourth control assembly 260 d , and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 261 d can have a fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) associated therewith , and the fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fourth control assembly 260 d can comprise dielectric material and can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1d ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 e , 275 e ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fifth plasma - tuning portion 270 e that can extend a fifth plasma - tuning distance 271 e into the process space 215 at a fifth location defined using ( x 2e ). for example , the fifth plasma - tuning distance 271 e can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fifth em - coupling region 262 e can be established at a fifth em - coupling distance 276 e from the first cavity wall 265 b within the second em energy tuning space 269 b established in the second cavity assembly 268 b , and the fifth em - tuning portion 275 e can extend into the fifth em - coupling region 262 e . the fifth em - tuning portion 275 e can obtain fifth microwave energy from the fifth em - coupling region 262 e , and the fifth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the fifth location ( x 2e ) using the fifth plasma - tuning portion 270 e . the fifth em - coupling region 262 e can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fifth em - coupling distance 276 e can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fifth em - coupling distance 276 e can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fifth plasma - tuning slab 261 e can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a fifth control assembly 260 e , and can be used to move 263 e the fifth plasma - tuning slab 261 e a fifth em - tuning distance 277 e relative to the fifth em - tuning portion 275 e of the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 e , 275 e ) within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . the fifth control assembly 260 e and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 261 e can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fifth em - coupling region 262 e to the fifth em - tuning portion 275 e of the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 e , 275 e ). for example , the fifth em - tuning distance 277 e can be established between the fifth em - tuning portion 275 e and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 261 e within the second em energy tuning space 269 b , and the fifth em - tuning distance 277 e can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 e , 275 e ) can have a fifth diameter ( d 1e ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fifth plasma - tuning slab 261 e can have a fifth diameter ( d 1e ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fifth em - coupling region 262 e , the fifth control assembly 260 e , and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 261 e can have a fifth x / y plane offset ( x 1e ) associated therewith , and the fifth x / y plane offset ( x 1e ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fifth control assembly 260 e can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1e ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . still referring to fig2 a , a sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 f , 275 f ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a sixth plasma - tuning portion 270 f that can extend a sixth plasma - tuning distance 271 f into the process space 215 at a sixth location defined using ( x 2f ). the sixth plasma - tuning distance 271 f can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a sixth em - coupling region 262 f can be established at a sixth em - coupling distance 276 f from the first cavity wall 265 b within the second em energy tuning space 269 b established in the second cavity assembly 268 b , and the sixth em - tuning portion 275 f can extend into the sixth em - coupling region 262 f . the sixth em - tuning portion 275 f can obtain sixth microwave energy from the sixth em - coupling region 262 f , and the sixth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the sixth location ( x 2f ) using the sixth plasma - tuning portion 270 f . the sixth em - coupling region 262 f can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the sixth em - coupling distance 276 f can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the sixth em - coupling distance 276 f can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a sixth plasma - tuning slab 261 f can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a sixth control assembly 260 f , and can be used to move 263 f the sixth plasma - tuning slab 261 f a sixth em - tuning distance 277 f relative to the sixth em - tuning portion 275 f of the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 f , 275 f ) within the second em energy tuning space 269 b . the sixth control assembly 260 f and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 261 f can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the sixth em - coupling region 262 f to the sixth em - tuning portion 275 f of the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 f , 275 f ). for example , the sixth em - tuning distance 277 f can be established between the sixth em - tuning portion 275 f and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 261 f within the second em energy tuning space 269 b , and the sixth em - tuning distance 277 f can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 f , 275 f ) can have a sixth diameter ( d 1f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the sixth plasma - tuning slab 261 f can have a sixth diameter ( d 1f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the sixth em - coupling region 262 f , the sixth control assembly 260 f , and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 261 f can have a sixth x / y plane offset ( x 1f ) associated therewith , and the sixth x / y plane offset ( x 1f ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the sixth control assembly 260 f can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1f ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 270 g , 275 g ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a seventh plasma - tuning portion 270 g that can extend a seventh plasma - tuning distance 271 g into the process space 215 at a seventh location defined using ( x 2g ). the seventh plasma - tuning distance 271 g can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a seventh em - coupling region 262 g can be established at a seventh em - coupling distance 276 g from the first cavity wall 265 b within the second em energy tuning space 269 b established in the second cavity assembly 268 b , and the seventh em - tuning portion 275 g can extend into the seventh em - coupling region 262 g . the seventh em - tuning portion 275 g can obtain seventh microwave energy from the seventh em - coupling region 262 g , and the seventh microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the seventh location ( x 2g ) using the seventh plasma - tuning portion 270 g . the seventh em - coupling region 262 g can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the seventh em - coupling distance 276 g can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the seventh em - coupling distance 276 g can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a seventh plasma - tuning slab 261 g can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a seventh control assembly 260 g , and can be used to move 263 g the seventh plasma - tuning slab 261 g a seventh em - tuning distance 277 g relative to the seventh em - tuning portion 275 g of the seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 270 g , 275 g ) within the second em energy tuning space 269 b . the seventh control assembly 260 g and the seventh plasma - tuning slab 261 g can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the seventh em - coupling region 262 g to the seventh em - tuning portion 275 g of the seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 270 g , 275 g ). for example , the seventh em - tuning distance 277 g can be established between the seventh em - tuning portion 275 g and the seventh plasma - tuning slab 261 g within the second em energy tuning space 269 b , and the seventh em - tuning distance 277 g can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the seventh plasma - tuning rod ( 270 g , 275 g ) can have a seventh diameter ( d 1g ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the seventh plasma - tuning slab 261 g can have a seventh diameter ( d 1g ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the seventh em - coupling region 262 g , the seventh control assembly 260 g , and the seventh plasma - tuning slab 261 g can have a seventh x / y plane offset ( x 1g ) associated therewith , and the seventh x / y plane offset ( x 1g ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the seventh control assembly 260 g can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1g ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . an eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 h , 275 h ) can comprise dielectric material and can have an eighth plasma - tuning portion 270 h that can extend an eighth plasma - tuning distance 271 h into the process space 215 at an eighth location defined using ( x 2h ). the eighth plasma - tuning distance 271 h can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . an eighth em - coupling region 262 h can be established at an eighth em - coupling distance 276 h from the first cavity wall 265 b within the second em energy tuning space 269 b established in the second cavity assembly 268 b , and the eighth em - tuning portion 275 h can extend into the eighth em - coupling region 262 h . the eighth em - tuning portion 275 h can obtain eighth microwave energy from the eighth em - coupling region 262 h , and the eighth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 215 at the eighth location ( x 2h ) using the eighth plasma - tuning portion 270 h . the eighth em - coupling region 262 h can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the eighth em - coupling distance 276 h can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the eighth em - coupling distance 276 h can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). an eighth plasma - tuning slab 261 h can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to an eighth control assembly 260 h , and can be used to move 263 h the eighth plasma - tuning slab 261 h an eighth em - tuning distance 277 h relative to the eighth em - tuning portion 275 h of the eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 h , 275 h ) within the second em energy tuning space 269 b . the eighth control assembly 260 h and the eighth plasma - tuning slab 261 h can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the eighth em - coupling region 262 h to the eighth em - tuning portion 275 h of the eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 h , 275 h ). for example , the eighth em - tuning distance 277 h can be established between the eighth em - tuning portion 275 h and the eighth plasma - tuning slab 261 h within the second em energy tuning space 269 b , and the eighth em - tuning distance 277 h can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the eighth plasma - tuning rod ( 270 h , 275 h ) can have an eighth diameter ( d 1h ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the eighth plasma - tuning slab 261 h can have an eighth diameter ( d 1h ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the eighth em - coupling region 262 h , the eighth control assembly 260 h , and the eighth plasma - tuning slab 261 h can have an eighth x / y plane offset ( x 1h ) associated therewith , and the eighth x / y plane offset ( x 1h ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the eighth control assembly 260 h can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1h ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the top view of the second microwave processing system 200 includes a top view of a first cavity - control assembly 245 a that is shown coupled to a top view of a first cavity - tuning slab 246 a . the first cavity - control assembly 245 a can have a first diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first cavity - tuning slab 246 a can have a second diameter ( d laa ) associated therewith , and the second diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 245 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 246 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . in addition , the top view of the second microwave processing system 200 includes a top view of a second cavity - control assembly 245 b that is shown coupled to a top view of a second cavity - tuning slab 246 b . the second cavity - control assembly 245 b can have a first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second cavity - tuning slab 246 b can have a second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 245 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 246 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig2 b shows a partial cut - away front view of a second process chamber 210 in a second microwave processing system 200 . the front view shows an x / z plane view of a plurality of additional walls 212 coupled to each other , thereby creating a partial cut - away front view of a process space 215 in the second process chamber 210 . the second microwave processing system 200 can be configured to form uniform plasma in the process space 215 . the front view shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 268 a having a first em energy tuning space 269 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 268 a can include a first cavity wall 265 a , a second cavity wall 266 a , at least one third cavity wall 267 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 268 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 212 a using the first cavity wall 265 a . the front view also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 268 b having a second em energy tuning space 269 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 268 b can include a first cavity wall 265 b , a second cavity wall 266 b , at least one third cavity wall 267 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 268 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 212 b using the first cavity wall 265 b . a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 a - 270 d ), a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 a - 261 d ), a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 e - 270 h ), and a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 e - 261 h ) are shown in fig2 b . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 a - 270 d ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 a - 261 d ) can have a first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - d ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - d ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 a - 270 d ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 a - 261 d ) can have a first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - d ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - d ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 e - 270 h ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 e - 261 h ) can have a second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2e - h ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2e - h ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 e - 270 h ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 e - 261 h ) can have a second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1e - h ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1e - h ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . fig2 b shows that the second microwave processing system 200 can include one or more plasma sensors 206 coupled to a chamber wall 212 to obtain first plasma data . in addition , the second microwave processing system 200 may be configured to process 200 mm substrates , 300 mm substrates , or larger - sized substrates . in addition , square and / or rectangular chambers can be configured so that the second microwave processing system 200 may be configured to process square or rectangular substrates , wafers , or lcds regardless of their size , as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art . therefore , while aspects of the invention will be described in connection with the processing of a semiconductor substrate , the invention is not limited solely thereto . as shown in fig2 b , a first em source 250 a can be coupled to a first cavity assembly 268 a , and a second em source 250 b can be coupled to a second cavity assembly 268 b . the first em source 250 a can be coupled to a first matching network 252 a , and the first matching network 252 a can be coupled to a first coupling network 254 a . the second em source 250 b can be coupled to a second matching network 252 b , and the second matching network 252 b can be coupled to a second coupling network 254 b . alternatively , a plurality of matching networks ( not shown ) or a plurality of coupling networks ( not shown ) may be used . the first coupling network 254 a can be removably coupled to the first cavity assembly 268 a that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a first interface assembly 212 a of the process chamber 210 . the first coupling network 254 a can be used to provide microwave energy to the first em energy tuning space 269 a in the first cavity assembly 268 a . the second coupling network 254 b can be removably coupled to the second cavity assembly 268 b that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a second interface assembly 212 b of the process chamber 210 . the second coupling network 254 b can be used to provide additional microwave energy to the second em energy tuning space 269 b in the second cavity assembly 268 b . alternatively , other em - coupling configurations may be used . as shown in fig2 b , a controller 295 can be coupled 296 to the em sources ( 250 a , 250 b ), the matching networks ( 252 a , 252 b ), the coupling networks ( 254 a , 254 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 268 a , 268 b ), and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 250 a , 250 b ), the matching networks ( 252 a , 252 b ), the coupling networks ( 254 a , 254 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 268 a , 268 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 . for example , the em sources ( 250 a , 250 b ) can operate at a frequency from about 500 mhz . to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 295 can be coupled 296 to the plasma sensors 206 and process sensors 207 , and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 206 and the process sensors 207 to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 . in addition , the controller 295 can be coupled 296 to gas supply system 240 , to a gas supply subassembly 241 , and to a gas showerhead 243 . for example , the gas supply system 240 , the gas supply subassembly 241 and the gas showerhead 243 can be configured to introduce one or more process gases to process space 215 , and can include flow control and / or flow measuring devices . during dry plasma etching , the process gas may comprise an etchant , a passivant , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . for example , when plasma etching a dielectric film such as silicon oxide ( sio x ) or silicon nitride ( si x n y ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a fluorocarbon - based chemistry ( c x f y ) such as at least one of c 4 f 8 , c 5 f 8 , c 3 f 6 , c 4 f 6 , cf 4 , etc ., and / or may include a fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and can have at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 . additionally , for example , when etching polycrystalline silicon ( polysilicon ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a halogen - containing gas such as hbr , cl 2 , nf 3 , or sf 6 or a combination of two or more thereof , and may include fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 , or two or more thereof . during plasma enhanced deposition , the process gas may comprise a film forming precursor , a reduction gas , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . as shown in fig2 b , the second microwave processing system 200 can include a pressure control system 290 and port 291 coupled to the process chamber 210 , and configured to evacuate the process chamber 210 , as well as control the pressure within the process chamber 210 . in addition , the second microwave processing system 200 can include a movable substrate holder 220 for processing substrate 205 . the front view of the second microwave processing system 200 includes a partial front view of a first cavity - control assembly 245 a that is shown coupled to a front view of a first cavity - tuning slab 246 a . the first cavity - control assembly 245 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 246 a can have a first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 245 a can be used to move 247 a the first cavity - tuning slab 246 a cavity - tuning distances 248 a within the first em - energy tuning space 269 a . the controller 295 can be coupled 296 to the cavity - control assembly 245 a , and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the cavity - tuning distances 248 a to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 in real - time . for example , the cavity - tuning distances 248 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the cavity - tuning distances 248 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). in addition , the front view of the second microwave processing system 200 includes a partial front view of a second cavity - control assembly 245 b that is shown coupled to a front view of a second cavity - tuning slab 246 b . the second cavity - control assembly 245 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 246 b can have a second x / z plane offset ( z 1ba ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 245 b can be used to move 247 b the second cavity - tuning slab 246 b second cavity - tuning distances 248 b within the second em - energy tuning space 269 b . the controller 295 can be coupled 296 to the second cavity - control assembly 245 b , and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second cavity - tuning distances 248 b to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 in real - time . for example , the second cavity - tuning distances 248 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second cavity - tuning distances 248 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). fig2 c shows a partial cut - away side view of the second process chamber 210 in the second microwave processing system 200 . the side view shows a y / z plane view of a plurality of chamber walls 212 coupled to a first interface assembly 212 a and to a second interface assembly 212 b , thereby creating a partial cut - away side view of the process space 215 in the process chamber 210 . the second microwave processing system 200 can be configured to form plasma in the process space 215 . a partial side view of a first em energy tuning space 269 a in the first cavity assembly 268 a and a partial side view of a second em energy tuning space 269 b in the second cavity assembly 268 b are shown in fig2 c . a partial side view of the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 a - 270 d ), a partial side view of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 a - 261 d ), a partial side view of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 270 e - 270 h ), and a partial side view of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 e - 261 h ) are shown in fig2 c . side views of a first set of isolation assemblies ( 264 a , 264 b , 264 c , and 264 d ) and a second set of isolation assemblies ( 264 e , 264 f , 264 g , and 264 h ) are also shown in fig2 c . for example , first set of isolation assemblies ( 264 a , 264 b , 264 c , and 264 d ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 270 a , 270 b , 270 c , and 270 d ) and ( 275 a , 275 b , 275 c , and 275 d )} to a first interface assembly 212 a . each of the first set of isolation assemblies ( 264 a , 264 b , 264 c , and 264 d ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 212 a . in addition , the second set of isolation assemblies ( 264 e , 264 f , 264 g , and 264 h ) can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 270 e , 270 f , 270 g , and 270 h ) and ( 275 e , 275 f , 275 g , and 275 h )} to a second interface assembly 212 b . each of the second set of isolation assemblies ( 264 e , 264 f , 264 g , and 264 h ) can be removably coupled to a second interface assembly 212 b . as shown in fig2 c , a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 a , 261 b , 261 c , and 261 d ) can be coupled to a first set of control assemblies ( 260 a , 260 b , 260 c , and 260 d ), and first set of control assemblies ( 260 a , 260 b , 260 c , and 260 d ) can be used to move ( 263 a , 263 b , 263 c , and 263 d ) the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 a , 261 b , 261 c , and 261 d ) the first set of em - tuning distances ( 277 a , 277 b , 277 c , and 277 d ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 275 a , 275 b , 275 c , and 275 d ) within the first em energy tuning space 269 a . in addition , a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 e , 261 f , 261 g , and 261 h ) can be coupled to a second set of control assemblies ( 260 e , 260 f , 260 g , and 260 h ), and the second set of control assemblies ( 260 e , 260 f , 260 g , and 260 h ) can be used to move ( 263 e , 263 f , 263 g , and 263 h ) the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 261 e , 261 f , 261 g , and 261 h ) the second set of em - tuning distances ( 277 e , 277 f , 277 g , and 277 h ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 275 e , 275 f , 275 g , and 275 h ) within the second em energy tuning space 269 b . the first set of control assemblies ( 260 a , 260 b , 260 c , and 260 d ) can be coupled 296 to the controller 295 , and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the first set of em - tuning distances ( 277 a , 277 b , 277 c , and 277 d ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 . in addition , the second set of control assemblies ( 260 e , 260 f , 260 g , and 260 h ) can be coupled 296 to the controller 295 , and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second set of em - tuning distances ( 277 e , 277 f , 277 g , and 277 h ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 . the controller 295 can be coupled 296 to the em sources ( 250 a , 250 b ), the matching networks ( 252 a , 252 b ), the coupling networks ( 254 a , 254 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 268 a , 268 b ), and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 250 a , 250 b ), the matching networks ( 252 a , 252 b ), the coupling networks ( 254 a , 254 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 268 a , 268 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 215 . for example , the em sources ( 250 a , 250 b ) can operate at frequencies from about 500 mhz to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 295 can be coupled 296 to the plasma sensors 206 , the process sensors 207 , and the cavity sensors ( 208 a and 208 b ), and the controller 295 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 206 , the process sensors 207 , and the cavity sensors ( 208 a and 208 b ), to control the plasma uniformity in the process space 215 . the side view illustrates a process chamber 210 having a total width ( y t ), and a total height ( z t ) associated therewith in the y / z plane . for example , the total width ( y t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm , and the total height ( z t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm . fig3 a shows a partial cut - away top view of a third process chamber 310 in a third microwave processing system 300 . the top view shows an x / y plane view of a first interface assembly 312 a , a second interface assembly 312 b , and a plurality of additional chamber walls 312 coupled to the first interface assembly 312 a and the second interface assembly 312 b thereby forming the third process chamber 310 . for example , the chamber walls 312 can have wall thicknesses ( t ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the first interface assembly 312 a can have a first interface thickness ( t i1 ) associated therewith , and the first interface thickness ( t i1 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second interface assembly 312 b can have a second interface thickness ( t i2 ) associated therewith , and the second interface thickness ( t i2 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the process space 315 can have a length ( x t ) associated therewith , and the length ( x t ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm . the top view of the third microwave processing system 300 shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 368 a having a first em energy tuning space 369 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 368 a can include a first cavity wall 365 a , a second cavity wall 366 a , at least one third cavity wall 367 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 368 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 312 a using the first cavity wall 365 a , and walls ( 365 a , 366 a , and 367 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t a ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t a ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the first em energy tuning space 369 a can have a first length ( x t1a ) and a first width ( y 1a ) associated therewith , the first length ( x t1a ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the first width ( y 1a ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . the top view of the third microwave processing system 300 also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 368 b having a second em energy tuning space 369 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 368 b can include a first cavity wall 365 b , a second cavity wall 366 b , at least one third cavity wall 367 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 368 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 312 b using the first cavity wall 365 b , and walls ( 365 b , 366 b , and 367 b ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t b ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t b ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the second em energy tuning space 369 b can have a second length ( x t1b ) and a second width ( y 1b ) associated therewith , the second length ( x t1b ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the second width ( y 1b ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . in some exemplary systems , a first set of isolation assemblies ( 364 a , 364 b , and 364 c ,) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 312 a and can be configured to isolate the process space 315 from the first em energy tuning space 369 a . the first set of isolation assemblies ( 364 a , 364 b , and 364 c ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 370 a , 370 b , and 370 c ) and ( 375 a , 375 b , and 375 c )} to a first interface assembly 312 a . for example , the first set of plasma - tuning portions ( 370 a , 370 b , and 370 c ) can be configured in the process space 315 , and the first set of em - tuning portion ( 375 a , 375 b , and 375 c ) can be configured within the first em energy tuning space 369 a . a second set of isolation assemblies ( 364 d , 364 e , and 3640 can be removably coupled to the second interface assembly 312 b and can be configured to isolate the process space 315 from the second em energy tuning space 369 b . the second set of isolation assemblies ( 364 d , 364 e , and 3640 can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 370 d , 370 e , and 3700 and ( 375 d , 375 e , and 3750 } to the second interface assembly 312 b . for example , the second set of plasma - tuning portions ( 370 d , 370 e , and 3700 can be configured in the process space 315 , and the second set of em - tuning portion ( 375 d , 375 e , and 3750 can be configured within the second em energy tuning space 369 b . still referring to fig3 a , a first plasma - tuning rod ( 370 a , 375 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a first plasma - tuning portion 370 a that can extend a first plasma - tuning distance 371 a into the process space 315 at a first location defined using ( x 2a ). the first plasma - tuning distance 371 a can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a first em - coupling region 362 a can be established at a first em - coupling distance 376 a from the first cavity wall 365 a within the first em energy tuning space 369 a established in the first cavity assembly 368 a , and the first em - tuning portion 375 a can extend into the first em - coupling region 362 a . the first em - tuning portion 375 a can obtain first microwave energy from the first em - coupling region 362 a , and the first microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 315 at the first location ( x 2a ) using the first plasma - tuning portion 370 a . the first em - coupling region 362 a can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the first em - coupling distance 376 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the first em - coupling distance 376 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a first plasma - tuning slab 361 a can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a first control assembly 360 a , and can be used to move 363 a the first plasma - tuning slab 361 a a first em - tuning distance 377 a relative to the first em - tuning portion 375 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 370 a , 375 a ) within the first em energy tuning space 369 a . the first control assembly 360 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 361 a can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the first em - coupling region 362 a to the first em - tuning portion 375 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 370 a , 375 a ). for example , the first em - tuning distance 377 a can be established between the first em - tuning portion 375 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 361 a within the first em energy tuning space 369 a , and the first em - tuning distance 377 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning rod ( 370 a , 375 a ) can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning slab 361 a can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first em - coupling region 362 a , the first control assembly 360 a , and the first plasma - tuning slab 361 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the first control assembly 360 a can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1a ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a second plasma - tuning rod ( 370 b , 375 b ) can have a second plasma - tuning portion 370 b that can extend a second plasma - tuning distance 371 b into the process space 315 at a second location defined using ( x 2b ). for example , the second plasma - tuning distance 371 b can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a second em - coupling region 362 b can be established at a second em - coupling distance 376 b from the first cavity wall 365 a within the first em energy tuning space 369 a established in the first cavity assembly 368 a , and the second em - tuning portion 375 b can extend into the second em - coupling region 362 b . the second em - tuning portion 375 b can obtain second microwave energy from the second em - coupling region 362 b , and the second microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 315 at the second location ( x 1b ) using the second plasma - tuning portion 370 b . the second em - coupling region 362 b can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the second em - coupling distance 376 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second em - coupling distance 376 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a second plasma - tuning slab 361 b can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a second control assembly 360 b , and can be used to move 363 b the second plasma - tuning slab 361 b a second em - tuning distance 377 b relative to the second em - tuning portion 375 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 370 b , 375 b ) within the first em energy tuning space 369 a . the second control assembly 360 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 361 b can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the second em - coupling region 362 b to the second em - tuning portion 375 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 370 b , 375 b ). for example , the second em - tuning distance 377 b can be established between the second em - tuning portion 375 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 361 b within the first em energy tuning space 369 a , and the second em - tuning distance 377 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning rod ( 370 b , 375 b ) can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning slab 361 b can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second em - coupling region 362 b , the second control assembly 360 b , and the second plasma - tuning slab 361 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the second control assembly 360 b can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1b ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a third plasma - tuning rod ( 370 c , 375 c ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a third plasma - tuning portion 370 c that can extend a third plasma - tuning distance 371 c into the process space 315 at a third location defined using ( x 2c ). for example , the third plasma - tuning distance 371 c can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a third em - coupling region 362 c can be established at a third em - coupling distance 376 c from the first cavity wall 365 a within the first em energy tuning space 369 a established in the first cavity assembly 368 a , and the third em - tuning portion 375 c can extend into the third em - coupling region 362 c . the third em - tuning portion 375 c can obtain third microwave energy from the third em - coupling region 362 c , and the third microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 315 at the third location ( x 2 ) using the third plasma - tuning portion 370 c . the third em - coupling region 362 c can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . the third em - coupling distance 376 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the third em - coupling distance 376 c can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a third plasma - tuning slab 361 c can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a third control assembly 360 c , and can be used to move 363 c the third plasma - tuning slab 361 c a third em - tuning distance 377 c relative to the third em - tuning portion 375 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 370 c , 375 c ) within the first em energy tuning space 369 a . the third control assembly 360 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 361 c can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the third em - coupling region 362 c to the third em - tuning portion 375 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 370 c , 375 c ). for example , the third em - tuning distance 377 c can be established between the third em - tuning portion 375 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 361 c within the first em energy tuning space 369 a , and the third em - tuning distance 377 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning rod ( 370 c , 375 c ) can have a third diameter ( d 1c ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning slab 361 c can have a third diameter ( d 1c ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third em - coupling region 362 c , the third control assembly 360 c , and the third plasma - tuning slab 361 c can have a third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) associated therewith , and the third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). for example , the third control assembly 360 c can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1c ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 d , 375 d ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fourth plasma - tuning portion 370 d that can extend a fourth plasma - tuning distance 371 d into the process space 315 at a fourth location defined using ( x 2d ). for example , the fourth plasma - tuning distance 371 d can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fourth em - coupling region 362 d can be established at a fourth em - coupling distance 376 d from the first cavity wall 365 b within the second em energy tuning space 369 b established in the second cavity assembly 368 b , and the fourth em - tuning portion 375 d can extend into the fourth em - coupling region 362 d . the fourth em - tuning portion 375 d can obtain fourth microwave energy from the fourth em - coupling region 362 d , and the fourth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 315 at the fourth location ( x 2d ) using the fourth plasma - tuning portion 370 d . the fourth em - coupling region 362 d can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fourth em - coupling distance 376 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fourth em - coupling distance 376 d can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fourth plasma - tuning slab 361 d can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a fourth control assembly 360 d , and can be used to move 363 d the fourth plasma - tuning slab 361 d a fourth em - tuning distance 377 d relative to the fourth em - tuning portion 375 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 d , 375 d ) within the second em energy tuning space 369 b . the fourth control assembly 360 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 361 d can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fourth em - coupling region 362 d to the fourth em - tuning portion 375 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 d , 375 d ). for example , the fourth em - tuning distance 377 d can be established between the fourth em - tuning portion 375 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 361 d within the second em energy tuning space 369 b , and the fourth em - tuning distance 377 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 d , 375 d ) can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning slab 361 d can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth em - coupling region 362 d , the fourth control assembly 360 d , and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 361 d can have a fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) associated therewith , and the fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fourth control assembly 360 d can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1d ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 e , 375 e ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fifth plasma - tuning portion 370 e that can extend a fifth plasma - tuning distance 371 e into the process space 315 at a fifth location defined using ( x 2e ). for example , the fifth plasma - tuning distance 371 e can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fifth em - coupling region 362 e can be established at a fifth em - coupling distance 376 e from the first cavity wall 365 b within the second em energy tuning space 369 b established in the second cavity assembly 368 b , and the fifth em - tuning portion 375 e can extend into the fifth em - coupling region 362 e . the fifth em - tuning portion 375 e can obtain fifth microwave energy from the fifth em - coupling region 362 e , and the fifth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 315 at the fifth location ( x 2e ) using the fifth plasma - tuning portion 370 e . the fifth em - coupling region 362 e can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fifth em - coupling distance 376 e can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fifth em - coupling distance 376 e can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fifth plasma - tuning slab 361 e can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a fifth control assembly 360 e , and can be used to move 363 e the fifth plasma - tuning slab 361 e a fifth em - tuning distance 377 e relative to the fifth em - tuning portion 375 e of the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 e , 375 e ) within the first em energy tuning space 369 a . the fifth control assembly 360 e and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 361 e can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fifth em - coupling region 362 e to the fifth em - tuning portion 375 e of the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 e , 375 e ). for example , the fifth em - tuning distance 377 e can be established between the fifth em - tuning portion 375 e and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 361 e within the second em energy tuning space 369 b , and the fifth em - tuning distance 377 e can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fifth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 e , 375 e ) can have a fifth diameter ( d 1e ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fifth plasma - tuning slab 361 e can have a fifth diameter ( d 1e ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fifth em - coupling region 362 e , the fifth control assembly 360 e , and the fifth plasma - tuning slab 361 e can have a fifth x / y plane offset ( x 1e ) associated therewith , and the fifth x / y plane offset ( x 1e ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fifth control assembly 360 e can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1e ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . still referring to fig3 a , a sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 f , 375 f ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a sixth plasma - tuning portion 370 f that can extend a sixth plasma - tuning distance 371 f into the process space 315 at a sixth location defined using ( x 2f ). the sixth plasma - tuning distance 371 f can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a sixth em - coupling region 362 f can be established at a sixth em - coupling distance 376 f from the first cavity wall 365 b within the second em energy tuning space 369 b established in the second cavity assembly 368 b , and the sixth em - tuning portion 375 f can extend into the sixth em - coupling region 362 f . the sixth em - tuning portion 375 f can obtain sixth microwave energy from the sixth em - coupling region 362 f , and the sixth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 315 at the sixth location ( x 2f ) using the sixth plasma - tuning portion 370 f . the sixth em - coupling region 362 f can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the sixth em - coupling distance 376 f can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the sixth em - coupling distance 376 f can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a sixth plasma - tuning slab 361 f can comprise dielectric material and can be coupled to a sixth control assembly 360 f and can be used to move 363 f the sixth plasma - tuning slab 361 f a sixth em - tuning distance 377 f relative to the sixth em - tuning portion 375 f of the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 f , 375 f ) within the second em energy tuning space 369 b . the sixth control assembly 360 f and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 361 f can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the sixth em - coupling region 362 f to the sixth em - tuning portion 375 f of the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 f , 375 f ). for example , the sixth em - tuning distance 377 f can be established between the sixth em - tuning portion 375 f and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 361 f within the second em energy tuning space 369 b , and the sixth em - tuning distance 377 f can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the sixth plasma - tuning rod ( 370 f , 375 f ) can have a sixth diameter ( d 1f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the sixth plasma - tuning slab 361 f can have a sixth diameter ( d 1f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the sixth em - coupling region 362 f , the sixth control assembly 360 f , and the sixth plasma - tuning slab 361 f can have a sixth x / y plane offset ( x 1f ) associated therewith , and the sixth x / y plane offset ( x 1f ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the sixth control assembly 360 f can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1f ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the top view of the third microwave processing system 300 includes a top view of a first cavity - control assembly 345 a that is shown coupled to a top view of a first cavity - tuning slab 346 a . the first cavity - control assembly 345 a can have a first diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first cavity - tuning slab 346 a can have a second diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the second diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 345 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 346 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . in addition , the top view of the third microwave processing system 300 includes a top view of a second cavity - control assembly 345 b that is shown coupled to a top view of a second cavity - tuning slab 346 b . the second cavity - control assembly 345 b can have a first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second cavity - tuning slab 346 b can have a second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 345 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 346 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig3 b shows a partial cut - away front view of a third process chamber 310 in a third microwave processing system 300 . the front view shows an x / z plane view of a plurality of additional walls 312 coupled to each other , thereby creating a partial cut - away front view of a process space 315 in the third process chamber 310 . the third microwave processing system 300 can be configured to form uniform plasma in the process space 315 . the front view shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 368 a having a first em energy tuning space 369 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 368 a can include a first cavity wall 365 a , a second cavity wall 366 a , at least one third cavity wall 367 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 368 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 312 a using the first cavity wall 365 a . the front view also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 368 b having a second em energy tuning space 369 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 368 b can include a first cavity wall 365 b , a second cavity wall 366 b , at least one third cavity wall 367 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 368 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 312 b using the first cavity wall 365 b . a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 a - 370 c ), a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 a - 361 c ), a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 d - 370 f ), and a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 d - 361 f ) are shown in fig3 b . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 a - 370 c ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 a - 361 c ) can have a first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - c ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - c ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 a - 370 c ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 a - 361 c ) can have a first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - c ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - c ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 d - 370 f ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 d - 361 f ) can have a second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2d - f ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2d - f ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 d - 370 f ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 d - 361 f ) can have a second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1d - f ) associated therewith that can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . fig3 b shows that the third microwave processing system 300 can include one or more plasma sensors 306 coupled to a chamber wall 312 to obtain first plasma data . in addition , the third microwave processing system 300 may be configured to process 300 mm substrates , 300 mm substrates , or larger - sized substrates . in addition , square and / or rectangular chambers can be configured so that the third microwave processing system 300 may be configured to process square or rectangular substrates , wafers , or lcds regardless of their size , as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art . therefore , while aspects of the invention will be described in connection with the processing of a semiconductor substrate , the invention is not limited solely thereto . as shown in fig3 b , a first em source 350 a can be coupled to a first cavity assembly 368 a , and a second em source 350 b can be coupled to a second cavity assembly 368 b . the first em source 350 a can be coupled to a first matching network 352 a , and the first matching network 352 a can be coupled to a first coupling network 354 a . the second em source 350 b can be coupled to a second matching network 352 b , and the second matching network 352 b can be coupled to a second coupling network 354 b . alternatively , a plurality of matching networks ( not shown ) or a plurality of coupling networks ( not shown ) may be used . the first coupling network 354 a can be removably coupled to the first cavity assembly 368 a that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a first interface assembly 312 a of the process chamber 310 . the first coupling network 354 a can be used to provide microwave energy to the first em energy tuning space 369 a in the first cavity assembly 368 a . the second coupling network 354 b can be removably coupled to the second cavity assembly 368 b that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a second interface assembly 312 b of the process chamber 310 . the second coupling network 354 b can be used to provide additional microwave energy to the second em energy tuning space 369 b in the second cavity assembly 368 b . alternatively , other em - coupling configurations may be used . as shown in fig3 b , a controller 395 can be coupled 396 to the em sources ( 350 a , 350 b ), the matching networks ( 352 a , 352 b ), the coupling networks ( 354 a , 354 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 368 a , 368 b ), and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 350 a , 350 b ), the matching networks ( 352 a , 352 b ), the coupling networks ( 354 a , 354 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 368 a , 368 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 . for example , the em sources ( 350 a , 350 b ) can operate at a frequency from about 500 mhz . to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 395 can be coupled 396 to the plasma sensors 306 and process sensors 307 , and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 306 and the process sensors 307 to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 . in addition , the controller 395 can be coupled 396 to gas supply system 340 , to a gas supply subassembly 341 , and to a gas showerhead 343 . for example , the gas supply system 340 , the gas supply subassembly 341 and the gas showerhead 343 can be configured to introduce one or more process gases to process space 315 , and can include flow control and / or flow measuring devices . during dry plasma etching , the process gas may comprise an etchant , a passivant , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . for example , when plasma etching a dielectric film such as silicon oxide ( sio x ) or silicon nitride ( si x n y ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a fluorocarbon - based chemistry ( c x f y ) such as at least one of c 4 f 8 , c 5 f 8 , c 3 f 6 , c 4 f 6 , cf 4 , etc ., and / or may include a fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and can have at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 . additionally , for example , when etching polycrystalline silicon ( polysilicon ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a halogen - containing gas such as hbr , cl 2 , nf 3 , or sf 6 or a combination of two or more thereof , and may include fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 , or two or more thereof . during plasma enhanced deposition , the process gas may comprise a film forming precursor , a reduction gas , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . as shown in fig3 b , the third microwave processing system 300 can include a pressure control system 390 and port 391 coupled to the process chamber 310 , and configured to evacuate the process chamber 310 , as well as control the pressure within the process chamber 310 . in addition , the third microwave processing system 300 can include a movable substrate holder 320 for processing substrate 305 . the front view of the third microwave processing system 300 includes a partial front view of a first cavity - control assembly 345 a that is shown coupled to a front view of a first cavity - tuning slab 346 a . the first cavity - control assembly 345 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 346 a can have a first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 345 a can be used to move 347 a the first cavity - tuning slab 346 a cavity - tuning distances 348 a within the first em - energy tuning space 369 a . the controller 395 can be coupled 396 to the cavity - control assembly 345 a , and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the cavity - tuning distances 348 a to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 in real - time . for example , the cavity - tuning distances 348 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the cavity - tuning distances 348 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). in addition , the front view of the third microwave processing system 300 includes a partial front view of a second cavity - control assembly 345 b that is shown coupled to a front view of a second cavity - tuning slab 346 b . the second cavity - control assembly 345 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 346 b can have a second x / z plane offset ( z 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second x / z plane offset ( z 1ba ) vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 345 b can be used to move 347 b the second cavity - tuning slab 346 b second cavity - tuning distances 348 b within the second em - energy tuning space 369 b . the controller 395 can be coupled 396 to the second cavity - control assembly 345 b , and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second cavity - tuning distances 348 b to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 in real - time . for example , the second cavity - tuning distances 348 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second cavity - tuning distances 348 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). fig3 c shows a partial cut - away side view of the third process chamber 310 in the third microwave processing system 300 . the side view shows a y / z plane view of a plurality of chamber walls 312 coupled to a first interface assembly 312 a and to a second interface assembly 312 b , thereby creating a partial cut - away side view of the process space 315 in the process chamber 310 . the third microwave processing system 300 can be configured to form uniform plasma in the process space 315 . a partial side view of a first em energy tuning space 369 a in the first cavity assembly 368 a and a partial side view of a second em energy tuning space 369 b in the second cavity assembly 368 b are shown in fig3 c . a partial side view of the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 a - 370 c ), a partial side view of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 a - 361 c ), a partial side view of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 370 d - 3700 , and a partial side view of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 d - 3610 are shown in fig3 c . side views of a first set of isolation assemblies ( 364 a , 364 b , and 364 c ) and a second set of isolation assemblies ( 364 d , 364 e , and 3640 are also shown in fig3 c . for example , first set of isolation assemblies ( 364 a , 364 b , and 364 c ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 370 a , 370 b , and 370 c ) and ( 375 a , 375 b , and 375 c )} to a first interface assembly 312 a . each of the first set of isolation assemblies ( 364 a , 364 b , and 364 c ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 312 a . in addition , the second set of isolation assemblies ( 364 d , 364 e , and 3640 can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 370 d , 370 e , and 3700 and ( 375 d , 375 e , and 3750 } to a second interface assembly 312 b . each of the second set of isolation assemblies ( 364 d , 364 e , and 3640 can be removably coupled to a second interface assembly 312 b . as shown in fig3 c , a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 a , 361 b , and 361 c ) can be coupled to a first set of control assemblies ( 360 a , 360 b , and 360 c ), and first set of control assemblies ( 360 a , 360 b , and 360 c ) can be used to move ( 363 a , 363 b , and 363 c ) the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 a , 361 b , and 361 c ) the first set of em - tuning distances ( 377 a , 377 b , and 377 c ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 375 a , 375 b , and 375 c ) within the first em energy tuning space 369 a . in addition , a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 d , 361 e , and 3610 can be coupled to a second set of control assemblies ( 360 d , 360 e , and 3600 , and the second set of control assemblies ( 360 d , 360 e , and 3600 can be used to move ( 363 d , 363 e , and 3630 the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 361 d , 361 e , and 3610 the second set of em - tuning distances ( 377 d , 377 e , and 377 f ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 375 d , 375 e , and 3750 within the second em energy tuning space 369 b . the first set of control assemblies ( 360 a , 360 b , and 360 c ) can be coupled 396 to the controller 395 , and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the first set of em - tuning distances ( 377 a , 377 b , and 377 c ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 . in addition , the second set of control assemblies ( 360 d , 360 e , and 360 f ) can be coupled 396 to the controller 395 , and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second set of em - tuning distances ( 377 d , 377 e , and 377 f ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 . the controller 395 can be coupled 396 to the em sources ( 350 a , 350 b ), the matching networks ( 352 a , 352 b ), the coupling networks ( 354 a , 354 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 368 a , 368 b ), and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 350 a , 350 b ), the matching networks ( 352 a , 352 b ), the coupling networks ( 354 a , 354 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 368 a , 368 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 315 . for example , the em sources ( 350 a , 350 b ) can operate at frequencies from about 500 mhz to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 395 can be coupled 396 to the plasma sensors 306 , the process sensors 307 , and the cavity sensors ( 308 a and 308 b ), and the controller 395 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 306 , the process sensors 307 , and the cavity sensors ( 308 a and 308 b ), to control the plasma uniformity in the process space 315 . the side view illustrates a process chamber 310 having a total width ( y t ), and a total height ( z t ) associated therewith in the y / z plane . the total width ( y t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm , and the total height ( z t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm . fig4 a shows a partial cut - away top view of a fourth process chamber 410 in a fourth microwave processing system 400 . the top view shows an x / y plane view of a first interface assembly 412 a , a second interface assembly 412 b , and a plurality of additional chamber walls 412 coupled to the first interface assembly 412 a and the second interface assembly 412 b thereby forming the fourth process chamber 410 . for example , the chamber walls 412 can have wall thicknesses ( t ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the first interface assembly 412 a can have a first interface thickness ( t i1 ) associated therewith , and the first interface thickness ( t i1 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second interface assembly 412 b can have a second interface thickness ( t i2 ) associated therewith , and the second interface thickness ( t i2 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the process space 415 can have a length ( x t ) associated therewith , and the length ( x t ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm . the top view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 468 a having a first em energy tuning space 469 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 468 a can include a first cavity wall 465 a , a second cavity wall 466 a , at least one third cavity wall 467 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 468 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 412 a using the first cavity wall 465 a , and walls ( 465 a , 466 a , and 467 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t a ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t a ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the first em energy tuning space 469 a can have a first length ( x t1a ) and a first width ( y 1a ) associated therewith , the first length ( x t1a ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the first width ( y 1a ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . the top view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 468 b having a second em energy tuning space 469 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 468 b can include a first cavity wall 465 b , a second cavity wall 466 b , at least one third cavity wall 467 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 468 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 412 b using the first cavity wall 465 b , and walls ( 465 b , 466 b , and 467 b ) can comprise dielectric material and can have wall thicknesses ( t b ) associated therewith , and the wall thicknesses ( t b ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . in addition , the second em energy tuning space 469 b can have a second length ( x t1b ) and a second width ( y 1b ) associated therewith , the second length ( x t1b ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 500 mm , and the second width ( y 1b ) can vary from about 5 mm to about 50 mm . in some exemplary systems , a first set of isolation assemblies ( 464 a and 464 b ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 412 a and can be configured to isolate the process space 415 from the first em energy tuning space 469 a . the first set of isolation assemblies ( 464 a and 464 b ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 470 a and 470 b ) and ( 475 a and 475 b )} to a first interface assembly 412 a . for example , the first set of plasma - tuning portions ( 470 a and 470 b ) can be configured in the process space 415 , and the first set of em - tuning portion ( 475 a and 475 b ) can be configured within the first em energy tuning space 469 a . a second set of isolation assemblies ( 464 c and 464 d ) can be removably coupled to the second interface assembly 412 b and can be configured to isolate the process space 415 from the second em energy tuning space 469 b . the second set of isolation assemblies ( 464 c and 464 d ) can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 470 c and 470 d ) and ( 475 c and 475 d )} to the second interface assembly 412 b . for example , the second set of plasma - tuning portions ( 470 c and 470 d ) can be configured in the process space 415 , and the second set of em - tuning portion ( 475 c and 475 d ) can be configured within the second em energy tuning space 469 b . still referring to fig4 a , a first plasma - tuning rod ( 470 a , 475 a ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a first plasma - tuning portion 470 a that can extend a first plasma - tuning distance 471 a into the process space 415 at a first location defined using ( x 2a ). the first plasma - tuning distance 471 a can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a first em - coupling region 462 a can be established at a first em - coupling distance 476 a from the first cavity wall 465 a within the first em energy tuning space 469 a established in the first cavity assembly 468 a , and the first em - tuning portion 475 a can extend into the first em - coupling region 462 a . the first em - tuning portion 475 a can obtain first microwave energy from the first em - coupling region 462 a , and the first microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 415 at the first location ( x 2a ) using the first plasma - tuning portion 470 a . the first em - coupling region 462 a can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the first em - coupling distance 476 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the first em - coupling distance 476 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a first plasma - tuning slab 461 a can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a first control assembly 460 a , and can be used to move 463 a the first plasma - tuning slab 461 a a first em - tuning distance 477 a relative to the first em - tuning portion 475 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 470 a , 475 a ) within the first em energy tuning space 469 a . the first control assembly 460 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 461 a can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the first em - coupling region 462 a to the first em - tuning portion 475 a of the first plasma - tuning rod ( 370 a , 475 a ). for example , the first em - tuning distance 477 a can be established between the first em - tuning portion 475 a and the first plasma - tuning slab 461 a within the first em energy tuning space 469 a , and the first em - tuning distance 477 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning rod ( 470 a , 475 a ) can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first plasma - tuning slab 461 a can have a first diameter ( d 1a ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first em - coupling region 462 a , the first control assembly 460 a , and the first plasma - tuning slab 461 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( x 1a ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the first control assembly 460 a can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1a ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a second plasma - tuning rod ( 470 b , 475 b ) can have a second plasma - tuning portion 470 b that can extend a second plasma - tuning distance 471 b into the process space 415 at a second location defined using ( x 1b ). for example , the second plasma - tuning distance 471 b can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a second em - coupling region 462 b can be established at a second em - coupling distance 476 b from the first cavity wall 465 a within the first em energy tuning space 469 a established in the first cavity assembly 468 a , and the second em - tuning portion 475 b can extend into the second em - coupling region 462 b . the second em - tuning portion 475 b can obtain second microwave energy from the second em - coupling region 462 b , and the second microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 415 at the second location ( x 1b ) using the second plasma - tuning portion 470 b . the second em - coupling region 462 b can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the second em - coupling distance 476 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second em - coupling distance 476 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a second plasma - tuning slab 461 b can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a second control assembly 460 b , and can be used to move 463 b the second plasma - tuning slab 461 b a second em - tuning distance 477 b relative to the second em - tuning portion 475 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 470 b , 475 b ) within the first em energy tuning space 469 a . the second control assembly 460 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 461 b can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the second em - coupling region 462 b to the second em - tuning portion 475 b of the second plasma - tuning rod ( 470 b , 475 b ). for example , the second em - tuning distance 477 b can be established between the second em - tuning portion 475 b and the second plasma - tuning slab 461 b within the first em energy tuning space 469 a , and the second em - tuning distance 477 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning rod ( 470 b , 475 b ) can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second plasma - tuning slab 461 b can have a second diameter ( d 1b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second em - coupling region 462 b , the second control assembly 460 b , and the second plasma - tuning slab 461 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( x 1b ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the second control assembly 460 b can comprise dielectric material and can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1b ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a third plasma - tuning rod ( 470 c , 475 c ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a third plasma - tuning portion 470 c that can extend a third plasma - tuning distance 471 c into the process space 415 at a third location defined using ( x 2c ). for example , the third plasma - tuning distance 471 c can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a third em - coupling region 462 c can be established at a third em - coupling distance 476 c from the first cavity wall 465 a within the second em energy tuning space 469 b established in the second cavity assembly 468 b , and the third em - tuning portion 475 c can extend into the third em - coupling region 462 c . the third em - tuning portion 475 c can obtain third microwave energy from the third em - coupling region 462 c , and the third microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 415 at the third location ( x 2c ) using the third plasma - tuning portion 470 c . the third em - coupling region 462 c can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the third em - coupling distance 476 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the third em - coupling distance 476 c can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a third plasma - tuning slab 461 c can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a third control assembly 460 c , and can be used to move 463 c the third plasma - tuning slab 461 c a third em - tuning distance 477 c relative to the third em - tuning portion 475 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 470 c , 475 c ) within the second em energy tuning space 469 b . the third control assembly 460 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 461 c can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the third em - coupling region 462 c to the third em - tuning portion 475 c of the third plasma - tuning rod ( 470 c , 475 c ). for example , the third em - tuning distance 477 c can be established between the third em - tuning portion 475 c and the third plasma - tuning slab 461 c within the second em energy tuning space 469 b , and the third em - tuning distance 477 c can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning rod ( 470 c , 475 c ) can have a third diameter ( d 1c ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the third plasma - tuning slab 461 c can have a third diameter ( do associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third em - coupling region 462 c , the third control assembly 460 c , and the third plasma - tuning slab 461 c can have a third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) associated therewith , and the third x / y plane offset ( x 1c ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the third control assembly 460 c can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1 ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . a fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 470 d , 475 d ) can comprise dielectric material and can have a fourth plasma - tuning portion 470 d that can extend a fourth plasma - tuning distance 471 d into the process space 415 at a fourth location defined using ( x 2d ). for example , the fourth plasma - tuning distance 471 d can vary from about 10 mm to about 400 mm . a fourth em - coupling region 462 d can be established at a fourth em - coupling distance 476 d from the first cavity wall 465 a within the second em energy tuning space 469 b established in the second cavity assembly 468 b , and the fourth em - tuning portion 475 d can extend into the fourth em - coupling region 462 d . the fourth em - tuning portion 475 d can obtain fourth microwave energy from the fourth em - coupling region 462 d , and the fourth microwave energy can be transferred to the process space 415 at the fourth location ( x 2d ) using the fourth plasma - tuning portion 470 d . the fourth em - coupling region 462 d can include a maximum field region , a maximum voltage region , maximum energy region , or a maximum current region , or any combination thereof . for example , the fourth em - coupling distance 476 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fourth em - coupling distance 476 d can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). a fourth plasma - tuning slab 461 d can comprise dielectric material , can be coupled to a fourth control assembly 460 d , and can be used to move 463 d the fourth plasma - tuning slab 461 d a fourth em - tuning distance 477 d relative to the fourth em - tuning portion 475 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 470 d , 475 d ) within the second em energy tuning space 469 b . the fourth control assembly 460 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 461 d can be used to optimize the microwave energy coupled from the fourth em - coupling region 462 d to the fourth em - tuning portion 475 d of the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 470 d , 475 d ). for example , the fourth em - tuning distance 477 d can be established between the fourth em - tuning portion 475 d and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 461 d within the second em energy tuning space 469 b , and the fourth em - tuning distance 477 d can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning rod ( 470 d , 475 d ) can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning slab 461 d can have a fourth diameter ( d 1d ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth em - coupling region 462 d , the fourth control assembly 460 d , and the fourth plasma - tuning slab 461 d can have a fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) associated therewith , and the fourth x / y plane offset ( x 1d ) can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about a quarter wavelength ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). the fourth control assembly 460 d can comprise dielectric material , can have a cylindrical configuration and a diameter ( d 1d ) that can vary from about 1 mm to about 5 mm . the top view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 includes a top view of a first cavity - control assembly 445 a that is shown coupled to a top view of a first cavity - tuning slab 446 a . the first cavity - control assembly 445 a can have a first diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the first cavity - tuning slab 446 a can have a second diameter ( d 1aa ) associated therewith , and the second diameter ( d 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 445 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 446 a can have a first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / y plane offset ( y 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . in addition , the top view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 includes a top view of a second cavity - control assembly 445 b that is shown coupled to a top view of a second cavity - tuning slab 446 b . the second cavity - control assembly 445 b can have a first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the first additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . the second cavity - tuning slab 446 b can have a second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second additional diameter ( d 1ba ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 445 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 446 b can have a second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) associated therewith , and the second x / y plane offset ( y 1ba ) vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig4 b shows a partial cut - away front view of a fourth process chamber 410 in a fourth microwave processing system 400 . the front view shows an x / z plane view of a plurality of additional walls 412 coupled to each other , thereby creating a partial cut - away front view of a process space 415 in the fourth process chamber 410 . the fourth microwave processing system 400 can be configured to form plasma in the process space 415 . the front view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 shows a cut - away view of a first cavity assembly 468 a having a first em energy tuning space 469 a therein , and the first cavity assembly 468 a can include a first cavity wall 465 a , a second cavity wall 466 a , at least one third cavity wall 467 a , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the first cavity assembly 468 a can be coupled to the first interface assembly 412 a using the first cavity wall 465 a . the front view also shows a cut - away view of a second cavity assembly 468 b having a second em energy tuning space 469 b therein , and the second cavity assembly 468 b can include a first cavity wall 465 b , a second cavity wall 466 b , at least one third cavity wall 467 b , and one or more additional cavity walls ( not shown ). for example , and the second cavity assembly 468 b can be coupled to the second interface assembly 412 b using the first cavity wall 465 b . a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 a and 470 b ), a partial front view ( dash line view ) of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 a and 461 b ), a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 c and 470 d ), and a partial front view ( dotted line view ) of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 c and 461 d ) are shown in fig4 b . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 a and 470 b ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 a and 461 b ) can have a first set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2a - b ) associated therewith that can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 a and 470 b ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 a and 461 b ) can have a first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - b ) associated therewith , and the first set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1a - b ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 c and 470 d ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 c and 461 d ) can have a second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2c - d ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / y plane offsets ( x 2c - d ) can vary from about 10 mm to about 100 mm . the second set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 c and 470 d ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 c and 461 d ) can have a second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1c - d ) associated therewith , and the second set of x / z plane offsets ( z 1c - d ) can vary from about 100 mm to about 400 mm . fig4 b shows that the fourth microwave processing system 400 can include one or more plasma sensors 406 coupled to a chamber wall 412 to obtain first plasma data . in addition , the fourth microwave processing system 400 may be configured to process 400 mm substrates , 300 mm substrates , or larger - sized substrates . in addition , square and / or rectangular chambers can be configured so that the fourth microwave processing system 400 may be configured to process square or rectangular substrates , wafers , or lcds regardless of their size , as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art . therefore , while aspects of the invention will be described in connection with the processing of a semiconductor substrate , the invention is not limited solely thereto . as shown in fig4 b , a first em source 450 a can be coupled to a first cavity assembly 468 a , and a second em source 450 b can be coupled to a second cavity assembly 468 b . the first em source 450 a can be coupled to a first matching network 452 a , and the first matching network 452 a can be coupled to a first coupling network 454 a . the second em source 450 b can be coupled to a second matching network 452 b , and the second matching network 452 b can be coupled to a second coupling network 454 b . alternatively , a plurality of matching networks ( not shown ) or a plurality of coupling networks ( not shown ) may be used . the first coupling network 454 a can be removably coupled to the first cavity assembly 468 a that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a first interface assembly 412 a of the process chamber 410 . the first coupling network 454 a can be used to provide microwave energy to the first em energy tuning space 469 a in the first cavity assembly 468 a . the second coupling network 454 b can be removably coupled to the second cavity assembly 468 b that can be removably coupled to an upper portion of a second interface assembly 412 b of the process chamber 410 . the second coupling network 454 b can be used to provide additional microwave energy to the second em energy tuning space 469 b in the second cavity assembly 468 b . alternatively , other em - coupling configurations may be used . as shown in fig4 b , a controller 495 can be coupled 496 to the em sources ( 450 a , 450 b ), the matching networks ( 452 a , 452 b ), the coupling networks ( 454 a , 454 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 468 a , 468 b ), and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 450 a , 450 b ), the matching networks ( 452 a , 452 b ), the coupling networks ( 454 a , 454 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 468 a , 468 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 . for example , the em sources ( 450 a , 450 b ) can operate at a frequency from about 500 mhz . to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 495 can be coupled 496 to the plasma sensors 406 and process sensors 407 , and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 406 and the process sensors 407 to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 . in addition , the controller 495 can be coupled 496 to gas supply system 440 , to a gas supply subassembly 441 , and to a gas showerhead 443 . for example , the gas supply system 440 , the gas supply subassembly 441 and the gas showerhead 443 can be configured to introduce one or more process gases to process space 415 , and can include flow control and / or flow measuring devices . during dry plasma etching , the process gas may comprise an etchant , a passivant , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . for example , when plasma etching a dielectric film such as silicon oxide ( sio x ) or silicon nitride ( si x n y ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a fluorocarbon - based chemistry ( c x f y ) such as at least one of c 4 f 8 , c 5 f 8 , c 3 f 6 , c 4 f 6 , cf 4 , etc ., and / or may include a fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and can have at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 . additionally , for example , when etching polycrystalline silicon ( polysilicon ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a halogen - containing gas such as hbr , cl 2 , nf 3 , or sf 6 or a combination of two or more thereof , and may include fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 , or two or more thereof . during plasma enhanced deposition , the process gas may comprise a film forming precursor , a reduction gas , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . as shown in fig4 b , the fourth microwave processing system 400 can include a pressure control system 490 and port 491 coupled to the process chamber 410 , and configured to evacuate the process chamber 410 , as well as control the pressure within the process chamber 410 . in addition , the fourth microwave processing system 400 can include a movable substrate holder 420 for processing substrate 405 . the front view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 includes a partial front view of a first cavity - control assembly 445 a that is shown coupled to a front view of a first cavity - tuning slab 446 a . the first cavity - control assembly 445 a and the first cavity - tuning slab 446 a can have a first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) associated therewith , and the first x / z plane offset ( z 1aa ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first cavity - control assembly 445 a can be used to move 447 a the first cavity - tuning slab 446 a fourth cavity - tuning distances 448 a within the first em - energy tuning space 469 a . the controller 495 can be coupled 496 to the first cavity - control assembly 445 a , and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the fourth cavity - tuning distances 448 a to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 in real - time . for example , the fourth cavity - tuning distances 448 a can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the fourth cavity - tuning distances 448 a can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). in addition , the front view of the fourth microwave processing system 400 includes a partial front view of a second cavity - control assembly 445 b that is shown coupled to a front view of a second cavity - tuning slab 446 b . the second cavity - control assembly 445 b and the second cavity - tuning slab 446 b can have a second x / z plane offset ( z 1ba ) associated therewith that can vary from about 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second cavity - control assembly 445 b can be used to move 447 b the second cavity - tuning slab 446 b second cavity - tuning distances 448 b within the second em - energy tuning space 469 b . the controller 495 can be coupled to the second cavity - control assembly 445 b , and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second cavity - tuning distances 448 b to control and maintain the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 in real - time . for example , the second cavity - tuning distances 448 b can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 10 mm , and the second cavity - tuning distances 448 b can be wavelength - dependent and can vary from about ( λ / 4 ) to about ( 10λ ). fig4 c shows a partial cut - away side view of the fourth process chamber 410 in the fourth microwave processing system 400 . the side view shows a y / z plane view of a plurality of chamber walls 412 coupled to a first interface assembly 412 a and to a second interface assembly 412 b , thereby creating a partial cut - away side view of the process space 415 in the process chamber 410 . the fourth microwave processing system 400 can be configured to form plasma in the process space 415 . a partial side view of a first em energy tuning space 469 a in the first cavity assembly 468 a and a partial side view of a second em energy tuning space 469 b in the second cavity assembly 468 b are shown in fig4 c . a partial side view of the first set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 a and 470 b ), a partial side view of a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 a and 461 b ), a partial side view of a second set of plasma tuning rods ( 470 c and 470 d ), and a partial side view of a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 c and 461 d ) are shown in fig4 c . side views of a first set of isolation assemblies ( 464 a and 464 b ) and a second set of isolation assemblies ( 464 c and 464 d ) are also shown in fig4 c . for example , first set of isolation assemblies ( 464 a and 464 b ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 470 a and 470 b ) and ( 475 a and 475 b )} to a first interface assembly 412 a . each of the first set of isolation assemblies ( 464 a and 464 b ) can be removably coupled to a first interface assembly 412 a . in addition , the second set of isolation assemblies ( 464 c and 464 d ) can be used to removably couple the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 470 c and 470 d ) and ( 475 c and 475 d )} to a second interface assembly 412 b . each of the second set of isolation assemblies ( 464 c and 464 d ) can be removably coupled to a second interface assembly 412 b . as shown in fig4 c , a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 a and 461 b ) can be coupled to a first set of control assemblies ( 460 a and 460 b ), and first set of control assemblies ( 460 a and 460 b ) can be used to move ( 463 a and 463 b ) the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 a and 461 b ) the first set of em - tuning distances ( 477 a and 477 b ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 475 a and 475 b ) within the first em energy tuning space 469 a . in addition , a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 c and 461 d ) can be coupled to a second set of control assemblies ( 460 c and 460 d ), and the second set of control assemblies ( 460 c and 460 d ) can be used to move ( 463 c and 463 d ) the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 461 c and 461 d ) the second set of em - tuning distances ( 477 c and 477 d ) relative to the em - tuning portions ( 475 c and 475 d ) within the second em energy tuning space 469 b . the first set of control assemblies ( 460 a and 460 b ) can be coupled to the controller 495 , and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the first set of em - tuning distances ( 477 a and 477 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 . in addition , the second set of control assemblies ( 460 c and 460 d ) can be coupled to the controller 495 , and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the second set of em - tuning distances ( 477 c and 477 d ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 . the controller 495 can be coupled 496 to the em sources ( 450 a , 450 b ), the matching networks ( 452 a , 452 b ), the coupling networks ( 454 a , 454 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 468 a , 468 b ), and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 450 a , 450 b ), the matching networks ( 452 a , 452 b ), the coupling networks ( 454 a , 454 b ), and the cavity assemblies ( 468 a , 468 b ) to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 . for example , the em sources ( 450 a , 450 b ) can operate at frequencies from about 500 mhz to about 5000 mhz . in addition , the controller 495 can be coupled 496 to the plasma sensors 406 , the process sensors 407 , and the cavity sensors ( 408 a and 408 b ), and the controller 495 can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the data from the plasma sensors 406 , the process sensors 407 , and the cavity sensors ( 408 a and 408 b ), to control the plasma uniformity within the process space 415 . the side view illustrates a process chamber 410 having a total width ( y t ), and a total height ( z t ) associated therewith in the y / z plane . for example , the total width ( y t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm , and the total height ( z t ) can vary from about 50 mm to about 500 mm . fig5 a - 5d show different views of exemplary plasma - tuning rods in accordance with embodiments of the invention . fig5 a shows a front view and a side view of a first exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 570 a , 575 a ). the first plasma - tuning portion 570 a can have first lengths ( y 11 ) associated therewith , and the first lengths ( y 11 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the first em - tuning portion 575 a can have lengths ( y 12 ) associated therewith , and the lengths ( y 12 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 570 a and the first em - tuning portion 575 a can have first heights ( x 1 ) associated therewith , and the first heights ( x 1 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 570 a and the first em - tuning portion 575 a can have first widths ( z 1 ) associated therewith , and the first widths ( z 1 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig5 b shows a front view and a side view of a second exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 570 b , 575 b ). the second plasma - tuning portion 570 b can have first lengths ( y 21 ) associated therewith , and the first lengths ( y 21 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the second em - tuning portion 575 b can have lengths ( y 22 ) associated therewith , and the lengths ( y 22 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 570 b and the second em - tuning portion 575 b can have second heights ( x 2 ) associated therewith , and the second heights ( x 2 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 570 b and the second em - tuning portion 575 b can have second widths ( z 2 ) associated therewith , and the second widths ( z 2 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig5 c shows a front view and a side view of a third exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 570 c , 575 c ). the third plasma - tuning portion 570 c can have third lengths ( y 31 ) associated therewith , and the third lengths ( y 31 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the third em - tuning portion 575 c can have a length ( y 32 ) associated therewith , and the length ( y 32 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 570 c and the third em - tuning portion 575 c can have third heights ( x 3 ) associated therewith , and the third heights ( x 3 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 570 c and the third em - tuning portion 575 c can have third widths ( z 3 ) associated therewith , and the third widths ( z 3 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig5 d shows a front view and a side view of a fourth exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 570 d , 575 d ). the fourth plasma - tuning portion 570 d can have fourth lengths ( y 41 ) associated therewith , and the fourth lengths ( y 41 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the fourth em - tuning portion 575 d can have a length ( y 42 ) associated therewith , and the length ( y 42 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 570 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 575 d can have fourth heights ( x 4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth heights ( x 4 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 570 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 575 d can have fourth widths ( z 4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth widths ( z 4 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . fig6 a - 6d show different views of exemplary plasma - tuning rods in accordance with embodiments of the invention . fig6 a shows a front view and a side view of a first exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 670 a , 675 a ). the first plasma - tuning portion 670 a can have first lengths ( y 11 ) associated therewith , and the first lengths ( y 11 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the first em - tuning portion 675 a can have lengths ( y 12 ) associated therewith , and the lengths ( y 12 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 670 a and the first em - tuning portion 675 a can have first heights ( x 1 ) associated therewith , and the first heights ( x 1 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 670 a and the first em - tuning portion 675 a can have first widths ( z 1 ) associated therewith , and the first widths ( z 1 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 670 a and the first em - tuning portion 675 a can have first thicknesses ( t z1 ) associated therewith , and the first thicknesses ( t z1 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . fig6 b shows a front view and a side view of a second exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 670 b , 675 b ). the second plasma - tuning portion 670 b can have first lengths ( y 21 ) associated therewith , and the first lengths ( y 21 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the second em - tuning portion 675 b can have lengths ( y 22 ) associated therewith , and the lengths ( y 22 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 670 b and the second em - tuning portion 675 b can have second heights ( x 2 ) associated therewith , and the second heights ( x 2 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 670 b and the second em - tuning portion 675 b can have second widths ( z 2 ) associated therewith , and the second widths ( z 2 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 670 b and the second em - tuning portion 675 b can have second thicknesses ( t z2 ) associated therewith , and the second thicknesses ( t z2 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . fig6 c shows a front view and a side view of a third exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 670 c , 675 c ). the third plasma - tuning portion 670 c can have third lengths ( y 31 ) associated therewith , and the third lengths ( y 31 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the third em - tuning portion 675 c can have a length ( y 32 ) associated therewith , and the length ( y 32 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 670 c and the third em - tuning portion 675 c can have third heights ( x 3 ) associated therewith , and the third heights ( x 3 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 670 c and the third em - tuning portion 675 c can have third widths ( z 3 ) associated therewith , and the third widths ( z 3 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 670 c and the third em - tuning portion 675 c can have third thicknesses ( t z3 and t x3 ) associated therewith , and the third thicknesses ( t z3 and t x3 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . fig6 d shows a front view and a side view of a fourth exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 670 d , 675 d ). the fourth plasma - tuning portion 670 d can have fourth lengths ( y 41 ) associated therewith , and the fourth lengths ( y 41 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the fourth em - tuning portion 675 d can have a length ( y 42 ) associated therewith , and the length ( y 42 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 670 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 675 d can have fourth heights ( x 4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth heights ( x 4 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 670 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 675 d can have fourth widths ( z 4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth widths ( z 4 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 670 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 675 d can have fourth thicknesses ( t z4 and t x4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth thicknesses ( t z4 and t x4 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . fig7 a - 7d show different views of exemplary plasma - tuning rods in accordance with embodiments of the invention . fig7 a shows a front view and a side view of a first exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 a , 775 a ). the first plasma - tuning portion 770 a can have first lengths ( y 11 ) associated therewith , and the first lengths ( y 11 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the first em - tuning portion 775 a can have lengths ( y 12 ) associated therewith , and the lengths ( y 12 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 770 a and the first em - tuning portion 775 a can have first heights ( x 1 ) associated therewith , and the first heights ( x 1 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the first plasma - tuning portion 770 a and the first em - tuning portion 775 a can have first widths ( z 1 ) associated therewith , and the first widths ( z 1 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . a first temperature control loop 772 a can be configured within the first exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 a , 775 a ). for example , a temperature control fluid and / or gas can flow through the first temperature control loop 772 a to control the temperature of the first exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 a , 775 a ). the first temperature control loop 772 a can have first diameters ( d a1 ) associated therewith , and the first diameters ( d a1 ) can vary from about 0 . 001 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . in addition , the first temperature control loop 772 a have first offsets ( l x11 and l x12 ) associated therewith , and the first offsets ( l x11 and l x12 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . fig7 b shows a front view and a side view of a second exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 b , 775 b ). the second plasma - tuning portion 770 b can have first lengths ( y 21 ) associated therewith , and the first lengths ( y 21 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the second em - tuning portion 775 b can have lengths ( y 22 ) associated therewith , and the lengths ( y 22 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 770 b and the second em - tuning portion 775 b can have second heights ( x 2 ) associated therewith , and the second heights ( x 2 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the second plasma - tuning portion 770 b and the second em - tuning portion 775 b can have second widths ( z 2 ) associated therewith , and the second widths ( z 2 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . a second temperature control loop 772 b can be configured within the second exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 b , 775 b ). for example , a temperature control fluid and / or gas can flow through the second temperature control loop 772 b to control the temperature of the second exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 b , 775 b ). the second temperature control loop 772 b can have second diameters ( d z2 ) associated therewith , and the second diameters ( d z2 ) can vary from about 0 . 001 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . in addition , the second temperature control loop 772 b have second offsets ( l x21 and l x22 ) associated therewith , and the second offsets ( l x21 and l x22 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . fig7 c shows a front view and a side view of a third exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 c , 775 c ). the third plasma - tuning portion 770 c can have third lengths ( y 31 ) associated therewith , and the third lengths ( y 31 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the third em - tuning portion 775 c can have a length ( y 32 ) associated therewith , and the length ( y 32 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 770 c and the third em - tuning portion 775 c can have third heights ( x 3 ) associated therewith , and the third heights ( x 3 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the third plasma - tuning portion 770 c and the third em - tuning portion 775 c can have third widths ( z 3 ) associated therewith , and the third widths ( z 3 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . a third temperature control loop 772 c can be configured within the third exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 c , 775 c ). for example , a temperature control fluid and / or gas can flow through the third temperature control loop 772 c to control the temperature of the third exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 c , 775 c ). the third temperature control loop 772 c can have third diameters ( d z3 ) associated therewith , and the third diameters ( d z3 ) can vary from about 0 . 001 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . in addition , the third temperature control loop 772 c have third offsets ( l x31 and l x32 ) associated therewith , and the third offsets ( l x31 and l x32 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . fig7 d shows a front view and a side view of a fourth exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 d , 775 d ). the fourth plasma - tuning portion 770 d can have fourth lengths ( y 41 ) associated therewith , and the fourth lengths ( y 41 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the fourth em - tuning portion 775 d can have a length ( y 42 ) associated therewith , and the length ( y 42 ) can vary from about 1 mm to about 400 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 770 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 775 d can have fourth heights ( x 4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth heights ( x 4 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . the fourth plasma - tuning portion 770 d and the fourth em - tuning portion 775 d can have fourth widths ( z 4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth widths ( z 4 ) can vary from about 0 . 1 mm to about 10 mm . a fourth temperature control loop 772 d can be configured within the fourth exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 d , 775 d ). for example , a temperature control fluid and / or gas can flow through the fourth temperature control loop 772 d to control the temperature of the fourth exemplary plasma - tuning rod ( 770 d , 775 d ). the fourth temperature control loop 772 d can have fourth diameters ( d z4 ) associated therewith , and the fourth diameters ( d z4 ) can vary from about 0 . 001 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . in addition , the fourth temperature control loop 772 d have fourth offsets ( l x41 and l x42 ) associated therewith , and the fourth offsets ( l x41 and l x42 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 0 . 1 mm . fig8 illustrates a flow diagram for an exemplary operating procedure in accordance with embodiments of the invention . an exemplary multi - step procedure 800 is shown in fig8 . in 810 , a substrate can be positioned on a substrate holder in a process chamber , and a first cavity assembly ( 168 a , fig1 ) and a second cavity assembly ( 168 b , fig1 ) can be coupled to the process chamber . in one embodiment , the first cavity assembly ( 168 a , fig1 ) with the first em energy tuning space ( 169 a , fig1 ) therein can be coupled the first process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ) using the first interface assembly ( 112 a , fig1 ), and the second cavity assembly ( 168 b , fig1 ) with the second em energy tuning space ( 169 b , fig1 ) therein can be coupled the first process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ) using the second interface assembly ( 112 b , fig1 ). in 820 , a first set of first plasma - tuning rods {( 170 a - 170 e ) and ( 175 a - 175 e ), fig1 } can be configured from the first cavity assembly ( 168 a , fig1 ) through a first interface assembly ( 112 a , fig1 ) into the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) in the first process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ). a first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a - 164 e , fig1 ) can be removably coupled to the first interface assembly ( 112 a , fig1 ) and can be configured to isolate the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) in the first process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ) from the first em energy tuning space ( 169 a , fig1 ) in the first cavity assembly ( 168 a , fig1 ). the first set of isolation assemblies ( 164 a - 164 e , fig1 ) can be used to removably couple the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 a - 170 e ) and ( 175 a - 175 e ), fig1 } to the first interface assembly ( 112 a , fig1 ). for example , the first plasma - tuning portions ( 170 a - 170 e , fig1 ) can be configured in the process space ( 115 , fig1 ), and the first em - tuning portions ( 175 a - 175 e , fig1 ) can be configured within the first em energy tuning space ( 169 a , fig1 ). in 830 , a set of second plasma - tuning rods {( 170 f - 170 j ) and ( 175 f - 175 j ), fig1 } can be configured from the second cavity assembly ( 168 b , fig1 ) through a second interface assembly ( 112 b , fig1 ) into the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) in the first process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ). a second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f - 164 j , fig1 ) can be removably coupled to the second interface assembly ( 112 b , fig1 ) and can be configured to isolate the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) in the first process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ) from the second em energy tuning space ( 169 b , fig1 ) in the second cavity assembly ( 168 b , fig1 ). the second set of isolation assemblies ( 164 f - 164 j , fig1 ) can be used to removably couple the set of second plasma tuning rods {( 170 f - 170 j ) and ( 175 f - 175 j ), fig1 } to the second interface assembly ( 112 b , fig1 ). for example , the second set of plasma - tuning portions ( 170 f - 170 j , fig1 ) can be configured in the process space ( 115 , fig1 ), and the second em - tuning portions ( 175 f - 175 j , fig1 ) can be configured within the second em energy tuning space ( 169 b , fig1 ). in 840 , process gas can be supplied into the process chamber above the first and second plasma - tuning rods . during dry plasma etching , the process gas may comprise an etchant , a passivant , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . for example , when plasma etching a dielectric film such as silicon oxide ( sio x ) or silicon nitride ( si x n y ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a fluorocarbon - based chemistry ( c x f y ) such as at least one of c 4 f 8 , c 5 f 8 , c 3 f 6 , c 4 f 6 , cf 4 , etc ., and / or may include a fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and can have at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 . additionally , for example , when etching polycrystalline silicon ( polysilicon ), the plasma etch gas composition generally includes a halogen - containing gas such as hbr , cl 2 , nf 3 , or sf 6 or a combination of two or more thereof , and may include fluorohydrocarbon - based chemistry ( c x h y f z ) such as at least one of chf 3 , ch 2 f 2 , etc ., and at least one of an inert gas , oxygen , co or co 2 , or two or more thereof . during plasma - enhanced deposition , the process gas may comprise a film forming precursor , a reduction gas , or an inert gas , or a combination of two or more thereof . in 850 , uniform microwave plasma can be created by applying first tunable microwave signals to the first plasma - tuning rods and applying second tunable microwave signals to the second plasma - tuning rods . in some systems , a first set of em - coupling regions ( 162 a - 162 e , fig1 ) can be established at first em - coupling distances ( 176 a - 176 e , fig1 ) from the first cavity wall ( 165 a , fig1 ) within the first em energy tuning space ( 169 a , fig1 ) established in the first cavity assembly ( 168 a , fig1 ), and the first set of em - tuning portions ( 175 a - 175 e , fig1 ) can extend into the first set of em - coupling regions ( 162 a - 162 e , fig1 ). the first em - tuning portions ( 175 a - 175 e , fig1 ) can obtain different tunable microwave signals ( energies ) from the first set of em - coupling regions ( 162 a - 162 e , fig1 ), and the different tunable microwave signals ( energies ) can be transferred to the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) at the first set of locations ( x 2a - x 2e , fig1 ) using the first set of plasma - tuning portions ( 170 a - 170 e , fig1 ). the first set of em - coupling regions ( 162 a - 162 e , fig1 ) can include tunable e - field regions , tunable h - field regions , maximum e - field regions , maximum h - field regions , maximum voltage regions , maximum energy regions , or maximum current regions , or any combination thereof . a first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e , fig1 ) can be coupled to a first set of control assemblies ( 160 a - 160 e , fig1 ) and can be used to move ( 163 a - 163 e , fig1 ) the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e , fig1 ) a first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a - 177 e , fig1 ) relative to the first set of em - tuning portions ( 175 a - 175 e , fig1 ) of the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 a - 170 e ) and ( 175 a - 175 e ), fig1 } within the first em energy tuning space ( 169 a , fig1 ). the first set of control assemblies ( 160 a - 160 e , fig1 ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e , fig1 ) can be used to tune / optimize the different tunable microwave signals ( energies ) coupled from the first set of em - coupling regions ( 162 a - 162 e , fig1 ) to the first set of em - tuning portions ( 175 a - 175 e , fig1 ) of the first set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 a - 170 e ) and ( 175 a - 175 e ), fig1 }. for example , the first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a - 177 e , fig1 ) can be established between the first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a - 177 e , fig1 ) and the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e , fig1 ) within the first em energy tuning space ( 169 a , fig1 ), and the first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a - 177 e , fig1 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . one or more controllers ( 195 , fig1 ) can be coupled to the first set of control assemblies ( 160 a - 160 e , fig1 ) and can be used to control / optimize the movements ( 163 a - 163 e , fig1 ) of the first set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 a - 161 e , fig1 ). for example , one or more controllers ( 195 , fig1 ) can be used to control / optimize the first set of em - tuning distances ( 177 a - 177 e , fig1 ) to create , optimize , and / or maintain a uniform microwave plasma within the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) in the process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ) during substrate processing . in addition , a second set of em - coupling regions ( 162 e - 162 j , fig1 ) can be established at a second set of em - coupling distances ( 176 e - 176 j , fig1 ) from the first cavity wall ( 165 b , fig1 ) within the second em energy tuning space ( 169 b , fig1 ) established in the second cavity assembly ( 168 b , fig1 ), and the second set of em - tuning portions ( 175 f - 175 j , fig1 ) can extend into the second set of em - coupling regions ( 162 f - 162 j , fig1 ). the second set of em - tuning portions ( 175 f - 175 j , fig1 ) can obtain different tunable microwave signals ( energies ) from the second set of em - coupling regions ( 162 f - 162 j , fig1 ), and the different tunable microwave signals ( energies ) can be transferred to the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) at the second set of locations ( x 2f - x 2j , fig1 ) using the second set of plasma - tuning portions ( 170 f - 170 j , fig1 ). the second set of em - coupling regions ( 162 f - 162 j , fig1 ) can include tunable e - field regions , tunable h - field regions , maximum e - field regions , maximum h - field regions , maximum voltage regions , maximum energy regions , or maximum current regions , or any combination thereof . a second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j , fig1 ) can be coupled to a second set of control assemblies ( 160 f - 160 j , fig1 ) and can be used to move ( 163 f - 163 j , fig1 ) the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j , fig1 ) a second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f - 177 j , fig1 ) relative to the second set of em - tuning portions ( 175 f - 175 j , fig1 ) of the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 f - 170 j ) and ( 175 f - 175 j ), fig1 } within the second em energy tuning space ( 169 b , fig1 ). the second set of control assemblies ( 160 f - 160 j , fig1 ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j , fig1 ) can be used to tune / optimize the different tunable microwave signals ( energies ) coupled from the second set of em - coupling regions ( 162 f - 162 j , fig1 ) to the second set of em - tuning portions ( 175 f - 175 j , fig1 ) of the second set of plasma tuning rods {( 170 f - 170 j ) and ( 175 f - 175 j ), fig1 }. for example , the second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f - 177 j , fig1 ) can be established between the second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f - 177 j , fig1 ) and the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j , fig1 ) within the second em energy tuning space ( 169 b , fig1 ), and the second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f - 177 j , fig1 ) can vary from about 0 . 01 mm to about 1 mm . one or more controllers ( 195 , fig1 ) can be coupled to the second set of control assemblies ( 160 f - 160 j , fig1 ) and can be used to control / optimize the second set of movements ( 163 f - 163 j , fig1 ) of the second set of plasma - tuning slabs ( 161 f - 161 j , fig1 ). for example , one or more controllers ( 195 , fig1 ) can be used to control / optimize the second set of em - tuning distances ( 177 f - 177 j , fig1 ) to create , optimize , and / or maintain a uniform microwave plasma within the process space ( 115 , fig1 ) in the process chamber ( 110 , fig1 ) during substrate processing . furthermore , one or more controllers ( 195 , fig1 ) can be coupled to the em sources ( 150 a and 150 b , fig1 ), the matching networks ( 152 a and 152 b , fig1 ), the coupling networks ( 154 a and 154 b , fig1 ), and the cavity assemblies ( 168 a and 168 b , fig1 ), and at least one controller ( 195 , fig1 ) can use process recipes to establish , control , and optimize the em sources ( 150 a and 150 b , fig1 ), the matching networks ( 152 a and 152 b , fig1 ), the coupling networks ( 154 a and 154 b , fig1 ), and the cavity assemblies ( 168 a and 168 b , fig1 ) to control the microwave plasma uniformity within the process space ( 115 , fig1 ). in 860 , the substrate can be processed by moving the substrate through the uniform microwave plasma . fig9 illustrates a plasma processing system 900 according to embodiments of the invention . the plasma processing system 900 may comprise a dry plasma etching system or a plasma enhanced deposition system . the plasma processing system 900 comprises a process chamber 910 having a plurality of chamber walls 922 and interface assemblies ( 922 a and 922 b ) configured to define a process space 915 . the plasma processing system 900 comprises a substrate holder ( not shown ) configured to support and / or move 906 the substrate 905 through the process space 915 . the substrate 905 is exposed to plasma or process chemistry in process space 915 . the plasma processing system 900 can comprise a plurality of cavity assemblies ( 968 a , 968 b , 968 c , 968 d , 968 e , and 9680 coupled to the interface assemblies ( 922 a and 922 b ). the first cavity assembly 968 a can be coupled to a first set of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 a and 912 a ); the second cavity assembly 968 b can be coupled to a second set of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 b and 912 b ); the third cavity assembly 968 c can be coupled to a third set of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 c and 912 c ); the fourth cavity assembly 968 d can be coupled to a fourth set of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 d and 912 d ); the fifth cavity assembly 968 e can be coupled to a fifth set of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 e and 912 e ); and the sixth cavity assembly 968 f can be coupled to a sixth set of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 f and 9120 . the plurality of plasma - tuning rods ( 911 a , 912 a , 911 b , 912 b , 911 c , 912 c , 911 d , 912 d , 911 e , 912 e , 911 f , and 9120 can be configured to form plasma in the process space 915 . for example , the cavity assemblies ( 968 a , 968 b , 968 c , 968 d , 968 e , and 9680 and the plasma - tuning rods ( 911 a , 912 a , 911 b , 912 b , 911 c , 912 c , 911 d , 912 d , 911 e , 912 e , 911 f , and 9120 can be configured using the microwave systems ( 100 , 200 , 300 , or 400 ) described herein . although only certain embodiments of this invention have been described in detail above , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention . accordingly , all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention . thus , the description is not intended to limit the invention and the configuration , operation , and behavior of the present invention has been described with the understanding that modifications and variations of the embodiments are possible , given the level of detail present herein . accordingly , the preceding detailed description is not mean or intended to , in any way , limit the invention — rather the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims .
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US-201113249485-A
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an apparatus and method for saving a battery of a paging receiver . the apparatus includes a paging terminal for sequentially assigning time slots by the unit of a pocsag code , and generating the first batch following a preamble as a header batch with respect to each pocsag code , and the paging receiver for receiving the pocsag code transmitted from the paging terminal to detect the header batch , and turning off a power source of a radio frequency unit when time slot information contained in the header batch does not correspond to the time slot of the paging receiver .
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in the following description of preferred embodiments , specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention . it is to be understood , however , that a detailed description of functions or constructions related to the present invention which are known by those of ordinary skill in the art will not be provided where such description would obscure the subject matter of the present invention . referring now to fig2 a block diagram of a conventional paging signaling system in which the present invention may be implemented is shown . when a user requests to transmit a paging message through , e . g ., a telephone 300 or a facsimile 400 , the paging message is transmitted to a paging terminal 32 through a switching system or a public switched telephone network ( pstn ) 200 . the paging terminal 32 call - signaling - protocols the paging message . if the call - signaling - protocol message is a pocsag signal , the paging terminal 32 determines an accurate time slot for transmission of the pocsag signal by using information received from a global positioning system ( gps ) 500 and transmits the pocsag signal to a corresponding one of a plurality of paging receivers 52 through 56 via one or more of a plurality of base station units 22 through 24 during the determined time slot . the gps 500 is an automatic positioning system which receives time and position data from 24 satellites and computes the current 3 - dimensional position and time by using the principle of triangulation . referring to fig3 a block diagram of the paging terminal 32 of fig2 is shown . a controller 30 controls the reception and transmission of the paging message received through the pstn 200 . a memory 31 is connected to the controller 30 for storing information about the paging receivers of the paging system such as an address of the paging receiver , a message type ( voice , numeric or alphanumeric ), and time slot group information . the time slot group information is previously designated by the paging system and is based on the address of the paging receiver . referring again to fig1 a , the 32 bit address codeword consists of one address / data identification bit ( bit 1 ), an 18 - bit address portion ( bits 2 - 19 ), a 2 - bit address multiplier portion ( bits 20 and 21 ), a 10 - bit parity portion ( bits 22 - 31 ), one block check bit ( bit 32 ). the time slot group information is determined by using information of the address portion , i . e , whether the information value of the address portion is an even or odd number . alternatively , the time slot group information may be determined on the basis of a remainder obtained by dividing the information value of the address portion by 2 or more . a page queue 34 , which is connected to the controller 30 , temporarily stores the paging message in a standby state when received through the pstn 200 . an area is divided in the page queue 34 so as to store the time slot corresponding to the time slot group information . a data encoder 33 converts the paging message in the page queue 34 into the pocsag signal which can be transmitted to the corresponding paging receiver 52 - 56 through a corresponding one of the base station units 22 - 24 . a timing unit 35 controls timing necessary for the operation of the paging terminal 32 . referring now to fig4 a block diagram of a paging receiver in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown . an rf unit 41 receives paging information and performs functions such as frequency conversion , demodulation and waveform shaping , and then outputs digitally converted paging information . a pattern detector 52 detects the preamble data from the digital signal output from the rf unit 41 . an address / message detector 54 detects an address or a message of the digital signal output from the rf unit 41 . a battery saving controller 42 turns on or off a power source ( not shown ) of the rf unit 41 under the control of a controller 44 . a decoder 56 sets an operating mode of the paging receiver under the control of the controller 44 . in an idle mode , the decoder 56 controls the power supplied to the rf unit 41 so that the pattern detector 52 can detect the preamble data . in a batch mode , the decoder 56 controls the power supplied to the rf unit 41 so that the address / message detector 54 may detect word sync data and frame data . further , the decoder 56 decodes the detected frame data into its original data form . a second clock generator 58 controls the operation timing of the decoder 56 . the controller 44 receives and processes the decoded data provided from the decoder 56 , and controls operation of an alarm unit 43 . in addition , the controller 44 generates a decoder hold signal dh which causes the decoder 56 to turn off the power source of the rf unit 41 via the battery saving controller 42 . the alarm unit 43 may be any conventional vibrator or a buzzer . in response to an alarm control signal received from the controller 44 , the alarm unit 43 generates an alarm signal ( e . g ., a tone signal or a vibration signal ) to indicate that a call is received . a display unit 45 displays a message from the caller , as well as status information of the paging receiver , by a display control signal generated from the controller 44 . a memory 46 stores data such as the unique address information assigned to the paging receiver , frame information and received messages . a first clock generator 47 supplies clock signals to the controller 44 which are necessary for the operation of the paging receiver . a timer 60 of the controller 44 is used to sense the state of the time slot repeated with a constant time length . a key input unit 48 , which is user interface means , has a plurality of keys which are used to set one of a plurality of modes of the paging receiver as well as to confirm the paging message . referring now to fig5 a flow diagram illustrating an operation of the paging terminal 32 in accordance with the present invention is shown . in fig5 it is assumed that a paging request generated at any time slot is immediately transmitted at that time slot or the paging request is transmitted at the next time slot . the flow chart of fig5 is divided into an operation at an n - th time slot , a current time slot , and an operation at an ( n + 1 )- th time slot , the next time slot ( where n is an even number ). the paging terminal 32 shown in fig2 and 3 checks whether a paging message is received through the pstn 200 ( step 5 a ). as discussed above , the paging message is inputted by the user through , e . g ., a telephone or facsimile and transmitted to the paging terminal 32 through the pstn 200 . when the paging message is received , it is classified with reference to information stored in memory 31 and the timing unit 35 ( step 5 b ). specifically , a cap ( code assignment plan ) code corresponding to the paging receiver ( which is contained in the paging message ) is calculated to check whether the called paging receiver belongs to an odd or even - numbered time slot group . since the paging terminal 32 only processes a subscriber call having an even cap code number during an even - numbered time slot and a subscriber call having an odd cap code number during an odd - numbered time slot , the paging receivers are classified into an even or odd - numbered time slot group depending on the designated time slot . next , a determination is made as to whether a current time slot is identical to the time slot of the called paging receiver ( step 5 c ). if the time slot assigned to the called paging receiver is an even - numbered time slot , the paging message may be immediately transmitted under the state that messages for other called paging receivers belonging to the even - numbered time slot group have been processed . in particular , whether the paging message is immediately transmitted at a corresponding time slot depends on factors such as the number of other paging messages to be transmitted at the same frame and the length of each message . if the paging message can not be transmitted at a current time slot , it should be placed in a standby state until the next even - numbered time slot . then the paging message should be stored in a memory ( queue ). as stated above , for purposes of the following description of preferred embodiments , these circumstances are disregarded and it is assumed that the paging message is immediately transmitted . accordingly , referring back to fig5 if the time slot of the called paging receiver is not identical to an n - th time slot ( negative result in step 5 c ), the paging message is stored in an odd - numbered time slot standby queue ( step 5 e ). if the time slot is identical to the n - th time slot ( affirmative result at step 5 c ), a paging message immediate transmission routine is executed ( step 5 d ). next , a determination is made as to whether it is time to transmit the paging message for a new time slot ( step 5 f ). this determination is made even if the paging message is not received ( negative result in step 5 a ). if it is determined that it is not time to transmit the paging message for the new time slot ( negative result in step 5 f ), process returns to step 5 a . if it determined that it is time to transmit the paging message for the new time slot ( affirmative result in step 5 f ), the paging message of the standby state ( at step 5 e ) is transmitted . like the even ( n - th ) time slot , the paging message request may be sensed at the odd (( n + 1 )- th ) time slot . however , only an operation for processing the paging message stored in the odd - numbered time slot standby queue at the odd - numbered time slot will be described in detail . next , the preamble and word sync is transmitted ( step 5 g ). a header batch is then formed ( step 5 h ). in this instance , the state of a traffic bit should be 1 . next , the paging message stored in the odd - numbered time slot standby queue is searched ( step 5 i ). a data batch consisting of a data address and a data message is formed ( step 5 j ) and the data batch is transmitted ( step 5 k ). referring now to fig6 a flow diagram of the paging message immediate transmission routine ( of step 5 d ) of fig5 is shown . the paging terminal 32 checks whether the header batch has been transmitted at a corresponding time slot ( step 6 a ). if the header batch has been transmitted ( affirmative result in step 6 a ), a determination is made as to whether the traffic bit contained the header batch is logic 0 or logic 1 . if the traffic bit is logic 0 , the paging receiver will turn off the power source ( described in detail below with reference to fig7 ). on the other hand , if the traffic bit is logic 1 , the power source is not turned off . if the header batch having a traffic bit of logic 0 is transmitted , there is no use to transmit the paging message . therefore , if it is determined that the traffic bit is logic 0 ( negative result in step 6 b ), the paging message is stored in an even - numbered time slot standby queue ( step 6 c ). the stored paging message will then be transmitted at the next even - numbered time slot . on the other hand , if the header batch has not been transmitted ( negative result in step 6 a ) ( i . e ., if it is time to start to transmit the preamble or if the preamble is being transmitted ) a header batch having a traffic bit of logic 1 is formed and transmitted ( step 6 d ) after the preamble has been transmitted . next , a data batch consisting of the data address and the data message is formed ( step 6 e ) and the data batch is transmitted ( step 6 f ). referring now to fig7 a flow diagram of an operation of a paging receiver in accordance with the present invention is shown . in a standby state , the controller 44 of the paging receiver supplies a power source to the rf unit 41 ( step 7 a ), and then performs an initialization operation ( step 7 b ). during initialization , a normal operating timer ( which can normally operate the decoder 56 ) is set to approximately 15 seconds . in addition , a decoder hold timer ( which prevents the decoder 56 from operation for a corresponding time ) is released . next , a header / data address ( or cap code ) is assigned to the decoder 56 ( step 7 c ) so that the header batch and the data batch can be extracted from a signal received by the rf unit 41 . next , a determination is made as to whether the header address is detected ( step 7 d ). if the header address is detected ( affirmative result at step 7 d ), the header message is analyzed ( step 7 e ) to determine if the current time slot corresponds to the time slot designated for the paging receiver (“ receiver time slot ”). if the current time slot corresponds to the receiver time slot , the state of the traffic bit is checked ( step 7 f ). it is assumed that a traffic bit of logic 0 represents that there is no data batch to be transmitted whereas a traffic bit of logic 1 represents that there is a data batch to be transmitted . accordingly , if it is determined that the traffic bit is logic 0 ( negative result in step 7 f ), the decoder hold signal dh is generated and the decoder hold time is set to a corresponding time slot ( step 7 g ), thereby turning off the power source of the rf unit 41 during that time . next , the decoder hold timer is checked to determine if the time set for the decoder hold timer has elapsed ( step 7 h ). if the setting time has elapsed ( affirmative result in step 7 h ), the decoder hold signal dh is prevented from being generated ( step 7 i ) so as to supply a normal power source . the normal operating timer is then set ( step 7 j ) and execution returns to step 7 d . if , on the other hand , the traffic bit is logic 1 ( affirmative result at step 7 f ), a determination is made as to whether the data address is detected ( step 7 k ). if the data address is detected ( affirmative result at step 7 k ), the data message is received from the decoder ( step 7 l ). the received data message is processed and stored ( step 7 m ). the received data message is displayed through the display unit 45 and aurally transmitted through the alarm unit 43 ( step 7 n ). next , a determination is made as to whether the setting time of the normal operating timer has elapsed ( step 7 o ). moreover , even if the data address is not detected ( negative result at step 7 k ), the setting time of the normal operating timer is checked to see if it has elapsed ( step 7 o ). if the setting time has not elapsed ( negative result in step 7 o ), execution returns to step 7 k . the elapse of the time set in the normal operating timer corresponds to the point at which the time permitted to a self time slot elapses . that is , if the self time slot is an even - numbered time slot , the fact that the time permitted to the self time slot elapses represents that it is time to start a new odd - numbered time slot . by driving the decoder hold timer in accordance with the setting time , the decoder 56 will not be operated during the next time slot except the self time slot . next , if the header address is not detected ( negative result at step 7 d ), it is determined if the data address is detected ( step 7 k ). this is done because a situation may arise during a normal operation that the data address is detected even though the header address is missed without any reason . referring now to fig8 a through 8c , timing diagrams illustrating a battery saving state of a paging receiver for one time slot in accordance with the present invention are shown . in particular , fig8 a illustrates a structure of one time slot with a constant time length . fig8 b illustrates that the power source is normally supplied to the rf unit during a data batch stream when a current time slot is determined as the receiver time slot by detecting the preamble and checking the header batch . fig8 c illustrates that the power supplied to the rf unit is cut off during the data batch stream when the current time slot is not the receiver time slot . in this situation , the paging receiver does not receive the data batch information during the current time slot and does not operate as the receiver by a decoder holding operation . fig9 a to 9 c are timing diagrams illustrating a battery saving state of the paging receiver for a plurality of time slots . in particular , fig9 a illustrates a the form of the transmission of the time slots with each time slot having constant time length . fig9 b shows a battery consuming state when the time slot of the paging receiver is an odd - numbered time slot . fig9 c shows a battery consuming state when the time slot of the paging receiver is an even - numbered time slot . in the inventive control method , only about 50 % of the conventional power is consumed ( assuming of course that power consumption of the conventional paging receiver is 100 %). in addition , if the traffic bit is 0 , only the preamble is detected and the rf unit 41 is turned off until the corresponding data batch and the next time slot . then only about 3 . 33 % of the conventional power is consumed ( again assuming that the power consumption of the conventional paging receiver is 100 %). as shown , when the time slots with constant time length are transmitted , the paging receiver checks the preamble and the header batch . if the current time slot is not the receiver time slot , the rf unit 41 is turned off . on the other hand , if the current time slot is the receiver time slot , the rf unit 41 is turned on . it is to be appreciated that , since the rf unit 41 is only turned on if the current time slot is the receiver time slot , there is no consumption of the battery when the current time slot is not the self time slot and , therefore , the power is saved . referring now to fig1 a through 10 c , a structure of a time slot in accordance with the present invention is shown . in particular , fig1 a illustrates one time slot group ( tsg ) consisting of 4 time slots . in fig1 a , reference symbols ots 1 and ots 2 designate odd - numbered time slots ; ets 2 and ets 4 represent even - numbered time slots ; b 1 - b 31 refer to data batches ; pr refers to the preamble data ; and hdb refers to the header batch . assuming that each time slot has a duration of 15 seconds , one tsg has a duration of one minute . fig1 b illustrates a construction of the header batch ( hdb ) contained in the odd - numbered time slot ( ots ) and fig1 c illustrates a construction of the header batch contained in the even - numbered time slot ( ets ). referring to fig1 b , 2 time slot information bits s 0 and s 1 are assigned to the message data constituting any one frame of the header batch of the odd - numbered time slot . preferably , the time slot group ( tsg ) consists of 4 time slots because there are 4 numbers , for example , 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 , designated by the 2 bits . although the fundamental construction shown in fig1 b and 10 c are similar , the frame having information is determined depending on whether the time slot is an even or odd - numbered time slot within one time slot group . in other words , the first frame in fig1 b has address data a 1 and message data m 1 since ots 1 is an odd - numbered time slot , whereas the second frame has no data ( designated by x x ). the first frame in fig1 c has no data since ets 4 is an even - numbered time slot , whereas the second frame has address data a 2 and message data m 2 . the traffic information t is one bit . since the transmission of data is reduced in the night , the paging terminal transmits only the preamble and the header batch when there is no data transmission . therefore , the consumption of the battery can be reduced . for example , the traffic information bit of 0 means that there is no data batch . hence , the paging receiver turns off the rf unit 41 . since the traffic information bit of 1 means that there is the data batch , the paging receiver turns on the rf until 41 . the am / pm information is one bit , hour information is 4 bits , 10 - minute information is 4 bits , one - minute information is 4 bits , and a checksum bit is 4 bits . the checksum bit is used to determine whether header information data of 16 bits , that is , the slot , traffic and am / pm information , hour information , 10 - minute information and 1 - minute information , has an error . if a value added by the unit of 4 bits ( nibble ) is over 16 , that value is discarded , and only a value between 0 to 15 is transmitted . the paging receiver determines whether the information is effective by comparing the 16 most significant bits with a checksum value . referring now to fig1 , a form of a pocsag code of a battery saving type at a flex combined channel according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown . the first batch following the preamble is the header batch which consists of a synchronization code ( sc ) and 8 frames . each frame consists of 2 codewords . each batch consists of 17 codewords . the remainder of the batches following the header batch are the data batches . referring now to fig1 , a structure of the header batch in the pocsag code of fig1 is shown . it is assumed that one minute ( 32 frames ) is one period and the length of one time slot is 15 seconds and 4 time slots forms one time slot group . each time slot has the header batch as shown in fig1 . there are two slot information bits that are assigned to the message data constituting the frame of the header batch . for example , if the slot information bits s 0 of 1 and s 1 of 0 are assigned to message data m 1 constituting the first frame of the header batch of the first time slot , it will be appreciated that the transmitted data belongs to the first time slot . in addition to the slot information , the am / pm information consists of one bit , the hour information consists of 4 bits , the 10 - minute information consists of 4 bits , the one - minute information consists of 4 bits , and the collapse information consists of 4 bits . there are bits assigned to the hours , minutes and seconds in order to transmit accurate time information because a flex paging system uses the gps information . the collapse bits are characteristic of a flex form of operation . consequently , a paging receiver at the flex combined channel detects the time slot number and the collapse bits from the header batch following the preamble and previously senses the transmission time of flex data . therefore , the paging receiver can turn the rf unit 41 off while the flex data is transmitted . the following table 1 and table 2 show the state and contents of the collapse bits and time slots . fig1 illustrates data receiving forms of first to fifth flex combined channels . the fifth flex combined channel has the collapse information of 4 . assuming that one minute ( 32 frames ) is the duration for one period , flex data is transmitted during the first 30 seconds ( 16 frames ) and pocsag data is transmitted during the next 30 seconds . the transmitted pocsag data comprises two time slots ( i . e ., time slots 3 and 4 in fig1 ) each having a duration of 15 seconds . the flex data is transmitted during the time corresponding to time slot 1 and time slot 2 . therefore , with regard to the pocsag system , the pocsag paging receiver does not have to operate when the flex data is being transmitted ( i . e ., during the time corresponding to time slot 1 and time slot 2 ). the fourth flex combined channel has the collapse information of 3 . the flex data is transmitted during the first 15 seconds ( 8 frames ) and the pocsag data is transmitted during the next 45 seconds . as shown , the pocsag data is transmitted during time slot 2 through time slot 4 . the third flex combined channel has the collapse information of 2 . the flex data is transmitted during the first 7 . 5 seconds ( 4 frames ) and the pocsag data is transmitted during the next 52 . 5 seconds . specifically , as shown , the pocsag data is transmitted for 7 . 5 seconds during time slot 1 and during the 15 seconds for each time slot 2 , 3 , and 4 . the second flex combined channel has the collapse information of 1 . the flex data is transmitted during the first 3 . 75 seconds ( 2 frames ) and the pocsag data is transmitted during the next 56 . 25 seconds . specifically , the pocsag data is transmitted during 11 . 25 seconds of time slot 1 and 15 seconds for each of time slots 2 , 3 , and 4 . the first flex combined channel has the collapse information of 0 . the flex data is transmitted during the first 1 . 875 seconds ( 1 frame ) and the pocsag data is transmitted during the next 58 . 125 seconds . specifically , the pocsag data is transmitted during time slot 1 through time slot 4 . the time slot 1 is transmitted only during 13 . 125 seconds . in each of the above combined channels , the length of the flex data is calculated by multiplying the collapse information k by two , i . e ., 2 k . in particular , the length of the flex data is 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 and 16 frames . referring now to fig1 , waveform diagrams of battery saving signals of the pocsag paging receiver at the flex combined channels are shown . the battery saving waveforms ( i . e ., bs 4 , bs 3 , bs 2 , bs 1 , and bs 0 ) are maintained at a low state while the flex data is received . in other words , while the flex data is received , the rf unit 41 is turned off so as to prevent the unnecessary consumption of battery power . this operation is possible by previously sensing the transmission of the flex data . for this , the slot information bits s 0 and s 1 contained in any frame in the header batch of fig1 are detected . referring now to fig1 , a flow diagram of a battery saving process of the paging receiver is shown . the controller 44 of the paging receiver supplies power to the rf unit 41 ( step 15 a ) and performs an initialization operation ( step 15 b ). next , the header / data address ( or cap code ) is assigned to the decoder 56 so as to receive the header batch and the data batch from the signal received through the rf unit 41 ( step 15 c ). the decoder 56 transmits the data message to the controller 44 by detecting the data address after the preamble is detected . the controller 44 determines whether the header address is detected ( step 15 d ). if the header address is detected ( affirmative result at step 15 d ), the header message is analyzed ( step 15 e ). next , a determination is made as to whether the current time slot is the final one ( step 15 f ). preferably , if the time slot number is 4 or more , the current time slot is deemed to be the final time slot . the final time slot means that the flex data is transmitted after the corresponding time slot . a decoder hold reservation timer is then set in order to hold the decoder 56 after a constant time ( step 15 g ). the setting of the decoder hold reservation timer is done before the decoder 56 is held . next , the decoder hold reservation timer is checked to see if its setting time elapses ( step 15 h ). if the time has elapsed ( affirmative result at step 15 h ), the decoder hold signal dh is generated to turn off the rf unit 41 ( step 15 i ). the decoder hold timer is then set ( step 15 j ). a determination is then made as to whether a setting time of the decoder hold timer elapses ( step 15 k ). if the setting decoder hold time elapses ( affirmative result at step 15 k ), the decoder hold signal dh is stopped from being generated ( step 15 l ) so as to supply a normal power source to the rf unit 41 . thereafter , the process returns to step 15 d . on the other hand , if the setting time of the decoder hold timer does not elapse ( negative result at step 15 k ), the controller 44 continues to check the decoder hold timer until the setting time elapses . referring back to step 15 d , if the header address is detected but the current time slot is not the final time slot ( negative result at step 15 f ), process returns to step 15 d . in this situation , the header address will not be detected ( negative result in step 15 d ) because the header address has already been detected . therefore , the data address following the header address will be detected ( step 15 m ). a determination is made as to whether the data address is detected ( step 15 m ). if the data address is detected ( affirmative result in step 15 m ), the data message is received from the decoder ( step 15 n ). the received data message is processed and stored ( step 15 o ). the received data message is then visually displayed and aurally transmitted by controlling the display unit 45 and the alarm unit 43 ( step 15 p ). after the message is displayed ( 15 p ), or if the data address is not detected ( negative result at step 15 m ), it is determined whether the setting time of the decoder hold reservation timer elapses ( step 15 h ). consequently , the pocsag paging receiver used in the combined channel turns off the rf unit when a data type obtained by checking the preamble and the header batch is a flex type and turns on the rf unit only when the data type is a pocsag type . therefore , unnecessary power consumption can be prevented . although the illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments , and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention . all such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .
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US-8817298-A
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a gravity feed apparatus has a plurality of deflecting baffles positioned within a treatment chamber to disperse a flow of plant seed within a treatment chamber and apply sprays of a chemical solution used to treat the plant seed .
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with reference to the accompanying figures , there is shown a gravity drop seed treatment apparatus 10 according to the present invention . the gravity drop seed treatment apparatus 10 has a seed input 32 , such as a hopper into which trucks may dump seed , and an input conveyor 30 which may be any conventional screw - type or pneumatic conveyor . input conveyor 30 transports the seed from the seed input 32 to the top 34 of the gravity drop apparatus 10 . a weight actuated door 13 seals the top of the gravity drop apparatus until a desired quantity of seed , measured by weight , is deposited thereupon from the input conveyor 30 . the gravity drop apparatus 10 defines a vertically oriented inner treatment chamber 12 . a plurality of angled baffles 14 are serially disposed on opposing walls of the treatment chamber 12 . according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the height of each of the plurality of angled baffles 14 is adjustable within the treatment chamber 12 . a plurality of spray nozzles 16 protrude into the treatment chamber 12 and communicate with a spray source 20 which contains the treatment chemicals . each of the plurality of spray nozzles 16 are associated with one of the plurality of angled baffles 14 and protrude into the treatment chamber underneath the associated angled baffle 14 . in this manner , the angled baffle 14 protects the spray nozzle 16 and the spray emanating therefrom being obstructed by seed traveling through the treatment chamber 12 . when the seed is introduced into the treatment chamber 12 , it is successively deflected and dispersed by each serially disposed angled baffle 14 thereby establishing a wave - form flow 18 through the treatment chamber 12 . placement of the plurality of spray nozzles 16 and the angled baffles 14 is determined so that the spray of treating material contacts the seed flow 18 approximately at an internodal point in the wave - form flow 18 . the internodal point has been found to be the point of maximum dispersion of the seed flow where coating of the seed with the treating chemical is maximized . moreover , placement of a nozzle 16 underneath an associated angled baffle 14 serves to deflect the seed flow 18 away from the nozzle 16 and thereby protects the nozzle 16 and the spray emanating therefrom obstructions which may be caused by contact with the seed flow . the treated seed exits the treatment chamber 12 at a lower exit portion 19 thereof by dropping onto an outlet conveyor 40 , which transports the treated seed to a storage site . according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the lower exit portion 19 of the treatment chamber 12 is configured as an angle box , having a generally inverted frustro - conical shape . the angle box configuration of the lower exit portion 19 reduces the velocity of the exiting seed flow thereby causing a dynamic obstruction in the lower exit portion . this dynamic obstruction facilitates formation of a lower air seal in the treatment chamber 12 which minimizes escape of the treatment chemicals from the treatment chamber 12 into the ambient . a lower weight actuated door 17 is provided on the lower exit portion 19 . lower weight actuated door 17 is pre - set to open when a given weight of seed is in the lower exit portion 19 . in its closed position , the lower weight actuated door provides a seal against the treatment chemicals escaping the treatment chamber 12 . an analogous seal is provided by the weight actuated door 13 at the upper portion of the treatment chamber 12 . each of the weight actuated doors 13 and 17 are fitted with a switch which is electrically coupled to the conveyors 30 and 40 as well as to a regulators associated with the spray nozzles 16 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that various conventional electronic switches and electronic couplings may be used to control movement of the conveyors 30 and 40 and emission of spray from the spray nozzles 16 responsive to the seed flow through the weight actuated doors 13 and 17 . finally , the seed exits from the lower exit portion 19 of the treatment chamber 12 and is transported by an outlet conveyor 40 to a storage bin or storage area ( not shown ). preferably , but not required to the operation of the present invention , are a pluarlity of windows 15 which expose the interior of the treatment chamber for viewing of the seed flow . providing such windows 15 permits rapid location of any obstruction in the seed flow . each of the windows 15 may be capable of being opened to removed a localized obstruction . further , it is desirable to provide a plurality of access panels or a door ( not shown ) to expose the interior of the treatment chamber 12 for adjustment of the angled baffle 14 position , changing , clearing or repairing the nozzles 16 , or removing any obstruction to the seed flow 18 . to adapt the gravity drop system 10 of the present invention to become a transportable system , it is possible to provide a base 50 onto which the conveyors 30 and 40 , the spray source 20 and the treatment chamber 12 may be attached . the base 50 may then be loaded onto a trailer for transportation to a local site for seed processing and local seed storage . it is desirable , according to the method of the present invention , to introduce distinct treatment chemicals , each from a distinct one of a plurality of spray source supplies 20 , into different sets of nozzles 16 . in this manner distinct treatment zones may be established within treatment chamber 12 , depending upon the selected combination of compatible treatment chemicals . for example , an upper set of nozzles 16 may be operably connected to a water or wetting agent source and a lower set of nozzles 16 may be operably connected to an anhydrous ammonia source . introduction of the seed into the upper portion of the treatment chamber 12 opens the weight actuated door 13 and trips the electronic switches thereby initiating the flow of water or wetting agent through the upper set of nozzles 16 and into the upper portion of the treatment chamber 12 . the lower set of nozzles 16 are also actuated to introduce an anhydrous ammonia spray into the lower portion of the treatment chamber 12 . the rapid volume expansion of the anhydrous ammonia due to the liquid - gas phase change , rapidly establishes an upper water or wetting agent - enriched zone in the upper portion of the treatment chamber and an ammoniated zone in the lower portion of the treatment chamber , with a moisture barrier at the interface . subsequent seed flows through the treatment chamber continuously activate each set of spray nozzles which replenish each treatment zone . those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of treatment chemicals may in varying combinations be used with the gravity drop apparatus of the present invention . when running the system with both ammoniation and pyrethrin treatment , it is important that a proper balance of moisture and ammonia be maintained to maintain a substantially neutral ph within the range of about 7 . 0 - 7 . 7 . control of the ph is crucial to the activity of the pyrethrin to prevent alkaline hydrolysis of the organic molecule thereby rendering the pyrethrin an ineffective fumigant . in operation , it has been found that anhydrous ammonia exhibits activity both as a detoxicant as well as a fumigant . however , in combination with organic pyrethrins , a known fumigant , the biocidal activity of the present invention is significantly enhanced . the present system offers the ability to both detoxify and fumigate plant seed by having the capability of treating the seed substantially concurrently with both anhydrous ammonia and organic pyrethrins . according to the present invention , the spray nozzles 16 are controlled by automated and manual by - pass systems as disclosed in u . s . patent application ser . no . 038 , 301 filed apr . 14 , 1987 by quentin enos , the applicant hereof , and is diagrammatically depicted in fig3 . a storage tank 261 for holding the liquid to be dispensed supplies a service hose 264 by means of a metering valve 262 with an excess flow safety valve 263 . the liquid to be dispensed flows through service pipe 265 and through first and second conduit legs 266 and 273 , respectively , each is equipped with a ball valve having seals appropriate to the liquid to be dispensed . first conduit leg 266 is the normal automatic mode utilizing a solenoid valve 274 , while second conduit leg 273 provides for a manual operating mode for automatic mode bypass . solenoid valve 274 is coupled to a transformer 28 which is , in turn supplied with an alternating electrical current . solenoid valve 274 is activated by an adjustable sensor 268 which senses the air flow 22 in the system at an upstream point immediately prior to the injection point . while the invention has been particularly shown and described in reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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US-24099688-A
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the present invention relates to a cathode , which can be used in molten carbonate fuel cells , and a process for preparing the same . in such a cathode , nio , which is inexpensive and has relatively good electrochemical performance , has been mainly used . however , nio has a relatively large solubility in electrolytes of an mcfc which causes the cells to be short circuited , thereby shortening the life of the cells . however , according to the present invention , a cathode having a longer life than common cathodes for mcfc can be prepared by adding alkaline earth metal oxides , which are basic substances , to nio , the main material of the cathodes , or impregnating an ni plate with a solution of the alkaline earth metal oxides , to reduce the solubility of the nio while maintaining its performance as the cathode .
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the above objects of the present invention can be accomplished by adding an alkaline earth metal oxide which is a basic substance , for example , mgo , cao , sro , bao , etc ., to nio , which is a main component of cathodes , to reduce the solubility of nio in electrolytes . the process for preparing a cathode for mcfc according to the present invention is characterized by directly adding alkaline earth metal oxide powder to ni powder and sufficiently mixing the resulting mixture by ball milling , and then molding the mixture as a thin plate by tape casting ( hereinafter , frequently referred to as &# 34 ; process i &# 34 ;), or dipping the ni thin plate molded by tape casting into an aqueous alkaline earth metal nitrate solution , and then converting an alkaline earth metal nitrate into an alkaline earth metal oxide through calcination of the impregnated thin plate ( hereinafter , frequently referred to as &# 34 ; process ii &# 34 ;). ni powder having the particle size of 3 to 7 μm is mixed with alkaline earth metal oxide powder at a desired mole ratio . the mixture is added to distilled water , and then binder , plasticizer , dispersant , defoamer , etc . are added to the solution to adjust the viscosity thereof . the resulting mixture is sufficiently mixed by ball milling , and then the mixture is molded as a thin plate having the thickness of 0 . 5 to 1 . 0 mm by the tape casting method . the dried green sheet is calcined at 700 to 1200 ° c . under hydrogen atmosphere to prepare a cathode ( see fig1 ). binder , plasticizer , dispersant , defoamer , etc . as well as distilled water are added to ni powder having the particle size of 3 to 7 μm to prepare a slurry having a desired viscosity , which is then sufficiently mixed by ball milling . the slurry is molded as a thin plate having the thickness of 0 . 5 to 1 . 0 mm by the tape casting method . the dried green sheet is calcined at 700 to 1200 ° c . under the hydrogen atmosphere primarily to prepare a cathode . the prepared cathode is dipped into an aqueous alkaline earth metal nitrate solution and the solution is allowed to enter the pores of the cathode for a certain time . the cathode is removed from the solution and dried , and then is calcined at 500 ° c . under hydrogen atmosphere ( see fig2 ). nickel used in the present invention has preferably the particle size of 3 to 7 μm , and when a cathode is molded with the nickel , the cathodes prepared according to the processes i and ii should have above 70 % porosity and pore size of about 7 to 15 μm . the alkaline earth metal oxides which can be used in the process i of the present invention include mgo , cao , sro , bao , etc ., in which the size of the particles thereof is properly similar to that of nickel but may be different from that of nickel to adjust the porosity of cathodes . the alkaline earth metal nitrates which can be used in the process ii of the present invention may be mg ( no 3 ) 2 . 6h 2 o , ca ( no 3 ) 2 . 4h 2 o , sr ( no 3 ) 2 , ba ( no 3 ) 2 and the like . the binders which can be used to maintain the strength of the green sheet of the cathode being prepared in the present invention include methyl cellulose , polyvinyl alcohol , acrylic polymer , etc . it is preferred that the amount of the binder added is 2 % to 3 % by weight of ni powder used . in the present invention , the plasticizers which can be used to increase the flexibility when tape casting and processibility of the dried green sheet include glycerine , triethylene glycol and so on . it is preferred that the amount of the plasticizer added is 1 % to 3 % by weight of ni powder used . the dispersants which can be used to enhance the dispersibility of ni particles when preparing a slurry in the present invention may be surfactants . it is preferred that the amount of the dispersants added is 1 % to 3 % by weight of ni powder used . the defoamers which can be added to suppress the occurrence of pin holes in green sheet by removing bubbles occurred when preparing a slurry in the present invention may be mineral oils and polysiloxene defoamers . it is preferred that the amount of the defoamers added is 0 . 5 % to 1 . 0 % by weight of ni powder used . hereinafter , the present invention will be more specifically described by the following examples but the scope of the present invention is not limited in any way to the examples . 125 g of distilled water , 2 . 5 g of methyl cellulose as a binder , 2 g of glycerine as a plasticizer and 1 g of sn - defoamer - 154 ( registered trademark ) polypropylene ethyl ether as a defoamer were mixed and then ball milled for 24 hours . after ball milling was completed , 100 g of a mixture prepared by mixing inco255 ( registered trademark ) nickel powder and powder of mgo , which is an alkaline earth metal oxide at a 9 : 1 mole ratio , and 2 g of darvan - c ( registered trademark ) ammonium polyacrylate salt solution as a dispersant were added to the previously ball - milled mixture which was again ball milled for 4 hours . the prepared slurry was tape casted to mold a thin plate of 0 . 7 mm thickness , which was allowed to air dry . the prepared green sheet was calcined at 1000 ° c . under reducing atmosphere ( 10 % hydrogen , 90 % nitrogen ) to prepare a cathode . a single cell having the cathode area of 25 cm 2 was equipped with the prepared cathode and then was continuously operated under the load of 150 ma / cm 2 for 500 hours . the composition and the operating conditions of the cell are represented in table 1 . the performance of single cells with the common nio cathode was compared with that of the present example at the same operating conditions and the result is illustrated in fig3 . fig3 shows that the performance of single cells of the present example is almost similar to that of the common nio cathode and the cathode prepared according to the present invention has a good electrochemical performance . the cell was disassembled after the operation thereof was completed and the amount of ni deposited in the matrix thereof was analyzed with an atomic absorption spectroscope to obtain the result described in table 2 . table 1______________________________________composition and operating conditions of single cells______________________________________anode ni + 10 % crmatrix lialo . sub . 2cathode nio + 10 % mgoelectrolyte 62li . sub . 2 co . sub . 3 + 38k . sub . 2 co . sub . 3fuel 72 % h . sub . 2 / 18 % h . sub . 2 / 10 % h . sub . 2 o ( utilization = 40 %) oxidant 70 % air / 30 % co . sub . 2temperature 650 ° c . ______________________________________ table 2______________________________________amount of ni deposited in matrix after 500 hours of operation nio cathode ( conventional art ) example______________________________________ni amount in the 2 . 0 0 . 5matrix ( wt %) ______________________________________ table 2 shows that when using a cathode prepared according to the process i of the present invention , the amount of ni deposited in the matrix thereof was markedly reduced to 1 / 4 of that when using the common nio cathode . the amount of ni distributed in the cross section of the same matrix was analyzed by using an epma ( electron probe micro analyzer ) to obtain the result illustrated in fig4 . as shown in fig4 the amount of ni deposited over the cross section of the matrix when using a cathode according to the present invention was markedly reduced compared to the comparative example . after the operation of the cells was completed , the distributions of ni deposited in the cross sections of the matrixes were analyzed by using an epma to obtain the result illustrated in fig5 . fig5 shows that when using the cathode prepared according to the present invention , very little ni was deposited in the matrix thereof , whereas when using the common cathode ni particles having the particle size of 5 to 10 μm were deposited in the matrix thereof . it is known from such a result that the dissolution of a cathode can be markedly reduced by using the cathode prepared according to the present invention . 125 g of distilled water , 2 . 5 g of methyl cellulose of a binder , 2 g of glycerine as a plasticizer and 1 g of sn - defoamer - 154 ( registered trademark ) polypropylene ethyl ether as a defoamer were mixed and then ball milled for 24 hours . after ball milling was completed , 100 g of inco255 ( registered trademark ) nickel powder and 2 g of darvan - c ( registered trademark ) ammonium polyacrylate salt solution as a dispersant were added to the previously ball - milled mixture which was again ball milled for 4 hours . the prepared slurry was tape casted to mold a thin plate of 0 . 7 mm thickness . the prepared green sheet was calcined at 800 ° c . under hydrogen atmosphere preliminarily to prepare a cathode . the cathode thus prepared was dipped in an aqueous mg ( no 3 ) 2 . 6h 2 o solution for 24 hours to allow the solution to sufficiently enter the pores of the cathode . the cathode was removed from the solution and dried , and then was calcined at 500 ° c . under hydrogen atmosphere for 2 hours to finally prepare the cathode . a single cell having the size of 25 cm 2 was equipped with the cathode and then continuously operated under the load of 150 ma / cm 2 for 500 hours under the same operating conditions as in example 1 . as illustrated in fig3 the voltage of the cell of the present example is 0 . 83 volts under the load of 150 ma / cm 2 . such result shows that the performance of the cell prepared by using the cathode prepared is similar to that of the cell prepared with the common nio cathode or by means of the first mixing - second molding process of example 1 . also , the amount of ni deposited was measured after operation of the cell was completed . the precipitated amount of ni prepared by using the cathode of the present example was much lower than the 2 . 0 % by weight measured for the common nio cathode and was similar to that of example 1 . further , the distribution of ni deposited in the matrix was also measured with an epma to obtain the result illustrated in fig4 . as illustrated in fig4 it is known that the ni concentration of the cell prepared with the cathode of the present example was much lower than that of the cell prepared when using the common cathode at the same position and was similar to that of the cell prepared according to example 1 . the cathode was prepared using the same substances and process as in example 2 . a single cell of the size of 25 cm 2 was equipped with the cathode and then was continuously operated under the same operating conditions of the cell in example 1 for 2000 hours . after operation was completed , the amount of ni deposited was measured as 1 . 9 % by weight when using the cathode according to the present invention whereas it was measured as 4 . 9 % by weight when using the common cathode . accordingly , it was confirmed that the amount of ni deposited was markedly reduced when using the cathode according to the present invention compared to when using the common cathode , and the addition sustained its effect even though the operation time of the cell was longer .
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US-91932397-A
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a removable locking device for securing latch handles for the cargo doors of trucks , trailers , rail cars and the like against unauthorized access , comprising a slide box member permanently mounted to the exterior of the door , a removable slide member , a latch handle retaining means , and a cylinder lock .
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in the following detailed description , the term &# 34 ; truck &# 34 ; refers to any truck , trailer , semi - trailer , rail car and the like having an enclosed cargo or freight compartment equipped with doors for access thereinto . referring now to the accompanying drawings , in which like reference numerals designate like elements among the several figures . in fig1 a , there are shown two of the locking devices of the present invention , indicated generally at 10 , installed on the center - opening swinging cargo doors 12 of a truck 14 . swinging - type cargo doors 12 are typically provided with latch rods 16 at the ends of which are carried latch lugs ( not shown ). when doors 12 are closed , latch rods 16 may be rotated by means of door latch handles 18 integral therewith to bring the latch lugs into latching engagement with corresponding catches ( not shown ) carried on the body of truck 14 . in this latched condition , latch handles 18 extend generally parallel to the exterior surfaces of doors 12 . in fig2 a , there is shown a locking device 10 installed on the roll - up cargo door 20 of a truck 14 . on this type of cargo door , a pivoted door latch handle 18 &# 39 ; is pivotally mounted to the bottom edge of door 20 and is provided with a latch hook ( not shown ) opposite its pivoted handle 18 &# 39 ;. when door 20 is in a rolled - down , closed position , latch handle 18 &# 39 ; may be pivoted downwardly to bring the latch hook into latching engagement with a corresponding latch catch carried in the body of truck 14 . in this latched condition , latch handle 18 &# 39 ; extends parallel to both the exterior surface and bottom edge of door 20 . in both types of cargo door closure arrangements described , the latching action employed is commonly overcenter so that once latched , the cargo door will remain closed until the latch handle 18 or 18 &# 39 ; is manually moved to an unlatching position . in the case of swinging door 12 , latch handle 18 must be moved outwardly from its parallel position with respect to door 12 in order to rotate latch rod 16 to disengage the latch lugs from the catches so that door 12 may be opened . in the case of roll - up door 20 , latch handle 18 &# 39 ; must be rotated upwardly about its pivot to disengage the latch hook from the catch so that door 20 may be opened , in which unlatched condition handle 18 &# 39 ; no longer extends parallel to the bottom edge of door 20 . in use , the locking device 10 of the present invention may be installed on a cargo door , or , in cases where the door latch handle extends outwardly of the cargo door opening , the locking device 10 may be installed on the truck body adjacent the door opening . the locking device 10 of the present invention is operable to secure the cargo door of a truck in a closed and latched condition by preventing the door latch handle from being moved to an unlatching position . referring now to fig3 there is shown a conventional cylinder lock 22 of the type used with the locking device 10 of the present invention . lock 22 is comprised of a generally cylindrical body 24 , having an axial indexing groove 26 extending along its periphery . an annular rim 28 , having a diameter greater than that of body 24 , is provided at one end of body 24 and defines an annular shoulder 30 . at the opposite end of body 24 , a cam lug 32 is pivotally mounted . a lock cylinder ( not shown ), typically of the pin - tumbler type , is rotatably mounted within lock 22 , and by inserting a corresponding key ( not shown ) into the lock cylinder so as to displace the tumbler pins , the lock cylinder may be manually rotated with the key to cause cam lug 32 to pivot inwardly or outwardly of body 24 perpendicularly to the axis thereof as indicated by the phantom lines . commercially available cylinder locks suitable for use with the present invention are manufactured by oy wartsila ab of helsinki , finland , and marketed under the abloy brand name . in fig4 there is shown the stationary slide box 34 of the present invention . slide box 34 may be mounted securely to the exterior of a cargo door or truck body as will be fully described later . slide box 34 is provided with a plate - like base 36 . box 38 extends outwardly from base 36 and has a plate - like front face 40 in spaced parallel relation with the plate of base 36 . plate - like top face 42 and bottom face 44 extend in spaced parallel relation between base 36 and front face 40 to define box 38 therebetween . a plate - like spacer 46 extends outwardly from base 36 and has an inner face 48 in spaced relation with front face 40 . spacer 46 , front face 40 and top and bottom faces 42 and 44 , thus define a first horizontal slideway 50 interiorly of box 38 having an axis parallel to base 36 . a groove 52 extends horizontally across inner face 48 inwardly therefrom into spacer 46 and may be provided with a closed end 54 . a circular aperture 56 , having a diameter only slightly greater than that of the periphery of rim 28 of cylinder lock 22 , is centrally provided through front face 40 as to communicate with slideway 50 . as thus far described , the slide box 34 may be conveniently constructed from metal plate stock , such as of steel or aluminum , by known fabrication techniques . preferably , slide box 40 is fabricated as a weldment from steel plate stock . spacer 46 may be a length of steel bar stock , and groove 52 may be conveniently machined in inner face 48 by known milling techniques . referring now to fig5 there is shown the l - shaped slide 58 of the present invention comprised , in part , of a generally rectangular slide bar 60 having a height and depth only slightly less than that of slideway 50 of slide box 34 . thus , slide bar 60 may be axially inserted through the open end of slideway 50 for slidable engagement therein . slide 58 is provided with latch handle retainer 62 extending perpendicularly from the top face 64 of slide bar 60 , proximate one end thereof . latch handle retainer 62 has plate - like front , top and rear faces 66 , 68 and 70 , in similar manner to slide box 34 , to define therewithin a second horizontal slideway 72 having an axis parallel to the long axis of slide bar 60 . slideway 72 is sized so as to permit the end portion of latch handle 18 or 18 &# 39 ; to be slidably engaged therein , as will be more fully described below . slidebar 60 is provided , mediately its ends , with a first axial through - bore 74 , perpendicular to front face 76 of slide bar 60 and having a diameter only slightly greater than that of body 24 of cylinder lock 22 , while being also less than the peripheral diameter of rim 28 . the depth of slidebar 60 , as well as the axial depth of through - bore 74 therethrough , both correspond to the length of that portion of cylinder lock 22 extending from shoulder 30 to the backside 78 of cam lug 32 . thus , body 24 of cylinder lock 22 may be inserted into through - bore 74 , and when fully inserted therein , such that shoulder 30 abuts front face 76 of slidebar 60 , the backside 78 of cam lug 32 will lie flush with , or slightly below , the rear face 80 of slidebar 60 . as previously described , slideway 50 of slide box 34 , and slidebar 60 of slide 58 are both sized such that slidebar 60 may be inserted axially into slideway 50 for slidable engagement therewith , and it will therefore be appreciated that the inward travel of slide 58 in slideway 50 will be limited by abutting contact of front and rear faces 66 and 70 of latch handle retainer 62 with top face 42 of box 38 . through - bore 74 is located in slidebar 60 such that , when slide 58 is fully engaged within slideway 50 , through - bore 74 and aperture 56 in front face 40 will be positioned in concentric alignment with one another . when slide 58 is thus fully engaged in slideway 50 as to position aperture 56 and through - bore 74 in such concentrically aligned relation , it may be appreciated that cylinder lock 22 may be inserted through aperture 56 and into through - bore 74 until shoulder 30 abuts front face 76 . the wall thickness of front face 40 corresponds to the depth of rim 28 of cylinder lock 22 , and thus , when cylinder lock 22 is fully inserted through aperture 56 into concentrically aligned through - bore 74 , the periphery of rim 28 will be surrounded by the annular face of aperture 56 , while the periphery of body 24 is surrounded by the inner surface of through - bore 74 . with cylinder lock 22 thus fully inserted through aperture 56 into aligned through - bore 74 , it will be further appreciated that slide 58 is prevented from travel outwardly from slide box 34 , because such travel is limited by the cooperative abutting contact of body 24 and rim 28 of cylinder lock 22 with through - bore 74 and aperture 56 . an index pin bore 82 is provided in slidebar 60 peripherally of through - bore 74 and with its axis perpendicular to front face 76 thereof . an index pin 84 is insertable into index pin bore 82 , which is sized to provide a press fit therewith . index pin bore 82 is broken out along its side coincidental with the periphery of through - bore 74 , so that a portion of index pin 84 protrudes interiorly into through - bore 74 along one side thereof to provide indexing means for mating with corresponding indexing groove 26 in body 24 of cylinder lock 22 , and thus , rotation of cylinder lock 22 in through - bore 74 is prevented . a retainer pin bore 86 is provided through slidebar 60 proximate its end distal to latch handle retainer 62 , and extends perpendicularly to front face 76 thereof . a retainer pin 88 is insertable into retainer pin bore 86 , which is sized to provide a press fit therewith . retainer pin bore 86 is so located in slidebar 60 as to align with groove 52 in inner face 48 of spacer 46 when slide 58 is engaged in slideway 50 of slide box 34 . thus , slide 58 may be inserted into slideway 50 until retainer pin bore 86 is accessible through aperture 56 , and retainer pin 88 may then be drivably inserted in retainer pin bore 86 so as to protrude rearwardly of rear face 80 of slidebar 60 and into slidable engagement with groove 52 . in this way , the outward travel of slidebar 60 in slideway 50 is limited by engagement of retainer pin 88 with closed end 54 of groove 52 , so that slide 58 is thus retained in slidable engagement at all times in slide box 34 . referring now to fig6 , 8 and 9 , a stop recess 90 is provided inwardly of the rear face 80 of slidebar 60 and extending perpendicularly to the axis of through - bore 74 so as to communicate therewith . stop recess 90 is provided with an inner face 92 spaced inwardly of rear face 80 . the depth of stop recess 90 inwardly of rear face 80 corresponds to the thickness of cam lug 32 of cylinder lock 22 , that is , the distance from the rear face of body 24 to the back side 78 of cam lug 32 . the width of stop recess 90 corresponds to the diameter of through - bore 74 . it may be appreciated that , with slide 58 fully engaged within slideway 50 of slide box 34 and with cylinder lock 22 fully inserted into through - bore 74 , as shown in fig8 the lock cylinder may be turned with a key so as to pivot cam lug 32 , shown in phantom lines , outwardly of body 24 and into engagement with inner face 92 of stop recess 90 , thus preventing the withdrawal of cylinder lock 22 from slide 58 , while also preventing the outward travel of slide 58 from slide box 34 as described above . base 36 of slide box 34 is provided , at its rear face 94 , with a plurality of mounting studs 96 extending perpendicularly therefrom and threaded at their outer bends . slide box 34 may thus be mounted to the exterior surface of a cargo door panel , as of swinging door 12 or roll - up door 14 , or to the exterior surface of the cargo compartment of a truck adjacent the door opening therein , by inserting mounting studs 96 through corresponding mounting holes 98 passing through panel 100 of a cargo door or compartment . a backing plate 102 also having through - holes 104 located therein at positions corresponding to mounting studs 96 may be placed against the interior surface of panel 100 upon mounting studs 96 and fastened rigidly thereto with mounting nuts 106 . when thusly mounted to panel 100 , slide box 34 may not be removed from panel 100 except by access to its interior side , which access , it will be appreciated , is prevented when the truck cargo doors are closed . backing plate 102 is preferrably of a size corresponding to base 36 or larger , so as to resist any attempted prying of slide box 34 from panel 100 . where it is desired to incorporate locking device 10 in a new truck , slide box 34 may be set into panel 100 during the manufacturing stage so that base 36 is flush with the exterior of panel 100 in order to make base 36 less accessible to prying tools and the like . accordingly , locking device 10 is mounted on truck 14 in a position such that , with slide 58 fully extended outwardly from slide box 34 , latch handle retainer 62 is located proximately the end of door latch handle 18 or 18 &# 39 ; when door 12 or 14 is latched , as shown in fig6 . in this position , the axis of slideway 72 in latch handle retainer 62 is aligned with latch handle 18 or 18 &# 39 ;, and when slide 58 is inserted fully inwardly into slide box 34 , the end portion of latch handle 18 or 18 &# 39 ; is brought into fully enclosed engagement within latch handle retainer 62 , as shown in fig7 and 8 . as previously described , when slide 58 is thusly fully engaged within slide box 34 , cylinder lock 22 may be inserted through aperture 56 and into through - bore 74 , whereupon cam lug 32 may be pivoted into engagement with stop recess 90 . in this manner , outward extension of slide 58 from slide box 34 is prevented , and latch handle 18 , being engaged within latch handle retainer 62 , is prevented from being moved into an unlatching position . in order to make locking device 10 even more resistant to tampering , an end plate 107 may be provided to enclose the end of slideway 50 , opposite the end into which slide 58 is inserted , thus preventing the application of a blow to slidebar 60 . it will be appreciated that cam lug 32 , when engaged in stop recess 90 , is not susceptible to axial forces applied to slidebar 60 , because of the protective enclosure afforded by the side walls of stop recess 90 . latch handle retainer 62 may be provided with holes 108 through front and rear faces 66 and 70 , which correspond to a similar hole 110 provided proximate the end of latch handle 18 , so that with latch handle 18 engaged within latch handle retainer 62 , a seal tag may be fastened through holes 108 and 110 , as shown in fig7 . as shown in fig9 alarm circuit activating means 111 may be incorporated in locking device 10 , as by mounting a plunger - type switch 112 in aligned mounting holes provided through backing plate 102 , panel 100 , base 36 and spacer 46 . switch 112 is preferrably mounted so that plunger 114 is normally urged outwardly slightly into slideway 50 and is displaced inwardly into switch 112 by slidebar 60 when slide 58 is engaged fully within slide box 34 . in this manner , alarm circuit 116 may be activated when slide 58 is moved outwardly from slide box 34 to disengage latch handle 18 from latch handle retainer 62 , thus indicating that latch handle 18 is no longer secured by locking device 10 . it will be appreciated that switch 112 may alternatively be mounted in a location where plunger 114 is displaceable by cam lug 32 of cylinder lock 22 , in order to indicate that locking device 10 is in either a locked or unlocked condition . furthermore , plunger 114 will preferrably have a ball or spherical tip which will engage a corresponding shallow depression or detent formed in the displacing member ( i . e ., rear face 80 of slidebar 60 or back side 78 of cam lug 32 ) so as to prevent alarm circuit activating means 100 being defeated by the interposition of a thin strip between inner face 48 of spacer 46 and rear face 80 of slidebar 60 . referring now to fig1 b , there is shown another embodiment of the locking device of the present invention , indicated generally at 10 &# 39 ;, in use securing the center - opening swinging cargo doors 12 of truck 14 . as shown in fig1 , locking device 10 &# 39 ; is comprised of a pair of slide boxes 34 and 34 &# 39 ; and slide 58 &# 39 ;. slide boxes 34 and 34 &# 39 ; may be mounted to doors 12 , as previously described , in adjacent locations on the outer portions of doors 12 so that , when doors 12 are closed , their respective axial slideways 50 will be in adjacent aligned relation . as shown , slide box 34 is provided with an aperture 56 in its front face 40 , as previously described , while slide box 34 &# 39 ; has no aperture in its front face 40 &# 39 ;. slide 58 &# 39 ;, shown in fig1 , is a rectangular bar , similar to slidebar 60 of previously described slide 58 , but differing therefrom by virtue of its being greater in length than the latter and also by the absence of latch handle retainer 62 . slide 58 &# 39 ; is provided with a through - bore 74 , index pin bore 82 with index pin 84 , and stop recess 90 in similar manner as slide 58 , and may be further provided with a groove 118 in its front face 76 &# 39 ; proximate its end distal from through - bore 74 . groove 118 may typically be semi - circular in profile and extend substantially across face 76 &# 39 ; so as to serve as a means for grasping slide 58 &# 39 ; in order to slide it within slideways 50 or slide boxes 34 and 34 &# 39 ;. through - bore 74 is located in slide 58 &# 39 ; such that , when slide 58 &# 39 ; is fully engaged within the aligned sideways 50 of slide boxes 34 and 34 &# 39 ;, through - bore 74 will be aligned concentrically with aperture 56 to permit cylinder lock 22 to be inserted thereinto as previously described . it will be appreciated that when slide 58 &# 39 ; is fully engaged within slide boxes 34 and 34 &# 39 ;, and secured therein with cylinder lock 22 , then doors 12 will be thereby secured in a closed position , in the manner of a draw bolt , regardless of the positions of latch handles 18 . as shown in fig1 , a locking device 10 &# 34 ;, comprised in part of slide boxes 34 , both provided with apertures 56 , may be similarly mounted on doors 12 , in which case a slide 58 &# 34 ; ( having a corresponding pair of through - bores 74 , index pin bores 82 with index pins 84 , and stop recesses 90 ) is provided , as shown in fig1 , for slidable engagement therein . slide 58 &# 34 ; is also provided with a groove 118 in similar manner to slide 58 &# 39 ;. through - bores 74 are located in slide 58 &# 34 ; such that , when slide 58 &# 34 ; is fully engaged within the aligned slideways 50 of slide boxes 34 , through - bores 74 will be aligned concentrically with apertures 56 to permit a pair of cylinder locks 22 to be inserted thereinto as previously described . and , as will be further appreciated , when slide 58 &# 34 ; is fully engaged within slide boxes 34 and secured therein with a pair of cylinder locks 22 , then locking device 10 &# 34 ; will secure doors 12 in a closed position , in the manner of a draw bolt , regardless of the positions of latch handles 18 . it will also be appreciated that in the case where it is desired to secure a single swinging door 12 , this may be accomplished simply by mounting one slide box 34 ( or 34 &# 39 ;) to the door 12 proximate its swinging edge and another slide box 34 to the truck body adjacent the door opening and with its slideway 50 aligned with that of the door mounted slide box for mutual engagement by slide 58 &# 39 ; or 58 &# 34 ; as may be appropriate , in the manner of a draw bolt . referring now to fig2 b , there is shown another embodiment of the locking device of the present invention , indicated generally at 210 , in use securing the roll - up cargo door 20 of truck 14 . as further shown in fig1 , locking device 210 is comprised of a slide box 34 , as previously described , and a slide 258 . slide box 34 may be mounted to the lower portion of door 20 proximately the lateral ( i . e ., vertical ) edge thereof and with its slideway horizontally aligned in parallel relation with the bottom edge of door 20 , in similar manner as previously described . slide 258 is provided with a through - bore 74 , index pin bore 82 with index pin 84 , stop recess 90 and groove 118 , in similar manner as previously described slide 58 &# 39 ;, and is sized for slidable engagement within axial slideway 50 of slide box 34 . a mortised recess 212 , shown in phantom lines in fig1 , is formed in the inner side wall 214 of the door opening of truck 14 and located so as to be aligned with axial slideway 50 of mounted slide box 34 when door 20 is in a lowered closed position . recess 212 is sized such as to permit the end of slide 258 , distal from groove 118 , to be engaged therein when slide 258 is fully engaged in slide box 34 and through - bore 74 is aligned concentrically with aperture 56 . recess 212 thus provides engagement means for the end portion of slide 258 such that , when slide 258 is fully engaged therein and cylinder lock 22 is engaged in locking device 210 , door 20 will be secured in a closed position . in certain instances , it may not be practical or desirable to form a mortised recess in inner side wall 214 , and in such cases , a slide 258 &# 39 ;, shown in fig1 , may be utilized . slide 258 &# 39 ; is provided with a through - bore 74 , index bore 82 with index pin 84 , a stop recess 90 , and a groove 118 , similar to slide 258 , but in contrast to the latter , slide 258 &# 39 ;, at its end distal from groove 118 , is provided with one or more bolts 216 . bolts 216 may typically be comprised of lengths of round steel rod , preferably hardened , affixed into corresponding blind holes formed in the end of slide 258 &# 39 ;. as shown in fig1 , when slide 258 &# 39 ; is to be utilized , one or more round holes 212 &# 39 ;, shown in phantom lines , will be formed in inner side wall 214 in aligned locations with bolts 216 and will be engaged thereby in similar manner as with recess 212 and slide 258 , thus securing door 20 in a closed position when a cylinder lock 22 is engaged in locking device 210 as previously described . it will be appreciated that the locking device of the present invention may be further modified for utilization with various types of latch handles , door closures , or other movable members and that other types of locking elements may be suitably employed without departing from the scope of the invention and the appended claims . having now described the locking device of the present invention , what is desired to be protected by letters patent is :
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US-61867184-A
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the invention relates to a method of promoting a hotel or other place of accommodation through the use of a customized pillow scarf on the guests &# 39 ; beds . the customization is preferably embroidery , and can include the name and / or logo of the hotel , and , optionally , even the guest &# 39 ; s names or initials . the pillow scarves are also intended for , optionally , being given away as souvenirs or sold in the hotel gift shop , with the goal of increasing repeat business and new business as the former guest uses the pillow scarf in his / her house and is asked about it by visitors .
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many aspects of the invention can be better understood with the references made to the drawings below . the components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale . instead , emphasis is placed upon clearly illustrating the components of the present invention . moreover , like reference numerals designate corresponding parts through the several views in the drawings . before understanding the method of using a pillow scarf to promote to hotel chain or other place of accommodation , it is important to understand the concept of the pillow scarf and how one is created . the hotel begins by creating the pillow scarf , which comprises a portion of material having first and second sides , a top edge , a bottom edge and opposing side edges . the pillow scarf has a width w defined as a distance between the opposing side edges and a length l defined as a distance between the top and bottom edges . the width w is sufficient to cover at least one pillow placed proximate the head of a bed of standard size with the opposite first and second side edges of the pillow scarf reaching at least opposite first and second edges of the bed . the length l is sufficient to hide the at least one pillow from view between the top and bottom edges of the pillow scarf . in some embodiments , the length of the pillow scarf may be sufficient extend part - way down opposite sides of the bed . in some embodiments , the length of the pillow scarf may be sufficient extend substantially to the floor , on both sides of the bed . the pillow scarf may have a pattern that corresponds to a pattern of a bed sheet , blanket , or bedspread also visible on the same bed . the pillow scarf may have indicia associated with an establishment in which the pillow scarf is placed on a bed , or may have an item of indicia related to the guest staying in that particular room , or both on the same pillow scarf . in another aspect , the present invention is directed to a kit comprising the aforementioned pillow scarf and decorative material . the decorative material may comprise one or more of sequins , buttons , markers , patches and thread . in yet another aspect , the present invention is directed to a method of covering at least one pillow positioned proximate the head of a bed of standard size . the method comprises providing a pillow scarf according the above - described pillow scarf ; and covering the pillows so that the opposite first and second ends of the pillow scarf reach at least opposite first and second edges of the bed , and the pillow scarf fully hides the at least one pillow from view between the top and bottom edges of the pillow scarf . in still another , aspect , the present invention is directed to a method of covering up the upper edge of a sheet , blanket or a bedspread on a bed of standard size . the method comprises providing a pillow scarf according the above - described pillow scarf ; and covering the upper edge of a sheet , blanket or a bedspread by placing the pillow scarf such that opposite first and second ends of the pillow scarf reach at least opposite first and second edges of the bed , and the top and bottom edges of the pillow scarf straddle the top edge of the sheet , blanket or a bedspread to thereby hide the latter from view . the pillow scarf can be sold by the hotel chain to guests , or given to each guest as part of the charge for the room . the pillow scarf can also be custom embroidered for each guest , with the guest &# 39 ; s name or initials on the pillow scarf , along with the name of the hotel chain . in an alternate embodiment of the invention , the pillow scarf can be custom embroidered for only the most expensive suites in a hotel , or for only celebrity visitors . fig1 shows a pillow scarf 100 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the pillow scarf 100 comprises a generally rectangular piece of bedding material having opposing first and second sides 102 , 104 , a top edge 112 , a bottom edge 114 , and two opposing side edges 116 , 118 . the first and second sides 102 , 104 may have dissimilar colors , patterns and may even comprise different fabrics sewn or otherwise fixed to one another back - to - back . as seen in fig1 , the pillow scarf 100 has a width w defined as the distance between the side edges 116 , 118 , and a length l defined as the distance between the top and bottom edges 112 , 114 . the pillow scarf 100 is placed over the upper portion of a bed to cover the pillows and / or an upper edge of one or more other articles of bedding such as a sheet , a blanket , a comforter , a bed spread or the like . as seen in fig2 , when in use , the top edge 112 of the pillow scarf 100 is closest to the top edge or headboard 210 of a bed 200 while the bottom edge 114 of the pillow scarf is away from the top edge or headboard 210 so as to cover the bedding . thus , the length l of a pillow scarf must be sufficiently large to cover a pillow in the direction from the head of the bed to the foot 214 of the bed . in some embodiments , the length l of the pillow scarf is between 22 - 26 inches or about 56 - 66 cm . the width w of the pillow scarf 100 must be sufficiently large to at least extend across the width of a bed 200 , from a first bed side 216 to the opposite bed side 218 with sufficient “ slack ” to cover underlying pillows . in the embodiment seen in fig2 , the pillow scarf 100 is an edge - width pillow scarf 200 , having a width sufficiently to only extend to the bed &# 39 ; s opposite edges 216 , 218 . fig3 shows that a pillow scarf 120 covering not only the underlying pillow 240 , but also the upper edge 252 of another bedding item 250 , the upper edge 252 shown to terminate across the pillow 240 . it is understood that bedding item could be a sheet , blanket , bedspread , comforter or the like . it is understood that the underlying pillow 240 may be positioned either under or over the upper edge 252 . thus , placing the pillow scarf 120 on the bed will simultaneously hide both the underlying pillow 240 and the upper edge 252 of the bedding item 250 . fig4 shows a pillow scarf 400 having indicia 410 placed thereon . the indicia may be associated with an establishment , such as a hotel , resort or the like , in which the pillow scarf is placed on a bed . while the indicia 410 is seen in fig4 to be a monogram , it is understood that the indicia could just as easily be a logo , symbol , word , phrase or the like . fig5 shows an embodiment of a medium - width pillow scarf 500 having a width sufficient to cover the upper surface of the bed and also extend approximately mid - way down the side of the bed , roughly to the border between a mattress and box spring . the pillow scarf portion 502 extending down the side of the bed may have a different color and / or pattern than the portion covering the upper surface of the bed . fig6 shows an embodiment of a floor - width pillow scarf 600 having a width sufficient to cover the upper surface of the bed and also extend substantially to the floor along the side of the bed . the pillow scarf portion 502 extending down the side of the bed may have a different color and / or pattern than the portion covering the upper surface of the bed . as is commonly known , standard - sized beds come in a variety of sizes including twin , twin xl , full , full xl , queen and king . thus , it is contemplated that a manufacture and / or retailer will provide a family of pillow scarves having similar patterns and different widths . table 1 below presents approximate pillow scarf widths for varying bed sizes and varying bed side coverage . the success of this invention depends upon a well - made and attractive pillow scarf . a pillow scarf that is seen as being attractive and desirable by a guest may provide a number of promotional opportunities for the hotel chain . first , a pillow scarf in accordance with the present invention is able to cover sleeping pillows and the upper edges of a sheet , blanket or comforter , so that the bed appears to be fully made , even if it is not . in addition , a pillow scarf may be used to cover mismatched items of bedding , such as pillows having different pillow cases . thus , placing a pillow scarf over the upper portion of a bed can be an easy and forgiving way to help make a bed . in addition , the pillow scarf allows for a single piece of bedding to change the appearance of the made bed especially when the pillow scarf has a pattern not present on the visible bedding on the remaining portion of the bed . thus , an attractive pillow scarf will be seen by the guest as a valuable item , and one which he or she may wish to purchase or take home as a souvenir . when used in the hotel industry , the pillow scarf can create a quick and inexpensive way to create a signature look to improve the hotel brand . rather than having a given hotel &# 39 ; s logo placed on a large bed spread , the hotel might opt for applying such logos to much smaller pillow scarves , thereby saving expense in the long run , especially in the event that the logo is changed . by changing out the design of pillow scarves , it is conceivable that the hotel chain could use them as collector &# 39 ; s items , or have different styles of pillow scarves available in different seasons , so that a guest who stayed regularly at a hotel chain would see an ongoing evolution of pillow scarves . should the hotel chain allow the guest to buy , or take home as a souvenir , the pillow scarves , offering a series of ever - changing pillow scarves would increase the likelihood that a guest who appreciated the pillow scarves would return to the hotel chain . fig7 shows a flow chart of the promotional method utilizing one type of pillow scarf . the pillow scarf is designed , then manufactured and shipped to the hotel or other place of accommodation . once is it manufactured , it can be used in advertisements for the hotel and sold online on internet sites , both those run by the hotel and those of other companies ( for example , amazon . com ). once the pillow scarves arrive at the hotel , they can be placed on the beds of the guests , and , optionally , either given or sold to the guests for the guests to take home . it is expected that an attractive and memorable pillow scarf will enhance the guest &# 39 ; s experience in the hotel such that he or she is more likely to remember the hotel and either book a room again in that hotel or tell friends and acquaintances about the hotel . for those guests who take a pillow scarf home , either as a gift / souvenir or after buying it from at the gift shop or online , it is expected that the guest will use the pillow scarf in the home and remember in a positive way the hotel and have in increased chance of booking a room again in that hotel . it is also expected that a former guest using the pillow scarf at home will be asked about the pillow scarf by visitors , and not only fondly remember his / her time at the hotel , but also discuss the hotel with the visitors , making it more likely that the visitors will stay at that hotel in the future . it should be understood that while the preferred embodiments of the invention are described in some detail herein , the present disclosure is made by way of example only and that variations and changes thereto are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims , and a reasonable equivalency thereof , which claims i regard as my invention . all of the material in this patent document is subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the united states and other countries . the copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure , as it appears in official governmental records but , otherwise , all other copyright rights whatsoever are reserved .
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US-201213347263-A
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a folding - top drive has a motor that transmits forces to a first gear and then to a folding - top linkage via a second gear . the first gear and a guide are pivoted to a housing and a spring acts on the guide . the first gear is guided on the guide so that the guide can be moved automatically with the first gear counter to the force of the spring from a first position where the gears engage to a second position where the gears are disengaged if a force on the first gear exceeds a defined limit . additionally , the spring can move the guide automatically with the first gear from the second position to the first position if the force on the first gear falls below the defined limit .
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fig1 to 4 show different details of a folding - top drive 10 according to the invention . the folding - top drive 10 has , at each side of the motor vehicle folding top to be actuated , one gearing 11 via which the folding - top drive 10 can be coupled or attached to a folding - top linkage 12 of the motor vehicle folding top . in the preferred illustrated embodiment , in each case one drive motor 13 interacts with each gearing 11 . however , it is also possible for both gearings 11 to be assigned a common drive motor , which then acts on both gearings 11 via a driveshaft . each gearing 11 is designed as a self - locking gearing , specifically in the exemplary embodiment shown as a worm gearing . a further , non - self locking gearing such as a planetary gear set may be connected between the respective self - locking worm gearing 11 and the folding - top linkage 12 . each self - locking gearing 11 has first and second gearing parts 14 and 15 . in the case of a worm gearing , the first gearing part 14 of the respective gearing 11 has a worm housing 16 and a worm 17 held in the worm housing 16 . the second gearing part 15 has a worm gear 18 that interacts with the worm 17 of the first gearing part 14 . the worm 17 and the worm gear 18 are shown in more detail in fig4 and 5 . the first gearing part 14 of each self - locking gearing 11 is mounted pivotably on a housing 19 of the respective gearing 11 . fig1 shows that the worm housing 16 of the first gearing part 14 is mounted on the housing 19 of the gearing 11 so as to be pivotable about a first joint 20 . thus , the worm 17 held in the worm housing 16 and the drive motor 13 that acts on the worm 17 also are pivotable with the worm housing 16 about the first joint 20 . the joint 20 is in proximity to a first end 21 of the first gearing part 14 and therefore , in the illustrated embodiment , to a first end 21 of the worm housing 16 . as an alternate to the illustrated embodiment , the drive motor 13 may be stationary and a flexible shaft may be arranged between the drive motor 13 and first gearing part 14 . thus , the first gearing part 14 of the alternate embodiment ( e . g . the worm housing 16 and the worm 17 ) can be pivoted relative to the stationary drive motor 13 about the joint 20 . a guide element 23 also is mounted pivotably on the housing 19 of the respective gearing 11 . the guide element 23 is acted on by a spring 22 for the first gearing part 14 for the worm housing 16 . a first end 24 of the guide element 23 for the first gearing part 14 is mounted on the housing 19 so as to be pivotable about a second joint 25 . the first gearing part 14 , which is mounted on the housing 19 of the respective gearing 11 to be pivot about the joint 20 , interacts with the guide element 23 , which is mounted on the housing 19 of the respective gearing 11 to pivot about the joint 25 . the first gearing part 14 and the guide element 23 interact in such a way that the first gearing part 14 is guided on the guide element 23 . more particularly , when a force or moment on the first gearing part 14 exceeds a limit value , the guide element 23 can be moved automatically together with the first gearing part 14 counter to the spring force provided by the spring from the position shown in fig1 , in which the first and second gearing parts 14 and 15 are engaged , into the position shown in fig2 , in which the first and second gearing parts 14 and 15 of the respective gearing 11 are not engaged . similarly , when the force or moment acting on the first gearing part 14 of the respective gearing 11 falls below the defined limit value , the spring force of the spring element 22 automatically moves the guide element 23 together with the first gearing part 14 of the respective gearing 11 from the position shown in fig2 into the position shown in fig1 . as noted above , the first gearing part 14 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 is mounted on the housing 19 of the gearing 11 so as to be pivotable about the first joint 20 , and first joint 20 is in proximity to the first end 21 of the first gearing part 14 . the guide element 23 is mounted on the housing 19 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 so as to be pivotable about the joint 25 , and the joint 25 is in proximity to the first end 24 of the guide element 23 . the first gearing part 14 has a second end 27 opposite the first end 21 thereof , and the guide element 23 has a second end 28 opposite the first end 24 thereof . the second end 27 of the first gearing part 14 is guided on the second end 28 of the guide element 23 . more particularly , a guide pin 29 at the second end 27 of the first gearing part 14 is guided in a slotted guide 30 in proximity the second end 28 of the guide element 29 . as shown in fig1 to 3 , the slotted guide 30 has two angularly aligned sections 32 , 33 . the guide pin 29 is guided in the upper , relatively flat section 32 of the slotted guide 30 when the gearing 11 or the gearing parts 14 and 15 thereof assume the first position ( fig1 ). in contrast , the guide pin 29 is in the lower relatively steep section 33 of the slotted guide 30 when the two gearing parts 14 and 15 of the gearing 11 are moved relative to one another into the second position ( fig2 , 3 ). the slotted guide of the guide element 29 alternatively may be designed to run straight with a single obliquely running section that has no bend . a stop 31 is associated with the second end 28 of the guide element 23 on which the first gearing part 14 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 is guided . in the illustrated embodiment , the lower relatively steep section 33 of the slotted guide 30 is closed so that the portion of the guide element 23 at the closed lower section 33 of the slotted guide 30 forms the stop 31 . the stop 31 ensures that relative movement between the first gearing part 14 and the guide element 23 is restricted when the first guide element 23 is moved together with the first gearing part 14 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 counter to the force of the spring 22 from the first position to the second position . thus , the first gearing part 14 is always in engagement with the guide element 23 . in the illustrated embodiment , the stop 31 holds the guide pin 29 in the slotted guide 30 at all times , and accordingly the guide pin 29 of the first gearing part 14 can never be moved out of the slotted guide 13 of the guide element 23 . the joint 20 could have a rotational angle delimiting means on the housing 19 instead of having the stop 31 . such a rotational angle delimiting means would restrict relative movement between the first gearing part 14 and the guide element 23 , and would ensure that the first gearing part 14 would always remain engaged with the guide element 23 . the limit value for the force or moment acting on the first gearing part 14 is selected to exceed a maximum drive force of the respective drive motor 13 required for a regular opening or closing of the motor vehicle folding top . this takes place by coordinating the design of the spring 22 and the slotted guide 30 . influential factors on the limit value are : the spring constant of the spring 22 ; and the angle of the slotted guide 30 with respect to the tangent of a pivoting radius about the joint 20 , regardless of whether the slotted guide 30 has two angled sections 32 , 33 or a single straight - running slot . the limit value for the force or moment acting on the first gearing part 14 preferably is selected so as not to be exceeded when a folding top that is to be opened or closed by the folding - top drive 10 abuts against a stop and no additional force is exerted on the folding top counter to the opening or closing movement . in this case , the two gearing parts 14 , 15 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 then remain engaged and the drive motor 13 simply comes to a standstill but continues to be supplied with current , but eventually is deactivated to prevent overheating . the limit value is exceeded only when an additional force is exerted on the folding top counter to the opening or closing movement . in this case , the two gearing parts 14 , 15 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 then pass out of engagement . this occurs , for example , if the folding top to be opened or closed is actuated while the vehicle is driving and the folding top impacts against an obstruction , or if pressure inadvertently is applied to the moving folding top when the vehicle is at a standstill . the spring 22 may be an extension spring . one end of the extension spring 22 engages on the housing 19 and the other end engages on the guide element 23 . thus , the spring 22 pulls the guide element 23 into the position shown in fig1 with the two gearing parts 14 and 15 of the self - locking gearing 11 engaged . the spring 22 may alternatively be a leg spring or some other spring . a leg spring may be arranged around the joint 25 . the above - described design of the folding - top drive 10 simply and reliably provides overload protection for the folding - top drive 10 both in the event of exceeding the limit value for overload protection and also in the event of undershooting the limit value and automatically places the two gearing parts 14 and 15 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 into engagement or out of engagement . thus , manual access to the folding - top drive 10 is not required to implement or cancel overload protection . the guide element 23 may have an actuating element 26 that is used if the drive motor 13 fails . the actuating element 26 enables the guide element 23 to be moved manually together with the first gearing part 14 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 counter to the spring force of the spring element 22 from the position shown in fig1 into the second position shown in fig3 . the two gearing parts 14 and 15 of the self - locking gearing 11 are not engaged with one another in the second position , so as to eliminate the self - locking action of the gearing 11 . the stop 31 restricts displacement of the guide element 23 relative to the first gearing part 14 during the displacement of the two gearing parts 14 and 15 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 relative to one another , including displacement that is initiated manually via the actuating element 26 . thus , even if if the self - locking of the gearing 11 is overcome manually , there is no risk of the first gearing part 14 passing out of engagement with the guide element 23 . in the illustrated embodiment , the actuating element 26 is an actuating screw with an external thread that is guided in a recess of the guide element 23 that has an internal thread . the actuating element 26 is moved manually further in the direction of the housing 19 to manually overcome the self - locking of the gearing 11 . thus , the actuating screw 26 is supported on a section 32 ( see fig3 ) of the housing 19 and , with progressive rotation , pivots the guide element 23 about the joint 25 . accordingly , the guide pin 29 of the first gearing part 14 in the slotted guide 30 of the guide element 23 passes into the lower , relatively steeply running section of the slotted guide 30 , and the two gearing parts 14 and 15 of the respective self - locking gearing 11 are placed out of engagement to eliminate the self - locking action of said gearing 11 .
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US-94918610-A
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a vacuum chuck for securely holding integrated circuit hybrid package substrates in fixed relationship to an x / y table that is subjected to severe repeated lateral acceleration and decceleration forces to prevent appreciable lateral displacement of the package substrate relative to the x / y table . a plurality of shallow , closed loop grooves are disposed in the chuck . a resilient o ring is disposed in each groove and normally extends a small but precise amount above the surface of the base . a vacuum path opens into each region circumscribed by an o ring . when a package substrate is positioned on an o ring and the vacuum then is applied , the o ring is compressed , causing the sides of the o ring to tightly engage the walls of the groove , preventing the o ring from &# 34 ; rolling &# 34 ; in the groove as a result of lateral acceleration and decceleration forces on the package . the compression increases the contact area between the o ring and the package substrate to produce sufficient friction to prevent lateral movement of the package substrate relative to the o ring . the vacuum chuck , used in conjunction with an automated wire bonding machine and an automated die bonding machine , allows rapid loading of multiple hybrid integrated circuit package substrates on the vacuum chuck .
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referring first to fig1 reference numeral 1 designates the multiple - workpiece vacuum chuck of the present invention . its purpose is to securely , precisely hold , by means of a vacuum , six integrated circuit hybrid package substrates 12 ( hereinafter referred to simply as hybrid substrates ) of the type shown in fig3 in fixed precise relationship to vacuum chuck 1 during automatic die bonding operations , or automatic wire bonding operations performed by the automatic wire bonding machine 15 shown in fig2 . before describing in detail all of the features of vacuum chuck 1 , it first will be helpful to understand in more detail the structure of the conventional hybrid substrates 12 which are to be held in place by the vacuum chuck 1 of fig1 . referring now to fig3 hybrid substrate 12 includes a flat , rectangular , ceramic plate 12 - 1 . the lower surface of ceramic plate 12 - 1 is quite flat , having a maximum deviation from flatness of approximately 3 mils . it would be possible to obtain a more truly flat lower surface by performing a lapping operation on it , but that would be unduly expensive . it is one purpose of the present invention to avoid the need to lap the bottom surfaces of such ceramic layers of hybrid substrates before using a vacuum chuck to hold them in place . a plurality of gold plated metal leads 13 arranged in two rows are attached to and extend from the bottom surface of ceramic plate 12 - 1 . these leads 3 extend through and are soldered to various metal connectors that are patterned on the top surface of ceramic layer 12 - 1 . there are a plurality of gold plated die bonding pad locations , such as 29 on the top surface of ceramic plate 12 - 1 , on which semiconductor die need to be die bonded , as is well understood by those skilled in the art . one end of a length of gold bonding wire is wire bonded , respectively , to each bonding pad 31 of any integrated circuit die such as 30 , to which wire bonds must be made . the other end of each length of gold were is connected to another bonding pad , which can be a bonding pad or another die or a bonding pad such as 34 that is patterned directly on ceramic plate 12 - 1 . referring now to fig2 an automatic computer controlled wire bonding machine 15 is shown , on which the vacuum chuck 1 of fig1 can be attached . this machine can be a model 2460 manufactured by hughes aircraft company , industrial products division of carlsbad , calif . in order to fully appreciate the invention , it is helpful to understand the capabilities of the automatic die bonding machine 15 . reference numeral 16 designates a computer controlled x / y table or pedestal . vacuum chuck 1 of fig1 is bolted by means of screws extending through holes 32 ( fig1 ) to x / y table 16 . positioned over vacuum chuck 1 is a laterally stationary assembly including a microscope 26 , a gold wire spool 20 , a wire bonding head assembly 17 , and a television camera 27 which can view the magnified image of a particular integrated circuit bonding pad or die bonding pad which is precisely positioned beneath the lens of microscope 26 . positioning of x / y table 16 can be controlled automatically by computer 23 or manually by an operator by means of x and y controls 22 . a television monitor 28 continuously displays the magnified image being produced through a built in lens of microscope 26 . a floppy disc drive unit 24 allows the computer 23 to quickly load a program and data corresponding to the precise locations of all the bonding pads that are to be bonded . the six hybrid substrates that can be loaded onto vacuum chuck 1 each may require a hundred or more individual wire bonds in order to wire bond all of the various integrated circuit bonding pads to the various bonding pads patterned on the surface of the respective hybrid substrates 12 . between each bonding operation , a powerful servomechanism receives information from computer 23 determining where the x / y table 16 is to move next . each change in position of x / y table 16 is effectuated with a very large amount of acceleration and decleration in order to cause the wire bonding operation ( or die bonding operation ) to proceed as rapidly as possible . it therefore is essential that there be no permanent displacement of any of the hybrid substrates 12 as a result of any of this abrupt starting and stopping of x / y table 16 , since the cummulative result of any such displacement , after hundreds of successive abrupt movements of x / y table 16 , would cause successively larger misalignments of the small ( typically four mils square ) bonding pads with the wire bonding head 18 shown in fig2 a . those skilled in the art know that each wire bond must be generally centered within each such bonding pad if the resulting wire bond is to be reliable . obviously , therefore , the amount of cumulative lateral displacement of the hybrid substrates 12 after being subjected to hundreds of high magnitude lateral accelerations and decelerations produced by a high speed computer - controlled wire bonding machine such as the above - mentioned hughes aircraft company model 2460 , must be so little that the final wire bond is still centered within the four mil bonding pad before the vacuum is released . in fig2 a , reference numeral 19 represents the feed of the gold wire held on spool 20 of automatic wire bonding machine 15 in fig2 . reference numeral 21 in fig2 a designates a wire clamp solenoid in the bonding head assembly 17 , as one well skilled in the art will understand . now that the &# 34 ; environment &# 34 ; in which the vacuum chuck 1 of the present invention is used is understood , vacuum chuck 1 will be described in detail . returning now to fig1 a , 1b and 1c , vacuum chuck 1 includes a flat plate 2 , which in one present embodiment of the invention is 0 . 5 inches thick , 4 . 75 inches long , and 4 inches wide . it is composed of hard anodized aluminum . six vacuum holes 4 - 1 , 4 - 2 , 4 - 3 , 4 - 4 , 4 - 5 and 4 - 6 are all connected to a common vacuum source ( not shown ) by vacuum passages within plate 2 . these vacuum passages are best shown in fig1 c , wherein it can be seen that vacuum holes 4 - 1 and 4 - 2 are in open communication with internal air passage 9 - 1 . similarly , vacuum holes 4 - 3 and 4 - 4 that extend to the top surface of plate 2 communicate with internal vacuum passage 9 - 2 , and vacuum holes 4 - 5 and 4 - 6 communicate with vacuum passages 9 - 2 and 9 - 3 , respectively . internal passages 9 - 1 , 9 - 2 and 9 - 3 all open into internal passage 9 - 4 , which is connected to an external vacuum connector element 10 , onto which a standard vacuum source can be connected . typically , a manufacturing plant vacuum system that draws roughly 10 pounds per square inch of vacuum will be connected to external vacuum connector element 10 . referring particularly to fig1 surronding and concentric with each of the vacuum holes 4 - 1 , 4 - 2 , etc . is a concentric groove such as groove 5 - 1 , 5 - 2 , 5 - 3 , 5 - 4 etc . these grooves are hereinafter referred to as o ring grooves . each of the o ring grooves has a substantially square cross section , as can be seen in fig1 a ( which is a sectional view along section lines 1a -- 1a of fig1 ). disposed in each o ring groove is a resilient o ring such as 6 - 1 , 6 - 2 , 6 - 3 , etc . as can be seen best in fig1 a , when no hybrid package substrates are positioned on vacuum chuck 1 , each of the o rings extends above the upper flat surface of plate 2 by a small tolerance indicated by reference numeral 11 in fig1 a . each pair or row of the above described hybrid substrate locations of vacuum chuck 1 including a vacuum hole such as 4 - 3 , an o ring groove such as 5 - 3 , and an o ring such as 6 - 3 is positioned between a pair of deep , longitudinal parallel grooves such as 3 - 1 and 3 - 2 . the purpose of the grooves 3 - 1 , 3 - 2 is to receive the two rows of leads 13 of hybrid substrate 12 ( fig3 ). thus , it can be seen that the hybrid substrate 12 can be easily &# 34 ; loaded &# 34 ; with vacuum chuck 1 by simply sliding each hybrid substrates in the direction indicated by arrow 33 in fig1 with its two rows of leads 13 in the grooves 3 - 1 and 3 - 2 . the package substrates typically would slide from a portable carrier having similar lead - receiving grooves . the package substrates would be slid to the left in the direction of arrow 33 until the first hybrid substrate abuts rigid alignment plate 7 . the center - to - center spacing in the direction of the lead receiving grooves 3 - 1 , 3 - 2 between the vacuum holes such as 4 - 3 and 4 - 4 is precisely equal to the length of each of the hybrid substrates , so that each is geometrically centered over one of the vacuum holes 4 - 1 , 4 - 2 and the corresponding o rings 6 - 1 , 6 - 2 , etc . after all of the hybrid substrates have been loaded onto vacuum chuck 1 . then , the vacuum is applied . at this point , it should be noted that there is no reason that the o ring grooves and o rings need to be perfectly circular , as shown in fig1 . for hybrid sbstrates that are rectangular , rather than square , it is preferable to make the o ring grooves more oval , or perhaps even nearly rectangular in shape . it should also be appreciated that it is not essential to that the o rings be removably positioned in the o ring grooves and , in fact , the o rings could be bonded to the inner surface of the o ring grooves . typically , however , inexpensive o rings composed of suitable polymer or rubber materials can be used , depending on the temperature to which vacuum chuck 1 must be raised . ( in a typical wire bonding operation , the plate 6 . 3 is heated to a pretermined temperature , typically 150 ° c ., to achieve thermosonic bonding .) however , it is essential that cross sectional diameters of the o rings be such that each extends above the surface of plate 2 by the proper tolerance 11 previously referred to , and it is highly desirable that the sides of the o rings tightly contact opposed walls of the o ring grooves in order to prevent &# 34 ; rolling &# 34 ; or lateral displacement of the o rings when the x / y table is subjected to sharp acceleration or decelleration as it is being started or stopped during a lateral transition to align a bonding location on the hybrid substrate with the bonding head 18 ( fig2 a ). typically , we have found that the distance 11 should be five mils plus or minus two mils for the situation in which the deviation from perfect flatness of the bottom surface of the hybrid substrates 12 is approximately three mils . this value of distance 11 ensures a good vacuum seal and adequate comprression of the o ring to prevent rolling of the o ring in its groove and ensures adequate flattening of the o ring surface against the hybrid substrate on the flatted o ring surface . more specifically , the value of distance 11 ensures that when the hybrid substrate 12 is drawn downward in the direction of arrow 14 in fig1 b by a vacuum being produced in the above - mentioned vacuum passages inside vacuum chuck 1 , the o rings have their upper surface substantially flattened as shown in fig1 b and fig4 b . although it is not essential that all of the interior surface of each of the o ring groove be in contact with o ring material when the hybrid substrate 12 has been pulled tightly against the upper surface of plate 2 , it is essential that at least one of , and preferably both of the side surfaces of the o ring material be tightly pressed against the opposite walls of that particular o ring groove to avoid the above - mentioned rolling or lateral displacement of the o ring . another constraint on the dimension 11 indicated in fig1 a is that the durometer reading of the o rings be such that the vacuum pulls hybrid substrate 12 tightly against and in good thermal contact with the upper surface of plate 2 so that the hybrid substrate 12 and the integrated circuit dice attached thereto are rapidly heated to approximately 150 ° c ., so that proper thermosonic bonding can take place . we have found a durometer rating of 40 to 70 to be satisfactory . in operation , once vacuum chuck 1 is loaded with six hybrid substrates and the vacuum has been applied to produce the configuration shown in fig1 b at each of the six substrate holding locations , the operator initially manually aligns one of the hybrid substrates so that the bonding pads of one of the integrated chips appear on the screen of monitor 28 . this manipulation is done manually by means of x and y control levers 22 . then a command is given to computer 23 to cause it to begin automatic bonding operation . the computer &# 39 ; s stored program has a pattern recognition algorithym which causes the x / y table to be moved by a servomechanism so that the precise location of each of the bonding sites of each of the semiconductor chips of each of the hybrid substrates on vacuum chuck 1 is detected and stored in the memory of computer 23 . then the automatic bonding operation automatically takes place . after all of the necessary wire bonds ( or die bonding operations ) have been completed on all of the hybrid substrates , the vacuum is released . all six wire bonded hybrid substrates can be quickly slid into a waiting carrier , and six new unbonded hybrid substrates can be quickly slid into position to reload vacuum chuck 1 and the procedure is repeated . to summarize them , the invention provides , for the first time , an economical method and apparatus for rapidly loading and unloading a large number of hybrid substrates onto a vacuum chuck of a high speed modern automatic wire bonding machine or automatic die bonding machine , and precisely holds all of the hybrid substrates perfectly in fixed positions relative to an automatically movable x / y support despite repetitive bonding steps and rapid acceleration and deceleration of the x / y support as it is moved to align different bonding sites with the bonding head . while the invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment thereof , those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications to the described embodiment of the invention without departing from the true spirit and scope thereof . it is intended that all elements and steps which are equivalent to those described herein in that they perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same result be encompassed within the scope of the invention .
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US-86887586-A
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a capacitor suitable for use with a dram memory cell is composed of multiple layers of polycrystalline silicon . the storage node is formed from a polycrystalline silicon layer sandwiched between two polysilicon ground plate layers . such a structure nearly doubles the capacitance for a given chip surface area used . first the bottom polycrystalline silicon plate layer is fabricated , followed by an isolation step and fabrication of the storage node polycrystalline silicon layer . following another isolation step , the polycrystalline silicon top plate layer is then formed and connected to the bottom plate layer .
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the process steps and structures described below do not form a complete process flow for manufacturing integrated circuits . the present invention can be practiced in conjunction with integrated circuit fabrication techniques currently used in the art , and only so much of the commonly practiced process steps are included as are necessary for an understanding of the present invention . the figures representing cross - sections of portions of an integrated circuit during fabrication are not drawn to scale , but instead are drawn so as to illustrate the important features of the invention . referring to fig1 a process is shown for fabricating a capacitor according to the present invention for utilization with n - channel dram cells . a dram cell is fabricated in a p - type substrate 10 . as known in the art , a field effect transistor pass gate is formed by forming a thin gate oxide layer 12 followed by a gate polycrystalline silicon layer 14 . polycrystalline silicon layer 14 may include a silicide layer , such as titanium or tantalum disilicide , to improve conductivity as known in the art . the pass gates , comprising polycrystalline silicon layer 14 and gate oxide layer 12 , are then patterned , followed by a lightly - doped drain ( ldd ) implant to form ldd regions 16 , 18 . sidewall oxide spacer regions 20 are then formed , followed by a heavy implant to form an active source / drain region 22 . to this point , processing has followed the usual steps known in the art . next , a dielectric layer 24 , preferably a low temperature oxide deposited to a depth of approximately 2 , 000 å , is deposited over the surface of the chip . this is followed by a second layer of polycrystalline silicon 26 , preferably deposited to a depth of approximately 1 , 500 å , which is then doped n - type by implant . a thin dielectric layer 28 is then formed over the surface of the chip . layer 28 is preferably an oxide - nitride - oxide layer as known in the art . other dielectric layers , such as nitride - oxide , may be used if desired . this layer may be formed by growing an oxide layer on the polycrystalline silicon layer 26 , followed by deposition of a thin nitride layer . further oxidation of the nitride layer forms an upper oxide layer , giving the desired oxide - nitride - oxide sandwich . this form of dielectric is preferred because it allows a thinner dielectric to be formed , and has a higher dielectric constant than oxide alone . also , the oxide - nitride - oxide dielectric has a lower pinhole density than a thin oxide alone . after formation of dielectric layer 28 , another polycrystalline silicon layer 30 is deposited over the surface of the chip . this layer 30 is used as a buffer layer , and will be partially incorporated into the storage node of the cell capacitor . referring to fig2 the next step is to pattern and etch a contact opening 32 . this opening is located near the pass gate 14 , and is shown in fig2 as being located approximately half way between such feature and field oxide region 34 . contact opening 32 is formed by an anisotropic etch through all of the layers 30 , 28 , 26 , 24 to open up region 18 within the substrate 10 . next , the chip is oxidized to grow an oxide layer 36 on all exposed surfaces . fig3 shows details of the oxide layer 36 as grown along one sidewall of contact opening 32 . insulating layer 28 is comprised of oxide layer 36 , nitride layer 40 , and oxide layer 42 . as shown in fig3 formation of oxide layer 36 results in formation of a small bird &# 39 ; s beak 44 between polycrystalline silicon layer 30 and nitride layer 40 , and another bird &# 39 ; s beak between nitride layer 40 and polycrystalline silicon layer 26 . the effect of these bird &# 39 ; s beaks 44 , 46 is to separate the polycrystalline layers 26 , 30 at their edges , where electric fields are generally most intense . if the high temperature oxide growth step is not desired , a lower temperature cvd oxide can be deposited instead . although the bird &# 39 ; s beak formations are not grown , an adequate insulative layer is still provided . referring to fig4 the oxide layer 36 is anisotropically etched to form sidewall dielectric regions 48 along the sides of contact opening 32 . this etch removes all of the oxide layer 36 from over polycrystalline silicon buffer layer 30 . a third polycrystalline silicon layer 50 is then grown over the surface of the chip , making contact with active region 18 within the contact opening 32 . third polycrystalline silicon layer 50 and buffer layer 30 are now the same layer functionally . a partial dielectric layer 52 is then formed over the surface of the chip . layer 52 consists of a thin grown oxide layer , followed by a deposited nitride layer . these are the first two layers of an oxide - nitride - oxide dielectric sandwich formed as illustrated in fig3 but the upper oxide layer is not yet formed . referring to fig5 the chip is then patterened and etched to define the charge storage plate of the capacitor . regions 54 and 56 are etched down to polycrystalline silicon layer 26 using an anisotropic etch . region 54 will be used later to make contact with the active region 22 . following the etch , an oxidation step is performed which converts layer 52 into an oxide - nitride - oxide dielectric , and grows an oxide layer 58 over the remaining surfaces of the chip . this includes a growth of oxide on the sidewalls of etched regions 54 and 56 . the sidewalls of such regions are very similar to the sidewall regions shown in fig3 with small bird &# 39 ; s beaks being formed on either side of the middle nitride layer in dielectric sandwich layers 28 and 52 . as described in connection with fig3 a cvd oxide can be deposited instead of growing a thermal oxide . referring to fig6 the newly grown oxide layer is anisotropically etched to form sidewall dielectric regions 60 along side openings 54 and 56 . these dielectric regions 60 , as described above , are similar to sidewall regions 48 within contact opening 32 . in the alternative , a mask can be used to define openings in the oxide layer 58 to allow contact to be made with polycrystalline layer 26 . a fourth layer of polycrystalline silicon 62 is grown over the surface of the chip , and doped n - type . layer 62 makes contact with layer 26 . region 64 is then anisotropically etched , using a mask , through polycrystalline silicon layers 62 and 26 , to expose oxide layer 24 . a corresponding etch region ( not shown ) is made just beyond the right edge of the drawing of fig6 . at this point , the capacitor has been entirely defined . polycrystalline silicon layer 26 defines the bottom ground plate of the capacitor , and polycrystalline silicon layer 62 defines the top ground plate of the capacitor . the charge storage plate of the capacitor is formed by polycrystalline silicon layers 30 and 50 , and makes contact with active region 18 . the charge storage plate is completely separated from the upper and lower capacitor ground plates by dielectric regions 52 and 28 , and sidewall regions 48 and 60 , and is in contact with layer 18 . referring to fig7 after definition of the capacitor a dielectric layer 66 is formed over the surface of the chip . this dielectric layer 66 is preferably a reflow glass , such as psg or bpsg . contact opening 68 is then formed through glass layer 66 and oxide layer 24 to make contact with active region 22 . metal layer 70 is then deposited and patterned on the surface of the chip . as known in the art , deposition of metal layer 70 can include an aluminum layer with one or more refractory metal layers . high temperature oxide growth and deposition steps cause a diffusion of the n - type impurity from polycrystalline silicon layer 50 into the active region 18 . since region 18 and diffused region 72 are both n - type , no shorting or undesired junctions are formed in this area . referring to fig8 an alternative structure utilizing a capacitor according to the present invention is shown . this alternative structure is not a self - aligned process as was the case with the previously described method . as was the case with fig1 the device is formed in p - type substrate 80 . formation of the gate oxide 82 gate polycrystalline silicon layer 84 , ldd regions 86 and 88 , sidewall spacers 90 , and active region 92 are formed as known in the art . an oxide insulator region 94 is formed over the surface of the chip , followed by second level polycrystalline silicon layer 96 . contact opening 98 is then formed by patterning and etching polycrystalline silicon layer 96 , followed by deposition of an oxide - nitride - oxide dielectric layer 100 . oxide layer 94 is then masked and etched to form a smaller opening than was made through polycrystalline silicon layer 96 , completing formation of contact opening 98 . polycrystalline silicon layer 102 is then deposited over the surface of the chip , and patterned to form the charge storage plate of the capacitor . this polycrystalline silicon layer 102 makes contact with the active region 88 . the etch of polycrystalline silicon layer 102 also etches away the underlying dielectric layer 100 . a second oxide - nitride - oxide dielectric layer 104 is then formed over the surface of the chip to isolate the charge storage plate 102 , and patterned to expose portions of polycrystalline layer 96 . a fourth polycrystalline silicon layer is then deposited and patterned so as to make contact with the underlying second level polycrystalline silicon layer 96 . polycrystalline silicon layers 96 and 106 form the top and bottom ground plates of the capacitor , with polycrystalline silicon layer 102 forming the charge storage node . dielectric layer 108 , preferably a reflow glass , is formed over the surface of the chip , and patterned from contact openings 110 . the formation of contact openings 110 also etch away any remaining portions of the underlying oxide layer 94 . metal interconnect layer 112 is then formed and patterned as known in the art . the process flow for the alternative method shown in fig8 is somewhat simpler than that of fig1 - 7 , but requires more masking steps . with very small geometry devices , the self - aligned techniques are generally preferred since less area must be used to take mask registration error into account . using the methods described above , a capacitor has been formed which has ground plates above and below a charge storage capacitor plate . this approximately doubles the capacitance of the charge storage node without increasing the overall area of the dram cell . although multiple polycrystalline silicon layers are formed , no complex processing steps , such as thin film deposition on the sidewalls of a trench or pillar , are required . in addition to increasing the capacitance of the dram cell without increasing its area , the charge storage node is surrounded by upper and lower capacitor plates . these upper and lower capacitor plates are grounded , which provides improved electrical isolation for the charge storage node . the dram cell is thus less vulnerable to being influenced by changing signals on the word and bit lines of the device . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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US-44389789-A
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apparatus for raising fish , such as rainbow trout , in a controlled environment is disclosed comprising a main fish tank equipped with means for providing laminar water flow through the tank and also equipped with sweeper means for removing particulate matter from the bottom of the tank .
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the invention will now be further described in more detail with reference to the figures . fig1 and 2 illustrate a main fish tank 10 with its accompanying water inlet and outlet connections and a dual sweeper apparatus for cleaning particulate matter from the tank bottom . therein , it can be seen that main fish tank 10 is a rectangular tank formed from planar side walls 12 and 14 ; planar end walls 16 and 18 ; and planar bottom 20 . other shapes could also be employed , of course . the exact dimensions can also vary over a wide range , but an example of a suitable rectangular tank would be one with dimensions of 80 ft × 40 ft × 7 ft , which would be suitable for raising rainbow trout in high densities . suitable tanks can be constructed from a variety of material including metals , plastics , concrete , or a combination . it is preferred to provide smooth surfaces on the inside of walls 12 , 14 , 16 and 18 and also on the inside of bottom 20 . water is introduced through water inlet pipe 22 . water flows from inlet pipe 22 into header 24 and is distributed through a series of smaller pipes 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 and 36 , which empty into the top of the inlet end of tank 10 . water is introduced into tank 10 at a rate suitable for maintaining laminar flow in the tank as well as one which meets the demands of the fish , such as one which provides a sufficient initial oxygen level . very fine meshed screen 38 is positioned on support 40 at a short distance ( e . g ., 11 / 2 feet on 80 &# 39 ; tank ) from inlet end wall 16 . an example of suitable screen material is the forming fabric manufactured by huyck corp . for use in papermaking . the purpose of screen 38 is to establish laminar flow in tank 10 , which means that the mesh of the screen should be very fine so that it causes a slight head of water to build up in the inlet reservoir 42 . this head , which is exaggerated on fig2 for purposes of illustration , is represented by δh i , and is equal to the difference in height between the surface of water in reservoir 42 and the surface of water in fish growth volume 44 . at any height h on screen 38 , therefore , the pressure on the reservoir 42 side is h + δh i , whereas the pressure on the other side is h , which yields a constant differential pressure across screen 38 of δh i . this uniform pressure differential over the entire surface of screen 38 produces laminar flow at the inlet end of tank 10 . the rectangular shape of tank 10 is useful in maintaining this laminar flow through the water flow path . at the exit end of tank 10 , there is another screen 46 , on support 48 , which serves to minimize any disturbance of laminar flow at the exit end . screen 46 may be made from the same screen material as screen 38 , or it may be different . in any event , screen 46 serves to create a uniform differential pressure head , equal to δh o , at any height between water in fish volume 44 and water in outlet reservoir 50 . this , of course , is the inverse of the situation at the inlet end . again , for purposes of illustration , the pressure differential δh o is exaggerated on fig2 . flowing water can exit from tank 10 through a series of outlet pipes , such as outlet pipes 52 , 54 , 56 and 58 . each has a corresponding outlet valve . as illustrated , the outlet pipes are arranged at different vertical heights to allow adjustment of the water level in tank 10 . water leaving tank 10 can be reused , of course , such as by recirculating it through a biological filter . means for introducing fish food are employed , such as the pneumatic feeder system shown which comprises a pneumatic system feed line 60 and feed distributor pipe 61 . this pneumatic feeder blows feed across the surface of water within the tank . it is preferable to spread the feed over a large surface area so that all fish in tank 10 can have equal opportunity to feed . therefore , a plurality of feed outlets could be used , as well as other systems , including mechanical or hydraulic systems . examples of pneumatic fish feeding systems are described in detail in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 526 , 210 and 3 , 786 , 784 , the teachings of which are incorporated by reference . the sweeper apparatus employed at the bottom of tank 10 has two sweeper heads , 62 and 64 , which are connected so that they move in unison and , in combination , are able to sweep the entire tank bottom . they are driven in a slidable manner along the bottom surface of tank 10 by flexible drive line 66 connected by guide pullies 68 , 70 and 72 to electric motor 74 . water containing entrained particulate matter is sucked from the bottom of the tank into either of sweeper heads 62 and 64 and transported by smaller conduit 76 which is slidably mounted within larger fixed conduit 78 . water and entrained material empty from smaller conduit 76 into larger conduit 78 which is connected to pump 80 which discharges material from the sweeper heads 62 and 64 into discharge line 82 . the details of the construction of sweeper head 62 can be seen by referring to fig3 - 5 . therein , it can be seen that this sweeper head 62 has a general rectangular shape formed from bottom wall member 90 , top wall member 92 , and two side wall members 94 , 96 . planar slide member 98 is attached at one end and serves to cover the end as well as to assist the sweeper head in maintaining proper alignment as it slides along the tank bottom . the bottom wall member contains a series of spaced holes 100 therein through which water is sucked from the bottom of the tank -- this water carries entrained particulate matter with it . holes 100 are spaced in a pattern to maximize coverage of the bottom surface as the sweeper head traverses back and forth . sinusoidal shaped spacer 102 helps in directing water and entrained material towards the holes 100 as the sweeper head moves in either direction . spacer 102 also slightly elevates the lower wall 90 of the sweeper head 62 from the tank bottom . as sweeper head 62 traverses back and forth along the bottom surface of tank 10 , it sucks up sufficient water to entrain particulate matter accumulated at the tank bottom . the quantity of water entering sweeper head 62 is small , of course , compared to the volume used in systems depending upon a flushing action to clean tanks or raceways . typically , the ratio of water flowing through tank 10 to that sucked up by sweeper heads 62 and 64 would range from 10 / 1 to 100 / 1 . water and entrained particulate material are pumped through smaller conduit 76 into larger conduit 78 , and from conduit 78 to sweeper discharge line 82 . smaller conduit 76 is attached to side wall 96 via a standard screw - type pipe coupling . because smaller conduit 76 is slidably mounted within larger conduit 78 , pump 80 can be mounted in a permanent position . of course , it is also possible to use other arrangements to transport water and entrained particulate matter from the sweeper heads , including a slidable pump connected to one slidable conduit extending from the sweeper heads . it can also be seen that a small channel 104 is attached to and runs along the inner surface of top wall member 92 . this channel is connected to a supply line 106 for oxygen or an oxygen - containing gas such as air . thus , oxygen can be introduced into channel 104 and distributed through a series of smaller holes 108 extending through the top of sweeper head 62 , if the oxygen level in the water drops below the level desired to maintain good growth of fish . it is also possible to introduce an auxiliary or emergency supply of oxygen through recessed channels in the tank bottom . this would normally be a problem because the accumulation of particulate matter would cause clogging , etc ., but the sweeper means described herein will overcome these problems . a second channel 110 is located on the inner surface of bottom wall member 90 which is connected to a supply line 112 of chlorine gas and provided with holes 114 . this can be used to disinfect the bottom of the tank and kill microorganisms which have built up there and might lead to disease in the fish . although chlorine is toxic to fish , it can be used in this system because it is maintained locally beneath the surface of sweeper head 62 and never has an opportunity to reach the fish growing volume 44 . the sweeper can be formed from many materials and is preferably formed from a material which is resistant to corrosion , such as aluminum or plastics . fig6 illustrates an alternative sweeper head construction . thus , sweeper head 150 has a generally rectangular shape formed from bottom wall 152 , top wall 154 , and side walls 156 and 158 . support 160 is positioned at the outside center of top wall 154 and serves two purposes . the first purpose is that of adding buoyancy to sweeper head 150 which is achieved since support 160 can be formed from a foamed polymer , or other materials , which have good buoyancy in water . the size and shape of support 160 can be adjusted to provide as much buoyancy as desired , of course . the second purpose for support 160 relates to the retention and diffusion of oxygen - containing gas released from channels 162 and 164 . as illustrated , fabric or mesh envelopes 166 are fastened at the sides of sweeper head 150 and onto support 160 so as to provide two oxygen - containing and diffusing chambers . these assist greatly in dissolving oxygen in the water so that the fish can use it . of course , there may be only one chamber , or for that matter , more than two , and these can have a wide variety of designs . fig7 illustrates a schematic view of an overall fish husbandry system including a fish tank as described above . metabolic waste products and excess food sucked up by the sweeper heads 62 and 64 can be pumped to a number of locations through divertor valve 120 . if it is desired to simply dispose of these products , divertor valve 120 can be directed to dispose of the output from pump 80 to a disposal area , such as agricultural field 122 . alternatively , divertor valve 120 can be positioned to direct outflow from pump 80 to a large waste holding tank 124 . although not shown , the pump output could also be returned into the ground below the frost level in winter . still another option is to position divertor valve 120 to direct pump effluent to feed rate sampling tank 126 . feed rate sampling tank 126 can be used to determine whether the proper amount of feed is being added to fish tank 10 . it is very difficult to accurately measure the number of fish within the tank , and therefore , to gauge how much feed should be added . with this system , the tank can be swept clean of particulate matter on the bottom by sweeper heads 62 and 64 . immediately thereafter , feed can be added in a predetermined amount which is an estimate of that required . since rainbow trout and other salmonids are principally mid - water feeders , excess feed not consumed by the fish will fall to the bottom of the tank . therefore , if the tank is swept shortly after feeding , the amount of feed picked up by sweeper heads 62 and 64 will be an accurate measure of the excess feed introduced . thus , excess food picked up by sweeper heads 62 and 64 is pumped through divertor valve 120 which is positioned to transport this to feed rate sampling tank 126 . a sensor 128 , which might be an optical sensor , for example , senses the amount of food which was not consumed by the fish . sensor 128 transmits a signal to logic and control circuit 130 which then transmits an appropriate signal to feeder control 132 to adjust the amount of food introduced in the next feeding . an auxiliary pump 134 can be used to empty sampling tank 126 by pumping the contents thereof to dryer 138 . dried food is then reintroduced into tank 10 through re - feed controller 140 , re - feed supply line 142 and feeder outlet 144 . it is not necessary , of course , to spread the recycled food , which will normally be only a small amount , over a wide surface area . it is also not necessary to dry this recycled feed which may be introduced wet by a hydraulic recycle system . those skilled in the art will recognize or be able to determine using no more than routine experimentation , many equivalents to the specific apparatus illustrated herein . such equivalents are considered to be within the scope of this invention and are intended to be covered by the following claims .
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US-87409878-A
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the present invention is directed to a debris collection device in which the debris collection device not only contains the debris to avoid injury to the tool user through debris falling into the user &# 39 ; s eye , flying debris causing physical injury to the user &# 39 ; s body , or particles causing lung injury through being inhaled by the user , but also retains the debris for easy recycling or disposal . the collection portion of this invention is adjustable with respect to its distance from the tool , allowing it to be used to effectively contain debris under a wide variety of conditions .
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the present invention is directed to debris collection devices for use with manual and electrical devices which are used to remove debris by means of a rotatable removal tip or tool , including debris considered useless following their removal and those with sufficient value to justify their saving and recycling ) from a specific portion of the substance upon which the device is used . the preferred embodiment of this invention is , as illustrated by the figures which follow , is a debris collector used with a drill press . referring to the drawings , and particularly to fig1 the debris collection device is generally indicated by the reference number 1 ( 1 ). to discuss briefly the operation of a drill press ( generally referred to by reference number 2 ), the drill press has a sleeve ( 21 ), the up and down movement of which is controlled by a sleeve control ( 20 ). below the sleeve is a spindle ( 22 ) into which fits a chuck ( 23 ) which holds in place a drill bit ( 11 ) which rotates as the spindle ( 22 ) and chuck ( 23 ) turn . as the sleeve control ( 20 ) is pulled by an operator toward himself or herself , the sleeve ( 21 ) moves down , forcing the rotating drill bit ( 11 ) into the working surface . as the drill bit moves into the working surface , it removes material from the working surface , creating a round hole as it progress down further and further into the working surface . the debris collector includes a debris collecting cylinder ( 9 ), with a bottom ( 8 ), and , optionally , a spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 5 ) with a spring portion ( 6 ) which connects the cylinder to the tool through a three - dimensional box or rectangular - shaped connection device ( 4 ) in a manner such that as the tool is lowered onto the work surface and begins removing a portion of the work surface ( 10 ), and the tool lowers into the surface , the cylinder bottom ( 8 ) remains in close contact with the work surface ( 10 ) as the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 5 ) keeps continuous pressure on the cylinder , forcing it against the work surface . connecting the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 5 ) to the sleeve ( 21 ) is a spindle attachment device ( 3 ) which is also attached to the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 5 ) by the three - dimensional box or rectangular - shaped connection device ( 4 ) which has pre - drilled holes of the proper diameter to accommodate both the spring - loaded adjustment device and the spindle attachment . it is desired that the box or connection device ( 4 ) allows both the spindle attachment device ( 3 ) and the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 5 ) to be adjusted to accommodate different tools and different working surfaces . the cylinder bottom ( 8 ) is constructed such that there can be a hole ( 7 ) in it through which the drill bit ( 11 ) can pass as it drills into the work surface . in one embodiment the cylinder bottom ( 8 ) is constructed of a plastic which can be drilled through by a variety of drill bits of different diameters . alternatively , this invention could be manufactured and sold as a series of cylinders with bottoms made of metal or other not - easily - drilled substance into which each cylinder in the set has a different size hole drilled . these sets could range from a set of three or four cylinders ( small — medium — large — extra large ), to a set where there is one cylinder for each size of drill in a standard , 13 piece drill set , beginning at { fraction ( 1 / 16 )} th of an inch and ending at ¼ th of an inch . in order to economically store these cylinder sets , it is envisioned that the cylinders could be made in sequential sizes such that each could fit inside of the next larger size . [ 0018 ] fig2 and fig3 show the individual parts as they appear individually and apart from the other parts . starting with fig2 the cylinder ( generally indicated by reference number 31 ), has a bottom ( 32 ) with a hole ( 34 ), and a hole ( 33 ) drilled in one side of the cylinder to accommodate the spring - loaded adjustment ( generally indicated by reference number 40 ), and two indentations ( 35 ) in the side which allow the tray illustrated in fig3 to clamp on . the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ) is constructed of a hollow member ( 43 ) has a spring ( 42 ) embedded within the hollow member ( 43 ) and attached by way of a clamp ( 41 ). the spindle attachment device ( generally referred to by reference number 60 ), has an adjustment end ( 61 ), and a spindle attachment end ( 64 ) comprising a spindle clamp ( 62 ) which surround a spindle cavity ( 63 ) into which the spindle fits . attaching the spindle attachment device ( 60 ) to the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ) is a three - dimensional box or rectangular - shaped connection device ( identified generally by reference number 50 ), which comprises a block with holes for the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ) and the adjustment end ( 61 ) of the spindle attachment device ( 60 ). the connection device ( 50 ) allows both the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ) and the spindle attachment device ( 60 ) to be adjusted for different drilling conditions . [ 0019 ] fig3 describes how the tray ( generally referred to by reference number 70 ) is designed to attach to the bottom of the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ), and provide a stable platform upon which the debris collector cylinder ( 31 ) can rest . the tray ( 70 ) is comprised of a support ring ( 71 ) upon which the cylinder ( 31 ) rests . extending vertically from the edges of the support ring ( 71 ) are two or more side supports ( 72 ) which serve to hold the cylinder ( 31 ) in a stable position over the support ring ( 71 ) by clamping into the indentations shown in fig2 reference number 35 . attaching the support ring ( 71 ) to the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ) is a semicircular attachment device ( 73 ) which fits around the lower portion of the spring - loaded adjustment bar ( 40 ) and can be adjusted and tightened by way of an adjustment screw ( 74 ). it is intended that this invention can be produced and sold as a series of debris collectors , all of which have similar sized and shaped cylinders and bottoms , but each of which has a different sized pre - drilled hole . this set is designed to be used with cylinders which have cylinder bottoms constructed of sturdy plastic or metal , and designed to be used with a drill bit of a certain diameter , in situations where one size of drill bit is used repeatedly . because each container is only to be used with a drill bit of a certain size , there is no need to construct the bottoms of cylinders which are used in these sets to have cylinder bottoms capable of being drilled through . [ 0021 ] fig4 refers to a cylinder ( generally referred to by number 81 ) which has a cylinder bottom ( 82 ) with a rotatable disk ( generally referred to by 83 ) lying above the cylinder bottom ( 82 ) attached by a rivet , small bolt , screw or other attachment method ( 84 ) which would allow the disk to rotate freely in either direction . the rotatable disk ( 83 ) would have a variety of holes ( 85 ) of different sizes arranged sequentially along the edge of the disk , such that there could be created a tight seal between different drill bits and the cylinder bottom , such that little or no debris would escape from the debris collector . this rotatable disk can be either completely smooth , in which case any friction between the disk and upper surface of the cylinder bottom must be created in the attachment , or can be made with small extrusions or bumps on its bottom which mate with similar extrusions or bumps on the upper surface of the cylinder bottom which are designed such that the rotatable disk is held stable above the hole in the cylinder bottom when each hole in the rotatable disk is lined up above the hold in the cylinder bottom . [ 0022 ] fig5 is a top view of the rotatable disk ( 83 in fig4 generally referred to by 86 in fig5 ), showing the central point of attachment ( 87 ) to the cylinder bottom ( not shown ), and the sequential series of holes ( 88 ). it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that still further changes and modifications in the actual concepts described herein can readily be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims .
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US-23728602-A
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a retractable light / sound system for mounting on the eave of a structure includes a housing and an output subassembly . a hinge pivotably interconnects the housing and the output subassembly whereby the latter is pivotable between a retracted / stored position and an extended / display position . the output subassembly includes multiple lights and / or loudspeakers and provides output in response to input power and / or control signals from any control subsystem , which can include a microprocessor adapted for preprogramming to activate the output components in response to certain , predetermined input source conditions . the system is adapted for mounting on or in soffits , or on building fascias integrally with gutters .
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as required , detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention , which may be embodied in various forms . therefore , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure . certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only and will not be limiting . for example , up , down , front , back , right and left refer to the invention as oriented in fig1 . the words “ inwardly ” and “ outwardly ” refer to directions toward and away from , respectively , the geometric center of the embodiment being described and designated parts thereof . said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned , derivatives thereof and words of similar import . referring to the drawings in more detail , the reference numeral 2 generally designates a light / sound system embodying the present invention . the system 2 generally comprises a housing 4 , an output subassembly 6 and a control subsystem 8 . without limitation on the generality of useful applications of the light / sound system 2 , it is shown mounted in the cave 10 of a new or existing structure 12 including a roof 14 supported by an exterior wall 16 . the roof 14 terminates distally at a fascia header 18 , which is mounted on lookout rafters 20 and is covered by a fascia cover 22 . a soffit 24 includes a soffit panel 26 captured by the housing 4 at its inner edge 18 a and mounted on the underside of the fascia header 18 at its outer edge 18 b . the soffit panel 26 can comprise any suitable material , including , but not limited to , steel , aluminum , vinyl and wood . each lookout rafter 20 includes an inner end 20 a attached to a ledger board 28 mounted on the exterior wall 16 and an outer end 20 b attached to the fascia header 18 . each lookout rafter 20 includes a notch 30 , which is located at its inner end 20 a and is sized to receive the housing 4 . the housing 4 has a generally channel - shaped configuration with an inner / back wall 32 , an outer / front wall 34 , a top 36 and a receiver 38 , which is open downwardly at an opening 40 . an inner / back flange 42 extends rearwardly from the back wall 32 and is captured in a soffit channel 44 mounted on the structure exterior wall 16 . a front soffit channel 46 extends forwardly / outwardly from the housing front wall 34 and captures the soffit panel inner edge 26 a . the housing 4 can be attached to the eave 10 in any suitable manner . for example , mechanical fasteners 48 , such as nails or screws , can extend through openings in the back wall 32 and the top 34 and into the ledger board 28 and the lookout rafters 20 respectively . other suitable fasteners can also be used . the output subassembly 6 generally comprises a raceway 52 with a longitudinally - extending passageway 54 accessible through bulb openings 56 formed in a raceway face 58 . first and second raceway extensions 60 , 62 extend from the raceway 52 and form a substantially 90 ° right dihedral angle with respect to each other . a hinge opening 64 is formed near the pivot corner 66 of the raceway 52 . a hinge 68 extends therethrough and is mounted on the raceway 52 within the passageway 54 , and on the housing inner / back flange 42 . various alternative hinge designs can be successfully employed with the present invention . for example , hinge parts can be integrally formed with the housing 4 and the raceway 52 whereby they snap together in a pivotable relationship . individual hinges , or continuous piano - type hinges can be used . moreover , the hinge can comprise a length of flexible material or some other construction adapted for allowing the output subassembly 6 to pivot with respect to the housing 4 . a trim piece 69 is placed over the hinge 68 for concealing same and partially enclosing a gap formed between the housing 4 and the raceway 52 . various fasteners can be used to releasably retain the raceway in its retracted and extended positions . for example , a detent ball - and - receiver combination is shown and includes detent receivers 70 formed in the housing outer wall 34 and the top 36 . a detent plunger 72 is mounted on the second extension 62 and releasably engages the detent receivers 70 when the output subassembly 6 is in its fully - retracted and fully - extended positions ( fig1 and 2 respectively ). the fastener retainers can also comprise clips of various types , magnets ( permanent and electrical ), snaps , springs , solenoids and hydraulics . moreover , the output subassembly 6 can be extended and retracted with a power or other device , such as an electric motor , whereby the detents 70 , 72 may be unnecessary . other suitable actuating devices include manual cranks , winches , rods , hydraulics , etc . output components 74 are received in the passageway openings 56 and extend generally outwardly and downwardly from the raceway face 58 with the output subassembly 6 in its retracted and extended positions respectively . although a decorative light 74 is shown , the output components can comprise a wide variety of lights and audio components . for example , the lights can comprise any suitable size , style and color , including light emitting diodes ( leds ), fluorescent , incandescent , fiber - optic , etc . suitable audio output component ( s ) include loudspeakers , alarms , buzzers , chimes , etc . electrical wiring 76 can be run through the passageway 54 for interconnecting the output components 74 and the control subsystem 8 . the system 2 can be made with any suitable material and production procedure . for example , steel , aluminum , plastic ( e . g ., pvc and other suitable plastics ) can be used . the materials can be continuously extruded to provide housings and raceways of various lengths . also , they can be fabricated from sheet metal using conventional bending procedures , and the parts can be fastened together in a suitable manner , including welding , riveting , screwing , etc . [ 0033 ] fig3 and 4 show a first modified embodiment light / sound system 102 adapted for mounting on a surface , such as a soffit panel 126 under an eave 1 0 . the system 102 includes a modified housing 104 with a modified hinge 168 configuration . it will be appreciated that the system 102 is adapted for mounting on various surfaces . for example , it can be located in various positions on the soffit panel 126 to achieve various desired aesthetic effects . iv . second modified embodiment light / sound system and integral gutter 202 [ 0035 ] fig5 shows a second modified embodiment light / sound system 202 wherein a housing 204 is integrally formed with a gutter 205 ; the housing top 236 forming the bottom of the gutter 205 . the system 202 can be mounted on a fascia header 218 as shown , or at various other suitable locations on a structure . [ 0037 ] fig6 and 7 show a third modified embodiment of the present invention comprising inner and outer output subassemblies 306 a , b retractably mounted in a modified housing 304 with first and second receivers 338 a , b . first and second output components 374 a , b can be chosen for desired output effects . for example , the first / outer components 374 a can comprise decorative , seasonal - type lights . the second / inner components 374 b can illuminate a portion of the structure 312 , such as an interior or exterior wall 316 , with a “ wall washer ” lighting effect . the output subassemblies 306 a , b can be extended , retracted and operated independently or in conjunction with each other . [ 0039 ] fig8 is a schematic diagram of the system 2 , particularly showing a control system 8 thereof . a power source 80 can comprise the host building electrical power , or a stand - alone battery or generator power source . the control subsystem 8 includes a microprocessor 82 connected to a manual switch 84 for manually , selectively extending , retracting and operating the output subassembly . an audio source 86 can provide any suitable audio output , such as conventional public address ( pa ) music and paging , alarm , etc . a photovoltaic switch 88 can respond to conditions of light and darkness for automatic control through the microprocessor 82 . a switching circuit 90 can provide various output control signals , including varying lighting displays , flashing patterns , “ chase ” patterns , blinking , etc . a motion sensor 92 can be associated with the output subassembly 6 and can actuate the lights in response to sensing motions , such as those associated with intruders . the system 2 can thus serve a security lighting function . the output subassembly 6 includes both electrical light output components 74 and a loudspeaker 94 . the output signals to the output components 74 , 94 can be controlled by the microprocessor 82 . a motor 96 is operably connected to the output subassembly 6 for extending and retracting same in response to control signals from a motor control 98 connected to the microprocessor 82 . alternatively , operation of the output subassembly 6 can be accomplished manually , hydraulically , with a handcrank or with a suitable extended rod adapted for engaging the output subassembly 6 or an operating mechanism attached thereto . it is to be understood that the invention can be embodied in various forms , and is not to be limited to the examples discussed above .
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US-30717702-A
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a floor drain having a drainage gutter and a detachable cover that is firmly attached to the floor drain and configured to hold a tile that complements or accents the tile in the shower , the surrounding floor , or the floor plane .
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fig1 shows a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention while fig2 shows an exploded perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 , the floor or shower drain ( 10 ) is comprised of a generally rectangular - shaped detachable insert ( 20 ) that fits into a generally rectangular - shaped base ( 30 ) of slightly greater linear dimensions so as to create a drainage channel ( 11 ) between the sides of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the base ( 30 ). while the rectangular shape of the drain ( 10 ) is the most common shape , other geometric shapes are contemplated as well including , without limitation , circular , elliptical , triangular , and the like . in all embodiments , the same general configuration of a detachable insert ( 20 ) fitting into a similarly - shaped base ( 30 ) of slightly larger linear dimensions is contemplated . the drain ( 10 ) is typically comprised of non - corrosive and / or non - reactive metals such as plated brass or stainless steel but any suitable non - corrosive and / or non - reactive material that meets respective local and / or national building codes would be an appropriate substitute . referring to fig2 , the detachable insert ( 20 ) of the preferred embodiment is cast or fabricated with a generally rectangular box - like shape that is open at the top . again , the detachable insert ( 20 ) can be cast or molded in any number of geometrical shapes but the generally rectangular shape is the most common . accordingly , the detachable insert ( 20 ) has a flat and generally rectangular bottom ( 21 ) and four sides ( 22 ) extending perpendicularly upward from the outer extremities of the bottom ( 21 ) so as to create a boxlike container or tray which can securely hold a typical , commercially - available , decorative ceramic floor tile , concrete , epoxy composite , or other appropriate floor material . a horizontal groove ( 23 ) is centered on the inside face ( 221 ) of each side ( 22 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ). the groove ( 23 ) may be cast when the sides ( 22 ) are formed or they may be machined or gouged out after the sides ( 22 ) have been cast . each groove ( 23 ) extends inwardly into the inside face ( 221 ) to facilitate securing grout that is placed around a decorative tile placed into the detachable insert ( 20 ). one or more drainage holes ( 24 ) are located in the bottom ( 21 ) to permit drainage of any water falling into the detachable insert ( 20 ) and seeping under a decorative tile placed therein . preferably , the detachable insert ( 20 ) is uniformly cast or stamped but the sides ( 22 ) can be attached to the bottom ( 21 ) by welding , gluing , or any other suitable process for joining materials . still referring to fig2 , the detachable insert ( 20 ) fits into a similarly - shaped base ( 30 ) that is slightly larger in its linear dimensions . the base ( 30 ) also has a generally rectangular bottom ( 31 ) but the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) slopes downward away from the outer extremities ( 311 ) of the bottom ( 31 ) and toward the center of the bottom ( 31 ). four sides ( 32 ) extend perpendicularly upward from the outer extremities of the bottom ( 31 ) so as to create a boxlike container into which the detachable insert ( 20 ) will fit . a large , generally circular drainage hole ( 33 ) is centered in the middle of the bottom ( 31 ) and thereby marks the end of the downward slope of the bottom ( 31 ) from its outer extremities ( 311 ). the bottom ( 31 ) intersects the drainage - hole sides ( 331 ) which define the drainage hole ( 33 ) and extend vertically downward from the bottom ( 31 ). two metal tabs ( 332 ) are positioned opposite each other on the drainage - hole side ( 331 ) to permit attaching the drain assembly ( 10 ) to a waste water pipe ( not shown ) with set screws ( 333 ) passing through the waste water pipe and screwing into the metal tabs ( 332 ). the metal tabs ( 332 ) are typically shaped like a truncated pyramid and protrude perpendicularly from the drainage - hole side ( 331 ) into the drainage hole ( 33 ). four cylindrical support post footings ( 34 ) each with a hole ( 341 ) drilled through its center are positioned near the four outermost corners of the bottom ( 31 ). the support post footing hole ( 341 ) is threaded to receive and hold a commercially available metal screw . the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests upon four cylindrical support posts ( 35 ) each with a hole ( 351 ) drilled through its center . in turn , the support posts ( 35 ) rest upon the support post footings ( 34 ) so their respective holes ( 351 and 341 ) are aligned , one atop the other . the support post footings ( 34 ) are typically comprised of the same material as the bottom ( 31 ) and may be uniformly cast with the bottom ( 31 ) or cast separately and then attached to the bottom ( 31 ) by welding , gluing , or any other suitable process for joining materials . the support posts ( 35 ) are typically comprised of a material that is softer than that comprising the detachable insert ( 20 ), the base ( 30 ), and the support post footings ( 34 ). each support post ( 35 ) is secured to its respective support post footing ( 34 ) and thereby , the base ( 30 ), by a screw ( 36 ) inserted through the support post hole ( 351 ) and the support post footing hole ( 341 ) which is threaded to accommodate the threading of the screw ( 36 ). the diameter of the support post hole ( 351 ) is larger near the top of support post hole ( 351 ) to accommodate the head of the screw ( 36 ) so that the screw ( 36 ) does not extend above the top of the support post ( 35 ). as mentioned previously , the linear dimensions of the detachable insert ( 20 ) are smaller than those of the base ( 30 ) thereby giving rise to a space between the sides ( 22 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the sides ( 32 ) of the base ( 30 ). similarly , the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests upon four support posts ( 35 ) which sit atop four support post fillings ( 34 ) thereby giving rise to another space between the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ). these spaces create a drainage channel ( 11 ) which provides any water reaching the drain ( 10 ) with an exit route to the drainage hole ( 33 ) located in the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) but hidden from view by the detachable insert ( 20 ). such a configuration provides the user with a functioning floor or shower drain ( 10 ) that is more attractive than the industry - standard , visible hole in the floor with a grating inserted over it . fig3 is a side view of the present invention which shows how the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) slopes downward to intersect with a cylindrical drainage hole side ( 331 ) which extends perpendicularly downward from the edges of the drainage hole ( 33 ). the drainage hole side ( 331 ) can be smooth or grooved to fit into a standard drainage pipe ( not shown ) leading to the building &# 39 ; s waste water system . fig4 is a cross - section view through the drain ( 10 ) assembly showing how the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests upon the support posts ( 35 ) which , in turn , rest upon the support post footings ( 34 ). fig4 also shows the support post footing ( 34 ) having a horizontal top surface ( 342 ) so that the support post ( 35 ) rests squarely upon the support post footing ( 34 ). fig4 also shows the support post footing ( 34 ) having a downward sloping bottom surface ( 343 ) thereby allowing the support post footing to rest squarely on the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) while retaining its vertical orientation . fig4 also shows how the drainage hole side ( 331 ) extends vertically downward from the drainage hole ( 33 ). fig4 also shows the drainage channel ( 11 ) formed by the spaces between the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) and the sides ( 22 , 32 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the base ( 30 ) respectively . fig4 also shows the metal tab ( 332 ) with the set screw ( 333 ) screwed in . finally fig4 shows two of the four fastening wedges ( 25 ) extending vertically downward from the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ). each fastening wedge ( 25 ) is a segment of a cylindrical shell having an inner surface ( 251 ) and an outer surface ( 252 ) and typically comprised of the same material as the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ). each fastening wedge ( 25 ) has an inner circumference equal to that of the outer circumference of the support post ( 35 ) and is positioned on the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) so that the inner surface ( 251 ) of the fastening wedge ( 25 ) abuts firmly and securely against the side ( 352 ) of the support post ( 35 ). ( the disposition of the fastening wedge ( 25 ) with respect to the support post ( 35 ) is best seen in fig7 ; the disposition of the four fastening wedges ( 25 ) is best seen in fig1 .) the surface friction between the fastening wedge ( 25 ) and the support post ( 35 ) keeps the detachable insert ( 20 ) firmly in place and attached to the base ( 30 ) so that it does not wobble , move laterally , or tip up when the user steps on it . however , since the detachable insert ( 20 ) is held in place by surface friction , it is possible to easily remove it from the base ( 30 ) for cleaning , maintenance , repair , or accessing the drain hole ( 33 ) in the base ( 30 ). fig5 is a top - plan view of the present invention showing the basic features of the drain ( 10 ) being the base ( 30 ) and the detachable insert ( 20 ). as mentioned previously , the linear dimensions of the detachable insert ( 20 ) are slightly smaller than those of the base ( 30 ) thereby creating a channel ( 11 ) between the inside face of the base side ( 321 ) and the outside face of the detachable insert side ( 222 ). the drainage holes ( 24 ) located in the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) permit any water trapped in the detachable insert ( 20 ) and under any tile inserted therein to drain into the channel ( 11 ) between the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ). the drain holes ( 24 ) can also be positioned so that any water trapped in the detachable insert ( 20 ) and under any tile inserted therein can drain directly into the drainage hole ( 33 ) as shown in fig6 . fig6 is a bottom - plan view of the present invention showing the drain ( 10 ) in an assembled configuration . fig6 shows the drain hole ( 33 ) in the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) with its sides ( 331 ) extending vertically downward . this bottom view shows the drain holes ( 24 ) in the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) positioned directly over the drain hole ( 33 ) in the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) so as to permit any water trapped in the detachable insert ( 20 ) and under any tile inserted therein to drain directly into the drainage hole ( 33 ). fig7 is cross - sectional view c - c of the present invention as depicted in fig6 . fig7 shows the channel ( 11 ) created by the gap between the sides ( 22 , 32 ) and the bottoms ( 21 , 31 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and the base ( 30 ). fig7 also shows the fastening wedge ( 25 ) flush against the support post ( 35 ) and how the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests squarely on the support post ( 35 ). finally , fig7 shows how the screw ( 36 ) attaches the support post ( 35 ) to the support post footing ( 34 ) and thereby , the base ( 30 ). the surface friction between the fastening wedge ( 25 ) and the support post ( 35 ) keeps the detachable insert ( 20 ) firmly in place and attached to the base ( 30 ) so that it does not wobble , move laterally , or tip up when the user steps on it . however , since the detachable insert ( 20 ) is held in place by surface friction , it is possible to easily remove it from the base ( 30 ) for cleaning , maintenance , repair , or accessing the drain hole ( 33 ) in the base ( 30 ). fig8 is a front view of the base ( 30 ) of present invention which shows how the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) slopes downward to intersect with a cylindrical drainage - hole side ( 331 ) which extends perpendicularly downward from the edges of the drainage hole ( 33 ). fig9 is cross - sectional view d - d of the base of the present invention ( please refer to fig8 ) showing the support post footings ( 34 ) with a horizontal top surface ( 342 ) so that the support post ( 35 ) ( not shown in this figure ) rests squarely upon the support post footing ( 34 ). fig9 also shows the support post footing ( 34 ) having a downward sloping bottom surface ( 343 ) thereby allowing the support post footing ( 34 ) to rest squarely on the downward sloping bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) while retaining its vertical orientation and its flat , horizontal top surface ( 342 ). in this configuration , the support post footing ( 34 ) can be cast separately from the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) or uniformly cast with the bottom ( 31 ) and / or the base ( 30 ). fig9 also shows how the drainage - hole side ( 331 ) extends vertically downward from the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ). fig9 also shows one of the two metal tabs ( 332 ) positioned opposite each other on the drainage - hole side ( 331 ) to permit attaching the drain assembly ( 10 ) to a waste water pipe ( not shown ) with set screws ( 333 ) passing through the waste water pipe and screwing into the metal tabs ( 332 ). the metal tabs ( 332 ) are typically shaped like a truncated pyramid and protrude perpendicularly from the drainage - hole side ( 331 ) into the drainage hole ( 33 ). the metal tabs ( 332 ) with the locking set screws ( 333 ) permit the user to removably attach the drain assembly ( 10 ) to the waste water drain pipe ( not shown ). the set screws ( 333 ) are accessible from the throat of the waste water drain pipe thereby allowing for easy removal of the base ( 30 ) should the metal or metal finish of the base ( 30 ) be damaged or tarnished . fig1 is a top - plan view of the base ( 30 ) of the present invention showing the generally rectangular and downward sloping bottom ( 31 ) with four sides ( 32 ) extending vertically upward from the outer extremity ( 311 ) of the bottom ( 31 ). the bottom ( 31 ) slopes downward inwardly ending in a circular drainage hole ( 33 ) in the center ; the drainage hole ( 33 ) has a cylindrical side ( 331 ) extending vertically downward from its edges . fig1 also shows the four support post footings ( 34 ) located at the outermost corners of the bottom ( 31 ) of the base ( 30 ) each with a hole ( 341 ) drilled through its center . fig1 is cross - sectional view e - e ( please refer to fig1 ) showing a detail view of a support post footing ( 34 ) uniformly cast with the bottom ( 31 ) and sides ( 32 ) of the base ( 30 ). the support post footing top surface ( 342 ) is horizontally aligned to permit the support post ( 35 ) ( not shown in this fig1 ) to rest squarely upon the support post footing ( 34 ). fig1 also shows how the support post footing hole ( 341 ) is countersunk into the support post footing ( 34 ) to accommodate a screw ( 36 ) ( not shown in this fig1 ). fig1 is a side view of the detachable insert ( 20 ) showing a side and two securing wedges ( 25 ). fig1 is cross - sectional view d - d through the detachable insert ( 20 ) showing a better view of the outer surfaces ( 252 ) of the securing wedges ( 25 ). as mentioned above , the surface friction between the fastening wedge ( 25 ) and the support post ( 35 ) keeps the detachable insert ( 20 ) firmly in place and attached to the base ( 30 ) so that it does not wobble , move laterally , or tip up when the user steps on it . fig1 is a view of detail g of the detachable insert . this detail shows the placement of the horizontal groove ( 23 ) which is centered on the inside face ( 221 ) of each side ( 22 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ). the groove ( 23 ) may be cast when the sides ( 22 ) are formed or they may be machined or gouged out after the sides ( 22 ) have been cast . each groove ( 23 ) extends inwardly into the inside face ( 221 ) to facilitate securing grout that is placed around a decorative tile placed into the detachable insert ( 20 ). fig1 is a top plan view of the detachable insert ( 20 ) showing the basic features of the detachable insert ( 20 ): the bottom ( 21 ), the four sides ( 22 ) extending vertically upward from the outer edges of the bottom ( 21 ), and the two drainage holes ( 24 ) generally located in the center of the bottom ( 21 ). fig1 is a bottom plan view of the detachable insert ( 20 ) showing the four cylindrical - section securing wedges ( 25 ) extending vertically downward from the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ). each securing wedge ( 25 ) has an inner surface ( 251 ) and an outer surface ( 252 ) with the diameter of the inner surface ( 251 ) equivalent to the diameter of the securing post ( 35 ) ( not shown in this fig1 ) so that the inner surface ( 251 ) of the securing wedge ( 25 ) rests firmly and securely against the side ( 351 ) of the securing post ( 35 ) thereby preventing vertical lateral movement of the detachable insert ( 20 ) but permitting relatively easy removal for cleaning , maintenance , replacement of the decorative tiles inserted therein , as well as any other reason for removing the detachable insert . fig1 is cross - sectional view f - f ( please refer to fig1 ) through a portion of the detachable insert ( 20 ) and one securing wedge ( 25 ) showing the disposition of the inner surface ( 251 ) and the outer surface ( 252 ) of the securing wedge ( 25 ). fig1 is a top plan view of the support post ( 35 ) with the screw ( 36 ) inserted therein . fig1 is a side view of the support post ( 35 ) showing the support post top surface ( 353 ) which is the surface that the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests and the support post side ( 352 ) which is the surface which would abut firmly and securely against the inner surface ( 251 ) of the securing wedge ( 25 ) ( not shown in this fig1 ). fig2 is a bottom plan view of the support post ( 35 ) showing the support post hole ( 351 ). fig2 is cross - sectional view k - k ( please refer to fig1 ) through the support post ( 35 ) showing how a screw ( 36 ) ( not shown in this fig2 ) would be positioned in the support post hole ( 351 ) which is countersunk through the center of the support post ( 35 ). to operate the preferred embodiment of the drain ( 10 ), the user simply places the detachable insert ( 20 ) into the base ( 30 ) by aligning the securing wedges ( 25 ) on the underside ( 211 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) over the support posts ( 35 ) which have been secured to the support post footings ( 34 ), and thereby the base ( 30 ) by screws ( 36 ). the user then positions the inner surfaces ( 251 ) of the securing wedges ( 25 ) directly against the sides ( 351 ) of the support posts ( 35 ) and presses the detachable insert ( 20 ) downward into the base ( 30 ). since the diameter of the inner surface ( 251 ) of the securing wedges ( 25 ) is the same as the diameter of the support post , the inner surface ( 251 ) will be in direct contact with the side ( 351 ) of the support post ( 35 ). the user then slides the securing wedge ( 25 ) along the inside of the support post ( 35 ) until the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests upon the top surface of the support post ( 353 ). since the inner surface ( 251 ) of the securing wedge ( 25 ) is flush against the side ( 351 ) of the support post ( 35 ), there is not lateral movement of the detachable insert ( 20 ) while it is set in place in the base ( 30 ). since the underside ( 211 ) of the bottom ( 21 ) of the detachable insert ( 20 ) rests firmly upon the top surface ( 353 ) of the support post ( 35 ) and the support post ( 35 ) is firmly attached to the base ( 30 ), there is no movement in the vertical plane either . to remove the detachable insert from the base , the user simply grabs the detachable insert ( 20 ) by its sides ( 22 ) between the thumb and fingers and lifts the detachable insert ( 20 ) upward by sliding the securing wedges ( 25 ) upward over the support posts ( 35 ). the user then has access to the base ( 30 ) for maintenance , cleaning , and the like . the present invention as described herein has been designed to address the problems found in the prior art . accordingly , the objects and advantages of the present invention are : to provide a floor drain with a detachable cover that is securely attached to its foundation but easily removed so as to permit easy inspection , cleaning , or other such routine maintenance of the drain . to provide a floor drain with a detachable cover that affords the user an unlimited number of options as to materials to place in the cover . to provide a floor drain with a detachable cover that is simple in design , easy and inexpensive to manufacture , and reasonable in cost to the consumer . to provide a floor drain with a detachable cover that is securely attached to its foundation so that it does not move , slip , or slide when the user steps on it . to provide a replaceable ( as opposed to a permanently embedded ) metal base for a floor drain in the event of damage to the metal base itself or damage to the finish of the metal base .
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US-201213694239-A
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a method of identifying and archiving a nucleic acid sequence includes a ) creating a directory of files in a computer , for storing information related to the nucleic acid sequence ; b ) inputting a raw nucleic acid sequence into the computer ; c ) trimming the raw nucleic acid sequence to obtain a trimmed nucleic acid sequence ; d ) submitting the trimmed nucleic acid sequence electronically to a nucleic acid identification database having a search program and receiving search results electronically from the nucleic acid identification database ; e ) choosing selective information from each search result and inserting the selective information from each search result into a first electronic spreadsheet ; and f ) selecting at least one of the search results from the first electronic spreadsheet and inserting the at least one search result into a second electronic spreadsheet .
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sequence files : files that contain a text string such as “ aggtcgt ” where the letters are used to indicate the sequence of bases in polynucleic acid . raw sequence files contain sequence portions from cloning vector , attachment adapters , and cdna ( mrna ) fragments . subtraction libraries : subtraction libraries are selected cdna formed from mrna molecules that have been isolated to enhance their different mrna abundance in two mrna pools that are being compared . if the two pools are from cells of the same type where one group has been exposed to some stimulus , then the difference in cdna ( from mrna ) should be due to a cellular response to the stimulus . depending on the starting point used , the subtraction library will consist of mrna that is either up - regulated or down - regulated in response to the stimulus . trim parameters file : these files store the positions used to trim adapters and vector from the cdna fragment of interest . this allows the user to review and alter the selected trimming positions . html files : these files are returned ( over the internet ) from the blast search engines at ncbi . these files are normally viewed with a web browser . blast : a computer program suite , the basic local alignment search tool ( blast ), that runs at ncbi and which matches a nucleotide sequence ( represented by a string of letters coded for the nucleic acid bases a , g , t , and c ) against the sequences stored in the database records . information about the records that match the search sequence and about the degree of the matches is returned from the search tool . vector files : these files contain information about attachment adapters and cloning vectors . these can be used to configure the trimming operation . trimmed sequence files : these files contain a text string such as “ aggtcgt ” where the letters are used to indicate the sequence of bases in a nucleic acid polynucleotide . trimmed sequence files contain only sequence portions isolated while building the subtraction library . the method of the invention is implemented by a computer program that is loaded into a general purpose computer . the computer is electronically connected to a nucleic acid identification database having a search program , such as the ncbi database . the computer also contains a commercially available spreadsheet program , such as microsoft excel ®, and a browser program , such as microsoft internet explorer ®. in the embodiment of the invention described below , the nucleic acid identification database is the ncbi database and the spreadsheet program is microsoft excel ®. however , it should be understood that other nucleic acid identification databases may be used and , similarly , other spreadsheet and browser programs may be used . furthermore , the described embodiment relates to the subtraction library technique , but is equally applicable to the creation , storage and management of any type of dna sequence data or dna library . the program operates in one of five program modes or steps . all modes except the first mode operate on a set of files selected by the user . the first mode allows selection of an existing dna library or automatic creation of the directory structures for a new dna library . the data inputs into this program are the raw sequence files created by a dna sequencer for each fragment from the dna library . the raw sequence files are moved manually into a library &# 39 ; s raw sequence directory before processing can begin . a raw sequence file may contain extraneous sequence from an expression vector or dna adaptors used in the amplification process . the second program mode allows the user to remove the extraneous portions from the unidentified sequence . the third program mode uses the internet to submit each unknown sequence to the blast program on the ncbi server and captures the search results in html format . the fourth program mode allows the user to organize the information from each html search result file into a microsoft excel ® file containing the ranked identification results for unknown sequence . based on the protein identity and match scoring information presented in this file , the user may indicate which sequence matches to preserve by marking a field in this intermediate excel ® file . by default , a fixed number ( 20 ) of the highest scoring sequence matches are preserved , but this number can be modified by the user . the last program mode allows the best or selected matches to each unknown sequence to be compiled into the final dna library file . it is this final , microsoft excel ® formatted file that provides the starting point for the user to analyze the dna library . hyperlinks in this file allow the researcher to navigate to any of the intermediate files or into the ncbi database for further information on all dna sequences of interest in the library file . the dna library file created by this program provides the reviewer a direct gateway into an interconnected dna library data set , providing a valuable tool for analysis or new hypothesis generation . in the laboratory , plasmids isolated from bacterial colonies generated from a cloned dna library are usually given some name based upon an experimentally determined / structured naming system . this name is typically used in laboratory notebooks and on labels for preservation vials . it is important that any naming scheme used by a data management program must not place restrictions on the laboratory &# 39 ; s naming convention . the name assigned to an isolate under the laboratory &# 39 ; s naming convention is called the “ base name ” which becomes part of the name of all files created on a specific sequence . these intermediate files created by the software will be named using the base name with an appended suffix and file extension . some characters are removed from the base names of intermediate files because they interfere with the linking strings . the processing of each raw data file results in the creation of four intermediate files : three text files ( trimmed sequence file : name_nv . seq ; vector pairs sequence file ; and the blast results file : name . html ) and one excel ® file ( name_searched - database - name . xls ). information from the excel ® files containing the parsed html information on each isolated cdna fragment is combined into a single ( excel ® formatted ) subtraction library file . with the multitude of related files created by this program for each subtraction library , extensive hyper - linking between the files allows the researcher to quickly review related information used to build the subtraction library including all intermediate files and the information link to the sequence and the known data at the ncbi databases . the software automatically creates the required directories and files when the program is first run . subdirectories are also created when the user runs the program and creates a given library name . these subdirectories under the user defined library name are for automatic storage of sequence files and associated data on individual sequences from that library . the files created by the software should remain in fixed locations after the links have been created to insure maintenance of file links . therefore , files must not be moved from the creation subdirectory or these links will be lost . however , the user can recreate the links by moving the existing or creating new sequence html files into a preferred name directory . a directory structure is used to organize the multitude of files . the main or root directory is the directory in which the program has been installed . it is convenient ( though not required ) that this root directory be created on a shared network drive , so that multiple users within a group can access the data . in one embodiment of the invention , the only restriction is that the root directory not be “ c :\ blast ”. the “ c :\ blast ” directory will be created ( on a user &# 39 ; s local drive ) the first time a user runs the program and is used to manage scheduled ncbi database searches as well as to store a particular user &# 39 ; s preferences . again , all directories under the root are also created the first time the program is run and the program automatically creates subdirectories when the user creates a named individual subtraction library during the first step of the program . a file naming convention is used that creates all data files associated with a particular isolate with names based upon the user - defined identifier given to the raw sequence file . suffixes are appended to the base names to name files related to the original sequence file . there are 7 different types of files used by the program . four types ( vector files ; raw sequence files ; trimmed sequence files ; and trimming parameter files ) are formatted as ascii text files . the fifth type is an html formatted file captured over the internet from the database server at ncbi . the sixth and seventh types are formatted as microsoft excel ® files . the files used are organized into the directory structure shown in fig1 . there are two levels of directories defined . the main level directories are the first level directories under the root directory and are used to separate the different types of files used or created by the program . all directories ( or folders ) are created automatically the first time the program is run . the main level directories are : there is a second level subdirectory created for each subtraction library under the sequence , trimmed , trimpars , html , and excel directories . each subdirectory is named with the term or code for the subtraction library . this name is assigned when the user chooses to create a new subtraction library . for each subtraction library created , there will be a subtraction library excel file created in the library main directory . the data for a subtraction library can be thought of as “ flowing ” between the subtraction library &# 39 ; s directories under each of the sequence , trimmed , html , and excel directories , and finally to the subtraction library &# 39 ; s file under the library directory . the sequence files , which are output by the dna sequencer , should be copied manually into the desired subtraction library &# 39 ; s subdirectory under the sequences main directory . although the program can pull the raw sequence files from any location , it makes sense to store them in an area related to the library of which they are a part . the excel formatted subtraction library file is designed to allow a side - by - side comparison of the proteins targeted by each of the cdna ( mrna ) fragments in the subtraction library . this file , which is the entry point for analyzing the data , provides summary information about each cdna &# 39 ; s identity and links into related intermediate files and into the ncbi databases . these links allow the researcher to explore perceived relationships about a cell &# 39 ; s functional response to the controlled stimulus or the set of experimental conditions associated with the subtraction library . if dna adapters , such as used for polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) amplification , and / or a cloning technique are used as is done when constructing a subtraction library prior to sequence analysis , the fragments will have known experimentally added dna sequence at either end of the cdna fragment sequence . due to this cloning scheme , the resulting sequence contains the sequence arrangement vector / adapter - cdna fragment - adapter / vector . after pcr amplification and dna cloning , single bacterial colony isolation and plasmid dna purification , the known site for cdna begins just beyond one end of the inserted 5 ′ vector - adapter sequence and ends just prior to the inserted 3 ′ adapter - vector . sequencing from one side of the insert is assigned as a “ forward ” sequencing direction that can be arbitrarily given by the researcher such as based on the m13 priming site or on the vector &# 39 ; s origin of replication ( orf ). sequencing starting from the other side is assigned the reverse sequencing direction . the nucleotide sequence determined by the dna sequencer is stored in a text file as an ordered set of letters ( a , c , g , t , n ) representing the nucleotides . in one embodiment of the invention , the trimming step finds the 5 ′ and 3 ′ end sequences and a confirmatory sequence 20 nucleotides into the cloning vector and removes these sequences from the cdna . the confirmatory sequence is chosen by the user , can be from any region of known vector sequence , and placed with the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter sequences in a specific file within the vectors subdirectory . the output of the trimming step gives match percent , size of the fragment , as well as many other parameters ( discussed in more detail below ), under user control to assign the trim site for removal of these experimentally added sequences . the resultant trimmed sequence is stored in a file ( name_nv . seq ; where nv refers to “ no vector ”) and the original raw sequence is retained in a raw sequence file . the sequences in the raw sequence files start with known sequence , generally a small portion of the cloning vector , followed , in order , by a 5 ′ end adapter , the cdna fragment - of - interest , the 3 ′ end adapter , and more of the cloning vector . the trimming step removes the known portions of the vector and adapter sections of dna from the sequence to leave only the dna fragment - of - interest . it is this dna portion that represents a fragment of one of the mrna molecules in the library . the known sequences for the adapters and vectors used when the subtraction library was built are read from a user created vectors file . since the cdna sequence fragment exists between the 5 ′ and 3 ′ ending adapters , by identifying the locations of the end adapter sequences in the raw sequence , the fragment - of - interest ( the nucleotides between the adapters ) can be determined . a complicating factor is that the adapter / fragment - of - interest / adapter portion can insert into the circular cloning vector in one of two orientations ( especially in blunt - end cloning ) which is arbitrarily referred to as “ plus ” and “ minus ” sequence direction . when one searches for the adapters , one must consider both cases . to add an additional degree of confidence in the adapter search , the trimming operation also looks for a known segment of the cloning vector that would occur past the insert - 3 ′ adaptor sequence . in general , the reliability of the dna sequencer output due to conditions and robustness of the sequencing reaction typically starts fairly high in base calling accuracy but begins to fail generally after several hundred nucleotides . since sequencing starts near one side of the insert , the first adapter ( the starting or 5 ′ adapter ) should always be found . if the second adapter ( the ending or 3 ′ adapter ) and a confirmation sequence can also be found , the researcher can have a high degree of confidence that the fragment - of - interest is correctly represented by the portion of the raw sequence between the adapters . if the 3 ′ adapter can &# 39 ; t be found , then it is possible that the quality of the dna sequencing reaction and therefore the sequencer &# 39 ; s dna output may have degraded before complete coverage of the entire insert sequence , which is generally due to a long cdna insert . it would be proper to keep all nucleotides after the first adapter as the fragment - of - interest for further analysis and not trim the 3 ′ end . the computer program looks for a known portion of the cloning vector downstream from the second adapter sequence as a confirmation that the dna sequencer output was of high quality while the insert was being sequenced . the confirmation sequence to be found depends upon the direction ( forward or reverse , which is assigned by the user ) chosen for the sequencing . there is no need to assign the sequencing direction for the program , since it searches for both a forward and a reverse confirmation sequence in this step to find the best adaptor / primer match . the search for the sequence match is done automatically for the user . the program &# 39 ; s decision about the location of the fragment - of - interest is presented in highlighted regions via a visual display ( such as a computer monitor ) to the user . the locations of the starting and ending adapters can be altered , if desired , by clicking and dragging a slide bar below the sequence display window to move the highlighted section to another area of interest . it is these highlighted locations that control the portions of the raw sequence that are removed in the trimming operation where the sequence is retained at the 3 ′ base of the 5 ′ primer and the 5 ′ base of the 3 ′ primer and automatically placed into a trimmed sequence file ( name_nv . seq ; where_nv refers to no vector sequence ). the locations where the raw sequence is trimmed are stored for the user for later referral by the program in a trimming parameters file . this file enables the program to reconstruct the trimming applied by the user when the user reviews a previous trimming operation . each trimming parameter file has only a single line of information . the file is formatted as a text file . the first and only line of the file has seven integer values numbers on it , separated by spaces . the seven values are : 1 st 5 ′ adapter score , positive insert orientation 2 nd 3 ′ adapter score , positive insert orientation 3 rd 5 ′ adapter score , negative insert orientation 4 th 3 ′ adapter score , negative insert orientation 5 th nucleotide number ( starting with 1 ) of the first nucleotide in the raw sequence to be saved 6 th nucleotide number ( starting with 1 ) of the last nucleotide in the raw sequence to be saved 7 th a flag indicating the insertion orientation that was assumed ( 0 = negative , 1 = positive ) in one embodiment of the invention , sequence identification occurs by automated searching of the database ( s ) maintained by the ncbi . there are many cdna fragments produced in a single subtraction library , and these cdnas are formed from parts of mrna molecules whose abundance was changed from another comparable population of mrna molecules . ideally , many thousands of bacterial colonies could be randomly selected ( without duplication ) and processed to guarantee that all fragments from all mrna molecules in the library are examined in proportion to the abundance of the mrna molecules . more practically , a large number of randomly selected colonies are processed depending upon the library &# 39 ; s diversity . the nucleotide sequence of each cdna fragment is searched against the databases at ncbi , where daily updated information is stored on all known ( public ) protein and dna sequences . once the identities are associated with mrna for target proteins , or with gene or est dna , the researcher will have initial data to support hypotheses that the experimentally derived state shown in the cell &# 39 ; s response to the stimulus has increased ( or decreased ) the production of a specific set of proteins and therefore enhanced ( or diminished ) specific pathways or cellular function . each trimmed sequence file contains a string of letters representing the nucleotides in a cdna fragment built from mrna to generate the subtraction library . in this step of the invention , the user may specify which of the ncbi databases that will be searched and can limit the number of brief descriptions and detailed alignments that are reported by ncbi for each database searched . the program formats the trimmed sequences and search specifications into a search request recognized by the ncbi website and establishes a connection to the server . the search program on the ncbi server is run to find database records with nucleotide sequences that best match the trimmed sequence . the ncbi program sends information about the matching records back to the subtraction library program , where the data is automatically stored in an html file in the proper directory . because the server at ncbi can , at times of heavy usage , respond very slowly , the computer program includes wait features as well as a feature that allows the user to schedule the search request to be sent to the ncbi website at some future , off - peak time . searching a selected set of trimmed sequence files against the ncbi databases creates a set of html formatted results files . if desired , these files can be viewed with a web browser . table 2 . below is an example of an html file returned from the ncbi “ blast ” search program following a sequence search of the ncbi non - repeating ( nr ) library of sequences . hyperlink text are shown in table 2 . in bold font . for the purpose of the description of table 2 . given below , dashed lines have been inserted to delineate the sections of the html file . the only time that a user would see an html file would be if they clicked on the hyperlink provided in the fourth columns of either the intermediate excel files or the final library excel file . the first section of the html file includes three lines that show a program identification tag , the complete filename of the “ trimmed ” sequence file containing the searched sequence , and the date that the search was performed . the second section contains information describing the ncbi search results type , a paragraph describing the search filters used , a reference associated with the best match ncbi record , and the number of database sequence records ( and nucleotides ) searched . the third section contains an ordered listing of the matches found during the ncbi search . only the first two sequence matches of a user - defined match limit ( program default is 20 matches ) are shown , for example . the “ score ” ( a calculated value of the number of nucleotides matching between the search sequence and the sequence stored in the ncbi database record , incorporating penalties for gaps and mismatches ) and the “ e ” value ( the probability that a random sequence of nucleotides of the same length as the search sequence would match the sequence stored in the ncbi record ) are used to determined the order , with the best matches presented at the top of the list . the hyperlink at the left of each list entry link the user directly to the ncbi database record that produced the match represented by the entry . the hyperlink at the right ( the probability number e ) links the user to the start of a detailed presentation for the match represented by the list entry . the fourth section contains sets of detailed information about each match . the details for both matches are shown in table 2 . the detailed information for each match includes the number of matching nucleotides and gaps , the direction ( sense / anti - sense ) of the sequence pairings , and a top - over - bottom sequence similarity presentation of the matching sequences showing where individual nucleotides match . the last section presents information related to the operating conditions of the ncbi search program . in this step of the invention , the salient information in each html formatted search result file ( table 2 .) is automatically reformatted and entered into a microsoft excel file . these files are the “ search results excel files ”. there will be one search result excel file created for each html file originating from each sequence query . the excel formatting allows the user to compare all database matches to a dna fragment and to indicate which match , or matches , should be considered as the “ best ” for inclusion in the library &# 39 ; s excel file . each search results excel file is organized such that each row represents a single ncbi identity match . the highest scoring ( best ) matches are sorted to the top of the file . hyperlinks into the ncbi database and to the html file are created at the time each file is created . table 3 . below shows an example of an intermediate or search results excel file . the intermediate or search results excel file contains information about each ncbi database match to a single search sequence . the name of the file and its location as saved is contained at cell c 1 . the nucleotide sequence presented to ncbi for searching in its databases and the length of the sequence is given at cells c 2 and c 3 , respectively . the first index column a is numbered from the best to the worst sequence match html results . the use in lib column allows the user to select a specific “ best ” sequence by placing any character in this box , otherwise the best match defaults to the first row of results . the third column contains the database ( db ) searched . the fourth column ( in bold ) provides a hyperlink to the local html file ( which is viewed using the default browser ). the fifth column ( bold ) is a hyperlink address to the ncbi database record for accessing the data for the matched sequence information . the remaining columns present the pertinent data automatically loaded from the html file returned by ncbi . these columns include the score , the “ e ” value probability , the date of the search , and the description of the sequence . the last 12 remaining columns are data sets from the ncbi database match for the longest continuous sequence match . in these columns the query is the unknown dna sequence and the target is the sequence matched in the ncbi database . these 12 columns include data on the 1 st alignment score , the e value for the first alignment , match id &# 39 ; s for the number of matched dna sequence bases , total id &# 39 ; s for the complete number of bases in the sequence identified , the number of gaps in the query sequence compared to that in the database , a query column ( listed as default “ plus ” strand of sequence ), a subject column listing sequence match that is listed either as “ plus ” for the same sequence or “ minus ” for the antisense sequence match , the ncbi database target sequence length , a column containing the position of query dna sequence minimum sequence , a column containing the position of query maximum that matched the subject sequence , and lastly , two columns showing the minimum and maximum sequence positions where the query sequence has matched the subject sequence . each row from number row six down in the file is information about a specific record in the ncbi database that matches the searched sequence . in this step of the invention , the final excel library files are created from the intermediate or search results excel files . the “ best ” target identifications for each dna isolate ( the one at the top of the search results file ) are compiled into a single excel file for the subtraction library . the user selects a set of search results excel files as input . the single output “ library ” file is created or updated with the information from these files . the user can review the search results by hyperlinking to the results in the intermediate excel file , the html file or to the ncbi index citation of the sequence . the user can modify the selected description or add multiple descriptions , if needed , by placing any typed mark ( such as an “ x ”) in the third column of the search results “ intermediate ” excel file ( table 3 .) and recompiling the library . this appends the library file by placing all selected marked descriptions and the corresponding data into the subtraction library excel file for all modified cdna isolates . table 4 . shows an example of a final excel library file . the library file is designed to contain the best matches ( or those selected as best matches from the intermediate excel file by the user ) resulting from searches of the dna sequences against each of the ncbi databases queried . the format of each row in the table is identical to the rows in the intermediate excel files ( see table 3 .). the only difference is that in the library file , column a contains a hyperlink to the intermediate excel file that contains all the matches to a single sequence or dna isolate . in the intermediate excel file , column a contains either a zero ( 0 ) to indicate no matching sequences found in the ncbi database or a one ( 1 ) to indicate that sequence matches were found . the library file contains only the best ( or user selected ) match ( s ) for each of the many isolates that make up the dna library . the raw sequence files are commonly output files from an automated dna sequencer or a file generated from scanning an autoradiographic image of sequence gel . the raw sequence files are text files with each nucleic acid base being represented by a single acsii character from the set ( a , c , g , t , or n ). after the last nucleotide in the sequence , a line feed character is expected . the sequence can be up to 5000 nucleotides long . a vector file must be customized for a particular laboratory and selected prior to the trimming step . the vectors files are formatted using a six line , ascii text format . only the first contiguous string of letters on each line is read , so the remainder of each line can be used for annotations . each line starts with a nucleotide sequence . an example vector file is presented below ( seq id nos 6 - 11 , respectively in order of appearance ): in the vector file , the first two lines are used to hold the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter sequences that would be read from an insert that was positioned in a sense ( or defined as “ positive ”) orientation in the cloning vector . lines four and five hold the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter sequences that would be read assuming an antisense ( or defined as “ negative ”) insertion orientation . the choice of the positive and negative orientation can be arbitrary , and the orientations only have meaning when related to the sense / antisense double - stranded dna sequence orientation ( as defined by the user or the subsequent search results ). the third line holds a portion of cloning vector sequence , somewhat downstream of the 3 ′ adapter that would be read when a plasmid is read in the defined forward sequencing direction . line six holds a portion of the vector that would be read after the 3 ′ adapter when reverse direction sequencing is done . as before , the choice of forward and reverse sequencing directions are arbitrary and have meaning only in relation to one another . once started , the program presents the main user interface screen shown in fig2 . the left hand portion of the main user interface is organized into five sections . each section is associated with one of the program modes of operation . the selector buttons along the left hand side indicate the program &# 39 ; s current mode and allow the user to select a different mode . fig2 shows the program in the “ select a library ” mode after three subtraction libraries have been defined . certain fields are disabled in each program mode to limit the user to only compatible program choices . each program mode is discussed below . the “ select a library ” mode allows the user to select the library on which the program will operate by simply selecting it from the libraries named in the “ known subtraction libraries ” list box . in fig2 , the subtraction library choices are “ ralph ”, “ test ”, and “ test1 ”. by clicking the “ create new library and associated directories ” button , the user directs the program to create all of the required directories and an empty subtraction library excel file under a new subtraction library named by the user . these options are only available when the program is in this mode . also , the selection or creation of a library is required for use of the subsequent program functions ( i . e . trimming , searching , etc .). in the “ trim raw sequences ” mode , the user can select the vector file to be used from the “ known vector files ” list box . this list box is filled with the names of all vector files found in the vectors subdirectory under the program &# 39 ; s root directory . the user may also enter a value for the threshold percentage to be used when searching for the adapters or vector arm sequence in a raw nucleotide sequence . in this mode , the “ select files ” button in the right hand portion of the screen is activated to allow the user to select a set of raw sequence files to be trimmed . once file selections have been made , the “ go ” button on the right hand side of the screen will become activated . clicking the “ go ” button will display the trimming interface ( see fig3 ) and start the trimming procedures . the trimming interface is displayed for each selected raw sequence file to allow the user to specify the trim locations for each sequence . trimmed sequences files containing only the saved sequence portion and trimming parameters files containing the trimming locations are created for each raw sequence . trimmed sequence files are created using the original sequence naming convention ( e . g . name . seq to name_nv . seq ). when the trimming procedures are done , the main user interface is again displayed . when the “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode is selected , the “ descriptions ”, alignments ” and database selection checkboxes are activated . these fields allow the user to specify the maximum number of matching database records and the number of alignment displays returned from the ncbi data search for each of the database search requests . these database records and alignment displays are captured and saved to an individual html file . the check boxes allow the user to specify the ncbi databases to be included in the search . in this mode , the “ select files ” button in the right hand portion of the screen is activated . clicking this button allows the user to select a set of trimmed sequence files to be submitted for database searching at the ncbi website . database selections must be made prior to file selections . once file selections have been made , the “ go ” button and the “ blast later ” button on the right hand side of the screen will become activated . clicking the “ go ” button will immediately initiate the on - line ncbi connection for sequence identification . the lower boxes in the main user interface ( fig2 ) display the name of the active file to which data is being written and a running number of file bytes received in the html search results file for each individual query . the identification procedures result in an html formatted search results file for each combination of sequence and database searched . when the on - line identification procedures are complete , the main user interface is again displayed . if the user chooses the “ blast later ” button rather than the “ go ” button , the program allows the user to schedule a batch identification procedure to begin at some future time . if the batch identification is scheduled for a later time , the program exits . after batch identifications have been completed , the user must manually copy the created html files created from the library &# 39 ; s directory under “ c :\ blast \ html ” to the proper directory under the root . the need for this manual copy is that the root linkage might not be available until the user logs back onto the computer . thus , the computer ( in the case of a network ) which schedules the “ blast later ” event will initiate the later search and will receive the html files for storage . in the “ create xls files from blasted ( html ) sequence files ” mode , the “ select files ” button in the right hand portion of the screen is activated . clicking this button allows the user to select a set of multiple html files to be decoded into a corresponding set of excel files . once file selections have been made , the “ go ” button on the right hand side of the screen will become activated . clicking the “ go ” button will start the file decoding procedures . when the procedures are done , the main user interface is again displayed . in the “ update library from selected xls files ” mode , the “ select files ” button in the right hand portion of the screen is activated . clicking this button allows the user to select a multiple set of excel files to be incorporated into the subtraction library &# 39 ; s excel file . only selected rows from each excel file are incorporated into the subtraction library &# 39 ; s file . in the absence of a specific user indicator ( such as an “ x ” or “ a user &# 39 ; s initials ” in row three of the intermediate excel file ) that defines which rows to be used , only the top row ( best match ) from each excel file is used . once file selections have been made , the “ go ” button on the right hand side of the screen will become activated . clicking the “ go ” button will start the compilation procedures . when the procedure is done , the main user interface is again displayed . across the bottom of the main user interface ( fig2 ), there are two display fields that present feedback information for the user during the ncbi database searching . the smaller field on the left presents the internet protocol ( ip ) address at which the ncbi server was found . the larger field is used to display the status and name of the html input file that is currently being filled with results returned from the ncbi search engine . at the right hand side of the main user interface ( fig2 ) a number of buttons are provided to allow the user to control the program operations for the selected program mode . the “ exit ” button causes the program to shut down in an orderly fashion regardless of the current operation . the “ help ” button launches a help system . the “ select files ” button allows the user to specify a set of input files to be processed during the “ trim raw sequences ” mode , the “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode , the “ create xls files from blasted ( html ) sequences files ” mode or the “ update library from selected xls files .” in the “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode , the check boxes specifying the ncbi databases to be searched should be set prior to pressing the “ select files ” button . the input files must all be selected from a single directory . normally , this directory will belong to the set of directories associated with the currently selected subtraction library , but the input files may be pulled from any location . as a convenience , the file selection window is positioned by default , depending on the program mode , to the appropriate directory associated with the currently selected subtraction library . note that the user has no control over where the output files created by the processing are placed . output files are put into the appropriate directory created as part of a user - named library associated with the currently selected subtraction library . the “ files will be processed ” field displays the number of output files that will be produced by the currently requested operation . usually , this number will be equal to the number of files selected as input . in the “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode , however , each selected input file may be processed up to twelve times , depending on the designated ncbi databases to be searched . each database search of a trimmed sequence will create an output file . pressing the “ go ” button starts the processing of the selected files . the “ go ” button becomes enabled after a file selection has been done . the processing that is performed depends upon the current program mode . the operations are summarized below for each program mode where input files are selected : the trimming interface screen ( fig3 ) is presented , in turn , for each selected input file . the interface allows the user to specify the portion of the sequenced plasmid that is to be saved for identification at ncbi . the trimmed sequence is stored under the original sequence name appended with_nv after the given sequence name ( i . e . name - nv . seq ) in the subdirectory associated with the currently selected subtraction library located under the trimmed directory . for each selected trimmed sequence file and each specified database , a request for the ncbi server is prepared and sent . the user must have internet access or the connection will fail . the program waits for the search results to be returned from one request before the next request is sent to ncbi . audio and visual feedback is provided to inform the user that the program is working . the results are stored in html format in the subdirectory associated with the currently selected subtraction library under the html directory . for each selected html input file , the program opens a “ blank . xls ” file , fills it with information parsed from the html file , and saves the filled xls file under an appropriate sequence name in the subdirectory associated with the currently selected subtraction library under the excel directory . for the currently selected subtraction library , the program opens the subtraction library &# 39 ; s xls file . each of the selected input xls files ( one created from each html file ) are then opened , in turn , and the “ best ” identification from each is copied into the subtraction library file . by default , the “ best ” match is determined by the highest matching score from the ncbi data search received in the html file . if the user wishes to specify a different identification as the best match or include multiple identifications , the user can hyperlink to the intermediate excel file and place a mark in column 3 of the file and rerun the “ update library ” mode . this action will append all newly user indexed sequence match entries to the bottom of the spreadsheet . if the user would prefer to overwrite the data , the complete data set can be highlighted and deleted and the library then recompiled . if the subtraction library already existed , any duplicate identifications are overwritten with fresh data . when updating is completed , the subtraction library xls file is saved under the library &# 39 ; s name in the library directory . when the program is in “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode and a set of input files has been selected , the “ blast later ” button is enabled at the same time as the “ go ” button . whereas the “ go ” feature will start immediate processing of the selected files , the “ blast later ” feature will allow the user to postpone the ncbi searching until some specified time up to 24 hours later . this feature could be used , for instance , to submit the search requests at a time when the ncbi server is not expected to be busy . the user specifies the starting hour and minute for the operations to begin . if the time specified is earlier than the current time , the request is submitted the next day . the user may also choose to use the operating system to manually schedule the request , rather than letting it be scheduled automatically . when this is done , a batch file is created in the “ c :\ blast ” directory that will perform the search when it is run . this might be done , for instance , if the user wished to schedule the batch job to run several days hence . the manner in which a batch job is scheduled varies with the computer operating system . if the “ sound ” box is checked , a tone is produced at the beginning of the processing of each file . when a search request has been sent to ncbi , a tone is also presented each time the program checks for returned results . these tones , along with the status indicators , inform the user that the program is still working and has not crashed . if the user wishes , the audio tones can be disabled by not checking the “ sound ” box . if the “ help tips ” box is checked , balloon type text appears when the cursor is left in positions over an active item on the interface . the displayed text provides a short description of the purpose for the item . the “ select a library ” mode selector is used to place the program into “ select a library ” mode . in this mode , the user may specify the “ currently selected ” subtraction library by highlighting its name in the “ known subtraction libraries ” list . the user may also create a new subtraction library and its associated subdirectories by pressing the “ create new library and associated directories ” button . the program operates on files belonging to a single , currently selected , subtraction library . each subtraction library known to the program will have an associated excel formatted xls file in the library directory and associated subdirectories under each of the sequence , trimmed , trimpars , html , and excel directories . the subtraction library with which the user wishes to work is selected from those presented in this list of previously created libraries . the library whose name is highlighted on the list becomes the “ currently selected ” subtraction library . when the program is first installed , there are no subtraction libraries present , so this list will be empty . as the user creates new subtraction libraries , using the “ create new library and associated directories ” button , more entries will be available on this list . the “ create new library and associated directories ” button allows the user to make a new subtraction library known to the program . when this button is pressed , the user is asked to specify the name of the new subtraction library . the user must type the desired name for the new subtraction library into the space provided and press the “ ok ” button . if the name has not previously been entered , it is used to create a new , blank , subtraction library xls file in the library directory and to create all required subdirectories . the new name will then appear on the “ known subtraction libraries ” list . the user may press the “ cancel ” button to end the request with no actions taken . activating the “ trim raw sequences ” selector places the program in “ trim raw sequences ” mode . in this mode , unlike the other processing modes , the user is required to make decisions as part of the processing of the selected files . settings for two parameters that are used in the automated trimming feature available in this mode may be specified prior to initiating the processing . the user may specify the name of the vector file and the threshold percentage level for finding a sequence match in the trimmed sequence . automated trimming of the raw sequence files is based upon finding the nucleotide sequences of known adapters in the raw sequence . these adapters are added for polymerase manipulation to the ends of the cdna fragment before it was inserted into a cloning vector and then sequenced . in the raw sequences output from the dna sequencer , the portion between these known sequences is used as the fragment - of - interest to be identified . the adapter / vector sequences to be used are read from “ vector ” files stored in the vectors directory . the user will create a vector file to be used and place it , manually , in the vectors directory prior to trimming sequences from a subtraction library . the “ known vector files ” list is filled with the names of all vector files in the vectors directory . the user specifies the adapter set to be used by highlighting the file &# 39 ; s name in this list . the “ threshold ” field entry is used to display the current threshold percentage level to be used when the automated trimming feature is employed . the automatic selection of trimming positions is based upon how well adapter / vector sequences match the raw sequence at specified locations . the scoring is based upon a weighted percentage of matching nucleotides . mismatched nucleotides are assigned a weight of zero . matching nucleotides are assigned a weight of two . a nucleotide paired against an “ undetermined ”, n , nucleotide is assigned a weight of one . the score for the match at a position ranges from 0 to 100 percent . for a particular adapter , if a trimming position cannot be found that results in a score at least as high as the threshold percentage , the “ automated ” position used is swept to the proper end of the raw sequence ( to the start for 5 ′ adapters ; to the end for 3 ′ adapters ). the user may enter an integer from 0 to 101 into the threshold field . since the maximum possible matching score is 100 , specifying 101 forces the automatic search to place the entire raw sequence into the sequence confirmation file . the value is set to 80 by default . no trimming is done or trimmed sequence file created without a user confirmation . the automatic trimming merely suggests trimming locations . the user may adjust these locations as desired ( using scroll bars ) before confirming the trim . the trimming can subsequently be changed , since the raw sequences are not altered in any way . once the parameters have been specified , and a set of files to be trimmed has been selected using the “ select files ” button , the “ go ” button is activated to allow the user to start the processing of the files . for each file to be trimmed , the “ trimming interface ” ( fig3 ) is displayed . using this interface , the user specifies or confirms the locations used to mark the beginning and end of the fragment - of - interest portion of a raw sequence . this is the portion that represents the nucleotides in a fragment of a cdna ( from mrna ) molecule in the subtraction library . the main function of the trimming interface screen is to allow the user to specify ( using the scroll bars ) the starting and ending locations of the nucleotides representing the dna insert fragment - of - interest . after the trimming scroll bars have been set , trimming is performed by pressing the “ apply ” button to trim the raw sequence on either side of the fragment - of - interest . the middle large window portion 10 of the trimming interface ( fig3 ) shows the raw sequence . the cdna fragment - of - interest , which corresponds to the fragment of cdna ( from mrna ) in the subtraction library , is the sequence located between the 5 ′ adapter section 12 and the 3 ′ adapter section 14 . portions of the sequence that match or differ from another sequence are color - coded for ease of visual detection . the fragment - of - interest may be shown in black , except for any unidentified nucleotides . unidentified nucleotides are represented by the letter “ n ”. the “ n ” letters may be highlighted by showing them in a color other than black , for example , a magenta color . the portions of the raw sequence that will be trimmed are the 5 ′ adapter section 12 , the 3 ′ adapter section 14 and any sequence occurring before the 5 ′ adapter section 12 or after the 3 ′ adapter section 14 . the portions of the raw sequence that will be trimmed may be shown in either blue ( negative inserts ) or red ( positive inserts ), except for additional highlighting used on the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter sections 12 and 14 . another color , such as green , may be used to indicate if the trimming function determines that a nucleotide has been erroneously inserted into the raw sequence by the dna sequencer . the raw sequence nucleotides that are being compared against the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter nucleotides are shown in fig3 in the boxes 12 and 14 , respectively . the raw sequence nucleotides 12 and 14 may be indicated graphically with yellow bars drawn above and below them . if the corresponding nucleotides match , the raw sequence nucleotides 12 and 14 may also be drawn in yellow . the 5 ′ and 3 ′ trimming locations can be adjusted by the user with the two scroll bars displayed under the raw sequence display area 10 . in fig3 , the adapters nucleotides all match the raw sequence , so both the 5 ′ adapter section 12 and the 3 ′ adapter section 14 would be drawn completely in yellow . trimming of the raw sequence occurs at the trailing ( right ) edge of the 5 ′ adapter 12 and the leading ( left ) edge of the 3 ′ adapter 14 . nucleotides in the raw sequence that do not match the corresponding nucleotide in the adapter may be drawn in the trim color for the determined insertion orientation ( for example : positive is red , negative is blue ). any nucleotide to the left of the 5 ′ section 12 is also drawn in the trim color . any nucleotide to the right of the 3 ′ section 14 is drawn in the trim color , unless it falls in the confirmation section . as an additional check , sections of the cloning vector , taken from either side of the insertion location , are compared against the raw sequence . depending on the sequencing direction chosen by the user , one of these confirmation vector sequences should appear downstream from the 3 ′ adapter 14 in the raw sequence , if the complete insert has been sequenced . the presence of such a portion of the cloning vector provides confidence that the dna sequencing reaction and gel run was still sufficiently strong for accurate identification of a dna sequence location past the fragment - of - interest and that the 3 ′ adapter sequence match was not found by chance within the sequence of interest . the position and matching of the nucleotides in the confirmation section may be displayed in a white color . both confirmation sequences are compared against all positions downstream of the 3 ′ adapter 14 . the best match is used to determine both the location of the confirmation section in the raw sequence and the direction in which sequencing was performed . the position of the confirmation sequences cannot be adjusted by the user during the sequence trimming . however , the position of the confirmation sequences can be selected by creating a new vector file or by choosing an appropriate section in the adapters file in the vectors subdirectory . it is best to have the confirmation sequence within 16 - 20 bases after the end the 3 ′ adaptor 14 . unlike the other program modes , the user provides the active step in the trimming operations . when the trimming positions are displayed , the user can press one of a number of buttons to carry out a desired function . the trimming positions can be set manually using a set of horizontal scroll bars . the color coded display is designed to provide the user with a graphical description of how well the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapters 12 and 14 match the raw sequence at the currently selected 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter locations . these locations are automatically placed by the program within the sequence at the best matching sequence or can be controlled using the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter position scroll bars located just below the raw sequence display area 10 . since raw sequence trimming occurs just to the right of the 5 ′ adapter ( reference numeral ) 12 and just to the left of the 3 ′ adapter ( reference numeral ) 14 , the scroll bars actually set the trimming locations . the user is free to set the scroll bars to any desired positions and , therefore , has total control over how the raw sequences are trimmed . as the scroll bars are moved , most of the information on the interface will change to reflect the scoring that results given the updated trimming locations . an automated trimming feature ( discussed later ) helps the user adjust the scroll bars to the proper trimming locations . once the scroll bars have been adjusted as desired , the user must press the “ apply ” button to carry out the trimming of the sequence and progress to the next sequence . or , the user may choose one of five control buttons discussed next . when the “ find best ” button is pressed , an automated trimming feature is used to match the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapters at all possible trimming locations while assuming either positive or negative insertion orientations . the highest score for the 5 ′ adapters is used to determine both the 5 ′ trimming location and the insertion orientation . the best 3 ′ adapter score in that orientation is used to determine the 3 ′ trimming location . at each possible location after the 3 ′ adapter sequence , the two confirmation sequences are matched against the raw sequence . the highest score is used to determine both the locations of the confirmation sequence and the sequencing direction . the display is updated to reflect these “ best ” locations . the user may press the “ find best ” button at any time to return to the best locations . if the trimming locations for a raw sequence have not previously been set , this feature is automatically run when the trimming interface is opened and a sequence from the selected raw sequence file is displayed . when the “ apply ” button is pressed , the current trimming locations are applied to the raw sequence file being trimmed . the trimmed sequence is stored in a trimmed sequence file of the same base name with the string “ _nv ” appended . the “ nv ” means “ no vector ”. a trimming parameters file is created in the appropriate trimpars subdirectory to preserve the current trimming locations . the program then proceeds to the next file in the selected set of raw sequence files . if the user is currently trimming the second or any subsequent file in the set of raw sequence files , the “ back ” button is activated to allow the user to return to the trimming of the previous file . the trimming locations of the current file remain unaltered . the location of the previously accepted adapters for the trimmed sequence is shown from the stored information in the trim parameters subdirectory labeled “ trimpars ”. pressing the “ skip ” button aborts the trimming of the current file and progresses to the trimming of the next file in the selected set of raw sequence files . if the current file has been previously trimmed , the trimming locations are unaltered . if the sequence has not been trimmed previously , no_nv file will be created for further use in the subsequent sequence identification and information archival steps . if the user has selected a large set of raw sequence files and decides to stop trimming them after trimming has been started , skipping over each of the remaining files can be burdensome . the “ abort all ” button allows the user to cancel the trimming of the current and all of the remaining raw sequence files that were selected for trimming . automatic trimming is activated by pressing the “ find best ” button . most of the fields and buttons on the trimming interface screen are devoted to controlling the parameters used for automatic trimming , or for displaying the scores associated with the current trimming locations . these scores are used to determine the best trimming locations . because there are two possible orientations for incorporation of the cdna insert into the cloning vector using certain cloning techniques , adapter matching of each sequence in both orientations must be considered . for the user &# 39 ; s information , the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter sequences are presented , as they would appear in the raw sequence for both insertion orientations , at the top of the trimming interface screen in the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter information areas . the upper fields in each area correspond to the positive insertion orientation . the lower fields correspond to the negative insertion orientation . the highest score found when matching the two 5 ′ adapters to the raw sequence is used to determine the insertion orientation . the user may override the determined insertion orientation using the “ positive orientation ” checkbox shown at the bottom left portion of the interface . the current orientation is indicated by both that checkbox and the highlighting of the “ insertion orientation ” fields at the upper left of the interface . note that the sense of the insertion is arbitrary , and is fixed by the vector file . the 5 ′ and 3 ′ adapter information areas are organized into two sets of three field displays labeled “ sequence ”, “ score ” and “#” and a single control button ( shown to the right of each set ). the upper set of three field displays is associated with the positive insertion orientation and the bottom set of three field displays is associated with the negative insertion orientation . the “ sequence ” field shows the nucleotide sequence , read from the appropriate line in the vector file that is being used . the “ score ” field shows the score ( 100 % is perfect match ) that results from matching the related adapter to the raw sequence at the current trim position . the “#” field shows the number of trimming locations which result in scores equivalent to the one being shown for the current trim position . the “ o ” button shown to the right of each set of fields , when enabled , will adjust the related trimming position to the next location that produces an equivalent matching score , if found , for the adapter sequence . the sequencing is done toward the inserted fragment starting from one vector sequence “ arm ” position where insert dna was ligated into the cloning vector . a technician using an oligonucleic dna primer matching either side of the known dna adapter or vector that incorporates the insert can do the sequencing . one of the sequencing directions can ( arbitrarily ) be chosen to be the forward direction . two vector confirmation sequences should be taken from the nucleotides in the cloning vector at a distance of approximately 16 - 30 nucleotides away from either side of the inserted adapters and entered into the vector file in the appropriate lines . the confirmation information area of the trimming interface , located below the scroll bars to the right , is used to present the confirmation sequences used for each direction and the highest score that could be achieved by matching each against all positions downstream of the current 3 ′ adapter . the sequence with the higher score is used to determine the sequencing direction used . the determined direction is presented in the field at the bottom of the confirmation information area . the confirmation sequence is shown in fig3 as the plasmid vector sequence denoted by reference numeral 16 , again giving further information on known sequence regions for assuring successful raw sequence trimming . the scoring algorithm uses a method wherein a nucleotide paired with a matching nucleotide is assigned a weight of 2 , a nucleotide paired with an unidentified nucleotide is assigned a weight of 1 , and a nucleotide paired with a mismatched nucleotide is assigned a weight of 0 . the score is computed as a percentage of the highest score possible for the adapter sequence . a score is computed for a particular adapter ( or confirmation ) sequence at a particular position in the raw sequence . when the “ best ” locations for trimming are sought , both 5 ′ adapters are compared against every location in the raw sequence . the insertion orientation is set according to the orientation associated with the higher scoring 5 ′ adapter . the 5 ′ trimming location is the position where that 5 ′ adapter gave the highest score . the associated 3 ′ adapter is then compared against all positions downstream of the selected 5 ′ adapter . the position giving the highest score is then used as the 3 ′ trimming location . finally , both confirmation sequences are compared against the raw sequence at all positions downstream of the selected 3 ′ adapter location . the highest score found is used to determine both the confirmation location and the sequencing direction . the threshold value entered while in “ vector mode ” on the main user interface screen is also used in the automatic location of the best adapter positions . this threshold value , which is a scoring percentage , indicates the minimum match score that will be accepted in an automated position search . if a position cannot be found that meets the threshold criteria , then the offending adapter is positioned past the appropriate end of the raw sequence . for instance , if no position can be found that matches the 3 ′ adapter suitably , the 3 ′ trim location is moved past the end of the raw sequence . this will result in no 3 ′ trimming of the raw sequence . this case is by far the most common and occurs when the length of the inserted fragment is greater than the number of nucleotides that can be sequenced beyond the reliability of the sequencer reactions . the threshold feature can be disabled by removing the check in the box labeled “ use threshold ” check box at the lower left portion of the trimming interface . the user may allow single nucleotide insertions in the raw sequence to be considered in the match scoring by setting the “ allow inserts ” check box in the lower left portion of the trimming interface . similarly , the user can allow the program to consider single deletions ( a nucleotide erroneously missed by the dna sequencer ) by setting the “ allow deletes ” check box . when these check boxes are set , the scoring algorithm will additionally allow for a single nucleotide insertion or deletion in the raw sequence . a graphical presentation of the incorporation of a single insertion or deletion is given in the trimming display . if a nucleotide is determined to have been erroneously inserted into the raw sequence based on the adapter or vector sequence in the chosen vectors file , then the suspected nucleotide is displayed is green , and the sequence confirmation lines drawn above and below the string of nucleotides are omitted . if a nucleotide is determined to have been erroneously deleted from the raw sequence , then a break is displayed in the raw sequence display at the position where the suspected nucleotide would have appeared . there are three fields at the lower left portion of the trimming interface which relate to the length of the trimmed sequences that would result if trimming were done at the currently set trimming locations . the “ remove below base ” and “ remove above base ” fields give the nucleotide numbers in the raw sequence ( starting from 1 ) where the actual trimming will take place . the “ length ” field shows the length , in nucleotides , of the trimmed sequence . the “ threshold ” field shows the threshold value of required percentage sequence match to be found and displayed . the threshold value was set on the main user interface screen . a field to the right of this area indicates whether or not the current sequence has been previously trimmed . a field just below the scroll bars shows the full filename of the raw sequence currently being trimmed , including its subdirectory location . clicking the “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode selector on the main user interface screen ( fig2 ) places the program into “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode . this mode allows the user to submit trimmed sequences to be searched against ncbi databases for the purpose of identifying the sequence . “ blasting ” is a term used to describe the process of submitting a sequence of nucleotides ( a search string ) to ncbi &# 39 ; s basic local alignment search tool ( blast ) program , for it to search against a number of databases maintained by that facility . the identities of many known nucleotide sequences are stored in the ncbi databases along with the sequence strings . when a database is searched using the blast program , the submitted search string is compared against all of the sequences known to the database and a set of record identifiers is returned for which the search string at least partially matched the sequence in the record . the identification information presented in the returned records also allows the user to identify if the same or a similar sequence has been donated to the database and the name of the protein identities to which the submitted string might belong . the results returned from the search of each ncbi database are stored in an html formatted file that may be viewed with a web browser . one html file is created for each trimmed sequence searched against each database . for examples , if the user selects five trimmed sequences and specifies that three databases should be searched , there will be fifteen html files created . the html files can be processed into excel spreadsheet files using the “ create xls files from blasted ( html ) sequence files ” mode , which would result in the creation of fifteen intermediate excel files and , subsequently , one excel library file having fifteen lines of text . the program uses a web - based interface into the ncbi server so that access can be obtained from behind a network firewall without intervention by network administrators . this is the same access route used by the popular web browsers . when the user starts the process of blasting a set of trimmed sequence files , the program will process each file sequentially . the processing of each file includes formatting a search request , connecting to the server ; submitting the request ; receiving the html formatted data that is returned and saving it to disk ; and disconnecting from the server . this automated process contains features that allow an automated recovery after unexpected connection failures , loss of the data stream or failure of the ncbi site . the user would normally minimize the program during this processing and work on some other task . the program title is modified to display progress information when the program is minimized . in the “ blast trimmed sequences ” mode , the “ select files ” button is activated to enable the user to choose the set of trimmed sequences files to be identified by blasting on the ncbi server . there are several fields ( discussed in the following sections ) that allow the user to specify parameters to be used by ncbi &# 39 ; s search engine . when a trimmed sequence is searched against a database , the sequence is compared to sequence stored in each record of the database . if there is a suitable match somewhere in the stored sequence , the database record is thought of as a “ hit ”. the trimmed sequence may match sequences in many database records . descriptive information about each matched database record is returned from the search . the best matches are returned first . the user may limit the number of database hits returned by entering the desired maximum number in the “ descriptons ” field on the main user interface . detailed information about each matched database record ( including a text representation of the areas where the two sequences match ) is returned from the search is the form of “ alignments ”. the returned alignments correspond to the returned descriptions , with the best matches being returned first . the user may limit the number of database alignments that are returned by entering the desired maximum number in the “ alignments ” field on the main user interface . there are many databases maintained on the ncbi server . the user may choose the databases to search by using the “ available databases to be searched ” check boxes on the main user interface . a separate set of html formatted results will be returned for each database chosen . the non - repetitive ( nr ) and the expressed sequence tag ( est ) databases are commonly searched . as of november 2000 , there were 20 databases maintained by ncbi . the program allows the user to specify up to 12 of those databases . the databases that are available are : once the user has specified the search parameters and selected a set of files , the “ go ” and the “ blast later ” buttons are activated . the “ go ” button is used to start searching immediately and to return to the program when all files have been processed . once the processing of all selected files is complete , the program returns to the main user interface screen . the interaction with the ncbi website can be slow , particularly at times when many users are accessing the site . although the user can minimize the program and work on other tasks , it is possible to submit the search requests at a time when the ncbi server is not being heavily used . the “ blast later ” button is used to allow the user to schedule the searching to begin at some later time as a batch process . when the “ blast later ” option is used , the program will automatically close after the batch operations are scheduled . when the user presses the “ blast later ” button , an “ enter time to start blasting sequences ” interface is presented . the user selects the military style ( i . e , twenty four hour clock ) hour and minute at which the blasting should begin . pressing “ ok ” commits to the batch processing . pressing “ cancel ” cancels the request . if the specified time is earlier than the current time of day , then the blasting will begin at the specified time the next day . this allows delaying the start for up to 24 hours . once the start time has been selected , the program will create a batch file that can be scheduled to execute at a specific time . this feature is intended to allow the blasting of files to be done at times when the ncbi server is not busy . the actual scheduling of the batch execution can be done either automatically or manually using the features available in the computer operating system . by default , the scheduling is done automatically . the user can disable this feature by setting the “ i will schedule the start time using the operating system ” check box on the start time interface screen . using the “ create xls files from blasted ( html ) sequence files ” mode in the “ create xls files from blasted ( html ) sequence files ” mode , the user may select a set of html files that will be converted into microsoft excel files . the excel files are designed to present the information parsed from the html files in an orderly manner , and to create hyperlinks into both the component html files and the ncbi database records . these hyperlinks allow the user to review identity and other information about a particular piece of sequence data . the “ select files ” button is used to specify which html files will be converted . the “ go ” button starts the conversion process . conversion of each html file results in an xls file being produced . after the conversions , the user is returned to the main user interface screen . each created xls file is organized using one row for each match to the submitted sequence such that the “ best ” matches ( sequence identifications with the most confidence ) are presented at the top rows of the file . selected rows from the xls files are compiled into a single , subtraction library xls file using the “ update library from selected xls files ” mode . the user may indicate which rows should be included in the associated subtraction library xls file by placing symbols in the “ use in lib ” column of the desired rows in each xls file . this program mode is used to compile the indicated rows from each search result xls file into a single microsoft excel file that is referred to as the subtraction library xls file . the “ select files ” button allows the user to specify the search results xls files that are to be used in the update . after a set of files has been selected , the “ go ” button is used to perform the update of the subtraction library xls file . during the update process , information from marked rows in each search result xls file are compared to each row in the subtraction library xls file . if a similar row in the subtraction library file is not found , a new row of information is appended to the end of the subtraction library xls file . otherwise , the information is used to replace the similar row in the subtraction library file . if the user has not specifically marked rows in an xls file for inclusion into the library file , then the highest scoring match row is used . the purpose of the subtraction library file is to present the “ best ” and most current sequence identifications for each dna or cdna ( mrna ) fragment that were isolated in the library technique . in the case of the subtraction library technique , viewing the best identification data for each isolate will enable the researcher to ascertain which mrna molecules have been up ( or down ) regulated and aid in hypothesis generation . hyperlinks are included in the final subtraction library file so that the user may quickly review the best identifications for a single isolate , the alignment of any single database match , or related information in the ncbi databases . the immediate link to specific data at the ncbi includes a multitude of ncbi linkages to such information as the position of the sequence in the genome , information about the present knowledge and function of the protein , as well as an immediate gateway to pubmed literature databases . also , this condensed dna data identity format allows the use of the excel sorting and the storage of data in electronic form . while the invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments , numerous changes , alterations and modifications to the described embodiments are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims , and equivalents thereof .
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US-96105801-A
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the present invention pertains to oil - in - water emulsion compositions having hydrophobic materials stably dispersed therein and methods for making such . the preferred method of making the emulsion compositions the formation of two o / w emulsions . a first o / w emulsion is for wetting or otherwise pre - treating the hydrophobic components . thereafter , the first emulsion is added to a second o / w emulsion after the second emulsion has been formed . both emulsions use a ternary surfactant blend of cationic , anionic and bridging surfactants , making the finished product a double or “ binary - can ” emulsion system . generally , the system has a bi - modal oil droplet distribution .
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throughout this specification , the terms “ comprise ,” “ comprises ,” “ comprising ” and the like shall consistently mean that a collection of objects is not limited to those objects specifically recited . furthermore , regarding compositions according to the present invention , all recitations of percent levels are to be understood as being “ about ” that level , unless otherwise noted . throughout this specification , the term “ can - type emulsion ” refers to an emulsion having a ternary surfactant system that comprises anionic , cationic and bridging surfactants . however , the levels of any of these may generally be the same or different from the levels disclosed in the &# 39 ; 070 patent . the preferred method of making compositions of the present invention requires the formation of two can - type o / w emulsions . hereinafter , we will refer to these two emulsions as the “ grind emulsion ” and the “ base emulsion ”. while emulsions according to the present invention may have various applications , for demonstration purposes we stress color cosmetic compositions . while various hydrophobic elements may be incorporated into the emulsion , we focus , for demonstration purposes , on cosmetic pigments . as discussed above , in conventional o / w emulsions that incorporate hydrophobic pigments , the pigments may be prepared as a sub - phase called a grind , wherein the pigments are pretreated with , for example , lecithin and oil . in contrast , the hydrophobic pigments of the present invention are pretreated by being incorporated into a can - type o / w emulsion , and that emulsion is subsequently added to a base emulsion , after the base emulsion has been formed . implementing the grind as a can - type o / w emulsion for subsequent incorporation into a base emulsion is new and has several advantages which will be discussed below . note , that hydrophobic cosmetic pigments are generally associated with w / o emulsions . therefore , the incorporation of hydrophobic pigments into o / w emulsions , especially as a pre - treatment step , is not obvious . in table 5 are three examples of an o / w grind emulsion ( shown before the addition of hydrophobic pigments ) using the can surfactant system , three with alcohol and one without . a necessary feature of the present invention is that the oil droplet size of the grind emulsion be about 2 μm average diameter or less , better still , about 1 μm or less , best about 0 . 7 μm or less . successfully dispersing hydrophobic materials in the grind emulsion seems to depend on achieving the stated oil droplet size . this may be achieved by any means known in the art , for example , by using a microfluidizer or niro machine . the formulae of table 5 were prepared as follows , but it is expected that any means of forming a can - type emulsion with the stated oil droplet size will work equally well in the final composition . in a main kettle , phase 1 ingredients were blended with propeller mixing while heating to 70 - 75 ° c . in a separate kettle , isononyl isononanoate ( wickenol 151 , an ester ) was heated to 70 - 75 ° c . and thereafter , added to the main kettle and homogenized , with , for example , a silverson ® homogenizer . subsequently , the contents of the main kettle were passed one time through a microfluidizer , which also cooled the mix to about ambient temperature . the wickenol 151 is optional and does not limit the present invention . a different ester may be used , one that is known to be suitable to the intended product application , or no ester may be used . phase 3 was added to the main kettle with homogenizer . thereafter , the contents of the main kettle were passed three times through the microfluidizer . at that point , a can - type emulsion having oil droplet size of about 0 . 7 μm maximum diameter had been formed . all that remains is to add the hydrophobic pigments , which are preferably added to the main kettle with simple propeller mixing . hydrophobic materials , for example , cosmetic hydrophobic pigments , may comprise anywhere from about 0 . 001 to about 50 % of the grind emulsion . for example , one or more hydrophobic pigments may be added to the emulsion of table 5 , column 1 in a ratio of 1 to 2 , respectively . for example , one or more hydrophobic pigments may be added to the emulsion of table 5 , column 2 in a ratio of 1 to 3 , respectively . for example , one or more hydrophobic pigments may be added to the emulsion of table 5 , column 3 in a ratio of 1 to 2 , respectively . titanium dioxide and iron oxides are common examples of cosmetic hydrophobic pigments . even though the hydrophobic pigments are added after the emulsion is formed , the pigments , nevertheless , uniformly disperse throughout the emulsion . emulsifiers work by creating a charged surface around each oil droplet , which prevents two oil droplets from coalescing and thereby destabilizing the system . between the surface of the oil droplet and the charged surface of the emulsifier , is a volume that is devoid of oil and water . it may be reasonable to assume that a ternary emulsifier system provides a larger volume around an oil droplet than a conventional unary emulsifier system , given the larger size of the ternary emulsifier molecule . applicant &# 39 ; s believe that the volume provided by the ternary emulsifier system is large enough to entrap hydrophobic particles of the grind phase . in this way , one or more hydrophobic particles become entrapped or otherwise stably associated with an oil droplet , even though the particles are not surrounded by the oil droplet , as in a more conventional emulsion . the entrapment of the hydrophobic particles seems to prevent the agglomeration of the particles . as long as the oil droplets are uniformly disbursed throughout the continuous phase , so too are the hydrophobic particles . hydrophobic pigment particles at least as large as about 3 . 0 μm ( iron oxides ) have been stably disbursed in emulsions of the present invention . however , depending on the exact emulsifiers used in the can - system and on the exact oil droplet size , larger or smaller particles may be dispersed . as noted above , the alcohol assists in controlling the oil droplet size , but alcohol also has the advantage of improving the dispersion of the hydrophobic pigments within the emulsion , as well as increasing the amount of pigment that may be dispersed . when alcohol is not present , propeller mixing required about five hours to disperse the pigments at the percent level shown . in other experiments , two hours of mixing was required to disperse 25 % pigment load , when alcohol was not used . when alcohol is used , mixing time for dispersing the hydrophobic pigment was consistently about fifteen to thirty minutes , even for 33 % or more pigment load . furthermore , alcohol provides a skin conditioning benefit , i . e . pore minimizing . for all these reasons , the grind emulsion preferably comprises alcohol . amounts at least as high as 15 % or amounts similar to the amount of oil , have proved useful . the exact amount may be readily determined by trial and error based on the perceived benefit or lack thereof . note , in column 1 of table 5 , that the bridging surfactant ( behenyl betaine ), is present at only 0 . 05 % ( and actually less than about 0 . 03 % after the hydrophobic materials are added ). although its presence in this can - type emulsion is critical , the amount is at least two times lower than any amount disclosed in the &# 39 ; 070 patent and at least six times lower than any example disclosed in the &# 39 ; 070 patent . nevertheless , prior to adding the pigment , this emulsion is stable , even with an amount of bridging surfactant that is more than two times lower than taught by the &# 39 ; 070 patent . while the choice of bridging surfactant may play some role , applicants believe the stability of this emulsion is enhanced by having an oil droplet size of about 2 μm average diameter or less . thus , while the emulsion of column 1 is a can - type emulsion , it is nonetheless novel over the &# 39 ; 070 patent and its use in the overall composition is non - obvious . in columns 2 and 3 of table 5 , the bridging surfactant is about ten times greater than column 1 , which is more in line with the disclosure of the &# 39 ; 070 patent . furthermore , the successful dispersion of hydrophobic pigment seems particularly to be affected by the level of cationic emulsifier . it has been observed that cationic emulsifier may be present in the grind emulsion in a range of about 0 . 46 to 3 . 00 %. if the cationic emulsifier goes below about 0 . 46 %, there may not be enough structure within the emulsifier system to disperse significant quantities of hydrophobic materials . for example , cosmetic hydrophobic pigments may comprise anywhere from 0 . 001 to 50 % of the grind emulsion . it has been observed that if the cationic emulsifier level is lower than about 0 . 46 %, than satisfactory dispersion of 25 - 50 % hydrophobic pigment is not achieved . preferably , the range of cationic emulsifier is about 0 . 46 to 3 . 00 %, more preferably it is 0 . 75 to 2 . 00 % and most preferably it is about 1 . 00 %. 1 . 00 % seems to be adequate for dispersing typical quantities of hydrophobic pigments into a preformed o / w can - type emulsion . additionally , the ratio of cationic emulsifier to anionic and bridging emulsifier is important . the applicants have observed that a molar ratio of anionic to bridging to cationic surfactant of about 1 :≧ 0 . 2 :≦ 0 . 5 was adequate to disperse some , but not all hydrophobic pigment . thereafter , applicants determined that the most efficient thing to do was to tweak the cationic emulsifier . raising the anionic to cationic emulsifier ratio to about 1 :≦ 1 , produced significantly better results . therefore , for the grind emulsion , ratios of 1 :≧ 0 . 2 :≦ 0 . 5 may be useful , but preferred are ratios of about 1 :≧ 0 . 2 :≦ 1 . this is somewhat unexpected in light of what was said above , about cationic emulsifiers being unsuitable for stabilizing conventional o / w emulsions and therefore cationic emulsifiers are not generally included in o / w emulsion systems . in contrast , in the present invention , the dispersion of hydrophobic pigments seems particularly dependent on the level of cationic emulsifier . it may be that when the anionic to cationic emulsifier ratio becomes too great , then the volume around each oil droplet is insufficient to entrap hydrophobic particles . this makes sense , in that excessive amount of anionic emulsifier over cationic emulsifier would tend to make the system behave more and more like a conventional unary emulsifier system . therefore , unexpectedly , cationic emulsifier plays a critical role in dispersing hydrophobic materials in o / w emulsions . the grind emulsion is water - thin , preferably having no thickener . even though mechanical mixing can disperse the hydrophobic pigment throughout the emulsion ( due to the pigment becoming entrapped in the emulsifier network ), the water - thin grind emulsion cannot indefinitely suspend the pigment - laden oil droplets once mixing has stopped . at room temperature , pigment - laden oil droplets may precipitate within about 2 hours and certainly within 30 days . however , even when the oil droplets fall out of suspension , agglomeration of the pigments ( or other hydrophobic materials ) does not occur due to the entrapment of these materials in the emulsifier network . this enables the present invention to make use of what appears to be an otherwise unstable pigment suspension . in general , it may be possible to use thickener to stabilize the grind emulsion , but , a thickened grind emulsion would be more difficult , if at all possible , to incorporate into the main emulsion ( see below ). therefore , the grind emulsions of the present invention , preferably have little or no thickener and the dispersions of table 5 constitute a new and non - obvious pretreatment of hydrophobic materials prior to their incorporation into a stable , “ base ” o / w emulsion . another step in making an o / w emulsion according to the present invention is the making of a stable base emulsion . like the grind emulsion , the base emulsion is also a can - type emulsion . unlike the prior art , a base emulsion according to the present invention is formed prior to adding the hydrophobic grind ( i . e . grind emulsion ). the hydrophobic grind is not added to the oil phase of the base emulsion , as a person of ordinary skill in the art might expect . rather , it is added to a preformed base emulsion . this is unlike anything in the prior art , where it is understood that if hydrophobic agents are to be incorporated into an emulsion , the hydrophobic agents should be dispersed in an oil phase prior to forming the emulsion . this convention has been true in general and specifically of those color cosmetic emulsions that employ hydrophobic pigments . generally , adding the hydrophobic agents to a preformed emulsion does not work , and this was shown to be the case when the emulsifier is anionic ( see table 1 ) or nonionic ( see table 3 ). it was further noted above , that cationic emulsifier ( see table 2 ) could not generally produce a stable o / w emulsion , let alone one with hydrophobic pigments . nevertheless , if a can - type emulsifier system as disclosed herein is used , then it is possible to make stable o / w emulsions having hydrophobic pigments , wherein the hydrophobic pigments are dispersed after the base emulsion is formed . table 6 is an example of a base emulsion according to the present invention . the formula of table 6 may be prepared in a manner similar to the grind emulsion . here , however , the oil droplet size of the base emulsion may range from about 1 μm to about 100 μm average diameter . the formulae of table 6 was prepared as follows , but it is expected that any means of forming a can - type emulsion with the stated oil droplet size will work equally well in the final composition . in a main kettle , phase 1 ingredients were blended with propeller mixing while heating to 70 - 75 ° c . in a separate kettle , isononyl isononanoate ( wickenol 151 , an ester ) was heated to 70 - 75 ° c . and thereafter , added to the main kettle and homogenized , with , for example , a silverson ® homogenizer . subsequently , the contents of the main kettle were passed one time through a microfluidizer , which included cooling to about ambient temperature . the wickenol 151 is optional and does not limit the present invention . a different ester may be used , one that is known to be suitable to the intended product application , or no ester may be used . phase 3 was added to the main kettle with homogenizer . thereafter , the contents of the main kettle were passed three times through the microfluidizer . at that point , a can - type emulsion having oil droplet size of about 20 μm average diameter had been formed . the levels of anionic , bridging and cationic emulsifiers of the base emulsion are consistent with those disclosed in the &# 39 ; 070 patent , however , like the grind emulsion , without any thickener the base emulsion may not be stable for a considerable period of time . preferably , a considerable period is at least 30 days in ambient conditions . more preferably , a considerable period is at least one year in ambient conditions and most preferably , a considerable period is at least five years at ambient conditions . at the discretion of the user , the base emulsion may be prepared as just described , without thickener , and then stored for later use or the base emulsion may be thickened . at this point , it is possible to add enough thickener to stabilize the suspension of oil droplets or some amount of thickener less than that . the example of table 6 has no thickener , the thickener being added at the time that the full emulsion composition is to be formed ( see below ). in the formula of table 6 , the skin conditioning and / or preparation agents are shown as belonging to one phase , but this need not be so . cosmetic , dermatologic and pharmaceutic adjuvants may be added to any one or more appropriate phases in amounts that do not destabilize the formula . a convenient feature of the present invention is the ability to disperse hydrophilic materials in the same emulsion with hydrophobic materials . so while the benefits of hydrophobic pigments can be achieved with the feel of an o / w emulsion , compositions of the present invention may also incorporate the benefits of hydrophilic actives and cosmetic adjuvants . a wide range of cosmetically and pharmaceutically acceptable materials may be advantageously used to preserve or alter the physical properties of the composition in order to create for the user a unique and pleasurable sensorial experience and / or to provide a benefit to the skin . these materials include , but are not limited to , an effective amount of one or more of the following : abrasives , absorbents , antiacne agents , anti - ageing agents , antifungal agents , anti - inflammatories , antimicrobial agents , antioxidants , antiperspirants , astringents , biocides , chemical exfoliants , cleansers , colorants , deodorants , depilating agents , emollients , epilating agents , external analgesics , humectants , light - interacting agents , luster - imparting materials , make - up removers , ph adjusters , powders , rheological modifiers , shine - imparting materials , skin bleaching agents , skin conditioning agents , skin protectants , sunscreens , tanning agents and uv absorbers . just about any cosmetic , dermatologic or pharmaceutic agent suitable for topical use is within the purview of this invention , the only requirement being that the emulsion must remain stable for a considerable period . the grind emulsion and base emulsion may be prepared and stored well in advance of assembling into a final emulsion composition . there may be cost benefits associated with doing this . at any rate , table 7 is an example of a full emulsion composition according to the present invention . to prepare a final o / w emulsion composition having hydrophobic materials dispersed therein , phase 2 ( thickener / gellant ) is added to phase 1 at ambient conditions , i . e . room temperature , pressure and humidity , with propeller mixing . phase 2 is any suitable thickener / gellant in a quantity sufficient to suspend the oil droplets of the grind emulsion thereby making the full composition stable for a considerable period of time . this quantity of thickener / gellant may be arrived at by trial and error and / or is readily determined by a person of ordinary skill in the art . when phase 2 has been thoroughly dispersed in phase 1 , then the pigment grind ( phase 3 ) is added to the phase 1 base emulsion at ambient conditions , with propeller mixing . this is in patentable contrast to the conventional manner of making pigmented emulsions , wherein a grind is added to the oil phase before the main emulsion is formed . the incorporation of the grind emulsion is preferably achieved without the use of conventional wetting agents , although nothing precludes the use of such . at this point , additional dermatologic or cosmetic adjuvants may be added to the composition to impart a benefit . in the example of table 7 , spherical silica beads are added for improved spreading over the skin and boron nitride powder adds a soft and lustrous feel . the oil droplet sizes in the grind emulsion and base emulsion are generally different . the grind emulsion requires the oil droplets to be about 2 μm or less while , in the base emulsion , oil droplets may be about 100 μm or less . generally , then , a full formula composition of the present invention has a bimodal oil droplet distribution . this can be seen in the figure , which is a plot of oil droplet sizes in the composition of table 7 . here , the grind emulsion peak is seen at about 1 μm and the base emulsion peak is seen at about 20 μm . the figure provides graphical evidence that the emulsion compositions of the present invention have an internal structure that is unlike anything disclosed in the &# 39 ; 070 reference . the oils of the grind emulsion and base emulsion may be the same or different . the oils may be any cosmetically acceptable oils . the feel , break , wear , mass - to - skin - tone or removability may be affected by the choice of oils . a person of ordinary skill in the art can , by routine experimentation and personal knowledge , select suitable oils to achieve the desired aesthetic and physical properties . as mentioned , the base emulsion ( phase 1 ) is generally not stable for more than 24 or 48 hours and certainly less than 30 days . however , after the addition of thickener ( aristoflex , in this example ), the base emulsion is stable for at least two years . it is therefore alternately possible to redefine “ base emulsion ” to include a quantity of thickener sufficient to stabilize the base emulsion for a substantial period of time , say , at least thirty days ; more preferably , at least two years ; most preferably , at least five years . when the base emulsion includes a stabilizing amount of thickening agent , then the benefits of preparing the base emulsion in advance , may be increased . for example , a stabilized base emulsion , by itself , may represent an efficacious and marketable product . thus , the costs of manufacturing the stable base emulsion may be distributed over more than one product . the ternary emulsifier systems of the grind emulsion and base emulsion may be the same or different . they may use all , some or none of the same surfactants . anionic , cationic and bridging surfactants that may be utilized according to the present invention are well known to the art . partial listings of these may be found in mccutcheon &# 39 ; s detergents & amp ; emulsifiers , herein , incorporated by reference herein and in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 528 , 070 . the feel , break , wear , mass - to - skin - tone or removability may be affected by the choice of surfactants . a person of ordinary skill in the art can , by routine experimentation and personal knowledge , select suitable surfactants to achieve the desired aesthetic and physical properties . the completed product is a stable , can - type o / w emulsion with hydrophobic pigments stably dispersed therein . the finished product is stable for at least about thirty days , preferably two years , most preferably five years . the finished product combines the attributes of conventional w / o and o / w cosmetic emulsions . the use of hydrophobic pigments yields o / w cosmetics with improved wear , comparable to that of w / o emulsions , while retaining all of the positive attributes of o / w cosmetic emulsions ( i . e . good mass - to - skin - tone , good feel and break , easier removal , etc .). the present invention represents a simple , inexpensive method for achieving the best of both types of cosmetic emulsions in a single composition . this is unknown in the prior art .
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US-27873406-A
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a piezoelectric contains comprises a plurality of piezoelectric particles made from a piezoelectric material such as lead titanate zirconate and a dielectric made from a dielectric material , such as a composite perovskite compound , having a higher dielectric constant then the piezoelectric material , the dielectric existing in gaps between the piezoelectric particles . when poling to produce a piezoelectric ceramic , the poling is uniformly performed , and nearly all of the electric field is applied to the piezoelectric particles . thus , the dispersion of the piezoelectric properties can be reduced , and the piezoelectric properties can be enhanced .
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the piezoelectric part formed using the piezoelectric ceramic of the present invention may have different structures . fig1 shows an example of the piezoelectric part having the simplest structure . a piezoelectric part 1 shown in fig1 contains a sheet - shaped major piece 2 and external electrodes 3 and 4 formed on the outer faces opposite to each other of the major piece 2 . the external electrodes 3 and 4 are formed by applying electro - conductive paste containing silver as an electro - conductive ingredient on the respective end faces , and baking the paste . in the case of the piezoelectric part 1 shown in fig1 , the external electrodes 3 and 4 are used not only as terminals for input - output of voltage to or from the major piece 2 but also as terminals through which a dc electric field is applied to the whole of a sintered piece to be the major piece 2 , resulting in production of a piezoelectric ceramic . the piezoelectric ceramic 11 constituting the major piece 2 of the piezoelectric part 1 has a structure as shown in fig2 . in particular , the piezoelectric ceramic 11 comprises a plurality of piezoelectric particles 12 made from a piezoelectric material and a dielectric 13 made from a dielectric material having a higher dielectric constant than the piezoelectric material . the dielectric exists in the gaps between the piezoelectric particles 12 . for example , the above - described piezoelectric material is preferably one of lead titanate zirconate , lead titanate , lead titanate zirconate containing a composite perovskite compound as a solid solution , and lead titanate containing a composite perovskite compound as a solid solution . preferably , the above - described dielectric material is one of a composite perovskite compound , a solid solution made from a composite perovskite compound and lead titanate , and an oxide for enhancement of a dielectric constant added to a piezoelectric material . preferably , the above - described piezoelectric ceramic 11 is produced as follows . referring to fig3 a , plural raw materials for a piezoelectric material are mixed to form a powdery compound raw material . the powdery compound raw material is calcined . thus , calcined powder 14 for use as the piezoelectric material is prepared . on the other hand , plural raw materials for a dielectric material having a higher dielectric constant than the piezoelectric material are mixed to form a powdery compound raw material . then , the powdery compound raw material is calcined . thus , calcined power 15 for use as the dielectric material is prepared . in this case , the particle size of the calcined powder 15 for use as the dielectric material is smaller than that of the calcined powder 14 for use as the dielectric material . preferably , the calcined powder 15 for use as the dielectric material is not more than about one fourth of the particle size of the calcined powder 14 for use as the piezoelectric material ( the particle size of the calcined powder excludes 0 ). subsequently , the calcined powder 14 for the piezoelectric material is mixed with the calcined powder 15 for the dielectric material . thus , mixed powder 16 , as shown in fig3 a , is prepared . preferably , not more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder 15 for use as the dielectric material is mixed with 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder 14 for use as the piezoelectric material ( the amount of the calcined powder 15 excludes 0 ) in the mixing process . then , the mixed powder 16 is formed in such a manner as to produce a formed piece having the same shape as that of the major piece 2 shown in fig1 . for the formation of the mixed powder 16 , for example , a binder such as water or polyvinylalcohol is added to the mixed powder 16 , and the resulting material is press - formed or the like . subsequently , the formed piece is fired . thus , a sintered piece 17 as shown in fig3 b is formed . the sintered piece 17 has substantially the same shape as the major piece 2 shown in fig2 . it is to be noted that the sintered piece 17 may be abraded to have the shape identical to the major piece 2 , if necessary . subsequently , external electrodes 3 and 4 are formed on both of the end - faces of the sintered piece 17 . thereafter , the sintered piece 17 is poled . in particular , a dc field is applied to the sintered piece 17 via the external electrodes 3 and 4 . as a result , the sintered piece 17 is converted to the piezoelectric ceramic 11 shown in fig2 having a piezoelectric property shown in fig2 . thus , the piezoelectric part 1 containing the major piece 2 made of the piezoelectric ceramic 11 as shown in fig1 is produced . hereinafter , examples will be described , which were carried out to identify the operation and effects of the present invention . as powdery compound raw materials for a piezoelectric material , powders of lead oxide , zirconium oxide , titanium oxide , strontium carbonate , magnesium hydroxide and chromium oxide were prepared . these powders were compounded in such amounts that lead titanate zirconate having a composition represented by the following formula : pb 0 . 93 mg 0 . 02 sr 0 . 05 ( zr 0 . 54 ti 0 . 46 ) o 3 + 0 . 5 weight % cr 2 o 3 could be obtained . the compounded powdery compound raw materials were wet - mixed by means of a ball mill . then , water was removed , and the powdery compound raw materials were dried and calcined at a temperature of 850 to 950 ° c . for 2 hours . the calcined powder was wet - crushed by means of a ball mill . thus , a calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material having an average particle size of 1 . 6 μm was formed . as powdery compound raw materials for a dielectric material , powders of lead oxide , magnesium hydroxide and niobium oxide were prepared . the powders were compounded in such amounts that a composite perovskite compound having a composition represented by the following formula : pb ( mg 1 / 3 nb 2 / 3 ) o 3 could be formed . the compounded powdery compound raw materials were mixed by means of a ball mill . water was removed from the mixed powder , and then the powder was calcined at a temperature of 800 to 900 ° c . for 2 hours . the calcined powder was wet - crushed by means of a ball mill . thus , a calcined powder with an average particle size of 0 . 2 μm for use as the dielectric material was formed . in this case , the wet - mixing conditions and the calcining temperature were set so that the particle size of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material would be smaller than that of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material . thereafter , the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material was mixed with the calcined power for use as the piezoelectric material in amounts of 0 , 0 . 05 , 0 . 2 , 1 , 3 , and 5 parts by weight , respectively , based on 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material . thus , the mixed powders to form samples 1 to 7 were produced . subsequently , polyvinylalcohol as a binder was added to each of the mixed powders , the composition was formed by pressing , and fired at a temperature of 1150 to 1250 ° c . for 2 hours . thus , sintered pieces were produced . subsequently , each sintered piece was abraded to form a disk with a diameter of 10 mm and a thickness of 1 mm . external electrodes containing silver as an electroconductive ingredient were formed on both of the end - faces of the disk - shaped sintered piece by baking of electroconductive paste . then , the sintered piece was processed to be polarized . in particular , the sintered piece having the external electrodes formed thereon as described above was placed in insulating - oil whose temperature was maintained at 60 ° c . a dc electric field with an intensity of 3 kv / mm was applied between the external electrodes for 30 minutes . thus , the entire sintered piece was poled so as to have a piezoelectric property . as described above , piezoelectric parts each comprising the major piece made from the piezoelectric ceramic and the external electrodes were prepared and taken as samples . subsequently , regarding the piezoelectric part samples , the electromechanical coupling factors ( kp ) with respect to vibration in the radial direction were measured . moreover , the dispersions ( cv - fr ) of the resonance frequencies ( fr ) and the dispersions ( cv - fa ) of the anti - resonance frequencies ( fa ) of radial vibration were determined . in the above - description , cv represents an average value of the standard deviation . table 1 shows the measurement results . as seen in table 1 , the dispersions ( cv - fr ) of the resonance frequencies ( fr ) and the dispersions ( cv - fa ) of the anti - resonance frequencies ( fa ) of samples 2 to 7 containing the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material are smaller than that of sample 1 which does not contain the calcined material for use as the dielectric material . moreover , the electromechanical coupling factors ( kp ) of the samples 2 to 5 containing not more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material based on 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material are enhanced compared to those of the sample 1 , which does not contain the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material and the samples 6 and 7 which contain more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for the dielectric material . in example 2 , effects of the ratio of the particle sizes of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material to those of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material were investigated . in particular , a calcined powder for use as a piezoelectric material having the same composition and average particle size , i . e ., 1 . 6 μm of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material in example 1 was prepared . moreover , calcined powders for use as a dielectric material having the same compositions as the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material and the average particle sizes of 0 . 1 μm , 0 . 2 μm , 0 . 4 μm , 0 . 5 μm , and 0 . 8 μm were prepared . each calcined powder for use as the dielectric material was mixed with the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material in an amount of 1 part by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material . thus , mixed powders were produced . in other respects , piezoelectric parts as respective samples were produced in the same manner as those in example 1 . the measurement was carried out as in example 1 . table 2 shows the results . the term “ particle size ratio ” used in table 2 means the ratio of the average particle size of calcined powder for use as the dielectric material to that of calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material . as seen in table 2 , the dispersions ( cv - fr ) of the resonance frequencies ( fr ) and the dispersions ( cv - fa ) of the anti - resonance frequencies ( fa ) of samples 11 to 13 having a particle size ratio of not more than ¼ ( 0 . 25 ) are smaller compared to those of samples 14 and 15 having a particle size ratio of more than ¼ . in example 3 , powders of lead oxide , zirconium oxide , titanium oxide , strontium carbonate , magnesium hydroxide , niobium oxide , and chromium oxide were prepared as powdery compound raw materials for a piezoelectric material . piezoelectric parts were prepared in the same manner as that in example 1 except that these powders were compounded in such amounts that lead titanate zirconate having a composition represented by the following formula : pb 0 . 93 mg 0 . 03 sr 0 . 05 {( mg 1 / 3 nb 2 / 3 ) 0 . 05 zr 0 . 49 ti 0 . 46 } o 3 + 0 . 5 weight % cr 2 o 3 could be produced , and were taken as samples . the measurement was carried out as in example 1 . table 3 shows the results . in particular , the dispersions ( cv - fr ) of the resonance frequencies ( fr ) and dispersions ( cv - fa ) of the anti - resonance frequencies ( fa ) of samples 22 to 27 containing the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material are smaller compared to those of sample 21 not containing the calcined material for use as the dielectric material . moreover , the electromechanical coupling factors ( kp ) of the samples 22 to 25 containing not more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material based on 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material are enhanced compared to those of the samples 26 and 27 containing more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material . in example 4 , piezoelectric parts were prepared in the same manner as that of example 1 except that a solid solution as a dielectric material made from a composite perovskite compound and lead titanate , the solid solution having a composition represented by the following formula : pb {( mg 1 / 3 n 2 / 3 ) 0 . 95 ti 0 . 05 ) o 3 }, and were used to prepare samples . the measurement was carried out as in example 1 . table 4 shows the results . in particular , the dispersions ( cv - fr ) of the resonance frequencies ( fr ) and the dispersions ( cv - fa ) of the anti - resonance frequencies ( fa ) of samples 32 to 37 containing the calcined powder for the dielectric material are smaller compared to those of sample 31 not containing the calcined material for use as the dielectric material . moreover , the electromechanical coupling factors ( kp ) of the samples 32 to 35 containing not more than 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material based on 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material are enhanced compared to those of the sample 31 not containing the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material and the samples 36 and 37 which contain more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material . in example 5 , piezoelectric parts were prepared in the same manner as that in example 1 except that 0 . 5 % by weight of nb 2 o 3 of an oxide for enhancement of a dielectric constant added to a piezoelectric material having a composition represented by the following formula : pb 0 . 95 sr 0 . 05 ( zr 0 . 54 ti 0 . 46 ) o 3 and was used to prepare the dielectric material was used as a dielectric material , and were taken as samples . the measurement was carried out as in example 1 . table 5 shows the results . in particular , the dispersions ( cv - fr ) of the resonance frequencies ( fr ) and the dispersions ( cv - fa ) of the anti - resonance frequencies ( fa ) of samples 42 to 47 containing the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material are smaller compared to those of sample 41 not containing the calcined material for use as the dielectric material . moreover , the electromechanical coupling factors ( kp ) of the samples 42 to 45 containing not more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material based on 100 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the piezoelectric material are enhanced compared to those of the sample 31 not containing the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material and the samples 46 and 47 containing more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material . moreover , a dielectric material to which piezoelectric material was added was used in example 5 . therefore , although more than about 3 parts by weight of the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material were added in the samples 46 and 47 the electromechanical coupling factors ( kp ) are also prevented from decreasing in contrast to the sample 41 not containing the calcined powder for use as the dielectric material . when the dielectric powder contains a piezoelectric component , the powder is preferably used in an amount of less than 6 weight parts per 100 parts of the piezoelectric powder . the specific examples 1 to 5 , which were carried out to identify the operation and effects of the present invention , are described hereinbefore . in examples 1 to 5 , different combinations of the piezoelectric materials and the dielectric materials were employed . in particular , the combination of lead titanate zirconate as a piezoelectric material and the perovskite compound as a dielectric material ( examples 1 and 3 ), the combination of lead titanate zirconate containing the composite perovskite compound as a solid solution as a piezoelectric material and the composite perovskite compound as a dielectric material ( example 2 ), the combination of lead titanate zirconate as a piezoelectric material and a solid solution , as a dielectric material , made from a composite perovskite compound and lead titanate zirconate ( example 4 ), and the combination of lead titanate zirconate as a piezoelectric material and an oxide for enhancement of a dielectric constant added to a piezoelectric material ( example 5 ) were employed . it has been confirmed that the same operation and effects can be also obtained by use of other combinations , piezoelectric materials .
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US-41530406-A
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the water remediation and purification apparatus includes a cavitation nozzle which is operated with a throat size and pressure drop to incur cavitation in the water . the explosive and implosive bubble growth and collapse produces free radicals which interact with contaminants in the water to oxidize the contaminants . the cavitation process is enhanced by a variable throat nozzle , recycling the product back through the nozzle for further oxidation , and programmable control feedback . subsequent ultraviolet radiation from high energy lamps , ion exchange and / or degassifying treatment can be employed to produce water quality within acceptable levels .
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the cavitation nozzle 10 shown in fig1 and 3 is at the heart of the present invention . the cavitation nozzle 10 is used to cause cavitation in a water waste stream passing therethrough to aid in the remediation and purification of the waste stream . as seen in fig1 the waste stream originates with pretreated water coming from pretreated water source 12 . the pretreatment of the water may include any one of the usual pretreatments which vary in accordance with the contaminants in the water and the intended utilization of the water . for example , the pretreatment may include flocculation and settlement , as well as anti - bacteriological treatment , free oil separator , filtration or neutralization . the system of this invention is generally indicated at 14 in fig1 and includes the cavitation nozzle , as well as post - treatment from the cavitation treatment and delivery to an end use storage 16 . the end use may be recycled into a water - utilizing process , or the end use may be the delivery into a potable water system , an underground basin , a river , or the sea . to a certain extent , the water remediation and purification method depends upon the end use to which the water is to be placed . therefore , the treatment around the cavitation nozzle 10 is a function of the ultimate need . the pretreated water is drawn from source 12 by pump 18 , which delivers the water to the inlet 20 of nozzle 10 . the water passing through the nozzle 10 is subjected to cavitation , as is described in more detail hereinafter , and the outlet of the cavitation nozzle delivers the cavitation treated water through cavitation nozzle outlet line 24 . since the water in line 24 may be improved by further cavitation treatment , recycle lines 26 and 31 and recycle valves 28 and 30 are provided . a certain portion of that water in outlet line 24 thus passes again through the cavitation nozzle . preferably , the cavitation treatment is followed by treatment in a high energy ultraviolet reactor 32 . recycle control valve 30 controls the flow of the cavitation / ultraviolet treated water to further cavitation treatment processes . additional treatment processes are determined by the end use of the water . ultraviolet treatment of water for the purpose of water purification is described in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 906 , 387 and 4 , 990 , 260 , the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by this reference . however , the ultraviolet source of the above inventions were conventional low pressure mercury lamps . these lamps produce resonance radiation at 253 . 7 and 185 . 0 nm . their disadvantage is that the mercury sources are relatively low intensity because the process by which a photon is emitted from an excited atom is reversible ; i . e ., mercury atoms will begin to reabsorb radiation as the input energy is increased . the high energy ultraviolet reactor 32 could be a xenon flash lamp . the xenon flash lamp produces a unique source of high intensity , high energy ultraviolet radiation over a significant range of the spectrum ( 185 to 330 nm ). for example , at approximately 230 nm , the xenon flash lamp produces about 375 times more relative intensity than a hg lamp ; and at 253 . 7 nm , the xenon flash lamp produces approximately 8 times more relative intensity than the hg lamp . following high energy ultraviolet treatment , the water stream can be treated further by ion exchange device 34 . as a particular example of ion exchange , sodium ions can be exchanged for calcium ions in the water to improve its &# 34 ; softness .&# 34 ; from the ion exchanger , the water passes to the end uses represented by storage 16 . valve 36 controls the flow through the ion exchanger , while valve 38 controls alternative flow through degassifier 40 and filter 42 . these treatments might be more useful in some water flow circumstances where gases and / or particulates are produced by the cavitation and / or the high energy xenon pulse ultraviolet purification . the structural detail of the cavitation nozzle 10 is shown in longitudinal section in fig3 . inlet body 44 is a tube having an inlet passage 46 which converges in a cone 48 which defines the inlet throat 50 . the exterior of the inlet body 44 has attachment means thereon such as threads 52 or other connecting means . the inlet body also carries inlet body flange 54 , which is welded or otherwise secured thereto . throat body 56 lies against flange 54 . the throat body is a flat annular disc which is externally the same size as the flange 54 . the throat body carries an annular channel 58 therein around its inner opening defined by inner wall 60 . port 62 connects the annular channel 58 to exterior connection . outlet body 64 is a tubular body having an interior tapered expansion wall 66 , which extends from the outlet throat 68 to the right - hand outer end of outlet body 64 . the outlet throat 68 is the same diameter and is in alignment with the inlet throat 50 . the large end of the expansion wall 66 is essentially the same diameter as inlet passage 46 . attachment means on the outlet body 64 permit its attachment into a hydraulic system . threads 70 are an example . the outlet body 64 is secured in the nozzle by means of flange 72 welded to the outlet body . flanges 54 and 72 are clamped together with the throat body 56 therebetween by a plurality of bolts , one of which is indicated at 74 . the throat of cavitation nozzle 10 is variable . this is accomplished by means of throat member 76 . the throat member 76 is annular in plan and is u - shaped in cross section . the throat member is made of a resilient elastomeric material , such as viton , which is resistant to attack by the water to be delivered through the nozzle 10 and its contaminants . the throat member 76 includes circular rings 78 and 80 , which respectively terminate in o - rings 82 and 84 . the 0 - rings 82 and 84 are respectively received in 0 - ring grooves and flanges 54 and 72 , both to seal the flanges with respect to the throat body and to seal the throat member 76 with respect to the throat body . the throat body is of reduced thickness to receive the rings 78 and 80 and to permit them some expansion space for resilient deflection . the rings of the throat member are joined by variable throat 86 which , together with rings 78 and 80 , define the u - shaped cross section of the throat member . the throat member is molded in one piece . thus , the various parts thereof are integrally joined . when the cavitation nozzle 10 is placed in a system such as a system 14 , the air pressure into port 62 can control the throat diameter by distending or contracting the throat 86 . a reduced throat is achieved , such as indicated by dot - dash lines in fig3 . other configurations are useable in this invention , such as a variable aperture similar to that used in a camera lens or a tapered rod movable into and out of the annulus of the throat thereby controlling throat area . when water is delivered through the cavitation nozzle 10 under the proper conditions , cavitation is produced . cavitation is caused by dynamic pressure reduction at essentially constant temperature . cavitation involves the entire sequence of events beginning with bubble formation and extending through cavity collapse . the bubble growth will be explosive if it is primarily the result of vaporization in the cavity . cavitation is produced by a critical flow cavitation nozzle . cavitation effectiveness varies with throat diameter , nozzle surface finish , dissolved air in the liquid , and liquid flow and pressure . the cavitation nozzle 10 has a variable throat which is controlled by feedback from various sensors , as described hereinafter , to optimize cavitation . the cavitation phenomenon which results in the formation and collapse of micro - bubbles is contained in the expanding diameter outlet body . the cavitation is directly influenced by the pressure differential between the inlet and outlet of the cavitation nozzle 10 . decreasing the throat diameter will increase the pressure differential across the throat and increase the length of the stream that is cavitating . this increases the number of nucleation sites at which cavitation begins and extends the length of the cavitating flow . free radicals are generated by cavitation . the free radicals are principally hydrogen atoms h + and hydroxyl radicals oh - . the free radicals are generated by the cavitation and are maintained by a combination of cavitation , seeding with other constituents , and subsequently high energy ultraviolet excitation . organics , living organisms and some inorganics can be treated . when the waste stream includes organic waste , they are oxidized into carbon dioxide , water and sulfates by the available free radicals . usually the waste stream , particularly when it is contaminated ground water or waste water , contains unknown organic chemicals . however , the free radicals resulting from the cavitation causes oxidation reactions to varying degrees in all organic materials . living organisms such as salmonella and e . coli are destroyed when their cells &# 39 ; outer protective shell and cell wall rupture after cavitation . since bacterial aerobic metabolism reduces fluid alkalinity ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 013 , 442 ), destroying bacteria raises the alkalinity , and thus provides a measurement detectable by a sensor to evaluate the effectiveness of the cavitation process when processing bacteria and other living organisms . suitable sensors can react to the changes in chemical characteristics in the stream and , through suitable transducer and programmable controller , can control the inlet pressure to the cavitation nozzle and its throat diameter to reach an optimum steady state cavitation flow and , as a result , reduction in contaminants . cavitation is very useful in the breakdown of organic chemicals . in cavitated water , &# 34 ; the heat from cavity implosion decomposes water into extremely reactive hydrogen atoms and hydroxyl radicals . during the quick cooling phase , hydrogen atoms and hydroxyl radicals recombine to form hydrogen peroxide and molecular hydrogen . if other compounds are added to the water .... a wide range of secondary reactions can occur . organic compounds are highly degraded in this environment and inorganic compounds can be oxidized or reduced &# 34 ; ( scientific american , feb . 1989 , p . 84 ). in other cavitation experiments , the temperature of collapsing bubbles has been determined experimentally to be 5075 degrees k +/- 156 degrees k . this high temperature provides insight to the efficacy of the cavitation process for breaking down complex organic compounds ( science , 20 sep . 1991 , vol . 253 , p . 1397 ). the variable cavitation nozzle thus provides an additional control for optimizing the cavitation process . referring to fig2 the sensing and control associated with the cavitation nozzle 10 are shown . controller 88 is programmable and receives inlet and outlet pressure signals from inlet and outlet pressure transducers 90 and 92 . it receives throat vacuum measurements from throat vacuum transducer 99 , inlet temperature from inlet temperature transducer 101 , and flow data from flow transducer 102 . it also receives other signals from sensor and transducer 94 . these signals may be chemical constituent concentration signals which indicate the effectiveness of the cavitation process in oxidizing contaminants at existing settings and conditions . the controller 88 controls both the inlet valve 96 to control total flow through the cavitation nozzle and controls the pressure output of pump 18 at the inlet to the nozzle . the programmable controller also controls valve 98 which controls the fluid pressure to port 62 and thus controls the throat diameter . the controller 88 could be equally effective in a case of a fixed nozzle cavitation system wherein a number of inputs to the controller 88 from inlet pressure 90 , outlet pressure 92 , vacuum 99 , temperature 101 , and flow 102 produce signals to pump 18 and valve 96 to control cavitation to provide an optimum process . there are a number of sensors and transducers 94 available to further control the process . the sensors range from simple temperature gauge and ph meters to flow rate , vacuum indicator , conductivity meters , dissolved oxygen meters , oxidation reduction potential meters , biological oxygen monitors , etc . for example , in tannery waste water removal rates of toc ( total organic carbon ), cod ( chemical oxygen demand ) and protein content are interdependent . in the presence of an initiator such as hydrogen peroxide , sulfides are removed which instantly lowers the ph of the waste stream . this drop in ph gives immediate indication of the effectiveness of the cavitation nozzle . in an actual ground water remediation project at an abandoned chevron service station , the initial flow from underground pumps to a manifold preceding the purification system with a fixed nozzle was approximately 10 gpm . after several months of unattended operation , flow reduced to about 5 gpm . at these flow rates , the fixed nozzle was at the low end of its effectiveness . subsequently , flow dropped further to about 1 gpm as the contaminated ground water was depleted . a variable nozzle with its attendant feedback control would have provided optimum performance of the cavitation process over these wide ranges of flow . given below are examples of other specific treatments . with a 0 . 141 inch throat nozzle in a laboratory test cavitation unit , using a known dosage of phenol , the maximum flow rate possible to reduce the phenol from 16 ppm to 6 ppm was 0 . 75 gpm . in the same test , substituting a 0 . 375 inch throat nozzle , the flow rate was increased to 5 gpm and the phenol concentration reduced to less than 4 ppm , thereby demonstrating the optimization of the cavitation process . other conditions were constant . recycle and uv were used . with a 0 . 141 inch throat nozzle in a laboratory test cavitation unit , a salmonella inoculation of 238 , 000 cfu / ml was reduced 85 percent at a flow rate of 0 . 95 gpm . optimizing the cavitation process through substituting a 0 . 238 inch throat nozzle , a salmonella inoculation of 2 , 300 , 000 cfu / ml was reduced by a 99 . 999 percent ( or eight magnitudes ) at a flow rate of 0 . 95 gpm . other conditions were constant . recycle uv and 60 ppm hydrogen peroxide were used . this invention has been described in its presently contemplated best embodiment , and it is clear that it is susceptible to numerous modifications , modes and embodiments within the ability of those skilled in the art and without the exercise of the inventive faculty . accordingly , the scope of this invention is defined by the scope of the following claims .
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US-84338992-A
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a method to aid in identifying a familial or sporadic pattern of risk in at least one individual for developing cancer of a mucosal epithelial tissue , the method comprising screening said at least one individual for heterozygosity or homozygosity for a mutation in a gene coding for a poly - ig receptor or a poly - ig - like receptor capable of mediating inhibition of cancer cell growth by an immunoglobulin inhibitor . a method of treating an individual so identified includes enhancing the amount of immunoglobulin inhibitor contacting a mucosal epithelial tissue of said individual , and , especially in individuals homozygous for the defective receptor , may also include prophylactic surgery . other methods include implementation of a risk reduction or prevention program in individuals identified as being at risk .
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recent discoveries disclosed in co - owned , co - pending u . s . patent application ser . nos . 09 / 852 , 547 and 09 / 852 , 958 , and in international patent application nos . pct / us01 / 15171 and pct / us01 / 15183 ( also identified as items 21 and 22 in the references , below ), each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference , are expected to lead to resolution of the problem of how to identify genes that are key to the 60 to 70 % of breast cancer cases that are today termed “ sporadic .” the isolation of new “ serum factor ( s )” that regulate estrogen responsive breast cancer cell growth in culture is described in the preceding applications . the purification yielded dimeric / polymeric immunoglobulin a ( iga ) and pentameric immunoglobulin m ( igm ) as the active regulators . these immunoglobulins (“ immunoglobulin inhibitors ”) arrested estrogen target tumor cell growth completely at low nanomolar concentrations , and their inhibitory effects were entirely reversible by picomolar concentrations of estrogens . that disclosure revealed a previously unknown function for the secretory immune system . in the above - identified patent applications , a major role for tgfβ in breast growth regulation is also identified : it is a cytokine that controls iga / igm immunocytes . breast cancer growth is best defined as negative paracrine control by secretory immunoglobulins ( immunoglobulin inhibitors ) and positive direct control by estrogens . in conjunction with this work , the longstanding problem of the regulation of estrogen dependent cell growth in culture under serum - free defined medium conditions was solved . these results have great physiological relevance . iga and igm are secreted by b immunocytes located in the lamina propria of estrogen target tissues including breast . they are more than 90 % of the immunoglobulins secreted into breast milk . the positioning of the immunocytes in the tissue adjacent to the epithelial cells and the secretion of the immunoglobulins is hormone regulated . it was found that the secretory immune system products immunoglobulins a and m ( iga and igm ) inhibit the growth of estrogen - sensitive ( early ) breast cancer by suppressing cell replication . this is the first time a connection was established between the secretory immune system and early estrogen receptor positive ( er + ) breast cancer growth . in addition , when breast cancer becomes most malignant ( i . e . er − hormone - insensitive stages ), control by immune system iga and igm is lost . evidence points to the poly - ig receptor or a very similar poly - ig - like fc receptor as the mediator of the inhibitory effects of iga and igm . this receptor may be the long sought after gene that explains many of the “ sporadic ” breast cancers . here , the term “ sporadic ” refers to breast cancer originating from unknown genetic origins . the poly - ig receptor gene is located at locus d1s58 on chromosome 1 ( 23 ) which has been proven to be a “ hot spot ” for allelic imbalances in more than 70 % of breast cancers ( 24 ). a hot spot is a chromosomal loci or gene that is frequently altered in breast cancer specimens . this site has 46 % loss of heterozygosity ( loh ) in breast cancer specimens ( 24 ) and 30 % incidence of allelic imbalance ( ai ) ( 24 ). this research , and that described in the above - identified u . s . and pct patent applications ( 21 , 22 ), support the conclusion that this gene will have notably broader significance in “ sporadic ” breast cancer etiology than brca1 ( located on chromosome 17 ) or brca2 ( located on chromosome 13 ). mutations in genes that are critical to cell growth or are known to be predisposing for breast cancer have been described . such mutations can either cause activation of oncogenes to promote cell replication or cause inactivation of suppressors to release cells to growth without control . in studies related to the present disclosure and described in the above - identified u . s . and pct patent applications , the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or a similar poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor has been identified as a tumor suppressor . binding the ligands iga or igm results in growth arrest in er + breast cancer cells . when this receptor is absent , cells replicate without immune control . the gene identified in this invention has not previously been recognized to have growth regulating properties . as this study developed the application of this new receptor gene function indicated an important concern for both germ line and somatic mutations . although the majority of cancers are thought to arise by somatic mutation , the fact that “ familial aggregation ” of breast cancers exists is strong evidence in favor of germ line analysis . the line of thought is to study both types of mutations in the poly - ig - like receptor . germ line mutations will be sought with blood cells or mucosal cells ( i . e . mucosal scrapings ) obtained from women . somatic mutations are revealed via examination of breast cancer specimens and cells aspirated from breast ducts or in breast fluid samples . key models of germ line breast cancer predisposing genes are readily available from sources known to investigators in this field . these include tp53 , atm , pten , mlh1 and the msh2 genes . if the full expression of these predisposing genes is to be realized , other mutations must contribute . the poly - ig - like receptor is found in every steroid and thyroid hormone responsive cell line examined to date . when the receptor is lost , cells achieve full autonomy . this indicates that the receptor gene may be a key contributor to the development of breast cancer as well as other cancers arising from mucosal tissues . genetic analysis of the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor to determine breast cancer susceptibility in heterozygotes and homozygotes individuals seeking to determine breast cancer risk for the reasons cited above will be screened for predisposing genetic damage / mutations in the gene for the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor . this will be done using lymphocytes and technology suited to rapid but accurate screening ( e . g . pyrosequencing and rapid pcr methodology ). this analysis will be preformed similarly to those used to identify heterozygotes and homozygotes for the atm mutation and for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer ( hncc ). studies done with control volunteers will be carried out to determine natural innocuous mutations in the gene and to determine if selected populations have different mutations and hence may be at greater risk . it is expected that one damaged gene will confer greater risk than controls because inactivation of the other functional gene will eliminate immune negative growth regulation by iga and igm . suitable techniques that will be used for this genetic analysis are well known in the art . such an analysis has not been recognized previously as useful in determining risk for breast cancer in populations before development of the disease . individuals showing homozygous mutations are considered at highest risk and will be counseled to decide on surgical prophylactic measures or on the use of tamoxifen or other anti - estrogen as preventative measures . thus , genetic screening can be used to not only to define potential risk , but to assistant in initiating preventative life saving actions , as discussed in more detail in the following example . screening for loss of heterozygosity ( loh ) or allelic imbalance ( ai ) in the poly - ig ( fe ) receptor or poly - ig - like ( fe ) receptor using blood cells , mucosal scrapings , breast fluid derived cells and other body and tissue samples and fluids , the presence of loh and ai in the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or a poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor gene will be determined by methods commonly applied and well known . preferably the d1s58 locus of chromosome 1 will be a primary point of focus . this analysis can begin at very young ages ( i . e . nine or ten years old ) or can be initiated at age 25 when breast cancer rates are still very low . analysis of breast fluid cells can be continued with women showing loh or ai at early ages . this information is used along with methods such as mammography to monitor women at high risk . early genetic analysis , as described in this example and in examples 1 , 3 and 4 , is especially valuable for identifying women at risk so that appropriate steps for risk reduction or prevention can be taken . if germline mutations are found or if somatic mutations are found , the issue then becomes “ what to do ?”. preventative and therapeutic compositions and methods are described in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 852 , 547 and in international patent application no . pct / us01 / 15171 ( also identified as item 21 in the references , below ), or in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 293 , 019 entitled “ breast cancer eradication program .” additional preventative and risk reduction methods and compositions are described co - pending in u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 293 , 439 entitled “ anti - estrogen and immune modulator combinations for treating breast cancer .” the disclosures of these co - owned patent applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference . double screening for poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor mutations and mutations in other breast cancer predisposing genes because the development of cancer most likely depends on more than one mutation ( 50 ), and may involve several cell types ( 50 ), it is useful to screen for mutations in genes that will lead to damage in other genes . both the lynch syndrome ii genes and the cowden &# 39 ; s disease gene are candidates for double screening along with the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or a poly - ig - like ( fe ) receptor . for example , changes in the effectiveness of the lynch syndrome genes can lead to a gradual accumulation of mutations . if mutations are also present in the poly - ig - like receptor , risk can be expected to be substantially higher than controls . heterozygotes for the lynch syndrome genes have not been previously analyzed to determine if they possess an increased risk of breast cancer . likewise , heterozygotes for the cowen &# 39 ; s mutation have not been examined before to determine breast cancer susceptibility . these results will then be compared to results of screens for the poly - ig ( fe ) receptor or poly - ig - like ( fe ) receptor to identify those individuals at greatest risk . suitable risk reduction or preventative measures can then be implemented , as discussed in the preceding example . screening for heterozygous atm mutations and comparison to mutations in the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or poly - ig - like receptor the atm mutation , associated with the disorder ataxia telangiectasia , is not found in breast cancers . nonetheless , it is clear that even heterozyogotes are at substantial risk for breast cancer . in light of the present disclosure of the importance of breast cancer cell growth control by the secretory immunoglobulins , it is of particular significance that the at disorder is known to be accompanied by chromosome fragility ( i . e . lack of repair after ionizing radiation ) and a marked deficiency in iga . because the atm mutation is so widely distributed in the population , it is important to initiate a screening for this mutation as a first line defense against breast cancer . identification of meaningful mutations will then permit decisions by women to elect preventative measures . pending results indicating a potential problem , these same individuals will then be offered another screening for the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or a poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor as a further indicator of risk status . if significant mutations are found in one or both receptor genes , prophylactic or preventative measures can be initiated , as discussed above in example 2 . screening of breast cancer specimens for mutations in growth regulating genes specimens from breast cancer patients will be screened for alterations in the poly - ig ( fe ) receptor or a poly - ig - like receptor to assist in therapy decisions and to identify individuals at greatest risk and requiring more intense intervention . this approach identifies somatic mutations . conventional screening techniques will also be used to identify heterozygous genes including the lynch syndrome gene and the cowden &# 39 ; s disease gene as well as alterations in tp53 . the molecular fingerprinting of tumors is expected to increase the effectiveness of treatment programs by allowing each to be adapted to the individual patient . future use of molecular methods is expected to provide a genetic profile of a patient &# 39 ; s primary tumor as well as to provide information relevant to family members concerning their potential risks . evaluation of breast fluid derived cells for molecular changes in genes cells will be obtained from breast fluids by any of a number of well known methods , or , alternatively , by newer methods that are known in the art and have been described in the literature for direct aspiration of the breast milk ducts . commercial milk pumps are available for this application . premalignant changes in the poly - ig ( fc ) receptor or a poly - ig - like ( fc ) receptor gene will be evaluated as will be changes in the other breast cancer predisposing genes discussed above . this technology is expected to identify somatic mutations at the site of breast cancer development . identification of sets of changes consistent with long - term development of the disease will permit immediate intervention to eradicate the altered cells or arrest the mutation process . after parturition , cells will be harvested from expressed breast milk and evaluated for somatic mutations . this analysis can be readily carried out during routine postpartum doctor &# 39 ; s office visits . the cells will be collected directly on to filters ( supplied ) and dna screening conducted , as previously described . this method permits direct assessment of the genetic status of a subset of reproductive age women without disruption of daily routines . fluid aspiration can also be done during routine mammography examinations . nipple pumps , which are available from well known commercial suppliers , can be used to withdraw only the few milliliters of fluid required . once a person or a group of persons have been identified as being at risk for breast cancer using one or more of the foregoing procedures , a program of prevention or risk reduction can be implemented , as described in , for example , co - pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 946 , 190 entitled “ breast cancer eradication program ,” and u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 293 , 439 entitled “ anti - estrogen and immune modulator combinations for treating breast cancer .” the disclosures of these co - owned patent applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference . such program can include ( a ) enhancing the amount of an immunoglobulin inhibitor (“ immune modulator ”) of cancer cell growth that contacts the breast ductal tissue of said individuals ; and / or administering an immunoglobulin inhibitor mimicking compound ; administering an anti - estrogenic compound ; ( b ) administering an aromatase inhibitor ; ( c ) enhancing the number of b immunocytes producing iga or igm in breast tissue ; and / or ( d ) immunizing individuals at risk of developing breast cancer against microorganisms known to or suspected of causing breast cancer . some immunoglobulin inhibitor mimicking compounds that may be used include : tamoxifen and mer - 25 and chemically substituted or modified derivatives thereof . to reduce possible side effects of mer - 25 , or its derivative compound , in some cases it may also be desirable to co - administer progesterone or another hormone . some immune enhancers that may be used include : levimisole , imiquimod , picibanil , and dhea . some useful anti - estrogens include : tamoxifen , toremifene , ici 16384 , ici 182780 , em - 800 , ru 58688 and em - 139 . ( 1 ) mcpherson k , steel c m & amp ; dixon j m ( 2000 ) breast cancer — epidemiology , risk factors and genetics . bmj 321 : 624 - 628 . ( 2 ) alberg a j helzlsouer k j ( 1997 ) epidemiology , prevention , and early detection of breast cancer . current opinion oncology 9 : 505 - 511 . ( 3 ) kelsey j l & amp ; gammon m d ( 1990 ) epidemiology of breast cancer . epidemiol rev 12 : 228 - 240 . ( 4 ) adami h o , signorello l b & amp ; trichopoulos d ( 1998 ) towards an understanding of breast cancer etiology . semin cancer biol 8 : 255 - 262 . ( 5 ) petrek j a ( 1994 ) breast cancer and pregnancy . j natl cancer inst monograph no . 16 : 113 - 121 . ( 6 ) kelsey j l & amp ; gammon m d ( 1991 ) the epidemiology of breast cancer . ca cancer j clin 41 : 146 - 165 . ( 7 ) kelsey j l & amp ; bernstein l ( 1996 ) epidemiology and prevention of breast cancer . annu rev public health 17 : 47 - 67 . ( 8 ) lambe m , hsieh c - c , trichopoulos d et al ( 1994 ) transient increase in the risk of breast cancer after giving birth . n eng j med 331 : 5 - 9 . ( 9 ) hulka b s & amp ; moorman p g ( 2001 ) breast cancer : hormones and other risk factors . maturitas 38 : 103 - 106 . ( 10 ) key t j ( 1999 ) serum oestradiol and breast cancer risk . endocrine - related cancer 6 : 175 - 180 . ( 11 ) wiseman r a ( 2000 ) breast cancer : a single cause for the majority of cases . j epidemiol community health 54 : 851 - 858 . ( 12 ) sager r ( 1997 ) expression genetics in cancer : shifting the focus from dna to rna . proc natl acad sci usa 94 : 952 - 955 . ( 13 ) zhang l , zhou w , velculescu v e et al ( 1997 ) gene expression profiles in normal and cancer cells . science 276 : 1268 - 1272 . ( 14 ) monni o , hyman e , moussess s et al ( 2001 ) from chromosomal alterations to target genes for therapy : integrating cytogenetic and functional genomic views of the breast cancer genome . semin cancer biol 11 : 395 - 401 . ( 16 ) miki y , swensen j , shaattuck - eidens d et al ( 1994 ) a strong candidate for the 17 - linked breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene brca1 . science 266 : 66 - 71 . ( 17 ) wooster r , bignell g , lancaster k et al ( 1995 ) identification of the breast cancer susceptibility gene brca2 . nature 378 : 789 - 792 . ( 18 ) hopper j l ( 2001 ) genetic epidemiology of female breast cancer . semin cancer biol 11 : 367 - 374 . ( 19 ) easton d f ( 1999 ) how many more breast cancer predisposition genes are thee ? http :// breast - cancer - research . com / vol1no1 / 23aug99 / editorial / 1 ( 20 ) strewing j p , hartge p , wacholdrer s et al ( 1997 ) the risk of cancer associated with specific mutations of brca1 and brca2 among ashkenazi jews . n eng j med 336 : 1401 - 1408 . ( 21 ) sirbasku , david a . “ compositions and methods for the diagnosis , treatment and prevention of steroid hormone responsive cancers ” u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 852 , 547 ( u . s . published application no . 20020006630 ) and corresponding pct published application no . wo 01 / 86307 . ( 22 ) sirbasku , david a . “ compositions and methods for demonstrating secretory immune system regulation of steroid hormone responsive cancer cell growth ” u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 852 , 958 ( u . s . published application no . 20020012954 and corresponding pct published application no . wo 01 / 85210 . ( 23 ) krajci p , gedde - dahl t , hoyheim b , et al ( 1992 ) the gene encoding human transmembrane secretory component ( locus poly - ig receptor ) is linked to d1s58 on chromosome 1 . human genet 90 : 215 - 219 . ( 24 ) loupart m - l , armour j , walker r et al ( 1995 ) allelic imbalance on chromosome 1 in human breast cancer . i . minisatellite and rflp analysis . genes , chromosomes & amp ; cancer 12 : 16 - 23 . ( 25 ) iau p t , macmillan r d & amp ; blamey r w ( 2001 ) germ line mutations associated with breast cancer susceptibility . eur j cancer 37 : 300 - 321 . ( 26 ) cancer net , a service of the national cancer institute ( 2001 ). genetics of breast and ovarian cancer , pp 1 - 54 . http :// cancernet . nci . nih . gov / ( 27 ) oliver m & amp ; hainaut p ( 2001 ) tp53 mutation patterns in breast cancers : searching for clues of environmental carcinogenesis . semin cancer biol 11 : 353 - 360 . ( 28 ) nelson c l , sellers t a , rich s s et al ( 1993 ) familial clustering of colon , uterine , and ovarian cancers as assessed by family history . genet epidemiol 10 : 235 - 244 . ( 29 ) lynch h t & amp ; lynch j f ( 1998 ) genetics of colon cancer . digestion 59 : 481 - 492 . ( 30 ) lu k h & amp ; broaddus r r ( 2001 ) gynecological tumors in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer : we know they are common — now what ? gynecologic oncology 82 : 221 - 222 . ( 31 ) garber j e , goldstein a m , kantor a f et al ( 19910 follow - up study of twenty - four families with li - fraumeni syndrome . cancer res 51 : 6094 - 6097 . ( 32 ) bottomley r h & amp ; condit p t 919680 cancer families . cancer bulletin 20 : 22 - 24 . ( 33 ) malkin d ( 1993 ) the li - fraaumeni syndrome . cancer : principles of oncology updates 7 : 1 - 14 . ( 34 ) eng c , hampel h & amp ; de la chapelle a ( 2001 ) genetic testing for cancer predisposition . annu rev med 52 : 371 - 400 . ( 35 ) eng c , schneider k , fraumeni j f & amp ; li f p ( 1997 ) third international workshop on collaborative interdisciplinary studies of p53 and other predisposing genes in li - fraumeni syndrome . cancer epidemiol biomark prevent 6 : 379 - 383 . ( 36 ) tsou hc , teng dh , ping xl , et al ( 1997 ) the role of mmac1 mutations in early - onset breast cancer : causative in association with cowden syndrome and excluded in brca1 - negative cases . am j hum genet 61 : 1036 - 1043 . ( 37 ) olopade o i & amp ; weber b l ( 1998 ) breast cancer genetics : toward molecular characterization of individuals at increased risk for breast cancer : part i . cancer : principles and practice of oncology updates 12 : 1 - 12 . ( 38 ) lynch e d , ostermeyer e a , lee m k et al ( 1997 ) inherited mutations in pten that are associated with breast cancer , cowden disease , and juvenile polyposis . am j hum genet 61 : 1254 - 1260 . ( 39 ) telatar m , teroka s , wang z et al ( 1998 ) ataxia - telangiectasia gene with a product similar to pi - 3 kinase . science 268 : 86 - 97 . ( 40 ) uhrhammer n , bay j o , bignon y j et al ( 1998 ) seventh international workshop on ataxia - telangiectasia . cancer res 58 : 3480 - 3485 . ( 41 ) swift m , reitnauer p j , morrell d et al ( 1987 ) breast and other cancers in families with ataxia - telangiectasia . n eng j med 316 : 1289 - 1294 . ( 42 ) easton d f ( 1994 ) cancer risks in a - t heterozygotes . int j radiation biol 66 : s177 - s182 . ( 43 ) fitzgerald m g , bean j m , hegde s r et al ( 1997 ) heterozygous atm mutations do not contribute to early onset of breast cancer . nature genetics 15 : 307 - 310 . ( 44 ) chen j , birkholtz g g , lindblom p et al ( 1998 ) the role of ataxia0telangiectasia heterozygotes in familial breast cancer . cancer res 58 : 1376 - 1379 . ( 45 ) bay j o , grancho m , pernin d et al ( 1998 ) no evidence for constitutional atm mutation on breast / gastric cancer families . int j oncol 12 : 1385 - 1390 . ( 46 ) gastrointestinal pathology , an atlas and text , fenoglio - preiser c m ( ed ), lippincott - raven , 2 nd edition , ( 1999 ); chapter 20 : carcinomas and other epithelial and neuroendocrine tumors of the large intestine , pp 9091068 . ( 47 ) lynch h t , watson p , shaw t g et al ( 1999 ) clinical impact of molecular genetic diagnosis , genetic counseling , and management of hereditary cancer . part ii . hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal carcinoma as a model . cancer 86 ( suppl 11 ): 2457 - 2463 . ( 48 ) atkin n b ( 2001 ) microsatellite instability . cytogenet cell genet 92 : 177 - 181 . ( 49 ) percesepe a , borghi f , menigatti m et al ( 2001 ) molecular screening for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer : a prospective , population - based study . j clin oncol 19 : 3944 - 3950 . ( 50 ) beckmann m w , niederacher d , schnurch h - g et al ( 1997 ) mulitstep carcinogenesis of breast cancer and tumor heterogeneity . j mol med ( review ) 75 : 429 - 439 . while the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described , modifications thereof can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and teachings of the invention . the embodiments described herein are exemplary only , and are not intended to be limiting . many variations and modifications of the invention disclosed herein are possible and are within the scope of the invention . the disclosures of all patents , patent applications and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated herein by reference . the discussion of certain references in the description of related art , above , is not an admission that they are prior art to the present invention , especially any references that may have a publication date after the priority date of this application .
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US-29344002-A
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a method for forming a pattern in a resist is provided . a resist is formed on a surface of a substrate . a first portion of the resist is exposed to a charged particle beam , such as an electron beam , to alter a first characteristic of the first portion of the resist . a second portion of the resist is exposed to electromagnetic radiation , such as uv light , to alter a second characteristic of the second portion of the resist . the second portion is larger than the first portion . at least part of the first portion is removed using the altered characteristics of the resist such that a remaining portion defines the pattern in the resist . using this method , fine pattern resists having less than 100 nm resolution may be created at high throughput rates .
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reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . the present invention uses electron beam ( e - beam ) exposure to create a fine pattern mask and ultraviolet ( uv ) light to additionally treat the resist in order to provide improved mask resolution and higher manufacturing throughput . this dual exposure achieves increased resist sensitivity , and reduced exposure and developing time for preparing nanometer scale patterns . in this manner , e - beam exposure is advantageously coupled with uv exposure to substantially increase resist sensitivity without substantially degrading the resolution when using a high resolution developer . the present invention may be applied to achieve direct writing of nanometer patterns using electron beam lithography with deep - uv lithography . with reference to fig1 an apparatus 10 for creating and developing fine pattern resists or masks receives a substrate 14 such as a silicon wafer . preferably , the fine pattern mask will have a resolution or line and space ( l & amp ; s ) width of less than 100 nm . more preferably , the fine pattern mask will have a resolution of less than or equal to 40 nm . a coating unit 18 applies a positive tone scission - type resist 22 onto the substrate . typically , resists start as polymers dissolved in a liquid solvent . in the coating unit , the liquid resist is dropped onto the substrate , which is then spun at 1000 to 6000 rpm to form a film between 0 . 05 to 0 . 3 μm . an exemplary resist is zep 520 from nippon zeon , which is a positive - tone and solvent - developable e - beam resist suited for the creation of masks as well as ultra - fine processing . this resist has high sensitivity , namely 55 or 30 μc / cm 2 , with n - amyl acetate or butyl acetate developers , respectively . then , the resist film is baked using , for example , a hot plate ( not shown ) at 180 ° c . for 5 minutes . the coated substrate is then transferred to an e - beam pattern - forming unit 26 . an e - beam controller 30 accesses a pattern memory 34 to select data for a desired fine pattern . based on the fine pattern data , the controller controls a directionally - controllable e - beam tool 38 to rapidly scan or expose the fine pattern onto the resist . while other components can be utilized , an exemplary e - beam source includes a 5 kv jeol 6000fs e - beam tool operated with a current of 100 pa . those regions of the zep resist that are exposed to the e - beam undergo chain scission . of course , other types of resists might instead undergo cross - linking . a preferred e - beam exposure dose is 30 to 120 μc / cm 2 . the coated substrate is then transferred to a uv drier or uv exposure system 42 . the drier includes a conveyor 46 to support and move the substrate under a uv lamp 50 . a uv drier control 54 controls the intensity and / or on - off state of the uv lamp and the speed v of the conveyor in order to expose the resist to a precise dose of uv light . in a preferred embodiment , an 80 w mercury lamp is used . low energy uv radiation is preferred to avoid damage to the resists due to their sensitivity to uv radiation . a preferred uv intensity is less than 100 mj / cm 2 . in an alternative embodiment , the uv drier may include a stationary stage for fixing the substrate and exposing the resist to uv irradiation for a predetermined amount of time at a predetermined intensity . the uv dose is applied generally over the entire resist surface , thus exposing regions that were previously both exposed and not exposed to the electron beam . the uv light causes some chain scission in the previously unexposed regions and additional chain scission in the previously exposed regions . of course , with other types of resists , cross - linking instead of chain scission might occur . in an alternative embodiment , the positions of the uv drier and electron beam unit are switched so that uv exposure occurs before fine - pattern electron beam exposure . in another alternative embodiment , the uv drier and e - beam unit may be combined such that simultaneous exposure occurs . it is to be appreciate by one skilled in the art that , instead of uv light , other forms of electromagnetic radiation may be used provided the radiation causes desired chain scission or cross - linking in a selected resist . the twice - exposed coated substrate is then transferred to a developing unit 58 . the developing unit includes a bath 62 of a developer 66 . the substrate is placed on a support 70 and immersed in the developer for a certain time . the developer dissolves the resist at rates dependent on the amount of chain scission in the resist and the solubility rate of the resist for the particular developer . a developer controller 74 controls various aspects of the developing system , such as immersion time , to appropriately develop the fine - pattern mask . exemplary developers include n - amyl acetate ( zed - n50 ) and butyl acetate ( zr - 100 ), which are both manufactured by nippon zeon , or diethyl ketone manufactured by kanto chemical . the developer removes substantially all of the resist that was exposed to the e - beam and only a negligible , superficial amount of the resist that was only exposed to the uv light . once developing is complete , the substrate is output with a fine - pattern mask 78 . the substrate may now undergo further processing to become an electrical component . one area of use for the fine - pattern mask of the present invention is in the fabrication of magnetic structures using lithography . in a first step , a resist mask is formed on a substrate using any of the above described methods or modifications thereof . the resist mask can be used to pattern structures using a number of conventional techniques , such as a lift - off process , electroplating , or etching . in a lift - off process , after a ferromagnetic metal film is deposited onto the sample , the sample is immersed in a solvent which dissolves the mask and lifts off only the metal on the resist surface , but not the metal on the substrate . in an electroplating process , a thin metal plating base is placed between the resist and the substrate , and the resists is removed after plating . in an etching process , exposed areas of the substrate are etched while areas covered by the mask are not . subsequently , the etched substrate is used to create magnetic structures using conventional methods . another area of use for the fine - pattern mask of the present invention is in the fabrication of chips or integrated circuits . for example , the fine pattern mask may be formed on a silicon substrate using any of the techniques described above or modifications thereof . the mask then protects regions of the substrate during subsequent doping by ion beam implantation or diffusion to create transistors in the substrate . still another application for the fine - pattern mask of the present invention is in the manufacturing of read / write heads for use with magnetic storage media . such heads require fine structures to achieve high recording densities . the fine - pattern mask may be used to create the fine structures of the head using conventional fabrication techniques . in developing and evaluating the invention , various tests were performed which will now be described . thickness measurements of the resist were performed using a p - 10 profiler from tencor instruments . further , the resist structures were observed by scanning electron microscopy using a jeol 6340f system . first , the effects of uv exposure on overall thickness reduction during developing was investigated . an electron beam scission type resist , such as zep series from nippon zeon , was selected because such resists are also sensitive to uv radiation . uv ( mercury ) lamps emit at wavelength higher than 200 nm and generate ozone when operated at wavelengths between 200 - 230 nm . both uv light and ozone usually induce severe chemical modifications of polymers , namely cross - linking and / or degradation together with oxidation , which the present invention utilizes to enhance the resist performance . specifically , because zep resists are linear copolymers of α - methyl styrene ( 70 wt %) and α - cloromethacrylate ( 30 wt %), one can hence expect severe degradation under uv light . however , the present invention seeks to use the uv light in a manner to avoid uv ozone ashing . that is , uv ozone ashing may result in zep stripping as is utilized in microelectronic processes . instead , the present invention has found that the level of degradation depends on the uv irradiation conditions . uv exposures from 80 to 1500 mj / cm 2 were tested by varying the distance between the sample and the uv lamp , and the conveyor speed as exemplified in the apparatus of fig1 . the calibration curve of fig2 shows the relation between the uv dose and conveyor speed for a particular height . after irradiation under uv light , the resist was dipped at room temperature in n - amyl acetate for 5 minutes . n - amyl acetate is a preferred developer for zep 520 when high resolution is desired . table 1 summarizes the thickness reduction measured after development with n - amyl acetate for 5 minutes with varied uv radiation dosage . from table 1 , it can be recognized that soft conditions of uv exposure (& lt ; 100 mj / cm 2 ) did not induce severe degradation of the resist . only a slight thickness reduction could be measured , such as , thickness reduction within the range of 1 - 2 %. under stronger uv exposure , because of degradation , the resist was completely dissolved in the n - amyl acetate developer or at least partly removed . thus , soft conditions of uv exposure are most desirable because it will allow areas of the resist not previously exposed or not subjected to subsequent exposure to remain thick after developing . accordingly , for further tests , the uv dose was fixed to 85 - 90 mj / cm 2 . further , the effects of uv irradiation on thickness reduction of the resist during the development of a pattern was evaluated . the thickness reduction , which typically occurs during resist development , varies in accordance with the specific chemical composition of the developer . three developers were evaluated : n - amyl acetate , butyl acetate and diethyl ketone . the first developer , n - amyl acetate , is typically used for high resolution , while the diethyl ketone is preferred for high sensitivity applications . fig3 displays the thickness reduction as a function of time observed with various developers with or without uv irradiation after electron beam exposure . here , the development temperatures were 27 ° c ., 24 ° c ., and 20 ° c . for n - amyl acetate , butyl acetate , and diethyl ketone , respectively . diethyl ketone induces drastic thickness reduction even if the development time is short , which is not compatible with the patterning of nanometer patterns . with n - amyl acetate and butyl acetate , reasonable thickness reduction is observed . obviously , the thickness reduction is somewhat increased as a result of uv exposure , but thickness reduction remains acceptable when the development has a duration of 3 minutes or less ( preferably 2 minutes or less ). in accordance with a one embodiment of the present invention , a resist is first exposed to an electron beam for fine patterning and , as soon as possible thereafter , exposed to uv light . in an alternative embodiment , a resist is exposed to uv light before electron beam patterning . the second embodiment is usually less preferable because a surface roughness appears after the uv exposure which could negatively affect the resultant mask . in yet a third embodiment , a resist is simultaneously exposed to uv light and an electron beam for fine patterning . as discussed above , the techniques of the present invention improve the sensitivity of the resist for writing nanometer patterns . it is known that the direct writing of sub - 100 nm patterns requires higher doses than that of sub - micron patterns . fig4 shows the minimum dose for the patterning of 40 - 80 nm l & amp ; s with two developers : n - amyl acetate ( zed n50 ) at 27 ° c . for 5 minutes ; and butyl acetate ( zr 100 ) at 24 ° c . for 1 minute . here , clearing doses for direct writing of 60 , 70 , and 80 nm lines with respective pitches of 120 , 140 , 160 nm have been used . the critical dose for 40 nm l & amp ; s is at least twice the standard resist sensitivity ( 55 μc / cm 2 with n - amyl acetate ), which is the dose at which all of the resist is removed for a given developing process . based on an understanding of fig4 a clearing dose from 110 to 300 μc / cm 2 may be necessary for the direct writing of 40 - 80 nm holes in thick resist (& gt ; 150 nm ). fig5 a and 5b show the dose needed for patterning 60 - 80 nm l & amp ; s in 179 nm thick resist while using uv irradiation just after electron beam exposure . similarly , fig6 a and 6b show the dose needed for patterning 40 - 50 nm l & amp ; s in 87 nm thick resist . here , development with n - amyl acetate ( zed n50 ) was conducted at 27 ° c . and development with butyl acetate is conducted at 24 ° c . with both developers ( i . e ., n - amyl acetate and butyl acetate ), a sensitivity gain of about 15 - 20 % is achieve as a result of the uv treatment . in addition , the development time with n - amyl acetate could be reduced to 2 minutes while still significantly enhancing the sensitivity . here , longer development times may slightly improve the resist sensitivity to the detriment of the resolution , as will now be discussed . to evaluate resolution , tests were conducted to compare pattern shapes obtained by electron beam exposure of 75 μc / cm 2 with and without uv irradiation . without uv irradiation , the optimal development of nanometer patterns using n - amyl acetate requires at least 4 minutes together with a temperature higher than the room temperature ( such as 27 ° c . for 5 minutes in fig7 a ). in these conditions , the pattern width ( as shown in fig7 a ) for 80 - 60 nm l & amp ; s is narrower in the bottom than on the top . this is a result of backscattering of the ion beam off of the substrate . moreover , it indicates a degradation in aspect ratio . since the shape evolution is related to the development time as well , the back - scattering effect becomes more visible if a high resolution developer ( such as n - amyl acetate ) is used . reducing the development time means that higher doses are needed to control the back - scattering effect . thus , reduced development time prevents the use of short exposure time . a better compromise between resolution and sensitivity is obtained with butyl acetate . with butyl acetate , the development time is only 1 minute and temperature is near room temperature ( 24 ° c .). here , rectangular shapes can be successfully drawn as shown in fig7 b . moreover , longer developments induced broader lines , yet no noteworthy shrinkage at the pattern bottom was ever observed . fig8 a - 8c show the evolution of the pattern shape for various development times with uv exposure using n - amyl acetate at 27 ° c . as a developer . with reference to fig8 a , well developed rectangular patterns are obtained for an electron beam dose of 85 μc / cm 2 and a development time of 2 minutes as shown in fig8 a . however , with reference to fig8 b , after a 75 μc / cm 2 dose and 3 minutes of development , the shape has a lower aspect ratio and is similar to the pattern of fig7 a , which was obtained without uv irradiation and with a development time of 5 minutes . as shown in fig8 c , with a longer development time of 5 minutes , a 60 nm l & amp ; s pattern tends to collapse due to the width reduction at the lower part of the resist . in some embodiments of the present invention , such as ones involving lift - off processes , a pattern with such a low aspect ratio is desired because it is more easily removed from its substrate . using butyl acetate at 24 ° c . for 1 minute as a developer , the resist sensitivity is increased with uv exposure as compared to that without uv exposure without degradation in pattern shape as shown in fig9 a and 9b . here , fig9 a reflects a dose of 75 μc / cm 2 without uv exposure whereas fig9 b reflects a dose of 65 μc / cm 2 with uv exposure . as explained above , in accordance with the present invention , the combination of uv exposure and electron beam exposure results in a remarkable increase in the resist sensitivity . one of the major benefits with a high - resolution developer such as n - amyl acetate is the development time reduction from 5 minutes to 2 minutes . in these conditions , the resist sensitivity emulates the one obtained with a high sensitivity developer such as butyl acetate , thus the patterns are quite similar and show straight edges . here , it is believed that the uv exposure induces oxidation in addition to polymeric chain scission . thus , chemical modification leads to solubility parameter changes , thereby slightly reducing the solubility difference between the two developers . in addition , the thickness reduction due to the development conditions remains acceptable using n - amyl acetate because the development times can be reduced to 2 minutes . longer development times result in undesired shrinkage at the pattern bottom as well as resist thickness reduction . since the conventional use of butyl acetate causes the thickness reduction with development times as short as 1 minute , it would be better to use a high resolution developer ( such as n - amyl acetate at 27 ° c . for 2 minutes ) with the hybrid exposure process of the present invention , thereby obtaining a good compromise between resolution and sensitivity . as shown in fig1 , resolution up to 40 nm l & amp ; s in 87 nm - thick resist can be achieved . thus , the hybrid exposure of zep chain scission type resist in accordance with the present invention achieves superior pattern forming performance . here , uv exposed resist provides high sensitivity to achieve high resolution patterns while using a high resolution developer . accordingly , the coupling of deep uv lithography and electron beam lithography can be successfully applied to achieve the direct writing of small patterns . while the examples presented above related to chain scission type resists , other resists , such as chemical amplified resists , may also benefit from such techniques . while the present invention finds particular application in the production of resist layers for manufacturing electronics components such as chips or integrated circuits , thin - film read / write heads for magnetic storage media , and pattern media for magnetic storage , one should readily appreciate that the present invention will find application in the production of other devices and in other environments . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the method and apparatus for forming fine exposure patterns of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents .
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US-69082400-A
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a separable splice connector which is particularly suitable for 15 / 25 kv , 600 ampere primary distribution system cables is disclosed . the connector includes a unitary splice body assembly of molded elastomeric material having a longitudinal portion for receiving lug conductor terminated adjacent cable ends thereon , and a transverse portion for receiving removable threaded fastening means which function to secure the lug conductors together within the splice body . the fastening means also provides interface or adapter means for external interchangeable components . accordingly , the connector provides a separable straight splice of the cables and standard 600 ampere interfaces for transformer bushings , connector plugs , test point plugs , reducing plugs , and the like .
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referring now to fig1 there is shown generally at 10 a separable splice connector in accordance with the principles of the present invention . connector 10 includes a unitary assembly 12 of molded rubber or elastomeric material . assembly 12 includes a semiconductive outer jacket 12a , a semiconductive insert 12b and an insulated portion 12c which separates the semiconductive portions . adjacent ends of primary power distribution line 14 each include a cable conductor 14a of aluminum or copper or any other suitable conducting material . coaxially disposed about conductor 14a is an insulated portion 14b and a conductive ground shield 14c . shield 14c may comprise a semiconductive outer jacket of elastomeric material , lead , metallic tape , drain wires or any other suitable material . the exposed conductor 14a of each adjacent end is terminated with a lug 16 having an end or tang portion with a bore or eyelet therein . prior to attaching lugs 16 each cable end is provided with a cable adapter 18 . adapter 18 includes an insulated portion 18a which surrounds and engages insulated portion 18b of cable 14 . adapter 18 further includes an end portion 18b of semiconductive elastomeric material which surrounds both ground shield 14c and insulated portion 14b of cable 14 . the radially outer portion of member 18b engages the semiconductive outer jacket 12a of splice body 12 . member 18b is provided with a stepped portion 18c to prevent longitudinal or backward movement of adapter 18 , particularly during installation . splice body 12 is also provided with transversely or laterally extending portions 12d and 12d &# 39 ; which provide an essentially see - through bore therein . in fig1 the transverse portions each receive one of test point plugs 20 . the general configuration of plugs 20 is well known in the art . plugs 20 each generally comprises a fiberglass filled polyester material and includes a hex - headed insert 22 formed of a metallic material and having a fastening stud extending partially into the body of the plug . each plug includes a metallic insert 22a having a threaded bore therein for receiving a conversion stud 24 in threaded engagement therewith . it can be seen that plugs 20 and conversion stud 24 provide a threaded fastener to bolt lugs 16 together and otherwise provide a substantial rigid assembly . this is accomplished by applying wrenches to members 22 to torque the assembly together . each test point plug engages a test point cover 26 of a molded semiconductive rubber or elastomeric material . the function of covers 26 is to continue or complete the ground plane provided by jacket 12a of assembly 12 and to provide a watertight seal for test point plugs 20 . overall , test point plugs 20 provide a capacitively coupled test point at member 22 for verifying an energized circuit with a high impedance voltmeter as is well - known in the art . it can be seen that semiconductive insert 12b surrounds lug conductors 16 and conductor portions 14a and thereby functions as a corona shield to compensate for sharp edges and irregular surfaces on lug connectors 16 . by preventing corona , ionized air and insulation deterioration are avoided . the function of insulated portion 12c is to prevent circuit failure to ground either through assembly 12 or along the interfaces with adjacent members . outer jacket 12a of assembly 12 functions as ground shielding which continues the ground shield of the cable and protects the operator or installer from leakage currents when the cable is energized . lug conductors 16 may take the form of aluminum lugs which are hydraulically or mechanically crimped to the conductor portion 14a of cable ends 14 . similarly , conversion stud 24 may take the form of a threaded aluminum rod with external threads at both ends for fastening to the internally threaded inserts 22a of plugs 20 . in practice , two flats are provided at the center portion of stud 24 in order to firmly torque stud 24 into one of the plugs 20 thereby essentially converting a &# 34 ; female &# 34 ; plug to a &# 34 ; male &# 34 ; plug . the resulting male plug is then torqued into the other plug to fasten lug conductors 16 together . an exemplary procedure for splicing cable ends 14 in accordance with the present invention is as follows . first , the adjacent cable ends are prepared by cutting back a predetermined amount of shield 14c and insulated portion 14b . thereafter , cable adapters 18 are driven home onto adjacent cable ends 14 until step 18c engages the edge of shield 14c . next , lugs 16 are crimped or otherwise attached to the ends of conductor portions 14a . thereafter , each lug - terminated cable end is inserted into the respective openings of splice body 12 until the tang portion of lugs 16 overlap and the bores or eyelets therein are aligned . plugs 20 are then inserted and torqued onto stud 24 until the assembly is rigidly secured . finally , test point covers 26 are snapped over splice body 12 to complete the assembly . referring again to fig1 it can be seen that the respective longitudinal axis of the adjacent cable ends are somewhat offset relative to one another . this is done to accommodate the overlapping relationship of the tang portion of lug 16 . it should be appreciated however that the offset can be eliminated by providing special lugs with an equivalent offset . however , providing the offset in the housing is preferred as this permits the utilization of existing or off - the - shelf lugs . in currently preferred practice splice body 12 is provided as an integrally molded structure wherein the semiconductor portions are bonded to the insulating portion . it will be appreciated however that inner sleeve 12b can be provided as a separable insert . it should also be noted that rather than providing a transverse portion on each side of the lateral portion of splice body 12 , a single off - set portion can be provided . that is , if desired a suitable insert can be molded within splice body 12 to accept and threadedly engage but one interface element or component such as test point plug 20 . however , such an alternate configuration is not as readily assembled as the preferred device depicted in fig1 . referring now to fig2 there is shown a plan view of the separable splice connector in accordance with the present invention removably attached to a loadbreak bushing . connector 10a of fig2 is similar to connector 10 of fig1 and , accordingly , like elements bear like reference numbers . one of the test point plugs is replaced with a loadbreak bushing adapter 21 . however , adapter 21 includes fastening means 22a and 24 which are essentially identical to that depicted in fig1 . thus , adapter 21 provides means for tapping a loadbreak bushing to the splice adjacent cable ends . referring now to fig3 there is shown a separable splice connector 10a &# 39 ; removably coupled to a deadbreak elbow 36 . adapter 21 &# 39 ; of fig3 is structurally and functionally similar to adapter 21 of fig2 and differs only in the manner in which it mates with elbow 36 , as is well known in the art . referring now to fig4 there is shown a plan view of two separable splice connectors 10b . an adapter 40 is used to secure the cable splice within the respective connectors and to provide a connection between the two splice cables . adapter 40 includes a metallic member 42 having a female fastening means at a first end and a threaded stud or extension at the opposite end thereon . adapter 40 takes the form of a connector plug as is well known in the art and , accordingly , may not be described in great detail herein . finally , fig5 provides a plan view of a separable splice connector 10b coupled to a standard elbow terminator 50 by way of connector plug or adapter 40 . thus , it can be seen that fig5 depicts a 3 - way splice whereas fig4 depicts a 4 - way splice . what has been taught , then , is a separable splice connector facilitating , notably , at least one power distribution system cable splice while simultaneously providing at least one interface which is interchangeably attachable to one of a plurality of related system components . the form of the invention illustrated and described herein is a preferred embodiment of these teachings . it is shown as an illustration of the inventive concepts , rather than by way of limitation , and it is pointed out that various alternatives and modifications may be indulged in within the scope of the appended claims .
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US-55309975-A
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a client in a digital computer network that employs server - driven consistency accesses a file that a caching site supplies from an image of the file projected from a server . when the file becomes inactive , the site saves the file onto local permanent storage together with file metadata . a subsequent request to the site to access the file retrieves from local storage the metatadata , including a file - last - write - time attribute . the caching site compares the locally retrieved file - last - write - time attribute with a server supplied file - last - write - time attribute . if the two attributes are identical , then the caching site : 1 . reconnects to the projected file image present in storage at the site ; 2 . re - establishes server - driven consistency over the projected file image at the caching site ; and 3 . uses data from the file image retrieved from local storage to respond to a subsequent read request from the client .
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a file caching methodology identified by the name network distributed cache (&# 34 ; ndc &# 34 ;), that is described both in a patent cooperation treaty (&# 34 ; pct &# 34 ;) international publication number wo 93 / 24890 and in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 611 , 049 which issued mar . 11 , 1997 , to the present applicant ( collectively the &# 34 ; ndc patent &# 34 ;), provides a server - driven cache consistency mechanism that is distributed across a hierarchy of ndc caching sites . the text of the ndc patent is incorporated herein by reference . fig1 depicts a hierarchy of ndc sites 22 a , b , c , e , and f via which clients 24 d , g , h and i access a file 26 named foo . because the file foo 26 is at least being accessed at each ndc site 22 and is being used at each of the clients 24 , it referred to as being &# 34 ; active &# 34 ; at the ndc sites 22 and clients 24 . the existence of a ndc channel at an upstream ndc site that is referenced by a ndc channel at the next downstream ndc site defines an active file . as described in greater detail in the ndc patent , each ndc site 22 includes a digital computer that maintains at least ndc buffers and channels in random access memory (&# 34 ; ram &# 34 ;), and preferably includes local permanent hard disk storage . within a hierarchy of ndc sites 22 , site a is always referred to as the server terminator site for the file foo 26 . ndc site a &# 34 ; owns &# 34 ; the file foo 26 . all other ndc sites 22 in the hierarchy are upstream ( i . e . further from the data source ) from ndc site a . for each request to access a file such as the file foo 26 . the ndc site 22 that receives the client request is referred to as the client terminator ndc site 22 , and any intervening ndc sites 22 between the client terminator ndc site 22 and the server terminator ndc site 22 , such as the ndc sites 22 b and c , are referred to as intermediate ndc sites 22 . in the illustration of fig1 ndc sites b , e , and f are client terminator ndc sites 22 . with respect to the client terminator ndc sites 22 b , e , and f , ndc sites b and c are intermediate ndc sites 22 . if a local client requests that ndc site a read data from file foo 26 , then ndc site a is simultaneously both a client terminator ndc site 22 and a server terminator ndc site 22 . ndc &# 39 ; s distributed consistency mechanism operates as a &# 34 ; cascade - able opportunistic lock &# 34 ; mechanism . ndc site a monitors all upstream ndc sites 22 to which it connects directly ( ndc sites 22 b and c in the illustration of fig1 ), and enables caching in those ndc sites 22 using essentially the same method employed by smb . however , ndc methodology extends caching beyond ndc sites 22 b and c by allowing , while a cws condition does not exist among all the ndc sites 22 accessing file foo 26 , any upstream ndc site 22 that &# 39 ; s been granted caching privileges to pass its caching privilege upstream onto additional ndc sites 22 to which it connects directly . following this recursive procedure , while a cws condition does not exist , caching privileges eventually extend to all ndc sites 22 depicted in fig1 when there are clients reading file foo 26 at clients 24 d , g , h , and i . upstream ndc sites 22 must always inform their respective downstream ndc site 22 of any new type of file access request ( read or write ) before servicing the request . downstream ndc sites 22 maintain a list of their respective upstream ndc sites 22 for each file , and record the type of file access ( es ) being performed at each upstream ndc site 22 . consequently , if a downstream ndc site 22 receives a file - open request ( which specifies the type of access desired ) from one of its upstream ndc sites 22 , the downstream ndc site 22 compares the new activity conditions existing at the downstream ndc site 22 , and also at all of its other directly connected upstream ndc sites 22 , to determine if a cws condition has just occurred . if a cws condition has just occurred , a single recall - message or one or more disable - messages are dispatched from the ndc site 22 detecting the cws condition to all directly connected upstream ndc sites 22 except the ndc site 22 that sent the inform - message . furthermore , whenever an upstream ndc site 22 reports a &# 34 ; new &# 34 ; activity on a file to the downstream ndc site 22 , then the downstream ndc site 22 must issue its own inform - message to its downstream ndc site 22 . this procedure continues recursively until the inform - message reaches either : a ) a ndc site 22 that &# 39 ; s already performing the &# 34 ; new &# 34 ; type of activity , or eventually , the downstream ndc site 22 that received the original inform - message replies to the dispatching upstream ndc site 22 . however , the downstream ndc site 22 does not dispatch a reply to the inform - message from the upstream ndc site 22 until : a ) replies have been received to all recall / disable - messages sent to the directly connected upstream ndc sites 22 ; and b ) a reply has also been received to any inform - message dispatched to the downstream ndc site 22 . the reply - message from the downstream ndc site 22 that received the original inform - message conveys to the upstream ndc site 22 either caching -- enabled or caching -- disabled , depending on whether a cws condition has occurred or not . if the downstream ndc site 22 dispatches a caching -- disabled message , the upstream ndc site 22 that dispatched the original inform - message must : a ) flush any modified file data to the downstream ndc site 22 ; and b ) then invalidate all cached data at the conclusion of the client request that is currently being processed . as just described , the ndc implements a hierarchical cache consistency mechanism . this enables ndc caching to offer better scalability over large geographic distances than smb . however the maximum number of files that can be concurrently cached from a single server with either smb or ndc is about the same , since both smb and ndc require that the server maintain a consistency connection for every remotely cached file . fig2 depicts a hierarchy of ndc sites 22 b , c , e , and f via which the clients 24 d , g , h and i access the file foo 26 supplied by an nt server 28 . the nt server 28 does not implement the full ndc as described in the ndc patent , and therefore does not completely implement or support the ndc &# 39 ; s hierarchical version of the oplock mechanism . however , because the ndc sites 22 are capable of transparently extending smb &# 39 ; s server - driven consistency oplock mechanism from the nt server 28 to the clients 24 , the ndc sites 22 depicted in fig2 can safely cache the file foo 26 locally at each ndc site 22 if the nt server 28 grants the clients 24 permission to buffer ( cache ) the file foo 26 . however , as described above , smb allows the clients 24 to cache the file foo 26 only as long as the file foo 26 is held open at the client 24 . when the client 24 closes the file foo 26 , smb operating in the client 24 invalidates all cached data associated with the file foo 26 at that client 24 . versions of microsoft nt that supports lanman 1 . 0 dialect equip smb &# 39 ; s server - driven consistency with three different categories of oplock mechanisms . smb provides an exclusive oplock that allows a client 24 to open the file foo 26 for exclusive access , and allows the client 24 to perform arbitrary buffering ( caching ). if the nt server 28 grants the client 24 an exclusive oplock , the client 24 may buffer lock information , read - ahead data and write data on the client 24 because the client 24 is the only process active on the file foo 26 . smb also provides a batch oplock that allows a client 24 to keep the file foo 26 open on the nt server 28 even though the client process has closed the file . batch oplocks are used where common programs on the client 24 , such as a command processor , successively open and close the same file within a short interval . finally , only in nt does smb provide a level ii oplock that indicates there are multiple client processes reading the file foo 26 , and there is no client process writing the file foo 26 , i . e . a cws condition does not exit . level ii oplocks allow multiple clients 24 to be active on the file foo 26 concurrently and to buffer ( cache ) data locally while no client 24 is writing to the file foo 26 . the level ii oplock may be broken to none , if some client 24 that is active on the file foo 26 performs a write operation to the file foo 26 , i . e . creates a cws condition . since a client 24 that has been granted a level ii oplock is prohibited from buffering ( caching ) lock information , the file foo 26 is in a consistent state if the level ii oplock is broken to none . upon breaking a level ii oplock , the buffering ( caching ) client 24 that created the cws condition must flush its buffers ( cache ) and degrade to performing all operations on the file foo 26 across the network to the nt server 28 . while fig2 depicts the ndc sites 22 as being distinct from the nt server 28 , at least one ndc site 22 may be a provided by a process that , in fact , runs on the nt server 28 . consequently , each of the ndc sites 22 depicted in fig2 may , in fact , be a process running on an nt server . such an implementation of ndc caching permits effectively distributing , through the ndc sites 22 , each nt server &# 39 ; s files to all the other nt servers in the network . fig3 a - 3c provide a decisional flow chart that illustrates how the computer network depicted in fig2 operates in responding to a file - open request from any of the clients 24 . in processing block 52 one of the clients 24 , e . g . h , submits a file open - request for the file foo 26 to one of the ndc sites 22 , i . e . f . the ndc site 22 f , which is the ndc client terminator site for the requesting client 24 , in turn in decision block 54 issues an open - request ( using a slightly modified filename ) to the local file system where the ndc site 22 f maintains a cache of file images that may possibly include an image of the file foo 26 . if the file images cached by the client 24 f lacks an image of the file foo 26 , then in processing block 56 the ndc site 22 f dispatches a file - open request across the network toward the nt server 28 . as indicated in processing block 58 , the open - request may traverse one or more ndc intermediate sites , but it eventually arrives at the server terminator site which , in the illustration of fig2 is the nt server 28 . the nt server 28 in processing block 62 receives the file - open request from the server terminator ndc site 22 c and responds . the response in processing block 64 propagates upstream through ndc sites 22 c and f . in processing block 66 the client terminator ndc site 22 f receives the response from the nt server 28 which includes the value of the file - last - write - time attribute for the file foo 26 . as indicated by a dashed line 72 , each ndc site 22 iteratively processes the response from the nt server 28 as follows . if in decision block 74 the response from the nt server 28 denies access to the file foo 26 , then in processing block 76 the ndc sites 22 c and f successively pass the response back to the client 24 h after which file - open processing ends . if the nt server 28 permits access to the file foo 26 , but if the smb oplock in the response from the nt server 28 prohibits the client 24 from buffering ( caching ) the file foo 26 , caching is disabled in decision block 82 and then in processing block 84 the ndc site 22 c or f invalidates any locally cached file image . after invalidating any locally cached file image , the ndc site 22 c or f in processing block 76 passes the response back to the client after which file - open processing ends . if in decision block 82 the smb oplock response from the nt server 28 permits the client 24 to buffer ( cache ) the file foo 26 , then in processing block 86 the ndc site 22 c or f acquires the least recently used (&# 34 ; lru &# 34 ;) ndc channel for storing metadata for the file foo 26 if such a channel has not already been acquired as explained in greater detail below . the combined fig8 a - 8i present a computer program listing written in the c programming language setting forth a data structure for the ndc channel . in decision block 92 the ndc sites 22 c and f respectively compare the file - last - write - time attribute for the channel with the file - last - write - time attribute in the response from the nt server 28 which the ndc site 22 f received in processing block 66 . if no data is cached for the file foo 26 at the ndc site 22 , then the file - last - write - time attribute for the channel will not match the file - last - write - time attribute in the response from the nt server 28 . if the file - last - write - time attribute for the channel differs from the file - last - write - time attribute in the response from the nt server 28 , then in processing block 94 the ndc sites 22 c and f respectively invalidate any cached file image and prepare to reload the cache as the ndc site 22 h accesses the file foo 26 . if , as explained in greater detail below , an image was cached for the file foo 26 at the ndc site 22 but the cached file image has a file - last - write - time attribute that differs from the file - last - write - time attribute in the response from the nt server 28 , then the ndc sites 22 c and f also perform processing block 94 thereby invalidating any cached file image and preparing to reload the cache as the ndc site 22 h accesses the file foo 26 . conversely , if as explained in greater detail below , the file - last - write - time attribute in the channel matches the file - last - write - time attribute in the response from the nt server 28 , then in processing block 96 the ndc sites 22 c and f respectively validate the file image cached locally on permanent disk storage . regardless of whether the ndc site 22 c or f performs processing block 94 or 96 , the ndc site 22 c or f in processing block 76 passes the response back to the client and ends file - open processing . if in decision block 54 the local file system &# 39 ; s response to the open - request ( using a slightly modified filename ) from the ndc site 22 f or c finds an image of the file foo 26 cached locally , then the local file system returns a file handle to the ndc site 22 f or c . using the file handle returned from the local file system , in processing block 102 the ndc site 22 f or c reads the previously stored channel from permanent disk storage into a staging buffer and extracts a pointer to a ndc channel that may still be present in random access memory (&# 34 ; ram &# 34 ;). if in decision block 104 the ndc site 22 f or c using the channel pointer is unable to connect to a ndc channel in ram , then in processing block 106 the ndc site 22 f or c acquires the lru channel , and stores the metadata for the file foo 26 , previously retrieved into the staging buffer from permanent disk storage , into the lru channel located in ram . having restored metadata for the file foo 26 to a channel in ram , the ndc site 22 f or c then attempts to determine if the image of the file foo 26 in the local cache is valid by performing processing block 56 which dispatchs a file - open request across the network toward the nt server 28 . if in decision block 104 the ndc site 22 f or c using the channel pointer connects to a channel in ram , then if the ndc site 22 f or c in decision block 108 finds that the ram resident channel is inactive , the ndc site 22 f or c then attempts to determine if the image of the file foo 26 in the local cache is valid by performing processing block 56 which dispatchs a file - open request across the network toward the nt server 28 . conversely , if in decision block 108 the ndc site 22 f or c finds the ram resident channel is active , then in processing block 112 the ndc site 22 c responds to the client 24 and the file - open process ends because the ndc site 22 f or c has found that the file foo 26 is active at an ndc site . after the file foo 26 has been opened in any of the ways described above , the client 24 h may , as depicted in processing block 122 of fig4 issue a read - file request to the client terminator ndc site 22 f which receives the read - file request in processing block 124 . upon receiving the read - file request from the client 24 , the ndc site 22 f in decision block 126 ascertains whether the smb oplock issued by the nt server 28 permitted buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 . if buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 is enabled , the ndc site 22 f in processing block 128 retrieves from the local cache any data available there that satisfies the read - file request . if in decision block 132 the ndc site 22 determines that all of the requested data was retrieved from the local cache , then in processing block 134 the ndc site 22 delivers to the client 24 h the data requested in the read - file request thereby ending read - file request processing . if in decision block 126 the ndc site 22 f determines that caching is not enabled , or if in decision block 132 the ndc site 22 f determines that not all of the requested data was retrieved from the local cache , then in processing block 142 the ndc site 22 requests any missing data from the immediately downstream ndc site 22 . subsequently in processing block 144 the client 24 receives any missing data from the downstream ndc site 22 . upon receiving the missing data from the downstream ndc site 22 , the ndc site 22 f in decision block 146 ascertains whether the smb oplock issued by the nt server 28 permitted buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 . if buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 is disabled , the ndc site 22 f proceeds to processing block 134 in which the ndc site 22 delivers to the client 24 h the data requested in the read - file request . if buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 is enabled , then in processing block 148 the ndc site 22 copies the new data retrieved from the downstream ndc site 22 to the local cache . after copying the new data to the local cache , the ndc site 22 f proceeds to processing block 134 in which the ndc site 22 delivers to the client 24 h the data requested in the read - file request . while the preceding description of read - file request processing by the ndc site 22 specifically presents operation of the ndc site 22 f , it is readily apparent that identical processing at the ndc site 22 c with the ndc site 22 f replacing the client 24 h , and with the nt server 28 replacing the downstream ndc site 22 effects a transfer either : 1 . of images of cached data from the file foo 26 to the ndc site 22 f from the ndc site 22 c , or 2 . of data from the file foo 26 at the nt server 28 through the ndc site 22 c to the ndc site 22 f . after the file foo 26 has been opened in any of the ways described above , the client 24 h may , as depicted in processing block 162 of fig4 issue a write - file request to the client terminator ndc site 22 f which receives the write - file request in processing block 164 . upon receiving the write - file request from the client 24 , the ndc site 22 f in decision block 166 ascertains whether the smb oplock issued by the nt server 28 permitted buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 . if buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 is enabled , the ndc site 22 f in processing block 168 the ndc site 22 copies the data being written to the local cache . regardless of whether or not the smb oplock issued by the nt server 28 permitted buffering ( caching ) at the client 24 , in processing block 172 the ndc site 22 forwards the write - file request together with the data to be written downstream toward the nt server 28 . subsequently , in processing block 174 the client 24 receives a write - file response from the downstream ndc site 22 . after receiving the write - file response from the downstream ndc site 22 , the client terminator ndc site 22 f delivers the write - file response to the client 24 h thereby ending write - file request processing . while the preceding description of write - file request processing by the ndc site 22 specifically presents operation of the ndc site 22 f , it is readily apparent that identical processing at the ndc site 22 c with the ndc site 22 f replacing the client 24 h , and with the nt server 28 replacing the downstream ndc site 22 c effects a transfer of data being written by the client 24 h to the file foo 26 through the ndc sites 22 f and c to the nt server 28 . the nt server 28 in processing a file - open request in processing block 192 of fig6 a and 6b may detect onset of a cws condition , i . e . at least two clients 24 active on the file foo 26 and at least one of them is attempting to write to the file foo 26 . in response to detecting onset of a cws condition , the nt server 28 in processing block 194 dispatches an oplock break message upstream to each client 24 that is active on the file foo 26 . in processing block 196 each oplock break message propagates upstream through ndc sites 22 to a client 24 . in addition to passing the oplock break message upstream to the next ndc site 22 or to the client 24 , in processing block 198 if no upstream client 24 holds an oplock of any level on the file foo 26 , then the ndc sites 22 receiving the oplock break message invalidate any locally cached file image , and mark their channel for file foo 26 as caching - disabled . in processing block 202 the client 24 receives the oplock break message dispatched from the nt server 28 . if the client 24 is not writing the file foo 26 in decision block 204 , then receipt of the oplock break message by the client 24 ends oplock break message processing . however , if the client 24 receiving the oplock break message was writing the file foo 26 , then in processing block 214 the client 24 acknowledges the oplock break message by flushing the dirty data for the file foo 26 downstream to the nt server 28 through the ndc sites 22 . ndc sites 22 receiving the dirty data for the file foo 26 and the oplock break acknowledgement message from the client 24 in processing block 214 pass the acknowledgement message downstream toward the nt server 28 along with any flushed data , and do not copy the data to their local caches ( which have been disabled ). finally , in processing block 216 , the nt server 28 receives any oplock break acknowledgement message and any flushed data to end processing of the oplock break message . fig7 a and 7b provide a decisional flow chart that illustrates how the computer network depicted in fig2 operates in responding to a file - close request from any of the clients 24 . in processing block 232 a client 24 , such as the client 24 h , issues a file - close request to the client terminator ndc site 22 f . the ndc site 22 f in decision block 233 determines if any other client 24 is active on the file foo 26 . if no other client 24 is active on the file foo 26 , in processing block 234 the client terminator ndc site 22 f synchronizes the data cached locally on permanent disk storage for the file foo 26 with the image of the file foo 26 in the ram of the ndc site 22 f . in synchronizing the images of the file foo 26 , the client terminator ndc site 22 f writes the present state both of the data and of metadata for the file file foo 26 from ram to permanent disk storage . the metadata cached locally on permanent disk storage includes the file - last - write - time attribute . if the client terminator ndc site 22 f in decision block 236 determines that the file foo 26 has been written by this client , then in processing block 242 the ndc site 22 sends a set file - last - write - time attribute request downstream to the nt server 28 . the set file - last - write - time request specifies the same value for the file - last - write - time attribute that the ndc site 22 f has stored in the metadata cached locally on permanent disk storage in processing block 234 . in processing block 244 the ndc site 22 h receives from the nt server 28 a response to the set file - last - write - time request . regardless of whether the client 24 h has or has not written the file foo 26 , in processing block 252 the client terminator dispatches a file - close request to the nt server 28 . in processing block 254 the file - close request propagates downstream through ndc sites 22 , such as the ndc site 22 c , which , if no other client 24 is active on the file at the ndc site 22 , synchronize the data and metadata cached locally on permanent disk storage for the file foo 26 as described above for processing block 234 . in processing block 256 the nt server 28 dispatches a message acknowledging the file - close request to the client 24 h . in processing block 262 the acknowledgement message dispatched by the nt server 28 propagates upstream toward the client 24 h until reaching the client terminator ndc site 22 f . if another client 24 is found to be active on the file foo 26 in decision block 233 or if a file - close request has been sent to the nt server 28 , in processing block 264 the client terminator ndc site 22 f delivers the file - close acknowledgement message to the client 24 h thus ending file - close request processing . crm described above using the ndc sites 22 represents a hybrid method for maintaining consistent data caches at remote sites . the crm augments the server - driven consistency mechanism supplied by smb operating in the nt server 28 , which maintains &# 34 ; absolute &# 34 ; consistency on all active cached file images , with a client - driven reconnect mechanism that enables a disconnected ( inactive ) cached file image to be re - validated and &# 34 ; hooked back into &# 34 ; the smb server - driven consistency mechanism . although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that such disclosure is purely illustrative and is not to be interpreted as limiting . for example , nt &# 39 ; s ntfs protocol provides a file - last - change - time attribute which , if available , is preferred in comparison with nt &# 39 ; s file - last - write - time attribute . consequently , without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , various alterations , modifications , and / or alternative applications of the invention will , no doubt , be suggested to those skilled in the art after having read the preceding disclosure . accordingly , it is intended that the following claims be interpreted as encompassing all alterations , modifications , or alternative applications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .
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US-99115697-A
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a device for filing and / or abrading the multiple surfaces and / or edges of an object end so that they are less sharp , rough , dangerous , or so that they better conform to a desired shape . embodiments of the device may comprise filing surfaces for filing the multiple object surfaces and / or edges thereof without requiring substantial repositioning of either the device or the object with surfaces and / or edges being filed . moreover , embodiments of the device may be useful for filing sets of both the inner and outer object surfaces and / or edges thereof without requiring substantial repositioning of either the device or the object , and therefore in a more efficient and less dangerous manner . it is anticipated that some embodiments may comprise filing surfaces arranged in a manner configured to file the surfaces and / or edges of a strut end .
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“ filing ” is defined herein to include both filing and abrading . “ inner filing surfaces ” are defined to mean those filing surfaces for filing the inner edges of a surface and “ outer filing surfaces ” are defined to mean those filing surfaces for filing the outer edges of a surface , regardless of whether the inner filing surfaces or the outer filing surfaces are found on what might otherwise be considered the inside or outside surfaces of a device . embodiments of the filing device described herein may have application for filing the surfaces or edges of objects with different shapes or dimensions , and particular application for objects having multiple surfaces where one surface is at a right angle to another surface , which configuration might increase the difficulty of filing the object . one specific example of such an object , as shown in fig3 , may be a metal strut 19 , or more specifically , a piece of a metal strut 19 that has been cut along its latitudinal axis . the resulting cut strut end 20 may have rough or dangerously sharp edges or warping 21 along both the outer edges 22 a , 23 a , 24 a and the inner edges 22 b , 23 b , 24 b thereof , the filing of which might be more easily accomplished and / or facilitated using embodiments of the device described herein . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of a hand filing device 8 for filing a similar genre of object 9 having an object end 10 comprising several sides 11 , 12 , 13 having outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a and inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b . the embodiment of the hand filing device 8 may have a device end 14 for filing the edges of both the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a and the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b of sides 11 , 12 , 13 of the end of the object 9 . the device end 14 may be comprised of two sets of filing surfaces , one set of outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a for filing the edges of the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a and one set of inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b for filing the edges of the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b of the object sides 11 , 12 , 13 . the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a and the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b of the device end 14 may extend further into the device 14 . in the particular embodiment 8 shown in fig1 , as the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a and the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b extend further into the device 14 , the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a may be incrementally angled inward toward the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b , while the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b may be incrementally angled outward toward the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , and the cross - sectional length l of each filing surface 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , 15 b , 16 b , 17 b , may decrease incrementally as the filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , 15 b , 16 b , 17 b extend further into the device embodiment 8 . the device embodiment 8 may also comprise a hand - controlled part 18 , or grip or handle . the end 10 of the object 9 may be inserted into the device end 14 and placed so that outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a are aligned with the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a of the object end 10 , or so that the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b are aligned with the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b of the object end 10 , or so that both the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a and the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b are aligned with the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a and the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b respectively , or so that outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a are aligned with the edges of the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a of the object end 10 , or so that the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b are aligned with the edges of the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b of the object end 10 , or so that both the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a and the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b are aligned with the both the edges of the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a and the edges of the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b respectively , and at the same time . by moving the hand - controlled part 18 in a predetermined manner - for example , in the embodiment shown this movement may be some form of a back and forth motion about the longitudinal axis of the device 14 - and while applying pressure against either some of the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a or edges thereof by some of the outer filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , or against some of the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b or edges thereof by some of the inner filing surfaces 15 b , 16 b , 17 b , some of the surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a , 11 b , 12 b , 13 b or edges thereof of the object 9 may be filed by the filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , 15 b , 16 b , 17 b of the device 8 . said filing may potentially occur , moreover , without requiring substantial repositioning of the object 9 with respect to the filing device 8 in order to switch from filing some inside surface 11 b , 12 b , 13 b ( and / or edge thereof ) to filing another inside surface 11 b , 12 b , 13 b ( and / or edge thereof ), or to switch from filing some outside surface 11 a , 12 a , 13 a ( and / or edge thereof ) to filing a different outside surface 11 a , 12 a , 13 a ( and / or edge thereof ), or , in the embodiment of the device end shown 14 , to switch from filing some inside surface 11 b , 12 b , 13 b ( and / or edge thereof ) to filing some outside surface 11 a , 12 a , 13 a ( and / or edge thereof ), or vice versa . particular configurations of filing surfaces may vary according to embodiment . for example , another hand - filing device embodiment 25 , as shown in fig5 a and 5b , similar to the embodiment of the device shown in fig1 and 2 , may also comprise both inner filing surfaces 28 b , 29 b , 30 b ( fig5 a ) and outer filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a ( fig5 b ) for filing respectively the inside surfaces 11 b , 12 b , 13 b ( and / or edges thereof ) and the outside surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a ( and / or edges thereof ) of the sides 11 , 12 , 13 of an object 9 — for example , more specifically for filing the rough and / or dangerously sharp edges 21 along the outer surfaces 22 a , 23 a , 24 a and the inner surfaces 22 b , 23 b , 24 b of a cut strut end 20 — yet said filing inner filing surfaces 28 b , 29 b , 30 b and outer filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a of the device embodiment 25 shown in fig5 a and 5b may be located on opposite device ends 26 , 27 , rather than the same end 14 as shown in fig1 and 2 . in addition , similar to the embodiment 8 shown in fig1 and 2 , the embodiment of the hand - filing device 25 shown in fig5 a and 5b may comprise outer filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a that extend from the first device end 26 and as they extend , incrementally angle inward towards the inner filing surfaces 28 b , 29 b , 30 b . in the device embodiment 25 shown , the inner filing surfaces 28 b , 29 b , 30 b may also be incrementally angled toward the outer filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a . in the device embodiment 25 shown , the cross - sectional length l of the filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a , 28 b , 29 b , 30 b may also incrementally increase from the first device end 26 to the second device end 27 . the embodiment of the hand - filing device 25 may also comprise a hand - controlled part 31 , or grip or handle . this embodiment of the hand - filing device 25 may allow an object ( e . g ., 9 ) having surfaces for filing ( e . g ., 11 a , 12 a , 13 a , 11 b , 12 b , 13 b ), such as for example the cut strut end 20 of fig3 to be inserted into the first device end 26 so that the strut outer surfaces 22 a , 23 a , 24 a ( and / or edges thereof ) are aligned with the outer filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a . then , by moving the hand - controlled part 31 in a predetermined manner — for example , by a back and forth motion about the longitudinal axis of the device 25 — and while applying pressure against some of the outside surfaces 22 a , 23 a , 24 a ( and / or edges thereof ) by some of the outer filing surfaces 28 a , 29 a , 30 a , some of the outside surfaces 22 a , 23 a , 24 a ( and / or edges thereof ) may be filed , and this without requiring substantial repositioning of either the strut piece 19 or the hand - filing device 25 in order to file a different outside edge 22 a , 23 a , 24 a . similarly , the cut strut end 20 may be positioned over the second device end 27 so that the cut strut end &# 39 ; s 19 inner edges 22 b , 23 b , 24 b align with the inner filing surfaces 28 b , 29 b , 30 b of the hand - filer device 25 . then , also by moving the hand - controlled part 31 in a predetermined manner — for example , by some form of a back and forth motion about the longitudinal axis of the device 25 — and while applying pressure against some of the inner edges 22 b , 23 b , 24 b by some of the inner filing surfaces 28 b , 29 b , 30 b , some of the inner filing surfaces 22 b , 23 b , 24 b , may likewise be filed , and this without requiring substantial repositioning of either the strut piece 19 or the hand - filing device 25 to file a different inner edge 22 b , 23 b , 24 b . embodiments and shapes of the device may vary according to desired function and preference . in particular , the precise styles , designs , dimensions , and configurations of filing surfaces , and device ends comprising such filing surfaces , may vary according to the surfaces ( and / or edges thereof ) of an object to be filed . for example , as shown in fig5 , although one device end 14 a may comprise filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , 15 b , 16 b , 17 b having certain sizes and dimensions , other device ends 14 b , 14 c , 14 d ( of a similar style of the device embodiment 8 shown in fig1 - 2 ) may comprise filing sets of surfaces 32 , 33 , 34 of different sizes and cross - sectional lengths . in addition , the amount or distance filing surfaces 14 a , 15 a , 16 a , 14 b , 15 b , 16 b of a device end 14 a ( for the similar style of the device embodiment 8 shown in fig1 - 2 ) may extend into the device 8 a from the device end 14 a , and the degree and direction ( if any ) to which the filing surfaces 14 a , 15 a , 16 a , 14 b , 15 b , 16 b are incrementally angled may also vary according to object , user objective , preference , or desired filing effects . for example , another embodiment of a hand - filing device 35 ( somewhat similar in appearance to the embodiment 8 shown in fig1 - 2 ) may comprise a device end 36 a comprising filing surfaces 37 b , 38 b , 39 b , 37 a , 38 a , 39 a that may not extend substantially into the device 35 ( or into a hollow cavity 40 inside the body / casing 41 of the device 35 ), or that may not be angled incrementally in any direction . moreover , similar to the embodiment 8 a shown in fig5 , other variations of device ends 36 b , 36 c , 36 d may also comprise filing sets of surfaces 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 of varying sizes and cross - sectional lengths . moreover , the device ends 14 a , 14 b , 14 c , 14 d of the device embodiment 14 shown in fig5 , and the device ends 36 a , 36 b , 36 c , 36 d , 36 e of the device embodiment shown in fig6 , may be removable , interchangeable , and replaceable ( for example , for when a particular filing surface has worn dull through usage ). the manner in which the removable , interchangeable , and replaceable device ends may be inserted or attached to the device may also vary according to embodiment . for example , in the embodiment of the device 35 shown in fig6 , device ends 36 a , 36 b , 36 c , 36 d , 36 e may fit directly onto the device , and in the embodiment of the device 8 a shown in fig5 , a bottom side 46 of the device 8 a may be hinged 47 and fall away , allowing the device ends 36 a , 36 b , 36 c , 36 d , 36 e to slide securely up and into the device 8 a in tracks of grooves 48 . as shown in fig4 a , 4 b , 5 , and 6 , the hand controlled parts ( i . e ., handle / grip ) 18 , 31 , 49 , 50 and the bodies 41 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 of different embodiments may vary in design and features . for example , embodiments having casing / bodies 41 , 51 , 52 , 53 with hollow cavities 40 , 55 may collect shavings 56 resulting from the filing , as shown in fig7 . for device embodiments 8 , 8 a , 8 c ( fig1 , 5 ) comprising device ends 14 , 14 a , 14 b , 14 c , 14 d where filing surfaces 15 a , 16 a , 17 a , 15 b , 16 b , 17 b may form somewhat of an enclosed channel / chamber 57 , the channel / chamber 57 may comprise a back end 58 that is enclosed , allowing the shavings 56 from filing to exit the chamber 57 and into the cavity 55 ( which may then exit the cavity 55 of the casing 51 by the opening of the bottom side 46 ), as shown in fig7 . as also shown in fig7 , one embodiment of the hand - filer 8 c may also comprise a storage compartment 59 for storing other device ends 14 b , 14 c , which may be accessible by a second hinged bottom side 60 of the device 8 c . in addition , embodiments of the device 8 c may comprise a file 61 allowing for touching up particular areas or surfaces 11 a , 12 a , 13 a , 11 b , 12 b , 13 b , 22 a , 23 a , 24 a , 22 b , 23 b , 24 b ( or edges thereof ) of an object 9 , 19 being filed ( shown in fig1 , 3 , 7 ), which file 61 may be conveniently stored when not in use in a non - obtrusive and non - protruding manner but when in use may extend or even detach from the device embodiment 8 c .
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US-201414246473-A
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the use of amidoamines to treat or prevent infections attributable to acanthamoeba and fungi is described . the amidoamines are highly effective against both acanthamoeba and fungi , and are less toxic to delicate tissues that may become infected with these types of microorganisms .
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the amidoamines utilized in the present invention comprise one or more compounds of the following formula , or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof ( e . g ., hydrohalide salts ): r 1 —( och 2 ch 2 ) m — x —( ch 2 ) n — y ( i ) z is oxygen or nr 4 ; r 1 is c 6 - c 18 saturated or unsaturated alkyl , alkylaryl , or alkoxyaryl ; m is zero to 16 ; n is 2 to 16 ; r 2 , r 3 , and r 4 are independently hydrogen , c 1 - c 8 saturated or unsaturated alkyl or hydroxyalkyl , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . the compounds wherein m is 0 to 5 , n is 2 to 4 , r 2 is hydrogen or methyl , r 3 is methyl or ethyl , and r 4 is hydrogen , methyl or hydroxyethyl are particularly preferred , as are the compounds of table 1 , below : some of the amidoamines utilized in the present invention are available from commercial sources . for example , compound no . 4 is available as miristocor ®, myristamidopropyl dimethylamine phosphate , from hoffman - la roche inc ., nutley , n . j . ( usa ), and as schercodine m from scher chemicals inc ., clifton , n . j . ( usa ); compound no . 5 is available as lexamine ® l - 13 , lauramidopropyl dimethylamine , from inolex chemical company , philadelphia , pa . ( usa ); and compound no . 1 is available as lexamine ® s - 13 , stearamidopropyl dimethylamine , also from inolex chemical company . the above - described amidoamines can be synthesized in accordance with known techniques , including those described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 573 , 726 ( dassanayake , et al . ), the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated in the present specification by reference . examples of general reaction schemes which may be utilized are provided below . the following reaction scheme may be utilized to synthesize compounds wherein in the foregoing reaction scheme , a is a good leaving group , such as chloride or n - hydroxysuccinimide . the following reaction scheme may be utilized to synthesize compounds wherein the following article may be referred to for further details concerning the synthesis of the amidoamines of formula ( i ): muzyczko , et al ., “ fatty amidoamine derivatives : n , n - dimethyl - n -( 3 - alkylamidopropyl ) amines and their salts ”, journal of the american oil chemists &# 39 ; society , volume 45 , number 11 , pages 720 - 725 ( 1968 ). the amidoamines of formula ( i ) can be used individually , in combination with one or more other compounds of formula ( i ), or in combination with other antimicrobial agents . the compounds may , for example , be used in combination with cationic antiseptics , aminoglycoside antibiotics , quinolone antibiotics , oxazolidinone antibiotics or tetracycline . examples of suitable cationic antiseptics include biguanides , such as chlorhexidine and polyhexamethylene biguanide (“ phmb ”), and quaternary - ammonium compounds , such as benzalkonium chloride and polyquaternium - 1 . the compositions of the present invention may also contain one or more low molecular weight amino alcohols to further enhance the antimicrobial activity of the compositions . the preferred amino alcohol is 2 - amino - 2 - methyl - propanol (“ amp ”). the term “ amp 95 ” refers to a commercially available solution ( angus chemical company , buffalo grove , ill .) that contains 95 % pure amp and 5 % water . amp 95 is the most preferred low molecular weight amino alcohol . the amount of the amidoamines of formula ( i ) utilized in the compositions of the present invention will depend on the purpose of the use , e . g ., the treatment of an active infection or the prophylactic treatment of tissues to prevent an active infection from developing . the amount utilized will also depend on the particular tissues being treated . for example , lower concentrations will typically be utilized to treat especially sensitive tissues , such as ophthalmic tissues , while somewhat higher concentrations may be utilized to treat less sensitive tissues , such as the skin . the amount of amidoamine utilized will also depend on the presence or absence of other antimicrobial agents in the present compositions . the concentrations determined to be necessary for the above - stated purposes can be functionally described as “ an antiinfective amount ”, “ an antimicrobial effective amount ” or variations thereof . the concentrations utilized will generally be in the range of from about 0 . 00001 to about 0 . 1 weight / volume percent ( w / v %). the amidoamines of formula ( i ) may be included in various types of pharmaceutical compositions . the compositions may be aqueous or nonaqueous , but will generally be aqueous . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , the compositions may contain a wide variety of ingredients , such as tonicity agents ( e . g ., sodium chloride or mannitol ), surfactants ( e . g ., polyoxyethylene / polyoxypropylene copolymers , such as poloxamine ™), viscosity adjusting agents ( e . g ., hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and other cellulose derivatives ) and buffering agents ( e . g ., borates , citrates , phosphates and carbonates ). the inclusion of borate and / or one or more surfactants in the compositions has been found to enhance the overall antimicrobial activity of the compositions . the inclusion of such agents is therefore desirable in most cases . it has been found that the amidoamines of formula ( i ) are most active under alkaline conditions . accordingly , the compositions of the present invention will preferably be formulated to have a ph greater than 7 . the ideal ph values for compositions containing specific amidoamines of formula ( i ) can be determined by means of routine experimentation , but these values will generally be in the range of 7 . 5 to 8 . 0 . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , ophthalmic compositions intended for direct application to the eye will be formulated so as to have a ph and tonicity which are compatible with the eye . this will normally require a buffer to maintain the ph of the composition at or near physiologic ph ( i . e ., 7 . 4 ) and may require a tonicity agent to bring the osmolality of the composition near to 300 milliosmoles . however , as indicated above , a slightly alkaline ph is preferred in order to maximize the antimicrobial effect of the amidoamines of formula ( i ). the compositions of the present inventions are preferably utilized to treat acanthamoeba and fungal infections by applying the compositions to the affected tissues from a few to several times per day . the amount of composition applied and the frequency of application are dependent on the particular type of tissue being treated and the severity of the infection . the following examples are presented to further illustrate methods of synthesizing the amidoamines of formula ( i ), pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds , and the antimicrobial activity of these compounds relative to acanthamoeba and fungi . 2 . 0 g . ( 0 . 0196 moles ) of 3 - dimethylaminopropylamine in 40 ml chloroform was added dropwise to an ice cold chloroform solution ( 50 ml ) of myristoyl chloride ( 4 . 17 g ., 0 . 0169 moles ). after addition , the ice bath was removed and the solution was stirred for 2 hours . a 25 ml aqueous sodium bicarbonate solution was added and stirred for 30 minutes . the organic layer was then washed with 30 ml aqueous sodium bicarbonate / sodium chloride solution and dried with magnesium sulfate . the solution was concentrated in vacuo and the amide was recrystallized in ethyl acetate to yield 3 . 29 g . ( 0 . 0105 moles , 62 . 3 %) of the subject compound . 1 h nmr ( 200 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ6 . 9 ( s , 1h , nh ), 3 . 3 ( q , 3h , nhc h 2 ), 2 . 4 ( t , 2h , nch 2 ), 2 . 22 ( s , 6h , nch 3 ), 2 . 15 ( t , 2h , coch 2 ), 1 . 7 − 1 . 5 ( m , 4h , coch 2 c h 2 and nhch 2 c h 2 ), 1 . 25 ( s , 20h , coch 2 ch 2 ( c h 2 ) 10 ), 0 . 88 ( t , 3h , ch 3 ). elemental analysis : calculated for c 19 h 40 n 2 o ( 312 . 52 ): c , 73 . 02 ; h , 12 . 90 ; n , 8 . 96 . found : c , 72 . 96 ; h , 12 . 92 ; n , 8 . 93 . the following formulations are examples of aqueous compositions containing the amidoamines of formula ( i ). the formulations are suitable for topical application to the eye and other tissues . the following experiment was conducted to evaluate the activity of the amidoamines of formula ( i ) against acanthamoeba . a 0 . 1 % stock solution of compound no . 4 was prepared . the compound was dissolved in tris buffer 1 by gently heating and swirling . the final ph was adjusted to 7 . 8 with 1n hcl . the tris buffer control showed that growth of acanthamoeba was not inhibited by the tris . to prepare the samples , a 0 . 1 % stock solution of compound no . 4 was serially diluted in mueller hinton broth ( mhb ) 2 , 3 ( bbl ) to provide concentrations of 0 . 01 w / v %, 0 . 001 w / v %, 0 . 0001 w / v %, and 0 . 00001 w / v %, respectively . solutions containing 0 . 02 w / v % polyhexamethylene biguanide ( phmp ) and 0 . 1 w / v % chlorhexidine , respectively , were also utilized as controls . the samples were inoculated with low levels ( approximately 3 . 0 × 10 2 organisms / ml ) of the test organism . the test organism was acanthamoeba polyphaga cysts ( atcc 30871 ) produced 14 days in . pyg and then 14 days in page &# 39 ; s saline , followed by one month of refrigeration . the samples were checked for survivors at 4 , 24 , and 48 hours post inoculation . the samples were serially diluted in dey - engley neutralizing broth ( de ) ( difco ) and plated in quadruplicate in tissue culture plate wells containing non - nutrient agar overlaid with e . coli . plates were sealed and incubated for 14 days at 30 - 35 ° c . results were recorded and counts calculated using the reed and muench computation . the results are set forth in table 2 below : 3 mhb is recommended as the medium of choice by the national committee for clinical laboratory standards ( nccls ) m7 - a5 , vol . 20 , no . 2 , pg . 10 ) for susceptibility testing of commonly isolated , rapidly growing organisms . the following experiment was conducted to evaluate the activity of the amidoamines of formula ( 1 ) against fungi . a 0 . 1 % stock solution of compound no . 4 was prepared . the compound was dissolved in tris buffer 1 by gently heating and swirling . the final ph was adjusted to 7 . 8 with 1n hcl . the tris buffer control showed that growth of the fungi was not inhibited by the tris . to prepare the samples , a 0 . 1 % stock solution of compound no . 4 was serially diluted in mueller hinton broth ( mhb ) 2 , 3 ( bbl ) to provide solutions containing compound no . 4 in concentrations of 0 . 01 w / v %, 0 . 001 w / v %, 0 . 0001 w / v %, and 0 . 00001 w / v %, respectively . solutions containing 0 . 02 w / v % phmb and 0 . 1 w / v % chlorhexidine , respectively , were utilized as controls . the samples were inoculated with low levels ( approximately 1 . 0 × 10 3 organisms / ml ) of the test organism . the test organisms included the fungi c . albicans atcc 10231 and f . solani atcc 36031 . the samples were checked for survivors at 4 , 24 , and 48 hours post inoculation . the samples were serially diluted in dey engley neutralizing broth ( de ) ( difco ) and plated in duplicate using trypicase soy agar containing 0 . 07 % asolectin and 0 . 5 % tween 80 . the plates were incubated for 5 days at 20 - 25 ° c . and plate counts recorded . the results are set forth in table 3 , below . 3 mhb is recommended as the medium of choice by the national committee for clinical laboratory standards ( nccls ) m7 - a5 , vol . 20 , no . 2 , pg . 10 ) for susceptibility testing of commonly isolated , rapidly growing organisms . the following experiment was conducted to determine the minimum cysticidal concentration (“ mcc ”) of compound no . 4 against five strains of acanthamoeba , and compare the mcc values for compound no . 4 to those for chlorhexidine . two different vehicles were utilized to prepare solutions containing compound no . 4 . the first vehicle was the same as the vehicle described in formulation no . 4 ( see example 2 , above ), and the second vehicle was a 2 mm tris . hcl solution ( ph 7 . 8 ). minimum cysticidal levels of compound no . 4 for acanthamoeba keratitis strains was determined as follows . briefly , 100 μl serial , two - fold dilutions were prepared across the rows of a microtitre plate . control wells received only diluent . an equal volume of five strains of acanthamoba cysts were added to the wells and the plates sealed and incubated at 32 ° c . for 24 hours . using a multi - channel pipette , the solutions in the wells were removed and replaced with 200 μl of ¼ strength lactated ringer &# 39 ; s solution and left at room temperature for 15 minutes . the washing procedure was repeated twice more before finally filling the wells with 100 μl of ¼ strength lactated ringer &# 39 ; s solution containing live e . coli at an o . d . 540 of 0 . 2 . the plates were then sealed and incubated at 32 ° c . for up to 7 days . the minimum cysticidal concentration ( mcc ) was defined as the lowest concentration of antimicrobial solution that resulted in no excystment and trophozoite replication . the mcc values for compound no . 4 and chlorhexidine against the five acanthamoeba strains ( nna cysts ) tested are set forth in table 4 , below . the efficacy of a formulation containing 0 . 0005 % of compound no . 4 was tested against several species of both yeast and mold . ( the formulation tested was opti - free ® express ® multi - purpose disinfecting solution , which is identical to formulation no . 4 in example 2 above , expect that the opti - free ® express solution also contains polyquaternium - 1 in a concentration of 0 . 001 w / v %.) the formulation was inoculated to contain approximately 1 × 10 6 cfu / ml of the inoculum . samples were serially diluted in dey - engley medium and plated in soybean - casein digest agar containing neutralizers . the plates were incubated and the numbers of survivors were recorded . the average reduction for mold was 2 . 9 - log units and yeasts were reduced by an average of 3 . 9 - log units after 6 - hours of exposure to the formulation . the test results are presented in table 5 below .
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US-41583603-A
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the invention provides novel mass transfer elements with a corrugated body structure and having ends turned back in a direction opposed to the curves of the corrugations such that the ends are turned towards one another . these elements are particularly effective as random dumped packing for mass transfer towers , providing a combination of high surface area and low pressure drop .
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a new design for a random packing mass transfer element has now been discovered that produces a very advantageous balance of desirable properties . the mass transfer element of the invention comprises first and second , generally parallel , opposed major surfaces with length and breadth dimensions , said element being deformed along parallel axes in the breadth dimension so as to provide , with respect to the first major surface , at least one convexity intermediate between the ends of the length dimension and a pair of opposed concavities adjacent the ends of the length dimension such that opposed ends of the body face generally towards one another . in the simplest form the element has a uniform thickness and a uniform cross - section taken in the length direction that has the general shape of the number 3 . the cross - section along the length direction can vary along the length so as to make the element thicker at either the ends or in the middle portion or to vary in any other desired fashion . variations in thickness of up to about 50 % can be tolerated without departing from the provision that the element has first and second surfaces that are &# 34 ; generally parallel &# 34 ; as the term is to be interpreted herein . usually however a uniform cross - section is preferred to ensure equal strength at all points and greater ease of manufacture . the permitted variation also include the provision of a &# 34 ; rippled &# 34 ; surface for the first and second major surfaces . these &# 34 ; ripples &# 34 ; increase the surface area of the body without significantly changing the overall dimensions and are very much smaller than the concavities and convexities which form characterizing features of the present invention . the length on the element can vary across the breadth direction so as to provide for example a &# 34 ; waisted &# 34 ; portion or a degree of tapering towards the ends . often it is advantageous to provide a scalloped edge to the body along either or both of the length and breadth directions such that these dimensions can vary constantly . the extent of the convexity in the first major surface , which in preferred cases is mirrored by a corresponding concavity on the opposed second major surface , is preferably such that the smallest radius of curvature on the convexity is greater than the thickness of the element . however it is also possible that the convexity is in the form of a ridge line across the breadth of the element in which case the height of the ridge should preferably be greater than the thickness of the element . the concavities at the ends of the element preferably are symmetrical in terms of dimensions and location . the radii of curvature of the concavities are preferably too small to accommodate the end of a similar element . this may be for example because the element has ends with enlarged thickness , ( for example a beaded end shape ), such that they are too large to fit within the concavity or that the concavity is too small to accommodate the thickness of the end of a second element even without such increased end thickness . the concavities should also preferably be sufficiently pronounced that the each end is bent through an angle of at least 150 ° and more preferably at least 180 °. the objective of these design variations is to ensure that the elements are not able to &# 34 ; nest &# 34 ; together in a fashion that would create increased local pressure drop , while at the same time maximizing the surface area exposed and available to perform mass transfer functions . a further desirable feature is the provision of holes piercing the element and connecting the first and second major surfaces . the holes have the function of increasing the flow capacity without sacrificing efficiency or leading to increased pressure drop . each element is preferably provided with at least one such hole but three or even more are preferred provided that these do not compromise the ability of the element to withstand the conditions under which it is to be used . often the elements are dumped into a tower reactor in a layer several meters in thickness . this can lead to considerable pressure on the elements at the bottom of the tower as a result of the weight of those above . thus the element preferably has as many holes as the element thickness , the hole dimensions and the desired application permit , consistent with the above considerations . the location of the holes is preferably in the region of maximum concavity or convexity . thus , whatever the orientation of the element in a tower , liquids contacting a major surface and running across such surface to the lowest point thereof will pass over an edge or down a hole rather than collect in a pool . the element can be formed of any of the materials from which mass transfer elements are typically formed . these include metal , plastic and ceramic . generally the application determines to some extent the material that is to be used . fig1 is a perspective view of a mass transfer element according to the invention . in the drawing , the element , 1 , has first and second major surfaces , 2 and 3 respectively , and a thickness , &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;. at about the midpoint of the element there is a convexity , 4 , in the first major surface , and a corresponding concavity in the second major surface . adjacent the opposed ends of the element there are concavities , 5 , formed in the first major surface of the element so as to cause the ends , 6 , to be turned back through 180 ° so as to face towards each other . in the body of the element there are provided holes , 7 , which communicate between the opposed major surfaces and are located at the points of greatest curvature of the concavities and the convexity . the element is preferably made by extruding a ceramic material through a die having the shape of the cross - sectional shape of the element but a molding process can readily be devised to produce the same shapes . certain optional design variations within the scope of this invention however can only be produced from a plastic or ceramic material using a molding process . elements made from metal are most frequently made by a process that includes stamping out an appropriate shape and then deforming the stamped out shape to the appropriate configuration .
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US-67675696-A
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an object - oriented method and system for transferring a file system including folders and data files from a source data storage controlled by a source data processing unit to a destination data storage controlled by a destination data processing unit over a transfer medium . this method consists in building in the source data storage at least one file object containing the data package to be transferred , generating a descriptor file including the parameters associated with the file object , generating an archive file including the data package , and transmitting the descriptor file and the archive file from the source data processing unit to the destination data processing unit over the transfer medium .
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a file system to be transferred according to the method of the invention includes directories , or folders , and files as shown in fig1 . such a file system is represented as a tree beginning with one and only one root directory called a repository ( repos ). the repository includes a plurality of directories such as dir . x , dir . y , dir . z and can be itself the directory of files directly attached thereto . each directory can be divided into a plurality of subdirectories such as sdir . x or sdir . y and so on , and each folder such as dir . z or sdir . x can be the directory of files directly attached thereto . the tree depth ( the number of folder levels ) depends upon the operating system of the source data processing unit in which are stored the files . the principle of the method according to the invention is to build objects based upon the file transfer tool model shown in fig2 . such a model enables one to build a data encapsulation by functions . for this , it is composed of two parts described as follows : a get environment function , which gives the first four body elements ( directory name , installed directory , size , and version ); a set environment function , which sets the first four body elements ( directory name , installed directory , size , and version ); a create function , which makes the data package and complete body element ( installed directory , size , and version ); and an install data function , which gives the action required on data package such as uncompress or copy data ; and an installed directory , which is the parent directory under where the object component will be installed ; each object built in the storage of the source data processing unit according to the above model represents each directory just after the root with all subdirectories and the corresponding files . thus , the file system shown in fig1 will be built into three object components ( comp ) 10 , 12 , and 14 as represented in fig3 . object component 10 includes all files of dir . x , object component 12 includes all files of dir . y and object component 14 includes all files of dir . z . when the root repos includes itself files , such as is the case for the file system of fig1 a particular object structure ( struct ) 16 containing the root directory repos and the associated files must be built always according to the file transfer tool model shown in fig2 . differently from the other object components , it is just necessary to polymorph the function “ create ” because only files must be taken into account to build the data package . while the invention is described by building an object component for each first level of directory only , it must be noted that the same type of object components could be also built for each other level of directory such as sdir . x or sdir . y . the purpose of building the objects ( comp or struct ) is to generate two files , a descriptor file and an archive file in the storage of the source data processing unit , which will be sent from the source data processing unit to the destination data processing unit . for this generation , the functions in the header of the object are defined as follows : function : set the data parameter directory name to value in the descriptor file of the object obj function : return from descriptor file of object obj the parameters directory name , installed directory , size , and version function : set the data parameters directory name , installed directory , size , and version to parameterlist in the descriptor file of the object obj 2 . evaluate the size of directories and files which are inside the archive file and set object data parameter obj :: size to this size 3 . set obj :: installed directory to the parent directory of obj :: directory name 3 . evaluate the size of directories and files which have been unpacked from archive file and compare to obj :: size function : set the data parameter directory name to value in the descriptor file of the object obj function : return from descriptor file of object obj the parameters directory name , installed directory , size , and version function : set the data parameters directory name , installed directory , size , and version to parameterlist in the descriptor file of the object obj 1 . create the archive file from obj :: directory name taking only the files 2 . evaluate the size of directories and files which are inside the archive file and set object data parameter obj :: size to this size 3 . evaluate the size of directories and files which have been unpacked from the archive file and compare to obj :: size referring to fig4 the steps performed to generate the files to be sent are the following . first of all , a variable x is set to 0 ( step 20 ). it is then determined whether the object is struct or not ( step 22 ). as x = 0 , the object to be processed is struct . the following step consists in defining the descriptor file of the object struct in memory ( step 24 ). then , the directory name is set to the value of the root name repos ( step 26 ). the archive file is created and all the remaining parameters of the descriptor file are set ( step 28 ). finally , variable x is set to 1 ( step 30 ) before coming back to determining that the object to be processed is now comp 1 since x = 1 ( step 22 ). a list of all directories under the root directory repos is first created ( step 32 ). a variable item is set to the indexed element of the list ( step 34 ). the following step consists in defining the descriptor file of the object comp in memory ( step 36 ). then , the directory name is set to the value of the item directory ( step 38 ). the archive file associated with the object is then created and the remaining parameters of the descriptor file are set ( step 40 ). after that , a test is made to check whether the item being processed is the last one of the list ( step 42 ). if so , the process is ended ( step 44 ). if it is not the case , x is set to x + 1 ( step 46 ) before returning the process to setting item to the indexed element of the list ( step 34 ). when the descriptor file and the archive file are received by the destination data processing unit , they are stored into the storage of the unit and the algorithm as illustrated in fig5 is performed . first of all , a variable x is set to 0 ( step 50 ). it is then determined whether the received object is of the type struct or not ( step 52 ). as x = 0 at the beginning , the object to be processed is struct . the following steps consist in reading the descriptor file of the object ( step 54 ) and then defining the object struct from the information contained in the descriptor file stored in the storage of the destination processing unit ( step 56 ). then , the environment parameter is set with the value got when reading the received descriptor file ( step 58 ), and the data contained in the archive file is unarchived and installed in the storage ( step 60 ). finally , variable x is set to 1 ( step 62 ) before the process comes back to determining the object to be processed is now comp 1 since x = 1 ( step 52 ). a list of all objects of the comp type is first created ( step 64 ). a variable item is set to the indexed element of the list ( step 66 ). the following steps consist in reading the descriptor file of the object comp ( step 68 ) and then defining the object in the storage of the destination data processing unit ( step 70 ). then , the environment parameter is set with the value got when reading the corresponding descriptor file ( step 72 ), and the data contained in the archive file is unarchived and installed into the storage ( step 74 ). after that , a test is made to check whether the item being processed is the last one of the list ( step 76 ). if so , the process is ended ( step 78 ). if it is not the case , variable x is set to x + 1 ( step 80 ) before returning the process to setting item to the indexed element x of the list . the method described here above applies to all structures composed of folders and files such as the file systems for the e - business software distribution used for windows platform code . such a method enables one to reduce the number of elements to be transmitted and therefore increases the knowledge of the application contents . it also reduces the verification process , improves the delivery reliability , and enables one to update easily the structure already installed .
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US-99210301-A
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the invention relates to an inductor comprising a plurality of interconnected conductive segments interwoven with a substrate . the inductance of the inductor is increased through the use of coatings and films of ferromagnetic materials such as magnetic metals , alloys , and oxides . the inductor is compatible with integrated circuit manufacturing techniques and eliminates the need in many systems and circuits for large off chip inductors . a sense and measurement coil , which is fabricated on the same substrate as the inductor , provides the capability to measure the magnetic field or flux produced by the inductor . this on chip measurement capability supplies information that permits circuit engineers to design and fabricate on chip inductors to very tight tolerances .
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in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments , reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof , and in which is shown by way of illustration specific preferred embodiments in which the invention may be practiced . these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention , and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical , mechanical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . the following detailed description is , therefore , not to be taken in a limiting sense , and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims . fig1 a is a cutaway view of some embodiments of inductor 100 of the present invention . inductor 100 includes substrate 103 , a plurality of conductive segments 106 , a plurality of conductive segments 109 , and magnetic film layers 112 and 113 . the plurality of conductive segments 109 interconnect the plurality of conductive segments 106 to form highly conductive path 114 interwoven with substrate 103 . magnetic film layers 112 and 113 are formed on substrate 103 in core area 115 of highly conductive path 114 . substrate 103 provides the structure in which highly conductive path 114 that constitutes an inductive coil is interwoven . substrate 103 , in one embodiment , is fabricated from a crystalline material . in another embodiment , substrate 103 is fabricated from a single element doped or undoped semiconductor material , such as silicon or germanium . alternatively , substrate 103 is fabricated from gallium arsenide , silicon carbide , or a partially magnetic material having a crystalline or amorphous structure . substrate 103 is not limited to a single layer substrate . multiple layer substrates , coated or partially coated substrates , and substrates having a plurality of coated surfaces are all suitable for use in connection with the present invention . the coatings include insulators , ferromagnetic materials , and ma ( 3 nctic oxides . insulators protect the inductive coil and separate the electrically conductive inductive coil from other conductors , such as signal carrying circuit lines . coatings and films of ferromagnetic materials , such as magnetic metals , alloys , and oxides , increase the inductance of the inductive coil . substrate 103 has a plurality of surfaces 118 . the plurality of surfaces 118 is not limited to oblique surfaces . in one embodiment , at least two of the plurality of surfaces 118 are parallel . in an alternate embodiment , a first pair of parallel surfaces are substantially perpendicular to a second pair of surfaces . in still another embodiment , the surfaces are planarized . since most integrated circuit manufacturing processes are designed to work with substrates having a pair of relatively flat or planarized parallel surfaces , the use of parallel surfaces simplifies the manufacturing process for forming highly conductive path 114 of inductor 100 . substrate 103 has a plurality of holes , perforations , or other substrate subtending paths 121 that can be filled , plugged , partially filed , partially plugged , or lined with a conducting material . in fig1 a , substrate subtending paths 121 are filled by the plurality of conducting segments 106 . the shape of the perforations , holes , or other substrate subtending paths 121 is not limited to a particular shape . circular , square , rectangular , and triangular shapes are all suitable for use in connection with the present invention . the plurality of holes , perforations , or other substrate subtending paths 121 , in one embodiment , are substantially parallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to substantially parallel surfaces of the substrate . highly conductive path 114 is interwoven with a single layer substrate or a multilayer substrate , such as substrate 103 in combination with magnetic film layers 112 and 113 , to form an inductive element that is at least partially embedded in the substrate . if the surface of the substrate is coated , for example with magnetic film 112 , then conductive path 114 is located at least partially above the coating , pierces the coated substrate , and is interlaced with the coated substrate . highly conductive path 114 has an inductance value and is in the shape of a coil . the shape of each loop of the coil interlaced with the substrate is not limited to a particular geometric shape . for example , circular , square , rectangular , and triangular loops are suitable for use in connection with the present invention . highly conductive path 114 , in one embodiment , intersects a plurality of substantially parallel surfaces and fills a plurality of substantially parallel holes . highly conductive path 114 is formed from a plurality of interconnected conductive segments . the conductive segments , in one embodiment , are a pair of substantially parallel rows of conductive columns interconnected by a plurality of conductive segments to form a plurality of loops . highly conductive path 114 , in one embodiment , is fabricated from a metal conductor , such as aluminum , copper , or gold or an alloy of a such a metal conductor . aluminum , copper , or gold , or an alloy is used to fill or partially fill the holes , perforations , or other paths subtending the substrate to form a plurality of conductive segments . alternatively , a conductive material may be used to plug the holes , perforations , or other paths subtending the substrate to form a plurality of conductive segments . in general , higher conductivity materials are preferred to lower conductivity materials . in one embodiment , conductive path 114 is partially diffused into the substrate or partially diffused into the crystalline structure . for a conductive path comprised of segments , each segment , in one embodiment , is fabricated from a different conductive material . an advantage of interconnecting segments fabricated from different conductive materials to form a conductive path is that the properties of the conductive path are easily tuned through the choice of the conductive materials . for example , the internal resistance of a conductive path is increased by selecting a material having a higher resistance for a segment than the average resistance in the rest of the path . in an alternate embodiment , two different conductive materials are selected for fabricating a conductive path . in this embodiment , materials are selected based on their compatibility with the available integrated circuit manufacturing processes . for example , if it is difficult to create a barrier layer where the conductive path pierces the substrate , then the conductive segments that pierce the substrate are fabricated from aluminum . similarly , if it is relatively easy to create a barrier layer for conductive segments that interconnect the segments that pierce the substrate , then copper is used for these segments . highly conductive path 114 is comprised of two types of conductive segments . the first type includes segments subtending the substrate , such as conductive segments 106 . the second type includes segments formed on a surface of the substrate , such as conductive segments 109 . the second type of segment interconnects segments of the first type to form highly conductive path 114 . the mid - segment cross - sectional profile 124 of the first type of segment is not limited to a particular shape . circular , square , rectangular , and triangular are all shapes suitable for use in connection with the present invention . the mid - segment cross - sectional profile 127 of the second type of segment is not limited to a particular shape . in one embodiment , the mid - segment cross - sectional profile is rectangular . the coil that results from forming the highly conductive path from the conductive segments and interweaving the highly conductive path with the substrate is capable of producing a reinforcing magnetic field or flux in the substrate material occupying the core area of the coil and in any coating deposited on the surfaces of the substrate . fig1 b is a top view of fig1 a with magnetic film 112 formed on substrate 103 between conductive segments 109 and the surface of substrate 103 . magnetic film 112 coats or partially coats the surface of substrate 103 . in one embodiment , magnetic film 112 is a magnetic oxide . in an alternate embodiment , magnetic film 112 is one or more layers of a magnetic material in a plurality of layers formed on the surface of substrate 103 . magnetic film 112 is formed on substrate 103 to increase the inductance of highly conductive path 114 . methods of preparing magnetic film 112 include evaporation , sputtering , chemical vapor deposition , laser ablation , and electrochemical deposition . in one embodiment , high coercivity gamma iron oxide films are deposited using chemical vapor pyrolysis . when deposited at above 500 degrees centigrade these films are magnetic gamma oxide . in an alternate embodiment , amorphous iron oxide films are prepared by the deposition of iron metal in an oxygen atmosphere ( 10 − 4 torr ) by evaporation . in another alternate embodiment , an iron - oxide film is prepared by reactive sputtering of an fe target in ar + o 2 atmosphere at a deposition rate of ten times higher than the conventional method . the resulting alpha iron oxide films are then converted to magnetic gamma type by reducing them in a hydrogen atmosphere . fig1 c is a side view of some embodiments of the inductor of fig1 a including substrate 103 , the plurality of conductive segments 106 , the plurality of conductive segments 109 and magnetic films 112 and 113 . fig2 is a cross - sectional side view of some embodiments of highly conductive path 203 including encapsulated magnetic material layers 206 and 209 . encapsulated magnetic material layers 206 and 209 , in one embodiment , are a nickel iron alloy deposited on a surface of substrate 212 . formed on magnetic material layer layers 206 and 209 are insulating layers 215 and 218 and second insulating layers 221 and 224 which encapsulate highly conductive path 203 deposited on insulating layers 215 and 218 . insulating layers 215 , 218 , 221 and 224 , in one embodiment are formed from an insulator , such as polyimide . in an alternate embodiment , insulating layers 215 , 218 , 221 , and 224 are an inorganic oxide , such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride . the insulator may also partially line the holes , perforations , or other substrate subtending paths . the purpose of insulating layers 215 and 218 , which in one embodiment are dielectrics , is to electrically isolate the surface conducting segments of highly conductive path 203 from magnetic material layers 206 and 209 . the purpose of insulating layers 221 and 224 is to electrically isolate the highly conductive path 203 from any conducting layers deposited above the path 203 and to protect the path 203 from physical damage . the field created by the conductive path is substantially parallel to the planarized surface and penetrates the coating . in one embodiment , the conductive path is operable for creating a magnetic filed within the coating , but not above the coating . in an alternate embodiment , the conductive path is operable for creating a reinforcing magnetic field within the film and within the substrate . fig3 a and fig3 b are perspective views of some embodiments of inductor 301 and sense inductors 304 and 307 of the present invention . in one embodiment , sense inductor 304 is a spiral coil and sense inductor 307 is a test inductor or sense coil embedded in the substrate . sense inductors 304 and 307 are capable of detecting and measuring reinforcing magnetic field or flux 310 generated by inductor 301 , and of assisting in the calibration of inductor 301 . in one embodiment , sense inductor 304 is fabricated on one of the surfaces substantially perpendicular to the surfaces of the substrate having the conducting segments , so magnetic field or flux 310 generated by inductor 301 is substantially perpendicular to sense inductor 304 . detachable test leads 310 and 313 in fig3 a and detachable test leads 316 and 319 in fig3 b are capable of coupling sense inductors 304 and 307 to sense or measurement circuits . when coupled to sense or measurement circuits , sense inductors 304 and 307 are decoupled from the sense or measurement circuits by severing test leads 310 , 313 , 316 , and 319 . in one embodiment , test leads 310 , 313 , 316 , and 316 are severed using a laser . in accordance with the present invention , a current flows in inductor 301 and generates magnetic field or flux 310 . magnetic field or flux 310 passes through sense inductor 304 or sense inductor 307 and induces a current in spiral sense inductor 304 or sense inductor 307 . the induced current can be detected , measured and used to deduce the inductance of inductor 301 . fig4 is a cutaway perspective view of some embodiments of triangular coil inductor 400 of the present invention . triangular coil inductor 400 comprises substrate 403 and triangular coil 406 . an advantage of triangular coil inductor 400 is that it saves at least a process step over the previously described coil inductor . triangular coil inductor 400 only requires the construction of three segments for each coil of inductor 400 , where the previously described inductor required the construction of four segments for each coil of the inductor . fig5 is a top view of some embodiments of an inductor coupled circuit 500 of the present invention . inductor coupled circuit 500 comprises substrate 503 , coating 506 , coil 509 , and circuit or memory cells 512 . coil 509 comprises a conductive path located at least partially above coating 506 and coupled to circuit or memory cells 512 . coil 509 pierces substrate 503 , is interlaced with substrate 503 , and produces a magnetic field in coating 506 . in an alternate embodiment , coil 509 produces a magnetic field in coating 506 , but not above coating 506 . in one embodiment , substrate 503 is perforated with a plurality of substantially parallel perforations and is partially magnetic . in an alternate embodiment , substrate 503 is a substrate as described above in connection with fig1 . in another alternate embodiment , coating 506 is a magnetic film as described above in connection with fig1 . in another alternate embodiment , coil 509 , is a highly conductive path as described in connection with fig1 . fig6 is a diagram of a drill 603 and a laser 606 for perforating a substrate 609 . substrate 609 has holes , perforations , or other substrate 609 subtending paths . in preparing substrate 609 , in one embodiment , a diamond tipped carbide drill is used bore holes or create perforations in substrate 609 . in an alternate embodiment , laser 606 is used to bore a plurality of holes in substrate 609 . in a preferred embodiment , holes , perforations , or other substrate 609 subtending paths are fabricated using a dry etching process . fig7 is a block diagram of a system level embodiment of the present invention . system 700 comprises processor 705 and memory device 710 , which includes memory circuits and cells , electronic circuits , electronic devices , and power supply circuits coupled to inductors of one or more of the types described above in conjunction with fig1 a - 5 . memory device 710 comprises memory array 715 , address circuitry 720 , and read circuitry 730 , and is coupled to processor 705 by address bus 735 , data bus 740 , and control bus 745 . processor 705 , through address bus 735 , data bus 740 , and control bus 745 communicates with memory device 710 . in a read operation initiated by processor 705 , address information , data information , and control information are provided to memory device 710 through busses 735 , 740 , and 745 . this information is decoded by addressing circuitry 720 , including a row decoder and a column decoder , and read circuitry 730 . successful completion of the read operation results in information from memory array 715 being communicated to processor 705 over data bus 740 . embodiments of inductors and methods of fabricating inductors suitable for use with integrated circuits have been described . in one embodiment , an inductor having a highly conductive path fabricated from a plurality of conductive segments , and including coatings and films of ferromagnetic materials , such as magnetic metals , alloys , and oxides has been described . in another embodiment , an inductor capable of being fabricated from a plurality of conductors having different resistances has been described . in an alternative embodiment , an integrated test or calibration coil capable of being fabricated on the same substrate as an inductor and capable of facilitating the measurement of the magnetic field or flux generated by the inductor and capable of facilitating the calibration the inductor has been described . although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown . this application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention . therefore , it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof .
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US-35060199-A
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a device for hanging implements comprising a hook member having two straight parallel arms with the first end of each arm joined by an arcuate section and with the opposite end of each arm extending at an angle with respect to its respective arm , and a generally flat base member for joining the hook to the implement .
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the embodiment shown in fig1 shows hanger hook 1 having a u - shaped member 2 which is affixed to a base bracket 4 via connector 3 . member 2 has two arm portions extending in a parallel direction and joined by a spanning portion 7 ( shown as arcuate ) at one end of the two arm portions . the other ends 8 and 9 of the arm portions extend at an angle to the parallel direction to form a j - shape . the connector 3 may be formed monolithically with the base bracket 4 or formed separately and joined as by welding , adhesive bonding , bolting or other similar means . the connector 3 has channels 5 , 6 which accommodate the u - shaped member 2 so that the u - shaped member 2 can slide in a direction along the axis of the two arm portions for a fixed distance in either axial direction . sliding of the u - shaped member 2 in one axial direction extends the spanning portion 7 of the u until the opposite j - shaped ends 8 , 9 engage the ends of the channels 5 , 6 and prevent further axial movement in that direction ( fig4 ). in this position spanning portion 7 is extended and can engage a hook 10 on a pegboard or other structure to permit the attachment of an attached implement , e . g . a wheelbarrow , to be hung from a wall hook 10 as shown in fig4 wherein the hanger hook 1 is affixed to the tub portion of a wheelbarrow with the spanning portion extending past the lip 11 of the wheelbarrow pan a sufficient distance so that it can be engaged by wall hook 10 to secure the wheelbarrow to be stored . when the wheelbarrow is in use the u - shaped member 2 tends ( by gravity ) to move axially in the opposite direction so that the spanning portion is retracted out of the way below the lip 11 of the wheelbarrow . although the spanning portion 7 is depicted as u - shaped , it may be v - shaped or other similar shape . as seen in fig1 the base bracket 4 may be provided with a bump protuberance 12 over which the j - shaped ends 8 , 9 snap past . the snap action will hold the j - shaped members in an extended position . one or two protuberances 12 can be used . in fig2 the hanger hook 1 is shown attached to a wheelbarrow in more than one location . if the top shown support is used with the hanger hook 1 of fig4 the wheelbarrow is stored wheel down and if the bottom shown support is used with the hanger hook 1 , the wheelbarrow is stored with the wheel up . if a base bracket 4 has a strong magnet it can be manually attached to the wheelbarrow tub at either end or at an intermediate location . fig2 shows a hanger hook 1 attached near the lip 11 of the wheelbarrow and another hanger hook 1 fixed to the lower end of the wheelbarrow pan . when fixed to the lower end of the wheelbarrow pan the spanning portion 7 can function as a support to hold the wheelbarrow in an upright position standing on its own . when used in this manner the u - shaped member 2 must be capable of being fixed so that it remains in the extended position . this is evident from fig2 wherein the lower hanger hook 1 has u - shaped member 2 that is not slidable , rather it is releasably fixed in the extended position so as to provide , in conjunction with the ends of the two handles , a three point stand . this stance permits the wheelbarrow to be stored on its own without the need for a wall hook . this permits the wheelbarrow to be stored in a variety of locations , not always in the same location or where there is a wall , or other type , hook . the bump protuberances 12 could also be effective to hold the u - shaped member 2 in an extended position . fig3 shows one manner of providing the u - shaped member in a fixed orientation . as shown in fig3 the u - shaped member 2 is pivotably supported , rather than slidably supported . in this arrangement the end legs of the u - shaped member 2 are substantially straight and are held by brackets 30 so that they pivot about the axis 33 . brackets 30 hold the u - shaped member 2 to fixture 41 which is joined to the wheelbarrow or other implement by fastening means ( not shown ) such as screws , bolts , adhesives , magnets or other similar means . for example , fig4 shows holes 22 on edges of the base bracket 41 for receiving screws or bolts . these edges could be magnetic , or magnets could be placed under the edges ( if the bracket is iron ) or attached to the bracket ( if it is not iron ). a magnetic attachment allows for quick attachment and use of the hangar on many different tools or items . to retain the hanger hook in the extended position shown for either hanging the implement or supporting the implement , like a wheelbarrow , in a standing position , a set of clasps 31 can be provided . the clasps 31 are c - shaped with the opening being slightly smaller than the diameter of the u - shaped member 2 so that they provide an interference fit to hold the u - shaped member in the extended position shown . clasps 31 may be made of rubber , aluminum or other similar material which will flex slightly to permit the u - shaped member to pass between the ends of the c yet retain it when it is held by the clasps 31 . a second set of clasps 32 is provided as shown for holding the u - shaped member in a stored , or retracted out of the way , position . the u - shaped member is pivoted about axis 33 away from the extended position of clasps 31 ( as shown in fig3 ) into engagement with the clasps 32 for retaining the u - shaped member 2 in a retracted or stored position . fig5 shows yet another embodiment wherein the u - shaped member has the legs joined at one end in a single threaded rod that is held to bracket 4 via two plates 40 , 41 and a nut 45 . the plates 40 , 41 are joined to the bracket 4 by welding or other bonding or being formed monolithically with the bracket 4 . the rod is held by and extends through holes in the plates 40 , 41 . when the nut is turned the rod moves axially and extends or retracts the u - shaped member . the thread characteristics , e . g ., pitch , etc . are selected to enable easy turning of the nut to permit adjustment as desired but with sufficient resistance to enable the implement to be hung or supported as shown in fig2 without turning of the nut . as previously indicated , many different types of attachment schemes can be used to attach the bracket 4 to the item to be supported . where adhesives are utilized , they can be protected by a peel strip , which is peeled off to expose an adhesive surface to attach the bracket 4 to the item to be supported . likewise , one could use a hook and loop - type fastener ( e . g ., velcro ) for attaching the bracket 4 . although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail , it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only , and is not to be taken by way of limitation . the spirit and scope of the present invention are to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims .
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US-24455202-A
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a data management system comprising , a management device , wherein the management device comprises , a plurality of data , a table formation device for forming a management table indicating respective conditions of a right of use for each one of the plurality of data , a use authorization determination device for determining whether a request for the right of use for one of the plurality of data is authorized by reference to the management table , and a use allocation device for granting the right of use for one of the plurality of data on the basis of a determination by the use authorization determination device . the data management system also includes a plurality of information processing devices , each one of the plurality comprising , a use authorization request device for requesting from the management device a grant of the right of use for one of the plurality of data , and a data storage devices for storing at least one of the plurality of data upon transfer of the one of the plurality of data from the management device and , a connection cable between the management device and the plurality of information processing devices , whereby a network is formed and whereby data is transferred .
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several embodiments of the data management system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 shows a general configuration of the data management system as an embodiment of the present invention . in this data management system , a plurality of work stations 22 - 1 - 22 - n , a file server 23 , a mail server 24 , a print server 25 , and a communication server 26 are connected to a first communication cable 21 forming a local area network ( lan ). each of the work stations , 22 - 1 - 22 - n , is constituted by a controller body 27 , a display 28 , a keyboard 29 , and a mouse 31 . work station 22 - 1 serves as a management work station , while the other work stations , 22 - 2 - 22 - n , serve as ordinary work stations , that is , work stations using additional software as an option . the file server 23 stores files commonly used by the lan , and the mail server 24 manages electronic mail . the print server 25 prints documents , for example , by means of a laser printer . the communication server 26 provides communication with another local area network through a circuit 40 . fig1 illustrates an example in which the communication server 26 is connected to a communication server 42 of another local area network 41 . electronic mail can , therefore , be exchanged not only between the work stations of one local area network , but also between work stations of the second local area networks . fig2 shows the outline of a circuit configuration of an ordinary work station . each of the ordinary work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , 22 - n is provided with a cpu ( central processing unit ) 51 . the cpu 51 is connected to various circuit devices through a data bus 52 . a random access memory ( ram ) 53 temporarily stores data used in a program . a disk control device 54 controls a magnetic disk 55 . magnetic disk 55 stores programs for controlling the work station and programs for realizing various other functions . however , in order to execute any program , it is necessary to obtain the right of use for that program from the management work station 22 - 1 each time program is used . the keyboard 29 is an input device . the mouse 31 acts as a display pointing device . a display control device 58 controls the display 28 which is constituted by a crt or similar device for displaying picture information . a communication control device 61 is connected to the other work stations through a cable 21 and performs input / output of information . the configuration of the management work station 22 - 1 is fundamentally the same as that of each of the ordinary work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , 22 - n shown in fig2 . however , the management work station 22 - 1 is additionally provided with a management table for managing the right of use for software or other such data . the management work station 22 - 1 suitably updates the contents of the management table . when a request of the right of use is received , the management work station 22 - 1 determines whether the request should be allowed . after referencing the management table , the management work station 22 - 1 issues the right of use where such request is allowable . the following table 1 shows , as an example , a part of the management table . table 1______________________________________kind of software α β . . . available software 2 3 . . . estimated hours of 2 hours 4 . 5 hours . . . usetime - out 12 : 00 10 : 30 . . . 10 : 40 . . . 11 : 00 . . . total residual hours 16 hours 108 hours . . . ______________________________________ in table 1 , &# 34 ; kind of software &# 34 ; designates the names of respective software which are managed by the management work station 22 - 1 . the software is respectively designated &# 34 ; α ,&# 34 ; &# 34 ; β , &# 34 ; and so on . the software α may be , for example , graphics software . the software β may be , for example , accounting software . &# 34 ; available software &# 34 ; indicates the number of the residual software copies which can be used in the network at the same time for each respective software . &# 34 ; estimated hours of use &# 34 ; designates an estimated period of use time for an average single use , and is generally expressed in hours . if the data management system fails to receive a notice of termination for the use of software after a period of time has passed equal to the estimated hours of use , then the data management system will proceed under an assumption that use of the software is terminated . failure to receive notice of termination may be caused by a power failure or a channel disconnection . if the data management system continued to assume use of the software after the estimated hours of use under such conditions , other users would be unnecessarily prevented from using the software , and the network , as a whole , would be over utilized . &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; indicates the point of time when the right of use established in a particular work station in which will terminate . time - out is calculated according to the estimated hours of use . in the previously described example , the coincident use of three copies of the software α can be allowed for any of three respective work stations in the network . under the assumption of this example , table 1 indicates that only one copy of the software α is currently being used by one work station , and that the time - out for the one copy is 12 o &# 39 ; clock . that is , the management work station 22 - 1 has given the right of use for the one copy of software α to one work station which requested the right of use for the one copy at 10 o &# 39 ; clock . the management work station 22 - 1 will release the right of use at 12 o &# 39 ; clock unless a notice of termination of use arrives from he work station before 12 o &# 39 ; clock . the numeral value in the row of &# 34 ; available software &# 34 ; will be increased by one at 12 o &# 39 ; clock . a similar process occurs with respect to software β . that is , three copies of the software β are currently being used , and it is estimated that the use of these three copies will be automatically terminated at the three indicated times , each time corresponding to a copy of the software β . &# 34 ; total residual hours &# 34 ; indicates a sum total of the residual time for which respective software can be used in the network as a whole . with respect to the software α , the total residual hours are indicated as 16 hours . accordingly , if the right of use is given eight additional times and two hours are designated as the estimated hours of use for each respective right of use , then all of the hours for software α will be consumed . fig3 shows the management process of the management work station . the management work station 22 - 1 monitors requests for a right of use ( step 1 ), time - out with respect to any particular copy of software being used ( step 2 ), and notice of termination for the right of use ( step 3 ) by any of the ordinary work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , 22 - n . if a right of use is requested the management work station 22 - 1 determines whether the number ( s ) of available copies of the software is positive or not by referring to the management table ( step 4 ). if the number is not positive , the management work station 22 - 1 determines in view of the number of copies of the software which can be used on the network at any given time , that the request must be denied . accordingly , the management work station 22 - 1 terminates processing after giving notice that the right of use for the requesting work station ( step 5 ). even when the number s of software copies is positive , the notice of unavailability will be given where the residual time is not positive ( no in the step 6 ). in the case where s and the residual time for the software is positive ( yes in the step 6 ), the management work station 22 - 1 decrements the &# 34 ; available software &# 34 ; indicates in the management table ( step 7 ), and correspondingly adjusts the numerical value of the &# 34 ; total residual hours &# 34 ; in the management table ( step 8 ). that is , the management work station 22 - 1 reads the residual hours for the software from the management table , subtracts the estimated hours of use from the read residual hours , and rewrites the &# 34 ; total residual hours &# 34 ; in the management table based on the result . in order to perform the time - out management , the management work station 22 - 1 rewrite the &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; indicator for the software in the management table with value obtained by adding the estimated hours of use to the present time ( step 9 ). upon completing the above operation , the management work station 22 - 1 gives notice that the right of use for the software has been allowed to the requesting work station ( step 10 ). by means of an integral clock mechanism ( not shown ) the management work station 22 - 1 monitors time with respect to each &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; written in the management table ( step 2 ). when time equals the &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; for a respective software cop ( yes in the step 2 ), the &# 34 ; available software &# 34 ; indicator for the software is incremented in the management table ( step 11 ). accordingly the number of available software copies which can be used on the network at any given time is increased by one under the assumption that use of that particular software copy is terminated . the corresponding &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; is erased from the management table ( step 12 ). this process may be applied to a plurality of &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; indicators which expire at the same time . notice of termination for a right of use given to any of the ordinary work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , and 20 - n will be described . effective management of software use requires notice of termination at the correct time in order to prevent unauthorized use of the software . upon a determination of a notice of termination for use of software ( yes in the step 3 ), the management work station 22 - 1 increments the &# 34 ; available software &# 34 ; indicator in the management table ( step 13 ), and erases the &# 34 ; timeout &# 34 ; indicator for the software in question ( step 14 ). in a case where notice of termination for use of the software is received after time equals &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ;, it is not necessary to erase the &# 34 ; time - out &# 34 ; indicator because it has already been erased from the management table in step 12 . thereafter , the residual hours allocated for the software are adjusted in accordance with the received notice of termination ( step 15 ). in a case of normal use of the software , if the actual hours of use are less than the estimated hours of use , the residual hours of the software are correspondingly increased . on the contrary , when the actual hours of use are more than the estimated hours of use , the residual hours are correspondingly decreased . the above management may be performed on the basis of the time data indicated by the work station which has given the notice . alternatively , the management may be performed by use of the integral clock mechanism in the management work station 22 - 1 . in a case where a work station having been given the right of use for software does not use the software and upon a notice of termination is given from the work station , the management work station 22 - 1 increases the residual hours for the software by the estimated hours of use . fig4 shows the control operation performed in each of the ordinary work stations which will request the right of use of software . each of the ordinary work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , and 22 - n determines whether or not a request of use of software is made by an operator ( step 1 ) and whether or not a reply is given by the management work station 22 - 1 ( step 2 ). upon request of use of software by an operator ( yes in the step 1 ), a determination is made as to whether or not the software exists in the magnetic disk 55 of the work station ( step 3 ). if the software exists in the magnetic disk 55 of the work station ( yes in the step 3 ), the work station transmits a request of right of use of the software to the management work station 22 - 1 ( step 4 ). if , however , the software does not exist in the magnetic disk 55 of the work station ( no in the step 3 ), a prompt is displayed on the display 28 to inform the operator that the software does not exist ( step 5 ). upon receipt of the prompt , the operator will cease attempts to use the software , or , if possible , will copy the software from another work station . if the operator selects processing such that the software is copied from another work station and the operation described in fig4 starts again the step 1 . upon receipt of a reply to a request for right of use of software from the management work station 22 - 1 ( yes in the step 2 ), the requesting work station determines whether or not the reply indicates allowance of the right of use of the software ( step 6 ). where the right of use is allowed ( yes in the step 6 ), the software can be used until termination ( steps 7 and 8 ). specifically , the software in question is transferred from the magnetic disk 55 into ram 53 so that the software is to be executed . at the ordinary termination or termination due to any cause originating in the use of the software ( yes in the step 7 ), the work station transmits a notice of termination to the management work station 22 - 1 ( step 9 ). when the work station receives a notice indicating that the right of use of the software cannot be allowed from the management work station 22 - 1 ( no in the step 6 ), the fact that the requested software cannot be used is displayed on the display 28 ( step 10 ). although description has been made in the above embodiment on the assumption that the management work station 22 - 1 does not use software as option , the management work station 22 - 1 may be so arranged that it may request use of software from itself and use the software when right of use of the software is given . although description has been made in the above embodiment under the assumption that the data which are objects of the management system are copies of software programs , the teachings may be readily applied where the data is any information having economical value , for example , an electronic dictionary or where the data has limited time use or use value . furthermore , although one of work stations is designated as a management work station in the embodiment , a software management server or a data management server such as the file server 23 or the mail server 24 may be provided on the network . in the above embodiment any of the work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , and 22 - n may asynchronously request a right of use . however , where such requests are controlled in a sequential circular ring arrangement , i . e ., ordered requests by respective work stations 22 - 2 , . . . , and 22 - n , there may be an information processing device which cannot use the data . a method of preengagement ordering of the right of use is effective as one method of managing right of use . in a network using such a method , the management device allocates the residual available copies of data with respect to predetermined time slots . accordingly , if an empty time slot occurs before an information processing device &# 39 ; s assigned time slot , it is possible to establish a right of use for that information processing device within the available time . it is also possible to distinguish multiple requests for a right of use among information processing devices , if information processing devices are assigned an order for making such requests . furthermore , requests for a right of use are prioritized on the basis of the number of previous refusals of an assigned right of use by respective the information processing devices . the number of previous refusals are recorded in the management device and the management device may give higher priority to the information processing device having the greatest number of refusals . a table showing the state of use for software or other data to be managed offers several advantages . the state in which software or other data is being used is accurately comprehended and the table is useful for management of contract renewal for the software or other data . by using the table , a management device may establish a right of use , and thereby centrally manage working state of each information processing device in a network . software or other data copies can be accurately managed in a network . such data can be used time - divisionally by a plurality of work stations , so that the data can be efficiently used . furthermore , control information can be constructed through processing data regarding transfers among work stations , etc . since the number of the information processing devices which can use specific data at the same time is economically limited and because the present invention maintains a total residual time in which the specific data can be used , software and other data can be used without change in the existing contract even if the number or arrangement of the work stations in the network is changed . even in the case where the information processing device which has been using the data fails to give notice that the use is terminated , the table management is performed on the assumption that the data has been used for a statistically estimated number of hours , so that the use state of the data can be accurately managed . additionally , when the information processing device which has used data gives a notice of termination , the notice is taken into consideration in the table , so that an opportunity for data use data can be immediately given to any other information processing device when the use of the data is terminated after a relatively short use time . the management device is provided independent of the information processing devices , and as such the management of data can be accurately and fairly made by the exclusive management device . the exclusive management device , however , need not be a custom device but may be selected for one of the available information processing devices . accordingly , when a management device breaks down , another device can be substituted thereby improving system reliability . finally , since a right of use can be preengagment ordered work schedule can be easily managed with respect to every information processing device and the system operation can be efficiently carried out . establishment of a right of use can also be made according to the order or by the number of previous refusals for the right use by a particular information processing device . the foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed , and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and 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 .
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US-2241993-A
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a manufacturing method of this invention improves nonuniformity in film thickness of a circuit element formation region produced due to a poor flatness of a semiconductor substrate in the manufacture of a semiconductor substrate having a dielectric isolating structure . mirror - polished surfaces of first and second semiconductor substrates are opposed and bonded to each other so as to sandwich a dielectric having a predetermined thickness , and the first semiconductor substrate is ground from the surface opposite to the adhesion surface to have a predetermined thickness with reference to the dielectric . an impurity is doped in the first semiconductor substrate to form a high - concentration impurity layer having an impurity concentration corresponding to a predetermined low - concentration impurity layer having a predetermined thickness thereon , thereby constituting a circuit element region . this invention is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate , which improves film thickness precision of each circuit element formation layer for forming a circuit element .
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fig1 a to 1d are sectional views showing a method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate having a dielectric isolating structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention . that is , in an adhering step shown in fig1 a , 1 - μm thick sio 2 layers ( dielectric layers ) 21a , 21b are formed on two surfaces of a first n - type silicon substrate 20 having a diameter of 125 mm , a thickness of 625 μm , a crystal orientation of ( 100 ), and a specific resistance of 1 to 2 ω · cm . in this case , at least one surface of the substrate 20 is mirror polished . at least one surface of a second n - type silicon substrate 22 ( if a silicon wafer is used , a crystal orientation , a specific resistance , a shape , and the like are not limited ) having a diameter of 125 mm , a thickness of 625 μm , a crystal orientation of ( 100 ), and a specific resistance of 5 to 10 ω · cm is mirror - polished . the first and second silicon substrates 20 and 22 are bonded in the air at room temperature so that the mirror - polished surfaces oppose each other . thereafter , the resultant structure is annealed in a gas atmosphere in which n 2 : o 2 = 4 : 1 ( volume ratio ) at 1 , 100 ° c . for two hours , thereby adhering the first and second silicon substrates . in a polishing step shown in fig1 b , the first silicon substrate 20 is ground to have a thickness of about 15 μm by using a surface grinder . this ground surface is mirror - polished by mechano - chemical polishing so that an average thickness at the central portion of the silicon substrate is 2 . 5 μm . in an n + - type impurity diffusing step shown in fig1 c , impurity diffusion is performed for the first silicon substrate by a conventional diffusion method using a solid diffusion source of antimony oxide ( sb 2 o 3 ). that is , n + - type impurity diffusion is performed in an n 2 gas atmosphere at 1 , 253 ° c . for 60 minutes ( the solid diffusion source is held at 950 ° c . ), thereby forming a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 23 having an average sheet resistance of 20 ω /□. in an epitaxial growth step shown in fig1 d , a low - concentration n - type silicon layer 24 is epitaxially grown on the high - concentration n - type silicon layer 23 . that is , the layer 24 having a thickness of 1 . 5 μm and a specific resistance of 0 . 5 to 0 . 7 ω · m is epitaxially grown by using sihcl 3 gas at a predetermined temperature . fifty samples of the dielectric - isolated substrate were manufactured in accordance with the above - described process . fig2 shows tendency in a sheet resistance intrasurface distribution of the high - concentration n - type silicon layers 23 of the above samples . fig3 is a view showing five measurement points ( q and z 1 to z 4 ) indicated by mark x and located inside the outer circumference of the silicon substrate by a distance a ( 5 mm ). that is , in fig2 the abscissa indicates a difference between maximum and minimum values at the measurement points x shown in fig3 as a variation or error in sheet resistance , and the ordinate indicates the number of samples . fig2 reveals that an average value of the sheet resistance variation intrasurface distribution is 3 . 47 ω /□(± 8 . 7 %), i . e ., an error is ± 1 . 735 ω /□ with respect to a predetermined value of 20 ω /□. therefore , the uniformity of ± 15 % described above is satisfactorily ensured . fig4 shows tendency in a film thickness distribution of epitaxially grown low - concentration n - type silicon layers 24 of samples formed similarly to the above samples . in fig4 five measurement points on a silicon substrate are located at the same positions as those of the measurement points of a sheet resistance in fig3 . in fig4 the abscissa indicates the non - uniformity of the epitaxially grown film in terms of thickness , which is a difference between the thicknesses of the thickness and thinnest portions of the film , and the ordinate indicates the number of samples . fig4 indicates that an average value of the film thickness distribution of the n - type epitaxially grown film is 0 . 19 μm (± 6 . 3 %), i . e ., an error is ± 0 . 095 with respect to a predetermined value of 1 . 5 μm . therefore , the uniformity of ± 10 % or less with respect to a predetermined film thickness described above is satisfactorily ensured . in addition , the uniformities in sheet resistance and film thickness distribution between the silicon substrates are substantially the same values as those described above , i . e ., are practically satisfactory values . furthermore , since the total film thickness of a film thickness of 2 . 5 μm of the high - concentration n - type silicon layer 23 and a film thickness of 1 . 5 μm of the low - concentration n - type silicon layer 24 is 4 μm , formation of an isolated island can be easily performed . fig5 a to 5e are sectional views showing a method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate having a dielectric isolating structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig5 a to 5e , the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment denote the same parts and a detailed description thereof will be omitted . first , an adhering step shown in fig5 a and a polishing step shown in fig5 b are performed similarly to the adhering step ( fig1 a ) and the polishing step ( fig1 b ) of the first embodiment . in an n + - type impurity diffusing step shown in fig5 c , an oxide film 25 is formed on the upper surface of a first silicon substrate 20 and selectively removed by photolithography , thereby exposing the surface of a region in which an n + - type impurity is to be diffused . the resultant silicon substrate is put in an n 2 gas atmosphere , and n + - type impurity diffusion is performed by using antimony trioxide ( sb 2 o 3 ) as a diffusion source at 1 , 250 ° c . for 60 minutes ( note that the solid diffusion source is held at 950 ° c . ), thereby forming a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 26 having a sheet resistance of 20 ω /□. in a p + - type impurity selective diffusing step shown in fig5 d , an oxide film 27 is formed on the upper surface of the first silicon substrate subjected to the n + - type impurity diffusion and selectively removed by photolithography , thereby exposing the surface of a region in which a p + - type impurity is to be diffused . thereafter , p + - type impurity diffusion is performed by a conventional diffusion method using bsg ( boron silicate glass ) to form a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 28 having a sheet resistance of 20 ω /□. the oxide film 27 is removed after the impurity diffusion . in an epitaxial growth step shown in fig5 e , sihcl 3 gas is used to epitaxially grow a low - concentration n - type silicon layer 29 having a thickness of about 1 . 5 μm on the high - concentration p - type silicon layer 28 and the high - concentration n - type silicon layer 26 at a predetermined temperature . the manufacturing steps shown in fig5 a to 5e were performed as described above to form 50 dielectric - isolated silicon substrates ( samples a ) shown in fig6 in which squares having a side b (= 15 mm ) of the high - concentration n - type silicon layers 26 formed by the n + - type impurity diffusion and the high - concentration p - type silicon layers 28 formed by the p + - type impurity diffusion were arranged in a matrix manner . in addition , the manufacturing steps shown in fig5 a to 5d except for the epitaxial growth step ( fig5 e ) were performed to form 50 dielectric - isolated silicon substrates ( samples b ). fig7 shows tendency of a sheet resistance intrasurface distribution of the high - concentration n - type silicon layers 26 and the high - concentration p - type silicon layers 28 of the samples b . the sheet resistance is measured at five points 0 , x1 , x2 , y1 , and y2 on the p + - type conductive layer formed on each wafer , as is illustrated in fig6 . the difference between the highest and lowest sheet resistances measured of these five points is defined as a variation or error of sheet resistance . in fig7 the errors of sheet resistance , measured of all wafers , are plotted on the abscissa , whereas the number of samples is represented on the ordinate . fig7 reveals that an average sheet resistance variation of p + doping area on a water is 3 . 54 ω /□ (± 8 . 85 %), i . e ., an error is ± 1 . 77 ω /□ with respect to a predetermined resistance of 20 ω /□. therefore , the uniformity of ± 15 % or less described above is satisfactorily ensured . the sheet - resistance distribution of the high - impurity n type silicon layer 26 of sample b was measured in the same way . the results were similar to those described above ; that is , ± 1 . 73 ω /□, ± 8 . 65 %. fig8 shows tendency of a film thickness distribution of the films ( the low - concentration n - type silicon layers 27 shown in fig5 e ). in this case , the five points at which sheet resistance is measured of the silicon substrate are identical to those shown in fig6 . in addition , a difference between maximum and minimum values is defined as the value of the above epitaxially grown film thickness . in fig8 the abscissa indicates the film thickness , and the ordinate indicates the number of samples . from fig8 it is seen that an average film thickness of the film thickness distribution of the n - type epitaxially grown films is 0 . 23 μm (± 7 . 7 %), i . e ., an error is ± 0 . 115 with respect to a predetermined film thickness of 1 . 5 μm . therefore , the uniformity of ± 10 % or less of a predetermined film thickness described above is satisfactorily ensured . in addition , since uniformities in sheet resistance and film thickness distribution between the silicon substrates are substantially the same as those described above , these substrates can be satisfactorily put into practical use . furthermore , since the total film thickness of a film thickness of 2 . 5 μm of the high - concentration n - and p - type silicon layers 24 and 26 and a film thickness of 1 . 5 μm of the low - concentration n - type silicon layer 27 is 4 μm , an isolated island can be easily formed . fig9 is a sectional view showing a practical arrangement of a semiconductor device ( constituted by a pnp transistor q1 and an npn transistor q2 ) having the above dielectric isolating structure . in this structure , an insulating layer ( sio 2 ) 32 is formed on the surface of a semiconductor substrate 31 , and a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 33 is formed on portions of the surface of the layer 32 . a low - concentration n - type silicon layer 34 and an n - type impurity diffusion layer 35 serving as a collector are formed on the surface of the layer 33 . a p - type impurity diffusion layer 36 serving as base is formed on the layer 34 , and an n - type impurity diffusion layer 37 serving as an emitter is formed in the diffusion layer 36 , thereby constituting an npn transistor q1 . a groove is formed along the four side surfaces of the npn transistor q1 , and insulating films ( sio 2 ) 38 and 39 are formed on the two side surfaces of the groove . a polycrystalline silicon layer 40 is formed in the groove . a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 41 is formed on a portion of the insulating layer 32 via the dielectric isolating wall . a low - concentration p - type silicon layer 42 and a p - type impurity diffusion layer 43 serving as a collector are formed on the surface of the layer 41 . an n - type impurity diffusion layer 44 serving as a base is formed in the layer 42 , and a p - type impurity diffusion layer 45 serving as an emitter is formed in the diffusion layer 44 , thereby constituting a pnp transistor q2 . in this semiconductor device , therefore , the bottom surfaces of the pnp and npn transistors are isolated by the insulating layer . further the trench - like groove is formed around each transistor , and an insulator is formed in this groove , thus isolating the two transistors from each other and from other circuit elements . fig1 is a sectional view showing another practical arrangement of a semiconductor device ( constituted by a bi - cmos having a pnp transistor q1 and an npn transistor q2 ) having the above dielectric isolating structure . referring to fig1 , the same reference numerals as in fig9 denote the same parts and a detailed described thereof will be omitted . in an npn transistor q1 portion cf this arrangement , a low - concentration p - type silicon layer 46 is formed in a low - concentration n - type silicon layer 34 , and a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 47 serving as a base and a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 48 serving as an emitter are formed in the layer 46 . in a pnp transistor q2 portion , a low - concentration n - type silicon layer 49 is formed in a low - concentration p - type silicon layer 42 , and a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 50 serving as a base and a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 51 serving as an emitter are formed in the layer 49 . in an nch mos portion , a low - concentration silicon layer 34 is formed on the surface of a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 41 , and a p - type well portion 52 is formed on the surface of the layer 34 . a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 53 serving as a drain and a high - concentration n - type silicon layer 54 serving as a source are formed to be separated from each other in the p - type well portion 52 , and a gate 56 is formed on the surface across the layers 53 and 54 via an sio 2 layer 55 . in a pch mos portion , a low - concentration n - type silicon layer 34 is formed on the surface of a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 33 , and an n - type well portion 57 is formed on the layer 34 . a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 58 serving as a drain and a high - concentration p - type silicon layer 59 serving as a source are formed to be separated from each other in the n - type well portion 57 , and a gate 61 is formed on the surface across the layers 58 and 59 via an sio 2 layer 60 . a metal ( al ) electrode is formed on the upper surface of each of the collector , the base , the emitter , the drain , and the source of the pnp and npn transistors and the pch and nch mos portions , and a polycrystalline silicon circuit element isolating layer is formed between the electrodes . in addition , the bottom surfaces of the pnp and npn transistors and the pch and nch mos portions are isolated by the insulating layer . further the trench - like groove is formed around each transistor , and an insulator is formed in this groove , thus isolate the transistors from each other and from other circuit elements . in addition , as compared with a structure in which circuit elements are isolated from each other by using an isolation diffusion layer , in the semiconductor integrated circuit formed on the semiconductor substrate having the dielectric isolating structure manufactured by the method of the present invention , an operation speed of each circuit element is easily increased since no junction capacitance is present between the silicon substrate and the buried layer formed by high - concentration impurity diffusion . furthermore , the semiconductor integrated circuit of this embodiment can be isolated by a thinner layer than that used in a conventional structure because an insulating layer is used . therefore , a degree of integration of circuit elements can be easily increased . as has been described above , when a circuit element is formed on a semiconductor substrate having the dielectric isolating structure manufactured by the method of the present invention , a circuit element region in which film thickness precision upon manufacture has no influence on characteristics and performance of the circuit element ca be formed . the method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate having the dielectric isolating structure of the present invention , therefore , can achieve satisfactory uniformity in both the film thickness and resistance of a circuit element formation layer , thereby realizing a semiconductor integrated circuit having a good dielectric isolating structure which is difficult to manufacture and put into practical use by conventional methods . 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 , representative devices , and illustrated examples shown and described . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents .
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US-84535992-A
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the present invention provides a small - diameter coaxial cable in which the same electrical and mechanical characteristics as in the prior art can be maintained and costs do not increase . the coaxial cable comprises a central conductor including three twisted wires and having a cross - sectional area of 0 . 005 mm 2 or less , a fluororesin insulation for covering the central conductor , an outer conductor disposed on the external periphery of the insulation , and a jacket for covering the outer conductor . the adhesive force between the central conductor and the insulation is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor . the method for manufacturing the coaxial cable comprises twisting three wires together to form a central conductor having a cross - sectional area of 0 . 005 mm 2 or less , extruding a fluororesin and forming an insulation on the central conductor so that adhesive force with the central conductor is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor , and providing the insulation with an outer conductor and a jacket .
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coaxial cables need to be less expensive in addition to having even higher signal transmission speeds , reduced diameters , and enhanced bending resistance . however , the coaxial cable described in patent document 1 requires higher processing costs and is more expensive because of the reduced diameter of the wires constituting the central conductor , and the signals transmitted through the cable have a higher attenuation . in addition , the coaxial cable described in patent document 2 tends to have variable electrical characteristics , cannot easily be made thinner , has poor productivity , and is expensive because the insulation that surrounds the central conductor is formed from foam insulation . in patent document 3 , the insulator is a non - foam material , and the central conductor is formed from double - twisted wires obtained by twisting multiple twisted wire pairs in which two conductor wires are themselves twisted together . a case in which a twisted wire pair , obtained by twisting together a pair of conductor wires , is used for the central conductor is also disclosed as a comparative example . none of the embodiments is able to provide sufficient voids , and the double - twisted wire requires double twisting and is therefore expensive . embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawings . the drawings are used for illustrative purposes only , and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention . in the drawings , the same symbols are assigned to the same members , and the corresponding descriptions are omitted . the proportions of the components in the drawings may be different from those of the actual items . fig1 a is a cross - sectional view of a coaxial cable 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cable , and fig1 b is a perspective view of a terminal of the coaxial cable 1 with the jacket removed . the coaxial cable 1 is configured so that the outside of a central conductor 2 is surrounded by an insulation 3 having a low dielectric constant , the outside thereof is formed by the spiral shielding of an outer conductor 4 , and the external surface of the outer conductor 4 is covered with a jacket 5 . the diameter of the central conductor in a small - diameter ( very thin ) coaxial cable is usually reduced and the insulation made thinner in order to reduce the outside diameter of the cable . small voids 6 are usually formed between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 . for example , single element , small - diameter twisted wires ( the cross - sectional area of the central conductor is 0 . 005 mm 2 or less ) that are equivalent to american wire gauge ( awg ) # 40 or greater may be used for the central conductor 2 . in the depicted embodiment , shown in fig1 a and fig1 b , each of the wires in the central conductor 2 is a single strand or single element of solid wire . in other words , the wires of the central conductor are not composed of a plurality of strands of wires , but rather are each comprised of a single element , such that the three depicted single element wires are twisted together to define the central conductor 2 . the insulation 3 is obtained by extrusion molding fluororesin to a thickness of approximately 0 . 06 mm or by wrapping the central conductor 2 with resin tape . the outer conductor 4 is obtained by the spiral shielding of a conductor having the same thickness as the wire conductors used in the central conductor 2 . the jacket 5 is obtained by extrusion molding a resin layer onto the external surface of the outer conductor 4 to a thickness of approximately 0 . 03 mm , or by wrapping the outer conductor 4 with resin tape . the outside diameter of the coaxial cable is thus reduced to about 0 . 3 mm . it should be noted that small - diameter coaxial cables are often obtained by arranging a plurality of wires in parallel rows or bundling the plurality of wires into a circular cable shape and forming a multi - core cable . in the coaxial cable 1 , the cross - sectional area of the voids 6 created between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 is increased instead of using foam insulation for the insulation 3 in order to reduce the electrostatic capacitance ( apparent dielectric constant of the insulation 3 ) between the central conductor 2 and the outer conductor 4 . signal attenuation is thereby reduced and the electrical characteristics ( transmission performance ) are improved . in order to increase the volume of the voids between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 , the number of twisted conductor wires is reduced from seven to three without changing the cross - sectional area of the central conductor 2 . a stable concavo - convex cross section having a twisted shape is thereby formed on the external surface of the central conductor 2 , and voids 6 sufficient in order to contribute to improving the electrical characteristics can be obtained . in addition , since the number of conductor wires is reduced without changing the cross - sectional area of the central conductor 2 , it is possible to increase the diameter of each twisted conductor wire . there is accordingly an advantage in terms of cost . ( calculated in terms of wires per unit weight , the costs of processing aimed at reducing the conductor diameter of the wires increase with reduced diameter .) when the number of twisted conductor wires is two , the twisted state is unstable , uniform electrical characteristics are not obtained in the lengthwise direction , and a pleasing outward appearance is difficult to obtain . when four to six conductor wires are used , it is difficult to obtain voids sufficient to contribute to improved electrical characteristics . in the coaxial cable 1 , the adhesive force between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 . the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 varies with the cross - sectional area even when conductors of the same material are used , but as an example , in a case where the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 is 2 . 26 n , the adhesive force between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 is required to be 0 . 75 n or less . fig2 is a conceptual view illustrating a method for measuring the adhesive force between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 . the adhesive force is measured in the manner described below . ( 1 ) the jacket 5 and the outer conductor 4 are removed and 50 mm of the insulation 3 is exposed on an end part of the coaxial cable 1 for use as a sample for measurement . ( 2 ) 40 mm of the end part of the exposed insulation is removed , and 40 mm of the central conductor is exposed . ( 3 ) the insulation 3 and the central conductor 2 are cut away from the coaxial cable 1 at a position 50 mm from the tip of the central conductor 2 , and are used as a measurement sample . in the measurement sample , the central conductor 2 is covered by the insulation 3 over a distance of 10 mm . ( 4 ) the central conductor 2 is passed through a die 10 whose opening has a diameter larger than that of the central conductor 2 and smaller than that of the insulation 3 . ( 5 ) the central conductor 2 is held by a clamp member 11 , the die 10 is held and securely immobilized by a clamp member 12 , and the central conductor 2 is pulled 10 mm at a speed of 100 mm / min so that the central conductor 2 is withdrawn from the insulation 3 . at this point , the withdrawal force ( in units n ) of the central conductor 2 is measured , and the average value thereof is regarded as the adhesive force . fig3 is a view for illustrating the effects of adhesive force , and is a cross - sectional view of parts composed of the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 of the coaxial cable . when the adhesive force between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 is great , the insulation 3 falls out of the circular shape shown by the dot - dash line and sinks into the crevices of the central conductor 2 . in this case , the voids 6 between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 are made smaller , and the electrostatic capacitance therefore increases and the electrical characteristics decline . when the coaxial cable is bent , the central conductor 2 is squeezed by the insulation 3 with great force , and therefore repeated bending readily causes breakage , and the mechanical characteristics ( bending resistance ) also decline . the central conductor 2 of the coaxial cable 1 is obtained by twisting together three wires , but the adhesive force between the central conductor 2 and the insulation 3 is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 , whereby the central conductor 2 has the same electrical and mechanical characteristics as a conventional seven - twist central conductor while having better productivity and reduced costs . the adhesive force can be adjusted by adjusting the manufacturing line speed and the distance from the insulation - forming die to the cooling water . when the extruded insulation 3 is cooled slowly , the insulation 3 tends to sink into the crevices of the central conductor 2 . with rapid cooling , the shape of the insulation can be stabilized before the insulation sinks into the crevices of the central conductor 2 . for example , in a case where the manufacturing line speed is 100 m / min , the adhesive force can be made to be one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 by setting the distance from the forming die to the cooling water at 3 meters or less . conversely , when the distance from the forming die to the cooling water is set at approximately 5 meters at a manufacturing line speed of 100 m / min , the adhesive force exceeds one - third the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 . when the distance from the forming die to the cooling water is set between 3 and 5 meters , the adhesive force is unpredictable , being sometimes one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 and other times not . the twist pitch of the three twisted wires of the central conductor 2 is preferably between 11 and 16 times the outside diameter of the three twisted wires . it is possible to make the bending resistance particularly favorable when the twist pitch is in this range . moreover , when the insulation 3 is removed and the central conductor 2 exposed in a case where a terminal of the coaxial cable is processed ( provided with a connector or the like ), the central conductor 2 is readily processed without unraveling . silver - copper alloy wires containing 0 . 5 to 2 . 2 % silver are preferably used for the conductor wires of the central conductor 2 . using these silver - copper alloy wires makes it possible for the tensile strength of the central conductor 2 to be 900 mpa or above , and the electrical resistivity of the central conductor 2 to be in the particularly favorable range of 70 to 85 %. whether the central conductor is three twists or seven twists , the bending resistance will somewhat decrease when the silver content of the central conductor 2 is less than 0 . 5 %, and signal attenuation will somewhat decrease when the silver content exceeds 3 . 0 %. the insulation 3 is formed by extrusion molding of tetrafluoroethylene - fluoro ( alkyl vinyl ether ) copolymer ( pfa ), tetrafluoroethylene - hexafluoropropylene copolymer ( fep ), or another fluororesin material . in the coaxial cable 1 , it is necessary to make the insulation thinner than in a case where the central conductor is seven twists , and therefore it is preferable for the extruded fluororesin material to have a fluidity , expressed by a melt flow rate ( mfr ), of 40 g / 10 min or greater at 372 ° c . and 5 kg , the draw down ratio to be made large , and the insulation to be made thin . annealed copper wire , copper alloy wire , and other normally used conductors can be used in the outer conductor 4 . the same conductors as the conductor wires used in the central conductor 2 can be used , and can be made into a spiral shielding on the external surface of the insulation 3 . however , the diameter of the conductor wires in the coaxial cable 1 is somewhat large because the central conductor 2 is formed by three twisted wires . it is accordingly possible to use outer conductors having a somewhat smaller diameter than the conductor wires of the central conductor 2 , reducing the diameter of the cable . the jacket 5 can be formed by extrusion molding of the abovementioned pfa , fep , or another fluororesin material . the fluororesin material used in the jacket 5 also preferably has an mfr of 40 g / 10 min or greater . alternatively , the jacket 5 may also be formed by wrapping polyester tape , polyolefin tape , or the like . the table shows the results of comparing examples ( examples 1 and 2 ) of the coaxial cable according to the present invention with a reference example and a comparative example with regard to the mechanical characteristics ( bending resistance ), electrical characteristics ( attenuation and electrostatic capacitance ), and processability . here , the coaxial cable of the reference example includes a central conductor composed of seven twisted wires and provide with approximately the same cross - sectional area as those in the examples . the coaxial cable of the comparative example includes a central conductor composed of three twisted wires , wherein the adhesive force exceeds one third the tensile strength of the central conductor . in the case of the examples and the comparative example , the cross - sectional area of the central conductor is 0 . 00377 mm 2 ( corresponds to awg # 42 ), and the diameter of the circle circumscribing the central conductor ( the outside diameter of the twisted wires ) is 0 . 086 mm . in the examples , the insulation is drawn down by extrusion molding so as to make the outside diameter 0 . 18 mm . tin - plated annealed copper wire having an outside diameter of 0 . 03 mm is made into a spiral shielding on the outside of the insulation and acts as an outer conductor . when the external surface of the outer conductor is covered by pfa to a thickness of 0 . 03 mm , a small - diameter coaxial cable having an outside diameter of approximately 0 . 30 mm is obtained . in example 1 , the twist pitch of the central conductor is 11 times the diameter of the central conductor , and in example 2 , the twist pitch of the central conductor is 16 times the diameter . in both example 1 and example 2 , the tensile strength of the central conductor is 3 . 39 n , and the adhesive force is one third ( 1 . 13 n ) or less that value . the cross - sectional area of the voids between the central conductor and the insulation is set to 0 . 002 mm 2 by adjusting the drawdown ratio , the extrusion pressure of the resin , and the position of the tip of the nipple of the forming die . in this case , the volume of the voids per meter of cable length is 1 . 936 mm 3 in example 1 , and 1 . 954 mm 3 in example 2 . in example 1 , the ratio of the volume of the voids with respect to the volume of the insulation is 33 . 3 %. in example 2 , the ratio of the volume of the voids with respect to the volume of the insulation is 33 . 6 %. wire containing 0 . 5 to 2 . 2 % silver was used in the central conductor of the examples . in the reference example , the cross - sectional areal of the central conductor is 0 . 00344 mm 2 , and the outside diameter of the twisted wires is 0 . 075 mm . in this case , the insulation is extruded so as to make the outside diameter 0 . 18 mm . tin - plated annealed copper wire having an outside diameter of 0 . 03 mm is made into a spiral shielding on the outside of the insulation and acts as an outer conductor . when the external surface of the outer conductor is covered by pfa to a thickness of 0 . 03 mm , a small - diameter coaxial cable having an outside diameter of approximately 0 . 30 mm is obtained . in the reference example , the cross - sectional area of the voids between the central conductor and the insulation is set to 0 . 0008 mm 2 by adjusting the drawdown ratio , the extrusion pressure of the resin , and the position of the tip of the nipple of the forming die . in the seven - twist central conductor , wire whose silver content ranges from 0 . 5 to 2 . 2 % was used . to evaluate the mechanical characteristics , a coaxial cable was repeatedly flexed ± 90 ° from a linearly extended state at a bend radius of 1 mm , and the number of repetitions before the central conductor broke was measured . when the number of repetitions was between 12 , 000 and 20 , 000 , a “ fair ” evaluation was given , and when the number of repetitions was greater than 20 , 000 , a “ good ” evaluation was given . the attenuation was measured for a 10 mhz signal . the attenuation was evaluated as “ good ” when 0 . 6 db / m or less , and “ fair ” when in a range of 0 . 6 db / m to 1 . 0 db / m . an ac voltage of 1 khz was applied to the coaxial cable being measured , and an lcr meter was used to measure the electrostatic capacitance . the electrostatic capacitance was evaluated as “ good ” when 110 pf / m or less , and “ fair ” when in a range of 110 pf / m to 120 pf / m . to evaluate the processability , the percentage of defectiveness due to unraveling of the central conductor was measured when the jacket and outer conductor were removed from the terminal portion of the coaxial cable and 10 mm of insulation was then further removed to expose the central conductor . when the percentage of defectiveness was 5 % or less , a “ good ” evaluation was given , and when the percentage was in a range of 5 % to 10 %, a “ fair ” evaluation was given . the results of the evaluations were “ good ” for the mechanical characteristics , electrical characteristics , and processability in the coaxial cables of example 1 , example 2 , and the reference example . specifically , it is possible to obtain a small - diameter coaxial cable having the same electrical characteristics and mechanical characteristics as for a seven - twist wire by twisting three wires together to form the central conductor and making the adhesive force between the central conductor and the insulation one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor . in this case , since large - diameter conductor wires can be used in the central conductor , the costs associated with a coaxial cable comprising a three - twist central conductor are affordable . in the comparative example , the mechanical characteristics , electrostatic capacitance , and processability were “ fair .” the reason for this is considered to be as follows . with a three - twist wire , the adhesive force between the central conductor and the insulation is greater than one third the tensile force of the central conductor because the insulation sinks somewhat into the crevices of the twisting of the central conductor . since this is the case , the force required to flex the coaxial cable increases . it is believed that a load is applied to the conductors and breakage more readily occurs in proportion to the increase . it is also believed that the electrostatic capacitance increases because of the smaller voids between the central conductor and the insulation . it is further believed that with a large adhesive force , the force applied to the central conductor increases when the insulation is removed and the central conductor exposed , and the central conductor readily unravels , causing the percentage of defectiveness to increase . in a case where the adhesive force is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor and the central conductor is made of three twisted wires , the mechanical characteristics and the electrostatic capacitance were “ good ” when the twist pitch of the central conductor was 11 times the outside diameter of the twisted wires or more . the mechanical characteristics and the electrostatic capacitance were “ fair ” in a case where the twist pitch was 10 . 8 times the outside diameter . the processability was “ good ” when the twist pitch of the central conductor was 16 times the outside diameter of the twisted wires or less . the central conductor readily unraveled and the processability was fair in a case where the twist pitch was 16 . 2 times the outside diameter of the twisted wires . however , even when the central conductor was composed of seven twisted wires , the same results were obtained as with a three - twist central conductor when the twist pitch was less than 11 times the outside diameter and when the twist pitch was greater than 16 times the outside diameter . in other words , as long as the adhesive force between a three - twist central conductor and the insulation is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor , the same mechanical characteristics , electrical characteristics , and processability as in a case where the central conductor is composed of seven twisted wires can be attained regardless of the twist pitch of the central conductor . the concentration of silver in the central conductor has an effect on the mechanical characteristics or the attenuation . as long as the silver concentration was from 0 . 5 % to 2 . 2 %, both the mechanical characteristics and the attenuation were “ good .” the mechanical characteristics were “ fair ” when the silver concentration of the central conductor was 0 . 2 %; and the attenuation was “ fair ” when the silver concentration was 3 . 0 %. the same results were obtained whether the central conductor was composed of three twisted wires or seven . as long as the adhesive force between a three - twist central conductor and the insulation is one third or less the tensile strength of the central conductor , the same mechanical characteristics , electrical characteristics , and processability as in a case where the central conductor is composed of seven twisted wires can be attained regardless of the silver concentration of the central conductor . in the above - described examples , awg 42 small - diameter coaxial cable was evaluated , but the adhesive force between the central conductor and the insulation is believed to exhibit a similar relationship in terms of the sinking of the insulation in coaxial cables thinner than awg 40 ( wherein the cross - sectional area of the central conductor is 0 . 005 mm 2 or less ). therefore , it is believed that the same evaluation results would be obtained in a coaxial cable thinner than awg 40 .
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US-69955510-A
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a semiconductor laser includes a first cladding layer having a forward mesa with at least one end at least partially spaced from the adjacent facet of the laser . a current blocking layer buries the mesa at its sides and at least partially at the ends of the mesa so that the ends are at least partially spaced from the facets . the current blocking layer reduces current injection and surface recombination at the facets at least partially spaced from the mesa ends , thereby increasing the catastrophic optical damage level of the laser . the mesa is formed without etching or exposing the active layer so that formation of interfaces that refract light or shorten laser life - time are avoided . an increase in cod level of about 20 percent is achieved in the invention .
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fig1 ( a ) shows the external structure of a semiconductor laser according to an embodiment of the present invention , particularly at the facet of the laser . fig1 ( b ) shows a transverse cross - sectional view of the laser structure of fig1 ( b ) taken along the indicated broken line of fig1 ( a ). fig2 shows a longitudinal cross - sectional view of the structure of fig1 ( a ) taken along line ii -- ii of fig1 ( a ). the laser structure of fig1 ( a ), 1 ( b ), and 2 includes an n - type semiconductor substrate 1 on which are successively disposed an n - type al 0 . 5 ga 0 . 5 as cladding layer 2 , a p - type al 0 . 15 ga 0 . 85 as active layer 3 , and a p - type al 0 . 5 ga 0 . 5 as second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ;. an n - type gaas current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; is disposed on the second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ; except for the central ridge portion thereof . layer 4 &# 39 ; is not a generally planar layer as are layers 2 and 3 . rather , layer 4 &# 39 ; is formed in a forward mesa structure 4b that is modified in thickness near the facets 12 and 13 of the laser . as indicated in fig2 the layer 4 &# 39 ; is relatively thin near the facets but has a greater thickness , i . e ., the full thickness of the forward mesa , in the central portion of the structure . outside the forward mesa , the second cladding layer is of a substantially uniform thickness . at each point of the structure , the total of the thicknesses of layers 4 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 39 ; is substantially the same . a p - type gaas contact layer 6 is disposed on the ridge portion of the second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ; and on current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ;. electrodes 7 and 8 are disposed on the substrate 1 and the contact layer 6 , respectively . laser oscillation takes place in the structure of fig1 ( a ), 1 ( b ), and 2 in the region 9 , best viewed in fig2 . at the regions 10 near the facets 12 and 13 , pn junctions are formed between layers 4 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 39 ; that discourage or prevent current injection and surface recombination at the laser facets when the laser is biased to produce coherent light oscillations . fig3 ( a )- 3 ( c ) illustrate a method of manufacturing the embodiment of the invention shown in fig1 ( a ), 1 ( b ), and 2 . first cladding layer 2 , active layer 3 , and second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ; are successively grown , without interruption of the ongoing growth process , on the substrate 1 as illustrated in fig3 ( a ). these three layers may be grown by a cvd provess such as mocvd . as illustrated in fig3 ( b ), portions of the layer 4 &# 39 ; are removed by etching . as is conventional in the art , the mesa is defined using a mask that is not attacked by the etchant used to remove a portion of the second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ;. for example , the mask may be sio 2 that is formed into the desired mask pattern using conventional photolithography techniques . portions of the layer 4 &# 39 ; are left in place to form the forward mesa 4b at the central portion of the structure . mesa 4b includes lateral sides 14 and 15 that extend longitudinally , i . e ., in the direction between facets 12 and 13 , and ends 16 and 17 that are transverse , i . e ., generally parallel to and spaced from facets 12 and 13 . at least one of the ends 16 and 17 is spaced from the respective adjacent facet 12 and 13 and preferably both of the ends are spaced from the respective facets . the extent of the etching to form mesa 4b is insufficient to remove all of layer 4 &# 39 ; at any point so that active layer 3 is not exposed to the etchant or the ambient during the processing illustrated in fig3 ( b ). as indicated in fig3 ( c ), n - type current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; is deposited on the second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ;, for example by an mocvd process , except on the top surface 18 of the forward mesa 4b . current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; buries the mesa , as shown in fig3 ( c ), and isolates the ends of the mesa from the facets that are spaced from the ends . in other words , the mesa is buried not only at its longitudinal sides but also adjacent at least one of its ends as illustrated in fig2 . the current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; forms a rectifying junction with the layer 4 &# 39 ;, reducing the current injection and carrier recombination at the facets 12 and 13 compared to other laser structures . the contact layer 6 is deposited on the current blocking layer 5 . then facets 12 and 13 are formed so that the desired structure is produced . the preferred method of forming the facets 12 and 13 is cleaving , although severing and polishing steps can also be employed . thus , when the described steps illustrated in fig3 ( a ), 3 ( b ), and 3 ( c ) are carried out , the laser facets usually have not yet been formed . therefore , the etching step illustrated in fig3 ( b ) is carried out so that at least one of the ends of the mesa will be spaced from a laser facet when the facet is formed . fig3 ( a ), 3 ( b ), and 3 ( c ) illustrate the production of a single laser . if a plurality of lasers according to the invention are formed simultaneously from a single semiconductor wafer , each forward mesa consists of an isolated stripe on the wafer . isolated stripes lying along a straight line on the wafer are separated by regions in which the stripe , but not the corresponding layer 4 &# 39 ;, is discontinuous . facets are formed at those discontinuities . the discontinuities are buried along with the mesa when current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; is deposited . after formation of the facets , electrodes 8 and 9 are formed on the substrate 1 and the contact layer 6 , respectively , to complete the device of fig1 ( a ). when a current exceeding the lasing threshold flows through the structure of fig1 ( a ), minority carriers are injected into the active layer 3 at the laser oscillation region 9 in a density of about 2 × 10 18 cm - 3 . a carrier population inversion must occur to support the laser oscillation . about 90 percent of the injected carriers are converted into photons . carriers are excited in and into the population inversion through current injection and optical absorption . although minority carriers are also created by the absorption of light from the laser , the density of optically excited carriers is less than one - tenth of the injected carrier concentration because the quantity of injected minority carriers near the facets is relatively small . that quantity is kept small by the presence of blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; which forms a rectifying junction with the layer 4 , discouraging current injection at the facets . as a result of the reduced current injection levels , surface recombination of electron - hole pairs at the facet or facets from which the end or ends of the forward mesa is separated is reduced compared to a laser structure having a forward mesa with ends extending all of the way to the facet or facets . in addition , the reduced charge carrier density at the facet reduces heat from optical absorption and recombination processes that are accompanied by phonon emissions . fig9 ( a ) shows the current and light output characteristics for a known semiconductor laser which lacks the current blocking structure at the facets , i . e ., lacks a non - injection region . fig9 ( b ) shows the current and light output characteristics of a device according to the invention which has at least one current non - injection region at a facet . as shown in those figures , the cod level of lasers according to the present invention is improved by more than 20 percent compared to the known device . in the described process for manufacturing the illustrated embodiment of the invention , the active layer 3 is not etched nor exposed to either an etchant or the ambient . therefore , there is no formation of an interface layer that may refract coherent laser light and disturb the far - field radiation pattern of the laser . moreover , there is no regrowth interface at the active layer since layers 2 , 3 , and 4 &# 39 ; are all deposited sequentially in a single deposition step . this absence of a regrowth interface further avoids absorption of laser light in the structure and increases the lifetime of the novel laser . fig4 ( a ) and 4 ( b ) show another embodiment of a laser structure according to the invention . that structure is identical to the one just described with respect to fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ) except that a p - type gaas buffer layer 11 is disposed between the current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; and the second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ;. the buffer layer 11 improves the rectifying characteristics of the pn junction formed by layers 4 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 39 ; so that the non - injection characteristic at the facets is improved . in the embodiments of the invention described , the light generated in the laser oscillation region 9 is guided by the first and second cladding layers 2 and 4 &# 39 ;. some broadening of the laser light beam occurs in those cladding layers . the blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; is close to the active layer 3 in the region 10 near the facets 12 and 13 so that the broadened portions of the laser light beam are absorbed by the blocking layer 5 &# 39 ;. this absorption causes some temperature rise near the facets and limits the improvement that can be attained in the cod level . fig5 ( a ), 5 ( b ), and 6 show a semiconductor laser device according to another embodiment of the present invention which achieves still larger improvements in the cod level . fig5 ( a ), 5 ( b ), and 6 are analogous to fig1 ( a ), 1 ( b ), and 2 , respectively . fig5 ( a ) is a perspective view , fig5 ( b ) is a transverse sectional view , and fig6 is a longitudinal view taken along line vi -- vi of fig5 ( a ). fig7 ( a ) to 7 ( c ) are analogous to fig3 ( a ) to 3 ( c ), respectively , and illustrate a process for making the laser device of fig5 ( a ). since the laser device of fig1 ( a ) has been described in detail , only the differences between it and the structures of fig5 , and 7 need to be explained . the principal difference between the laser structure of fig5 ( a ) and that of fig1 ( a ) lies in the extent of the mesa 4b in the direction of the respective facets 12 and 13 . in the embodiment described with respect to fig1 ( a ), the ends 16 and 17 of the mesa are generally smooth as a result of etching and are spaced from the respective facets 12 and 13 . in the embodiment of the invention shown in fig5 ( a ) and 6 , a portion 16 &# 39 ; of the mesa end is part of facet 12 . likewise , a portion 17 &# 39 ; of the other end of the mesa is coplanar with facet 13 . other portions 26 and 27 of the ends of the mesa are spaced from the respective facets 12 and 13 . this stepped end configuration is best shown in fig7 ( b ) and 7 ( c ) illustrating a process for making the laser structure . in contrast to the production step illustrated in fig3 ( b ), in the step shown in fig7 ( b ), mesa 4b is initially formed by etching cladding layer 4 &# 39 ; so that mesa 4b extends fully between what is or will become facets 12 and 13 . thereafter , in a second etching step , only the portions of mesa 4b adjacent facets 12 and 13 are exposed and etched . conventional photolithography techniques can be employed to expose only those mesa portions . as a result of the second etching , steps 20 and 21 are formed in mesa 4b . those steps leave in place ends 16 &# 39 ; and 17 &# 39 ; of the mesa that are coplanar with facets 12 and 13 respectively , and end portions 26 and 27 of mesa 4b that are spaced from facets 12 and 13 , respectively . current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; is then deposited as illustrated in fig7 ( c ), burying mesa 4b at its sides 14 and 15 . the mesa is only partially buried at its ends , that is , end portions 16 &# 39 ; and 17 &# 39 ; are not buried by current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; whereas end portions 26 and 27 are buried by current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ;. in fig6 a longitudinal sectional view of the laser structure of fig5 ( a ), it can be seen that the current blocking layer portions 5 &# 39 ; adjacent regions 10 are thinner than in the structure shown in fig2 . the base of mesa 4a is illustrated in fig6 by broken line 28 . in the structure of fig2 the cladding layer portions 5 &# 39 ; extend the full distance from contacting layer 6 to the base of mesa 4b . however , in the structure of fig6 cladding layer portions 5 &# 39 ; extend only part of the distance from contacting layer 6 to mesa base 28 . in other words , in the embodiment of fig5 ( a ), the blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; at the region 10 is spaced farther from active layer 3 than in the embodiment of fig1 ( a ). for that reason , absorption of laser light in the blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; near the facets is reduced so that , for a particular laser current , the temperature rise of the facet is smaller . thus , the cod level in the laser structure of fig5 ( a ) shows a greater improvement over the prior art than the structure of fig1 ( a ). while the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment comprising p - type and n - type gaas and algaas semiconductors , the conductivity types of the layers can be interchanged . it is an important feature of the invention that a rectifying junction be formed between second cladding layer 4 &# 39 ; and current blocking layer 5 &# 39 ; without regard to which of those layers is p - type and which is n - type . in many commercial lasers , it is preferable to employ a p - type semiconductor layer as the active layer . however , n - type and undoped layers can also be employed as the active layer of the laser structure . other indirect band gap semiconductor materials besides gaas and algaas can also be employed in laser structures according to the invention .
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US-38222089-A
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a method of producing an electrosurgical device is disclosed . opposing longitudinal clamshells are formed , and each clamshell includes a face having a generally planar major portion . longitudinal grooves are formed in a clamshell , and an electrical conductor in a disposed in a groove . the faces are aligned to form an electrical passage including the electrical conductor in the groove and a spaced - apart fluid passage with another groove . the clamshells are welded together to form a shaft member such that the electrical passage and the fluid passage are fluid tight along a major longitudinal portion of the shaft . electrodes are attached to the distal end of the shaft and are in electrical communication with the electrical conductor .
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throughout the description , like reference numerals and letters indicate corresponding structure throughout the several views . also , any particular feature ( s ) of a particular exemplary embodiment may be equally applied to any other exemplary embodiment ( s ) of this specification as suitable . in other words , features between the various exemplary embodiments described herein are interchangeable as suitable , and not exclusive . from the specification , it should be clear that any use of the terms “ distal ” and “ proximal ” are made in reference from the user of the device , and not the patient . the invention provides systems , devices and methods for treating tissue at a tissue treatment site during an electrosurgical procedure . this is particularly useful for procedures where it is desirable to shrink , coagulate and seal tissue against blood loss , for example , by shrinking lumens of blood vessels ( e . g ., arteries , veins ). the invention will now be discussed with reference to the figures , with fig1 showing a front view of one embodiment of a system 2 of the present invention having an electrosurgical unit 10 in combination with a fluid source 20 and a handheld electrosurgical device 30 . fig1 further shows a movable cart 12 having a support member 14 which carries a platform 16 comprising a pedestal table to provide a flat , stable surface for location of the electrosurgical unit 10 . as shown cart 12 further comprises a fluid source carrying pole 18 with a cross support for carrying fluid source 20 . as shown in fig1 , fluid source 20 comprises a bag of fluid from which a fluid 22 flows through a drip chamber 24 after the bag is penetrated with a spike located at the end of the drip chamber 24 . thereafter , fluid 22 flows through a fluid passage provided by a lumen of flexible , plastic fluid delivery tubing 26 to handheld electrosurgical device 30 . as shown in fig1 , the fluid delivery tubing 26 passes through pump 28 . pump 28 comprises a peristaltic pump and , more specifically , a rotary peristaltic pump . with a rotary peristaltic pump , a portion of the fluid delivery tubing 26 is loaded into the pump 28 by raising and lowering a pump head in a known manner . fluid 22 is then conveyed within the fluid delivery tubing 26 by waves of contraction placed externally on the tubing 26 which are produced mechanically , typically by rotating pinch rollers which rotate on a drive shaft and intermittently compress the fluid delivery tubing 26 against an anvil support . alternatively , pump 28 may comprise a linear peristaltic pump . with a linear peristaltic pump , fluid 22 is conveyed within the fluid delivery tubing 26 by waves of contraction placed externally on the tubing 26 which are produced mechanically , typically by a series of compression fingers or pads which sequentially squeeze the tubing 26 against a support . peristaltic pumps are generally preferred , as the electro - mechanical force mechanism , here rollers driven by electric motor , does not make contact with the fluid 22 , thus reducing the likelihood of inadvertent contamination . in one embodiment , the fluid 22 is liquid saline solution , and even more particularly , normal ( physiologic ) saline solution . however , although the description herein may make reference to saline as the fluid 22 , other electrically conductive fluids may be used in accordance with the invention . in addition to the use of an electrically conductive fluid , as will become more apparent with further reading of this specification , fluid 22 may also be an electrically non - conductive fluid . the use of a non - conductive fluid may not offer as many advantages as a conductive fluid , however , the use of a non - conductive fluid still provides certain advantages over the use of a dry electrode including , for example , reduced occurrence of tissue sticking to the electrode ( s ) of device 30 and cooling of the electrode ( s ) and / or tissue . therefore , it is also within the scope of the invention to include the use of a non - conductive fluid , such as , for example , deionized water . as shown in fig1 , electrosurgical device 30 is connected to electrosurgical unit 10 via a cable 34 which has a plurality of electrically insulated wire conductors 42 ( shown in fig5 ) and at least one plug 36 at the end thereof . the electrosurgical unit 10 provides radio - frequency ( rf ) energy via cable 34 to electrosurgical device 30 . plug receptacle 38 of electrosurgical unit 10 receives the plug 36 of device 30 therein to electrically connect device 30 to the electrosurgical unit 10 . the fluid delivery tubing 26 may be provided as part of cable 34 and produced with the electrically insulated wire conductors 42 via plastic co - extrusion . an exemplary rf power output curve for electrosurgical unit 10 is shown in fig2 . impedance z , shown in units of ohms on the x - axis and rf output power p o is shown in units of watts on the y - axis . in the illustrated embodiment , the rf power is bipolar and set to 200 watts . as shown in the figure , for an rf power setting p s of 200 watts , the output power p o will remain constant with the set rf power p s as long as the impedance z stays between the low impedance cut - off of 30 ohms and the high impedance cut - off of 250 ohms . below an impedance z of 30 ohms , the output power p o will decrease as shown by the low impedance ramp . above an impedance z of 250 ohms , the output power p o will also decrease as shown by the high impedance ramp . electrosurgical unit 10 has also been configured such that the speed of pump 28 , and therefore the throughput of fluid 22 expelled by the pump 28 , is predetermined based on two input variables , the rf power setting and the fluid flow rate setting . in fig3 , there is shown a relationship of fluid flow rate q in units of cubic centimetres per minute ( cc / min ) on the y - axis , and the rf power setting p s in units of watts on the x - axis . the relationship has been engineered to inhibit undesirable effects such as tissue desiccation , electrode sticking , smoke production and char formation , while at the same time not providing a fluid flow rate q at a corresponding rf power setting ps which is so great as to provide too much fluid 22 from device 30 , which may result in too much electrical dispersion and excess cooling at the electrode / tissue interface . as shown , electrosurgical unit 10 has been configured to increase the fluid flow rate q linearly with an increasing rf power setting p s for each of three fluid flow rate settings of low , medium and high corresponding to q l , q m and q h , respectively . conversely , electrosurgical unit 10 has been configured to decrease the fluid flow rate q linearly with an decrease rf power setting p s for each of three fluid flow rate settings of low , medium and high corresponding to q l , q m and q h , respectively . electrosurgical unit 10 may be particularly configured for use with an electrosurgical device 30 which is a bipolar device . with a bipolar device , an alternating current ( ac ) electrical circuit is created between first and second electrical poles / electrodes of the device 30 . an exemplary bipolar electrosurgical device of the present invention which may be used in conjunction with electrosurgical unit 10 of the present invention is shown at reference character 30 a in fig4 . while electrosurgical device 30 a of the present invention is described herein with reference to use with electrosurgical unit 10 , it should be understood that the description of the combination is for purposes of illustrating the system of the invention . consequently , it should be understood that while electrosurgical device 30 a disclosed herein may be used with electrosurgical unit 10 , it may be plausible to use other electrosurgical devices with electrosurgical unit , or it may be plausible to use the electrosurgical device ( s ) disclosed herein with another electrosurgical unit . as shown in fig4 , exemplary bipolar device 30 a comprises a proximal handle 40 comprising mating handle portions 40 a , 40 b . handle 40 is preferably made of a sterilizable , rigid , non - conductive material , such as a plastic material ( e . g ., thermoplastic such as acrylonitrile - butadiene - styrene ( abs ), polycarbonate ( pc )). also , handle 40 is preferably configured slender , along with the rest of device 30 a , to facilitate a user of device 30 a to hold and manipulate device 30 a like a pen - type device . device 30 a also includes a cable 34 which is connectable to electrosurgical unit 10 and flexible fluid delivery tubing 26 which is connectable to fluid source 20 , particularly via a spike located at the end of drip chamber 24 , which respectively provide rf energy and fluid 22 to the electrodes 100 , 102 . as shown in fig5 , cable 34 of device 30 a comprises a plurality of insulated wires 42 connectable to electrosurgical unit 10 via three banana ( male ) plug connectors 44 . the banana plug connectors 44 are each assembled with wire conductors of insulated wires 42 within plug 36 in a known manner . wire conductors of insulated wires 42 are connected distally to a handswitch assembly 46 , and thereafter wire conductors are connected to crimp terminals 48 which connect to a proximal portion of conductors 70 , 72 of shaft member 50 . handswitch assembly 46 comprises a push button 52 which overlies a domed switch . upon depression of button 52 , the domed switch forms a closed circuit which is sensed by electrosurgical unit 10 , which then provides rf power to the electrodes 100 , 102 . referring to fig6 and 7 , rigid shaft member 50 , located distal to handle 40 , comprises a shaft member first body 60 and a shaft member second body 62 . shaft member 50 extends distally from the handle 40 and supports electrodes 100 , 102 in rigid relation to the handle 40 . at a proximal end 56 of shaft member 50 , fluid delivery tubing 26 of device 30 a is connected within handle 40 to a proximal barbed connector portion 54 of shaft member 50 , which is defined by at least one of shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 . to connect fluid delivery tubing 26 to barbed connector portion 54 , the lumen of fluid delivery tubing 26 preferably interference ( friction or press ) fit over the outside diameter of barbed connector portion 54 to provide an interference fit and seal therebetween . as shown in fig8 - 10 , shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 comprise two opposing , mating halves of shaft member 50 which may form a clamshell design . shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 are joined together along a length of the shaft member 50 , from a proximal end 56 to a distal end 58 thereof . shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 may particularly be made of a rigid plastic material such as thermoplastic acrylonitrile - butadiene - styrene ( abs ) or polycarbonate ( pc ). as used herein , a rigid plastic may be understood to be a plastic having a modulus of elasticity either in flexure or in tension greater than 700 mpa ( 100 kpsi ) at 23 ° c . and 50 % relative humidity when tested in accordance with astm methods d - 747 , d - 790 , d - 638 , or d - 882 . however , this definition is not necessarily exhaustive , but merely inclusive . shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 may be joined by thermoplastic welding , and more particularly ultrasonic welding . in this manner , a hermetic seal may be provided between shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 . shaft member 50 includes a plurality of longitudinally oriented , tubular ( enclosed ), shaft member passages 64 , 66 , 82 and 84 , with each having a length defined by the shaft member first body 60 and the shaft member second body 62 . the passages 64 , 66 , 82 and 84 may be parallel and positioned to a side of one another . as shown , adjacent shaft member passages may be separated from one another by a common weld line or seam 65 which may hermetically seal the passages 64 and 66 from 82 and 84 . outer ( lateral ) passages 64 , 66 of shaft member 50 more particularly comprise electrical passages which are parallel and isolated from one another , and which contain planar electrical conductors 70 , 72 . electrical conductors 70 , 72 extend along the complete length of passages 64 , 66 , and extend from entrance apertures 74 , 76 , respectively , of passages 64 , 66 at a proximal end 56 of shaft member 50 , as well as extend from exit apertures 78 , 80 of passages 64 , 66 at a distal end 58 of shaft member 50 . in a particular embodiment , electrical conductors 70 , 72 are made of metal , and may more particularly be made of sheet metal . in this manner , conductors are rigid and may contribute to the overall stiffness of shaft member 50 . also at a proximal end 56 of shaft member 50 , electrical conductors 70 , 72 are electrically coupled to wire conductors 42 within handle 40 whereby they may receive rf energy conducted through wire conductors 42 from electrosurgical unit 10 . at the distal end 58 of shaft member 50 , electrical conductors are electrically coupled ( via direct physical contact ) to electrodes 100 , 102 , whereby they may conduct the rf energy from electrosurgical unit 10 to electrodes 100 , 102 . as shown , electrodes 100 , 102 are seated in distal end electrode receptacles 88 , 90 and electrical conductors 70 , 72 extend through apertures 78 , 80 within the receptacles 88 , 90 at the base thereof for the electrical conductors 70 , 72 to make contact with electrodes 100 , 102 . by design , electrical conductors 70 , 72 are orientation sensitive and configured to inhibit improper installation within shaft member 50 . furthermore , electrical conductors 70 , 72 and at least one of the shaft member first body 60 and the shaft member second body 62 have interconnecting mating features to position each electrical conductor 70 , 72 relative to at least one of the shaft member first body 60 and the shaft member second body 62 . as shown in fig1 , the interconnecting mating feature of each electrical conductor 70 , 72 comprises a keyway 78 ′ and the interconnecting mating feature of at least one of the shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 comprises a key 80 ′ ( shown with shaft member first body 60 ) configured to interconnect with the keyway . in an alternative embodiment , the keyway may be provided with at least one of the shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 and the key 80 may be provided with the electrical conductor 70 , 72 . returning to fig8 - 10 , inner ( medial ) passages 82 , 84 of shaft member 50 more particularly comprise fluid delivery passages . at the proximal end 56 of shaft member 50 , passages 82 , 84 may branch from a common proximal fluid delivery passage 86 which passes through shaft member barbed connector portion 54 and which is in fluid communication / connected with the lumen of fluid delivery tubing 26 . at the distal end 58 of shaft member 50 , passages 82 , 84 may be in fluid communication with fluid delivery passages 104 , 106 which pass through electrodes 100 , 102 and terminate in exit apertures 108 , 110 . as shown , apertures 108 , 110 are at least partially defined by electrodes 100 , 102 , respectively , and more particularly , are completely defined by electrodes 100 , 102 , respectively . in the foregoing manner , exit apertures 108 , 110 provide fluid outlets or exits configured to provide fluid 22 therefrom directly onto electrodes 100 , 102 . furthermore , as shown , exit apertures 108 , 110 are proximal to a distal end of electrodes 100 , 102 , as well as located on lateral portions of electrodes 100 , 102 . thus , during use of device 30 a , fluid 22 from fluid source 20 is communicated through a tubular passage provided by lumen of fluid delivery tubing 26 , after which it flows through tubular fluid delivery passage 86 and tubular fluid delivery passages 82 , 84 of shaft member 50 , and then to tubular fluid delivery passages 104 , 106 of electrodes 100 , 102 . after flowing through tubular fluid delivery passages 104 , 106 of electrodes 100 , 102 , fluid 22 may be expelled from fluid outlets 108 , 110 onto electrodes 100 , 102 . as shown in fig1 , a female proximal connector portion 92 , 94 of each electrode receptacle 88 , 90 may be configured to form an interference ( friction or press ) fit with a male proximal connector portion 112 , 114 of each electrode 100 , 102 . more particularly , the female connector portion 92 , 94 of each electrode receptacle 88 , 90 may comprise a cylindrical recess and the male connector portion 112 , 114 of each electrode 100 , 102 may comprise a barbed connector portion 120 , 122 configured to fit within the cylindrical recess . in order to increase the efficiency of the design , the first electrode fluid delivery passage 104 may pass through the first electrode connector portion 112 configured to connect the first electrode 100 to the shaft member 50 , and the second electrode fluid delivery passage 106 may pass through the second electrode connector portion 114 configured to connect the second electrode 102 to the shaft member 50 . in the illustrated embodiment , electrodes 100 , 102 may be configured to slide across a tissue surface in a presence of the rf energy from electrosurgical unit 10 and fluid 22 from the fluid source 20 . as shown , electrodes 100 , 102 may be laterally and spatially separated ( by empty space ), and configured as mirror images in size and shape with a blunt distal end surface 116 , 118 devoid of edges ( to provide a uniform current density and treat tissue without necessarily cutting ). more particularly , each distal end surface 116 , 118 of electrodes 100 , 102 may comprise a spherical surface , and more particularly comprise a hemispherical surface with an arc of 180 degrees . the spherical surface may be defined by a uniform radius along the arc , which may be in the range between and including 1 . 25 mm to about 2 . 5 mm . electrodes 100 , 102 may particularly comprise an electrically conductive metal , such as stainless steel . other suitable materials may include titanium , gold , silver and platinum . during manufacture of the device 30 a , electrical conductors 70 , 72 are first installed and positioned with shaft member first body 60 . thereafter , shaft member first body 60 and shaft member second body 62 may be joined by ultrasonic welding . thereafter , electrodes 100 , 102 may be joined to shaft member 50 by inserting male connector portions 112 , 114 of electrodes 100 , 102 into female connector portions 92 , 94 of electrode receptacles 88 , 90 of shaft member 50 . prior to inserting male connector portions 112 , 114 of electrodes 100 , 102 into female connector portions 92 , 94 , electrodes 100 , 102 may be heated . in this manner , electrodes 100 , 102 may heat and soften the female connector portions 92 , 94 of electrode receptacles 88 , 90 during insertion thereof . in this manner , which may be referred to as heat - staking , the insertion force may be reduced , and the plastic material defining female connector portions 92 , 94 may flow to better join / grasp with the barbs and adhesively bond , as well as mechanically bond , to electrodes 100 , 102 . in this manner a hermetic seal may be provided between electrodes 100 , 102 and electrode receptacles 88 , 90 . alternatively , electrodes 100 , 102 may be ultrasonically welded to electrode receptacles 88 , 90 of shaft member 50 . at the same time electrodes 100 , 102 are joined to shaft member 50 by inserting male connector portions 112 , 114 of electrodes 100 , 102 into female connector portions 92 , 94 of electrode receptacles 88 , 90 of shaft member 50 , a distal portion 124 , 126 of electrical conductors 70 , 72 may be inserted into receptacles 128 , 130 of electrodes 100 , 102 to establish physical contact therewith for electrical communication . as shown in fig1 , one way in which device 30 a may be used is with the longitudinal axis of electrodes 100 , 102 vertically orientated , and the spherical surfaces 116 , 118 of electrodes 100 , 102 laterally spaced adjacent tissue surface 202 of tissue 200 . electrodes 100 , 102 are connected to electrosurgical unit 10 to provide rf power and form an alternating current electrical field in tissue 200 located between electrodes 100 and 102 . in the presence of alternating current , the electrodes 100 , 102 alternate polarity between positive and negative charges with current flow from the positive to negative charge . without being bound to a particular theory , heating of the tissue 200 is performed by electrical resistance heating . fluid 22 , in addition to providing an electrical coupling between the device 30 a and tissue 200 , lubricates surface 202 of tissue 200 and facilitates the movement of electrodes 100 , 102 across surface 202 of tissue 200 . during movement of electrodes 100 , 102 , electrodes 100 , 102 typically slide across the surface 202 of tissue 200 . typically the user of device 30 a slides electrodes 100 , 102 across surface 202 of tissue 200 back and forth with a painting motion while using fluid 22 as , among other things , a lubricating coating . preferably the thickness of the fluid 22 between the distal end surface of electrodes 100 , 102 and surface 202 of tissue 200 at the outer edge of couplings 204 , 206 is in the range between and including about 0 . 05 mm to 1 . 5 mm . also , in certain embodiments , the distal end tip of electrodes 100 , 102 may contact surface 202 of tissue 200 without any fluid 22 in between . as shown in fig1 , fluid couplings 204 , 206 comprise discrete , localized webs and more specifically comprise triangular shaped webs providing fluid 22 between surface 202 of tissue 200 and electrodes 100 , 102 . when the user of electrosurgical device 30 a places electrodes 100 , 102 at a tissue treatment site and moves electrodes 100 , 102 across the surface 202 of the tissue 200 , fluid 22 is expelled from fluid outlet openings 108 , 110 around and on surfaces 116 , 118 of electrodes 100 , 102 and onto the surface 202 of the tissue 200 via couplings 204 , 206 . at the same time , rf electrical energy , shown by electrical field lines 208 , is provided to tissue 200 at tissue surface 202 and below tissue surface 202 into tissue 200 through fluid couplings 204 , 206 . device 30 a disclosed herein may be particularly useful as non - coaptive tissue sealer in providing hemostasis during surgery . in other words , grasping of the tissue is not necessary to shrink , coagulate and seal tissue against blood loss , for example , by shrinking collagen and associated lumens of blood vessels ( e . g ., arteries , veins ) to provided the desired hemostasis of the tissue . furthermore , the control system of the electrosurgical unit 10 is not necessarily dependent on tissue feedback such as temperature or impedance to operate . thus , the control system of electrosurgical unit 10 may be open loop with respect to the tissue which simplifies use . device 30 a disclosed herein may be particularly useful to surgeons to achieve hemostasis after dissecting through soft tissue , as part of hip or knee arthroplasty . the tissue treating portions can be painted over the raw , oozing surface 202 of tissue 200 to seal the tissue 200 against bleeding , or focused on individual larger bleeding vessels to stop vessel bleeding . as part of the same or different procedure , device 30 a is also useful to stop bleeding from the surface of cut bone , or osseous , tissue as part of any orthopaedic procedure that requires bone to be cut . device 30 a may be particularly useful for use during orthopedic knee , hip , shoulder and spine procedures . additional discussion concerning such procedures may be found in u . s . publication no . 2006 / 0149225 , published jul . 6 , 2006 , and u . s . publication no . 2005 / 0090816 , published apr . 28 , 2005 , which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and are hereby incorporated by reference in there entirety to the extent they are consistent . as established above , device 30 a of the present invention inhibit such undesirable effects of tissue desiccation , electrode sticking , char formation and smoke generation , and thus do not suffer from the same drawbacks as prior art dry tip electrosurgical devices . the use of the disclosed devices can result in significantly lower blood loss during surgical procedures . such a reduction in blood loss can reduce or eliminate the need for blood transfusions , and thus the cost and negative clinical consequences associated with blood transfusions , such as prolonged hospitalization . in an alternative embodiment , device 30 a may only have a single electrode 100 and comprise a monopolar device . while a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described , it should be understood that various changes , adaptations and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims . the scope of the invention should , therefore , be determined not with reference to the above description , but instead should be determined with reference to the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents . furthermore , it should be understood that the appended claims do not necessarily comprise the broadest scope of the invention which the applicant is entitled to claim , or the only manner ( s ) in which the invention may be claimed , or that all recited features are necessary . all publications and patent documents cited in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes to the extent they are consistent .
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US-201314045185-A
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a joinder of thermoplastic pipes . current is passed through a coil disposed between the pipes while a clamp is applied to the joinder . the clamp exerts a prevailing force . the coil is rotatable to facilitate alignment of its leads . the current from a power supply is preferably applied for the same time period for all joinder sizes , the current being adjusted to provide correct heat for various sizes .
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in fig1 there is shown a joinder 20 of two pipes 21 , 22 . pipe 21 has a bellmouth end 23 to receive and fit around the cylindrical end wall 24 of pipe 22 . the fit is telescopic . a heating coil 25 is formed to a generally cylindrical shape and fits in end 23 . end 23 has a group of notches 26 to pass the leads 27 , 28 of the coil . the coil is freely rotatable in the end 23 before the end is heated . thus , the coil can be rotated so the leads can exit the joinder at a plurality of locations established by the notches . inside wall 30 of end 23 , outside wall 24 , and the coil make a close fit with one another . a power supply 35 schematically shown in fig1 attaches to the leads . a current source 36 such as a battery is grounded and connected to one of the leads . the power supply further includes a timer switch 37 and a rheostat 38 , which is grounded . the timer is preferably set for a pre - determined time , which is intended to be the same for all joinder sizes . the rheostat is provided with setting indicia such as to indicate the position of more amperage for larger joinder sizes than for smaller joinder sizes . thus , in a given period of time , a sufficient current can be passed to the coil to soften or melt the material of any respective size . the current is thereby varied from size to size , but the time remains constant . this is a substantial advantage to the installer of a large number of joinders . it is still within the scope of this invention to vary the time rather than the current . it is , however , more convenient to be able to calibrate the rheostat setting to joinder size rather than to select a time increment . the worker can move at a steadier pace . fig3 shows that a clamp 50 has been applied around the joinder . for clarity it is not shown in fig1 or 2 . clamp 50 may be of the type shown in either fig4 or 7 , or any other clamp which exerts a prevailing force . by &# 34 ; prevailing &# 34 ; force is meant a continuing force which is exerted despite a reduction in resistance by what is being clamped . for example , a conventional screw - type hose clamp does not exert a prevailing force , because it does not follow up when the joinder softens and offers less resistance . further , it is a convenience in this invention for the clamp to be a separable buckle type for ease of installation and removal . a conventional screw - type hose clamp must have its strap removed from the screw mechanism , which is a time - consuming procedure . fig4 - 6 show a clamp 55 ( symbolized by clamp 50 in fig3 ) in which hinged - together strap segments 56 , 57 have end hooks 58 , 59 that can be separated to enable them to encircle the joinder , and be hooked together as shown in fig5 to encircle it . over center toggle 60 comprises a link that is joined to segment 56 and , through spring 61 , to segment 57 . spring 61 is a curved spring - metal structure which resists the moving apart of its ends 62 , 63 . the entire structure is conveniently made of metal , but spring 61 must be . fig4 shows the open position . fig5 shows the relaxed closed position . fig6 shows a stressed closed position . it will be noted that when the clamp is moved from the position of fig5 toward that of fig6 the clamp will still be closed in a toggle action , but that the toggle action maintains a separate force on the spring which is resisted by the spring . as a consequence , this clamp will exert a prevailing force on a joinder to which it is clamped . fig7 and 8 show another embodiment of a prevailing force clamp 70 . it has a strap with two segments 71 , 72 joined by a hinge 73 . segment 72 is pinned to a housing 74 . segment 71 has a hook 75 engageable by hasp 76 . hasp 76 slides in slots 77 in the housing . a tension spring 78 is pinned to the housing and to the hasp . when the hasp is placed over the hook , it pulls the clamp , in tension to apply a prevailing force . it will be evident from the foregoing that the ends of the joinder can be fitted together and the coil turned to its most convenient position for access to the leads . either embodiment of the clamp can be opened and placed around the joinder . closure of the clamp will result in exertion of a pre - determined prevailing force . the power supply will be activated and current applied at the pre - determined amperage for the time appropriate to the joinder size . the joinder is heated and fused , and the timer switch turns off the current after the period of time has elapsed . this occurs automatically , and the installer can leap frog to successive joinders . when he returns to disconnect the power supply , he may or may not remove the clamp at that time . usually he will . it is simply unbuckled . the installation is quick , simple , and reliable . he then takes the power supply to the next joinder . the pipes on which this process is used are customarily made of organic plastic material . polypropylene is one useful example . the temperatures to be attained , the time duration , and current applied , and readily determined by a few trials . this invention is not be limited by the embodiments shown in the drawings and described in the description , which are given by way of example and not of limitation , but only in accordance with the scope of the appended claims .
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US-22728988-A
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an iron - nickel - chromium - aluminum alloy containing about 30 to 40 % nickel , about 15 to less than 19 % chromium , about 2 to 4 % aluminum , carbon in an amount of at least 0 . 05 % and up to 0 . 2 %, about 0 . 2 to 0 . 8 % titanium , from 1 . 5 to 4 % molybdenum , up to 0 . 1 % boron , up to 0 . 5 % zirconium , up to about 5 % cobalt and the balance iron . alloy is characterized by carburization resistance and stress - rupture strength which is desirable for ethylene pyrolysis tubing , highly oxidation resistant , cold workable such that mill product forms can be readily produced without deleterious cracking , ductile , structurally stable , i . e ., will resist forming detrimental quantities of undesirable phases such as sigma , and weldable .
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generally speaking and in accordance herewith , the instant invention contemplates an iron - nickel - chromium - aluminum alloy containing about 30 to 40 % nickel , about 15 to less than 19 % chromium , about 2 to 4 % aluminum , carbon in an amount of at least 0 . 05 % and up to 0 . 2 %, about 0 . 2 to 0 . 8 % titanium , from 1 . 5 to 4 % molybdenum , up to 0 . 1 % boron , up to 0 . 5 % zirconium , up to about 5 % cobalt and the balance essentially iron . as contemplated herein , the expressions &# 34 ; balance &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; balance essentially &# 34 ; in referring to the iron content do not preclude the presence of other elements often present as incidental constituents , including deoxidizing and cleansing elements , and usual impurities associated therewith in amounts which do not adversely affect the basic characteristics of the alloy . manganese , silicon , calcium and cerium are examples of such constituents . in carrying the invention into practice care must be exercised in terms of compositional control . for example , it has been found that the nickel content must be at least 30 % and preferably 32 % or more to avoid cracking upon hot working . at a level of 25 % considerable hot cracking has been experienced upon rolling at 2000 ° f . ( 1093 ° c .). some edge cracking occurred at the 30 % nickel level . on the other hand , no appreciable benefit has been obtained with nickel contents of , say , 40 to 45 %. stress rupture life is not improved . thus , a nickel range of 32 to 38 %, particularly 33 to 37 % has been found most satisfactory . chromium is required for corrosion resistance . however , excessive chromium can cause a loss in stress - rupture strength and lends to the formation of the embrittling sigma phase . while up to 21 or 22 % chromium can be present for various corrosive environments or where optimum strength is not necessary , it is preferred that it not exceed 19 %. we might add that a level of 15 to 21 % has shown to result in a minimum of carburization attack although the over all effect might not be greatly significant in this regard . oxidation resistance is not appreciably enhanced with a chromium content of , say , 20 % versus 16 % as will be shown infra . accordingly , a chromium range of 16 to 18 . 5 %, is deemed quite advantageous especially when the benefit of the aluminum content is considered . aluminum contributes to both carburization and oxidation resistance at elevated temperature , particularly at or above 1800 °- 1900 ° f . 922 °- 1038 ° c .) tests conducted at circa 2000 ° f . ( 1093 ° c .) reflect a dramatic resistance to both forms of attack at the 3 . 5 to 4 % level . aluminum percentages over 4 % do not offer any appreciable benefit and , indeed , impair stress - rupture strength . upon prolonged exposure at elevated service conditions which is a sine qua non for the invention alloy , gamma prime can form as a result of aluminum content and this in turn can be causative of a loss in ductility . with regard to the elements molybdenum , carbon and titanium molybdenum improves stress - rupture strength without subverting carburization / oxidation resistance . it also unexpectedly promotes adherence of the oxide film and enhances aqueous corrosion resistance generally . given cost , this constituent need not exceed 4 %, a range of 2 . 5 to 3 . 5 % being quite satisfactory . concerning carbon , low levels lend to lower stress - rupture properties . the carbon can be extended up to about 0 . 3 % at the risk of a loss in stress - rupture strength . thus , it is preferred that the carbon content be from 0 . 07 to 0 . 15 % with a range of 0 . 08 to 0 . 12 % being deemed beneficial . titanium is important for workability and strength . however , it can detract from stress - rupture life if present at , say , must above the 1 % level . on the other hand , if omitted this characteristic suffers . high titanium also tends to reduce oxidation resistance . it should not exceed about 1 %, and a range of 0 . 3 to 0 . 75 % is preferred . apart from the foregoing it is advantageous for stress - rupture strength that at least one of boron and zirconium be present , a boron range of 0 . 003 to 0 . 02 % and a zirconium range of 0 . 05 to 0 . 25 % being preferred . in respect of other constituents , cobalt enhances strength , a range of 1 to 5 % being satisfactory in most instances . niobium is not essential and while a minor amount might be tolerated , a 1 % level has been found to detract from cold fabricability . silicon and manganese can be present up to 1 % each although manganese above 0 . 5 or 0 . 6 % can impair oxidation resistance . yttrium is not necessary and is considered to impair weldability . any retained cerium should be less than 0 . 1 %. low level of cerium ( 0 . 004 %) are beneficial to room temperature ductility even after exposure to 2300 ° f . whereas high percentages such as 0 . 06 % result in a ductility loss . lanthanum at , say , the 0 . 05 % level also causes a loss in ductility after exposure at 2300 ° f . nitrogen can impair stress - rupture life in the absence of grain size control . in this regard , greater than about 0 . 025 % nitrogen makes grain growth to about astm 2 difficult to achieve at conventional annealing temperatures , i . e ., 2150 ° f . or less . in addition to the above , chemistry and heat treatment are preferably controlled such that the alloys are characterized by an average grain size not finer than about astm 2 , i . e ., the grain size should be from astm 00 to astm 2 . given this , the alloys should be solution - annealed at a temperature below 2400 ° f . ( 1316 ° f . ( 1316 ° c .) and within a range of 2100 ° f . ( 1150 ° c .) to 2300 ° f . ( 1260 ° c . ), preferably 2150 ° f . ( 1180 ° c .) to 2300 ° f . ( 1260 ° c .). by controlling grain size higher stress - rupture and creep strength are obtained . the following information and data are given as illustrative of the invention . the compositions given in table i were prepared as experimental 50 lb . heats or less using vacuum melting . the heats were forged and hot rolled to 1 / 2 inch - diameter bar and plate and then annealed for four hours at 2250 ° f . stress - rupture , tensile , carburization , oxidation and ductility retention tests were conducted , the test conditions and data being given in tables ii through ix . the carburization test comprised exposing specimens in a gaseous atmosphere of ( a ) 1 % methane and hydrogen or ( b ) 22 % methane - 21 % co 2 -- h 2 or ( c ) h 2 -- 12 ch 4 -- 10 h 2 o to simulate various industrial service environments . the oxidation test comprised subjecting specimens to air + 5 h 2 o for approximately 500 hour periods . all specimens were examined for the occurence of cracking . two commercial alloys , ca1 and ca2 , well known for their resistance to oxidation are included in tables i and iv for comparison purposes , compositions denoted by numerals are within the invention . cold rolling trials were conducted on selected compositions to determine if essentially crack - free plate and sheet could be produced . referring to table ii the effect of various constituents on stress - rupture life is given . molybdenum , as indicated previously , imparts stress - rupture strenth . as can be seen from table ii , alloys 5 and 16 ( containing 3 % mo ) have superior strength at 2000 ° f . compared to alloy a which contains 0 . 15 % molybdenum and alloy b ( 1 . 03 % mo ). high values of molybdenum ( alloys e and f ) showed poor ductility , particularly after exposure at 1400 ° f . carbon and titanium also enhance stress - rupture properties provided they are present in proper percentages . for example , 0 . 03 % carbon resulted in poor stress - rupture strength and percentages at about 0 . 3 % reflected a downturn in this property , as did about 1 % titanium . it is deemed beneficial that the carbon be from 0 . 07 % to not more than about 0 . 2 % and advantageously from 0 . 08 to 0 . 12 or 0 . 15 %, the titanium being from 0 . 3 to 0 . 7 %. with regard to chromium , levels of 20 % ( alloy 11 ) and 22 % ( alloy 14 ) were weaker than those alloys of , say , 18 or 18 . 5 % and lower ( alloy 9 and 10 ). moreover , a chromium range 16 to 19 % did not result in significant impairment in either oxidation or carburization strength ( tables iii and iv ). while high aluminum impairs stress rupture strength it does , however , markedly improve resistance to both oxidation and carburization ( table v ). accordingly , a range of 2 . 5 % to 3 . 5 % aluminum is deemed most advantageous . the presence of boron and zirconium ( alloy 1 ) will provide an improvement in stress - rupture properties compared to a similar composition ( alloy 2 ) but essentially free of boron and zirconium . cobalt contributes to strength as reflected by alloys 5 and 9 , table ii . it also appears to improve cold workability without appreciably detracting from oxidation and carburization resistance . in determining alloy stability the alloys set forth in table ix were exposed for up to 500 hours at 1400 ° f . and then tension tested at room temperature . the ductility prior to and after the high temperature exposure were compared and the results are given in table ix . these results show that when the cobalt plus molybdenum content exceeds about 7 %, the alloy suffers a significant loss of ductility after exposure at 1400 ° f . in general , elongation values of greater than about 10 % would be acceptable for most applications , while lower values could lead to premature failure of components . an exception to the requirement of % co +% mo = 7 %, or less , is alloy no . 8 which only contains about 2 % aluminum . low levels of aluminum aid retention of ductility , but decrease oxidation and carburization resistance . apart from the foregoing , autogenous , tungsten inert gas welds were prepared to determine cracking tendencies . this was essentially a bead - on - plate screening test and no cracking was found . the alloys described herein can be prepared by techniques other than vacuum processing . air melting , for example , can be employed but properties may not be as good . conventional powder metallurgy processing can also be utilized . although the present invention has been described in conjuntion with preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , as those skilled in the art will readily understand . such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the invention and appended claims . table i__________________________________________________________________________chemical compositionalloy no . fe ni cr al co mo ti c other__________________________________________________________________________a 41 . 93 35 . 17 18 . 03 3 . 46 0 . 36 0 . 15 0 . 02 0 . 07 . 019 b , . 16 zrb 39 . 62 35 . 21 17 . 95 3 . 53 1 . 96 1 . 03 0 . 02 0 . 07 . 018 b , . 16 zr1 35 . 83 34 . 97 18 . 24 3 . 28 4 . 74 2 . 09 0 . 54 0 . 31 . 017 b , . 10 zr , . 09 mn , . 05 si2 35 . 62 35 . 13 18 . 04 3 . 35 4 . 98 2 . 04 0 . 54 0 . 30 . 002 b , . 08 mn , . 073 si , . 0025 zr3 37 . 69 35 . 13 18 . 04 3 . 23 4 . 99 0 . 07 0 . 54 0 . 31 . 079 mn , . 089 si4 35 . 91 34 . 89 18 . 17 3 . 37 5 . 00 2 . 03 0 . 53 0 . 10 . 078 mn , . 068 si5 40 . 11 35 . 50 16 . 94 3 . 67 0 . 16 3 . 00 0 . 55 0 . 12 . 010 b , . 002 zr , . 17 mn , . 10 si6 39 . 92 32 . 70 19 . 40 4 . 30 n . a . 3 . 10 0 . 53 0 . 05 . 015 nc 35 . 63 35 . 56 17 . 55 3 . 43 5 . 01 2 . 09 n . a . 0 . 08 . 014 b , . 05 hf7 31 . 48 35 . 67 20 . 01 3 . 94 5 . 05 3 . 04 0 . 52 0 . 15 . 14 mn , . 01 si8 33 . 91 35 . 53 20 . 02 2 . 09 5 . 00 3 . 10 0 . 54 0 . 08 . 14 mn , . 005 sid 35 . 67 35 . 26 18 . 24 3 . 34 4 . 33 2 . 26 n . a . 0 . 09 . 015 b , . 28 zr9 36 . 46 35 . 54 17 . 59 3 . 49 3 . 11 2 . 96 0 . 56 0 . 12 . 004 b , . 084 zr , . 20 mn , . 1 si10 36 . 81 35 . 57 16 . 77 3 . 58 3 . 07 3 . 11 1 . 03 0 . 12 . 004 b , . 075 zr , . 17 mn , . 09 si11 36 . 34 32 . 96 20 . 22 3 . 38 2 . 83 2 . 79 0 . 51 0 . 12 . 016 b , . 082 zr , . 13 mn , . 073 si12 36 . 81 35 . 47 16 . 63 3 . 62 2 . 09 2 . 13 1 . 01 0 . 12 . 012 b , . 084 zr , 18 mn , . 11 si13 33 . 37 36 . 97 18 . 97 3 . 57 2 . 95 2 . 94 0 . 53 0 . 09 . 014 b , . 085 zr , . 075 mn , . 084 si14 35 . 06 34 . 83 21 . 72 3 . 61 0 . 30 2 . 97 0 . 54 0 . 12 . 016 b , . 082 zr , . 12 mn , . 069 sie 30 . 08 36 . 48 13 . 73 4 . 16 7 . 10 7 . 41 0 . 75 0 . 07 . 14 mn , . 004 sif 28 . 59 36 . 23 20 . 27 4 . 04 5 . 08 5 . 03 0 . 54 0 . 08 . 14 mn , . 01 sig 34 . 81 35 . 51 20 . 05 3 . 83 4 . 94 n . a . 0 . 55 0 . 16 . 15 mn , . 014 si15 31 . 50 35 . 53 20 . 10 3 . 95 5 . 15 3 . 02 0 . 53 0 . 09 . 14 mn , . 01 si16 36 . 56 35 . 30 19 . 98 3 . 58 0 . 20 3 . 00 0 . 54 0 . 11 . 016 b , . 088 zr , . 12 mn , 073 sica1 3 max . 20 - 24 20 - 24 -- bal * -- -- . 05 -. 15 13 - 16 w , 1 . 25 mn max ., . 2 -. 5 sica2 39 . 5 min 30 - 35 19 - 23 . 15 -. 6 -- -- . 15 -. 6 . 10 max 1 . 5 mn max , 1 . 0 si max . 75 cu__________________________________________________________________________ max n . a . = not added * bal = balance plus . 03 -. 15 la ca1 = commercial alloy # 1 ca2 = commercial alloy # 2 table ii______________________________________stress rupture properties 1800 ° f ./ 4 . 5 ksi , 2000 ° f ./ 2 . 5 ksi , alloy no . life ( hrs .) life ( hrs . ) ______________________________________effect of boron & amp ; zirconium1 ( b and zr ) 31 . 5 22 . 82 ( low b and zr ) 16 . 3 13 . 5effect of molybdenum a ( 0 . 15 % mo ) -- 5 . 6 b ( 1 . 03 % mo ) -- 6 . 1 5 ( 3 % mo ) -- 29 . 116 ( 3 % mo ) -- 19 . 5effect of carbonc (. 08 % c ) -- 11 . 44 (. 10 % c ) 25 . 7 18 . 32 (. 30 % c ) 16 . 3 13 . 5effect of aluminum15 ( 3 . 95 % al ) 21 . 0 12 . 0 7 ( 3 . 94 % al ) 38 . 6 16 . 2 8 ( 2 . 09 % al ) 43 . 1 16 . 7effect of titanium . sup . d ( 0 % ti ) -- 9 . 4 9 (. 56 % ti ) 62 . 9 33 . 910 ( 1 . 03 % ti ) 53 . 2 22 . 2effect of chromium 9 ( 17 . 59 % cr ) 62 . 9 32 . 910 ( 16 . 77 % cr ) 53 . 2 22 . 811 ( 20 . 22 % cr ) 28 . 0 29 . 814 ( 21 . 72 % cr ) 16 . 0 16 . 1effect of cobalt5 (. 16 co ) 43 . 8 29 . 19 ( 3 . 11 co ) 62 . 9 32 . 9______________________________________ table iii______________________________________effect of chromium on the carburization resistancealloyno . alloying elements carburization * ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) ______________________________________12 16 . 63 % cr , 2 . 09 % co . 0 . 1510 16 . 77 % cr , 3 . 07 % co 0 . 1313 18 . 97 % cr , 2 . 95 % co 0 . 0911 20 . 22 % cr , 2 . 83 % co 0 . 0914 21 . 72 % cr , 0 . 30 % co 0 . 11______________________________________ note : exposed 168 hr . at 1830 ° f . to h . sub . 2 1 % ch . sub . 4 atmosphere table iv______________________________________effect of chromium on oxidationand carburization carburization oxidation ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) alloy no . 1830 ° f . 2010 ° f . 1830 ° f . - 240 hr . ______________________________________e ( 13 . 73 % cr ) 0 . 16 1 . 12 0 . 36f ( 20 . 27 % cr ) 0 . 48 0 . 98 0 . 38commercial alloy 1 - 45 . 8 -- commercial alloy 2 - 144 . 2 0 . 70______________________________________ note : oxidation done in air + 5 % h . sub . 2 o for 504 hr . carburization done in h . sub . 2 22 % ch . sub . 4 21 % co . sub . 2 table v______________________________________effect of aluminum on oxidation andcarburization ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) carburization - 240 hr ./ 1830 ° f . oxidation ( 504 hrs )* h . sub . 2 - 22alloy no . 1830 ° f . 2010 ° f . h . sub . 2 - 1 % ch . sub . 4 ch . sub . 4 - 21 co . sub . 2______________________________________8 ( 2 . 1 % al ) 0 . 62 - 82 . 3 2 . 9 3 . 47 ( 3 . 94 % al ) 0 . 47 1 . 19 0 . 09 0 . 4______________________________________ * in air + 5 % h . sub . 2 o table vi______________________________________effect of titanium on oxidation andcarburization ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) oxidation * 1830 ° f . - carburizationalloy no . 1080 hr 2030 ° f . - 182 hr 2010 ° f . - 984 hr . ______________________________________ . sup . d ( 0 % ti ) 0 . 24 -- -- 5 ( 0 . 55 % ti ) 0 . 57 0 . 04 3 . 1 9 ( 0 . 56 % ti ) - 2 . 50 - 83 4 . 712 ( 1 . 0 % ti ) - 30 . 2 - 86 . 8 3 . 010 ( 1 . 03 % ti ) 0 . 71 - 260 2 . 7______________________________________ * in air + 5 % h . sub . 2 o ** in h . sub . 2 12 % ch . sub . 4 10 % h . sub . 2 o table vii______________________________________effect of molybdenum on the oxidationand carburization ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) air + 5 % h . sub . 2 o - 504 hr carburization * alloy no . 1830 ° f . 2010 ° f . 1830 ° f . for 240 hrs . ______________________________________ . sup . g ( 0 % mo ) 0 . 54 1 . 28 . 3415 ( 3 . 02 % mo ) 0 . 44 1 . 13 . 41 7 ( 3 . 04 % mo ) 0 . 47 1 . 19 . 36______________________________________ * in h . sub . 2 22 % ch . sub . 4 21 % co . sub . 2 table viii______________________________________effect of cobalt on the oxidationand carburization ( mg / cm . sup . 2 ) carburizationalloy no . 1830 ° f . time ( hrs .) 2010 ° f . - 984 hr . ______________________________________16 ( 0 % co ) 0 . 018 168 -- 5 ( 0 . 16 % co ) 0 . 57 1080 3 . 0711 ( 2 . 8 % co ) 0 . 09 168 -- 9 ( 3 . 1 % co ) - 2 . 5 1080 4 . 7______________________________________ * in h . sub . 2 22 % ch . sub . 4 21 % co . sub . 2 table ix__________________________________________________________________________retention of ductility test results as heat treated * afteralloy principal tensile properties exposureno . alloying elements yield ( ksi ) tensile ( ksi ) % elong % ra % elong % ra__________________________________________________________________________g ( 5 co - 0 mo ) 58 . 0 114 . 1 55 49 . 7 26 31 . 315 ( 5 co - 3 mo - . 09 c ) 44 . 7 97 . 4 62 53 . 0 2 4 . 87 ( 5 co - 3 mo - . 15 c ) 52 . 5 107 . 7 57 50 . 4 4 6 . 28 ( 5 co - 3 mo - 2 al ) 38 . 9 88 . 5 61 64 . 7 28 27 . 3f ( 5 co - 5 mo ) 50 . 6 100 . 6 57 50 . 4 1 1 . 01 ( 5 co - 2 mo ) 44 . 4 111 . 4 40 32 . 2 19 18 . 72 ( 5 co - 2 mo ) 48 . 7 114 . 9 40 37 . 7 19 15 . 84 ( 5 co - 2 mo ) 38 . 0 98 . 7 59 55 . 5 15 16 . 63 ( 5 co - 0 mo ) 47 . 9 113 . 0 40 38 . 0 17 16 . 0d ( 5 co - 2 mo ) 31 . 8 90 . 8 54 54 . 3 27 32 . 4c ( 5 co - 2 mo ) 34 . 4 95 . 1 54 57 . 4 30 34 . 2a ( 0 co - 0 mo ) 38 . 5 88 . 8 36 40 . 3 21 30 . 3b ( 2 co - 1 mo ) 35 . 2 92 . 8 59 56 . 2 32 44 . 412 ( 2 co - 2 mo ) 40 . 2 100 . 2 60 52 . 6 18 19 . 05 ( 0 co - 3 mo ) 36 . 5 100 . 6 53 53 . 5 12 10 . 0__________________________________________________________________________ * as heat treated for 4 hrs . at 2250 ° f . ** exposed 500 hrs . at 1400 ° f .
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US-91088786-A
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in an actuating device for a turbine of an exhaust gas turbocharger for controlling the charging pressure of the exhaust gas turbocharger , wherein a valve of the exhaust gas turbocharger has an actuating shaft onto which a connecting arm is firmly mounted and is pivotally coupled to an actuating link via a connecting bolt by which the actuating shaft can be pivoted about an axis of rotation by a translatory motion of the actuating link , the actuating shaft and the connecting bolt are engaged via a single integral locking element for retaining the actuating link in engagement with the connecting bolt and the actuating shaft .
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fig1 to 3 show an actuating apparatus 10 for a turbine of an exhaust gas turbocharger . the exhaust gas turbocharger serves , for example , to charge a combustion engine of an automobile . the exhaust gas turbocharger comprises a compressor with a compressor wheel by means of which air to be supplied to the combustion engine is to be compressed . the compressor may be driven via the turbine of the exhaust gas turbocharger . for this purpose , the turbine comprises a turbine casing with a housing space in which a turbine wheel of the turbine is at least partially accommodated rotatably about an axis of rotation of the turbine wheel relative to the turbine casing . the turbine casing further comprises at least one supply duct via which exhaust gas of the combustion engine may be supplied to the turbine wheel . the exhaust gas can flow into the turbine wheel and drive it . the turbine wheel is connected non - rotatably with a shaft of the exhaust gas turbocharger , with which the compressor wheel , too , is non - rotatably connected . thereby , the compressor wheel is driven by the turbine wheel . for controlling or regulating , respectively , of the charging pressure of the exhaust gas turbocharger which may be provided by the compressor , the turbine comprises at least one bypass duct . by means of the bypass duct , exhaust gas may be branched off upstream of the turbine wheel and be guided past the turbine wheel . in other words , the exhaust gas flowing through the bypass duct may bypass the turbine wheel without flowing into the turbine wheel and driving it . for controlling the quantity or mass , respectively , of the exhaust gas flowing through the bypass duct a valve element , a so - called waste gate valve , is provided which may be adjusted between a closed position and at least one open position . in the closed position , the bypass duct is fluidly blocked so that no exhaust gas may flow into the bypass duct and bypass the turbine wheel . in the at least one open position , the bypass duct is at least partially fluidly open so that exhaust gas may flow into the bypass duct and bypass the turbine wheel . here , the valve element is adjustable via the actuating apparatus 10 . the actuating apparatus 10 comprises an arm shaft 12 which penetrates the turbine casing and is non - rotatably connected with the valve element . the lever arm shaft 12 is rotatable about a lever arm shaft axis of rotation 14 relative to the turbine casing . for providing high functional reliability , a bearing sleeve 16 is provided via which the arm 12 is rotatably supported at the turbine casing . moreover , a housing 18 is provided in which the lever arm shaft 12 is supported and which e . g . prevents a leakage of media such as exhaust gas , oil or the like from the turbine casing . the actuating apparatus 10 further comprises a connecting arm 20 with a first through - hole which is penetrated by the lever arm shaft 12 . in other words , the lever arm shaft 12 is installed in the first through - hole of the connecting arm 20 . here , the connecting plate 20 is non - rotatably connected with the lever arm haft 12 . the actuating apparatus 10 also comprises a connecting bolt 22 which penetrates a second through - hole of the connecting arm 20 . in other words , the connecting bolt 22 is installed in the second through - hole of the connecting arm 20 . the connecting bolt 22 is articulatedly connected with the connecting arm 20 . this means that the connecting bolt 22 is connected with the connecting arm 20 rotatably about a connecting bolt axis of rotation 24 relative to the connecting arm 20 . as can be seen in particular from fig3 , the lever arm shaft axis of rotation 14 and the connecting bolt axis of rotation 24 extend at least essentially parallel to each other . the connecting bolt 22 is non - rotatably connected with an actuating link 26 . the actuating link 26 is provided with a third through - hole in which the connecting bolt 22 is installed . alternatively it may be provided that the connecting bolt 22 is non - rotatably connected with the connecting arm 20 and connected with the actuating link 26 rotatably about the connecting bolt axis of rotation 24 relative to the actuating link 26 . the actuating link 26 is at least essentially normally and translatorily movable relative to the lever arm shaft axis of rotation 14 and the connecting bolt axis of rotation 24 and is articulatedly connected with the connecting 20 via the connecting bolt 22 . for a translatory movement or shifting , respectively , of the actuating link 26 , it is at least indirectly connected with a pressure sensor of the exhaust gas turbocharger . when the valve element is e . g . in its closed position in which at least essentially the entirety of the exhaust gas flows to the turbine wheel driving it , and when the charging pressure of the exhaust gas turbocharger exceeds a predetermined threshold value , a diaphragm of the pressure sensor is caused to move . the movement of the diaphragm is transferred to the actuating link 26 so that the actuating link 26 is translatorily moved . due to the described coupling of the actuating link 26 with the lever arm shaft 12 as well as due to the coupling of the lever arm belt shaft 12 with the valve element , the translatory movement of the actuating link 26 is transformed to a rotational movement of the lever arm shaft 12 about the lever arm bolt axis of rotation 14 and further to a swiveling motion of the valve element from its closed position to its open position . in order to avoid undesired relative movements of the connecting arm 20 relative to the lever arm shaft 12 and relative to the connecting bolt 22 , an intermediate locking element 28 illustrated in fig4 is provided . the intermediate element is integrally formed and arranged in the direction of the lever arm shaft axis of rotation 14 or of the connecting bolt axis of rotation 24 , respectively , between the connecting arm 20 and the lever arm shaft 12 and between the connecting arm 20 and the connecting bolt 22 . in other words , both the lever arm shaft 12 and the connecting bolt 22 are secured on the connecting arm 20 via the integral intermediate locking element 28 . this provides for the compensation of manufacturing - related and / or wear - related tolerances or clearances , respectively , or clearances between the connecting arm 20 and the lever arm shaft 12 , or the connecting bolt 22 , respectively , so that relative motion between the connecting arm 20 and the lever arm shaft 12 and the connecting bolt 22 , respectively , and the noise resulting therefrom may be avoided or minimized . as can be seen in particular from fig3 , the intermediate locking element 28 is arranged at a first side 30 of the connecting arm 20 between the lever arm bolt 12 and the connecting arm 20 and between the connecting bolt 22 and the connecting arm 20 . in addition , the intermediate locking element 28 is also arranged at a second side 32 of the connecting arm 20 facing away from the first side 30 between the connecting arm 20 and the connecting bolt 22 . thereby , a particularly strong and advantageous connection of the connecting bolt 22 with the connecting arm 20 is implemented . in other words , the connecting arm 20 is secured at the connecting bolt 22 by means of the intermediate locking element 28 and vice versa , respectively . the integral nature of the intermediate locking element 28 enables a quick and cost efficient assembly . further , clearance and tolerance compensation is effected at all connecting points of the actuating apparatus 10 which may be prone to clearances by means of the only one integral intermediate locking element 28 . this also contributes to low wear of the actuating apparatus 10 . the intermediate locking element 28 also enables advantageously to avoid or minimize the generation of noise upon an excitation of the actuating apparatus 10 . as can be seen in particular from fig4 , the intermediate locking element 28 comprises a first through - hole 34 in which the connecting bolt 22 is received at the second side 32 . starting from the first through - hole 34 , the intermediate locking element 28 , which in the present case , is formed as a sheet metal strip extends around the connecting arm 20 to the first side 30 , where the intermediate locking element 28 comprises a second through - hole 36 for receiving the connecting shaft 22 at the first side 30 . the intermediate locking element 28 further comprises a third through - hole 38 in which the lever arm shaft 12 is installed at the first side 30 . the through - holes 34 , 36 , 38 each have a passage direction , in which they are penetrated by the connecting bolt 22 or the lever arm shaft 12 , respectively . while the second through - hole 36 is completely closed in the circumferential direction the through - holes 34 , 38 comprise respective openings in the circumferential direction . it is e . g . possible to insert the lever arm shaft 12 into the third through - hole 38 vertically to its passage direction via the opening of the third through - hole 38 . in other words , the intermediate locking element 28 may be mounted vertically to the passage direction of the third through - hole 38 onto the lever arm shaft 12 . this may apply analogously for the first through - hole 34 into which the connecting bolt 22 may be inserted vertically to the passage direction of the first through - hole 34 . on the other hand , this means that the intermediate element 28 may be mounted vertically to the passage direction of the first through - hole 34 onto the connecting bolt 22 . the through - holes 34 , 38 which are open in the circumferential direction are defined by respective straps 40 of the intermediate locking element 28 , which may encompass the connecting bolt 22 or the lever arm shaft 12 , respectively , in particular resiliently . thereby , the intermediate element 28 is reliably secured both at the connecting bolt 22 and the lever arm shaft 12 . the first through - hole 34 of the intermediate locking element 28 according to fig5 and 6 is also completely closed in the circumferential direction so that the connecting bolt 22 may be inserted into the through - holes 34 , 36 in the passage direction . the intermediate locking element 28 also comprises first protrusions 42 and second protrusions 44 . the protrusions 42 , 44 are raised relative to the partial areas adjoining the protrusions 42 , 44 of the relatively thin - walled intermediate locking element 28 . the first protrusions 42 are assigned to the connecting bolt 22 , while the second protrusions 44 are assigned to the lever arm shaft 12 . the intermediate locking element 28 is supported on the first side 30 at the connecting arm 20 via the first protrusions 42 . correspondingly , the intermediate locking element 28 is supported on the first side 30 at the connecting arm 20 via the second protrusions 44 . because the intermediate locking element 28 is also supported at the connecting bolt 22 and at the lever arm shaft 12 the intermediate locking element 28 may be particularly firmly clamped between the connecting arm 20 and the lever arm shaft 12 , and the connecting bolt 22 , respectively , by means of the protrusions 42 , 44 so that the connecting arm 20 is positively and advantageously engaged with the lever arm bolt 12 and the connecting bolt 22 . this provides for an efficient and effective compensation for clearances and / or tolerances . alternatively or additionally the intermediate locking element 28 may also be supported via at least one corresponding protrusion at the connecting bolt 22 and / or via at least one corresponding protrusion at the lever arm shaft 12 . the protrusions 42 , 44 are formed e . g . by stamping or the like of the sheet metal strip . the protrusions 42 , 44 may , however , be also formed by a material build - up , e . g . by means of a coating , at least a fiber or a similar material build - up of the intermediate locking element 28 . fig5 and 6 show further embodiments of the intermediate locking element 28 , which are adapted to specified installation conditions or installation conditions which may be predetermined , respectively .
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US-201414302379-A
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a method for distributing , drying and heating a selected mix and weight of metals prior to melting in a furnace , including the steps of placing weights of selected metals in a feeder car according to a predetermined distribution , locating the feeder car beneath the hood of a heater , closing the hood over the car , heating the enclosed metal and transferring the preheated metal from the car to a charge bucket for a furnace . an apparatus is disclosed which includes a feeder car movable between a loading station and a heating and dumping station . a weigh hopper is used for measuring and distributing the selected weights and mix of metals which are then loaded in the feeder car . a hood is adapted to close over the feeder car and seal thereto after which a heater is provided to inject heat through the hood into the enclosed car . a vibratory conveyor is provided which moves the preheated metals from the feeder car into a charge bucket for a furnace .
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a preheating apparatus 10 of the present invention as illustrated in the figures is used to select a mix of metals ( e . g . recovered steel scrap 12 and cast returns 14 or other metallics ) from their respective bins 16 , 18 , and then preheat the metals before transferring them to a furnace charge bucket 20 . only two bins 16 , 18 are shown , though any number could be used , dependent upon the number of different types of metals used . the charge buckets or loaders 20 ( see fig1 and 4 ) are positioned to receive the preheated metals and when the charge buckets are loaded they move to the furnace ( not shown ). it is apparent that the present system 10 can be used with a number of different charge buckets 20 . a trolley 24 ( see fig2 ) is supported for movement along an overhead track 26 above a weigh hopper 28 and the metal bins 16 , 18 . the trolley carries an electromagnet 30 which may be lowered into the desired bin 16 , 18 and energized to pick up a quantity of the desired metal 12 or 14 , and then de - energized when located over the weigh hopper 28 to dump the metal 12 or 14 into the hopper 28 . the sequence or order of pickup of the selected metal is important as is the weight of each metal and the combination of metals . the sequence or order of pickup of the metals determines the distribution of the metals in the charge bucket . that is , the less dense metals are placed at the bottom of the hopper or at the front of the hopper with the more dense metals on top or to the rear of the less dense metal so that upon dumping the charge into the feeder car and ultimately in the charge bucket the less dense metal will be on the bottom for first entry into the crucible in a furnace . the weight hopper 28 is supported on wheels 34 on a track 36 so that the hopper 28 can move back and forth in a transverse direction to locate it above either of two feeder cars 38 ( see fig3 ). the track 36 comprises a rail 40 along both transverse beams 42 of a frame 44 and the wheels 34 are flanged to ride on the rails 40 . the frame 44 is supported on its four corners on load cells 48 which measure the weight of metallic charge and feeds that information into a suitable control 50 as shown in fig2 . the load cells 48 are mounted on a support frame 49 supported by columns 51 anchored to the floor or foundation . the control 50 may include a scoreboard - type monitor which will display several multiple digit numbers , each multiple digit number having one digit which is an ingredient identification digit and additional digits ( i . e . 4 digits ) which are the metallic weight requirement to be charged . accordingly , if a mix of 4 , 000 lbs . of steel scrap 12 and 6 , 000 lbs . of cast returns 14 is desired , the electromagnet 30 can be used to transfer steel scrap 12 from bin 16 until the load cells 48 register a weight of 4 , 000 lbs . which will show on the monitor as a descending weight , that is , the monitor shows the weight needed to meet the ingredient requirements and as the ingredient is added to the weigh hopper 28 , the weight will be deducted from that required with the monitor showing the amount still needed . when all of the desired ingredient has been added to the hopper , the monitor will flash when within allowable tolerances . the electromagnet 30 will then be used to transfer cast returns 14 from bin 18 until the load cells 48 register the requisite amount of that ingredient . when the total batch weight required has been satisfied for all ingredients , the monitor will de - illuminate . the bottom of the weigh hopper 28 is hinged or otherwise openable so that the metal in the hopper 28 may be dumped into one of the feeder cars 38 when the hopper 28 is located over one or the other . the feeder cars 38 each have an appropriate carriage frame 52 . the carriage 52 is supported on a pair of axles 56 having flanged wheels 58 which roll along rails 60 suitably supported by a rigid structure 62 anchored on the floor or foundation . the cars 38 move over the rails 60 between a loading station ( fig2 ) where they can be loaded from the weigh hopper 28 and a heating and dumping station ( fig4 ). the weigh hopper 28 and feeder cars 38 , in the illustrated embodiment are driven along their tracks by hydraulic motors which are powered by hydraulic fluid from a separate source . the fluid is conveyed to the motors through flexible track members 64 ( see fig4 ) which members protect the power supply and control connections for the drive as the hopper and cars are moved back and forth between these various stations . the weigh hopper 28 and feeder cars 38 may also be driven in any other suitable manner such as by a chain drive or other mechanical apparatus . each feeder car 38 includes a trough 68 open to a chute 70 on the forward end and rigidly fixed to a frame 72 supported on its four corners by springs 74 mounted on the carriage frame 52 . the chute 70 has a grizzly screen separator 71 formed in the midportion thereof to permit small particles ( such as dirt and the like ) to be separated from the batch . the separator 71 has graded openings which permit dirt and small particles to fall through . a vibration generator 78 , comprising an electric motor 80 having aligned eccentric weights 82 on opposite ends of its shaft 84 , is carried by the frame 72 and has springs 86 extending upwardly and forwardly from the vibration generator 78 to a bracket 73 on the trough frame 72 as best seen in fig4 . the vibration generator 78 thereby creates a two mass system which will create vibrations when energized to cause the materials in the trough 68 to move forward and down the chute 70 . supported on posts 90 above the forward end of the rails 60 is a hood 92 of a preheater . the hood 92 is supported on its corners by bellows 94 which raise the hood 92 when they are inflated ( see fig2 ) and lower the hood 92 when they are deflated ( see fig4 ). when the bellows 94 are inflated , the hood 92 is supported at a height which allows the feeder car 38 to move underneath it . when the car 38 is thus positioned beneath the hood 92 in the heating station , the bellows 94 are deflated to close the hood 92 over the car 38 as shown in fig4 . the trough 68 of the feeder car 38 includes an outwardly extending flange 102 on which the hood 92 can rest . the flange 102 is received in a downwardly open u - groove 104 around the edge of the hood 92 so that a seal is formed between the hood 92 and the car 38 as shown in fig4 . the bellows 94 when deflated actually engages the base of the u - shaped groove 104 against the flange 102 an amount sufficient to depress the springs 74 supporting the frame 72 , in this way creating a positive seal between the hood and the car . a gate 108 is located at the forward end of the hood 92 and may be raised or lowered within an upright frame 110 . the gate 108 matches the shape of the trough 68 so as to close off the forward end of the trough 68 when it is lowered . accordingly , the trough 68 , hood 92 and gate 108 form an enclosure for the metals when the car 38 is at the heating station , and heat from a suitable source can be introduced through the hood 92 to thereby efficiently preheat and dry the enclosed metals . also , because the metal is enclosed , the atmosphere is controlled so as to eliminate ambient influence , and either an oxidizing or reducing flame can be used as desired . the system 10 , as illustrated , includes two feeder cars 38 and hoods 92 , as can be seen in fig1 and 3 , to permit efficient use of the electromagnet 30 and weigh hopper 28 . the two cars 38 will thus alternate in operation so that , while the metals in one car 38 are being heated , the weigh hopper 28 measures out and dumps metals into the second car 38 . when that is completed and the second car 38 is moved to the heating station , the weigh hopper 28 measures out and then dumps metals into the first car 38 once it has returned to its loading station . of course , depending upon the operating cycles of each car 38 and the weigh hopper 28 , three cars or even more can be provided with a single trolley 24 , electromagnet 30 and weigh hopper 28 . operation of the system 10 is thus as follows . the electromagnet 30 is moved between the bins 16 , 18 and the weigh hopper 28 until a charge containing the desired mix , weight and distribution of metals are in the weigh hopper 28 as measured by the load cells 48 . the weigh hopper 28 is then moved to one of the feeder cars 38 and the charge of metals is dumped into the car 38 . the car 38 is then moved forward to its heating station , the gate 108 is lowered and the bellows 94 deflated to lower the hood 92 . with the charge of metals thus enclosed , heat is introduced to preheat and dry the metals . the heating can be accomplished using any of a number of conventional heating structures shown schematically in fig4 with the reference numeral 119 . once that is completed , the heat is shut off , the gate 108 is raised and the bellows 94 are inflated to raise the hood 92 . the car 28 remains in the same position and the vibration generator 78 is energized to cause the metal to move out the front , across the grizzly separator 71 and through the chute 70 so as to be dumped into the waiting charge bucket 20 . the charge bucket 20 then transports the preheated and dried metals to the furnace . preheating the metals before locating them in the furnace is desirable for a number of reasons . it increases the capacity of the furnace and thus reduces melt cycle times for the metal . it keeps the furnace temperature from being drastically reduced by the introduction of cold metals . further , it avoids the danger of explosion which arises when cold metals are dumped into molten metal in the crucible . preheating further dries the metals , again avoiding the danger of explosion created by adding moisture to molten metals . other aspects , objects and advantages of the present invention can be obtained by a study of the drawings , the specification and the appended claims .
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US-54982683-A
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a host device such as a camera , pda , etc . can have an attachment such as a wireless modem , with both host and attachment having respective batteries . some loads in the host are always powered by the host battery , and some loads in the attachment are always powered by the attachment battery , but some other loads in the attachment are selectively powered by either the host or attachment battery depending on a power consumption and / or the relationship between the charges remaining in the batteries .
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referring initially to fig1 a system is shown , generally designated 10 , which includes a host device 12 such as but not limited to a personal digital assistant ( pda ), or an imaging device such as camcorder , etc . the system 10 also includes an attachment 14 such as but not limited to a wireless modem card , e . g ., a cdma modem card . it is to be understood that a wide range of hosts 12 / attachments 14 are contemplated herein , with the attachment 14 preferably being removably engaged by hand with a bay or other socket 16 of the host device 12 by means known in the art . as shown in fig1 the host device 12 has at least one host battery 18 and a logic module 20 that can be accessed by the processor of the host device 12 to execute the logic discussed below . an interface 22 electrically connects the host device 12 to the attachment 14 . like the host device 12 , the attachment 14 may include a logic module 24 that may be accessed by a processor within the attachment 14 to execute the logic herein in lieu of or in consonance with the host device 12 executing its logic module 20 . the logic modules 20 , 24 may be embodied in hardware or software , and may be stored on computer readable media . [ 0019 ] fig1 shows that the attachment 14 includes at least one attachment battery 26 . an exemplary non - limiting attachment battery 26 may be a lithium - ion type battery rated for 250 milliamp - hours . a first circuit 28 in the attachment 14 is always powered by the attachment battery when the attachment 14 is operating . the first circuit can be , without limitation , a power amplifier in a cdma modem or other circuit . a second circuit 30 , also referred to herein as a shared - power circuit , is contained in the attachment 14 and it is selectively powered either by the host battery 18 ( over the interface 22 ) or attachment battery 26 as more fully disclosed below . before explaining the logic by which it is determined whether to power the shared - power circuit 30 using the host battery 18 or attachment battery 26 , reference is made to fig2 to gain an understanding of a non - limiting sharing circuitry . as shown , the host battery 18 is used to power host battery - only loads 32 within the host device 12 . a current measurement device 34 such as but not limited to a mili - ohm type series resistance that may sample current to the loads 32 at , e . g ., 0 . 5 second intervals can be provided to generate a signal representative of the current to the host - only loads 32 . the samples may be averaged if desired over the last twenty six ( or some other appropriate number of ) samples . in contrast , the attachment battery 26 powers attachment battery - only loads such as the first circuit 28 . a current measurement device 36 can be provided to generate a signal representative of the current to the attachment - only loads 28 . [ 0022 ] fig2 also illustrates that shared loads such as the second circuit 30 shown in fig1 can be powered by either battery 18 , 26 , depending on whether a host battery switch 38 or attachment battery switch 40 is closed . which switch is closed is determined by the logic below . a current measuring device 42 can be provided to measure the current that is drawn by the loads 30 . it is to be understood that while three current measuring devices are shown , other current measuring configurations may be used in accordance with present principles . with the above understanding in mind , attention is drawn to the logic flow chart of fig3 . while the logic is shown in flow format it is to be understood that in actual implementation software , state machines , and / or other logical mechanisms may be used . commencing at decision diamond 44 , in one preferred non - limiting embodiment it is determined whether a predetermined circuit load is less than a threshold . as one example , it can be determined whether the total current being supplied from the attachment battery 26 is less than twice the capacity of the battery . as another example , if the attachment is a cdma modem , at decision diamond 44 it may be determined whether the receiver is operating above or below a particular power level , e . g ., − 94 dbm . if the threshold is exceeded , the logic proceeds to block 46 , wherein shared loads 30 are powered by the host battery 18 ( by , e . g ., causing the host battery switch 38 to close and the attachment battery switch 40 to open ). in contrast , if the threshold is not exceeded , the logic may move to decision diamond 48 for another test . at decision diamond 48 , the preferred logic contemplates ascertaining the relationship between the remaining capacities of the batteries 18 , 26 . specifically , at least one and preferably all three current signals from the current measuring devices 34 , 36 , 42 shown in fig2 are used to determine which battery should power the shared loads 30 . in one exemplary non - limiting embodiment , the determination at decision diamond 48 is undertaken using the following inequality : cc & gt ; hc ( a + c / 2 )/( b + c / 2 ), wherein cc is the remaining charge capacity of the attachment battery , hc is the remaining charge capacity of the host battery , a is the current sensed by the measuring device 36 , b is the current sensed by the measuring device 34 , and c is the current sensed by the measuring device 42 . if the inequality does not hold ( meaning that the capacity of the attachment battery 26 is relatively lower ), the logic moves to block 46 to allow the host battery 18 to power the shared loads 30 . otherwise , if the inequality holds , indicating that the capacity of the attachment battery 26 is relatively high , the logic moves to block 50 . at block 50 , the attachment battery 26 is used to power the shared loads 30 ( by , e . g ., causing the host battery switch 38 to open and the attachment battery switch 40 to close ). while the particular electronic device with attachment and switching between batteries therefor as herein shown and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the above - described objects of the invention , it is to be understood that it is the presently preferred embodiment of the present invention and is thus representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present invention , that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art , and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims , in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “ one and only one ” unless explicitly so stated , but rather “ one or more ”. all structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above - described preferred embodiment that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims . moreover , it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention , for it to be encompassed by the present claims . furthermore , no element , component , or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element , component , or method step is explicitly recited in the claims . no claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 u . s . c . § 112 , sixth paragraph , unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “ means for ” or , in the case of a method claim , the element is recited as a “ step ” instead of an “ act ”.
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US-22540902-A
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a method for making replacement grouser bars particularly contoured to fit rock worn grouser shoes from blanks cut from inexpensive sheet metal . the blank has a straight lower edge and a curved upper edge such that the bar is thicker at the ends than in the middle . the straight lower edge is easily double beveled and the blank is reverse forged to obtain a finished grouser bar having a straight upper edge and a curved lower edge , the bar still being thicker at the ends than in the middle .
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with reference to fig1 of the drawings , a typical grouser shoe 10 is one of a plurality that would be interconnected to make up the flexible track of a vehicle such as a bulldozer or a crawler tractor . the grouser shoe includes a relatively flat area 12 having means for attaching it to a track chain or radial assembly upon the vehicle thereby facilitating a controlled relative movement between adjacent paths . the primary purpose of the pad area is to provide flotation of the vehicle on the terrain . a bar 16 is affixed transversely across the pad area 12 and extends outwardly from and approximately perpendicularly thereto . these grouser bars 16 lie transversely to the line of movement of the vehicle and are forced down into the terrain by the weight of the vehicle and provide traction for forward or backward movement of the tractor . the grouser bar is the first portion of the shoes subjected to serious wear , particulary when the equipment is operating in hard or rocky terrain . since a tractor usually utilizes 62 to 86 grouser shoes , and grouser shoes are extremely expensive , it is the normal and desirable practice to replace worn bars by welding new bars to the pads , thereby increasing the shoe life . such a worn grouser shoe is illustrated in fig1 along with a replacement grouser bar 14 for welding to the original worn - off bar 16 . grouser shoes used extensively in rocky terrain exhibit a characteristic wear pattern , characterized by a relatively even wear along the major central portion 15 of the grouser bar 16 , and sharply rounded off at the ends or corners 13 where maximum abrasion takes place . the method of the present invention , therefore , discloses a method for manufacturing grouser bars contoured for easy replacement of rockworn grouser and having an upper working edge shaped for optimum wear in rocky terrain . fig2 shows in elevational cross section the typical manner of replacement of worn grouser shoes . the replacement grouser bar 14 is fitted over the worn grouser bar 16 and the space defined between the lower beveled edge of the replacement bar and the worn grouser bar 16 is filled with weldment 17 . a finished replacement grouser bar produced by the method of this invention is shown in fig3 . the grouser bar 14 has a lower edge 18 which is beveled for welding to the worn grouser shoe . the lower edge 18 is substantially straight along a major central portion 19 thereof and curves downwardly at both ends 21 to conform to the rounded - off corners of the typical rock grouser wear pattern . the replacement bar has a pair of straight vertical side edges 20 which are generally parallel to each other and perpendicular to the upper edge 22 of the grouser bar . the upper edge includes a straight horizontal central portion 24 intermediate two raised horizontal end portions or shoulders 26 which provide added grouser wear against the extreme abrasion at corners typical of rock wear . the novel method of manufacture of the grouser bar of fig3 is shown in three sequential steps in fig4 through 7 . in fig4 a blank 30 is first formed as by flame cutting of a sheet of steel , or other suitable means to the shape shown . the blank is of uniform thickness and has a straight lower edge 32 , a pair of upwardly converging preferably concavely curved side edges 34 and 34 &# 39 ; and an upper edge 38 having a straight horizontal central section 36 parallel to the lower edge 32 . the upper edge 38 also includes concavely curved end sections 40 and 40 &# 39 ; curving upwardly from the central section 36 towards the respective side edges 34 and 34 &# 39 ;. the center section 36 is preferably depressed with respect to the curved end sections 40 , 40 &# 39 ; to form a step 37 at the transition points to the end sections . the lower straight edge 32 is then double - beveled as by flame cutting , or machining , or grinding to form opposed bevel surfaces 33 , 33 &# 39 ;. the bevel surfaces together with the rounded cross - sectional contour of the worn grouser bar define elongated recesses which are filled with weldment in the grouser replacement operation , as illustrated in cross section in fig2 . the blank 30 is heated to a suitable temperature and is then placed in a die cavity 42 defined by a die 44 . the die cavity 42 is closed at the ends by end walls 45 , 45 &# 39 ; and is further bounded by a pair of vertical walls 46 , 46 &# 39 ;. the lower edge 32 of the blank is supported by the bottom of the die 48 and extends substantially the full distance between end walls 45 , 45 &# 39 ; of the die cavity . the die bottom 48 includes along its length a straight horizontal central section 50 and is curved convexly at each end so that the bottom curves downwardly away from the central section 50 at the end or side portions 52 and 52 &# 39 ;. the cross section taken along the width of the die bottom 48 in fig6 between the walls 46 , 46 &# 39 ; is generally v - shaped to accommodate and preserve the beveled lower edge of the blank during the forging step and includes a horizontal bottom surface 60 joined to the vertical walls 46 , 46 &# 39 ; by the outwardly slanting surfaces 62 , 62 &# 39 ; respectively . thus , when the blank 30 is placed within the die cavity 42 , the lower edge 32 of the blank is supported only along the straight central section 50 of the die bottom 48 . an anvil or ram head 54 is mounted at the end of a vertically displaceable ram 56 for applying downwardly directed force against the upper edge 38 of the blank . the anvil 54 is provided with a lower face 55 which is substantially straight and horizontal and is parallel to the bottom edge 32 of the blank supported within the die cavity 42 . a raised central portion 57 on the anvil face 55 mates with the depressed central portion 36 of the blank to preserve the same . downward force is therefore applied along the horizontal plane defined by the anvil face 55 and is first applied to the tips 58 formed by the intersection of the side edges 34 , 34 &# 39 ; and the upwardly curving side or end portions 40 , 40 &# 39 ; of the blank respectively . as the ram moves the anvil 54 downwards , the end portions of the blank 30 are forced into the space defined by the downwardly aloping portions 52 , 52 &# 39 ; of the bottom of the die and gradually the area of contact between the upper edge of the blank and the anvil face 55 extends inwardly from the tips 58 until full contact is established along the upper edge 38 of the blank . at that point , the upper edge 38 is substantially straightened while the side portions of the lower beveled edge 32 have been concavely curved to conform to the downward slope of the bottom of the die . this so - called &# 34 ; reverse forging &# 34 ; also cause the upwardly converging side edges 34 , 34 &# 39 ; to become parallel to each other as seen in fig7 and perpendicular to the straightened upper edge 38 of the blank to form a finished replacement grouser bar having the desired configuration of fig3 . the initial conacvity of the side edges 34 , 34 &# 39 ; is filled out by outwardly flowing metal which is molded against the straight vertical side walls 45 , 45 &# 39 ; of the die cavity as the end portions are deformed downwardly by the descending anvil 54 , such that these edges become substantially straight as seen in fig7 and 8 . in the method of this invention , little if any work is done on the central portion of the blank defined by the straight central portion 36 of the upper edge and the thickness of the finished grouser bar 14 in fig4 is uniform along its length and substantially the same as that of the blank 30 in fig4 . the forging operation works to reverse the shape of the ends of the blank relative to the center from an initially upwardly curving to a finally downwardly depending shape . by commencing the process with a straight lower edge terminating in obtuse angled corners on the blank 30 it is possible to economically form the necessary double bevel on the lower edge , and yet finish with a curved beveled edge . as a result , the blanks can be cut from inexpensive sheet metal instead of the costlier rolled bar stock with a rolled bevel used in the method of the prior art . the straight center section 36 is preferably depressed in order to conserve material and reduce the mass of the replacement bar . this is possible in grouser bars intended for use in rocky terrain , because the ends wear at a considerably greater rate than the center . it is thus possible to reduce the amount of material in the center of the bar without shortening the useful life expectance of the grouser bar . conversely , the service of the bar may be extended by building up only the end portions of the grouser bar . after forging , the bar may be processed as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 021 , 082 by differential heat treating for a soft weld zone and a hardened work face . various changes and substitutions in the described embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . therefore , applicant intends to be bound only by the claims which follow .
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US-26890681-A
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a clipboard including a board having first and second surfaces , a clip integral with the first surface , and a plurality of recesses formed in the second surface , the recesses are adapted to receive one or more models .
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reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments of the invention that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , same or similar reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts or steps . the drawings are in simplified form and are not to precise scale . for purposes of convenience and clarity only , directional terms , such as top , bottom , left , right , up , down , over , above , below , beneath , rear , back , and front may be used with respect to the drawings . these and similar directional terms should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention in any manner . the words “ connect ,” “ couple ,” “ attach ,” “ join ,” and similar terms with their inflectional morphemes do not necessarily denote direct and immediate connections , but also include connections through mediate elements or devices . turning to fig1 , a perspective view of the rear of an example clipboard with an integral three dimensional display 100 is depicted . the inventive clipboard 100 may include a clip 102 for securing papers ( and / or other items ) to the front writing surface ( not visible in fig1 ). the rear surface 104 of the clipboard 100 may include one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c . disposed within the one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c , one or more three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c may be joined to the clipboard 100 . the clipboard 100 has a thickness with a dimension labeled t . the thickness t may be of any practicable size that is sufficient to both provide a substantially rigid , stable writing surface and , at the same time , to provide for the one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c to be deep enough to contain the one or more three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c . the clipboard 100 as shown in fig1 may be used as a demonstration model as well as for a clipboard function . the clipboard 100 may include three dimensional representations 108 a , 108 b , 108 c of any type that are mounted or coupled to the rear surface 104 within the one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c ( e . g ., panel areas that are partially indented ). the crafting of the three dimensional representations 108 a , 108 b , 108 c separately from the clipboard 100 may allow for a greater detail , different workmanship , and / or different materials to be used than for the clipboard per se . the three dimensional relief effect may be designed so as not to cause the clipboard to be unstable on a flat surface as will be described in more detail below . turning now to fig2 though 5 , front , rear , side , and top views , respectively , of an example embodiment of the inventive clipboard with an integral three dimensional display 100 , are depicted . the particular example depicted in the figs . illustrates three small , square - shaped recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c disposed in a line on the lower rear surface 104 of the clipboard 100 . however , any number , size , and / or shape recesses may be used that are practicable and they may be positioned in any location on the front or back of the clipboard 100 . for example , a single oval shaped recess that covers almost the entire rear surface 104 may be used to allow one or more large three - dimensional models to be used . the particular example three dimensional models illustrated in the figs . are of a portion of a human stomach . such models may be useful , e . g ., for a doctor working in a hospital . for example , an internist may use the clipboard on rounds . holding a patient chart on the front , an erasable pen as shown in fig6 and the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c on the back may be used to explain the patient &# 39 ; s medical conditions and possible treatments . after the consultation , the physician can simply wipe the markings off the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c and proceed to the next patient . although relief models are depicted in the figs ., any type of models may be employed . for example , models that may be extended out of the recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c as shown in fig7 a and 7b may be used . alternatively , fold out models may be used , as shown in fig8 . as shown in fig9 , in some embodiments , models that include moving ( e . g ., rotating , sliding , etc .) parts 201 and / or removable parts 202 may be used . for example , powered models that include , activation / control switches 203 , lights ( e . g ., leds ) 204 , electric motors ( not shown ), and / or sound generators may be employed . as shown in fig9 is an example of a clipboard for entertaining a child patient to put them at ease while they are being examined . alternative embodiments include demonstrations of the physiological workings of portions of the body , for example the stomach as shown in fig3 . as can be more clearly seen in fig2 , and 5 , the example clipboard 100 may include a conventional clip 102 for holding papers etc ., but may also include multiple and / or different types of clips disposed in different locations on the front surface 110 and / or on the rear surface 104 . for example , a clip 205 as shown in fig1 may be disposed within or above the one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c to secure a removable , contoured or flat transparent film 214 on the one or more three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c . such a film 214 is shown in fig1 . in some embodiments , the contoured transparent film 214 may be adapted to be marked - up by the user of the clipboard 100 , e . g ., for illustrative purposes and given out to the person to whom the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c were displayed . in some embodiments , the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c themselves may be removable and / or adapted to be marked . the present invention may include a combination pen 206 as shown in fig6 ( e . g ., that uses conventional ink ) and marker ( e . g ., a dry erase marker ) that is suitable for both writing on paper on the front surface 100 with the pen and for erasably marking the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c on the back with the marker . the combination pen and marker 206 may further include a tool 207 adapted to aid in the removal and replacement of the three - dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c . the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c may be made of a relatively inexpensive material , e . g . plastic , rubber , etc ., to allow the user of the clipboard 100 to give away the models . in some embodiments , the user may have a plurality of different three - dimensional models that may be inserted into the one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c to illustrate different concepts or physical structures as shown in fig1 . as shown in fig1 , one aspect of the clipboard may be a recessed clip 208 that may be used to secure the models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c within the one or more recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c . in other embodiments , the models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c may be friction fitted or snapped into the recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c using a retaining ridge or lip 209 as shown in fig1 . in some embodiments , the models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c may be permanently affixed to the clipboard 100 and / or molded , milled , or shaped from the same piece of material used to for the clipboard 100 . the models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c and the clipboard may be made from any material or materials that is / are practicable . in some embodiments as pictured in the figs ., the models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c maybe dimensioned so as not to extend out beyond the rear surface 104 of the clipboard 100 so that the clipboard 100 may lay flat on a flat surface . fig1 a and 13b show a model 108 which has a contoured shape which does not project beyond the surface 104 of the clipboard when inserted into recesses 106 . in other embodiments , the three dimensional models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c may protrude out beyond the rear surface 104 of the clipboard 100 , as shown in fig7 a and 7b . in such embodiments , the models 108 a , 108 b , 108 c may be shaped and / or disposed so as to allow the clipboard 100 to remain stable when placed on a flat surface such as a table . alternatively or additionally , the recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c may be located to insure the clipboard 100 to remains stable when placed on a flat surface . for example , a recess may be disposed in each of the four corners of the clipboard 100 , as shown in fig6 . in some embodiments , instead of ( or in addition to ) recesses 106 a , 106 b , 106 c , as shown in fig6 , the clipboard 100 may include one or more cutouts or windows 210 that extend through the entire thickness t of the clipboard 100 and are adapted to receive and retain a model 108 . in such an embodiment a front surface of the model 108 may display the three dimensional model while the rear surface of the cartridge may be flat and adapted to sit flush with the front surface 110 of the clipboard 100 to provide a flat writing surface . in such embodiments , the rear surface of the cartridge may be transparent to allow viewing of the backside of the three dimensional model from the front side of the clipboard 100 . front surface 110 and clip 102 may be suitably imprinted with information and / or design that enhances the information presented on the reverse side . furthermore , clip 102 may be shaped to present further information , such as the shape of a pill or anatomical part . this document describes the inventive three dimensional display clipboard for illustration purposes only . neither the specific embodiments of the invention as a whole , nor those of its features limit the general principles underlying the invention . in particular , the invention is not limited to any specific configuration of clips , board shapes , board thicknesses or dimensions , display information , and / or relief display style . the specific features described herein may be used in some embodiments , but not in others , without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth . many additional modifications are intended in the foregoing disclosure , and it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that in some instances some features of the invention will be employed in the absence of a corresponding use of other features . the illustrative examples therefore do not define the metes and bounds of the invention and the legal protection afforded the invention .
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US-60657806-A
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in an interlocking beam construction in which hollow beams are notched and interlocked to define a completely rigid joint without fasteners , reinforcement inserts are slid into the beam to the notched area . the inserts are notched to conform to the notches in the respective beams so that the interlocking function of the beams is accommodated , but the weakness that would otherwise be produced at the joint due to the notching of the otherwise hollow beams is eliminated .
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an overall understanding of the interlocking beam construction is obtained from a brief review of fig8 and 9 . fig9 illustrates the completed joint , and fig8 illustrates the six beam members , provided in pairs , that define the interlocking notches that enable the joint to interlock . as seen in fig8 each pair is orthogonal to the other two pairs . three of the beams , as indicated at 10 , define what has been called a &# 34 ; full notch &# 34 ; 12 in the prior patent . this notch is actually twice as wide and half as deep as the diameter of the beam members 10 , or all of the beam members for that matter as they are all identical in cross - section except at the joint area . in addition to the three full - notched beams 10 , two of the beams 14 define the full notch 12 and another half - size notch 16 to define a compound notch 18 . the sixth , last beam 20 is not notched at all . this is sometimes referred to as a &# 34 ; key &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; key post &# 34 ; as it locks the beam into a rigid configuration when it is slid into place as the last piece of the six - beam configuration . the illustrated beams are all hollow , creating an internal void 22 . the beams would ordinarily be created in an extrusion process , or even more likely by pultrusion , which is substantially identical to extrusion except that the fibers are pulled through the dye rather than being pushed through it . according to the construction that is now undergoing serious research by the inventor under contract with major utility companies , the beams are pultruded composites , with the composite fibers being glass . it should be noted that there are thousands of types of fibers of different sizes and characteristics , with two of the most popular being glass fibers and carbon or graphite fibers . the latter are expensive but are six or seven times higher in modulus of elasticity as glass fibers . however , glass fibers are relatively inexpensive and can endure tremendous tensile and compressive loads . however , it can be appreciated by an examination of fig8 that the structural integrity of the continuous fibers pultruded into beam form is undermined by having 1 / 2 or 3 / 4 of the members cut through to define the joint . although the notches in the beams are supported to some extent by the interlocking structure of the other beams , nonetheless , the overall strength of the structure is considerably reduced . to overcome this , an insert body such as that shown at 24 in fig1 is used in this invention . the insert body has a transverse cross - sectional area that is substantially identical to the internal configuration of the beams , so that it can be slipped into the end of the beam . insert body 24 has a full notch 26 defined midway into one surface . this notch is called a &# 34 ; nesting notch &# 34 ; in the claims to distinguish it from the jointing notch of the beams . the notch 26 should either align exactly with the notch 12 in the beam as shown in fig4 or it could actually extend into the void a thousandth of an inch or more beyond the beam to ensure that slight misalignment of the insert body would not throw the forces at the joint back into the skin of the beam . the simplest way to make the insert is shown in fig7 where it is solid . this kind of insert could be molded , as there are ways of injection molding composites , or it can be made in several other ways , such as machining from a solid composite pultrusion . one of the most promising fabrication techniques , however , would be the creation of an elongated member which would extend along the lines shown in phantom in fig1 with each insert being cut as a segment , each segment requesting a length equal to the inside and inseam of the hollow beam . this would permit the nesting notch 26 to be defined precisely and efficiently as the member is pultruded , and would also enable the interior to be made substantially hollow , with reinforcing webs such as webs 28 and 32 incorporated for strength . this would yield an additional strength - to - weight advantage . these webs 32 particularly adapt the insert for use as compound notched members . these members would have to be milled or otherwise cut to define the half - notch 33 if the pultrusion process were used to create the insert bodies . the webs 32 would define reinforcing walls for this notch . a modified form of beam adapted particularly for use with these inserts is shown in fig5 . in this embodiment , the beam is provided with a long slit 34 which has the express purpose of permitting the assembler to slide the insert body along the length of the beam , inside the beam , by inserting a thin tool into the slit and moving it back and forth . of course there would be some strength lost due to the slit , which would ordinarily be laid up against another member , either identically having the slit , or being solid or hollow but not split . by slitting the beam however , the sides could be deflected inwardly slightly as shown in fig3 with the body of the beam being slightly resilient so that the beam would compress around the insert bodies and hold them in place , thus allowing self - clamping to assist curing / bonding . in any event , in all instances the insert body would be coated with epoxy prior to assembly , or otherwise have epoxy inserted at the interfaces between the insert body and the beam itself to create a permanent epoxy bond , indicated at 36 in fig4 between the insert and the interior surface of the beam to both reinforce the beam and prevent migration of the insert from the notch region before the notch is incorporated into a joint . this bond can be made with a wide variety of epoxy resins depending on the qualities of strength , flexibility , corrosion resistance , weight , cost , beam size and weight , electrical conduction / dielectric , and magnetic field properties and others that are needed in a particular installation , and is under the direction of the structural site engineer . minnesota mining and manufacturing thermoset resin for glass fibers works well . epoxy might also be used at the joint area to secure the beams to one another . the insert body would ordinarily be made of composite materials just as are the beams . this would be fiberglass with a suitable epoxy . if the pultrusion technique were used to create the insert bodies , the fibers could either be unidirectional , running longitudinally with the length of the pultrusion , or the could be intermixed with mat or weave fibers to increase the shear strength . also , the inserts could be made of a different material from the beams themselves , such that the insert might have several times the strength of the overall beam . for example , the insert could be made of carbon fibers with some being in the mat or weave configuration , providing an insert that is five or six times higher in modulus of elasticity as the rest of the beam . as can be seen in fig8 the ideal situation for end joints is to dimension the notches in the beam identically with the notches in the insert body so that the insert body ends are substantially flush with the ends of the beams to prevent ingress of weather elements and debris into the beam and to produce a finished look . of course the ends could be completely sealed by the application of epoxy . the techniques disclosed herein would be particularly useful when it is necessary or highly desirable to create a very high strength - to - weight ratio epitomized , for example , in space vehicles . however , this is also a major consideration for land vehicles and aircraft . strength - to - weight ratios would be an important consideration in many implementations of the composite beam construction , being supplanted by strength - to - cost considerations in some instances . however , inasmuch as the cost of strengthening the structure by the use of the inserts disclosed herein is minimal , it could be used in virtually all interlocking composite beam construction .
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US-69692291-A
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the present invention provides an air conditioning system that is capable of treating a conditioned space by treating outdoor air from outside the conditioned space and return air from inside the conditioned space , and mixing the outdoor air with the return air to form supply air for the conditioned space , the air conditioning system including an outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage configured to provide parallel airflow with a return air sensible cooling treatment stage , and a means for mixing outdoor air with return air to form conditioned space supply air , wherein the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage includes at least a dehumidification heat exchanger , combination pre - cooling and heat reclaim heat exchangers , and a heat transfer pump , and the return air sensible cooling treatment stage includes at least a sensible cooling heat exchanger .
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as mentioned above , in a first embodiment of the present invention the improved air conditioning system of the present invention ideally extends the shaw system mentioned above beyond the normal air conditioning space requirements ( of up to 25 % outdoor air ) to the use of up to 100 % outdoor air , potentially entirely eliminating the use of a return air heat exchanger . this first embodiment is illustrated by the flow diagram of fig1 a and the psychrometric chart of fig1 b . for ease of understanding , the following description will first provide a general overview of the flow diagram of fig1 a , followed by a more detailed explanation ( in a table ) of the different elements of the flow diagram . a brief explanation of the psychrometric chart of fig1 b will then be provided . in general terms , shown in the flow diagram of fig1 a is an air conditioning system where return air a from the conditioned space is psychrometrically treated separately from the outdoor air b ( for ventilation ) to achieve independent control of latent and sensible cooling . following this separate treatment of the return air a and the outdoor air b , the two air streams are then mixed to provide a single conditioned space supply air stream w to be delivered to the space to be conditioned . the cooling process for the return air stream a is principally sensible cooling , which is conducted in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage represented in this embodiment by a heat exchanger h placed in the return air stream a . the cooling process for the outdoor air stream b is principally latent cooling , which is conducted in the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage represented in this embodiment by heat exchangers d , e , and f placed in the outdoor air stream b . the first heat exchanger d pre - cools the outdoor air stream b utilizing reclaimed energy , reducing the dry bulb temperature of the stream , and commences the dehumidifying process . the second heat exchanger e dehumidifies the outdoor air stream b to an absolute humidity level that will achieve the desired relative humidity level within the conditioned space . the third heat exchanger f reclaims sensible heat that is not required to satisfy the conditioned space sensible cooling load . the result of this third stage of heat exchange is a separation of the outdoor air stream b from the saturation curve . in this respect , the amount of the separation is regulated by a heat transfer pump i connecting the first heat exchanger d to the third heat exchanger f . the principal heat exchange medium ( in this embodiment , chilled water ) is used to maximize heat exchanger efficiency . the cold entering flow of chilled water is used to provide the driving potential for the outdoor air second heat exchanger e ( which in this embodiment is referred to as a dehumidification heat exchanger ), with the subsequently warmed heat exchange medium then passing to the heat exchanger h in the return air a path , which heat exchanger h is referred to as a sensible cooling heat exchanger . the temperature of the chilled water , before entry to the air conditioning system , is regulated by a demand from the current conditions in the conditioned space . for example , when maximum flow conditions have been provided to the heat exchangers and the conditions in the conditioned space require additional dehumidification or sensible cooling , the initial temperature of the chilled water is scheduled down to achieve additional heat exchange , leading to satisfaction of the conditioned space dry bulb and relative humidity requirements . finally in relation to fig1 a , and before providing a detailed explanation of each of the elements shown in fig1 a , it will be appreciated that sensible heating for the conditioned space ( if necessary ) is achieved by the addition of a further heat exchanger in either the return air a or the outdoor air b streams . in fig1 a , this further heat exchanger g is shown in the outdoor air b stream downstream of the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage . in this embodiment , it can be seen that latent heating is not being provided , as there is no such further heat exchanger provided in the return air a stream . the following table provides a more detailed explanation of the various elements illustrated in the flow diagram of fig1 a : air recirculated from the conditioned space will be typically used to act as the air that is provided for ventilation of the space will be typically used to act as air that is delivered to the conditioned space will be cooled to offset the heat load within the conditioned space . the heat load of the space will require a varying ratio and quantum of sensible and latent cooling dependent on the the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger d . a heat reclaim cooling medium ( l to k ) passes through the heat exchanger d . the direction of flow is counter flow : the warmer airflow is cooled by the warmer cooling medium flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the heat reclaim cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will be achieve sensible cooling and , depending on the the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger e . a cooling medium ( m to n ) passes through the heat exchanger e . the direction of flow flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve principally latent cooling , although some sensible cooling will also be the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger f . a heat reclaim heating medium ( k to l ) passes through the heat exchanger f . the direction of flow is counter flow : the warmer airflow is heated by the warmer heating medium flow - the cooler airflow is heated by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b takes up heat from the heat reclaim heating medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat exchange will the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger g . a heating medium ( v to u ) passes through the heat exchanger f . the direction of flow is counter flow : the warmer airflow is heated by the warmer heating medium flow - the cooler airflow is heated by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b takes up heat from the heating medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat exchange will be achieved . the return air stream a passes over the heat exchanger h . a cooling medium ( n to q ) passes through the heat exchanger h . the direction of flow is counter flow : the warmer airflow is cooled by the warmer cooling medium flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the return air stream a gives up heat to the cooling medium . the return air steam a will achieve the heat transfer pump i generates flow through the heat reclaim medium piping circuit ( k and l ) and two heat exchangers ( d and f ). the sequence of flow through the heat reclaim piping circuit is as follows : flow generated by the through pipe l , and then through heat exchanger d , returning to the heat the feed and expansion pipe j connects the heat reclaim piping circuit ( k and l ) to the cooling medium circuit m . the connection fills the heat reclaim piping circuit with a heat exchange medium from the cooling medium circuit m . the generator ( a chiller , shown as reference numeral 6 , albeit without some piping exchanger h or the return pipe s to the cold generator ( chiller ) 6 . the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o regulates the amount of flow of cool heat exchange medium n that passes through the sensible cooling heat exchanger h . an increase in flow of the cool heat exchange cooling cooling heat exchanger h . as a consequence of cool cooling medium flow , the return air steam a will achieve sensible cooling and , depending on the cooling medium flow temperature and flow rate , latent cooling may also be achieved . amount of flow of cold heat exchange medium m that passes through the dehumidification heat exchanger e . an increase in flow of the cold heat by the dehumidification heat exchanger e . as a consequence of cold cooling medium flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve latent cooling . sensible cooling will also be achieved at a rate determined by the dehumidification where there is an absence of a dehumidification requirement , and where there control valve p will also be required to regulate the amount of flow of the cold cheat exchange medium m . an increase in flow of the cold heat exchange dehumidification heat exchanger e . as a consequence of cold cooling medium flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible cooling . depending on the the cooling medium flow meter r measures the amount of flow in the return back to the cold generator ( chiller ) 6 . cooling medium that has be utilized in exchanger h come together to then return to the cold generator ( chiller ) 6 . the outdoor air stream sensible heating heat exchanger control valve t regulates the amount of flow of hot heat exchange medium v that passes through the sensible heating heat exchanger g . an increase in flow of the hot achieved by the sensible heating heat exchanger g . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat exchange will be achieved . exchanger g via a heat generator ( not shown ) to the outdoor air stream from the outdoor air stream dehumidification heat exchanger e back to the the conditioned space supply air w is a mixture of the outdoor air stream b parallel heat exchangers d , e , f , g and h to offset the conditioned space and ventilation airflow heat load to provide the targeted dry bulb and relative the treated outdoor air stream x transports sensible and latent cooling , and sensible heating potential , from the series heat exchangers d , e , f and g . the treated return air stream y transports sensible and latent cooling from heat the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 measures the conditioned relative humidity as an input to the space environmental management system cooling to be provided from heat exchangers h and e to offset the conditioned in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 , the following control actions in sequence will increase the cooling capacity to maintain the modulate the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o from closed to vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) 6 flow temperature from warm to cold . to be provided from heat exchangers d , e and f to offset the conditioned in response to the space relative humidity input device 2 , the following control vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) 6 flow temperature from warm to cold . the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 accepts feedback from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 and space relative humidity input device 2 to determine whether the cold cooling medium m is acceptable to achieve the targeted dry bulb and relative humidity conditions . if either the targeted space dry bulb temperature or space relative humidity is not achieved , the cold the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) 6 is a mechanical device that the space environmental management system 7 is a computer based control system that accepts input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 and the space relative humidity input device 2 and , through the sensible output to the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o and the the space environmental management system 7 also accepts input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 to , through the sensible heating control algorithm 8 , provide output to the sensible heating heat exchanger control valve t to achieve the targeted space dry bulb temperature . heating to be provided from heat exchangers d , f and g to offset the in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 , the following control actions in sequence will increase the heating capacity to maintain the when the latent cooling control algorithm 4 is active , and input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 is below set point , vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . when the latent cooling control algorithm 4 is not active , and input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 is below set point , medium m and s . input from the cold cooling medium flow meter r is compared to the determined maximum cold cooling medium flow rate and retards the action of the dehumidification heat exchanger control valve p to limit the flow of cold cooling medium ( m to s ) to the determined maximum flow in response to the cooling medium flow meter r , the following control actions in unison sequence will retard the cooling medium flow to limit flow to the with regard to the chart of fig1 b , the psychrometric process is as follows : the first heat exchanger d pre - cools the outdoor air b ; the second heat exchanger e uses chilled water to dehumidify the outdoor air b ; and the third heat exchanger f shifts energy to the first heat exchanger d to pre - cool . this enables the outdoor air stream b to be adequately dehumidified with a reduced proportion of sensible cooling . as can be seen , separation from the saturation curve is achieved . the amount of separation is achieved by the regulation of heat transfer from the first heat exchanger d to the third heat exchanger f . by way of summary with regard to the first embodiment of fig1 a and 1 b , and as mentioned above , the psychrometric solution is achieved using separate air paths . as the shaw system used the outdoor air stream to dehumidify prior to mixing , the first embodiment of the present invention uses this same shaw methodology but extended to four heat transfer processes . with this in mind , and as will be understood from the above description , utilising heat reclaim permits variability in the dehumidification process to provide separation from the saturation curve that can be regulated to satisfy the conditions of the conditioned space , with minimal or eliminated need for reheat . turning now to the second embodiment of the present invention , and again as mentioned above , the principles of the first embodiment are extended to respond to the demands of variable air volume systems . this second embodiment ideally achieves the lowest supply air temperature that will achieve conditioned space dehumidification , thereby reducing the amount of supply air required to offset conditioned space heat load demands with the highest chilled water temperature possible to achieve conditioned space load requirements . the second embodiment thus reduces the amount of supply air required to adequately achieve individual dry bulb control and generally acceptable controlled absolute humidity . this second embodiment is illustrated by the flow diagram of fig2 a and the psychrometric chart of fig2 b . for ease of understanding , the following description will first provide a general overview of the flow diagram of fig2 a , followed by a more detailed explanation ( in a table ) of the different elements of the flow diagram . a brief explanation of the psychrometric chart of fig2 b will then be provided . illustrated in the flow diagram of fig2 a is an air conditioning system that provides a conditioned space supply air stream w to multiple variable volume zone boxes ( eea , eeb , etc ). the sensible heat delivery is regulated by individual zone controls . the latent cooling is regulated by a general condition of the conditioned space . as with the first embodiment of fig1 a and 1 b , outdoor air b ( for ventilation ) is psychrometrically treated separately from the return air a to achieve independent control of latent and sensible cooling . following this separate treatment , the two treated air streams are mixed to provide the single conditioned space supply air stream w to be delivered to the space to be conditioned . the cooling process for the return air stream a is principally sensible cooling , which is conducted in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage , represented by the heat exchanger h placed in the return air stream a . the amount of sensible cooling required is achieved by the scheduling of the return air volume . as sensible load increases , so too does the return air quantity . again , the cooling process for the outdoor air stream b is principally latent cooling , which is conducted in the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage , represented by heat exchangers d , e and f placed in the outdoor air stream b . the first heat exchanger d pre - cools the outdoor air b utilising reclaimed energy , reducing the dry bulb temperature and commencing the dehumidifying process . the second heat exchanger e dehumidifies the outdoor air b to an absolute humidity level that will achieve the desired relative humidity level within the conditioned space . the third heat exchanger f reclaims sensible heat that is not required to satisfy the conditioned space sensible cooling load . the result of the third stage of heat exchange is a separation of the outdoor air stream b from the saturation curve . the amount of separation is regulated by a heat transfer pump i connecting the first heat exchanger d and the third heat exchanger f . the principal heat exchange medium ( in this case again being chilled water ) is again used to maximize heat exchanger efficiency . thus , the cold entering flow is used to provide the driving potential for the second heat exchanger e ( the outdoor air dehumidification heat exchanger ), and the subsequently warmer water then passes to the heat exchanger h of the return air stream a , namely the return air sensible cooling heat exchanger . when the outdoor conditions are themselves suitable to provide sensible cooling and dehumidification , a return air “ bypass ” damper cc can be modulated closed to introduce additional outdoor air to satisfy the sensible cooling requirements of whatever zones are present . when further cooling is required , the conditioned space supply air w is increased . the excess pressurization provided by such additional outdoor air is relieved from the conditioned space by opening an ambient air relief damper bb and regulating the speed of the return air fan aa . the temperature of the heat exchange medium entering the system ( the chilled water ) is again regulated by a demand from the conditions of the conditioned space . when maximum flow conditions have been provided to the heat exchangers , and the conditioned space conditions require additional dehumidification or sensible cooling , delivery temperature of the chilled water is scheduled down to achieve additional heat exchange , which leads to satisfaction of the conditioned space dry bulb and general relative humidity requirements . finally , and as for the first embodiment of fig1 a and 1 b , sensible heating in this second embodiment for the conditioned space can be achieved by the addition of a further heat exchanger in either the return air a or the outdoor air b streams , as is shown in fig2 a as the heat exchanger g in the outdoor air stream b . latent heating is not provided by this embodiment . the following table provides a more detailed explanation of the various elements illustrated in the flow diagram of fig2 a : air recirculated from the conditioned space will be typically used to act as the air that is provided for ventilation of the space will be typically used to act as air that is delivered to the conditioned space will be cooled to offset the heat load within the conditioned space . the heat load of the space will require a varying ratio and quantum of sensible and latent cooling dependent on the the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger d . a heat reclaim cooling medium ( l to k ) passes through the heat exchanger d . the direction of flow is counter flow : the warmer airflow is cooled by the warmer cooling medium flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the heat reclaim cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible cooling and , depending on the the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger e . a cooling medium ( m to n ) passes through the heat exchanger e . the direction of flow flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve principally latent cooling , although some sensible cooling will also be the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger f . a heat reclaim heating medium ( k to l ) passes through the heat exchanger f . the direction of flow is counter flow : the warmer airflow is heated by the warmer heating medium flow - the cooler airflow is heated by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b takes up heat from the heat reclaim heating medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger g . a heating medium ( v to u ) passes through the heat exchanger f . the direction of flow flow - the cooler airflow is heated by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b takes up heat from the heating medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat exchange will be achieved . the return air stream a passes over the heat exchanger h . a cooling medium ( n to q ) passes through the heat exchanger h . the direction of flow flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the return air stream a gives up heat to the cooling medium . the return air stream a will the heat transfer pump i generates flow through the heat reclaim medium piping circuit ( k and l ) and two heat exchangers d and f . the sequence of flow through the heat reclaim piping circuit is , flow generated by pump i the feed and expansion pipe j connects the heat reclaim piping circuit ( k and l ) to the cooling medium circuit m . the connection fills the heat reclaim piping circuit with a heat exchange medium from m . the connection permits generator ( chiller ) dd to the outdoor air dehumidification heat exchanger e . exchanger h or the return pipe s to the cold generator ( chiller ) dd . the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o regulates the amount of flow of cool heat exchange medium n that passes through the sensible cooling heat exchanger h . an increase in flow of the cool heat exchange medium flow , the return air steam a will achieve sensible cooling and , amount of flow of cold heat exchange medium m that passes through the dehumidification heat exchanger e . an increase in flow of the cold heat by the dehumidification heat exchanger e . as a consequence of cold cooling medium flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve latent cooling . sensible cooling will also be achieved at a rate determined by the dehumidification where there is an absence of a dehumidification requirement , and where exchanger control valve p will also be required to regulate the amount of flow of the cold heat exchange medium m . an increase in flow of the cold heat by the dehumidification heat exchanger e . as a consequence of cold cooling medium flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible cooling . sensible cooling heat exchanger hback to the cold generator ( chiller ) dd . the cooling medium flow meter r measures the amount of flow in the return back to the cold generator ( chiller ) dd . cooling medium that has be utilized exchanger h come together to then return to the cold generator ( chiller ) dd . the outdoor air stream sensible heating heat exchanger control valve t regulates the amount of flow of hot heat exchange medium v that passes through the sensible heating heat exchanger g . an increase in flow of the achieved by the sensible heating heat exchanger g . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat exchange will be achieved . heating heat exchanger g , via a heat generator , to the outdoor air stream from the outdoor air stream dehumidification heat exchanger e back to the the conditioned space supply air w is a mixture of the outdoor air stream b and parallel heat exchangers d , e , f , g and h to offset the conditioned space and ventilation airflow heat load to provide the targeted dry bulb and relative the treated outdoor air stream x transports sensible and latent cooling , and sensible heating potential , from the series heat exchangers d , e , f and g . the treated return air stream y transports sensible and latent cooling from the supply air fan z transfers air from the heat exchanger processes to the variable volume boxes ‘ eea ’, ‘ eeb ’ etc . the supply air fan z will be driven by an electric motor fitted with a variable speed drive . the speed of the supply air fan z will vary in response to the dry bulb temperature control airflow the return air fan aa transfers air from the conditioned space through the sensible heat exchange process to either the mix with the treated outdoor air stream x or to be relieved to ambient . the return air fan aa will be driven by an electric motor fitted with a variable speed drive . the speed of the return air fan aa will vary in response to the dry bulb temperature control airflow the ambient relief air damper bb will permit return air to be relieved to ambient . the ambient relief air damper bb position will be set in response to the return air damper cc will permit the treated return air stream y to be mixed with the treated outdoor air stream x . the return air damper cc position will be set in response to the dry bulb temperature control airflow the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) dd is a mechanical device that the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , etc regulate the delivery of conditioned space supply air w to offset zone space heat loads . the conditioned space supply air stream w transports sensible and latent cooling d , e , f , g and h to offset the combined zone conditioned space and ventilation airflow heat load to provide the targeted zone dry bulb and general the zone dry bulb temperature input devices 1a , 1b , etc measure the zone relative humidity as an input to the space environmental management system cooling to be provided from the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , etc and the heat exchangers h and e to offset the zone conditioned spaces and the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , etc will operate individually . in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1a , the following control action will increase the cooling capacity to maintain the desired space ( where reheat facility is provided within the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , etc , operation of the reheater will be energized when the variable the delivery of thermal capacity from the heat exchangers e and h will be determined by the zone variable volume box with the highest sensible cooling point , the return air damper cc will be closed and the ambient relief air in response to the warmest zone space dry bulb temperature input device 1 , the following control actions in sequence will increase the cooling capacity to vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) dd flow temperature from warm to point , the return air damper cc will be open and the ambient relief air damper in response to the warmest zone space dry bulb temperature input device 1 , the following control actions in sequence will increase the cooling capacity to modulate the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o from closed vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) dd flow temperature from warm to to be provided from the heat exchangers d , e and f to offset the conditioned in response to the space relative humidity input device 2 , the following control vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) dd flow temperature from warm to the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 accepts feedback from the high select zone space dry bulb temperature input device 1 and the space relative humidity input device 2 to determine whether the cold cooling medium m is acceptable to achieve the targeted dry bulb and relative humidity conditions . if either the targeted space dry bulb temperature or space relative humidity is the space environmental management system 6 is a computer based control system that accepts input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 and the space relative humidity input device 2 and , through the sensible output to the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o and the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 and , through the sensible heating control algorithm 8 , provides output to the sensible heating heat exchanger control valve t to achieve the targeted space dry bulb temperature . heating to be provided from the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , etc and the heat exchangers d , f and g to offset the zone conditioned spaces this control sequence is activated only when all zone variable volume boxes during this heating mode , the return air damper cc will be open and the the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , etc will operate individually . in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1a , the following control action will increase the heating capacity to maintain the desired space ( where reheat facility is provided within the zone variable volume boxes eea , the delivery of thermal capacity from the heat exchangers d , f and g will be determined by the zone variable volume box with the highest sensible heating in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 , the following control actions in sequence will increase the heating capacity to maintain the when the latent cooling control algorithm 4 is active , and input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 is below set point , vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . when the latent cooling control algorithm 4 is not active , and input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 is below set point , medium ( m and s ). input from the cold cooling medium flow meter r is compared to the determined maximum cold cooling medium flow rate and retards the action of the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o and the dehumidification cooling heat exchanger control valve p to limit the flow of cold cooling medium ( m and s ) to the determined maximum flow rate . in response to the cooling medium flow meter r , the following control actions in unison sequence will retard the cooling medium flow to limit flow to the modulate the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o from open to the supply air fan control algorithm 9 determines the amount of conditioned space supply air w delivered to the zone variable volume boxes eea , eeb , the amount of conditioned space supply air w will be determined by the zone variable volume box with the highest demand for airflow required for either in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1a , the following control action will increase the speed of the primary air fan z to maintain the modulate the primary air fan z from low speed to high speed . the ventilation rate algorithm 10 maintains the amount of outdoor air b will be maintained in response to the ventilation airflow sensor ff . in response to the ventilation airflow sensor ff , the following control actions in sequence will increase the outdoor air b ventilation airflow to maintain the when latent cooling control algorithm 4 is active , and input from the vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . when latent cooling control algorithm 4 is not active , and input from the modulate the primary air fan z from low speed to high speed . the supply air temperature reset algorithm 11 raises the conditioned space supply air w temperature to minimize the requirement for thermal heating . the amount of conditioned space primary air w will be determined by the zone variable volume box with the lowest demand for airflow required for in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1a , the following control action will increase the speed of the heat transfer pump i , and the primary air fan z , to maintain the desired space dry bulb temperature set in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1a , the following control actions in sequence will increase raises the conditioned space supply when latent cooling control algorithm 4 is active , and input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 a is below set point , vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . the return air fan control algorithm 12 increases the speed of the return air fan aa to enable sensible cooling capacity from the return air stream a passing over the heat exchanger h and sensible cooling capacity from ambient air that is cooler than the space dry bulb temperature set point . as demand for conditioned space supply air w , as indicated by the conditioned space supply airflow sensor hh increases , the speed of the return air fan aa will increase in response to the return air airflow sensor gg and the the return air fan control algorithm 12 will determine the return airflow set the speed of return air fan aa will be controlled in to achieve the return air modulate return air fan aa from low speed to high speed . with regard to the second embodiment and its psychrometric chart shown in fig2 b , the psychrometric process is as follows : the first heat exchanger d pre - cools the outdoor air ; the second heat exchanger e uses chilled water to dehumidify the outdoor air ; and the third heat exchanger f shifts energy to the first heat exchanger d to pre - cool . the cooling process for the return air stream a is principally sensible cooling , which is conducted in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage represented by the heat exchanger h placed in the return air stream a . by way of summary with regard to the second embodiment of fig2 a and 2 b , the psychrometric solution is again achieved using separate air paths . as the shaw system uses the outdoor air stream to dehumidify prior to mixing , this second embodiment of the present invention uses the shaw methodology , again extended to four heat transfer processes . utilising heat reclaim permits variability in the separation from the saturation curve that can be regulated to satisfy conditioned space conditions with minimal or eliminated need for reheat . when additional sensible cooling is required the supply airflow increases and is ideally regulated by load . turning now to the third embodiment of the present invention , and again as mentioned above , the third embodiment is a low dew point control process that extends the shaw system beyond normal air conditioning space requirements . the air conditioning system of the third embodiment again includes an outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage and a return air sensible cooling treatment stage , but does so utilizing four dehumidification cooling steps , including two heat reclaim steps and one sensible cooling step , to provide energy improvements . this third embodiment is illustrated by the flow diagram of fig3 a and the psychrometric chart of fig3 b . for ease of understanding , the following description will first provide a general overview of the flow diagram of fig3 a , followed by a more detailed explanation ( in a table ) of the different elements of the flow diagram . a brief explanation of the psychrometric chart of fig3 b will then be provided . illustrated in fig3 a is an air conditioning system that again relies on outdoor air b for ventilation being psychrometrically treated separately from the return air a to achieve independent control of latent and sensible cooling , this third embodiment being able to successfully use high proportions of outdoor air b as is required by some specialist buildings such as manufacturing laboratories . again , the cooling process for the outdoor air stream b is principally latent cooling , which is conducted in the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage . in the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage , the outdoor air b is treated via heat exchangers ( d , e , z and f ) four times , this representing an extra heat exchange step in the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage compared to the first and second embodiments . the first heat exchanger d pre - cools the outdoor air b utilising reclaimed energy , reducing the dry bulb temperature and commencing the dehumidifying process . the second heat exchanger e dehumidifies the outdoor air b to an intermediate absolute humidity level . the third heat exchanger z utilises a colder heat exchange medium ( a super cooling medium such as brine ) to provide additional dehumidification to an absolute humidity level that will achieve the desired relative humidity level within the conditioned space . this third heat exchanger z thus provides the air conditioning system of an embodiment of the present invention with an ability to deal with lower conditioned space absolute humidity requirements . the fourth heat exchanger f reclaims sensible heat that is not required to satisfy the conditioned space sensible cooling load . the result of this fourth stage of heat exchange is again a separation of the air stream from the saturation curve . the amount of the separation is regulated by a heat transfer pump i connecting the first exchanger d to the fourth heat exchanger f . the cooling process for the return air stream a is again principally sensible cooling , which is conducted in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage . in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage , and where additional sensible cooling is required , a further heat exchanger h is placed in the return air stream . the principal heat exchange medium ( which in this third embodiment is again the chilled water ) is used to maximize heat exchanger efficiency . the cold entering flow is used to provide the driving potential for the second heat exchanger e in the outdoor air latent cooling treatment stage , the subsequently warmed medium then passing to the further heat exchanger h of the return air sensible cooling treatment stage . the delivery temperature for the chilled water is again regulated by a demand from the conditioned space conditions and to achieve optimum performance between the principal cold generator ( for the chilled water ) and the super cooling cold generator ( for the brine ). when maximum flow conditions have been provided to the heat exchangers , and the conditioned space conditions require additional dehumidification or sensible cooling , the delivery temperature of the chilled water is scheduled down to achieve additional heat exchange , which leads to satisfaction of the conditioned space dry bulb and relative humidity requirements . where additional dehumidification is required , the delivery temperature of the brine will be set to achieve the conditioned space absolute humidity set point . sensible heating for the conditioned space is achieved by the addition of a heat exchanger g in either the return air a ) or the outdoor air b streams , in this embodiment ( unlike in the first and second embodiments ) being shown in the path of the return air stream a . heating can also be provided by a condenser water heat exchanger . again , latent heating is not provided in this third embodiment . following separate treatment of the outdoor air b and the return air a , the two air streams can be mixed to provide a single air stream w to be delivered to the space to be conditioned . the following table provides a more detailed explanation of the various elements illustrated in the flow diagram of fig3 a : air recirculated from the conditioned space will be typically used to act as the air that is provided for ventilation of the space will be typically used to act as the air that is delivered to the conditioned space will be cooled to offset the heat load within the conditioned space . the heat load of the space will require a varying ratio and quantum of sensible and latent cooling dependent on the the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger d . a heat reclaim cooling medium ( l to k ) passes through the heat exchanger d . the direction of flow is counter flow ; the warmer airflow is cooled by the warmer cooling medium flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the heat reclaim cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will be achieve sensible cooling and , depending on the cooling medium the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger e . a cooling medium ( m to n ) passes through the heat exchanger e . the direction of flow is counter cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger f . a heat reclaim heating medium ( k to l ) passes through the heat exchanger f . the direction of flow is counter flow ; the warmer airflow is heated by the warmer heating medium flow - the cooler airflow is heated by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b takes up heat from the heat reclaim heating medium . the outdoor air the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger g . a heating medium ( v to u ) passes through the heat exchanger f . the direction of flow is counter flow ; the warmer airflow is heated by the warmer heating medium flow - the cooler airflow is heated by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b takes up heat from the heating medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve the return air stream a passes over the heat exchanger h . a cooling medium ( n to q ) passes through the heat exchanger h . the direction of flow is counter cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the return air stream a gives up heat to the cooling medium . the return air steam a will achieve the heat transfer pump i generates flow through the heat reclaim medium piping circuit ( k and l ) and two heat exchangers ( d and f ). the sequence of flow through the heat reclaim piping circuit is as follows : flow generated by the heat transfer pump i passes through the pipe k , through the heat exchanger f , through the pipe l , and then through the heat exchanger d , returning to the the feed and expansion pipe j connects the heat reclaim piping circuit ( k and l ) to the cooling medium circuit m . the connection fills the heat reclaim piping circuit with a heat exchange medium from the cooling medium circuit m . the generator ( chiller ) 6 to the outdoor air dehumidification heat exchanger e . outdoor air dehumidification heat exchanger e to either the sensible cooling heat exchanger h or the return pipe to the cold generator ( chiller ) 6 . the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o regulates the amount of flow of cool heat exchange medium n that passes through the sensible cooling heat exchanger h . an increase in flow of the cool heat exchange cooling cooling heat exchanger h . as a consequence of cool cooling medium flow , the return air steam a will achieve sensible cooling and , depending on the cooling medium flow temperature and flow rate , latent cooling may also be achieved . amount of flow of cold heat exchange medium m that passes through the dehumidification heat exchanger e . an increase in flow of the cold heat the dehumidification heat exchanger e . as a consequence of cold cooling medium flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve latent cooling . sensible cooling will also be achieved at a rate determined by the dehumidification where there is an absence of a dehumidification requirement , and where there control valve p will also be required to regulate the amount of flow of the cold cheat exchange medium m . an increase in flow of the cold heat exchange flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible cooling . depending on the the cooling medium flow meter r measures the amount of flow in the return back to the cold generator ( chiller ) 6 . cooling medium that has been utilized in h come together to then return to the cold generator ( chiller ) 6 . the outdoor air stream sensible heating heat exchanger control valve t regulates the amount of flow of hot heat exchange medium v that passes through the outdoor air sensible heating heat exchanger g . an increase in flow exchange achieved by the outdoor air sensible heating heat exchanger g . the outdoor air steam b will achieve sensible heating - no latent heat exchange will heating heat exchanger g through a heat generator ( not shown ) to the outdoor from the outdoor air stream dehumidification heat exchanger e back to the heat the conditioned space supply air w is a mixture of the outdoor air stream b and the return air stream a . the conditioned space supply air stream w transports parallel heat exchangers d , e , f , g and h to offset the conditioned space and ventilation airflow heat load to provide the targeted dry bulb and relative the treated outdoor air stream x transports sensible and latent cooling , and sensible heating potential , from the series heat exchangers d , e , f and g . the treated return air stream y transports sensible and latent cooling from the the outdoor air stream b passes over the heat exchanger z . a super cooling medium ( bb to cc ) passes through the heat exchanger zz . the direction of flow is counter flow ; the warmer airflow is cooled by the warmer cooling medium flow - the cooler airflow is cooled by the cooler medium flow . the outdoor air stream b gives up heat to the cooling medium . the outdoor air steam b will achieve principally latent cooling , although some sensible cooling will also be the amount of flow of cold heat exchange medium bb that passes through the dehumidification heat exchanger e . an increase in flow of the super cold heat the super dehumidification heat exchanger z . as a consequence of super cold cooling medium flow , the outdoor air steam b will achieve latent cooling . sensible cooling will also be achieved at a rate determined by the from the super cold generator ( brine chiller ) to the outdoor air stream super medium from super dehumidification heat exchanger ‘ z ’ back to the super cold the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 measures the conditioned space dry bulb temperature as an input to the space environmental management relative humidity as an input to the space environmental management system cooling to be provided from the heat exchangers h and e to offset the in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 , the following control actions in sequence will increase the cooling capacity to maintain the modulate the sensible cooling heat exchanger control valve o from closed to vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) 6 flow temperature from warm to cold . the latent cooling control algorithm 4 determines the amount of latent cooling to be provided from the heat exchangers d , e , f and z to offset the conditioned in response to the space relative humidity input device 2 the following control vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . vary the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 from high to low to reset the cold the cooling medium reset algorithm 5 accepts feedback from the space dry bulb determine whether the cold cooling medium m is acceptable to achieve the targeted dry bulb and relative humidity conditions . if either the targeted space dry bulb temperature or space relative humidity is not achieved the cold cooling the cold cooling medium generator ( chiller ) 6 is a mechanical device that the space environmental management system 7 is a computer based control system that accepts input from the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 and space relative humidity input device 2 and through the sensible cooling control algorithm 3 and the latent cooling control algorithm 4 provides output to cooling heat exchanger control valve p to achieve the targeted space dry bulb dry bulb temperature input device 1 and through the sensible heating control algorithm 8 provides output to the sensible heating heat exchanger control valve heating to be provided from the heat exchangers d , f and g to offset the in response to the space dry bulb temperature input device 1 the following control actions in sequence will increase the heating capacity to maintain the when latent cooling control algorithm 4 is active and input from the space dry vary the speed of the heat transfer pump i from low to high . when latent cooling control algorithm 4 is not active and input from the space medium ( m and s ). input from the cold cooling medium flow meter r is compared to the determined maximum cold cooling medium flow rate and retards the action of the dehumidification heat exchanger control valve p to limit the flow of cold cooling medium ( m to s ) to the determined maximum flow rate . in response to the cooling medium flow meter r the following control actions in unison sequence will retard the cooling medium flow to limit flow to the desired the cold cooling medium flow algorithm 10 initiates flow ( operation ) of the super cold cooling medium ( brine chiller ) 10 ( bb and cc ). the super cooling medium 10 accepts feedback from the space dehumidification input device 2 to determine whether the super cold cooling medium bb is required to achieve the temperature is fixed ( not variable ) and is determined by the required dew point with regard to the third embodiment and its psychrometric chart shown in fig3 b , the psychrometric process is as follows : the outdoor air dehumidification pre - cooling heat exchanger d pre - cools the outdoor air b ; the outdoor air dehumidification heat exchanger e uses chilled water ( m to n ) to dehumidify the outdoor air b ; the outdoor air super dehumidification heat exchanger z ( being a brine heat exchanger ) further dehumidifies the outdoor air b to achieve the required conditioned space relative humidity ; and the outdoor air heat reclaim heat exchanger f shifts energy to the first heat exchanger d to pre - cool the outdoor air b to commence the dehumidification process . the cooling process for the return air stream a is principally sensible cooling , which is conducted in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage . in the return air sensible cooling treatment stage , and where additional sensible cooling is required for the air conditioning system , an extra heat exchanger g is placed in the return air stream a . by way of summary with regard to the third embodiment of fig3 a and 3 b , again the psychrometric solution is achieved using separate air paths . as the shaw system uses the outdoor air stream to dehumidify prior to mixing , the third embodiment uses the shaw methodology extended to four heat transfer processes ( being similar to the three heat transfer processes of the first and second embodiments , but with an additional heat transfer process added ). the advantage of this is the utilisation of lower efficiency energy sources to provide the high demand psychrometric process , and the re - utilisation of this higher efficiency energy sources for the generation to pre - cool for the ultimate dehumidification process . overcooling , often reheated with a primary heating source ( as with conventional design theory ), is replaced with heat reclaim and the heat of rejection ( condenser water ) used in the refrigeration cycle cooling process , thereby eliminating a primary heating requirement and reducing energy consumption . in conclusion , it must be appreciated that there may be other variations and modifications to the configurations described herein which are also within the scope of the present invention .
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US-51564307-A
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a composite membrane acoustic transducer structure comprising a magnet assembly is arranged adjacent the composite membrane material . the magnet assembly is arranged to produce a flux field . a first layer of thin , elongate composite membrane material is held under tension . a second conductive layer is attached to the first layer of composite membrane material wherein the first and second layers of membrane material are arranged adjacent , generally parallel and offset from the magnet assembly . the assembly is arranged to produce the flux field through at least part of the first layer and the second layer .
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referring now to the drawings in detail , and particularly to fig1 , there is represented a typical prior art ribbon microphone transducer 20 , from u . s . pat . no . 1 , 885 , 001 to olson and incorporated herein by reference , shows a corrugated ribbon 22 suspended between ferrous poles 24 extending from an electromagnet 26 . the electromagnet 26 establishes the magnetic field , which is carried through the pole pieces 24 and into proximity with the sound - responsive ribbon 22 . when the ribbon 22 is vibrated by incoming sound waves , an electrical current is generated in the ribbon 22 which may then be amplified , recorded or transmitted . a typical prior art ribbon microphone transducer 30 shown in fig2 , as may be seen more completely in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 435 , 143 to fisher , incorporated herein by reference , illustrates the corrugated ribbon 32 suspended between tapered , ferrous pole pieces 34 extending from a permanent magnet 36 . the tapered pole pieces 34 reduce the path length between the front of the ribbon and the back of the ribbon , which improves high frequency response . the ribbon is suspended in an adjustable frame 38 with screw and nut adjustments that may be used for fine tuning the position of the ribbon 32 . improvements in such prior microphone art are however , represented in fig3 , wherein a microphone casing 40 is shown having a suspension system 41 consisting of a zig - zag arrangement of elastomeric cords or cables 42 , a tapered body shell arrangement 44 , and a sound screen 46 having a multiplicity of apertures 48 for sound to propagate through , while preventing ingress of foreign objects , dirt , and the like . the cutaway view of fig4 shows the microphone casing 46 showing a plurality of spaced - apart apertures 48 therethrough , each aperture 48 having an axially curved , non - cylindrical , non - linear shape . fig5 shows an enlarged view of the apertures 48 , representing how air blasts “ w ” may be directed away from a nearby ribbon “ r ” under conditions of a high velocity wind . such redirection of strong fluid currents may be attributed to the coanda effect whereby laminar flow of fluids over curved surfaces is effective to change the direction of flow to conform to those surfaces . apertures 48 shaped with nonlinear profiles as shown in fig5 may allow ordinary vibratory sound waves to enter relatively unimpeded while potentially destructive air blasts are however , directed away from a delicate sound pickup device such as the ribbon “ r ”, or other transducer . fig6 displays an exploded representation of a modular ribbon microphone assembly 50 comprised of a top ribbon transducer 52 , an intermediate matching transformer section 54 , and a bottom amplification and electronics control section 56 , thus allowing different varieties of ribbon microphone systems to be user - configured . direct interconnecting pins 58 extending from bus bars 57 are used to interconnect each section 52 , 54 , and 56 to one another . users of microphones often wish to interchange components in the audio chain to adjust different sonic and electronic attributes such as gain , frequency response , timbre , distortion and the like . the use of a matched , modular setup has been used in prior art condenser microphones but not in ribbon microphones , because ribbon microphone construction prior to the present invention has not been consistent in gain , frequency response , timbre or distortion . fig7 represents the assembled stack of transducer , transformer , and electronics modules 52 , 54 and 56 . straight bus bars 57 are utilized connect the motor to transformer unit , and transformer unit to amplifier / connector unit . the straight , preferably in - line fixed position interconnects afford a greater degree of control of hum pickup from external fields , in contrast to circuitous , wired connections . wire connections are often manipulated for lowest hum pickup due to the variable nature of flexible wires . the use of rigid interconnecting members 58 virtually eliminates this variable , while at the same time assuring a low resistance , low noise connection . the use of silver bars or copper plated with silver provides low resistance and low noise . thermal noise generated within the conductor is also minimized by the use of thick conductors and silver metal . generally there are three sections of prior art ribbon microphones that contribute to the overall thermal noise and other noise floor produced by the completed microphone assembly . these include the ribbon , the interconnections , and the transformer sections . the use of heavy conductors in both the transformer and the interconnecting sections is desirable . the ribbon must be a light conductor out of necessity , yet improvements to that portion are also possible . one preferred embodiment of a transducer 60 is shown in fig8 . it is a tapered transducer 60 featuring a surrounding flux frame 61 that positions two or more adjacent magnets 62 in proximity to an elongated , formed , preferably multilayered , suspended ribbon 66 mounted therebetween . the tapered flux frame 61 shortens the acoustic distance from the front to the back of the ribbon 66 to improve high frequency response in the shortened area , and reduces the abruptness of any high frequency cutoff effect that is characteristic of “ parallel ” sided flux frames . the flux frame 61 is equipped with ring - receiving apertures 68 near the position of the magnets 62 extending through the flux frame 61 . the apertures 68 are positioned to receive curved return rings , ( shown for example , as members 72 in fig9 and 9a ) which are used to create a return path for the magnetic flux . this increases the strength of the magnetic field in the gap where the ribbon 66 is positioned and results in a more efficient conversion of sound energy into electrical energy . this efficiency improvement increases overall output and sensitivity , which is a desirable attribute of high quality microphones . the return rings 72 are shaped , with a cross - section that is small with respect to incoming sound waves at any angle . this shape reduces reflections and undesired internal resonance . the overall small cross - section of the return rings 72 reduces blocking or attenuation of the sound energy yet permits sound energy to arrive unhindered at the ribbon 66 , while performing flux carrying duty . fig9 and 9 a show a non - tapered , generally parallel - walled transducer 70 with the installed arrangement of return rings 72 . there may be as few as one return ring 72 , or many , depending upon the length of the transducer and the amount of magnetic reinforcement / recirculation that is desired . the return rings 72 may be inserted via press fit into the thickness of the flux frame 73 to enhance coupling of the magnetic field thereto , or they may be attached to the flux frame 73 by welding . a further transducer embodiment is shown in fig1 with a flux frame 76 having the features of both the tapered and non - tapered styles , having further side apertures 80 to shorten the distance from the front to the back of the ribbon . the use of side apertures 80 is known to improve high frequency response in ribbon microphones . the use of large , elongated curvilinear / circular side apertures 80 in conjunction with the use of tapered assemblies allows magnetic field strength to be preserved . fig1 a represents a cross section view of a ribbon form 90 having a predetermined ribbon - shaping surface pattern 92 . the form 90 may be made from a wax or dissolvable material which may support vapor deposition of metals , such as aluminum thereon , or the plating of such metals . fig1 b represents a cross section view of a ribbon form 90 having a deposited layer of aluminum 94 . the aluminum thickness may generally be from about ¼ micron to up to about 4 microns . more than one layer ( not shown ) may be deposited on the surface 92 of the form 90 . the layers may be of the same materials or of different materials having different mechanical and electrical properties . for instance , a first layer of gold may be deposited , followed by a second layer of thicker aluminum and then a third gold layer or mixed combinations thereof . the gold layers may be very thin , in the order of a few hundred nanometers . the aluminum layer may be from 500 nm to about 3000 nm , more or less , depending upon the size required , the amount of conductivity desired , and the total mass allowed in the design . generally , high mass ribbons require greater amounts of sound energy to be vibrated within the magnet gap , while lower mass ribbons require less , so it is desirable to keep mass to a minimum . however , too - thin materials , such as aluminum , become increasingly resistive however , as the cross section decreases . the tradeoff between resistance and mass has long been a limiting factor in ribbon microphone design , as has the tradeoff between strength and mass . the use of composite materials , layered materials and highly conductive materials as taught herein affords a greater design latitude and improved performance . fig1 c represents , for example , an edge view of a completed ribbon 100 after removal from the form 90 . the metal ribbon 100 is strong and does not have fractures or stresses , nor will it tend to relax . prior art ribbons are made of formed by bending and / or distorting a flat sheet , which compromises the tensile strength and leaves residual forces which may cause the ribbon to relax over time . fig1 d represents an edge view of a completed ribbon 102 produced by the process of deposition on a form , having a predetermined pattern . the pattern may be periodic , aperiodic , or graduated so that smaller , shorter waves portions or undulations 104 are placed near the ends of the ribbon 102 , and the flatter portions 106 are arranged near the middle of the ribbon 102 . due to the precise and conformal nature of the deposition process , fine details such as letters ( not shown ) or features such as longitudinal ribs ( not shown ) may be produced to mark or stiffen certain planar or surface portions of the ribbon 102 . fig1 e shows an example of a graduated fixture 110 having a scale 112 , movable slides 114 , and clips 116 to hold a ribbon 118 to be adjusted . the fig1 f discloses a schematic representation of a tuning system 120 to be utilized with the graduated fixture 110 of fig1 e . a variable frequency oscillator 122 may be connected to an amplifier 124 which drives a loudspeaker 126 and triggers a strobe light 128 in synchronization with the oscillator 122 . the oscillator 122 is set to the desired resonant frequency of the ribbon 118 and the clips 116 are moved until maximum excursion of the ribbon 118 is observed , indicating a resonance peak of the ribbon 118 , shown in fig1 e . the strobe light 128 aids in the observation of the peak and also any other resonant modes , including out - of - phase modes , which may lead to distortion . the ribbon 118 may be precisely tensioned using the combination of the apparatus 110 shown in fig1 e and the apparatus 120 and procedure therewith , represented by fig1 f , and then installed into a transducer assembly when properly tuned . the ribbon 118 may then be connected to a further circuit load , such as a transformer , and subsequent amplifier , during the tuning process if desired . this fine and precise adjustment of the ribbon 118 improves the unit - to - unit consistency of assemblies which is very desirable . the view shown in fig1 a is a plan view of a series of filaments or fibers 130 suspended between a set of fiber holders 132 . the fibers 130 may be made of a high tensile strength polymeric material such as kevlar which does not stretch or shrink . the fibers 130 may also be comprised of a carbon nanotube fiber , ribbon or composite having high tensile strength and low mass . for example , such a carbon nanotube ribbon may be conductive or super - conductive . fig1 b is a side view of the series of filaments 130 shown in fig1 a . fig1 c shows a side view of the series of filaments in proximity to a pair of patterned forms 134 which may apply pressure , heat , or both . the view of fig1 d is a side view of the series of filaments 130 after being impressed with the shape of the forms 134 . the series of filaments 130 may be further coated , plated or covered using a deposition process , such as a vapor deposition process , not shown for clarity . the deposited material may be aluminum or other conductive material such as gold . multiple materials may be used including alloys having superconducting properties . such alloys are generally stiff and hard to form into wire , yet may be suitably formed in a practical manner by the method described . the advantage of using such a superconducting or very highly conducting alloy is an ability to produce a strong , low mass ribbon without reducing the conductivity to the point where microphone output drops to an unacceptable degree . superconducting alloys may have sufficient tensile strength to be used alone in this application . carbon nanotubes or carbon fibers , or ribbons , may have sufficient conductivity , strength , and low enough mass , to be used in this application with the advantage of improved toughness , resistance to long term distortion , sagging , or damage . very strong , low mass , and highly conductive layered ribbons may now be constructed using these new techniques , ( such multi - layering may done for example , by bonding , adhesive , deposition , or other adhesion processes ). in fig1 a , there is shown is a top view of a ribbon assembly 140 with a sound absorbing wedge 142 placed a spaced distance from one side , in this case the rear of the ribbon 143 . the sound absorbing wedge 142 is effective to absorb and attenuate sound energy arriving from the rear of the microphone . ribbon microphones without sound absorbers exhibit a dipolar , “ figure 8 ” reception pattern . monopolar , or unidirectional ribbon operation is sometimes desired . the back of the ribbon is sealed so that sound energy does not arrive at the ribbon from the rear . the wedge 142 absorbs reradiated sound produced by the moving ribbon . the shape of the wedge 142 reduces specular reflection back to the ribbon , which is undesirable . multiple wedges may be used . the wedges may be enclosed to define a chamber 145 having one opening facing the ribbon 143 . in fig1 b there is shown a detailed view of the sound absorbing wedge 142 showing a heterogeneous structure . the heterogeneous structure is comprised of filaments , open cell foams , and closed cell foams 144 , each having a directionally - formed increasing density and acoustic impedance to sound , which increase in loss in the form of heat without producing reflections from the front surface , which is at or near the acoustic impedance of air . this construction allows lower frequencies to be absorbed at a greater rate than would otherwise be possible with homogeneous materials such as common foams . fig1 is an example , in a cross section view , of a microphone assembly 150 having “ back lobe ” suppression . an acoustic labyrinth 152 may be produced using rolled or coiled tubing 153 such as plastic tubing , tygon #, or other coilable , formable generally tubular materials . the formable tubular materials may be arranged in any formation so as to fit within the housing of the microphone 150 . back chamber ( as described partially in fig1 a ) may be connected to the acoustic labyrinth which may be positioned at or below the transducer assembly 154 , or around internal structures or components such as a transformer . the tubing 153 may be filled with a lossy , sound absorbing material such as injected , open cell foam of urethane , or filled with a loose , sound absorbing fibrous material such as nylon , or aerogels . the length of the tube is generally about 30 ″ as described in the prior art for acoustic labyrinth construction using machined ports or chambers which are more difficult to produce and do not offer positioning options of a flexible tube . one end of the tube may be attached to the chamber of fig1 a so that a continuous seal of air from the back of the ribbon 143 through the entire length of the tube 153 may be maintained . such an arrangement provides a convenient and repeatable construction of a unidirectional ribbon microphone system which works as a pressure transducer . fig1 a discloses an electrical schematic diagram of a pair of identical ribbons 160 and 162 produced using the teachings herein , arranged in parallel circuit configuration . fig1 b is a top view of the pair of identical ribbons 160 and 162 in proximity to each other and each within gaps of adjacent magnets 164 . fig1 c shows a perspective view of a practical holder 166 for the adjacent magnets 164 shown in fig1 b . the holder 166 controls the amount of air or sound waves from entering the space between the ribbons ( 160 and 162 ) using sliding aperture stops 167 or other adjustable door means . the use of two identical ribbons ( i . e . 160 and 162 ) allows variable patterns to be produced using ribbon elements within the space of one microphone without excessive distortion due to the identical and repeatable nature of the ribbon elements when produced using improved ribbon and microphone construction methods such as deposition , synchronized tuning , and filamentous or carbon nanotube ribbon construction . a storage and travel case 170 is shown in fig1 a , for a pressure sensitive device such as a ribbon microphone 172 . prior art boxes generally have a lid which may be closed or opened suddenly . such sudden unprotected operation as the opening or closing of the case may produce undesired pressures that may damage the contents . an air valve 174 is connected to latch ( or hinge ) so that there is an escape path for air pressure during the opening and closing procedure . fig1 b shows a cross section view of an air escape valve 174 . a spring loaded plunger 176 may be incorporated into the latch to release air through discharge openings 177 prior to opening . the area of the valve 174 is large relative to the case 170 so that undesired pressure cannot build up , even momentarily . an exemplary microphone support 180 is shown in fig1 in a cross sectional view of a sound absorbing structure integrated into the body of a microphone 182 . a plurality of annular rings 184 are preferably interposed with acoustically lossy materials 186 such as filled low durometer urethanes . the alternating series of lossy segments assures little propagation of noise from the microphone stand 188 , up into the microphone head . the flat , annular ring arrangement allows reasonably rigid and compact microphone body to be safely maintained while assuring a high area of sound absorbance . a clamp 190 may be attached firmly to the microphone body base 191 , but is isolated from head , reducing or eliminating sound propagation from the stand into the microphone 182 . while the invention has been shown and described with reference to a number of embodiments thereof , it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .
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US-201113042872-A
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systems for analyzing a benefit or detriment of changing an operational condition or parameter , or adding a coke drum to an existing coking system are disclosed . contemplated systems can increase the cost effectiveness of coking systems by providing valuable analysis data .
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the following discussion provides many example embodiments of the inventive subject matter . although each embodiment represents a single combination of inventive elements , the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements . thus if one embodiment comprises elements a , b , and c , and a second embodiment comprises elements b and d , then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of a , b , c , or d , even if not explicitly disclosed . it should be noted that any language directed to a computer should be read to include any suitable combination of computing devices , including servers , interfaces , systems , databases , agents , peers , engines , controllers , or other types of computing devices operating individually or collectively . one should appreciate the computing devices comprise a processor configured to execute software instructions stored on a tangible , non - transitory computer readable storage medium ( e . g ., hard drive , solid state drive , ram , flash , rom , etc .). the software instructions preferably configure the computing device to provide the roles , responsibilities , or other functionality as discussed below with respect to the disclosed apparatus . in especially preferred embodiments , the various servers , systems , databases , or interfaces exchange data using standardized protocols or algorithms , possibly based on http , https , aes , public - private key exchanges , web service apis , known financial transaction protocols , or other electronic information exchanging methods . data exchanges preferably are conducted over a packet - switched network , the internet , lan , wan , vpn , or other type of packet switched network . fig1 shows a coking system having a coke drum with an altered life span that could be increased by the addition of a drum . in this example , existing coking system 100 comprises a first , second and third coke drum ( 101 , 102 and 103 , respectively ). the drums are configured such that first drum 101 receives a vapor of second drum 102 or third drum 103 , second drum 102 receives a vapor of first drum 101 or third drum 103 , and third drum 103 receives a vapor of first drum 101 or second drum 102 . an “ existing coking system ” can refer to any of ( 1 ) a fully operational coking systems , ( 2 ) a coking systems where necessary piping , valves and coke drums are coupled to one another but not yet operations , ( 3 ) a planned coking systems that have not been assembled , or ( 4 ) a coking system where some components ( e . g ., drums ) are in operation , and some are not . in coking system 100 , each drum requires a vapor ( e . g ., a vapor stream , etc .) of at least one different drum in order to warm up to a threshold temperature so that it can properly be filled with a feed stream . second drum 102 and third drum 103 each have a design life of five years and have been operating under standard operating conditions for three years . as such , each drum has two years remaining if operated under standard conditions . first drum 101 , recently installed , has a five year design life with all five years remaining if operated under standard conditions . however , due to first drum 101 ′ s reliance on a vapor from at least one of the second drum 102 and third drum 103 , first drum 101 has an altered life span of two years . the addition of drum 121 could increase an altered life span of at least first drum 101 to five years ( if drum 101 is configured to receive a vapor of 121 ), assuming no other changes to operating conditions or parameters are made . it is also contemplated that the addition of a drum to an existing coking system can shorten an altered life span of a coke drum . for example , first drum 101 , second drum 102 , and third drum 103 , could each be operated with an on - line filling cycle time of 6 hours , and an off - line decoking time of 12 hours . thus , while a first drum 101 is off - line ( e . g ., being decoked ), the two remaining drums can be filled . once the first drum has been completely decoked , the two remaining drums will be filled and the first drum can begin a new drum cycle . adding drum 121 to this system could require that the existing step cycles ( e . g ., shortened quench cycle ) of a drum ( e . g ., first drum 101 ) are shortened so that each drum operates continuously . the shortened cycle could strain or otherwise damage first drum 101 , and thereby reduce an estimated altered life span . the life span of a drum can be altered many times during the drum &# 39 ; s life . each change to a coking system &# 39 ; s operating condition or parameter can potentially alter the life span of a drum significantly . this altering can be a doubling , tripling , quintupling , halving , or any other suitable altering in life span . unless the context dictates the contrary , all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints , and open - ended ranges should be interpreted to include commercially practical values . similarly , all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary . fig2 shows a system 100 comprises a coking system 101 communicatively coupled to an analysis engine 120 and user device 130 . it is contemplated that each device , engine , or components described herein can be communicatively coupled to one , some or all of the other devices , engines , or components described herein . moreover , a system ( e . g ., a coking system ) can be coupled to a device ( s ), engine ( s ), or combination thereof to create a larger system . this coupling can be temporary , periodic , or continuous , and can be achieved via any suitable wired or wireless means , including for example , bluetooth ™, 802 . 11 , sound , zigbee ™, wireless usb , near field communication , radio frequency identification technology , or cables . coking system 101 comprises first drum 110 coupled to a sensor 112 and altered life span estimation module 113 , second drum 111 having a sensor 114 and module 115 , and an operator 116 . it is contemplated that sensors 112 and 114 can either compose , or be coupled to coke drums 110 and 111 on a temporary basis ( e . g ., removable , etc .). for example , a sensor could be coupled with a coke drum and configured to obtain coke drum data ( e . g ., temperature , stress , strain , etc .) for a temporary period of time . alternatively , a sensor could be attached to a coke drum and configured to obtain information periodically or continuously for longer periods of times . sensors 112 and 114 are configured to receive raw data related to at least one of the coke drums of system 101 . this raw data can be directly sent from a sensor to analysis engine 120 , or be used by an altered life span estimation module ( 113 or 115 ), or operator 116 . an altered life span estimation module can comprise software that uses the raw coke drum data to estimate a change in life span relative to a design life span . this can be achieved using a database of standard operating parameters , modified operating parameters , and corresponding altered life spans . alternatively or additionally , operator 116 can use the raw coke drum data to estimate a change in life span using any suitable method . coke drum data 140 comprising raw coke drum data or altered life span data is sent to analysis engine 120 , which comprises coke drum data receiving module 121 , altered life span analysis module 122 , and result generating module 123 . if raw coke drum data is received by module 121 , analysis engine 120 can calculate or otherwise receive an estimated altered life span via software that uses the raw coke drum data to estimate a change in life span relative to a design life span . an estimated life span of a coke drum can be significantly altered by the addition of a coke drum to a system . this altering can be beneficial or detrimental to a coke drum or system . the factors that can contribute to altering a life span include , but are not limited to , a damage ( e . g ., a bulge , a crack , a thinning in a drum wall , a problematic temperature gradient of a portion of a drum wall , etc . ), a change in operating parameter , a change in operating conditions , and an altered life span of another coke drum within the system . any and all available devices for and methods of detecting or measuring a damage is contemplated . inherent in a step of “ estimating an altered life span ” can be estimating a time to failure . since an altered life span is relative to a known or estimated design life span , the time to failure can also be estimated . for example , where a drum having a design life span is 10 years and an altered life span is 25 years has been in operation for 2 years , the time to failure would be 23 years . coke drum data receiving module 121 can send coke drum data to altered life span analysis module 122 . altered life span analysis module 122 can be located locally in analysis engine 120 , or distal to and communicatively coupled with analysis engine 120 . module 122 can be configured to analyze or estimate an effect on an already altered life span based on an addition of a coke drum , a change in operating parameter , or any other change to an existing coking system 101 . similarly to altered life span estimation modules 113 and 115 , altered life span analyzing module 122 can calculate or estimate an effect of adding a coke drum or modifying an operating parameter using a database storing , among other things , drum data , design life span data , safety data , use data , data related to a type of feed used , an operating parameter ( e . g ., cycle time reduction ), or life span data corresponding to a change in an operating parameter or condition . result generation module 123 can use the analysis provided by altered life span analysis module 122 to generate a result item , such as a recommendation or a question . some examples of result items include a recommendation to add a coke drum in 6 months , a question asking the user which coke drums are directly coupled with one another , a recommendation to alter a processing parameter to reduce a problematic temperature gradient in a skirt attachment , pressure boundary or supporting element during a quenching step , a recommendation to repair a damage , or a recommendation that a quench rate or cycle be reduced . once the result generation module 123 has generated a result item , analysis engine 120 transmits the result item data to first user device 130 . contemplated user devices include computers , tablets , speakers , cellular phones , smart phones , or any other suitable device configured to provide an interface to a user . where a result item comprises a question , it is contemplated that a user can input text , image , or sound data ( e . g ., an answer ) to a user device communicatively coupled to an analysis engine . this input data can be used by the analysis engine to receive a result item , which can then be transmitted to a user device . as used herein , the term “ receive ” is used very broadly to include for example , obtaining data from another source , or extracting or calculating the data locally . if the addition of one or more coke drums is recommended or beneficial , it is contemplated that a computer can be configured to produce a physically perceivable rendering of the addition , a schedule for procuring components of the additional coke drum , or a schedule for producing equipment that can be used to install the additional coke drum . the coke drum ( s ) can be installed in accordance with various coupling plans . thus , the additional coke drum could be coupled to one , two , or even five or more drums , valves , or piping sub - systems . as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow , the meaning of “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . also , as used in the description herein , the meaning of “ in ” includes “ in ” and “ on ” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . as used herein , and unless the context dictates otherwise , the term “ coupled to ” is intended to include both direct coupling ( in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other ) and indirect coupling ( in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements ). therefore , the terms “ coupled to ” and “ coupled with ” are used synonymously . groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations . each group member can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combination with other members of the group or other elements found herein . one or more members of a group can be included in , or deleted from , a group for reasons of convenience and / or patentability . when any such inclusion or deletion occurs , the specification is herein deemed to contain the group as modified thus fulfilling the written description of all markush groups used in the appended claims . it should be apparent 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 scope 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 . where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of a , b , c . . . and n , the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from the group , not a plus n , or b plus n , etc .
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US-201213666834-A
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fish egg hatching device comprising perforated box with shelf to support fertilized eggs during incubation . newly hatched fry can migrate through slots in shelf to lower fry rearing chamber in which fry may remain protected from predators until they reach free swimming stage and can then escape through slots in walls .
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referring to the drawings and more particularly to fig1 the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a rectangular parallelepiped box 10 having an upper egg incubating area or chamber 12 and a lower fry rearing area or chamber 14 which are separated by a horizontal dividing wall which serves as an egg shelf 16 having a plurality of slots or apertures 18 therein of such width as to retain fish eggs 20 of selected size thereon but to permit the newly hatched fry to pass through to the fry rearing chamber 14 . referring to fig2 the box 10 may be formed from a blank 21 formed of a non - toxic molded plastic such as polypropolene . the blank 21 comprises at one end thereof the portion forming the dividing wall or egg shelf 16 , the same being defined by the sheet end 22 , the opposite sheet edges 24 , 26 of the sheet and a fold line 28 formed by a v - shaped indentation in the surface of the blank which will form the exterior surface of the box . extending from the sheet end 22 is a pair of tabs 30 , the purpose of which shall be explained subsequently . the shelf 16 is formed with a plurality of slots or apertures 18 therethrough of a width such that the eggs to be incubated will be supported thereon , but wide enough to permit newly hatched fry to fall through the shell 16 into the fry rearing chamber 14 , that is , their width is less than the diameter of the eggs but greater than the smallest diameter of the newly hatched fry . by way of example , for brown trout eggs slots 13 × 3 millimeters in length will suffice . adjacent the egg shelf portion 16 is a portion defining the side wall 32 of the bottom , fry rearing chamber 14 , the portion 32 being defined on one edge by the fold line 28 and on its opposite edge by a fold line 34 . extending from the side edges 24 , 26 of the portion 32 are extensions 36 , 38 respectively , each of which is provided with a tab receiving opening 40 . the upper part of the side wall 32 is formed with rows of ractangular slots or apertures 44 which in width are as small as possible and still permit escape of the free swimming fry which are to be raised in the box . preferably the apertures 44 flare in width toward the inside of the box ( see fig4 ) to facilitate escape of the fry . in a box for hatching brown trout eggs , for example , the rows 44 comprise openings 3 . 5 millimeters in width on the outer surface and 4 . 5 millimeters in width on the inner surface , with a sheet thickness of 0 . 075 inch . the lower portion , approximately 20 millimeters of the wall 32 , is provided with rows of apertures 46 which are so dimensioned as to prevent escape of free swimming fry but still permit escape of silt . that is , the width of apertures 46 is less than the smallest dimension of the newly hatched fry . when incubating brown trout , the apertures 46 may have a largest dimension of about 2 . 5 millimeter , and may constitute narrow slots or a double or triple row of square openings . if absolutely flat placement of a box could be assured , the small apertures 46 may be provided only in the lower 10 or 12 millimeters of the box . usually , however , when installed in gravel , the box is tilted and greater length of small apertures is desired so as to provide an adequate nursery area from which the immature fry cannot escape . next in the blank is the bottom wall forming portion 50 defined on its edge opposite the fold line 34 by a fold line 52 . the bottom wall 50 is preferably formed with a grid of square apertures having maximum width to permit escape of silt and still prevent escape of fry . for brown trout such width is about 2 . 5 millimeters . extending one from each of the opposite ends of the portion 50 are end wall portions 54 , 56 , there being a fold line 58 along each end of the portion 50 . each of the end wall portions is formed with lower row or rows of narrow apertures 60 having a width the same as that of apertures 46 . the upper portion of the end walls 54 , 56 positioned in the erected box below the plane of the egg shelf 16 is provided with rows of slots 62 having substantially the same width and configuration as the rows 44 . as shown in fig1 the end walls 54 , 56 project above the level of the egg shelf 16 , this upwardly projecting portion in each being provided with a plurality of square apertures 64 having substantially the same width as the temperatures 46 so as to prevent the escape of newly hatched fry . the edges of the end wall 54 , 56 adjacent the fold line 34 is formed with a pair of outwardly extending tabs 66 , 68 , the lower one of which , 66 , is adapted to be inserted into the opening 40 in the side wall extension 38 . the purpose of the tab 68 will be made clear subsequently . the opposite edge of each of the end walls 54 , 56 is provided with a single tab 70 and the ends with a pair of tabs 72 whose purpose will become clear later . adjacent the bottom wall 50 is the other side wall 80 which includes a lower portion 82 defining the side wall for the fry rearing chamber 14 and an upper portion 84 defining the side wall for the egg incubating chamber 12 . the blank is provided with a fold line 86 along what is the upper edge of the side wall 80 . the portions 82 , 84 are separated by an unperforated strip 88 , having a pair of tab receiving slots 90 therein which receive the tabs 30 when the box is erected , as best seen in fig1 . the portion 82 is provided with apertures 92 , 94 in the same pattern , size and distribution as the apertures 44 , 46 , respectively , in the side wall 32 . the portion 84 is provided with a row of apertures 96 of the same size as the apertures 64 in the end walls 54 , 56 . the side wall 80 also has along each edge a locking tab extension 98 each of which has a tab receiving opening 100 therein in which are received the tabs 70 of the end walls when the box is erected . adjacent the side wall 80 in the blank is a top wall 102 having a fold line 104 along the edge thereof opposite the fold line 86 . the top wall 102 is of the same width as the egg shelf 16 and bottom 50 and is formed with a plurality of rows of slots or apertures 107 having substantially the same width as the apertures 64 in the end walls 54 , 56 . extending one from each of the opposite ends of the top wall 102 is a pair of tab receiving extensions 106 each of which has a pair of tab receiving openings 108 therein in which are inserted the tabs 72 of the end walls 54 , 56 when the box is erected . finally , the blank contains an egg hatching portion side wall 100 defined by the fold line 104 and the sheet end 112 . the side wall 110 is provided with a plurality of apertures 114 having the same dimensions as the apertures 64 of the end walls and also has extending one from each end a pair of locking tab receiving extensions 116 each of which has a slot 118 therein which receive the tabs 68 of the end walls 54 , 56 when the box is erected . the blanks 21 are adapted to be injection molded as flat bodies and to be stacked flat and shipped to the users . at that point the blanks are erected by folding up the end walls 54 , 56 and thereafter folding up the side walls 32 , 82 and inserting the tabs 66 , 70 in the tab openings 40 , 100 , respectively . next the egg shelf 16 is folded down and the tabs 30 inserted in the openings 90 . the box is then ready to receive eggs in which the embryo has formed and which can be placed in a layer on the shelf 16 whereafter the top 102 and side wall are folded into position and the tabs 72 inserted into the openings 108 and tabs 68 into the openings 118 to secure the box together . such a box can then be transported to a stream or river under suitable refrigeration without causing injury to the eggs , or , of course , the boxes can be loaded with eggs at the streamside . in either case , the box 10 with its eggs is adapted to be buried in a gravel bed in the stream bottom in a location such as the fish species whose eggs are contained therein would have spawned . the perforated box walls and shelf 16 permit continued flow of water through the box 10 so as to provide oxygen to the eggs and also permit any silt carried in the water to be carried on through which is highly desirable since silt accumulation about an egg can smother it . the improved circulation about the eggs also minimizes fungus attacks upon the eggs . newly hatched fry are not capable of free swimming although they are capable of some movement and have a specific gravity greater than one so they tend to sink . thus , as they hatch and begin their slight movement they will fall through the apertures 18 into the fry rearing chamber 14 . here they have more room for their movements but are protected from attack from the various underwater creatures that normally prey on the relatively helpless fry . initially the fry will occupy the lowermost part of the rearing compartment 14 . the apertures 46 , 60 , 94 which surround this area are preferably so narrow as to prevent the escape of the fry therethrough . as the fry absorb their egg sac and reach the free swimming state they can slip through the wider apertures 44 , 62 , 92 of the side and end walls and make their way upwardly through the gravel into the stream . the tapered arrangement of the openings facilitate their escape . after hatching has been completed the boxes 10 can be recovered and reused if desired . test plantings of 20 , 000 brown trout eggs in boxes as above described with about three hundred eggs per box resulted in hatches of from seventy to one hundred percent in a box with the average about ninety - five percent . the boxes were positioned in chert and limestone gravels for this test . upon removal , none of the boxes was found to have retained any silt . the size of the box 10 , the chambers 12 and 14 and the various apertures can be changed , of course , to accommodate the box for use with various species of fish . having described a preferred embodiment it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention permits of modification in arrangement and detail .
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US-73500176-A
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the present invention provides a color backsheet for a building - integrated photovoltaic module comprising a polyethylene terephthalate film , a barrier layer and a fluorine - containing polymer film , at least one of the films being doped with dyes or pigments . the present invention also provides a color bipv module comprising the color backsheet according to the present invention .
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the present invention is illustrated below in detail by the embodiments with reference to the drawing , which is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention . it will be apparent that any modifications or alterations that are obvious for persons skilled in the art fall within the scope of the disclosure of the specification . one aspect of the present invention is to provide a novel color backsheet for a bipv module . the color backsheet according to the present invention is comprised of a pet film , a barrier layer and a fluorine - containing polymer film . the pet film is to provide electrical insulation . the pet film should have a volume resistivity in a range of 10 12 ohm - cm to 10 15 ohm - cm . the barrier layer , such as an aluminum foil , is to provide moisture resistance . the al foil has a moisture permeability of less than 10 − 4 g / m 2 · day . the thickness of the barrier layer is not particularly limited and is preferred 10 μm to 100 μm , more preferably 20 μm to 50 μm . the fluorine - containing polymer film is preferably made of polyvinylidene difluoride ( pvdf ), polyvinyl fluoride ( pvf ) or ethylene tetrafluoroethylene ( etef ), or a combination thereof . the fluorine - containing polymer film serves as a weather resistant film and is to provide uv resistance and weather resistance . the fluorine - containing polymer film should have a moisture permeability of 3 to 50 g / m 2 · day , preferably 3 to30g / m 2 · day , most preferably 10 to 30 g / m 2 · day . dyes and pigments of desired color are incorporated into the pet and / or the flourine - containing film . suitable dyes or pigments include , but not limit to , rohanimide dye , azo dye , phthalocyanine dye , pig gr 10 ( nickel , 3 -[ 4 -( chlorophenyl ) azo ]- 4 - hydroxy - 2 -( 1h )- quinolineone complex ), pig blue 15 (( phthalocyaninato ( 2 -)) copper )), sol yell 16 ( 2 , 4 - dihydro - 5 - methyl - 2 - phenyl - 4 -( phenylazo )- 3h - pyrazol - 3 - on ), sol or 1 ( p - phenylazoresorcinol ), sol red 1 ( 1 -( o - anisylazo )- 2 - naphthol ), pig yell 37 ( cadmiummonsulfide ), pig blue 33 ( manganese blue ), pig blue 29 ( ultramarine blue ), pig gr 17 ( chromium trioxide green ), pig blk 11 ( iron ( ii , iii ) oxide , black ), pig metal 1 ( aluminum ) and pig metal 2 ( copper ). to well disperse the dyes or pigments , the dyes or pigments are first mixed with supporting carrier particles by a sol - gel process and then compound and extrude with a pet or a fluorine - containing polymer precursor solution to form a color pet or fluorine - containing polymer film . a sol - gel process is a skill known in the art . preferred supporting carrier particles of the present invention are metal oxides ( such as tio 2 ) and sio 2 . particles having a particle size of 9 μm to 500 μm . the color pet or fluorine - containing film is then laminated with a barrier layer and a color / transparent fluorine - containing polymer or pet film to form the color backsheet of the present invention . the color backsheet according to the present invention can be prepared by the process comprising the steps of : a ) mixing supporting carrier particles and dyes or pigments by a sol - gel process ; b ) compounding the mixture obtained in a ) with pet or a fluorine - containing polymer ; c ) extruding the product obtained in b ) to form a color pet or a fluorine - containing film ; and d ) laminating the color pet or fluorine - containing film obtained in c ) with a barrier layer and a color / transparent fluorine - containing polymer or a color / transparent pet film to form the color backsheet . the above mixing , compounding , extruding and laminating techniques are known in the art of materials science and have been disclosed in various literatures . for example , the color backsheet according to the present invention can be prepared by the following exemplified process : a ) heterocoagulating tio 2 or sio 2 / tio 2 nanoparticles with poly ( acrylic acid - co - methyl methacrylate ) ( poly ( aa - co - mma )) nanoparticles . tio 2 or sio 2 / tio 2 nanoparticles are prepared by hydrolysis and condensation at 100 to 150 ° c . in aqueous dmf ( n , n - dimethylmethanamide ) or toluene media , followed by mixing with poly ( aa - co - mma ) and pigments or dyes to form composite particles ; b ) compounding the composite particles obtained in a ) with pet ( or fluorine - containing polymer ) pellets , an anti - uv agent ( e . g ., cyasorb ® uv - 531 , cytec industries inc . ), an anti - oxidant ( e . g ., ethanox ® 330 , albemarle corporation ), and a radical trapping agent ( e . g ., tinuvin ® 292 , ciba inc .) at 130 to 150 ° c . ; c ) extruding the product obtained in b ) to form a color pet ( or fluorine - containing polymer ) film ; and d ) laminating the product obtained in c ), a barrier layer of 20 to 50 μm , a fluorine - containing polymer ( or pet ) film of 150 to 250 μm , and adhesives 506 ® ( dupont ) at 70 to 100 ° c . another aspect of the present invention is to provide a color bipv module . the color bipv module comprises : a transparent substrate ; a first electrode layer ; a light absorbing layer ; a second electrode layer ; an encapsulant layer ; and the color backsheet according to the present invention . the substrate and the first electrode layer are preferred to be transparent to allow sunlight to pass through . the substrate can be any transparent material and glass is preferred . the first electrode layer can be made of any suitable materials . in one embodiment of the present invention , the material for the first electrode layer is a transparent conducting oxide ( tco ). suitable tco materials include metal oxides of ag , al , cu , cr , zn , mo , wo , ca , ti , in , sn , ba , ti or ni . the tco layer may be optionally doped with metals such as al , ga and sb . preferred materials for the first electrode layer according to the present invention are indium tin oxide ( ito ), tin oxide doped with fluorine ( fto ), sno 2 and sno 2 doped with sb ( ato ). the light absorbing layer according to the present invention is made of a material which is capable of transforming light energy into electric energy . preferred materials for the light absorbing layer according to the present invention are amorphous silicon ( a - si ), copper indium diselenide ( cis ), copper indium gallium diselenide ( cigs ), multicrystalline silicon ( mc - si ) and polycrystalline silicon ( poly - si ). the light absorbing layer can be of any types such as single -, tandem - or triple - junction elements and they can be made by suitable means described in publications , for example , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 334 , 259 . the second electrode layer can be transparent , semi - transparent or even opaque . in one embodiment of the present invention , the second electrode layer is made of an abovementioned tco or a metal film such as ag , cr and al , or a combination of a tco and a metal film . the metal film preferably has a thickness of 30 to 100 a , more preferably 50 to 100 a . the encapsulant layer according to the present invention is made of ethylene - vinyl acetate ( eva ) or polyvinyl butyral ( pvb ), preferably eva . the process for making a bipv module is a skill known in the art . for example , the color bipv module can be prepared by the steps of : a ) providing a glass substrate ; b ) depositing a layer of sno 2 ( about 3600 a ) on the glass substrate as a first electrode layer by sputtering or atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition ( apcvd ); c ) depositing a layer of pin a - si layer as a light absorbing layer on the first electrode layer by pecvd ; d ) depositing an ag layer having a thickness of 30 to 100 a and a layer of sno 2 on the light absorbing layer as the second electrode ; and e ) laminating the structure obtained in d ) with a layer of eva and the color backsheet according to the present invention .
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US-201113169788-A
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a fastening device comprises a fastening base and a wedge member and is capable of ensuring fast engagement of an engaging leg with a panel by inserting the engaging leg in a hole formed in the panel and driving the wedge member into an insertion hole formed inside the engaging leg thereby expanding the engaging leg inside the hole of the panel and is also capable of readily releasing the engaging leg from the fast engagement with the panel by pulling out the driven wedge member .
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illustrated is a typical embodiment wherein the present invention is utilized for fastening an inner handle cover for an automobile door molded of a plastic material to an inner panel . the handle cover shown here corresponds to the attaching base and the inner panel to the panel , respectively contemplated by the present invention . fig1 is a plan view showing the aforementioned handle cover 1 in its fastened condition . in the diagram , 2 denotes an inner handle having the bearing portion thereof covered with the handle cover and 3 a wedge member inserted to fasten the handle cover to the panel 4 . fig2 is an enlarged , partially sectioned exploded front view of the essential part of the device of this invention for fastening the handle cover 1 , namely fastening base 1 , to the panel 4 , and fig3 is a perspective view of fig2 . as illustrated in detail in these diagrams , the aforementioned fastening base 1 is formed in the shape of a plate having a required thickness . by denting a part of this fastening base 1 in the shape of a truncated cone , a recess 5 is produced . from the lower surface of the bottom of this recess 5 , an engaging leg 7 adapted to engage with a perforated hole 6 formed in a panel 4 is integrally and perpendicularly extended downwardly . in the axial portion of the engaging leg 7 , an insertion hole 8 is perforated in the shape of a cylinder from the upper surface of the bottom of the recess 5 to the leading end of the leg . this engaging leg 7 is divided into two opposed parts by a groove 9 vertically inserted up the leg from the end of the leg . owing to the formation of this groove 9 , the engaging leg is rendered radially expansible . the diameter of the aforementioned insertion hole 8 begins to decrease gradually downwardly halfway in the entire height of the hole to form a tapered surface 8 &# 39 ;. the outer diameter of the leg terminal is proportionally decreased to facilitate insertion of the engaging leg into the perforated hole 6 in the aforementioned panel 4 . further on the upper surface of the aforementioned bottom of the recess 5 , protuberances 10 having a cross section of isosceles triangle are formed around the opening of the insertion hole 8 , with the corner lines of the protuberances radiating from the axis of the hole . on the other hand , a wedge member 3 comprises a shank portion 11 for insertion into the aforementioned insertion hole 8 and a flange - shaped head portion 12 formed on the top of the shank portion . halfway in the entire length of the shank portion , there is provided a radially expanded portion 14 which continued to a tapered surface 13 having the outside diameter decreasing gradually downwardly toward the leading end . further at the leading end of the tapered surface , an enlarged portion 16 substantially equalling in outside diameter to the radially expanded portion 14 is disposed through the medium of a radially contracted portion 15 . in the lower surface of the head portion 12 , protuberances 17 having a cross section of an isosceles triangle similar to the protuberances 10 formed on the fastening base 1 side are provided . the length of the shank portion 11 of the wedge member 3 to the radially expanded portion 14 is equalized with the length from the apexes of the protuberances 10 to the tip end of the engaging leg 7 . the shank portion is given an outside diameter slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the insertion hole 8 at the major diameter portion thereof , and the radially expanded portion 14 is given a diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the insertion hole 8 at the major diameter portion thereof . the radially contracted portion 15 is given a diameter smaller than the outside diameter of the aforementioned shank portion and substantially equal to the inside diameter of the leading end of the gradually converging insertion hole . the head portion 12 is formed in the shape of a circular disk so as to fit the recess 5 formed in the aforementioned fastening base 1 . the peripheral edge of the head portion is slanted inwardly in the downward direction and the protuberances 17 formed on the lower surface thereof are formed so as not to protrude from the slanted peripheral edge . at the center in the upper surface of the head portion 12 , there is provided a grooved dent 18 adapted to receive the tip of a screw driver to be used for rotating the wedge member at the time that the wedge portion is desired to be removed as described more fully afterward . as mentioned previously , the fastening base 1 is a handle cover in the illustrated embodiment . when this handle cover is molded of a plastic material , the engaging leg 7 , the insertion hole 8 and the projections 10 are formed integrally with the recess 5 . similarly to the fastening base , the wedge member 3 is integrally molded of a plastic material , though separately of the fastening base . in the present embodiment , before the fastening base 1 is attached to the panel 4 , the fastening base 1 and the wedge member 3 which have been molded as described above are coupled with each other by having the shank portion 11 of the wedge member 3 inserted in the insertion hole 8 of the fastening base 1 . in the coupled state , they are attached to the panel . fig6 and fig7 illustrate the relationship just mentioned . the fastening base 1 and the wedge member 3 which are held in an exploded state as shown in fig2 and fig3 are coupled with each other by causing the shank portion 11 of the wedge member to be inserted into the insertion hole 8 . in this case , the forced insertion of the wedge member in the insertion hole 8 is stopped after the enlarged portion 16 at the leading end of the shank portion 11 has been thrust past the leading end of the engaging leg 7 , so that the portion of the smallest diameter in the entire length of the insertion holes 8 will assume its position at the radially contracted portion 15 of the shank portion 11 and the leg which has been expanded radially during the passage of the enlarged portion 16 will resume its original outside diameter ( fig6 ). of course , in this state , the enlarged portion 16 of the shank portion 11 is thrust past the insertion hole and the jaw of the enlarged portion comes into contact with the edge of the engaging leg . the coupled state thus obtained is retained intact unless the engaging leg is forcibly opened radially enough for the wedge member to slip off the fastening base . subsequently , with the two members in a coupled state formed as described above , the engaging leg 7 having the aforementioned shank portion 11 pierced therethrough is forced into the perforated hole 6 of the panel and , after the lower surface of the recess 5 has collided with the upper surface of the panel , the head portion 12 of the wedge member 3 is pushed down and the shank portion 11 is driven in completely . consequently , the radially expanded portion 14 which has so far been positioned in the major diameter portion of the insertion hole is caused to force its way through the tapered surface 8 &# 39 ; and thrust itself out of the tip of the leg and the shank portion 11 having a diameter greater than the inside diameter of the minor diameter portion at the leading end part of the insertion hole causes the minor diameter portion to be radially expanded , with the result that the engaging leg comes into fast attachment within the perforated hole 6 and the fastening base fastened securely to the panel ( fig7 ). in this case , the aforementioned depression of the head portion 12 is carried out while the protuberances 17 formed on the lower surface thereof are staggered from the protuberances 10 formed on the upper surface of the bottom of the recess 5 , so that the head portion 12 is wholly received inside the recess . in consequence of this depression , the apexes of the protuberances 10 collide with the lower surface of the head portion and the apexes of the protuberances 17 collide with the bottom of the recess . the fastening base which has been brought into fast engagement with the panel in consequence of the forced insertion of the wedge member 3 is securely retained in its fastened state owing to the radial expansion of the engaging leg 7 . when removal of the fastening base from the panel is required as when the automobile portion incorporating the inner handle covered with the handle cover stands in need of maintenance , a suitable tool such as a screw driver is set in position within the grooved dent 18 formed in the upper surface of the head portion 12 as described above and the tool is rotated round its axis . in consequence of the rotation imparted to the wedge member , the protuberances 17 formed on the lower surface of the head portion and the protuberances 10 on the bottom of the recess 5 collide with each other and their slanted surfaces rub each other , causing the protuberances 17 to slide upwardly and the wedge member as a whole to rise . because of this ascent of the wedge member , the radially expanded portion 14 of the shank portion 11 which has been protruding from the leading end of the engaging leg 7 again forces its way through the end of the engaging leg into the insertion hole 8 and then assume the position of the radially contracted portion 15 in the leading end part of the insertion hole 8 where the inside diameter is smallest . thus , the engaging leg 7 which has so far been kept in a radially expanded state resumes its original form shown in fig6 and relieves itself from the fast engagement with the perforated hole in the panel and the fastening base can be easily removed from the panel . as described above , the device of this invention fulfills its function as a fastener by enabling the engaging leg 7 inserted preparatorily in the perforated hole of the panel to be expanded radially , similarly to the conventional fastening devices of this type , by the forced insertion of a wedge member 3 . on the other hand , unlike those conventional fastening devices , this device enables the shank portion 11 already forced into the insertion hole to be pulled up by the rotation of the wedge member 3 and consequently released from the radially expanded state . thus , the device permits easy removal of the fastening base from the panel . the embodiment so far described represents a case wherein a radially expanded portion 14 , an intervening radially contracted portion 15 and an enlarged portion 16 are provided in the order mentioned at the leading end of the shank portion 11 of the wedge member 3 . the components thus provided in the wedge member 3 are intended means for permitting preparatory coupling of the wedge member with the insertion hole 8 and further for precluding ready accidental separation of the inserted shank portion . optionally , therefore , the present invention may be embodied by forming the shank portion 11 simply in the shape of a rod free from expanded or contracted portions , so far as the forced insertion of the rod - shaped shank portion provides desired radial expansion of the engaging leg . in the foregoing embodiment , the protuberances 10 and 17 are both so formed as to assume a cross section of the shape of an isosceles triangle . it is permissible for one of the two sets of the protuberances to be formed in any simple shape . otherwise , this invention may be embodied by imparting to the upper surface of the fastening base a required protuberance in the form of a cam surface containing a raised portion in a partially or wholly inclined surface and , at the same time , imparting to the lower surface of the head portion of the wedge member a substantial protuberance in the form of a cam surface correspondingly to the cam - shaped protuberance on the fastening base . in short , the two sets of protuberances 10 , 17 fulfill their function insofar as they are correlated to each other so that when the shank portion 11 of the wedge member 3 is rotated about its axis , they collide sideway into each other and their lateral surfaces rub each other until the wedge member is lifted out of its position . thus , the protuberances need not be limited to any fixed shape . the protuberances 10 , 17 shown in the preceding embodiment are merely one of the most desirable examples of such protuberances . the embodiment described above represents a case wherein a recess 5 is formed particularly in the fastening base 1 for admitting the head portion 12 of the wedge member 3 . this arrangement contemplates giving a flat continuous surface to the fastening base and precluding accidental extraction of the inserted wedge member , and such an arrangement is generally adopted in conventional fastening devices of this type . in the working of the present invention , therefore , this recess may be omitted as occasion demands . nevertheless , the present invention fully manifests its effect and suits the actual state of affairs when the head portion of the wedge member comes to lie flush with the surface of the fastening base so as to render difficult any attempt to take a grip on the head portion , give it a pull and remove the shank portion 11 from the insertion hole 8 . from this point of view , the embodiment may well be called an ideal example of the present invention . although in the illustrated embodiment , the invention is applied to the fastening of an inner handle cover , it can be naturally embodied as fastening devices made of various types of plastic materials . in the illustrated embodiment , the engaging leg , the insertion hole and the protuberances are integrally molded in conjunction with the molding of the specific handle cover . optionally , this invention may be embodied by forming the fastening base in the shape of a circular flange as frequently observed in ordinary fasteners , or by forming the fastening base in the shape of a simple plate , providing this fastening base with an engaging leg , an insertion hole formed through the axis of the engaging leg and protuberances , and joining the fully furnished fastening base to a specific substrate part such as with an adhesive agent . this alternate embodiment proves particularly advantageous when the specific substrate part is made of material other than a plastic material , such as a metal material or when the substrate part is so large that the integral molding of the aforementioned engaging leg and so forth with the substrate part is unsuitable or difficult .
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US-21610080-A
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in a two station machining vise having a stationary , center jaw and movable opposing jaws , the interior of the vise body is totally enclosed to protect the working components from machining byproducts . the vise has a brake mechanism and an offset mechanism associated with one slide so that workpieces can be engaged and released sequentially . if the brake mechanism is not activated , the two movable jaws are moved simultaneously . with the brake mechanism engaged , one movable jaw is moved to position first and then the movable jaw having the brake and offset mechanisms connected therewith is subsequently moved into position . when the workpieces are to be released , the second movable jaw is first retracted the offset distance and then the first movable jaw must be completely retracted prior to any subsequent movement by the first movable jaw .
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an enclosed two - station machine vise shown in top plan and side views in fig1 - 3 has a vise body 1 with an elongated central axis and a base 104 ( fig6 ). ( for the purpose of this specification all directions are as if the base 104 of the vise 1 were resting on a flat surface .) as shown in fig6 the outer surface for the base 104 has recesses 105 that may be used for mounting the body 1 to a work surface . alternatively , projections , or ears , may extend from the body 1 , or other methods for mounting the vise to various machines used for machining operations , may be used . sides 106 extend upwardly from the base 104 and have in - turned rails 100 . the rails 100 define a channel 101 therebetween . a second , and larger , channel ( fig6 ) 102 is formed below the rails 100 . a contact surface 103 extends longitudinally along the bottom of the large channel 102 . at a center position of the body 1 a locking center stud housing 38 ( fig1 - 3 , 5a and 5b ) is mounted in each rail 100 . the locking center stud housing 38 is seated in a bore extending through the rail 100 and into the side 106 . a flange 381 extends from the locking center stud housing 38 and is seated within the rail 100 such that an upper surface of the flange is slightly recessed below the surface of the rail 100 to ensure smooth movement of the movable vise jaws supported on the rail 100 . mounting screws passing through the flange 381 and into the body 1 retain the locking center stud housing 38 in position . a center line between locking center housings 38 , on the opposing rails 100 , is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 . a hood 382 comprises an upper portion of the locking center stud housing 38 and extends above the surface of the rail 100 . three circular openings are provided in the hood 382 at equally spaced intervals . located within the interior of the locking center stud housing 38 is a lock stud actuator piston 41 which has camming faces 410 opposite each of the openings in the hood 382 . between an upper surface of the lock stud actuator piston 41 and the enclosed hood 382 of the locking center stud housing 38 is a return spring 44 for normally biasing the lock stud actuator piston 41 in a downward direction . a ball 42 is provided between each paired camming face 410 and opening such that movement of the lock stud actuator piston 41 upward and downward permits the balls 42 to be urged to extend partially outside of or be withdrawn within the hood 382 respectively . the lock stud actuator piston 41 is actuated by a lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 . the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 is seated in a bore 409 passing through the side 106 , parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 . located , in the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 , at the locking center stud housing 38 is a camming portion 405 . the camming portion 405 has a substantially circular cross - section with a section removed . the removed section provides a retraction face 400 . the camming portion 405 has an eccentric axis , that is , it has been formed so as to be eccentric to the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 axis . the cylindrical surface , having the eccentric axis , forms a cam surface 401 for raising the lock stud actuator piston 41 . when the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 is rotated such that the retraction face 400 abuts the base of the lock stud actuator piston 41 , the lock stud actuator piston 41 is in a retracted position and the balls 42 are withdrawn within the locking center stud housing 38 thereby allowing removal of the stationary jaw 47 . conversely , when the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 is rotated such that the cam surface 401 at the greatest distance from the eccentric axis is in contact with the base of the lock stud actuator piston 41 , the lock stud actuator piston 41 is in a locked position and the balls 42 extend beyond the openings to engage retention sinks 473 in the jaw . shown in fig5 a and 5b is one side of stationary jaw 47 . as portrayed , the jaw 47 is a soft jaw having a pair of first mounting bores 471 on a first mounting surface and a pair of second mounting bores 472 ( only one of each shown in fig5 a and 5b ) on the opposite mounting surface so that the jaw 47 may be turned over for use in various machining tasks . within the inner wall of the mounting bores 471 , 472 are retention sinks 473 that correspond to the positions of the balls 42 and are for receiving the balls 42 when the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 is rotated such that cam surface 401 forces the lock stud actuator piston 41 into the upper position causing a portion of the balls 42 to extend beyond the outer surface of the hood 382 of the locking center stud housing 38 . although described as a soft jaw , the stationary jaw 47 might also be a hard jaw . the retention sinks 473 may also be formed as an annular groove extending around the inner surface of the mounting bores 471 , 472 . one of the two locking center stud housings 38 may have an upwardly extending fool proof pin 39 which mates with a corresponding bore ( not shown ) in the stationary jaw 47 to assist in fool proof , i . e ., consistent , positioning of the stationary jaw 47 with the same orientation . when the fool proof pin 39 is so provided , it replaces one of the mounting screws used to retain the locking center stud housing 38 in the rail 100 . the lock stud rotation cam shaft is rotated by means of a rotation knob 431 ( fig4 ). any type of connector that permits the operator to rotate the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 is acceptable . an end of the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 is itself rotatably mounted in a front cover plate 4 . the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 can be rotated approximately 270 ° between the unlocked and locked positions . a long roll pin 43 is inserted into the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 and seated in a camming groove 430 . the camming groove 430 is formed in the end of the body 1 and enclosed by attaching the front cover plate 4 to the end of the vise body using screws 33 . the long roll pin 43 controls rotational movement of the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 by its movement within camming groove 430 and also controls axial movement of the lock stud rotation cam shaft 40 by being positioned between the body 1 and the front cover plate 4 . a retention screw 45 is provided to prevent rotation of the lock stud actuator piston 41 ( fig1 ). the retention screw 45 is inserted in a bore from the outer side surface of side 106 of the body 1 . it extends into a retention groove 450 formed in a portion of the lock stud actuator piston 41 below the camming faces 410 . opposing the stationary jaw 47 , at opposite ends of the body 1 , are movable front and rear slides 2 , 3 . the slides 2 , 3 are mounted in the large channel 102 and slide along contact surface 103 . upper shoulders of the slides are in slidable contact with the lower surface of rails 100 . extending upwardly from the slides 2 , 3 , through the channel 101 , is a jaw block retainer 1100 . either soft jaws or hard jaws may be attached to the jaw block retainer 1100 . a preferred embodiment of the jaw block retainer 1100 is shown in fig8 . in this embodiment , a latch 1105 is retained in a body 1101 , of the jaw block retainer 1100 , by means of a retainer screw 1109a . the retainer screw 1109a is received in a threaded bore extending downwardly from an upper surface of the body 1101 . a tip of the retainer screw 1109a is received in a groove 1106 formed in an upper surface of the latch 1105 . the groove 1106 has sufficient width to enable the latch 1105 to retract against the tension of a spring 1103 . this embodiment is preferred for ease in assembly and because the tension applied by the spring 1103 will not cause the retainer screw 1109a to back out or become loose over time . the forward end ( with respect to clamping direction of movement ) of the body 1101 has an extension 1110 with a sloped under surface 1111 . the under surface 1111 is part of a substantially v - shaped recess in the body 101 for a accommodating rod 646 ( see fig9 ) which is part of the mounted jaw 640 . fig9 shows an alternative embodiment of the jaw block retainer 1100 . in this embodiment , the release mechanism comprises the latch 1105 and the spring 1103 mounted in the bore in the body 1101 . the latch 1105 is retained in the body 1101 by means of a retainer screw 1109 . for a detailed description of the attachment mechanisms and the jaws see u . s . patent applications ser . nos . 08 / 113 , 048 and 08 / 229 , 806 , the disclosures of which have been incorporated herein by reference thereto . as can be seen in fig6 each rail 100 has a groove 107 formed in the inner surface toward the channel 101 . a bottom chip shield 7 is inserted into the opposing grooves 107 and extends the entire length of the channel 101 . openings are provided in the bottom chip shield 7 to permit the jaw block retainers 1100 to extend therethrough . the openings have a length , along the longitudinal axis of the body 1 , sufficient to accommodate the jaw block retainers 1100 and their stroke . as shown in fig2 with the front and rear slides 2 , 3 withdrawn from the stationary , center jaw 47 , the gap 70 , equivalent to the stroke , is seen forward of the jaw block retainers 1100 . in addition , a top chip shield 6 is mounted over each jaw block retainer 1100 and fitted into the grooves 107 . the top chip shield 6 moves with the respective slide 2 , 3 and has a lead edge , that is , toward the stationary , center jaw 47 , that extends beyond the gap 70 when the slides 2 , 3 are in their most rearward positions so that the channel 101 is closed , or sealed , by the combination of top chip shields 6 and bottom chip shield 7 . to ensure an effective seal , chip shield stop bumpers 21 may be provided in a top surface of the slides 2 , 3 . the chip shield stop bumpers 21 are compressible rubber bumpers received in bores in the upper surface of the slides 2 , 3 . the chip shield stop bumpers 21 push on the underside of bottom chip shield 7 forcing it upwardly into tighter contact with the top chip shields 6 . the top and bottom chip shields 6 , 7 may be made of a thin metal or alternatively of a semi - rigid plastic , resin , or rubberized material . as shown in fig4 and 6 , the ends of vise body 1 are closed by the front cover plate 4 and a rear cover plate 5 , respectively . in combination with top chip shields 6 and bottom chip shield 7 , the large channel 102 is totally enclosed . sealably and rotatably mounted in the front cover plate 4 is a spline drive screw extension 19 . the spline drive screw extension 19 is received in a bore 190 in one end of the vise screw 10 . the bore 190 has splines 191 for engaging the grooves of the spline drive screw extension 19 . in the end of spline drive screw extension 19 that is rotatably mounted in the front cover plate 4 , and retained therein by a spline drive retainer plate 18 , is a turn receptacle 1000 for receiving a crank ( not shown ) end . alternatively , a male extension could be provided for inserting into a female end of a crank mechanism . the end of the vise screw 10 engaged with the spline drive screw extension 19 is rotatably mounted within the front slide 2 . the vise screw 10 extends through a bore in the front slide 2 and at its opposite end is threadably received in a threaded bore of the rear slide 3 . a seal 28 is provided in the rear slide 3 where the vise screw 10 enters the threaded bore to protect the threaded engagement therein . mounted , by means of screws 33 , to the base 104 of the body 1 immediately below the vise screw 10 , and having a mid - point at the intersection of the longitudinal axis of the vise 1 and the center line between the locking center stud housings 38 , is a center auto stop 17 . the front and rear slides 2 , 3 have a maximum stroke defined by the ends of the center auto stop 17 . when the slides 2 , 3 abut the ends of the center auto stop 17 no further movement is possible . to provide for the non - simultaneous retention and release of workpieces , the vise includes a brake assembly and an offset assembly . the two assemblies will be discussed with reference to fig1 - 3 , 6 and 7a - 7f . the brake assembly has a brake setting rod 16 housed in a bore 169 extending through the rear slide 3 and the jaw block retainer 1100 . a rod head 160 is partially recessed in the bottom surface of rear slide 3 . the bottom surface of the rear slide 3 , at the portion where the rod head 160 is located , is defined by a channel 300 that has been cut in the undersurface for receiving and mounting a brake spring 13 . the brake spring 13 is pivotally mounted by means of a dowel 34 . the brake spring 13 is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 and the dowel pin 34 extends parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 through the side wall of the channel 300 and into a bore 341 in the bottom portion of the rear slide 3 . the dowel pin 34 is retained in the bore 341 by means of a set screw 46 inserted from the bottom of rear slide 3 . on the bottom surface of the rod head 160 is a ridge 161 extending along a diameter . as best shown in fig7 a - 7f , the ridge is received in one of three pressure grooves 131 formed in an upper surface of the pressure end 130 of the brake spring 13 . a first groove , which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brake spring 13 , defines a load or neutral position so that no pressure is applied to the brake . a second pressure groove 131 , offset to one side by 60 ° from the first groove 131 , has a lesser depth therefore applying a first pressure to pressure end 130 of the brake spring 13 which is translated through the pivot dowel 34 to an upward pressure on brake end 132 ( fig6 ). a third pressure groove 131 , offset in the opposite direction by 60 ° from the first groove 131 , is of even shallower depth therefore providing greater downward pressure on pressure end 130 and subsequent upward pressure on brake end 132 . thus , by rotating brake setting rod 160 , using turn receptacle 162 , the brake pressure may be adjusted from no pressure through a light pressure to a heavy pressure and brake action . received in a recess 301 in the rear slide 3 are a fixed brake pad 11 , seated in an upper portion of the recess 301 and a movable lower brake pad 110 . a bottom surface of the lower brake pad 110 rests on an upper surface of the brake end 132 of the spring brake 13 . the upward pressure of brake end 132 causes the movable brake pad 110 to move toward the fixed brake pad 11 clamping an offset brake rod 12 therebetween . a brake lever stop bar 8 has a pivot end 801 , with front and rear camming surfaces , ( directions defined in terms of the slide movement during clamping ) received in a pivot groove 802 in body 1 . a contact end 803 is maintained in contact with a contact surface 141 of an offset dial stop 14 . the offset brake rod 8 is pivotally mounted to a pivot dowel 808 seated in a bore extending from the top to the bottom of brake lever stop bar 8 . a centering mechanism 15 may be provided in the brake lever stop bar 8 to center the offset brake rod 12 so that it is substantially transverse to the brake lever stop bar 8 for ease in assembly and maintenance . the offset brake rod 12 extends into a bore 120 in the rear slide 3 ( fig1 ). the bore 120 is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 . as seen in fig6 the brake pads 11 , 110 have arc shaped segments removed which are aligned with the bore 120 and which engage the outer circumference of offset brake rod 12 . by placing the brake setting rod 16 in either of the light or heavy pressure positions , either a light or heavy pressure is applied to the movable brake pad 110 thereby clamping the offset brake rod 12 between the fixed brake pad 11 and the movable brake pad 110 with either a light or heavy braking pressure , respectively . the offset mechanism will be described with reference to fig1 and 6 . the offset mechanism is mounted within the rail 100 adjacent to the contact end 803 of brake lever stop bar 8 . an offset dial stop 14 is seated in a bore in the side 106 and has an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 . as noted earlier , the contact surface 141 is in contact with a surface of the contact end 803 of brake lever stop bar 8 . an opposite end of the offset dial stop 14 is engaged with a compression spring 31 which extends through the bore to a contact spring cap 372 . a smaller , lighter weight compression spring 32 is also retained between the offset dial stop 14 and the spring cap 372 and within the coils of the compression spring 31 . on an upper surface of the offset dial stop 14 is a groove 142 having a rear face 143 . seated in a bore extending from the top of the rail 100 to intersect the bore containing the offset dial stop 14 is an offset dial 9 . the offset dial 9 is slightly recessed below the surface of rail 100 . in the upper surface of the offset dial 9 is a turn receptacle 90 for rotating the offset dial to establish an offset position . the offset dial has an essentially cylindrical upper portion and an offset extension 91 extending downwardly therefrom . the offset extension 91 has a substantially triangular cross - section , ( as seen in fig1 ) although the apexes are truncated as necessary to fit within the bore . the flat surfaces of the offset extension 91 comprise the offset faces and are positioned at different distances from the axis of rotation of the offset dial 9 to establish the offset distance . as shown in fig1 offset dial 9 is rotated such that the contact face facing rear face 143 of offset dial stop 14 is the offset of the minimum or smallest distance of 1 / 32 of an inch . the other offsets , as provided in this embodiment , are 3 / 16 of an inch and 3 / 8 of an inch although other offsets can be used by adjusting the shape of the offset extension 91 . a detente groove 92 is provided around the circumference of the cylindrical upper portion of the offset dial 9 . a detente ball assembly ( not shown ) is inserted through a bore from the outside of side 106 so that the ball is received in detente groove 92 to retain the offset dial in the vise body . detente recesses 93 are provided in the detente groove 92 for further receiving the detente ball and identifying the offset positions , i . e ., when a contact face of the offset extension 91 is parallel to the rear face 143 of the offset dial stop 14 . also seated in a bore extending from the top surface of the rail 100 , transverse to and intersecting the bore containing offset dial stop 14 , is brake preload dial 37 . the brake preload dial 37 is also slightly recessed below the surface of the rail 100 and has a generally cylindrical shape . however , at a point corresponding to the bore containing the offset dial stop 14 and the compression springs 31 , 32 is a preload segment 371 . the preload segment 371 , in cross - section , has a substantially triangular shape with truncated apexes so as to be received in the bore . the resultant faces are at different distances from the axis of rotation of the brake preload dial 37 . by rotating the brake preload dial 37 , using turn receptacle 370 , one of the faces can be brought into contact with the front face of the spring cap 372 . when the face having the shortest distance to the axis of rotation of the brake preload dial 37 is in contact with the front face of the spring cap 372 , the lightest pressure is applied to compression spring 31 and compression spring 32 has no compression pressure applied thereto . the pressure from the compression spring 31 is applied through the offset dial stop 14 to maintain the contact surface 141 of the offset dial stop 14 in contact with the contact end 803 of brake lever stop bar 8 . rotating the brake preload dial 37 allows , alternatively , a medium pressure or a heavy pressure to be applied to the contact between the offset dial stop 14 and the contact end 803 . in the heavy load position , that is , when the face of the preload segment 371 furthest from the axis of rotation of the brake preload dial 37 is in contact with the front face of the spring cap 372 , both compression springs 31 , 32 are compressed . however , even in this condition , the pressure exerted by the compression springs 31 , 32 does not overcome the braking resistance provided by the fixed and movable brake pads 11 , 1110 as applied to the offset brake rod 12 . above the preload segment 371 , in the brake preload dial 37 , is a retention groove 373 . a set screw ( not shown ), inserted in a bore through the side 106 engages retention groove 373 to retain the brake preload dial 37 in the body 1 . in operation , the operator can set the brake pressure and the offset and the brake preload prior to mounting a jaw to the jaw block retainer 1100 of the rear slide 3 . if the operator sets the brake pressure , using the brake setting rod 16 , to the normal load position , then no brake pressure is applied and the vise operates as a normal two station vise with both the front and rear slides 2 , 3 moving simultaneously upon rotation of the vise screw 10 . however , if the operator sets the brake setting rod 16 to either the light load position or the heavy load position , then the braking mechanism and the offset mechanism , associated with the rear slide 3 , operate to preclude movement of the rear slide 3 until the front slide 2 has completed movement by engaging either a workpiece or encountering the auto center stop 17 . the vise screw 10 is rotated by inserting a crank handle ( not shown ) into the turn receptacle 190 of the spline drive screw extension 19 . when a brake load has been applied , upon rotation of the vise screw 10 to close the slides 2 , 3 toward the stationary , center jaw 47 , the front slide 2 moves first . the brake mechanism restrains the rear slide 3 from moving until movement of the front slide 2 engages a workpiece between the jaw 640 mounted to the front slide 2 and the stationary , center jaw 47 or the base of the front slide 2 encounters the center auto stop 17 . at that time , the continued rotation of the vise screw 10 , in the threaded bore 390 of the rear slide 3 , will cause the rear slide 3 to move toward the stationary , center jaw 47 until the rear face 143 of the offset dial stop 14 contacts the positioned offset face of offset extension 91 . when contact is made , the rear slide will then continue to move against the resistance of the brake mechanism applied by the brake pads 11 , 110 to the offset brake rod 12 . during the initial offset movement , the brake lever stop bar 8 will pivot at the pivot end 801 in the pivot groove 802 . the rear slide 3 will continue to move toward the stationary , center jaw 47 until a workpiece is engaged between the stationary , center jaw 47 and the jaw 640 mounted to the rear slide 3 or the front portion of rear slide 3 engages the center auto stop 17 . when the vise screw is counter - rotated to open the movable jaws , rear slide 3 will initially retract the offset distance due to pressure applied by the compression springs 31 , 32 . at that time , because the offset brake rod 12 is engaged by the brake pads 11 , 110 , movement of rear slide 3 will cease and the front slide 2 will retract until it abuts front cover plate 4 . with further counter - rotation of the vise screw 10 , the rear slide 3 will commence movement against the resistance of the brake mechanism to retract from the stationary , center jaw 47 . having described a manually operated , totally - enclosed , two station machining vise and its operation , a second embodiment which includes hydraulic operation will now be described . the reference numbers of parts corresponding to the manual vise remain the same and a description of those elements will be omitted . the hydraulic components of the vise will be discussed with reference to fig1 - 12 . the second embodiment of the vise allows for repetitive replacement of workpieces using a consistent clamping pressure . it relieves the strain on the operator for repetitively clamping and releasing the movable slides 2 , 3 when replacing workpieces . the end of the vise screw 10 is rotatably mounted in the front slide 2 . the front slide 10 contains a bore 190 having internal splines 191 to engage the spline drive screw extension 19 as found in the first embodiment . hydraulic fluid is provided through and removed from a hydraulic chamber 1506 within front slide 2 . an unclamp nipple 1501 allows the feed of hydraulic fluid to a passage 1503 and through an opening into a rear ( in the direction of clamping movement of the slide ), or unclamp , side of piston 1500 , of the hydraulic chamber 1506 . the piston 1500 is an enlarged flange extending from vise screw 10 . a clamp nipple 1502 allows the introduction of the hydraulic fluid through passage 1504 and an opening to hydraulic chamber 1506 at the rear , or clamp , side of the piston 1500 . a thrust bearing / washer combination 56 , providing the contact surface between the piston 1500 and the front slide 2 , can float freely when the hydraulic fluid has been injected into the hydraulic chamber 1506 at the rear , or clamp , side of the piston 1500 . obviously , when the hydraulic fluid is being fed through the unclamp nipple 1501 , the clamp nipple 1502 allows hydraulic fluid to escape from the opposite side of the piston 1500 and vice versa . threadably mounted to the outside of the vise screw 10 , at a front end of front slide 2 is a rear seal flange 49 ( fig1 ). the rear seal flange 49 is received in a recess in a thrust bearing retainer plate 48 . the thrust bearing retainer plate 48 contacts a retainer plate clip 51 . when the rear flange seal 49 is tightened down , and set screws 55 are threaded through the rear seal flange 49 to engage the thrust bearing retainer plate 48 , the combination is effectively fixed to the vise screw 10 so that it rotates with the vise screw 10 . a thrust bearing / washer combination 57 is seated in an annular groove in the thrust bearing retainer 48 on a side toward the front cover plate 4 . the thrust bearing / washer combination 57 contacts a spring retainer plate 50 . the vise screw 10 passes through an opening in the spring retainer plate 50 and the spring retainer plate 50 is fixed to the front slide 2 by means of retainer pin 52 which is engaged in retainer pin bore 53 bored into the front slide mount 2 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body 1 . a compression spring 54 , housed at one end in a spring seat 540 bored into the front slide 2 , is seated , at its other end , in a recess in the spring retainer plate 50 . the assembly , comprised of the thrust bearing retainer plate 48 , the rear seal flange 49 , the set screws 55 , the thrust bearing / washer combination 57 , the spring retainer plate 50 and the piston retention spring 54 cause the vise screw 10 to be axially urged toward the rear slide 3 so that the piston 1500 is normally in contact with the end of the hydraulic chamber 1506 , through the thrust bearing / washer combination 56 , of the front slide 2 that is closest to the stationary , center jaw 47 . this assembly also allows hydraulic arrangement to be used as single acting . in operation , the second embodiment of the vise is closed upon the workpieces in the same manner as is the manual vise of the first embodiment . once the workpieces have been engaged , the vise screw 10 is counter - rotated to disengage the jaw 640 mounted on the rear slide 3 from the workpiece a distance equal to the offset distance . the vise screw 10 then is counter - rotated enough to withdraw the jaw 640 mounted to the front slide 2 an equal distance from the workpiece held between the front slide 2 and the stationary , center jaw 47 . at that time , hydraulic fluid is introduced through clamp nipple 1502 and fed to the front , or clamping , face of the piston 1500 . such an action causes the two slides to be drawn together to reclamp the workpieces . by reversing the flow of the hydraulic fluid , such that it is introduced through unclamp nipple 1501 into the hydraulic chamber 1506 at the unclamp , or rear , face of piston 1500 , the two slides 2 , 3 are forced apart the amount of offset previously established . the result is that a consistent clamping pressure can be obtained and workpieces may be rapidly exchanged without manual effort by an operator .
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US-95048597-A
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an intracorporeal device , preferably a guidewire , and method of making same that has an elongate inner core element with an outer layer of material disposed about the core element . the layer of material can be applied as a braid , strand or smooth layer of material , and is preferably a metal . if the layer of material is applied as a braid or strand , it may be subsequently cold drawn so as to create a smooth layer from the braid or strand . the inner core element , may be homogeneous , or may consist of drawn filled tubing with at least two layers of material , preferably biocompatible metals . in this way , the multiple layer distal section of the elongate core can be shaped or ground so as to achieve the desired mechanical properties and provide surfaces for attachment of components that are readily bonded or soldered to .
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fig1 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a guidewire 10 having features of the invention . an elongate core member 11 has an inner core element 12 , a first outer layer of material 13 disposed on an outer surface 14 of the inner core element , and a second outer layer of material 15 disposed on an outer surface 16 of the first outer layer of material . the first outer layer of material 13 and second outer layer of material 15 are shown as smooth continuous layers . the inner core element 12 has a proximal section 17 , a distal section 18 and a distal end 21 . the second outer layer 15 has a proximal section 22 and a distal section 23 . a distal section 24 of the elongate core member 11 has a distally tapered segment 25 which can be adjusted in length , taper angle and cross sectional shape to achieve the desired flexibility and performance characteristics for the guidewire 10 . the distally tapered segment 25 also serves to expose the distal end 21 of the inner core element 12 to which a distal end 26 of a flexible body 27 is secured . the distal end 26 of the flexible body 27 is secured to the distal end 21 of the inner core element 12 by a first body of solder 28 . a proximal end 31 of the flexible body 27 is secured to the distal section 23 of the second outer layer of material 15 with a second body of solder 32 . although a single distally tapered segment 25 is shown , the distal section 24 of the elongate core member 11 may have two or more such tapered segments which may or may not be separated by segments of substantially constant diameter . a flexible body 27 , such as a helical coil , polymer jacket , or the like , surrounds and covers at least a portion of the distal section 24 of the elongate core member 11 . polymers suitable for forming a flexible body 27 can include polyimide , polyethylene , polyurethane , tfe , ptfe , eptfe and other similar materials . a flexible body 27 in the form of a helical coil may be formed of a suitable radiopaque material such as tantalum , gold , iridium , platinum or alloys thereof or formed of other material such as stainless steel and coated with a radiopaque material such as gold . the wire from which the coil is made generally has a transverse diameter of about 0 . 001 to about 0 . 004 inch , preferably about 0 . 002 to about 0 . 003 inch ( 0 . 05 mm ). multiple turns of a distal portion of coil 27 may be expanded to provide additional flexibility . the helical coil 27 may have transverse dimensions about the same as a proximal core section 35 . the coil 27 may have a length of about 2 to about 40 cm or more , but typically will have a length of about 2 to about 10 cm in length . the inner core element 12 and second outer layer of material 16 are made of stainless steel but can also be made of any other suitable solderable or bondable high strength materials . the first outer layer of material 13 disposed between the inner core element 12 and the second outer layer of material 15 is a pseudoelastic alloy , more specifically , niti alloy , which is chosen for its mechanical properties and performance . the first outer layer of material may also be made of any suitable metal or alloy having desired properties . the inner core element 12 , first outer layer of material 13 , and second outer layer of material 15 may be formed of stainless steel , niti alloys , mp35n , l605 or combinations thereof such as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 341 , 818 ( abrams at al ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . other materials such as the high strength alloys as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 636 , 641 ( fariabi ), entitled high strength member for intracorporeal use , which is incorporated herein by reference , may also be used . as is known in the art , many materials used for guidewire construction have desirable mechanical properties , but are difficult to assemble to other guidewire components using conventional technology such as soldering or use of polymer adhesives due to inherent surface properties such as tenacious oxide layers . the construction shown in fig1 allows the use of materials which have poor bondability or solderability , such as niti alloy in a guidewire core without concern for the bondability or solderability of the material . fig2 shows a transverse cross sectional view of the guidewire 10 of fig1 taken at lines 2 — 2 in fig1 . the inner core element 12 is surrounded by a substantially coaxial or concentric first outer layer of material 13 . the first outer layer of material 13 is surrounded by a second outer layer of material 15 . the inner core element has a nominal transverse dimension of up to 0 . 02 inches , preferably about 0 . 005 to about 0 . 01 inches more preferably about 0 . 006 to about 0 . 008 inches . the first outer layer of material 13 and second outer layer of material 15 have a nominal wall thickness of up to about 0 . 015 inches , preferably about 0 . 0005 to about 0 . 01 inches , and more preferably about 0 . 001 to about 0 . 003 inches . although the inner core element 12 is shown as solid , the inner core element may also be hollow with a lumen extending longitudinally therethrough . a lumen extending longitudinally through the inner core element 12 could be used for delivery of diagnostic or therapeutic agents , such as radioactive therapy agents or growth factors or the like . the lumen may also be used for advancement of elongated medical devices into a patient &# 39 ; s vasculature . fig3 shows a transverse cross sectional view of the guidewire 10 of fig1 taken at lines 3 — 3 in fig1 . the flexible body 27 is disposed partially about a distal segment 33 of the elongate core member 11 . referring back to fig1 distal segment 33 is configured to provide a highly flexible segment at a distal end 34 of the guidewire 10 in order to facilitate advancement through a patient &# 39 ; s vasculature without causing injury thereto . the distal segment 33 is shown as a flattened portion of the exposed inner core element 12 which facilitates shapeability of the distal segment , however , the flexible segment can have a round cross section , or any other suitable configuration . fig4 illustrates a portion of a method having features of the invention used to produce an elongate core member 40 . an outer layer of material 41 is being braided onto an outer surface 42 of an inner core element 43 . the inner core element 43 and outer layer of braided material 41 are drawn through a die 44 so as to compress the outer layer of braided material onto the outer surface 42 of the inner core element and produce a smooth coaxial layer of material thereon . the outer layer 41 may be cold drawn or co - drawn down to a smooth continuous layer , or may be partially cold drawn or co - drawn to a lesser extent where the outer layer retains a braided or stranded character that has been flattened against the outer surface 42 of the inner core member 43 . it is desirable for the cold drawing or co - drawing process to create a bond between the inner core member 43 and the outer layer of material 41 . the bond between the inner core member 43 and the outer layer of material 41 . the bond between the inner core member 43 and the outer layer of material 41 can be partially or wholly mechanical . as used herein , the term braid or braided is intended to refer to the process or object resulting from the process of interweaving filaments 45 of material such that the individual filaments overlap each other at regular intervals or pick points 46 . such a braid can be produced in a cylindrical configuration by itself , or it can be formed over a mandrel such as the inner core element 43 . a braid can be defined by the number of filaments 45 , the transverse dimension of the filaments , the transverse dimension of the mandrel over which the braid is formed and the picks 46 per unit length as the braid is laid down . the term strand or stranded is intended to refer to the process or object resulting from the process of laying filaments of material in a single layer without overlap of the filaments . the filaments 45 of an outer layer of material 41 may all be of the same material or may be from a variety of different materials . for example , filaments 45 may all be stainless steel , or some may be stainless steel and others mp35n or niti alloy . filaments of radiopaque materials such as gold , platinum , tantalum and the like may also be used . fig5 shows a transverse cross sectional view of the inner core element 43 and outer layer of material 41 after passing through the die 44 . the inner core element 43 is shown as solid and non - layered , however , the inner core element may have multiple layers prior to the application of the outer layer of braided material 41 . the multiple layering of the inner core element 43 may be achieved by the braiding and drawing through a die as discussed above , or the layers may be achieved by conventional drawn filled tubing techniques which are known in the art . in addition , the method depicted in fig5 which shows an outer layer of material 41 applied as braid may also be achieved by applying the layer of material as a strand or other suitable configuration . an elongate core member 40 having four , five , six or more layers can be achieved by using the above described methods . fig6 shows a transverse cross section of an elongate core member 50 having an inner core element 51 and an outer layer of material 52 . the outer layer of material 52 has been applied as a strand and partially cold drawn or co - drawn and retains a stranded character . the outer layer of material 52 has been flattened against an outer surface 53 of the inner core element 51 and is at least partially mechanically secured thereto . individual filaments 64 can be seen in the outer layer of material 52 . while particular forms of the invention have been illustrated and described , it will be apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is not intended that the invention be limited , except as by the appended claims .
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US-63571300-A
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a method of flux conduction comprising providing a structure with anisotropy not purely in the transverse in - plane direction such that flux spreading into the transverse in - plane direction can occur by rotation . this method of flux conduction is used in magnetic devices having coupled magnetic layers or coupled magnetic domains . devices disclosed which utilize this method can function as a magnetic recording head , bubble memory , magnetic field structure , magnetic field sensor , transformer , laminated magnetic memory element or magnetic shield .
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fig1 ( a ) is a schematic view of the top layer of a prior art pole ; fig1 ( b ) is a cross - sectional view of a two layer configuration of the prior art pole of fig1 ( a ). fig2 is a schematic of a two layer pole of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . fig3 is a schematic of the top layer of the pole of fig2 . fig4 is a schematic of the bottom layer of the pole of fig2 . fig5 is a schematic in two views of a unidirectional anisotropy prior art head . fig6 a , 6b and 6c are three schematic views of an alternative embodiment of the present invention showing a flux beam comprised of angular and rotational components . fig7 is a schematic of an alternative laminated embodiment of the present invention having two layers , each layer having a parallel sublayer . fig9 is a schematic of an alternative embodiment of the present invention where poles p1 and p2 are in the same horizontal plane . fig1 is a schematic of another alternative embodiment of the present invention where poles p1 and p2 are stacked . it is desirable that signal flux be efficiently conducted from the pole tip through the yoke of a magnetic conduction device . thus a low reluctance flux conduction mechanism is desired . the present invention enables low reluctance flux conduction by magnetization rotation at high frequencies . this is achieved by provision of a structure allowing both longitudinal and lateral rotational conductivity such multi - dimensional conductivity obviates the need for domain wall propagation , thus avoiding low response at high frequencies and barkhausen noise the invention is applicable to a wide variety of devices relying upon magnetic conduction , including transformers , magnetic field sensors , bubble memory magnetic structures , thin film magnetic memory elements , magnetic shields , and recording heads , and may be embodied in both single and multi - layered devices . fig1 ( b ) shows in cross section a two - layer configuration of a prior art pole . here , layers l1 and l2 are separated by a very narrow gap g to enable coupling between layers l1 , l2 of rest state domain flux ( i . e ., d . c . flux of the domains at rest ). the anisotropy directions of layers l1 , l2 are parallel to each other and transverse to the pole , as indicated by the horizontal arrows a , b in layers l1 , l2 , respectively . also , the thicknesses of l1 and l2 are by design equal . turning to the schematic drawing of fig2 a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown from a magnetic recording medium looking into the tip of a pole 10 of a magnetic recording head having two active layers , l1 , l2 , one with in - plane anisotropy ( i . e ., rest state domain orientation ) transversely oriented , and the other layer longitudinally oriented these layers are separated by a gap layer g . the gap layer is thick enough such that the domain state of each layer will remain independent from each other , but yet is thin enough such that signal flux can transmit readily between the two layers of the pole . in present thin film configurations , perhaps a range of three hundred to two thousand angstroms would be a reasonable target for gap size . in a typical two pole recording head , each pole could have a like configuration . layers l1 and l2 are preferably configured where l1 thickness t1 does not equal l2 thickness t2 . these layers are preferably configured with t1 greater than t2 . a top view of pole 10 of fig 2 is shown in fig3 where the first layer l1 of pole 10 has a preferred easy axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the pole . the domain structure is configured to have relatively large and uniform central domains 12 with adjacent relatively small edge domains 16 in the region of pole tip 20 , and with extended edge domains 22 in the yoke region 24 . in this configuration , flux from the medium will be read at the first domain d1 at pole tip 20 . as a result , flux will be conducted by rotation , serially propagating down adjacent domains 12 , as it heads toward yoke section 24 . this conducting mechanism may be referred to as a flux pipe or flux beam , and is schematically indicated by the parallel vertical dotted lines running up the pole from the tip and through the yoke . a top view of layer l2 of fig2 is shown in fig4 . layer l2 has a longitudinal easy axis , parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pole and transverse to the easy axis of layer l1 . the domain structure is substantially longitudinal in orientation . as a result it will conduct flux transversely by rotation . in fig3 and 4 , the yoke section 24 is shown to increase in width as it extends away from pole tip 20 . if the yoke section were not spread , the boundaries of the flux beam would be defined as shown in dotted lines and the high reluctance effect mentioned above would degrade operation . however , by having this region spread out , the flux beam will somewhat spread out , thus adding to the area within the dotted lines by including at least a portion of the regions indicated by the hash marks 23 . this effectively results in a lower reluctance path of conduction through the yoke . it should be appreciated , however , that mere broadening of the yoke alone is not sufficient to accomplish substantial flux spreading in this embodiment . rather , it is the cooperation between differently oriented layers l 1 , l 2 of pole piece 10 , which facilitates substantial flux spreading , and the yoke is broadened therefore to facilitate interaction of these layers . a more detailed description of the flux spreading mechanism as applied to the embodiment of fig2 and 4 follows . flux will be introduced from the magnetic medium into the first transverse domain dl domain at pole tip 20 perpendicular to the easy axis of the transversely magnetized layer l1 . the flux will be propagated longitudinally by rotation down that layer , domain 12 to domain 12 , for as long as a low path of reluctance is experienced by the flux . as path length and thus reluctance accumulates , a portion of the flux crosses the gap g and propagates into the longitudinally oriented domain l2 , thus lowering the reluctance of the system . the flux will propagate transversely in layer l2 until it accumulates reluctance as will cause it to seek a path of lower reluctance and to jump the gap to re - enter into the transverse layer l1 . once in the transverse layer , the flux propagates longitudinally until accumulated reluctance again causes the flux to seek a lower path of reluctance in the longitudinal active layer on the other side of the gap . this process will continue until the flux has propagated through the yoke , but by the virtue of the process of adding a transverse rotational component to flux flow , the flux will have spread out within the widened yoke region , thus reducing total system reluctance . thin film heads are being used at higher bit densities . one way to achieve this higher bit density is by reduction of track width . hence , it is desirable to produce a thin film head having a narrow track width but which also operates at high frequencies . conduction by rotation can enable such achievements . a narrow track should have a high anisotropy field . this high anisotropy field will act to keep the flux path open by keeping edge domains relatively small . as a result , the rotational mechanism may be kept alive even where the structural magnetic reluctance is lowered in the yoke section according to the present invention , although the high anisotropy field will reduce permeability of the structure . in the design of a narrow track , laminated films often are used to eliminate edge domains and 180 ° walls . therefore , these laminated films will not spread flux well in conventional configurations . referring to fig5 ( a and b ), which includes schematic complementary views of a unidirectional anisotropy prior art head not having the cooperating layers of the present invention , it will be seen that the flux imposed at an angle phi ( or 180 ° minus phi ) from the medium upon the transversely oriented magnetization will cause a rotation of the magnetization by such angle . in all other aspects a uniform beam will be conducted back through the pole into and through the yoke , except that it will be canted by one half of phi . as a result , a high magnetic impedance will be experienced at the yoke because the flux beam does not widen significantly . the present invention , in an alternative preferred embodiment , achieves flux spreading by orienting the easy axes of the top and bottom layers of laminated poles at plus and minus angles , theta , relative to the transverse magnetic direction . as a result , the flux will then spread out in a wedge angle of twice the value of theta , plus the additional angular component phi caused by the flux rotation . the wedge creating embodiment of the present invention is shown conceptually in fig6 ( a , b and c ), where in 6a the first active layer l1 has been imparted a static angular displacement of its magnetic orientation at an angle theta measured from the transverse axis . the second active layer l2 is shown in 6b having a complementary magnetic orientation at rest at an angle 180 ° minus theta . when flux is impinged upon the l1 and l2 layers normal to the transverse axis , then the resulting flux beam will be spread equivalent to twice theta plus the rotational component phi for each layer ( i . e ., one - half phi plus one - half phi ). thus , the flux beam will be the summation of the two angularly and rotationally displaced flux beams of each layer , amounting to two theta plus phi , as shown in 6c . it is preferred in this configuration that the gap between the two layers is small enough to pass rest state domain flux . in operation , flux from the magnetic medium will enter the pole tip and be conducted back to the yoke juncture by rotation in both layers . as the flux enters the yoke juncture , the top layer directs a flux beam off at an angle theta relative to the axis of symmetry of the pole , and the bottom layer directs the flux beam off at an angle 180 ° minus theta . conduction of flux between the layers allows the top layer to insert flux into the bottom one in positive theta regions and vice versa . in other embodiments of the invention utilizing laminated films , two or more active magnetic layers can be employed . in a particular embodiment , one pole of which is illustrated in fig7 four active magnetic layers ( a , b , c and d ) comprise two pairs ( ab and cd ) of layers . the layers a and b are oriented in the same direction and the gap between a and b is small enough to couple rest state domain flux between them . the layers c and d are similarly configured but their orientation is at a different angle . the gap from b to c is large enough to not conduct rest state domain flux but small enough to conduct signal flux . for example , a and b could be longitudinally oriented while c and d are transversely oriented . alternatively , a and b could be oriented at plus theta to the transverse direction while c and d are at 180 ° minus theta . an alternative configuration of the embodiment of fig7 is provided having three active layers ( a , b and c ), a and b are paired as described above and are transversely oriented . the gap from b to c is large enough to block rest state domain flux but small enough to conduct signal flux . layer c is oriented longitudinally . the pair a and b conducts flux longitudinally even for narrow track widths . the layer c spreads the flux laterally thus to avoid the high impedance flux beam effect . alternatively , a and b could be oriented longitudinally and c could be oriented transversely . fig8 shows a conventional two pole yoke geometry where the top and bottom halves of the yoke are symmetrical , and the tips are centered about gap g . the foregoing configurations of the invention can be applied to this geometry . by doing so , flux spreading by rotation will be achieved while preserving flux conduction by rotation in the longitudinal direction . each pole is shown to have been laminated into two active magnetic layers e , f and e1 , f1 . these above - described configurations of the invention can also be applied to the geometries shown in fig9 and 10 . here , the invention not only aids in flux spreading by rotation , but also facilitates transverse flux conduction by rotation . for example , in the configuration shown in fig9 poles p1 and p2 are horizontal . their first layer l1 is longitudinally oriented . layer l2 is transversely oriented . flux entering the right hand pole tip near the gap in region rp is initially conducted to the right in the top longitudinally oriented layer . when the flux reaches the juncture with the right hand leg in region rj , it will transfer to the bottom layer and be conducted toward the back of that pole in that transversely oriented layer . when the flux reaches the back section of the yoke , it must jump back into the top layer in order to travel leftward by rotation . the flux travels in a complementary manner to complete the flux path back to the left hand pole tip . in fig1 , poles p1 and p2 are stacked . the first layer l1 extends over each pole and is longitudinally oriented layer l2 is transversely oriented and extends over each pole . vias are provided in the yoke to assure coupling between respective portions of each layer . in this embodiment , the same process occurs as in the embodiment of fig9 but the turns on the path are not abrupt . also , the pole tips are stacked . it will be appreciated that a transducer must be associated with the yoke in order to generate electrical signals from the signal flux in the device . various transducer configurations would be operable with practice of the present invention . in a dry vacuum deposition approach , the transversely oriented layer can be deposited on a wafer substrate by placing the wafer in a transversely oriented magnetic field during deposition . ( alternately , this can be accomplished by growing the film with a crystal orientation that places a crystallographically oriented axis in the transverse direction .) the transversely oriented magnetic field can be supplied by coils or by the magnetron target magnets of a sputtering machine , for example . also , the deposition can be made at angles normal or other than normal to the surface , where the incident direction establishes the preferred axis . for example , one layer might have a field direction at plus theta to the transverse direction , and the other layer might be oriented at minus theta . during subsequent heat treatment , exclusion of all fields would allow the two layers to self bias . furthermore , in a configuration where an external transverse field is needed to be present to orient other head layers , then the easy axis in both layers could be established at some angle greater than theta , such that after anneal they would relax to angle theta . after the first layer is laid down , then a buffer layer ( non - magnetic ) can be deposited . for dry deposition , it is convenient to use a ceramic which can be made thinner than a metal and will stop exchange coupling between the first and the next layer . in orthogonal configurations , for example , the second magnetic layer will be deposited either with the wafer rotated 90 ° to the first deposition position , or the magnetic field rotated 90 °. after these layers are deposited , the yoke may be formed by means of a masked ion milling process . where it is believed advantageous to sub - laminate each of the oriented layers , orientation direction of magnetization in the sublayers paired together preferably would be in the same direction . it may be found that dry deposition is more suited to this type of heavily laminated structure . for wet processing , each layer is deposited through a plating mask in a bias field to establish appropriate magnetic domain orientation . the non - magnetic layer can be plated if it is a metal , for example ni - p , au , cu , etc if a ceramic is used for the buffer layer , then this must be sputtered after the mask has been removed . the structure is now ready to receive the next magnetic layer , whereupon a seed layer and mask will be laid down , and the layer will be plated thereon . a problem with the technology described above resides in that any exposure to very high temperatures ( for example , greater than 200 ° c . for greater than half an hour for nife poles ) will degrade the induced anisotropy obtained by depositing in a field . this sensitivity can be overcome by using the angle of incidence approach to inducing anisotropy as discussed above in regard to dry deposition . in particular , it is possible to deposit the first layer of the bottom of the yoke in a longitudinally oriented field . this layer can be annealed in the field at a temperature that is much higher than the process temperatures used in the rest of the process . next , the top layer of the bottom of the yoke and the bottom layer of the top of the yoke may be deposited in a transverse field , which field is maintained during high temperature processing . thereafter the top layer of the top yoke may be deposited in a longitudinal field and which is not annealed . only the bottom layer then has experienced an anisotropy - lowering anneal , and it will retain only some of its orientation . nevertheless , orientation of this lowest layer , while important for yoke conductivity , is not critical for pole tip conductivity , and therefore such conductivity can be diminished . pole materials which may be used in the above processes include alloys of nickel , iron and cobalt , and magnetic garnet and ferrite crystals , to name a few alternatives .
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US-22780888-A
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paint coated metal sheets are provided by applying a paint film on a metal sheet wherein the paint film has a surface layer having a thickness of one - 5000 angstroms . the paint film contains fluorine atoms and / or perfluoralkyl groups such as methyl fluoride , ethyl fluoride , the fluorine atoms and / or perfluoralkyl groups being introduced in the paint film by a plasma treatment .
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regarding the paint usable in the present invention , there is no special limitation with respect to the type or nature , and any conventional paints , such as of polyester , epoxy , vinyl , alkyd , uretane , silicone and the like , may be used . these paints are applied on a metal sheet as desired . as the gas used for surface fluorination of the paint film on the metal sheets , fluorine , or compounds in the gas form containing fluorine atoms in their molecules , such as carbon tetrafluoride , ethane hexafluoride , perfluoropropane , and so on or their mixtures with inert gas , such as argon , helium and nitrogen , may be used . the metal sheets used as a substrate in the present invention may be thin sheets . also , there is no special limitation with respect to the kinds or grades of the metal sheets used in the present invention , and steel sheets as cold rolled or hot rolled , similar steel sheets further coated with zinc , aluminum , tin , nickel , copper , cobalt , iron , and other metals , their alloys , or their composite materials , and further , aluminum plates , titanium plates and their alloy plates similarly coated may be satisfactorily used . hereinbelow , the process for producing fluorinated paint coated metal sheets according to the present invention will be described . as for the generation of plasma , there are three types of methods : an inner electrode type , a non - electrode type , and a micro - wave type . any of these types can be used in the present invention . when the surface fluorination is done by using an inner electrode type apparatus with the use of a radio frequency ( 13 . 56 mhz ) power source ( 3 ) as illustrated in fig1 the pre - paint coated metal sheet ( 1 ) is placed in a reactor ( 2 ) in which a vacuum of 10 - 3 torr is maintained , and then the gas as mentioned before is introduced into the reactor through a conduct pipe ( 4 ) to a predetermined gas pressure ( about 0 . 01 to 1 torr ). then an appropriate discharge power ( 30 to 400 w ) is added to the electrodes ( 5 ) for effecting the surface fluorination of the paint coated metal sheet placed on the electrode supported by the metal stool ( 6 ). the degree of the fluorination of the surface portion of the paint film can be varied by selecting the types of gas or gas mixing ratio and the discharge condition and these factors are controlled depending on the final applications of the paint coated metal sheet . the surface fluorination can be confirmed by the fourier transform infrared spectrochemical analysis ( ft - ir ) and the x - ray photoelectron spectrochemical analysis ( esca ). as illustrated by the analysises by esca in fig2 and 3 , the fluorination reaction on the surface portion of the paint film is understood as schematically shown in fig4 . the resultant paint coated metal sheets , whose surface portion of the paint film being fluorinated , show remarkable improvements in the hardness or the resistance to the scratches of the paint film layer while maintaining the inherent excellent properties such as paint adhesion , workability and corrosion resistance . the paint coated metal sheets according to the present invention have remarkable advantages that the surface hardness of the paint film , resistance to damages , as well as stain resistance are markedly improved without lowering the excellent properties inherent to the paint film by introduction of fluorine or a perfluoroalkyl group such as methyl fluoride , and ethyl fluoride into the surface portion of the paint film . therefore , the paint coated metal sheets according to the present invention are very useful as a pre - coated metal sheet for roofings , walls , automobiles and electric appliances , and can greatly contributed to elongate the service life thereof . the present invention will be better understood from the following descriptions of preferred embodiments , but should not be limited thereto . a steel sheet ( 0 . 6 × 100 × 100 mm ) was coated with a primer coat of epoxy resin in 5 μ thickness and a top coat of polyester in 20 μ thickness and baked , and its surface was fluorinated by using a gas plasma of carbon tetrafluoride under the conditions : ______________________________________gas flow rate 50 cm . sup . 3 ( stp )/ min . gas pressure 0 . 5 torrdischarge power 40 wdischarge time 5 minutes______________________________________ the paint film qualities of the resultant paint coated steel sheets as fluorinated were determined by the pencil hardness test ( jis k - 5400 , 6 . 14 for breaking and scratching ), the 180 ° bending test and the stain test . as obvious from table 1 , the result shows that the hardness of the paint film is remarkably improved with no deterioration of workability by the surface fluorination with the use of the plasma treatment . a pre - coated steel sheet ( 0 . 6 mm in thickness , 100 mm in width 100 mm in length ) was prepared by applying a primer coat of polyester in 5 μ thickness and a top coat of polyester in 20 μ thickness onto a galvanized steel sheet ( 20 g / m 2 of zinc coat ) and baking the paint film . the surface of this pre - coated steel sheet was fluorinated by using a gas plasma of ethane hexafluoride under the following conditions : ______________________________________gas flow rate 3 - 10 cm . sup . 3 ( stp )/ min . gas pressure 0 . 035 torrdischarge power 300 wdischarge time 5 seconds______________________________________ the paint film qualities of the resultant paint coated galvanized steel sheet were determined by the pencil hardness test ( jis k - 5400 , 6 . 14 ), the 180 ° bending test and the stain test . as shown in table 1 , the results of the tests reveal that the hardness and the resistance to stain are remarkably improved without sacrifice of the workability . a primer coat of epoxy - type alkyd resin paint in 5 μ was applied on the surface of a zinc - nickel alloy galvanized steel sheet ( 0 . 8 mm in thickness , 100 mm in width and 100 mm in length ; alloy coat of 20 g / m 2 ) and baked , a top coat of urethan - type resin paint was applied in 20 μ thereon and baked again , and the surface of this colored galvanized steel sheet was fluorinated by using a gas plasma of 6 % fluorine -- 94 % helium under the following conditions : ______________________________________gas flow rate 40 cm . sup . 3 ( stp )/ min . gas pressure 0 . 5 torrdischarge power 50 wdischarge time 1 minute______________________________________ the paint film qualities of the resultant colored zinc - nickel alloy plated steel sheet were determined by the pencil hardness test ( jis k - 5400 , 6 . 14 ), the 180 ° bending test and the stain test . as shown in table 1 , the results show that the hardness and the resistance to stain are remarkably improved without lowering the workability . table 1__________________________________________________________________________evaluation of paint film qualities pencil hardness test *. sup . 1 before after workability strain resistance *. sup . 2 treatment treatment before after before after breaking / breaking / treatment treatment treatment treatmentgas scratching scratching ( 20 ° c .) ( 20 ° c .) red / black red / black__________________________________________________________________________example 1 cf . sub . 4 2h / f 4h / 2h 0t 0t δ / ○ ⊚/. circleincir cle . example 2 c . sub . 2 f . sub . 6 h / hb 3h / h 0t 0t x / x ⊚/. circleincir cle . example 3 6 % fe -- 94 % he 3h / h 6h / 3h 1t 1t δ / ○ ⊚/. circleincir cle . __________________________________________________________________________ *. sup . 1 the breaking in the pencil hardness test was done in accordance with jis k5400 , 6 . 14 *. sup . 2 determined by marking with magic ink ( red and black ) and wiping off with ethanol after 24 hours .
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US-34993489-A
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an optical system for endoscopes comprising a light source and a condenser optical system for focusing the light emitted from said light source , and adapted so as to lead the light emitted from said light source to be incident through said condenser optical system onto light guides having different na &# 39 ; s , said condenser optical system being equipped with a means capable of varying or adjusting na of the light emerging from said condenser optical system in conjunction with na of a light guide selected for use . this optical system for endoscopes permits matching na of the emerging light bundle with the na of the selected light guide by using the adjusting means , thereby improving light distribution characteristic and transmission efficiency .
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now , the illumination system for endoscopes according to the present invention will be described more detailedly with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings and given in the form of the following numerical data : ______________________________________embodiment 1f = 30 ( long focal length ), 20 ( short focal length ) ______________________________________ d . sub . 0 = 65 . 0000r . sub . 1 = ∞ d . sub . 1 = 21 . 0000 n . sub . 1 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 1 = 58 . 49 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 2 = - 35 . 8060 d . sub . 2 = 19 . 3000r . sub . 3 = 21 . 7420 d . sub . 3 = 8 . 0000 n . sub . 2 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 2 = 58 . 49r . sub . 4 = ∞ d . sub . 4 = 7 . 7624 ˜ 1 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 5 = - 34 . 6894 d . sub . 5 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 3 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 3 = 25 . 71r . sub . 6 = - 10 . 8547 d . sub . 6 = 2 . 5524 ˜ 11 . 856r . sub . 7 = 12 . 0853 d . sub . 7 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 4 = 1 . 71736 ν . sub . 4 = 29 . 51r . sub . 8 = - 23 . 8600 d . sub . 8 = 4 . 76 ˜ 2 . 22aspherical coefficient ( 1st surface ) b = 0 . 30397 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = - 0 . 44557 × 10 . sup .- 6f = - 0 . 81291 × 10 . sup .- 8 , g = - 0 . 11544 × 10 . sup .- 9h = 0 . 70860 × 10 . sup .- 13 , i = 0 . 89393 × 10 . sup .- 16 , p = 0 ( 4th surface ) b = - 0 . 85489 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = 0 . 19031 × 10 . sup .- 3f = 0 . 12990 × 10 . sup .- 5 , g = 0 . 25445 × 10 . sup .- 7h = - 0 . 17768 × 10 . sup .- 8 , i = - 0 . 24388 × 10 . sup .- 10 , p = 0d . sub . 0 = 12 . 3 × 2 = 24 . 6d . sub . ii / f . sub . iia + f . sub . iib = 1 . 0021 , f . sub . ii iii t / f . sub . ii iii w = 1 . 5 ( f . sub . iib / f . sub . iia · f . sub . iii ) d = 1 . 2269 ˜ 0 . 8176f . sub . iii · na . sub . ls / d = 0 . 1967 , f . sub . 1 / f . sub . 2 = 2 . 0437r . sub . 2 / r . sub . 1 = 0 . 3129 , r . sub . 3 / r . sub . 4 = - 0 . 5065______________________________________ ______________________________________embodiment 2f = 30 ( long focal length ), 20 ( short focal length ) ______________________________________ d . sub . 0 = 65 . 0000r . sub . 1 = ∞ d . sub . 1 = 21 . 0000 n . sub . 1 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 1 = 58 . 49 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 2 = - 35 . 8060 d . sub . 2 = 19 . 3000r . sub . 3 = 21 . 7420 d . sub . 3 = 8 . 0000 n . sub . 2 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 2 = 58 . 49r . sub . 4 = ∞ d . sub . 4 = 7 . 7624 ˜ 1 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 5 = - 36 . 6277 d . sub . 5 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 3 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 3 = 25 . 71r . sub . 6 = - 10 . 9919 d . sub . 6 = 2 . 5524 ˜ 11 . 856r . sub . 7 = 13 . 1350 d . sub . 7 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 4 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 4 = 25 . 71r . sub . 8 = - 26 . 6852 d . sub . 8 = 4 . 82 ˜ 2 . 28aspherical coefficient ( 1st surface ) b = 0 . 30397 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = - 0 . 44557 × 10 . sup .- 6f = - 0 . 81291 × 10 . sup .- 8 , g = - 0 . 11544 × 10 . sup .- 9h = 0 . 70860 × 10 . sup .- 13 , i = 0 . 89393 × 10 . sup .- 16 , p = 0 ( 4th surface ) b = - 0 . 85489 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = 0 . 19031 × 10 . sup .- 3f = 0 . 12990 × 10 . sup .- 5 , g = 0 . 25445 × 10 . sup .- 7h = - 0 . 17768 × 10 . sup .- 8 , i = - 0 . 24388 × 10 . sup .- 10 , p = 0d . sub . 0 = 12 . 3 × 2 = 24 . 6d . sub . ii / f . sub . iia + f . sub . iib = 1 . 0021 , f . sub . ii iii t / f . sub . ii iii w = 1 . 5 ( f . sub . iib / f . sub . iia · f . sub . iii ) d = 1 . 2269 ˜ 0 . 8175f . sub . iii · na . sub . ls / d = 0 . 1967 , f . sub . 1 / f . sub . 2 = 2 . 0437r . sub . 2 / r . sub . 1 = 0 . 3001 , r . sub . 3 / r . sub . 4 = - 0 . 4922______________________________________ ______________________________________embodiment 3f = 30 ( long focal length ), 20 ( short focal length ) ______________________________________ d . sub . 0 = 65 . 0000r . sub . 1 = ∞ d . sub . 1 = 21 . 0000 n . sub . 1 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 1 = 58 . 49 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 2 = - 35 . 8060 d . sub . 2 = 19 . 3000r . sub . 3 = 21 . 7420 d . sub . 3 = 8 . 0000 n . sub . 2 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 2 = 58 . 49r . sub . 4 = ∞ d . sub . 4 = 7 . 7625 ˜ 1 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 5 = - 31 . 2562 d . sub . 5 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 3 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 3 = 25 . 71r . sub . 6 = - 10 . 5834 d . sub . 6 = 2 . 5524 ˜ 11 . 855r . sub . 7 = 13 . 8480 d . sub . 7 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 4 = 1 . 76182 ν . sub . 4 = 26 . 55r . sub . 8 = - 22 . 0023 d . sub . 8 = 4 . 96 ˜ 2 . 42aspherical coefficient ( 1st surface ) b = 0 . 30397 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = - 0 . 44557 × 10 . sup .- 6f = - 0 . 81291 × 10 . sup .- 8 , g = - 0 . 11544 × 10 . sup .- 9h = 0 . 70860 × 10 . sup .- 13 , i = 0 . 89393 × 10 . sup .- 16 , p = 0 ( 4th surface ) b = - 0 . 85489 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = 0 . 19031 × 10 . sup .- 3f = 0 . 12990 × 10 . sup .- 5 , g = 0 . 25445 × 10 . sup .- 7h = - 0 . 17768 × 10 . sup .- 8 , i = - 0 . 24388 × 10 . sup .- 10 , p = 0d . sub . 0 = 12 . 3 × 2 = 24 . 6d . sub . ii / f . sub . iia + f . sub . iib = 1 . 0021 , f . sub . ii iii t / f . sub . ii iii w = 1 . 5 ( f . sub . iib / f . sub . iia · f . sub . iii ) d = 1 . 2270 ˜ 0 . 8176f . sub . iii · na . sub . ls / d = 0 . 1967 , f . sub . 1 / f . sub . 2 = 2 . 0437r . sub . 2 / r . sub . 1 = 0 . 3386 , r . sub . 3 / r . sub . 4 = - 0 . 6294______________________________________ ______________________________________embodiment 4f = 30 ( long focal length ), 20 ( short focal length ) ______________________________________ d . sub . 0 = 65 . 0000r . sub . 1 = ∞ d . sub . 1 = 21 . 0000 n . sub . 1 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 1 = 58 . 49 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 2 = - 35 . 8060 d . sub . 2 = 19 . 3000r . sub . 3 = 21 . 7420 d . sub . 3 = 8 . 0000 n . sub . 2 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 2 = 58 . 49r . sub . 4 = ∞ d . sub . 4 = 7 . 7624 ˜ 1 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 5 = - 39 . 8208 d . sub . 5 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 3 = 1 . 88300 ν . sub . 3 = 40 . 78r . sub . 6 = - 12 . 2350 d . sub . 6 = 2 . 5524 ˜ 11 . 856r . sub . 7 = 15 . 0872 d . sub . 7 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 4 = 1 . 88300 ν . sub . 4 = 40 . 78r . sub . 8 = - 29 . 0180 d . sub . 8 = 4 . 97 ˜ 2 . 42aspherical coefficient ( 1st surface ) b = 0 . 30397 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = - 0 . 44557 × 10 . sup .- 6f = - 0 . 81291 × 10 . sup .- 8 , g = - 0 . 11544 × 10 . sup .- 9h = 0 . 70860 × 10 . sup .- 13 , i = 0 . 89393 × 10 . sup .- 16 , p = 0 ( 4th surface ) b = - 0 . 85489 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = 0 . 19031 × 10 . sup .- 3f = 0 . 12990 × 10 . sup .- 5 , g = 0 . 25445 × 10 . sup .- 7h = - 0 . 17768 × 10 . sup .- 8 , i = - 0 . 24388 × 10 . sup .- 10 , p = 0d . sub . 0 = 12 . 3 × 2 = 24 . 6d . sub . ii / f . sub . iia + f . sub . iib = 1 . 0021 , f . sub . ii iii t / f . sub . ii iii w = 1 . 5 ( f . sub . iib / f . sub . iia · f . sub . iii ) d = 1 . 2268 ˜ 0 . 8174f . sub . iii · na . sub . ls / d = 0 . 1967 , f . sub . 1 / f . sub . 2 = 2 . 0437r . sub . 2 / r . sub . 1 = 0 . 3073 , r . sub . 3 / r . sub . 4 = - 0 . 5199______________________________________ ______________________________________embodiment 5f = 30 ( long focal length ), 20 ( short focal length ) ______________________________________ d . sub . 0 = 65 . 0000r . sub . 1 = ∞ d . sub . 1 = 21 . 0000 n . sub . 1 = 1 . 52307 ν . sub . 1 = 58 . 49 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 2 = - 35 . 8060 d . sub . 2 = 23 . 2462r . sub . 3 = - 87 . 7520 d . sub . 3 = 8 . 5000 n . sub . 2 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 2 = 25 . 71r . sub . 4 = - 12 . 9631 d . sub . 4 = 0 . 5000r . sub . 5 = 25 . 5117 d . sub . 5 = 5 . 0000 n . sub . 3 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 3 = 25 . 71r . sub . 6 = - 72 . 7837 d . sub . 6 = 2 . 5368 ˜ 8 . 756r . sub . 7 = - 17 . 8771 d . sub . 7 = 2 . 0000 n . sub . 4 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 4 = 25 . 71r . sub . 8 = 37 . 4876 d . sub . 8 = 6 . 7563 ˜ 0 . 537r . sub . 9 = 23 . 9643 d . sub . 9 = 7 . 0000 n . sub . 5 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 5 = 25 . 71r . sub . 10 = - 45 . 5117 d . sub . 10 = 0 . 1000r . sub . 11 = 14 . 3629 d . sub . 11 = 6 . 0000 n . sub . 6 = 1 . 78472 ν . sub . 6 = 25 . 71 ( asphericalsurface ) r . sub . 12 = d . sub . 12 = 9 . 44 - 231 . 5060aspherical coefficient ( 1st surface ) b = 0 . 30397 × 10 . sup .- 1 , e = - 0 . 44557 × 10 . sup .- 6f = - 0 . 81291 × 10 . sup .- 8 , g = - 0 . 11544 × 10 . sup .- 9h = 0 . 70860 × 10 . sup .- 13 , i = 0 . 89393 × 10 . sup .- 16 , p = 0 ( 11st surface ) e = - 0 . 11635 × 10 . sup .- 3 , f = 0 . 13621 × 10 . sup .- 7g = - 0 . 23693 × 10 . sup .- 11 , h = - 0 . 75056 × 10 . sup .- 15 , p = 1d . sub . 0 = 24 . 6d . sub . ii / f . sub . iia + f . sub . iib = 1 . 0021 , f . sub . ii iii t / f . sub . ii iii w = 1 . 5 ( f . sub . iib / f . sub . iia · f . sub . iii ) d = 0 . 7479 ˜ 0 . 53407f . sub . iii · na . sub . ls / d = 0 . 3227 , | r . sub . min / f . sub . 33 | = 1 . 39f . sub . 33 &# 39 ;/ f . sub . 33 &# 34 ; = 1 . 578______________________________________ wherein the reference symbols r 1 , r 2 , . . . represent the radii of curvature on the surfaces of the respective lens elements , the reference symbols d 1 , d 2 , . . . designate the thicknesses of the respective lens elements and the airspaces reserved therebetween , the reference symbols n 1 , n 2 , . . . denote the refractive indices of the respective lens elements , the reference symbols ν 1 , ν 2 , . . . represent the abbe &# 39 ; s numbers of the respective lens elements , and the reference symbol f designates the focal length of the illumination system as a whole . in addition , the reference symbol d 0 represents the distance as measured from the light source to the first lens surface , the reference symbol d 8 used in embodiments 1 through 4 or the reference symbol d 11 used in an embodiment 5 designates the distance as measured from the final surface of the illumination system to the end surface of incidence of the light guide , and the reference symbol d 0 denotes the diameter of the light bundle reflected by the reflecting mirror . the embodiments 1 through 4 have the composition shown in fig1 wherein a zoom optical system composed of two lens units is adopted . in order that little aberrations are to be produced by moving the second optical system for varying the focal length of the illumination system in these embodiments , it is desirable to design the second optical system so as to satisfy the following conditions ( 5 ) and ( 6 ): wherein the reference symbols r 1 and r 2 represent the radii of curvature on both the surfaces of the lens component arranged on the side of the light source in the second optical system , the reference symbols r 3 and r 4 designate the radii of curvature on both the surfaces of the lens component arranged on the side of the light guide in the second optical system . out of the lens components used for composing the second optical system , the one arranged on the side of the light source is designed as a meniscus lens component having a concave surface on the side of the light source and satisfying the condition ( 5 ). if the upper limit or the lower limit of the condition ( 5 ) is exceeded , coma will be produced remarkably and the na symmetry will be degraded in the vicinity of the outermost marginal portion of the glowing bright spot , thereby degrading light distribution characteristic . further , the lens component arranged on the side of the light guide in the second optical system is designed as a biconvex lens component having a surface with a large radius of curvature on the side of the light guide and satisfying the condition ( 6 ). if the upper limit or the lower limit of the condition ( 6 ) is exceeded , the final surface of the condenser optical system will have too strong a refractive power , thereby undesirably causing loss of light amount due to total reflection on the final surface . furthermore , a risk of breakage due to collision will be produced when the final surface of the condenser optical system is too close to the light guide . in order to prevent such a risk , it is necessary to design the second optical system so as to satisfy the following condition ( 7 ): wherein the reference symbols f 1 and f 2 represent the focal lengths of the lens components arranged on the sides of the light source and the light guide respectively in the second optical system . if the upper limit of the condition ( 7 ) is exceeded , the second optical system will undesirably have too large a total length . if the lower limit of the condition ( 7 ) is exceeded , the final surface of the condenser optical system will be too close to the light guide , thereby producing a high possibility of breakage . the embodiment 5 has the composition shown in fig1 and adopts a lens system which has two focal lengths , and consists of a first lens unit , a second lens unit and a third lens units . the embodiment 5 comprises a concave lens component arranged in the second optical system , as well as positive lens components which are arranged before and after the concave lens component and have strong refractive powers for preventing the illumination optical system as a whole from having a focal length longer than required . since total reflection is to be produced especially when the convex lens component arranged on the side of the light guide has a strong refractive power , this convex lens component is divided into two lens elements for sharing the refractive power among the surfaces thereof , thereby preventing the total reflection from being caused . the convex lens elements are designed so as to satisfy the following conditions ( 8 ) and ( 9 ): wherein the reference symbol r min represents the radius of curvature which is the minimum among those of the surfaces of the two convex lens elements arranged on the side of the light guide in the second optical system , the reference symbol f 33 designates the total focal length of said two lens elements , and the reference symbols f 33 &# 39 ; and f 33 &# 34 ; denote the focal lengths of the convex lens element arranged on the side of the light source and the convex lens element arranged on the side of the light guide respectively . if the condition ( 8 ) is not satisfied , the total reflection will be caused , thereby increasing loss of light amount . if the upper limit or the lower limit of the condition ( 9 ) is exceeded , one of the convex lens elements will have too strong a refractive power and the total reflection will easily be caused . the shapes of the aspherical surfaces used in the embodiments of the present invention described above are expressed by the following formula : ## equ3 ## wherein the optical axis is taken as the x axis , the direction perpendicular to the optical axis is taken as the y axis , the reference symbol p represents the conical coefficient , and the reference symbols b , e , f , g , h , i , . . . designate the aspherical surface coefficients . as is understood from the foregoing description , the illumination system according to the present invention permits changing na and diameter of an incident light bundle so as to be optimum for an endoscope which is selected for use from among endoscopes equipped with light guides having different na &# 39 ; s and sectional areas , thereby making it possible to enhance efficiency of light transmission through the light guide and increase amount of light emerging from the light guide .
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US-59180690-A
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a proposal is made for the photolithographic formation of a patterned resist layer on a substrate without the troubles due to reflection of the exposure light on the substrate surface . thus , patterning is conducted on a photo - resist laminate comprising a substrate ; a specific anti - reflection coating layer formed on one surface of the substrate ; and a photoresist layer formed on the anti - reflection coating layer from a specific negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition . the patterning procedure comprises the steps of : exposing , pattern - wise to actinic rays , the photoresist layer of the photoresist laminate ; subjecting the photoresist layer to a heat treatment ; subjecting the photoresist layer to a development treatment to dissolve away the photoresist layer in the areas unexposed to actinic rays in step so as to expose bare the anti - reflection coating layer in the areas unexposed to the actinic rays leaving a patterned resist layer in the areas exposed to the actinic rays ; and removing the pattern - wise exposed anti - reflection coating layer by dry etching with the patterned photoresist layer as a mask .
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as is described above , the photoresist laminate of the present invention has an anti - reflection coating layer as an intermediate layer between the substrate surface and the photoresist layer of a negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition . the coating composition for forming the anti - reflection coating layer is not particularly limitative and can be freely selected from those used in conventional photoresist laminates . suitable anti - reflection coating compositions include those comprising an ultraviolet absorbing compound and a crosslinking agent , those comprising an ultraviolet absorbing compound and a binder resin and those comprising an ultraviolet absorbing compound , a crosslinking agent and a binder resin . the ultraviolet absorbing compound can be any one of benzophenone compounds , azomethine compounds , diphenylsulfone compounds and diphenylsulfoxide compounds and is exemplified by the benzophenone compounds such as : further , the ultraviolet absorbing compounds usable here include the diphenylsulfone compounds such as : these ultraviolet absorbing compounds can be used either singly or as a combination of two kinds or more according to need . the crosslinking agent contained in the anti - reflection coating composition has functional groups in the molecule capable of forming crosslinks between its own molecules per se or between its own molecules and the molecules of the ultraviolet absorbing compound and / or the binder resin . suitable crosslinking compounds include nitrogen - containing organic compounds having at least two crosslinkable functional groups in a molecule such as hydroxyalkyl and alkoxyalkyl groups . such a nitrogen - containing compound is exemplified by melamine , urea , guanamine , benzoguanamine , glycoluryl , succinylamide , ethyleneurea and the like substituted by methylol groups and / or alkoxymethyl groups for the hydrogen atoms of the amino groups . these methylol and / or alkoxymethyl group - containing nitrogen compounds can be prepared easily by the reaction of melamine , urea , guanamine , benzoguanamine , glycoluryl , succinylamide , ethyleneurea and the like with formaldehyde in boiling water to effect methylolation , optionally , followed by the reaction with a lower alcohol such as methyl , ethyl , propyl and isopropyl alcohols to effect alkoxylation of the methylol groups . among the above described nitrogen - containing compounds , particularly preferred are the triazine compounds represented by the general formula ## str2 ## in which a is a hydrogen atom , alkyl group , aralkyl group , aryl group or an amino group of the formula -- nr 3 r 4 and r 3 , r 4 , r 5 , r 6 , r 7 and r 8 are each , independently from the others , a hydrogen atom , methylol group or alkoxymethyl group , more preferably , with the proviso that at least two of the groups denoted by r 3 , r 4 , r 5 , r 6 , r 7 and r 8 in a molecule are each a methylol group or alkoxymethyl group in respect of good crosslinkability . melamine compounds as a class of the triazine compounds represented by the general formula ( i ) should preferably have 3 to 6 methylol groups and / or alkoxymethyl groups on an average per triazine ring . several commercial products of such a melamine compound are available on the market and can be used as such in the present invention including those sold under the trade names of mx - 750 ( a product by sanwa chemical co . ), which is a melamine compound having 3 . 7 methoxymethyl groups on an average per melamine ring and mw - 30 ( a product by sanwa chemical co . ), which is a melamine compound having 5 . 8 methoxymethyl groups on an average per melamine ring as well as benzoguanamine compounds sold under the trade names of cymels ( each a product by mitsui cyanamide co .). these melamine compounds can be used in the form of a dimer or trimer . the above described compounds as the crosslinking agent can be used either singly or as a combination of two kinds or more according to need . the binder resin to be combined with the ultraviolet absorbing compound is exemplified by polyamide acid resins , polysulfone resins , halogenated polymers , polyacetal resins , copolymeric acetal resins , α - substituted vinyl polymers , polyamine acid resins , polybutene sulfonic acid resins , acrylic resins and the like . preferable acrylic resins include those polymers obtained from glycidyl acrylate , alkyl acrylates , such as methyl acrylate , ethyl acrylate and propyl acrylate , and 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfonylphenyl acrylate as well as methacrylic acid derivatives corresponding to these acrylates as the starting monomeric compounds . particular examples of the acrylic resin include poly ( glycidyl acrylate ), poly ( methyl acrylate ), poly ( ethyl acrylate ), poly [ 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfonylphenyl acrylate ] and copolymers of glycidyl acrylate and methyl acrylate as well as those polymers of methacrylic acid derivatives corresponding to the acrylic acid derivatives . particularly preferable acrylic resins are copolymeric resins of glycidyl acrylate and methyl acrylate in a weight proportion of 2 : 8 to 8 : 2 or , more preferably , 3 : 7 to 7 : 3 and poly [ 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfonylphenyl acrylate ] resins in respect of little occurrence of necking in the patterned resist layer at the interface with the anti - reflection coating layer . it is optional that the anti - reflection coating layer contains , besides the above described ultraviolet absorbing agents , crosslinking agents and binder resins , various kinds of known additives including organic acids such as acetic acid , oxalic acid , maleic acid , o - hydroxy benzoic acid , 3 , 5 - dinitro benzoic acid and 2 , 6 - dihydroxy benzoic acid as well as a commercially available copolymeric resin of o - hydroxy benzoic acid and p - xylene ( sax , trade name , a product by mitsui toatsu chemical co .). the anti - reflection coating layer is formed by coating a substrate with a coating solution prepared by dissolving the above described essential ingredients , i . e . ultraviolet absorbing agent , crosslinking agent and binder resin , and optional additive ingredients in a suitable organic solvent followed by drying . suitable organic solvent used in the preparation of the coating solution include ketone solvents such as acetone , methyl ethyl ketone , cyclopentanone , cyclohexanone , methyl isoamyl ketone , 2 - heptanone and 1 , 1 , 1 - trimethyl acetone , polyhydric alcohols and derivatives thereof such as ethyleneglycol , ethyleneglycol monoacetate , diethyleneglycol , diethyleneglycol monoacetate , propyleneglycol and propyleneglycol monoacetate as well as monomethyl , monoethyl , monopropyl , monobutyl and monophenyl ethers thereof , cyclic ethers such as dioxane , and ester solvents such as ethyl lactate , methyl acetate , ethyl acetate , butyl acetate , methyl pyruvate , ethyl pyruvate , methyl 3 - methoxy - propionate and ethyl 3 - ethoxypropionate . these organic solvents can be used either singly or as a mixture of two kinds or more according to need . it is further optional that the anti - reflection coating solution contains a surface active agent with an object to improve the coating workability of the solution and to prevent striation in the coating layer . particularly suitable surface active agents include fluorinated surface active agents sold under the trade names of , for example , surflons sc - 103 and sr - 100 ( each a product by asahi glass co . ), ef - 351 ( a product by tohoku hiryo co .) and fluorads fc - 431 , fc - 135 , fc - 98 , fc - 430 and fc - 176 ( each a product by sumitomo 3m co .). the amount of the surface active agent added to the anti - reflection coating solution does not exceed 2000 ppm by weight based on the amount of the non - volatile ingredients in the coating solution . the amount of the crosslinking agent in the anti - reflection coating solution is in the range from 10 to 300 parts by weight or , preferably , from 20 to 200 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the ultraviolet absorbing agent , when the principal ingredients contained therein are the ultraviolet absorbing agent and the crosslinking agent . when the principal ingredients contained therein are the ultraviolet absorbing agent , crosslinking agent and binder resin , the amount of the ultraviolet absorbing agent is in the range from 10 to 400 parts by weight or , preferably , from 30 to 300 parts by weight and the amount of the crosslinking agent is in the range from 10 to 700 parts by weight or , preferably , from 30 to 600 parts by weight each per 100 parts by weight of the binder resin . further , it is advantageous that the amount of the ultraviolet absorbing agent is in the range from 5 to 100 parts by weight or , preferably , from 10 to 50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the binder resin , when the principal ingredients contained therein are the ultraviolet absorbing agent and the binder resin . when the compounding proportion of these principal ingredients is outside of the above mentioned ranges , the desired effect for prevention of reflection of the exposure light on the substrate surface cannot be fully exhibited . in the preparation of the inventive photoresist laminate , a substrate , which is typically a semiconductor silicon wafer , is coated with the above described anti - reflection coating solution by using a suitable coating machine such as spinners followed by drying and a baking treatment at a temperature in the range from 100 to 300 ° c . to form an anti - reflection coating layer . thickness of the thus obtained anti - reflection coating layer is not particularly limitative and can be selected depending on the surface condition of the substrate provided that the surface of the substrate can be completely covered by the anti - reflection coating layer . in most cases , the thickness of the anti - reflection coating layer is selected in the range from 0 . 05 to 0 . 3 μm . the anti - reflection coating layer is then overcoated with a photoresist composition to form a photoresist layer thereon . the photoresist composition to give the inventive photoresist laminate is a negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition containing an oximesulfonate compound as the radiation - sensitive acid - generating agent . namely , the photoresist composition comprises : ( 1 ) a film - forming resinous ingredient selected from alkali - soluble resins having phenolic hydroxyl groups and alkali - insolubilized resins derived therefrom by substituting solubility - reducing groups having no reactivity with an acid for a part of the hydroxyl groups ; ( 2 ) a radiation - sensitive acid - generating agent which is an oximesulfonate compound ; and ( 3 ) a crosslinkable compound . the above mentioned alkali - soluble resin having phenolic hydroxyl groups as the component ( 1 ) is exemplified by various kinds of novolak resins and poly ( hydroxystyrene ) resins . the novolak resins can be prepared by a conventional method of condensation reaction between a phenolic compound such as phenol , m -, p - and o - cresols , 2 , 3 -, 2 , 5 - and 3 , 4 - xylenols and 2 , 3 , 5 - trimethyl phenol and an aldehyde compound such as formaldehyde , paraformaldehyde and trioxane in the presence of an acidic catalyst . the novolak resin preferably has a weight - average molecular weight in the range from 2000 to 30000 . when the weight - average molecular weight of the novolak resin is too small , a decrease of the film thickness retention is caused in the development treatment of the resist layer along with deterioration of the cross sectional profile of the patterned resist layer while an adverse effect is caused in the pattern resolution when the weight - average molecular weight of the novolak resin is too large . the poly ( hydroxystyrene ) resins as the other class of the component ( 1 ) include homopolymers of a hydroxystyrene and copolymers of a hydroxystyrene and another styrene monomer or an acrylic monomer such as ( meth ) acrylic acid and derivatives thereof . the above mentioned styrene monomers copolymerizable with a hydroxystyrene are exemplified by styrene , p - and o - methylstyrenes , α - methylstyrene , p - methoxystyrene and p - chlorostyrene . the ( meth ) acrylic acid derivatives copolymerizable with a hydroxystyrene are exemplified by methyl , ethyl , 2 - hydroxyethyl and 2 - hydroxypropyl ( meth ) acrylates , ( meth ) acrylamide and ( meth ) acrylonitrile . the poly ( hydroxystyrene ) resin preferably has a weight - average molecular weight in the range from 1000 to 30000 . when the weight - average molecular weight of the resin is too small , a decrease of the film thickness retention is caused in the development treatment of the resist layer along with deterioration of the cross sectional profile of the patterned resist layer while an adverse effect is caused in the pattern resolution when the weight - average molecular weight of the resin is too large . the above mentioned substituent group having no reactivity with an acid , which remains intact in the presence of an acid , includes substituted or unsubstituted benzene sulfonyl groups , substituted or unsubstituted naphthalene sulfonyl groups , substituted or unsubstituted benzene carbonyl groups and substituted or unsubstituted naphthalene carbonyl groups . the substituted or unsubstituted benzene sulfonyl group is exemplified by benzene sulfonyl , chlorobenzene sulfonyl , methylbenzene sulfonyl , ethylbenzene sulfonyl , propylbenzene sulfonyl , methoxybenzene sulfonyl , ethoxybenzene sulfonyl , propoxybenzene sulfonyl and acetaminobenzene sulfonyl groups . the substituted or unsubstituted naphthalene sulfonyl group is exemplified by naphthalene sulfonyl , chloronaphthalene sulfonyl , methylnaphthalene sulfonyl , ethylnaphthalene sulfonyl , propylnaphthalene sulfonyl , methoxynaphthalene sulfonyl , ethoxynaphthalene sulfonyl , propoxynaphthalene sulfonyl and acetaminonaphthalene sulfonyl groups . the substituted or unsubstituted benzene carbonyl and naphthalene carbonyl groups are exemplified by the above named benzene sulfonyl and naphthalene sulfonyl groups after replacement of the sulfonyl group -- so 2 -- with a carbonyl group -- co --. the degree of substitution of these acid - inactive substituent groups for the hydroxyl groups in the alkali - soluble resin is in the range from 0 . 01 to 1 % or , preferably , from 0 . 08 to 0 . 15 %. the hydroxyl group - containing alkali - soluble resin as the component ( 1 ) is preferably a poly ( hydroxystyrene ) resin or , more preferably , a homopolymeric poly ( hydroxystyrene ) resin or a copolymeric resin of p - hydroxystyrene and styrene , among the above described resins . the resin alkali - insolubilized by the substitution of acid - inactive groups for a part of the hydroxyl groups is preferably a poly ( hydroxystyrene ) resin after substitution of acetaminobenzene sulfonyl groups for a part of the hydroxyl groups in respect of the high photo - sensitivity and high pattern resolution of the photoresist composition formulated therewith . the component ( 2 ) in the photoresist composition is an oximesulfonate compound as an acid - generating agent which is exemplified by : in which r 1 is an aromatic group and r 2 is an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms , such as in which r 9 and r 10 are each a substituted or unsubstituted non - aromatic group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms . the group denoted by r 9 is preferably cycloalkenyl group of 5 to 7 carbon atoms exemplified by cyclopentenyl , cyclohexenyl and cycloheptenyl groups while r 10 , having 1 to 4 carbon atoms , is preferably a lower alkyl or halogenated lower alkyl group . particular examples of the oximesulfonate compound expressed by the general formula ( iii ) include : in which the subscript n is 2 or 3 , a is a divalent , when n is 2 , or tervalent , when n is 3 , organic group and r 11 is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic or non - aromatic hydrocarbon group of 1 to 12 carbon atoms , can also be used . the group denoted by r 11 is preferably a lower alkyl or lower halogenated alkyl group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms , cycloalkyl , alkyl - substituted phenyl or alkoxy - substituted phenyl group of 5 to 7 carbon atoms . the divalent or tervalent organic group denoted by a is a phenylene or alkylene group , in which a phenylene group is preferable . particular examples of the oximesulfonate compound expressed by the general formula ( iv ) include the compounds expressed by the following structural formulas , in which me is a methyl group , et is an ethyl group , bu is a butyl group , ch is a cyclohexyl group , ph is a phenyl group , fme is a trifluoromethyl group , ppn is a 1 , 4 - phenylene group and mpn is a 1 , 3 - phenylene group : while the photoresist composition used in the invention essentially contains an oximesulfonate compound as a radiation - sensitive acid - generating agent , the oximesulfonate compound is preferably selected from those expressed by the above given general formulas ( ii ), ( iii ) and ( iv ) or , more preferably in respect of the photosensitivity of the composition , selected from those expressed by the general formula ( ii ) exemplified by : along with the advantages of absence of necking in the patterned resist layer with an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile . it is of course optional to use the above described oximesulfonate compounds either singly or as a combination of two kinds or more according to need . the acid - generating agent used in the invention can also be a combination of one or more of the above described oximesulfonate compounds with other conventional acid - generating agents including onium salt compounds and halogenated compound of which , if used , tris ( 2 , 3 - dibromopropyl ) isocyanurate is preferred . further , the crosslinkable compound as the component ( 3 ) in the photoresist composition is not particularly limitative and can be selected from those conventionally formulated in negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist compositions of the prior art . suitable crosslinkable compounds include amino resins such as melamine resins , urea resins , guanamine resins , glycoluryl - formaldehyde resins , succinylamide - formaldehyde resins , ethyleneurea - formaldehyde resins and the like having hydroxyl and / or alkoxy groups . such a functional amino resin can be easily prepared by the reaction of formaldehyde with melamine , urea , guanamine , glycoluryl , succinylamide , ethyleneurea and the like in boiling water to effect methylolation , optionally , followed by the reaction with a lower alcohol to effect alkoxylation . several grades of commercial products of this class are available and can be used as such including nicalacs mx - 750 , mx - 290 and mw - 30 ( each a product by sanwa chemical co .). besides the above described functional amino resins , usable crosslinkable compounds include benzene compounds having alkoxy groups in the molecule such as 1 , 3 , 5 - tris -( methoxymethoxy ) benzene , 1 , 2 , 4 - tris ( isopropoxymethoxy ) benzene and 1 , 4 - bis ( sec - butoxymethoxy ) benzene and phenol compounds having non - phenolic hydroxyl and / or alkoxy groups such as 2 , 6 - dihydroxymethyl p - cresol and 2 , 6 - dihydroxymethyl p - tert - butylphenol . the above described crosslinkable compounds can be used either singly or as a combination of two kinds or more according to need . the amount of the crosslinkable compound as the component ( 3 ) in the negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition is in the range from 3 to 70 parts by weight or , preferably , from 5 to 50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the film - forming resinous ingredient as the component ( 1 ) in respect of the film formability and photosensitivity of the photoresist composition and developability of the photoresist layer after pattern - wise exposure to actinic rays . when the amount of the crosslinkable compound is too small , the photosensitivity of the composition is unduly decreased while , when the amount thereof is too large , a photoresist layer of good film properties can hardly be obtained from the composition along with a decrease in the developability of the photoresist layer . the amount of the oximesulfonate compound as the component ( 2 ) in the negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition is in the range from 0 . 1 to 30 parts by weight or , preferably , from 1 to 20 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the total amount of the film - forming resinous ingredient as the component ( 1 ) and the crosslinkable compound as the component ( 3 ) in respect of the imageability and developability of the photoresist layer . when the amount of the oximesulfonate compound is too small or too large , the photoresist composition cannot exhibit good performance in the imageability and developability . the negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition used in the preparation of the inventive photo - resist laminate is prepared by dissolving the above described essential ingredients and optional additives in a suitable organic solvent which is exemplified by ketone solvents such as acetone , methyl ethyl ketone , cyclopentanone , cyclohexanone , methyl isoamyl ketone , 2 - heptanone and 1 , 1 , 1 - trimethyl acetone , polyhydric alcohols and derivatives thereof such as ethyleneglycol , ethyleneglycol monoacetate , diethyleneglycol , diethyleneglycol monoacetate , propyleneglycol and propyleneglycol monoacetate as well as monomethyl , monoethyl , monopropyl , monobutyl and monophenyl ethers thereof , cyclic ether solvents such as dioxane , and ester solvents such as ethyl lactate , methyl acetate , ethyl acetate , butyl acetate , methyl pyruvate , ethyl pyruvate , methyl 3 - methoxypropionate and ethyl 3 - ethoxypropionate . these organic solvents can be used either singly or as a mixture of two kinds or more according to need . the above mentioned optional additives to the photoresist composition include auxiliary resins to improve the film properties of the photoresist layer , plasticizers , stabilizers , coloring agents , surface active agents and the like having compatibility with the other ingredients . the photoresist laminate of the invention is prepared by uniformly applying the photoresist composition prepared in the above described manner to the anti - reflection coating layer formed in advance on the surface of a substrate by a known coating method such as spin coating , doctor knife coating and the like followed by drying to give a photoresist laminate having a thickness , usually , in the range from 0 . 5 to 5 μm . in the next place , a description is given of the patterning method by using the photoresist laminate prepared in the above described manner . by utilizing the photolithographic technology in the prior art , firstly , the photoresist layer of the laminate is exposed pattern - wise to actinic rays such as i - line light of 365 nm wavelength , deep ultraviolet light , excimer laser beams and the like through a pattern - bearing photomask on a exposure machine such as a minifying projection exposure machine to form a latent image of the pattern in the photoresist layer which is then subjected to a post - exposure baking treatment . the latent image in the photoresist layer is developed by using an aqueous alkaline solution such as a 1 to 10 % by weight aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide as a developer solution to dissolve away the resist layer in the areas unexposed to the actinic rays to expose bare the anti - reflection coating layer leaving a negatively patterned resist layer on the underlying anti - reflection coating layer in the areas exposed to the actinic rays . the thus pattern - wise exposed bare anti - reflection coating layer is then removed by dry etching such as plasma etching with the negatively patterned resist layer as an etching mask . use of a phase - shift photomask as the pattern - bearing photomask is advantageous in the pattern formation with the inventive photoresist laminate because a patterned resist layer having high fidelity can be obtained thereby . it is particularly advantageous to use an alternating - type phase - shift photomask in order to form a line - and - space pattern of the resist layer of high fidelity having an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile from the inventive photoresist laminate . in the following , the photoresist laminate and the patterning method according to the present invention are described in more detail by way of examples and comparative examples which , however , never limit the scope of the invention in any way . an anti - reflection coating solution was prepared by dissolving , in 150 g of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether acetate , 5 g of a commercial melamine resin ( mx - 750 , supra ) substituted by 3 . 7 methoxymethyl groups on an average per melamine ring , 3 g of 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- bis ( diethylamino ) benzophenone and 5 g of 2 , 2 &# 39 ;, 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- tetrahydroxy benzophenone to give a uniform solution which was admixed with a fluorinated surface active agent in an amount of 0 . 1 % by weight based on the amount of the non - volatile ingredient in the solution followed by filtration through a membrane filter of 0 . 2 μm pore diameter . a semiconductor silicon wafer was uniformly coated with the thus prepared anti - reflection coating solution on a spinner followed by drying at 90 ° c . for 90 seconds and a baking treatment at 180 ° c . for 2 minutes to give an anti - reflection coating layer having a thickness of 0 . 15 μm . separately , a negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition was prepared by dissolving , in 480 parts by weight of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether acetate , 100 parts by weight of a copolymeric resin of hydroxystyrene and styrene having a weight - average molecular weight of 2500 and 15 parts by weight of a commercially obtained melamine resin ( mw - 30 , a product by sanwa chemical co .) to give a solution which was further admixed with 3 parts by weight of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino ) phenyl acetonitrile as an acid - generating agent . the thus prepared photoresist composition was applied to the above obtained anti - reflection coating layer by using a spinner followed by drying at 90 ° c . for 90 seconds to give a negative - working photoresist layer having a thickness of 1 . 00 μm . in the next place , this photoresist layer of the thus prepared photoresist laminate was pattern - wise exposed to i - line light through an alternating - type phase - shift photomask on an exposure machine ( model nsr - 2005i10d , manufactured by nikon co .) followed by a post - exposure baking treatment at 110 ° c . for 90 seconds and then subjected to a development treatment with a 2 . 38 % by weight aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide for 65 seconds followed by rinse with water for 30 seconds and drying . the thus obtained line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 30 μm line width was examined on a scanning electron microscopic photograph for the cross sectional profile to find that the cross sectional profile was excellently orthogonal standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer absolutely without necking in the patterned resist layer . the photoresist laminate after patterning of the photo - resist layer was subjected to a dry etching treatment in a plasma etching apparatus ( model tue - 1102 , manufactured by tokyo ohka kogyo co .) in an atmosphere of chlorine gas under a pressure of 30 mtorr at a temperature of 20 ° c . with a power output of 150 watts for 70 seconds to remove the exposed anti - reflection coating layer so that a pattern having high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy was obtained on the substrate surface . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 1 except that the anti - reflection coating solution was further admixed with 1 . 3 g of a 1 : 1 by weight copolymer of glycidyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate having a weight - average molecular weight of 60000 and an increase of the amount of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether acetate from 150 g to 190 g . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 30 μm line width formed by the development treatment had an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer absolutely without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 1 excepting for the replacement of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino ) phenyl acetonitrile as the acid - generating agent in the photoresist composition with the same amount of α -( p - toluenesulfonyloxyiminotphenyl acetonitrile . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 30 μm line width formed by the development treatment had an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer absolutely without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 1 excepting for the replacement of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino ) phenyl acetonitrile as the acid - generating agent in the photoresist composition with the same amount of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino )- 4 - methoxyphenyl acetonitrile . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 30 μm line width formed by the development treatment had an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer absolutely without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 1 excepting for the replacement of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino ) phenyl acetonitrile as the acid - generating agent in the photoresist composition with the same amount of another oximesulfonate compound expressed by the structural formula in which each symbol has the same meaning as defined before . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 30 μm line width formed by the development treatment had an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 1 excepting for the replacement of the anti - reflection coating solution with another anti - reflection coating solution prepared by dissolving , in 100 g of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether acetate , 10 g of a 1 : 1 by weight copolymer of glycidyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate having a weight - average molecular weight of 100000 and 3 g of 2 , 2 &# 39 ;, 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- tetrahydroxy - benzophenone . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 30 μm line width formed by the development treatment had an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . an anti - reflection coating solution was prepared by dissolving , in 190 g of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether , 8 g of a benzoguanamine compound ( cymel 1123 , supra ) as a crosslinking agent , 2 g of bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfone and 4 g of a polymer of 4 -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfonylphenyl methacrylate having a weight - average molecular weight of 3000 to 4000 followed by filtration of the solution through a membrane filter of 0 . 2 μm pore diameter . a semiconductor silicon wafer was uniformly coated with the thus prepared anti - reflect on coating solution on a spinner followed by drying at 90 ° c . for 90 seconds and a baking treatment at 180 ° c . for 2 minutes to give an anti - reflection coating layer having a thickness of 0 . 20 μm . separately , a negative - working chemical - sensitization photoresist composition was prepared by dissolving , in 550 parts by weight of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether , 100 parts by weight of a copolymeric resin of hydroxystyrene and styrene having a weight - average molecular weight of 2500 , 5 parts by weight of a commercially obtained melamine resin ( mw - 30 , supra ) and 5 parts by weight of a commercially obtained urea resin ( mw - 290 , a product of sanwa chemical co .) to give a solution which was further admixed with 3 parts by weight of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino )- 4 - methoxyphenyl acetonitrile as an acid - generating agent . the thus prepared photoresist composition was applied to the above obtained anti - reflection coating layer by using a spinner followed by drying at 90 ° c . for 90 seconds to give a negative - working photoresist layer having a thickness of 1 . 00 μm . in the next place , this photoresist layer of the thus prepared photoresist laminate was pattern - wise exposed to light through an alternating - type phase - shift photomask on an exposure machine ( model nsr - 2005ex8a , manufactured by nikon co .) followed by a post - exposure baking treatment at 110 ° c . for 90 seconds and then subjected to a development treatment with a 2 . 38 % by weight aqueous solution of tetramethylammonium hydroxide for 65 seconds followed by rinse with water for 30 seconds and drying . the thus obtained line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 18 μm line width was examined on a scanning electron microscopic photograph for the cross sectional profile to find that the cross sectional profile was excellently orthogonal standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer absolutely without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer in the same manner as in example 1 had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 7 excepting for the replacement of the anti - reflection coating solution with another anti - reflection coating solution prepared by dissolving , in 190 g of propyleneglycol monomethyl ether acetate , 8 g of a commercial benzoguanamine resin ( cymel 1125 , a product by mitsui cyanamide co .) and 6 g of bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) sulfone followed by filtration of the solution through a membrane filter of 0 . 2 μm pore diameter . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 18 μm line width formed by the development treatment had an excellently orthogonal cross sectional profile standing upright on the anti - reflection coating layer without necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer in the same manner as in example 1 had high fidelity to the photomask pattern with high dimensional accuracy . the procedure for the formation of a pattern on the surface of a silicon wafer was substantially the same as in example 7 excepting for the replacement of α -( methylsulfonyloxyimino )- 4 - methoxyphenyl acetonitrile as the acid - generating agent in the photoresist composition with the same amount of tris ( 2 , 3 - dibromopropyl ) isocyanurate . the line - and - space patterned resist layer of 0 . 18 μm line width formed by the development treatment indicated remarkable necking in the patterned resist layer . the pattern on the substrate surface obtained by the dry etching treatment of the exposed anti - reflection coating layer had poor dimensional accuracy as compared with example 7 .
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US-27326299-A
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apparatus for cutting pieces of insulation used to line specially - shaped ductwork , such as radius elbows and o . g . sets . a pair of telescoping trammel tubes are pivotal about a pivot post , and radially movable with respect to the post to assume any desired , graduated , relative position . a cutter wheel is disposed on the end of each of the trammel tubes , and the cutter wheels may be movable from one position wherein they are in line with the trammel tubes , and thus can make a radial cut , to a second position wherein they are disposed substantially 90 ° with respect to the trammel tubes , and thus can make an arcuate cut with the pivot post generally at the center of the arc . the tubes can be manipulated with respect to the pivot post and with respect to each other , and the cutter wheels may be manipulated with respect to the tubes , so that both radial and true arcuate cuts can be made in insulation to produce an insulation piece of the desired dimensions quickly and accurately .
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an exemplary cutting apparatus according to the present invention is shown schematically in perspective in fig1 . the apparatus includes several major components , including a pivot post 10 , a first trammel tube 14 , a second trammel tube 16 telescopically mounted with respect to the first trammel tube 14 , means 12 for mounting the first trammel tube 14 for radial movement with respect to the pivot post 10 , means 18 for retaining the first trammel tube 14 in any one of a plurality of radial positions with respect to the pivot post 10 , means 18 &# 39 ; for retaining the second trammel tube 16 in any one of a plurality of radial positions with respect to the first trammel tube 14 , a first cutter wheel assembly 20 mounted on the first trammel tube 14 on a portion thereof remote from the pivot post 10 , and a second cutter wheel assembly 22 mounted on the second trammel tube 16 on a portion thereof remote from the first trammel tube 14 . a means 24 is provided for moving the second cutter wheel 22 between a first position wherein it is in line with the tube 16 and when the tube 16 is moved radially will make a radial cut in insulation or the like on table a , and a second position wherein it is disposed at 90 ° with respect to the tube 16 , and when the tube 16 is pivoted about the pivot post 10 makes an arcuate cut in insulation or the like on table a with the pivot post 10 generally at the center of a circle of which the arc is a part . the pivot post 10 comprises an upstanding member that may fit in a preformed opening in a table 10 on which the cutting of insulation or the like is to take place . in order to assist the user of the apparatus in laying out the proper angles for cuts , etc ., a piece of sheet metal 26 may be utilized with the apparatus , mounted on the table a , and having arcuate division lines 27 thereon . the sheet 26 essentially functions as a protractor . the sheet 26 may be detachable from the table a , having edge portions 28 thereof that overlap the edges of the table a , and having bracket portions 29 thereof , with screws 30 , that allow the sheet 26 to be fixed to the table a . an opening ( not shown ) may be provided in sheet 26 to receive the post 10 therein . when a hinged table a is used , as shown in the drawings , a sheet 26 may be disposed on either side of hinged portion b of the table a . securely mounted to the pivot post 10 is a means 12 for mounting the first trammel tube 14 for radial movement with respect to the post 10 . the means 12 , as shown in the drawings , may comprise a tubular section having portions thereof cooperating with machines portions on the trammel tube 14 to allow radial movement -- but only radial movement -- of the tube 14 with respect to the post 10 . it is noted that the means 12 is mounted off - center with respect to the axis of the post 10 . while such an arrangement allows freer access to all the component parts of the apparatus , it is to be understood that such an arrangement is merely optional , and that the means 12 could be mounted so that it was concentric with the center of the post 10 if desired . as shown in more detail in fig2 the means 12 has sleeve bearings 32 associated therewith to allow for completely free sliding of the tube 14 with respect to the means 12 . the means 18 for retaining the tube 14 in one of a plurality of radial positions to which it is moved with respect to the post 10 includes ( see fig2 ) a plunger 34 that is spring - biased by spring 35 into cooperation with an opening 36 formed in means 12 , and into one of a plurality of openings 37 formed along the length of the tube 14 . ( note that in fig2 the plunger 34 also cooperates with the second trammel tube 16 , the second tube 16 being shown in a retracted position thereof in fig2 ). the retaining end 38 of the plunger 34 may have a 15 ° taper to facilitate entry thereof into the openings 37 , and to cam the tube 14 into exact position relative to means 12 by engaging the edges forming the opening 37 . a handle 39 may be provided on the accessible end of the plunger 34 to allow lifting thereof against the spring bias so that the tube 14 can be linearly moved with respect to the means 12 . preferably , openings 37 may be formed every 1 / 2 inch along the length of the tube 14 , and each opening may have indicia associated therewith that gives the distance of the tube from some reference point . advantageously , the indicia may read 1 / 2 inch higher than the real distance of a given opening from a reference point since insulation is conventionally cut 1 / 2 inch less than the o . g . set or radius elbow in which it is to be used . in that way , the user of the apparatus according to the invention could merely set the tube 14 at the dimension desired for the radius elbow itself , and the correction would automatically be made for cutting the insulation piece 1 / 2 inch less than the radius elbow or the like . the means 18 &# 39 ; may be substantially identical to the means 18 , including a spring - biased plunger and the like , and openings 40 may be formed in the tube 16 spaced a certain amount from each other opening 40 , the openings 40 preferably being spaced the same distance from each other as the openings 39 in the tube 14 , and again indicia being formed thereon corresponding to the indicia on tube 14 . the first cutter wheel 20 is mounted adjacent the end of the tube 14 normally most remote from the pivot 10 . the wheel is rotatable on ball bearings or the like during cutting , and the entire periphery thereof is sharpened . the wheel 20 would normally be disposed at a position substantially 90 ° with respect to the direction of elongation of the tube 14 , so that as the tube 14 was pivoted about the post 10 , an arcuate cut was made in insulation or the like disposed on the table a with the post 10 being generally at the center of the arc ( the post is referred to only as generally at the center of the arc since in the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings the means 12 offset from the axis through the post 10 , and thus the post 10 is not exactly at the center of the arc ). it is desirable that the wheel 20 be movable to a position in line with the tube 14 , however , so that during radial movement of the tube 14 the wheel 20 will roll and not be dragged along the table a or insulation or the like disposed thereon ( and so that the wheel 20 may make a radial cut during this radial movement ). fig3 b shows one of many alternative forms the means for mounting the wheel 20 could take that would allow movement thereof between an in - line and a 90 ° position with respect to the tube 14 . as shown in fig3 b , a shaft 42 is provided , establishing a vertical axis about which the wheel 20 is rotatable , the shaft being mounted in a bearing 44 formed on the bottom of the tube 14 . one or more pegs 45 are formed on a support 46 for the wheel 20 , whigh pegs 45 are generally on the circumference of a circle with its center at the axis established by shaft 42 . these pegs 45 cooperate with corresponding openings 47 formed in the bottom of the tube 14 . the pegs 45 and support 46 may be spring - biased , as by spring 48 , or other suitable structure can be provided , so that the support 46 may be rotated with respect to the tube 14 from one position wherein pegs 45 engage openings 47 , to another position 90 ° with respect to the first position . the only requirement for the structure of fig3 b is that it not interfere with the free sliding of the tube 16 in the tube 14 . the second cutter wheel 22 , as shown in detail in fig3 a , is mounted through ball bearing mounting means 50 to a pair of ears 51 extending downwardly from a rod member 52 extending through the tube 16 . both cutter wheels 20 , 22 may be made of ketose to facilitate cutting of conventional insulation . the rod member 52 passes through bushings 53 formed on the top and bottom of the tube 16 , and has a handle 55 and a detent plate 56 formed on the portion thereof extending above the tube 16 . the plate 56 may have a peg 57 or the like depending therefrom , which peg 57 cooperates with either one of several openings 58 that are formed on the top of the tube 16 . the openings 58 are spaced 90 ° from each other , and at least two are provided so that the wheel 22 may be retained in a first position wherein it is in line with the tube 16 , to a second position wherein it is disposed at 90 ° with respect to the first position , and wherein it can make an arcuate cut in insulation or the like disposed on the table a , the post 10 being generally at the center of the arc so formed . to move the wheel 22 from one position thereof to another position , the handle 55 is pulled upwardly , and the rod member 52 with the wheel 22 mounted on one end thereof , is moved vertically against the bias of spring 60 which tends to bias the rod 52 downwardly so that the wheel 22 is in engagement with table a by acting on pegs 61 extending from rod member 52 , through plate 62 . the wheel 22 is lifted off the table a and out of engagement with an insulation or the like thereon when the handle 55 is moved upwardly . rotation of the rod member 52 moves the peg 57 from cooperation with one opening 58 to cooperation with another opening 58 . exemplary apparatus according to the present invention having been set forth , an exemplary operation of the apparatus will now be described . when it is desired to cut insulation or the like for an o . g . set or a radius elbow , a sheet 26 having arcuate markings 27 thereon is mounted on a table a . a post 10 having a sleeve 12 or the like associated therewith is then passed through an opening in the sheet 26 into a corresponding opening in the table a , the post 10 being rotatable with respect to the table a . a first trammel tube 14 is placed in cooperative telescoping engagement with the sleeve 12 , and a second trammel tube 16 is placed in cooperative telescoping engagement with the tube 14 . with the ends of the tubes 14 and 16 as close to the sleeve 12 as possible , and with the wheels 20 and 22 aligned with the tubes 14 and 16 respectively , the means 18 , 18 &# 39 ; are released , and the tube 14 is removed radially with respect to the post 10 , and the tube 16 is moved radially with respect to the tube 14 , until a desired position is reached , as indicated by indicia on the tubes 14 , 16 . if insulation or the like is disposed on the table a when the tubes 14 , 16 are moved radially , a radial cut will be made in the insulation . when the desired relative positions of the wheels 20 , 22 are reached , the handle 55 is pulled upwardly , and the wheel 22 is rotated to a 90 ° position with respect to the tube 16 , the peg 57 cooperating with a hole 58 formed in the tube 16 , and the wheel 20 is rotated so that pegs 45 engage openings 47 which dispose the wheel 20 at a 90 ° position with respect to the tube 14 . grasping a hold of the handle 55 , the insulation or the like which is disposed on the table a is cut by pivoting the tubes 14 , 16 with respect to the table a about the post 10 . when the desired arc has been cut , the wheels 20 , 22 are again moved to their in - line positions , the plunger associated with means 18 &# 39 ; is moved upwardly and the tube 16 is moved radially inwardly , and the plunger associated with the means 18 is moved upwardly and the tube 14 is moved radially inwardly , the wheels 20 , 22 cutting the insulation during their radial movement . the final piece of insulation that is cut is shown generally at c in fig4 the edges d and e thereof having been cut respectively by the wheels 20 , 22 during arcuate movement thereof , and the edges f and g thereof having been cut by the wheel 22 during radial movement thereof . if the edge f is already formed in the insulation before cutting , the wheel 22 may be moved out of engagement with the insulation c during radial movement thereof along the line of edge f . while the invention has been herein shown and described in what is presently conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment thereof , it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications may be made thereof within the scope of the invention , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all equivalent structures and devices .
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US-66417376-A
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transgenic microbial strains are provided which contain the genes required for pha formation integrated on the chromosome . the strains are advantageous in pha production processes , because no plasmids need to be maintained , generally obviating the required use of antibiotics or other stabilizing pressures , and no plasmid loss occurs , thereby stabilizing the number of gene copies per cell throughout the fermentation process , resulting in homogeneous pha product formation throughout the production process . genes are integrated using standard techniques , preferably transposon mutagenesis . in a preferred embodiment wherein mutiple genes are incorporated , these are incorporated as an operon . sequences are used to stabilize mrna , to induce expression as a function of culture conditions , temperature , and stress , and to aid in selection , through the incorporation of selection markers such as markers conferring antibiotic resistance .
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by randomly inserting genes that encode pha biosynthetic enzymes into the chromosome of e . coli , means have been identified to directly achieve high levels of expression from strong endogenous promoters at sites that are non - essential for growth of the host in industrial medium based fermentations . as demonstratd by the examples , e . coli strains have been obtained using these techniques that produce phas in levels exceeding 85 % of the cell dry weight from single copy genes on the chromosome . expression of the phb genes in these strains is not dependent on the upstream sequences of phbc in r . eutropha nor on a high copy number construct . maintenance of the phb genes by these strains is independent of the supplementation of antibiotics , the presence of stabilizing loci such as parb or hok / sok or any other selective pressure . the ultra - high level of expression required in the plasmid - based systems has been found to be completely unnecessary . furthermore , unlike the most successful fermentations reported to date ( wang & amp ; lee , biotechnol . bioeng . 58 : 325 - 28 ( 1998 )) for recombinant plasmid - based e . coli , fermentation with these strains provides that virtually all of the cells contain phb at the end of the fermentation . despite the low copy number , these transgenic bacteria accumulate phb to levels observed for wild - type organisms . the host used for recombinant phb production also is an important parameter in designing a plasmid - based e . coli system . for example , although w3110 strains were poor phb producers when using a plasmid - based system , it was found that by integrating the phb genes into the chromosome of this same host , the host retained excellent growth characteristics while accumulating commercially significant levels of phb . a number of bacteria can be genetically engineered to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates . these include organisms that already produce polyhydroxyalkanoates , modified to utilize alternative substrates or incorporate additional monomers , or to increase production , and organisms that do not produce polyhydroxyalkanoates , but which expresses none to some of the enzymes required for production of polyhydroxylkanoates . examples include e . coli , alcaligenes latus , alcaligenese eutrophus , azotobacter , pseudomonas putida , and ralstonia eutropha . methods for incorporating engineered gene constructs into the chromosomal dna of bacterial cells are well known to those skilled in the art . typical integration mechanisms include homologous recombination using linearized dna in recbc or recd strains followed by p1 transduction ( miller 1992 , a short course in bacterial genetics : a laboratory manual & amp ; handbook for escherichia coli and related bacteria . cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y .) special plasmids ( hamilton et al ., j . bacteriol . 171 : 4617 ( 1989 ); metcalf et al ., plasmid 35 : 1 ( 1996 ); u . s . pat . no . 5 , 470 , 727 to mascarenhas et al . ), or by random insertion using transposon based systems ( herrero et al . j . bacteriol . 172 : 6557 ( 1990 ); peredelchuk & amp ; bennett , gene 187 : 231 ( 1997 ); u . s . pat . no . 5 , 595 , 889 to richaud et al . ; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 102 , 797 to tucker et al .). in general , the microbial strains containing an insertion are selected on the basis of an acquired antibiotic resistance gene that is supplied by the integrated construct . however , complementation of auxotrophic mutants can also be used . expression of the genes of interest for chromosomal integration can be achieved by including a transcription activating sequence ( promoter ) in the dna construct to be integrated . site - directed , homologous recombination can be combined with amplification of expression of the genes of interest , as described by u . s . pat . no . 5 , 00 , 000 to ingram et al . although mini - transposon systems have been used for a number of years , they have been designed such that the expression level of the integrated gene of interest is not modulated . ingram , et al . selected for increased expression of a foreign gene inserted into the e . coli chromosome by homologous recombination . this was achieved by inserting a promoter - less chloroamphenicol ( cm ) resistance gene downstream of the gene of interest to create a transcriptional fusion . after a transcriptional fusion of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene with a promoterless chloramphenicol acetyl transferase genes is integrated in the pfl gene , increased expression is achieved by selecting mutants on increasing concentrations of chloramphenicol . however , in chemostat studies these stabilzed strains still lost the capacity to produce ethanol ( lawford & amp ; rousseau , appl . biochem . biotechnol . 57 - 58 : 293 - 305 ( 1996 )). also , strains that contained the ethanologenic genes on the chromosome demonstrated a decreased growth rate in glucose minimal medium ( lawford & amp ; rousseau , appl . biochem . biotechnol ., 57 - 58 : 277 - 92 ( 1996 )). these approaches have been combined and modified to randomly integrate a mini - transposon into the chromosome to select for healthy , fast growing transgenic strains coupled with a screening system for modulating expression of the integrated genes . a series of expression cassettes have been developed for inserting heterologous genes into bacterial chromosomes . these cassettes are based on the transposon delivery systems described by herrero et al ., j . bacteriol . 172 : 6557 - 67 ( 1990 ); de lorenzo et al ., j . bacteriol . 172 : 6568 ( 1990 ). although these systems specify rp4 - mediated conjugal transfer and use only transposon tn10 and tn5 , any combination of transposon ends and delivery system could be adapted for the technology described , resulting in sustained and homogeneous pha production . the following general approach is used for generating transgenic e . coli phb producers : ( 1 ) a promoterless antibiotic resistance ( abr ) gene is cloned in the polylinker of a suitable plasmid such as puc18noti or puc18sfii so that the major part of the polylinker is upstream of abr ; ( 2 ) phb genes are subsequently cloned upstream of and in the same orientation as the abr gene ; ( 3 ) the phb - abr cassette is excised as a noti or avrii fragment ( avrii recognizes the sfii site in puc18sfii ) and cloned in the corresponding sites of any plasmid like those from the put - or plof - series ; ( 4 ) the resulting plasmids are maintained in e . coli λpir strains and electroporated or conjugated into the e . coli strain of choice in which these plasmids do not replicate ; and ( 5 ) new strains in which the phb - abr cassette has successfully integrated in the chromosome are selected on selective medium for the host ( e . g ., naladixic acid when the host is naladixic acid resistant ) and for the cassette ( e . g ., chloramphenicol , kanamycin , tetracyclin , mercury chloride , bialaphos ). the resulting phb integrants are screened on minimal medium in the presence of glucose for growth and phb formation . several modifications of this procedure can be made . if the promotorless antibiotic resistance marker is not used , the insertion of the pha genes is selected based on a marker present in the vector and integrated strains producing the desired level of pha are detected by screening for pha production . the phb genes may have , but do not need , endogeneous transcription sequences , such as upstream activating sequences , rna polymerase binding site , and / or operator sequences . if the phb genes do not have such sequences , the described approach is limited to the use of vectors like the put series in which transcription can proceed through the insertion sequences . this limitation is due to the inability of rna polymerase to read through the tn10 flanking regions of the plof plasmids . the abr gene may carry its own expression sequences if so desired . instead of an abr gene , the construct may be designed such that an essential gene serves as selective marker when the host strain has a mutation in the corresponding wild - type gene . examples of genes useful for this purpose are generally known in the art . different constructs can be integrated into one host , either subsequently or simultaneously , as long as both constructs carry different marker genes . using multiple integration events , phb genes can be integrated separately , e . g ., the phb polymerase gene is integrated first as aphbc - cat cassette , followed by integration of the thiolase and reductase genes as aphbab - kan cassette . alternatively , one cassette may contain all phb genes whereas another cassette contains only some phb genes required to produce a desired pha polymer . in some cases a transposon integration vector such as pjms11 ( panke et al . appl . enviro . microbiol . 64 : 748 - 751 ) may be used such that the selectable marker can be excised from the chromosome of the integrated strain . this is useful for a number of reasons including providing a mechanism to insert multiple transposon constructs using the same marker gene by excising the marker following each insertion event . a general reference is madison and huisman , 1999 , microbiology and molecular biology reviews 63 : 21 - 53 . the phb genes may be derived from different sources and combined in a single organism , or from the same source . thiolase encoding genes have been isolated from alcaligenes latus , ralstonia eutropha ( peoples & amp ; sinskey , j . biol . chem . 264 ( 26 ): 15298 - 303 ( 1 989 ); acinetobacter sp . ( schembri , et al ., j . bacteriol . 177 ( 15 ): 4501 - 7 ( 1995 )), chromotium vinosum ( liebergesell & amp ; steinbuchel , eur . j . biochem . 209 ( 1 ): 135 - 50 ( 1992 )), pseudomonas acidophila , pseudomonas denitrificans ( yabutani , et al ., fems microbiol . lett . 133 ( 1 - 2 ): 85 - 90 ( 1995 )), rhizobium meliloti ( tombolini , et al ., microbiology 141 : 2553 - 59 ( 1995 )), thiocystis violacea ( liebergesell & amp ; steinbuchel , appl . microbiol . biotechnol . 3 ( 4 ): 493 - 501 ( 1993 )), and zoogloea ramigera ( peoples , et al ., j . biol . chem . 262 ( 1 ): 97 - 102 ( 1987 )). other genes that have not been implicated in pha formation but which share significant homology with the phb genes and / or the corresponding gene products may be used as well . genes encoding thiolase - and reductase - like enzymes have been identified in a broad range of non - phb producing bacteria . e . coli ( u29581 , d90851 , d90777 ), haemophilus influenzae ( u32761 ), pseudomonas fragi ( d10390 ), pseudomonas aeruginosa ( u88653 ), clostridium acetobutylicum ( u08465 ), mycobacterium leprae ( u00014 ), mycobacterium tuberculosis ( z73902 ), helicobacter pylori ( ae000582 ), thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum ( z92974 ), archaeoglobus fulgidus ( ae001021 ), fusobacterium nucleatum ( u37723 ), acinetobacter calcoaceticus ( l05770 ), bacillus subtilis ( d84432 , z99120 , u29084 ), and synechocystis sp . ( d90910 ) all encode one or more thiolases from their chromosome . eukaryotic organisms such as saccharomyces cerevisiae ( l20428 ), schizosaccharomyces pombe ( d89184 ), candida tropicalis ( d13470 ), caenorhabditis elegans ( u41105 ), human ( s70154 ), rat ( d13921 ), mouse ( m35797 ), radish ( x78116 ), pumpkin ( d70895 ), and cucumber ( x67696 ) also express proteins with significant homology to the 3 - ketothiolase from r . eutropha . reductase encoding genes have been isolated from a . latus , r . eutropha ( peoples & amp ; sinskey , j . biol . chem . 264 ( 26 ): 15298 - 303 ( 1989 ); acinetobacter sp . ( schembri , et al ., j . bacteriol . 177 ( 15 ): 4501 - 7 ( 1995 )), c . vinosum ( liebergesell & amp ; steinbuchel , eur . j . biochem . 209 ( l ): 135 - 50 ( 1992 )), p . acidophila , p . denitrificans ( yabutani , et al ., fems microbiol . lett . 133 ( 1 - 2 ): 85 - 90 ( 1995 )), r . meliloti ( tombolini , et al ., microbiology 141 : 2553 - 59 ( 1995 )), and z . ramigera ( peoples , et al ., j . biol . chem . 262 ( 1 ): 97 - 102 ( 1987 )). other genes that have not been implicated in pha formation but which share significant homology with the phb genes and / or the corresponding gene products may be used as well . genes with significant homology to the phbb gene encoding acetoacetyl coa reductase have been isolated from several organisms , including azospirillum brasiliense ( x64772 , x52913 ) rhizobium sp . ( u53327 , y00604 ), e . coli ( d90745 ), vibrio harveyi ( u39441 ), h . influenzae ( u3270 1 ), b . subtilis ( u5 9433 ), p . aeruginosa ( u91631 ), synechocystis sp . ( d90907 ), h . pylori ( ae000570 ), arabidopsis thaliana ( x64464 ), cuphea lanceolata ( x64566 ) and mycobacterium smegmatis ( u66800 ). pha polymerase encoding genes have been isolated from aeromonas caviae ( fukui & amp ; doi , j . bacteriol . 179 ( 15 ): 4821 - 30 ( 1997 )), a . latus , r . eutropha ( peoples & amp ; sinskey , j . biol . chem . 264 ( 26 ): 15298 - 303 ( 1989 ); acinetobacter ( schembri , et al ., j . bacteriol . 177 ( 15 ): 4501 - 7 ( 1995 )), c . vinosum ( liebergesell & amp ; steinbuchel , eur . j . biochem . 209 ( 1 ): 135 - 50 ( 1992 )), methylobacterium extorquens ( valentin & amp ; steinbuchel , appl . microbiol . biotechnol . 39 ( 3 ): 309 - 17 ( 1993 )), nocardia corallina ( genbank acc . no . af019964 ), nocardia salmonicolor , p . acidophila , p . denitrificans ( ueda , et al ., j . bacteriol . 178 ( 3 ): 774 - 79 ( 1996 )), pseudomonas aeruginosa ( timm & amp ; steinbuchel , eur . j . biochem . 209 ( 1 ): 15 - 30 ( 1992 )), pseudomonas oleovorans ( huisman , et al ., j . biol . chem . 266 : 2191 - 98 ( 1991 )), rhizobium etli ( cevallos , et al ., j . bacteriol . 178 ( 6 : 1646 - 54 ( 1996 )), r . meliloti ( tombolini , et al ., microbiology 141 ( pt 10 ): 2553 - 59 ( 1995 )), rhodococcus ruber ( pieper & amp ; steinbuchel , fems microbiol . lett . 96 ( 1 ): 73 - 80 ( 1992 )), rhodospirrilum rubrum ( hustede , et al ., fems microbiol . lett . 93 : 285 - 90 ( 1992 )), rhodobacter sphaeroides ( steinbuchel , et al ., fems microbiol . rev . 9 ( 2 - 4 ): 217 - 30 ( 1992 ); hustede , et al ., biotechnol . lett . 15 : 709 - 14 ( 1993 )), synechocystis sp . ( kaneko , dna res . 3 : 3109 - 36 ( 1996 )), t . violaceae ( liebergesell & amp ; steinbuchel , appl . microbiol . biotechnol . 38 ( 4 ): 493 - 501 ( 1993 )), and z . ramigera ( genbank acc . no . u66242 ). the put and plof series of plasmid transposon delivery vectors useful in the pha - producing methods described herein use the characteristics of transposon tn5 and transposon tn10 , respectively . the transposase genes encoding the enzymes that facilitate transposition are positioned outside of the ‘ transposase recognition sequences ’ and are consequently lost upon transposition . both tn5 and tn10 are known to integrate randomly in the target genome , unlike , for example , the tn7 transposon . however , generally any transposon can be modified to facilitate the insertion of heterologous genes , such as the phb genes , into bacterial genomes . this methodology thus is not restricted to the vectors used in the methods described herein . the technology described above allows for the generation of new pha producing strains and also provides new bacterial strains that are useful for screening purposes . table 1 below shows the different combinations of chromosomally and plasmid encoded phb enzymes and how specific strains can be used to identify new or improved enzymes . besides a screening tool for genes that express improved enzymes , e . coli strains with a complete pha pathway integrated on the chromosome can be used to screen for heterologous genes that affect pha formation . e . coli is a useful host because genes are easily expressed from a multitude of plasmid vectors : high copy - number , low copy - number , chemical or heat inducible , etc . and mutagenesis procedures have been well established for this bacterium . in addition , the completely determined genomic sequence of e . coli facilitates the characterization of genes that affect pha metabolism . transgenic e . coli strains expressing an incomplete pha pathway can be transformed with gene libraries to identify homologs of the missing gene from other organisms , either prokaryotic or eukaryotic . because these screening strains do not have the complete pha biosynthetic pathway , the missing functions can be complemented and identified by the ability of the host strain to synthesize pha . generally pha synthesizing bacterial colonies are opaque on agar plates , whereas colonies that do not synthesize pha appear translucent . clones from a gene library that complement the missing gene confer a white phenotype to the host when grown on screening media . generally screening media contains all essential nutrients with excess carbon source and an antibiotic for which resistance is specified by the vector used in the library construction . besides new genes , genes encoding improved pha biosynthetic enzymes can also be screened for . a mutagenized collection of plasmids containing a phb biosynthetic gene into an e . coli host strain lacking this activity but containing genes encoding the other pha biosynthetic enzymes can be screened for increased or altered activity . for example , pha polymerases with increased activity can be screened for in a strain that expresses thiolase and reductase from the chromosome by identifying phb - containing colonies under conditions that support phb formation poorly . mcl - pha polymerases with an increased specificity towards c 4 can similarly be screened for under phb accumulation promoting conditions . altered activities in the phag encoded acp :: coa transferase can be screened for by expressing mutated versions of this gene in a phbc integrant and screening for phb formation from short chain fatty acids . enzymes that have increased activity under sub - optimal physical conditions ( e . g ., temperature , ph , osmolarity , and oxygen tension ) can be screened for by growing the host under such conditions and supplying a collection of mutated versions of the desired gene on a plasmid . reductase enzymes with specificity to medium side - chain 3 - ketoacyl - coa &# 39 ; s , such as 3 - ketohexanoyl - coa , can be screened for by identifying pha synthesizing colonies in a strain that has a msc - pha polymerase gene integrated on the chromosome and mutagenized versions of a phbb gene on a plasmid . the combination of different specificity pha enzymes allows for the screening of a multitude of new substrate specificities . further permutations of growth conditions allows for screening of enzymes active under sub - optimal conditions or enzymes that are less inhibited by cellular cofactors , such as coenzyme a and coa - derivatives , reduced or oxidised nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate ( nad , nadp , nadh , and nadph ). using the techniques described herein , e . coli strains expressing the genes encoding enzymes for the medium side - chain pha pathway can be constructed . strains in which either phac or phag or both are integrated on the chromosome of e . coli accumulate a pha including medium chain - length 3 - hydroxy fatty acids of which 3 - hydroxydecanoate is the predominant constituent . when phac is integrated by itself , msc - phas can be synthesized from fatty acids . in such strains , it is advantageous to manipulate fatty acid oxidation such that 3 - hydroxy fatty acid precursors accumulate intracellularly . this manipulation can be achieved by mutagenesis or by substituting the e . coli fatty acid degradation enzymes fada and fadb encoding genes with the corresponding faoab genes from pseudomonas putida or related rrna homogy group i fluorescent pseudomonad . the methods and compositions described herein will be further understood by reference to the following non - limiting examples . these examples use the following general methods and materials . e . coli strains were grown in luria - bertani medium ( sambrook , et al ., molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 2d ed . ( cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y . [ 1992 at 37 ° c . or 30 ° c . or in minimal e2 medium ( lageveen et al ., appl . environ . microbiol . 54 : 2924 - 2932 ( 1988 )). dna manipulations were performed on plasmid and chromosomal dna purified with the qiagen plasmid preparation or qiagen chromosomal dna preparation kits according to manufacturers recommendations . dna was digested using restriction enzymes ( new england biolabs , beverly , mass .) according to manufacturers recommendations . dna fragments were isolated from 0 . 7 % agarose - tris / acetate / edta gels using a qiagen kit . plasmid dna was introduced into e . coli cells by transformation or electroporation ( sambrook , et al ., molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 2d ed . ( cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y .)). transposition of phb genes from the put vectors was achieved by mating of the plasmid donor strain and the recipient ( herrero et al ., j . bacteriol . 172 : 6557 ( 1990 )). the recipient strains used were spontaneous naladixic acid or rifampicin resistant mutants of e . coli derived from either ls5218 or mbx23 . mbx23 is lj14 rpos :: tn10 in which the rpos :: tn10 allele was introduced by p1 transduction from strain 1106 ( eisenstark ). recipients in which phb genes have been integrated into the chromosome were selected on naladixic acid or rifampicin plates supplemented with the antibiotic resistance specified by the mini - transposon , kanamycin , or chloramphenicol . oligonucleotides were purchased from biosynthesis or genesys . dna sequences were determined by automated sequencing using a perkin - elmer abi 373a sequencing machine . dna was amplified using the polymerase - chain - reaction in 50 microliter volume using pcr - mix from gibco - brl ( gaithersburg , md .) and an ericomp dna amplifying machine . dna fragments were separated on 0 . 7 % agarose / tae gels . southern blots were performed according to procedures described by sambrook , et al ., molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 2d ed . ( cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y .). detection of dna fragments containing phb genes was performed using chemiluminescent labeling and detection kits from usb / amersham . proteins samples were denatured by incubation in a boiling water bath for 3 minutes in the presence of 2 - mercaptoethanol and sodium dodecylsulphate and subsequently separated on 10 %, 15 %, or 10 - 20 % sodium dodecylsulphate - polyacrylamide gels . after transfer of protein to supported nitrocellulose membranes ( gibco - brl , gaithersburg , md . ), 3 - ketoacyl - coa thiolase , acetoacetyl - coa reductase and phb polymerase was detected using polyclonal antibodies raised against these enzymes and horseradish peroxidase labeled secondary antibodies followed by chemiluminescent detection ( usb / amersham ). acetoacetyl - coa thiolase and acetoacetyl - coa reductase activities were determined as described by peoples and sinskey , j . biol . chem . 264 : 15293 - 15297 ( 1989 ) in cell free extracts from strains grown for 16 hours in lb - medium at 37 c . the acetoacetyl - coa thiolase activity is measured as degradation of a mg 2 + - acetoacetyl - coa complex by monitoring the decrease in absorbance at 304 nm after addition of cell - free extract using a hewlett - packer spectrophotometer . the acetoacetyl - coa reductase activity is measured by monitoring the conversion of nadh to nad at 340 nm using a hewlett - packer spectrophotometer . accumulated pha was determined by gas chromatographic ( gc ) analysis as follows . about 20 mg of lyophilized cell mass was subjected to simultaneous extraction and butanolysis at 110 c . for 3 hours in 2 ml of a mixture containing , by volume , 90 % 1 - butanol and 10 % concentrated hydrochloric acid , with 2 mg / ml benzoic acid added as an internal standard . the water - soluble components of the resulting mixture were removed by extraction with 3 ml water . the organic phase ( 1 μl at a split ratio of 1 : 50 at an overall flow rate of 2 ml / min ) was analyzed on an hp 5890 gc with fid detector ( hewlett - packard co , palo alto , calif .) using an spb - 1 fused silica capillary gc column ( 30 m ; 0 . 32 mm id ; 0 . 25 μm film ; supelco ; bellefonte , pa .) with the following temperature profile : 80 ° c ., 2 min . ; 10 ° c . per min . to 250 ° c . ; 250 ° c ., 2 min . the standard used to test for the presence of 4 - hydroxybutyrate units in the polymer was γ - butyrolactone , which , like poly ( 4 - hydroxybutyrate ), forms n - butyl 4 - hydroxybutyrate upon butanolysis . the standard used to test for 3 - hydroxybutyrate units in the polymer was purified phb . the molecular weights of the polymers were determined following chloroform extraction by gel permeation chromatography ( gpc ) using a waters styragel ht6e column ( millipore corp ., waters chromatography division , milford , mass .) calibrated versus polystyrene samples of narrow polydispersity . samples were dissolved in chloroform at 1 mg / ml , and 50 μl samples were injected and eluted at 1 ml / min . detection was performed using a differential refractometer . 1 - methyl - 3 - nitro - 1 - nitroso - guanidine ( ntg ) mutagenesis was performed as described by miller , a short course in bacterial genetics ( cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y .) using a 90 minute treatment with 1 mg / ml ntg corresponding to 99 % killing . strains and plasmids from which transposon vectors and transposon derivatives were developed are listed in tables 2 and 3 below . mbx245 and mbx247 were selected by growing mbx23 and ls5218 respectively on lb plates containing approximately 30 g / ml naladixic acid . mbx246 and mbx248 were selected by growing mbx23 and ls5218 , respectively , on lb plates containing 50 g / ml rifampicin . colonies that appeared on these selective media within 24 hours were replica plated on the same medium and after growth stored in 15 % glycerol / nutrient broth at − 80 ° c . mbx245 and mbx247 were selected by growing mbx23 and ls5218 respectively on lb plates containing 30 μg / ml naladixic acid . mbx246 and mbx248 were selected by growing mbx23 and ls5218 respectively on lb plates containing 50 μg / ml rifampicin . colonies that appeared on these selective media within 24 hours were replica plated on the same medium and after growth stored in 15 % glycerol / nutrient broth at − 80 ° c . prior to pcr amplification , the primers were phosphorylated using t4 polynucleotide kinase using standard procedures . the dna was amplified using the following program : 1 cycle of 3 min at 95 ° c ., 40 s at 42 ° c ., 2 min at 72 ° c ., followed by 30 cycles of 40 s at 95 ° c ., 40 s at 42 ° c . and 90 s at 72 ° c . the dna then was phenol extracted and treated with t4 dna polymerase prior to gel purification . the blunt ended 0 . 8 kb dna fragment was then inserted into the ecl136ii site in the polylinker of puc18not to obtain pmnxkan . the cat gene was obtained as an hindiii cassette from pharmacia ( pharmacia inc . nj ), blunt ended using klenow fragment of dna polymerase , and inserted into the ecl136ii site of puc18not to obtain pmnxcat . the trp terminator sequence was constructed by annealing the two synthetic oligonucleotides term1 the terminator was then inserted into the hindiii - sphi site of pmnxkan and pmnxcat to obtain pmnxtkan and pmnxtcat , respectively . these vectors were constructed such that any promoter fragment can be added between the sphi and saci sites . promoter p 1 was constructed by annealing of the synthetic oligonucleotides phbb1 followed by filling in the ends with klenow fragment of dna polymerase . the blunt - ended promoter fragment p 1 was then inserted into the hincii site of pmnxtkan and pmnxtcat to obtain pmnxtp 1 kan and pmnxtp 1 cat , respectively . plasmid pmsxtp 1 cat was constructed by transferring the tp 1 cat cassette from pmnxtp 1 cat as an ecori - hindiii fragment into the ecori - hindiii site of puc18sfi . similarly , pmsxtp 1 kan was constructed by transferring the ecori - hindiii fragment containing tp 1 kan into the ecori - hindiii site of puc18sfi . plasmid pmuxc 5 cat contains the phbc gene from z . ramigera on a transposable element for integration of this , gene on the chromosome of a recipient strain , as shown in fig2 a and 2b . strong translational sequences were obtained from pkps4 which includes phac1 encoding pha polymerase from p . oleovorans in the ptrc vector ( pharmacia ). in this construct , phac1 is preceded by a strong ribosome binding site : aggaggttttt (- atg ) ( seq id no : 21 ). the phac1 gene including the upstream sequences , was cloned as a blunt ended ecori - hindiii fragment in the smai site of puc18sfi to give pmsxc 3 . a blunt ended cat gene cassette was subsequently cloned in the blunt - ended sse8387ii site , resulting in pmsxc 3 cat . at this point , all of the phac1 coding region except the 5 ′ 27 base pairs were removed as a psti - bamhi fragment and replaced by the corresponding fragment from the phbc gene from z . ramigera . the resulting plasmid pmsxc 5 cat encodes a hybrid phb polymerase enzyme with the 9 amino terminal residues derived from the p . oleovorans pha polymerase and the remainder from z . ramigera . the c 5 cat cassette was then excised as an avrii fragment and cloned in the corresponding sites of puthg , thereby deleting the mercury resistance marker from this vector . the resulting plasmid , pmuxc 5 cat , contains a c 5 cat mini - transposon in which phbc is not preceded by a promoter sequence . expression of the cassette upon integration is therefore dependent on transcriptional sequences that are provided by the dna adjacent to the integration site . construction of plasmids for chromosomal integration of phbab , encoding thiolase and reductase pmxtp 1 ab 5 kan2 was constructed from pmsxtp 1 kan as partially shown in fig3 a - 3c . first pmsxtp 1 kan was digested with ndei , filled in with klenow and religated to obtain pmsxtp 1 kan2 in which the ndei site is deleted . this deletion results in a unique ndei site just upstream of phba of z . ramigera during later stages of the cloning procedure . b 5 was cloned as a nari fragment from pucdbk1 ( peoples and sinskey 1989 , molecular microbiol . 3 : 349 - 357 ) and cloned in the hincii site of puc18sfi to generate pmsxb 5 . a 5 was inserted as an fsei / blunt - sali fragment in the ecl136ii - sali sites resulting in pmsxab , and regenerating the z . ramigera ab5 intergenic region . pmsxab 5 cat was created by inserting a promoterless cat cassette in the hindiii site of pmsxab 5 . the ab5 fragment from pmsxab 5 cat was cloned as a ecori - psti fragment into the smai site of pmsxtp 1 kan2 giving pmsxtp 1 ab 5 kan2 . the expression cassette ab 5 cat was then excised as a 2 . 8 kb avrii fragment and ligated into the avrii site of puthg and transformed into e . coli strain cc118 λpir to obtain plasmid pmuxab 5 cat . this plasmid was then transformed into e . coli s17 - 1λpir and used to insert the ab5cat expression cassette into the chromosome of e . coli mbx247 by conjugation . the resulting ap 5 / cm r transconjugants were characterized for integration and expression of the thiolase and reductase genes encoded by the phbab genes . construction of plasmids with improved promoters for integration of phbab into the chromosome of e . coli expression of phbab5 was improved by introduction of strong promoters upstream of these genes , as shown in fig3 a - 3c . these promoters were generated with sets of oligonucleotides that provide upstream activating sequences , a − 35 promoter region , a − 10 promoter region with transcriptional start site ( s ), and mrna sequences with possible stabilizing functions . plasmid pmsxtp 1 ab 5 kan2 was digested with psti / xbai , and a fragment containing the − 10 region of the lac promoter was inserted as a fragment obtained after annealing oligonucleotides 3a next , a fragment containing the lac − 35 region and the rrnb region were inserted into the psti site as a fragment obtained after annealing the oligonucleotides : 1a next , the messenger stabilizing sequence including the transcriptional start site from ab 5 was inserted into the xbai - ndei sites as a fragment obtained after annealing the oligonucleotides : the resulting plasmid is pmsxp 11 ab 5 kan2 . the avrii fragment , containing tp 11 ab 5 kan2 was cloned into puthg cut with avrii and used for integration into the genome of mbx379 and mbx245 . plasmid pmsxtp 12 ab 5 kan2 was constructed as pmsxtp 11 ab 5 kan2 with the distinction that the following oligonucleotides were used instead of oligonucleotides 1a and 1b : these oligonucleotides provide a consensus e . coli pho box and − 35 promoter region to generate a promoter that is potentially regulated by the phosphate concentration in the medium . pmsxtp 13 ab 5 kan2 was constructed to provide expression of ab 5 from a promoter that has been shown to be expressed under general stress conditions such as nutrient limitation , ph or heat shock , and administration of toxic chemicals . the promoter region of uspa was amplified using oligonucleotides in a pcr reaction consisting of an incubation at 95 c . for 3 min . followed by 30 cycles of 40 s at 95 ° c ., 40 s at 42 ° c ., an incubation for 7 min . at 68 ° c ., and final storage at 4 ° c . the approximately 350 bp pcr product was cloned into pcr2 . 1 ( invitrogen corp ., usa ) to generate pmbxp 13 . an approximately 190 bp hincii - msci fragment containing the promoter and transcriptional start site for uspa and the first 93 bp of the uspa mrna was cloned into blunt ended bamhi - sse8387ipmsxtp 1 kan2 to give pmsxtp 13 kan2 . plasmid pmsxtp 13 kan2 was then kpni digested , blunt ended with t4 polymerase and dephosphorylated using calf intestinal phosphatase . the ab 5 genes were isolated as a 2 . 0 kb ecori / sse8387i fragment from pmsxab 5 , blunt ended using klenow and t4 polymerase and ligated into the kpni site of pmsxtp 13 kan2 . in the resulting plasmid pmsxtp 13 ab 5 kan2 , the phbab and kan genes are expressed from the uspa ( p 13 ) promoter . the pnab 5 kan ( n = 11 , 12 , 13 ) expression cassettes were then excised as 2 . 8 kb avrii fragments and ligated into the avrii site of puthg and transformed into e . coli strain cc118 λpir to obtain plasmid pmuxp 1 ab 5 kan . this plasmid was then transformed into e . coli s17 - 1λpir and used to insert p 11 ab 5 kan , p 12 ab5kan , and p 13 ab 5 kan expression cassettes into the chromosome of e . coli strains by conjugation . integration of c 5 cat into the chromosome of e . coli c 5 cat was introduced into the chromosome of mbx23 by conjugation using s17 - 1 λpir ( pmuxc ~ cat ) as the donor strain . the conjugation mixture was spread on lb / n1 / cm plates and integrants were obtained , 40 % of which were sensitive to ampicillin , indicating that no plasmid was present in these strains . five integrants were transformed with pmsxab 5 cat ( ap r ) and grown on lb / ap / cm / 2 % glucose to examine biosynthetic activity of phb polymerase ( table 4 ). expression of phb polymerase was increased by restreaking mbx326 successively on lb plates containing 100 , 200 , 500 , and 1000 μg / ml chloroamphenicol . strain mbx379 was derived from mbx326 and exhibited chloramphenicol resistance up to 1000 μg / ml . in southern blot analysis of chromosomal dna isolated from mbx379 and its predecessors , the phbc5 copy - number had not increased . western blot analysis indicated a strong increase in phb polymerase levels in cell free extracts of these strains when the phbab genes were present on a plasmid . integration of p 11 ab 5 kan , p 12 ab 5 kan and p 13 ab 5 kan into mbx379 s17 - 1 λpir strains with either pmuxp 11 ab 5 kan , pmuxpi 2 ab 5 kan , or pmuxp 13 ab 5 kan were mated with mbx379 . transgenic strains in which phbab 5 kan had integrated on the chromosome were selected on lb / n1 / km plates . among the integrants , phb producers were identified on lb / glucose plates . representatives of the individual constructs were mbx612 ( mbx379 :: p 11 ab 5 kan ), mbx677 ( mbx379 :: p 12 ab 5 kan ), and mbx680 ( mbx379 :: p 13 ab 5 kan ). southern blots and western blots showed that the phbab genes had integrated in the chromosome and were expressed in these strains as well . table 5 shows the phb accumulation levels of transgenic e . coli phb producers grown in luria - bertani medium with 2 % glucose or minimal e2 medium with 2 % glucose and 0 . 5 % corn steep liquor . the growth characteristics of mbx612 , 677 , and 680 were improved by bacteriophage p1 transduction . a single transduction step was required to transduce the c 5 cat and ab 5 kan alleles from the different strains into ls5218 , indicating that the two separate integration cassettes were located close to each other on the chromosome . the resulting strains are mbx690 ( from mbx681 ), mbx691 ( from mbx677 ), and mbx698 ( from mbx680 ). repeated inoculation of mbx612 on minimal e2 medium with limiting nitrogen resulted in mbx681 . unlike the strains generated by p1 transduction , mbx681 did not exhibit improved growth characteristics . southern blots and western blots show that phbc and the phbab genes were successfully transduced and were expressed in these strains as well . table 6 below shows phb accumulation levels for these transgenic e . coli phb producers grown in luria - bertani medium with 2 % glucose or minimal e2 medium with 2 % glucose and 0 . 5 % corn steep liquor . mutagenesis using ntg or ems was used to further improve phb production in mbx680 . strains mbx769 and mbx777 were selected after treatment of mbx680 with ems and ntg , respectively . these strains were found to be able to grow on r2 - medium supplied with 1 % glucose , 0 . 5 % corn steep liquor , and 1 mg / ml chloroamphenicol . mbx769 was grown in 50 ml r - 10 medium / 0 . 5 % csl with 2 or 3 % glucose at 37 ° c . for 20 to 26 hours . phb was accumulated to 71 % of the cell dry weight . similarly , mbx769 was grown in 50 ml lb with or without 0 . 375 g / l kh 2 po 4 , 0 . 875 k 2 hpo 4 , 0 . 25 ( nh 4 ) 2 so 4 , and a total of 50 g / l glucose ( five aliquots were added over the course of the incubation ). after 63 hours of incubation , phb had accumulated up to 96 % of the cell dry weight . the phbc and phbab alleles from mbx777 were subsequently transduced into , ls5218 , resulting in mbx820 . southern blots and western blots show that phbc and the phbab genes were successfully transduced and were expressed in these strains as well . table 7 shows the phb accumulation levels of these transgenic e . coli phb producers grown in luria - bertani medium with 2 % glucose or minimal e2 medium with 2 % glucose and 0 . 5 % corn steep liquor . the introduction of phb genes into mbx245 ( t d = 47 min .) was accompanied by a reduction in growth rate ( mbx680 , t d = 71 min .). improved phb production was achieved by ems mutagenesis , but did not improve the growth rate ( mbx777 , t d = 72 min .). p1 transduction of the phb genes into a wild - type strain ( mbx184 ) resulted in the same high growth rate as exhibited by mbx245 and phb accumulation up to 50 % of the cell dry weight in less than 24 hours ( mbx820 , t d = 45 min .). the integration of phbc , phba , and phbb from z . ramigera described herein also is applicable to other pha genes , such as genes encoding phb polymerase from r . eutropha ( c1 ), pha polymerase from p . oleovorans ( c3 ), phb polymerase from a . caviae ( c12 ), acp :: coa transacylase from p . putida ( g3 ), ( r )- specific enouyl - coa hydratase from a . caviae ( j12 ), a broad substrate specific 3 - ketoacyl - coa thiolase from r . eutropha ( a1 - ii ), or a phasin from r . eutropha ( p1 - i and p1 - ii ). these genes were obtained by polymerase chain reaction amplification using the following primers : pcr reactions included 10 pmol of each primer , 1 to 5 μl of chromosomal dna or boiled cells , and 45 μl pcr mix from gibco brl ( gaithersburg , md ). amplification was by 30 cycles of 60 s incubation at 94 c ., 60 s incubation at a temperature between 45 c . and 68 c . and 1 to 3 minutes incubation at 72 c . pcr products were purified , digested with ecori and hindiii , blunt ended with the klenow fragment of dna polymerase , and cloned in the smai site of pmsxcat , pmsxkan , pmnxcat , or pmnxkan according to the schemes shown in fig1 a - 1c , 2 a and 2 b , and 3 a - 3 c pmuxpha was derived from puthg or putkan ; and pmlxpha was derived from plofhg , where pha stands for the pha gene of choice . these plasmids were used for integration of the desired pha gene into the chromosome of e . coli or any other gram - negative microbial strain suitable for pha production . e . coli strains with chromosomally integrated phb genes such as described above also can be used to produce phbv copolymers . phbv is generally synthesized in fermentation systems where propionic acid is co - fed with glucose or other carbohydrate . after uptake , propionate is converted to propionyl - coa , which by the action of acyl - coa thiolase and 3 - ketoacyl - coa reductase is converted to 3 - hydroxyvaleryl - coa ( 3hv - coa ). 3hv - coa is subsequently polymerized by pha polymerase . the capacity to accumulate phbv can be increased by increasing levels of enzymes that specifically synthesize hv monomers . such enzymes may be involved in the uptake of propionic acid , in the activation of propionic acid to propionyl - coa or in any of the phb biosynthetic enzymes . additionally , alternative enzymes can be isolated from other sources , or propionyl - coa can be obtained from alternative pathways , e . g . from the methylmalonyl - coa pathway . in this pathway , succinyl - coa is converted to methylmalonyl - coa which is then decarboxylated to yield propionyl - coa . homopolymers and copolymers containing 4hb monomers can be produced by transgenic e . coli strains . incorporation of 4hb from 4hb - coa can be achieved by feeding 4 - hydroxybutyrate to the pha producing organisms . 4hb is activated to 4hb - coa either through a 4 - hydroxybutyryl - coa transferase such as hbct ( orfz ) from clostridium kluyveri or by an endogenous e . coli enzyme or by any other enzyme with this capability . a p4hb homopolymer is produced when the transgenic e . coli strain contains only the phbc gene . 4hb containing copolymers can be synthesized when the transgenic e . coli strain contains genes encoding the complete phb biosynthetic pathway . e . coli mbx821 ( ls5218 :: c 5 - cat 379 , atoc c ) was grown in luria - bertani medium and resuspended in 100 ml 10 % lb with 5 g / l 4hb and 2 g / l glucose . after incubation of this culture for 24 hours , pha was characterized and identified as containing only 4hb monomers . similarly , e . coli mbx777 with a plasmid containing hbct such as pfs 16 , was grown in lb / 4hb ( 5 g / l ) and the resuting polymer was identified as phb4hb with 35 . 5 % 4hb monomers . production of poly ( 4 - hydroxybutyrate ) from 4 - hydroxybutyrate in recombinant e . coli with no extrachromosomal dna poly ( 4 - hydroxybutyrate ) can be synthesized from 4 - hydroxybutyrate by e . coli expressing 4 - hydroxybutyryl - coa transferase ( hbct ) and pha synthase ( phac ) genes from a plasmid . if these genes are integrated into the e . coli chromosome and expressed at high levels , the recombinant e . coli should be able to synthesize poly ( 4 - hydroxybutyrate ) from 4 - hydroxybutyrate . the hbct and phbc genes were inserted into puthg ( herrero , et al ., j . bacteriol . 172 : 6557 - 67 , 1990 ) as follows . pmsxc 5 cat and pfs16 were both digested with bamhi and sali . the large fragment of pmsxcscat and the fragment of pfs16 containing the hbct gene thus obtained were ligated together using t4 dna ligase to form pmsxc 5 hbct - cat . the fragment containing the phac , hbct , and cat genes was removed from pmsxc 5 hbct - cat by digestion with avrii , and it was inserted using t4 dna ligase into puthg that had been digested with avrii and treated with calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase to prevent self - ligation . the plasmid thus obtained was denoted pmuxc 5 hbct - cat . the plasmid pmuxc 5 hbct - cat was replicated in mbx129 and conjugated into mbx1177 . the strain mbx1177 is a spontaneous mutant of e . coli strain dh5α that was selected for its ability to grow on minimal 4 - hydroxybutyrate agar plates . mbx1177 is also naturally resistant to nalidixic acid . the recipient cells were separated from the donor cells by plating on lb - agar supplemented with 25 μg / ml chloramphenicol and 30 μg / ml nalidixic acid . survivors from this plate were restreaked on minimal medium , containing , per liter : 15 g agar ; 2 . 5 g / l lb powder ( difco ; detroit , mich . ); 5 g glucose ; 10 g 4 - hydroxybutyrate ; 1 mmol mgso 4 ; 10 mg thiamine ; 0 . 23 g proline ; 25 . 5 mmol naohpo 4 ; 33 . 3 mmol k 2 hpo 4 ; 27 . 2 mmol kh 2 po 4 ; 2 . 78 mg feso 4 . 7h 2 o ; 1 . 98 mg mncl 2 . 4h 2 o ; 2 . 81 mg coso 4 . 7h 2 o ; 0 . 17 mg cucl 2 . 2h 2 0 ; 1 . 67 mg cacl 2 . 2h 2 o ; 0 . 29 mg znso 4 . 7h 2 o ; and 0 . 5 mg chloramphenicol . colonies from this plate that appeared to be especially white and opaque were evaluated in shake flasks containing the same medium as above except without agar . the individual colonies were first grown in 3 ml of lb medium for 8 hours , and 0 . 5 ml of each culture was used to inoculate 50 ml of the medium described above . these flasks were incubated at 30 ° c . for 96 hours . one isolate was found by gc analysis ( for which the cells were removed from the medium by centrifugation for 10 minutes at 2000 × g , washed once with water and centrifuged again , then lyophilized ) to contain 4 . 9 % poly ( 4 - hydroxybutate ) by weight . this strain was denoted mbx1462 and selected for further manipulations . mbx1462 was treated with the mutagen 1 - methyl - 3 - nitro - 1 - nitrosoguanidine ( mnng ), a chemical mutagen , by exposing a liquid culture of mbx1462 to 0 . 1 mg / ml mnng for 90 minutes . it was found that 99 . 8 % of the cells were killed by this treatment . the plating and shake flask experiment described above was repeated , and one isolate was found by gc analysis to contain 11 % poly ( 4 - hydroxybutate ) by weight . this strain was denoted mbx1476 and selected for further manipulations . the ntg treatment was repeated and killed 96 . 3 % of the cells . the plating and shake flask experiment described above was repeated once again , and one isolate was found by gc analysis to contain 19 % poly ( 4 - hydroxybutate ) by weight . this strain was denoted mbx1509 . e . coli mbx240 is an xl1 - blue ( stratagene , san diego , calif .) derivative with a chromosomally integrated copy of the phb polymerase encoding phbc gene from ralstonia eutropha . this strain does not form phas from carbon sources such as glucose or fatty acids , because of the absence of enzymes converting acetyl - coa ( generated from carbohydrates such as glucose ) or fatty acid oxidation intermediates , into ( r )- 3 - hydroxyacyl - coa monomers for polymerization . pmsxj12 was constructed by inserting the phaj . gene from a . caviae digested with ecori and psti into the corresponding sites of puc18sfi . the phaj gene was obtained by polymerase chain reaction using the primers ac3 - 5 ′: using a pcr program including 30 cycles of 45 s at 95 c ., 45 s at 55 c . and 2 . 5 minutes at 72 c . transformants of e . coli mbx240 with plasmid pmtxj12 containing the ( r )- specific enoyl - coa hydratase encoded by the phaj gene from aeromonas caviae were grown on luria - bertani medium with 10 mm octanoate and 1 mm oleate . after 48 hours of growth , cells were harvested from a 50 ml culture by centrifugation and the cell pellet lyophilized . lyophilized cells were extracted with chloroform ( 8 ml ) for 16 hours and pha was specifically precipitated from the chloroform solution by adding the chloroform layer to a 10 - fold excess ethanol . precipitation was allowed to occur at 4 c . and the solid polymer was air dried and analyzed for composition by acidic butanolysis . butylated pha monomers were separated by gas chromatography and identified the pha as a poly ( 3 - hydroxybutyrate - co - 3 - hydroxyhexanoate ) copolymer with 2 . 6 % 3 - hydroxyhexanoate monomers . construction of transgenic e . coli strains for screening of new and / or improved genes for pha production the phbc gene was introduced into an e . coli cloning strain by bacteriophage p1 transduction . in a procedure similar to that followed for phbc 5 integration , the phbc gene from r . eutropha was integrated into the chromosome of mbx23 , resulting in mbx143 . after chloramphenicol amplification , mbx150 , which is resistant to 500 μg / ml chloramphenicol , was isolated . a bacteriophage p1 lysate grown on mbx150 was used to transduce the phbc - cat allele into xl1 - blue [ pt7 - reca ]. plasmid pt7reca expresses a functional reca protein which is required for successful p1 transduction . the resulting strain mbx240 is an xl1 - blue derivative with a functional phb polymerase expressed from the chromosome . mbx613 and mbx683 were developed using the same procedures . these strains were derived from mbx245 and xl1 - blue , respectively , and contain integrated ab 5 cat ( mbx613 ) or p 13 ab 5 kan ( mbx683 ) operons . identification of genes encoding new , improved , or ancillary pha biosynthetic enzymes mbx240 , 613 , and 683 are three strains that can be used in screening procedures for new or improved pha genes . using these strains , the following genes have been identified : phbcabfa2 from p . acidophila and phbcab from a . latus . in addition , the phaj gene from a . caviae was functionally expressed in mbx240 to produce pha from fatty acids . besides pha biosynthetic genes specific for c 3 to c 6 monomers , pha biosynthetic enzymes for phas consisting of medium side - chain 3 - hydroxy acids can also be expressed in e . coli . such strains are useful in identifying additional pha biosynthetic enzymes . the plasmids described in the previous examples were used to integrate pha genes in r . eutropha . using a pha - negative mutant of r . eutropha such as # 2 ( peoples & amp ; sinskey , j . biol . chem . 264 : 15298 - 303 ( 1989 )) or phb − 4 ( schubert , et al ., j . bacteriol . 170 : 5837 - 47 ( 1988 )), pha formation was restored by integration of phac from a . caviae in combination with phbab from z . ramigera or phaj from a . caviae . the resulting strains produced phas to variable levels , with a molecular weight in the range of 400 , 000 to 10 , 000 , 000 da and with a composition that includes monomers such as 3 - hydroxyhexanoate and 3 - hydroxyoctanoate . the plasmids described in the previous examples were used to integrate pha genes into pseudomonas putida . the pha - negative phenotype of p . putida gpp104 ( huisman et al ., j . biol . chem . 266 : 2191 - 98 ( 1991 )) was restored by integration of a phac3kan cassette where phac3 encodes the pha polymerase from p . oleovorans . integration of phac3kan using pmuxc3kan was also applied to generate mutants of p . putida with mutations in genes encoding enzymes that affect pha metabolism other than phac . the pha polymerase gene from a . caviae was also introduced in to the chromosome to result in a strain that produces phas including 3 - hydroxy fatty acids in the c 3 to c 9 range . chromosomal integration of phac genes to control molecular weight of the resulting pha it is well known that the concentration of pha polymerase determines the molecular weight of the produced pha when substrate is available in excess . variation of the molecular weight is desirable as polymer properties are dependent on molecular weight . chromosomal integration of phb genes results in variable levels of expression of the pha gene as determined by the chromosomal integration site . it is therefore possible to obtain different transgenic bacteria that have variable levels of phac expression and hence produce phas of variable molecular weight . with this system , it is possible to produce phas with molecular weights of greater than 400 , 000 da and frequently even in excess of 1 , 000 , 000 da . this procedure is applicable to any gram - negative bacterium in which the put or plof derived plasmids can be introduced , such as e . coli , r . eutropha , p . putida , klebsiella pneumoniae , alcaligenes latus , azotobacter vinelandii , burkholderia cepacia , paracoccus denitrificans and in general in species of the escherichia , pseudomonas , ralstonia , burkholderia , alcaligenes , klebsiella , azotobacter genera . a plasmid , pmsxabc 5 kan , was constructed such that the thiolase ( phba ), reductase ( phbb ), and phb synthase ( phbc ) genes from zoogloea ramigera and the kanamycin resistance gene ( kan ) were linked as an operon in the vector puc18sfi . this expression cassette was then excised as an avrii fragment and inserted into the avrii site of put to obtain pmuxabc 5 kan . s17 - 1 λpir strains with pmuxabc 5 kan were mated with mbx247 . transgenic strains in which phbabc 5 kan had integrated into the chromosome were selected on lb / n1 / km plates . among the integrants , phb producers were identified on lb / glucose plates . one strain thus constructed , mbx1164 , was selected for further study . thiolase ( nishimura et al ., 1978 , arch . microbiol . 116 : 21 - 24 ) and reductase ( saito et al ., 1977 , arch . microbiol . 114 : 211 - 217 ) assays were conducted on mbx1164 crude extracts . the cultures were grown in 50 ml of 0 . 5 × e2 medium supplemented with 20 g / l glucose . one unit ( u ) was defined as the amount of enzyme that converted 1 μmol of substrate to product per min . 3 - ketothiolase activity was determined to be 2 . 23 ± 0 . 38 and 2 . 48 ± 0 . 50 u / mg in two independent trials , and 3 - hydroxybutyryl - coa reductase activity was determined to be 4 . 10 ± 1 . 51 and 3 . 87 ± 0 . 15 u / mg in two independent trials . strain mbxi 164 was evaluated for its phb - producing ability in square shake bottles . the cells were grown in 2 ml of lb , and 0 . 1 ml of this was used as an inoculum for the 50 - ml shake bottle culture . the shake bottle contained e2 medium supplemented with 0 . 25 % corn steep liquor ( sigma , st . louis , mo .) and 20 g / l glucose . after incubation at 30 ° c . for 48 hours with shaking at 200 rpm , the biomass concentration had reached 2 . 6 g / l , and the phb concentration had reached 11 . 7 g / l ; thus the cells contained 82 % phb by weight . integration of the pseudomonas oleovorans pha synthase into the e . coli chromosome a pha synthase ( phac ) cassette from the p . oleovorans chromosome and a promoterless chloramphenicol resistance gene were inserted into puc118 such that an operon of the two genes was formed ; i . e ., they were oriented in the same direction and could be transcribed on the same mrna . the sequence of the p . oleovorans phac gene is shown below . the phac - cat operon was excised from this plasmid by digestion with kpni and hindiii and ligated to puc18sfii that had been digested with the same two enzymes to form pmsxc 3 cat . this allowed the phac - cat operon to be flanked by avrii sites . the phac - cat operon was removed from pmsxc 3 cat by digestion with avri and fspi . because the two avrii fragments of pmsxc 3 cat were nearly the same size , fspi was used to facilitate isolation of the phac - cat operon by cutting the rest of the vector into two pieces . the avrii fragment was ligated to putkan which had been digested with avrii and treated with alkaline phosphatase to prevent self - ligation . the plasmid thus produced was denoted pmuxc 3 cat . the operon on this plasmid actually consisted of phac - cat - kan . strain cc18 λpir ( a λpir lysogenic strain ) was transformed with pmuxc 3 cat to produce strain mbx130 . equal amounts of strains mbx130 and mbx245 were mixed on an lb agar plate and incubated for 8 hours at 37 ° c . the mixed cells were then used as an inoculum for an overnight 37 ° c . culture of lb - chloramphenicol ( 25 μg / ml )- nalidixic acid ( 30 μg / ml ). single colonies were isolated from this culture by plating on lb - chloramphenicol ( 25 μg / ml )- nalidixic acid ( 30 μg / ml )- kanamycin ( 25 μg / ml ). the colonies thus isolated have a transducible phac - cat - kan cassette on the chromosome , as shown by the ability to use p1 transduction to introduce the cassette into the chromosome of other strains and select for resistance to both chloramphenicol and kanamycin . modifications and variations of the present invention will be obvious to those of skill in the art from the foregoing detailed description . such modifications and variations are intended to come within the scope of the following claims .
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US-37597599-A
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a device for locking , an electrical device to an accessory part has a guide configured to guide the accessory part in a predetermined movement direction as it moves between a locking position in which it is locked the electrical device and a removal position in which it is removed from the electrical device , the guide having a break in at least one location between the locking position and removal position , and at the location a force acting on the accessory part moves the accessory part into a safety position in which the accessory part is prevented from moving further along the guide into the removal position .
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the locking devices 2 shown in the drawings are used to lock a cordless power tool 4 , for example a hand - guided percussion drill , to a battery pack 6 required to supply power to the power tool 4 . as best shown in fig1 through 5 , on the free lower end of its handle 8 , the power tool 4 is provided in a known fashion with a protruding guide rail 10 that can be slid in the direction of the arrow a into a guide groove 12 let into the upper end of the battery pack 6 . this guide groove 12 has a cross section complementary to the cross section of the guide rail 10 and , together with it , constitutes a linear guide that defines the predetermined insertion direction ( arrow a ). the guide rail 10 is provided with two laterally protruding guide strips 14 , whose cross sections essentially correspond to the cross sections of two guide slots 16 ( only one of which is visible in fig1 ) situated opposite from each other inside the guide groove 12 . the tops of the two guide strips 14 are each composed of three projections 18 , 20 , 22 with flush , flat tops situated one after the other in the longitudinal direction , between which elongated recesses 24 and 26 are provided . when the guide rail 10 is inserted into the - guide groove 12 , the two guide strips 14 engage with the guide slots 16 , whose upper limit surfaces facing the tops of the guide strips 14 are provided with two elongated recesses 28 , 30 situated spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction , while before , between , and after the recesses 28 , 30 , the guide slots 16 extend parallel to the tops of the projections 18 , 20 , 22 of the associated guide strips 14 . the foremost projection 18 of each guide strip 14 in the insertion direction is sized so that it fits in the hindmost recess 28 , while a protrusion 32 between the recesses 28 , 30 is sized so that it fits into the recess 24 between the foremost projection 18 and the subsequent projection 20 . the insertion movement of the guide rail 10 into the guide groove 12 is limited by means of cooperating stops 34 , 36 ( see fig3 and 4 ), which are situated at the rear ends of the guide rail 10 and guide groove 12 in the insertion direction and rest against each other when the battery pack 6 is properly locked to the power tool 4 in its locking position depicted in fig2 and an electrical connection is produced between the terminals of a storage battery of the battery pack 6 and an electrical circuit of a consumer of the power tool 4 . as best shown in fig1 , the locking device 2 , in an intrinsically known manner , has two latches 40 ( only one of which is visible ), which can be moved in a spring - loaded fashion symmetrical to a vertical central plane of the guide rail 10 , in a transversely extending latch guide and , with their opposing ends , protrude beyond adjacent lateral guide surfaces of the guide strips 14 . when the battery pack 6 is locked to the power tool 4 , the end surfaces of the latches 14 each engage in opposing detent recesses 38 ( only one of which is visible ) on the inside of the guide groove 12 of the battery pack 6 . in a likewise intrinsically known manner , the locking device 2 has a release mechanism ( not shown ), which can be manually actuated to disengage the latches 14 from the detent recesses 38 in order to release the battery pack 6 . the locking device 2 can be designed for a one - stage or two - stage locking action ; in the latter case , two additional detent recesses ( not shown ) are provided before the detent recesses 38 in the insertion direction in order to accommodate the latches to secure the battery pack 6 to the power tool 4 without an electrical connection being produced between the terminals of the storage battery of the battery pack 6 and the electrical circuit of the consumer of the power tool 4 . this connection is produced when the battery pack 6 reaches the position shown in fig2 . to prevent the battery pack 6 from sliding off of the guide rail 10 if the latter is tilted downward counter to the insertion direction ( arrow a ) and the release mechanism is intentionally or unintentionally actuated without the battery pack 6 being grasped , the guide 10 , 12 has a break between the locking position and the removal position , which makes it possible to deflect the battery pack 6 out of its linear movement path between the locking position shown in fig2 and the removal position shown in fig5 , transversely in relation to the guide 10 , 12 , into a safety position shown in fig4 , in which it is prevented from moving further toward the removal position . the break of the guide 10 , 12 is situated at the point in the movement path of the battery pack 6 at which the projections 18 and 20 on the tops of the guide strips 14 are situated opposite the recesses 28 and 30 in the upper limit surfaces of the guide slots 16 and the protrusions 32 in the upper limit surfaces of the guide slots 16 are situated opposite the recesses 24 in the tops of the guide strips 14 , as shown in fig3 . in this position , the weight of the battery pack 6 pulls it downward ( arrow g ), causing the projections 18 and 20 to engage in the recesses 28 and 30 and the protrusions 32 to engage in the recesses 24 . at their rear ends in the insertion direction , the projections 18 have stop surfaces 42 that are perpendicular to the insertion direction and , in the safety position , are situated opposite complementary stop surfaces 44 of the recesses 28 so that they prevent the battery pack 6 from moving further toward the removal position , as shown in fig4 . in order to disengage the battery pack 6 from the safety position for removal , it only needs to be lifted slightly in the direction of the arrow b and then moved again further in the guide 10 , 12 until it reaches the removal position . by contrast , at their front ends in the insertion direction , the projections 18 , 20 , and 22 are bounded by leading bevels 46 , 48 , 50 , which in the safety position , are situated opposite complementary leading bevels 52 , 54 of the recesses 28 , 30 . this allows the battery pack 6 to be slid unhindered into the locking position , even if it is not held correctly by the user and moves into the safety position as a result . whereas with the locking device 2 shown in fig1 through 5 , the movement of the battery pack 6 into the safety position is initiated by the force of gravity on it , with the locking device 2 shown in fig6 through 8 , two prestressed leaf springs 60 are also provided in order to tilt the battery pack 6 in relation to the power tool 4 , into the safety position shown in fig8 when it reaches the break in the guide 10 , 12 ( fig7 ). the leaf springs 60 are inserted into the battery pack 6 underneath the guide slots 16 so that they press from underneath against the underside of the adjacent guide strips 14 and press the adjacent guide surfaces 62 , 64 of the guide groove 12 and guide rail 10 apart from each other when the break in the guide 10 , 12 is reached . the projections 18 are brought into engagement with the recesses 28 and the protrusions 32 are brought into engagement with the recesses 24 as described above . it will be understood that each of the elements described above , or two or more together , may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above . while the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a device for locking an electrical device to an accessory part , it is not intended to be limited to the details shown , since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention . without further analysis , the foregoing will reveal fully revela the gist of the present invention that others can , by applying current knowledge , readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that , from the standpoint of prior art , fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of the invention .
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US-22010705-A
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high - production , minimal - discharge aquaponic systems and methods . the aquaponic systems separate waste water generated from fish tanks into two flow streams . in the first flow stream , suspended - waste water generated from the waste water is converted to nutrient - rich water and used for hydroponic plant growth . nutrient - depleted water resulting from the hydroponic plant growth is fed back into fish tanks to continue the cycle . in the second flow stream , settleable solids generated from the waste water is converted to nutrient - rich sludge and used for solid or semi - solid substrate - based plant growth . excess nutrient - rich water derived from the second flow stream is fed back into the first flow stream , thereby conserving water and nutrients within the system .
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the aquaponic systems of the present invention may include various combinations of elements selected from the group consisting of a solids separator 1 , a nutrification tank 2 , a nitrification tank 3 , a degassing tank 4 , any of a variety of hydroponic growth apparatuses 5 such as a hydroponic raft tank 51 and / or a nutrient film technique apparatus 52 , a sump tank 6 , a fish tank 7 , a solids filter 8 , a sludge sump 9 , and a substrate - based growth apparatus 10 . an exemplary aquaponic system 100 of the present invention is provided in fig1 . the solids separator 1 treats fish waste water 21 received from fish tanks 7 by separating settleable solids 28 from suspended - waste water 22 . “ settleable solids ” refers to particulates that are capable of settling out of the waste water 21 . “ suspended - waste water ” refers to the water residue remaining after removal of settleable solids , and includes fish - waste particulates not capable of settling out of the waste water 21 suspended therein . various solids separators are known in the art . non - limiting examples of suitable solids separators 1 include clarifiers , swirl separators , imhoff tanks or cones , etc . in preferred versions , the solids separator 1 is a non - filtration solids separator . the nutrification tank 2 is a multi - staged tank or set of tanks that provide habitat for heterotrophic bacteria to mineralize the suspended fish waste in the suspended - waste water 22 into usable nutrients for the fish , thereby generating mineralized water 23 . the term “ mineralize ” is used herein as in the art and refers to the break - down of solid , organic waste material ( fecal material from fish ) to carbon dioxide , ammonia , and other compounds and components . by design , these tanks enhance removal of organic materials and control denitrification ( i . e ., the conversion ( reduction ) of nitrites and nitrate to gaseous nitrogen ( n 2 , no , n 2 o )). mineralization is accomplished by any of a number of species of heterotrophic bacteria known in the art . heterotrophic bacteria can be either gram - positive ( e . g ., bacillus ) or gram - negative ( e . g ., pseudomonas , escherichia ). some are strictly aerobic , but many are facultative anaerobes ( they can survive in both the presence and absence of oxygen ). many species tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions , including temperature , ph , salinity , etc . the nitrification tank 3 provides habitat for nitrifying bacteria to convert the mineralized water 23 to nitrified water 24 . the nitrifying bacteria perform nitrification , the biological oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate . nitrate is the primary form of nitrogen used by plants . the nitrification process consists of two steps : ( 1 ) oxidation of ammonia ( nh 3 ) to nitrite ( no 2 ); and ( 2 ) oxidation of nitrite ( no 2 ) to nitrate ( no 3 ). five genera are generally accepted as ammonia oxidizers and four genera as nitrite oxidizers . of these , nitrosomonas ( ammonia oxidizers ) and nitrobacter ( nitrite oxidizers ) are the most important . the sustained growth of nitrifying bacteria is a function of several parameters . nitrifying bacteria are aerobic bacteria . this means they require dissolved oxygen in order to metabolize , grow , and reproduce . sufficient alkalinity is also important . alkalinity of water is a measure of its capacity to neutralize acids . a variety of compounds , including bicarbonates , salts of weak acids , and hydroxides contribute to alkalinity . when ammonia is oxidized during nitrification , protons ( h +) are liberated . alkalinity is needed to neutralize these protons . in fact , 8 . 64 mg / l of alkalinity are consumed for each mg / l of ammonia that is oxidized . without sufficient alkalinity , the ph will drop , and nitrification will slow down or even stop . nitrification works best when the ph is between 6 . 5 and 8 . 5 . the process slows considerably at ph values outside this range . optimal temperature is also important , as extreme temperatures can impair nitrification efficiency . the degassing tank 4 is configured to remove gasses dissolved in the water in the system 100 , such as nitrified water 24 and / or nutrient - rich filtrate water 34 , thereby generating nutrient - rich water 25 suitable for sustaining hydroponic growth . the gasses are introduced into the water as a result of the biological processes that generate nutrients , such as those involved in the nutrification and nitrification steps . various degassing tanks are well - known in the art and are suitable for use in the present system 100 . the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 may comprise any apparatus or group of apparatuses configured for supporting hydroponic growth . as shown in fig1 and 2 , two exemplary apparatuses suitable for inclusion in the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 include hydroponic raft tanks 51 and nutrient film technique ( nft ) apparatuses 52 . in the process of supporting hydroponic growth , the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 converts the nutrient - rich water 25 to nutrient - depleted water 27 . hydroponic raft tanks 51 generally comprise a tank of water with a water inlet and a water outlet and hydroponic rafts floating on or suspended above the water . the hydroponic rafts are generally made from construction grade polystyrene sheets and comprise holes with various pots contained therein . non - limiting examples of suitable pots include hydroponic net pots , horticultural horticubes , and rockwool cubes . plants are grown in the pots in such a manner that their roots extend to and within the water . nft apparatuses 52 generally comprise water channels , preferably sloping channels ; a table frame to support the channels ; water inlets and outlets on either side of the channels ; and , in some cases , a reservoir for capturing water from the channels and recirculating the water to the channels before returning the water back to other components of the system 100 . a very shallow stream of water containing dissolved nutrients is circulated past the bare roots of plants in the channels , the latter of which constitute watertight gullies . the depth of the recirculating stream is very shallow , with little more than a film of water , thereby forming a “ nutrient film .” a thick root mat develops in the bottom of the channel and has an upper surface , which , although moist , is exposed to the air . nft apparatuses 52 are exceptional for exposing plants to adequate supplies of water , oxygen , and nutrients . nft apparatuses 52 are useful for growing leafy crops such as lettuce and herbs . a preferred configuration for the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 , shown in fig2 , includes one nft apparatus 52 and two hydroponic raft tanks 51 . the nft apparatus 52 is configured in parallel with respect to the hydroponic raft tanks 51 , and the hydroponic raft tanks 51 are configured in series with respect to each other . an excess of hydroponic raft tanks 51 included within a system may require diluting the water in the system with “ make - up ” water from outside the system , which decreases nutrient availability to all plants . inclusion of nft apparatuses 52 increases plant production without diluting the water in the system or affecting the ratio of water to fish within the system 100 . the sump tank 6 serves as a reservoir for the system 100 . in the preferred version , it is disposed between the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 and the fish tank 7 to store the nutrient - depleted water . however , the sump tank 6 may be disposed between any two components involved in the first flow path , described in detail below . the fish tank 7 receives nutrient - depleted water 27 and houses fish therein . in so doing , the nutrient - depleted water 27 is converted to waste water 21 . the solids filter 8 collects , processes , and blends settleable solids 28 , such as those received from the solids separator 1 . such settleable solids 28 would not be used in a conventional raft system . the solids filter 8 also filters the processed and blended settleable solids 28 to generate clear , nutrient - rich filtrate water 34 and nutrient - rich sludge 29 as a retentate . the solids filter 8 preferably includes a filtration tank , a bead filter , a pump to run the filter , and appropriate plumbing for carrying out the above - mentioned processes . collection and subsequent use of the nutrient - rich sludge 29 and return of the nutrient - rich filtrate water 34 to the first flow path , as described below , results in nearly zero waste and at least doubles the plant production compared to conventional aquaponic systems . the sludge sump 9 is a reservoir for the nutrient - rich sludge 29 generated by the solids filter 8 . the nutrient - rich sludge 29 can be pumped from the sludge sump 9 to various substrate - based growth apparatuses 10 for use as fertilizer . the sludge sump 9 includes a sump tank , a pump for pumping the sludge from the sump tank , and appropriate plumbing . as nutrient - rich sludge 29 in the sludge sump 9 is preferably configured not to return to the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 in the first flow path ( see fig1 ), adjustments to the ph and / or nutrient composition can be made in the sludge sump 9 to accommodate specific crop needs in the substrate - based growth apparatuses 10 . the substrate - based growth apparatus 10 includes one or more apparatuses configured to grow plants in a solid or semi - solid substrate . various non - limiting examples of substrate - based growth apparatuses 10 include soilless media - filled growth beds and soil - filled growth beds . the beds may be contained indoors or outdoors and may be raised beds or in - ground beds . a preferred substrate - based growth apparatus 10 includes raised , soilless media - filled growth beds that include a frame , a liner , a soilless medium , aeration , and plumbing . the frame is covered with a liner and is filled with a soilless medium , such as expanded clay . nutrient - rich sludge , such as from the sludge sump 9 , is pumped into the media bed and distributed throughout the bed . the sludge is very rich in nutrients and is further broken down by microbes through the mineralization process to release more nutrients over time . aeration that runs the length of the bottom of the media bed enhances this microbial activity . indoor , soilless media - filled growth beds are preferred for growing fruiting crops such as tomatoes , peppers , beans , squash , etc . as shown in fig1 , the components of the system 100 described above are preferably configured in two main flow paths . a first flow path generates nutrient - rich water 25 from nutrient - depleted water 27 for use by the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 . the second flow path generates nutrient - rich sludge for use as fertilizer , for example , by the substrate - based growth apparatus 10 . in the first flow path , nutrient - depleted water 27 stored in the sump tank 6 is pumped to the fish tank 7 . in the fish tank 7 , the nutrient - depleted water 27 becomes replete with fish waste and flows to the solids separator 1 as waste water 21 . the solids separator 1 separates the waste water 21 into settleable solids 28 and suspended - waste water 22 . the settleable solids 28 are sent to the second flow path , described below . the suspended - waste water 22 flows to the nutrification tank 2 to generate mineralized water 23 . the mineralized water 23 flows to the nitrification tank 3 to generate nitrified water 24 . the nitrified water 24 flows to the degassing tank 4 to generate nutrient - rich water 25 . from there , the nutrient - rich water 25 is transported to the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 to support plant growth . in the process of supporting plant growth , the nutrient - rich water 25 becomes nutrient - depleted water 27 , the latter of which flows back to the sump tank 6 for storage . in a second flow path , the settleable solids 28 separated in the solids separator 1 flow to the solids filter 8 . the settleable solids 28 may contain just enough water required to move them through the system 100 . however , the amount of water in the settleable solids 28 can be varied depending on how much water is needed in the downstream substrate - based growth apparatuses 10 . the settleable solids 28 in the solids filter 8 are preferably mixed with water draining from the nutrification tank 2 and nitrification tank 3 ( path not shown ). the settleable solids 28 are processed in the solids filter 8 , and nutrient - rich sludge 29 and nutrient - rich filtrate water 34 are separated by filtration . the nutrient - rich filtrate water 34 is transferred to a component of the first flow path , such as the nutrification tank 2 , nitrification tank 3 , or , preferably , the degassing tank 4 ( see fig1 ). transferring the nutrient - rich filtrate water 34 back to the first flow path makes additional water and nutrients available to the hydroponic growth apparatus 5 for increased plant production and reduces the amount of make - up water required in the system 100 . the nutrient - rich sludge 29 is pumped to the sludge sump 9 and then the substrate - based growth apparatus 10 , where heterotrophic bacteria further process it to release nutrients , thereby supporting additional plant growth . if a soilless media - filled growth bed is employed as a substrate - based growth apparatus 10 , nutrient - depleted sludge 39 is preferably recycled from the substrate - based growth apparatus 10 back to the sludge sump 9 and mixed with the nutrient - rich sludge 29 entering from the solids filter 8 . as an alternative to or in addition to using the nutrient - rich sludge 29 as fertilizer on - site in a substrate - based growth apparatus 10 , the nutrient - rich sludge 29 may be packaged and sent off - site for use as fertilizer . pumps are preferably disposed throughout the system 100 to promote flow in the two flow streams . a pump may be operationally connected to the sump tank 6 for pumping nutrient - depleted water 27 to the fish tank 7 . another pump may be operationally connected to degassing tank 4 to deliver nutrient - rich water 25 to the nft apparatus 52 . another pump may be operationally disposed within the solids filter 8 to drive filtration . yet another pump may be operationally connected with the sludge sump 9 to pump the nutrient - rich sludge 29 therefrom . the materials ( water and sludge ) in the system 100 otherwise travels throughout the system 100 by gravity flow . the system 100 may include one or more of any of the elements described herein . if more than one of a particular element is included , the elements may be connected in series or in parallel . a preferred version includes four fish tanks 5 ; four solids separators 1 , each fed by a corresponding one of the four fish tanks 5 ; two nutrification tanks 2 disposed in series ; one nitrification tank 3 ; a degassing tank 4 with separate , parallel outlets to each of a hydroponic raft tank 51 and an nft apparatus 52 ; a hydroponic growth apparatus 5 comprising two hydroponic raft tanks 51 mutually disposed in series and disposed in parallel with an nft apparatus 52 ; one sump tank 5 ; one sludge sump 9 ; and two , parallel substrate - based growth apparatuses 10 independently connected to the sludge sump 9 to recycle sludge therebetween . in a conventional aquaponic system , any settleable solids and associated water would be discarded . by contrast , the aquaponic system 100 described herein eliminates waste and retains water and nutrients within the system 100 without diluting the water by adding extra , fresh makeup water . the use of the two streams , as well as the feedback from the second flow stream to the first , provides at least double the plant production compared to conventional aquaponic systems . in a convention raft aquaponic system , the plant - to - fish production ratio is about 10 - to - 1 . with the system 100 described herein , the plant to fish production ratio can be about 20 - to - 1 . the elements and method steps described herein can be used in any combination whether explicitly described or not . all combinations of method steps as described herein can be performed in any order , unless otherwise specified or clearly implied to the contrary by the context in which the referenced combination is made . as used herein , the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise . for example , reference to “ a substrate - based growth apparatus ” may include one , two , three , or more substrate - based growth apparatuses . all patents and patent publications cited herein are expressly incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each were specifically and individually indicated as being incorporated by reference . in case of conflict between the present disclosure and the incorporated references , the present disclosure controls . it is understood that the invention is not confined to the particular construction and arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described , but embraces such modified forms thereof as come within the scope of the following claims .
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US-201414169540-A
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a device comprised of impervious material , sloping back to front , for collecting leakage from plumbing fixtures and waste and supply lines that will protect the surface on which said device is installed on or built into , such as but not limited to sink cabinetry and flooring underneath , from damage with an area at the front of the liquid collection receptacle for leakage accumulation and leakage detection , as well as providing a horizontal support surface to maintain storage capabilities .
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referring now to the drawings in greater detail , fig1 through fig5 illustrate the preferred construction of a device or tray 1 made of impervious material , preferrably of plastic or rubber , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the numeral 2 represents a sloping surface which slopes generally horizontal from back to front , to collect the leakage and direct it to a leak accummulation detection area 6 at the front of the device 1 . encompassing and supported at the perimeter of the sloping surface 2 is a front wall 8 , two side walls 10 , and a back wall 12 . there are reinforcing supports 14 integral with the underneath side of the sloping surface 2 . a plurality of fins 5 having horizontal surfaces 4 , project upwardly from the sloping surface 2 , and arranged in a parallel pattern to one another on the sloping surface 2 , thereby allowing any leakage to reach the sloping surface 2 . the fins 5 provide a horizontal support surface installed on or built into the device 1 to maintain the storage capabilities of a cabinet that the device 1 is installed on or built into . there are notches 16 in the side walls 10 to receive u - shaped clips 18 to provide an attachment system for maintaining a flat horizontal surface when a plurality of devices 1 are joined together as shown in fig1 . optionally , the device 1 can be attached to a surface by screws ( not shown ) in reinforced openings 20 which may be provided . reinforced openings 20 may be located at the junction of front wall 8 and side walls 10 and mid points of back wall 12 . referring now to fig6 which is similar to device 1 with a horizontal flange 22 added to front wall 8 and structural supports 14 notched to rest on cabinet structure support 24 for a built - in embodiment of the present invention which fits in a cabinet structure and replaces a cabinet floor . referring now to fig7 and 8 which show partial views of a vacuum formed plastic device 28 having side walls 10 , an end wall 12 and a front wall 8 ( only side wall 10 and end wall 12 are shown ), a plurality of fins 5 with horizontal surfaces 4 , and sloping bottoms 2 between the fins 5 . integral with sloping bottom 2 are reinforcing supports 14 . there is also a leak accummulation detection area 6 ( not shown ) similar to the accummulation detection area 6 at the front of the device 1 . the molded plastic device 28 is economically formed using a vacuum forming method well known in the plastics molding art . another embodiment of the invention is shown in fig9 where there are no fins 5 or horizontal surfaces 4 on sloping surface 42 . the device 40 has a separate horizontal open grate 44 with vertical supports 46 to support articles above as with device 1 . there is a leak accummulation detection area 48 to collect any fluid leakage , visible through open grate 44 . another embodiment of the invention is shown in fig1 where there are no fins 5 or horizontal surfaces 4 on sloping surface 56 . device 52 shows a built - in embodiment of the invention which fits within cabinet walls 58 and replaces the cabinet floor of a cabinet structure . shown are cabinet structural supports 50 and a tray device 52 of the invention . the device 52 is similar to device 1 except there are flanges 54 which can be fastened to cabinet supports 50 . the device 52 has a separate horizontal open grate 60 that is supported on flanges 54 . there is also a leak accummulation detection area 62 similar to the accummulation detection area 6 at the front of the device 1 which is visible through the horizontal open grate 60 . to use the tray device to detect which of the plumbing fixture lines is leaking , the device is placed in a cabinet housing a sink and its plumbing fixtures . the device is positioned either temporarily or permanently on cabinet supports used to house household cleaning supplies , etc ., which is the more common area to find such items . when the device is positioned , the household supplies are returned to the cabinet , except they are now placed on the horizontal surface 4 , above the sloping horizontal surface 2 . the sloping horizontal surface 2 collects any fluid leakage , and by gravity , the fluid runs down the sloping surface to the accummulation and detection area 6 where it collects . the device 1 being provided with fins 5 that are spaced along the sloping horizontal surface 2 to guide fluid leakage to accummulation and detection trough 6 has the further advantage of isolating which plumbing fixture is leaking . the leaking fluid drips onto the device 1 striking in a specific area , therefore , it is trapped between certain fins 5 and runs down a particular location on the sloping horizontal surface 2 to trough 6 . a track of moisture is left on sloping surface 2 which points to the exact location of the leak . the use of the device 1 not only prevents damage to the cabinet surface , but it provides a quick and simple to use method of finding a fluid leak . from the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all the ends and objects hereinabove set forth together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the structures . it will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations . this is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims . since many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof , it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in detail , it will be apparent that modifications and alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims .
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US-84053092-A
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the present invention relates to release coatings which comprise cellulosic esters or cellulosic ethers in combination with adhesion - promoting compounds having an affinity for vinyl chloride - containing compositions . the release coatings maintain their adherence characteristics during processing of the structure in which they are disposed , but substantially lose their adherence characteristics when said structure is fused , thereby becoming easily separable from the resulting product .
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in one embodiment the present invention comprises a film - forming composition , said film - forming composition comprising at least one cellulosic ether or cellulosic ester having a melting point not less than about 220 ° f ., at least one adhesion - promoting compound having an affinity for polymeric vinyl chloride - containing compositions , and an organic solvent , said film - forming composition being adaptable to differentially bond a carrier to a subsequently applied polymeric vinyl chloride - containing composition . in a second embodiment , the present invention comprises a releasable coating film adaptable to differentially bond a carrier to a subsequently applied polymeric vinyl chloride - containing composition , said film comprising at least one cellulosic ether or cellulosic ester having a melting point not less than about 220 ° f ., and at least one adhesion - promoting compound having an affinity for said composition , said film being suitable to initially bond the carrier to said composition in an essentially secure manner , but being capable of substantially losing its bonding ability when said composition is fused . in a third embodiment , the present invention comprises a process for preparing a fused vinyl chloride - containing structure , said process comprising the steps of providing a carrier with a releasable coating film , said film comprising ( a ) at least one cellulosic ether or cellulosic ester having a melting point not less than about 220 ° f ., and ( b ) at least one adhesion - promoting compound having an affinity for polymeric vinyl chloride - containing compositions ; adhering a vinyl chloride - containing composition to the coated carrier ; selectively processing and fusing the composite structure ; and separating said carrier from the resulting fused polyvinyl chloride - containing composition , said coating film securely bonding said carrier to said composite structure during processing , but substantially losing its bonding capability when said composite structure is fused . release coatings known in the art have usually been formulated such that the adhesion and , hence , the force necessary to induce separation remains essentially constant during and after processing . such coatings have traditionally been selected to demonstrate rather specific adhesive characteristics , depending on the process involved . thus , release coatings are expected to adhere firmly enough that they will not permit delamination during processing , but not so firmly that the product is adversely affected when the product is separated from the carrier . unfortunately , this balance has often been difficult to achieve . surprisingly , applicant has discovered that release coatings which are capable of adhering a vinyl chloride - containing composition to a carrier may be prepared whereby strong adhesion is maintained during processing , after which the coating loses its adhesion capabilities and permits easy separation of the product from the carrier . such coatings may be adapted for use under a wide variety of processing conditions and they are neither taught nor suggested by the prior art . two major components are required to practice the present invention . the first major component comprises at least one cellulosic ether or cellulosic ester having a melting point not less than about 220 ° f ., but preferably not less than about 250 ° f . such cellulosic compounds have a relative lack of affinity for vinyl chloride - containing compositions and , thus , are critical to the practice of the present invention . examples of compounds which have given very satisfactory results when practicing the present invention are organic cellulose esters such as cellulose acetate propionate and cellulose acetate butyrate ; inorganic cellulose esters such as nitrocellulose ; and cellulose ethers such as ethylcellulose and methylcellulose . the second major component of the release coating of the present invention comprises an adhesion promoting compound having an affinity for vinyl chloride - containing compositions . such compounds compensate for the non - affinity of the cellulosic components for the vinyl chloride - containing composition . a wide variety of compounds fit this description , examples of which are polymethyl methacrylate , copolymers of methyl methacrylate and butyl methacrylate , arylsulfonamide - formaldehyde condensates , ortho - and para - toluenesulfonamides , plasticizers such as dicyclohexyl and diphenyl phthalate , polyester resins , maleic acid resins , and polyamide resins . for convenience , these compounds are also referred to herein as &# 34 ; modifying resins .&# 34 ; preferably , the cellulosic components and the modifying resins will be compatible with one another . certain of these materials tend to be immiscible , even in the presence of an effective solvent . ideally , the use of such incompatible components should be avoided although a certain degree of incompatibility may be permissible in certain situations . a good example of a cellulosic component whose utility is diminished because of incompatibility with many of the modifying resins is cellulose acetate . virtually any solvent may be used provided it is compatible with the aforementioned major components . preferably , low - boiling solvents such as alcohols , esters and ketones will be used , either alone or in combination , because they are good solvents which are easily volatilized . in addition , a nitroparaffin blend comprising 70 % nitroethane , 25 % isopropyl acetate and 5 % cellosolve acetate has proved to be a very useful solvent system , primarily due to the combination of good solvency demonstrated by the blend and the gradient evaporation shown by the individual components . the release coating film which is produced from these components will desirably be smooth and bubble free , have uniform adhesion characteristics during processing and demonstrate a uniform gloss . little or no penetration of the film into the carrier need be obtained . to practice the present invention at least one of each of the major components indicated above are dissolved in a suitable solvent . the relative amounts of these components can vary widely depending on the processing conditions which will be employed , as well as on the characteristics of the components . thus , for each 100 parts of the major components , usually from about 20 to about 95 parts by weight of cellulosic ester or ether may be used in combination with from about 80 to about 5 parts by weight of modifying resin to give suitable release coatings . the wide variation of applicable ranges may be more clearly illustrated by the following . when mixtures comprising a total of 100 parts by weight of polymethylmethacrylate ( pmma ) and cellulose acetate propionate ( cap ) were used to form release coatings , suitable results were obtained using from about 50 to about 6 parts by weight of pmma in combination with from about 50 to about 94 parts by weight of cap . the preferred ranges were from about 33 to about 9 parts pmma in combination with from about 67 to about 91 parts of cap . on the other hand , when release coatings were prepared comprising a total of 100 parts by weight of toluenesulfonamide - formaldehyde resin ( tfr ) and cap , from about 75 to about 15 parts by weight of tfr were used in combination with from about 25 to about 85 parts by weight of cap . the preferred ranges were from about 67 to about 20 parts tfr in combination with from about 33 to about 80 parts cap . after the solution is prepared , it is applied to the surface of the carrier , usually at least at a level of from about 1 to about 10 pounds for every 100 square yards of surface , after which the solvent is allowed to evaporate . the polyvinyl chloride - containing composition is then applied to the surface of the dried release coat and the composite material is processed as desired . for the examples provided herein , the maximum processing temperature did not exceed about 300 ° f . prior to the final heating step . however , this temperature is not an absolute limitation and may be substantially higher or lower depending on the components and the processing conditions which are employed . after processing , a final heating step induces loss of adhesion , permitting easy separation of the carrier . preferably , the strongest adhesion at this stage will be between the carrier and the release coat so that the relase coat remains with the carrier after separation . the manner in which release coatings of the present invention operate is not clearly understood . however , while applicant herein does not desire to be bound to any particular theory of operability , it appears that the differential release characteristics demonstrated by the present release coatings are attributable to a migration of the cellulosic compounds and / or the modifying resins at elevated temperature . as previously indicated , the cellulosic compounds have a limited affinity for the vinyl chloride - containing compositions . these cellulosic materials are essentially equally distributed throughout the release coat when it is applied to the carrier layer . during most of the processing steps the temperature usually remains below about 300 ° f . and this relatively uniform composition appears to be maintained . however , at the conclusion of the processing steps , the composite structure is normally fused at about 350 °- 400 ° f . for a period of time . when this occurs , it is believed that the cellulosic materials in the release coating tend to migrate away from the vinyl chloride - containing composition thereby tending to concentrate along the surface of the carrier . alternatively , or at the same time , the modifying resins may similarly migrate toward or into the vinyl composition . in either event , the apparent migration effectively destroys the adhesion characteristics of the release coating , resulting in an extremely easy separation of the fused vinyl chloride composition from the carrier . support for this hypothesis has been obtained by laboratory experimentation using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ( ftir ). studies of a release coating comprising cellulose acetate propionate and polymethyl methacrylate have shown that , after separation occurred , the surface of the polyvinyl chloride composition had bands which indicated a concentration of polymethyl methacrylate , whereas the surface of the release coating remaining on the release paper showed no bands corresponding to the polyvinyl chloride composition . the following examples are provided to illustrate but not to limit the scope of the present invention . carriers coated with a release coating were prepared as described in the following examples . after preparation of the coated carrier , the following processing steps were followed for all examples . the first step was the application of a base coating comprising a polyvinyl chloride plastisol having the following composition . ______________________________________ingredient parts by weight______________________________________dispersion grade pvc homopolymer 43blending grade pvc homopolymer 29dioctyl phthlate plasticizer 122 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol 10diisobutyrate ester plasticizerbutyl benzyl phthalate plasticizer 5barium , calcium , zinc , phosphorus stabilizer 2______________________________________ this plastisol was applied as a 6 - mil layer to the release coating and was gelled at 260 ° f . for two minutes . after application of the base layer , a foamable plastisol having the following composition was applied . ______________________________________ingredient parts by weight______________________________________dispersion grade pvc homopolymer 74blending grade pvc homopolymer 26octyl tallate epoxy plasticizer 1dioctyl phthalate plasticizer 54zinc neodecanoate stabilizer 1 . 7barium neodecanoate stabilizer 0 . 6azodicarbonamide blowing agent 2 . 6pigment 4 . 0______________________________________ a 22 - mil layer of the foamable plastisol was applied to the gelled substrate and gelled at 270 ° f . for two minutes . the wire method key test as hereinafter described was performed at this stage on the gelled samples . the gelled surface was then rotogravure printed with a pattern using fast - drying inks , and the printed surface was covered with a plastisol clear coat having the following composition . ______________________________________ingredient parts by weight______________________________________dispersion grade pvc homopolymer 94blending grade pvc homopolymer 6dioctyl phthalate plasticizer 142 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol 18diisobutyrate ester plasticizerbutyl benzyl phthalate 10high boiling blend of aromatic 5and aliphatic solventsoctyl tallate epoxy plasticizer 3zinc octoate stabilizer 0 . 2barium neodecanoate stabilizer 0 . 4______________________________________ a 10 - mil coating of the clear coat was applied to the composite structure and the coated material was then heated at 395 ° f . for three minutes to form the plastisol and fuse the structure . the foamed product was also evaluated using the key test . the force required to delaminate or strip the carrier off of the vinyl product was measured according to the following conditions , referred to as a wire method key test . the test was conducted at 73 . 4 ° f . using a sample cut to a dimension of 2 inches by 6 inches . one end of the sample was delaminated slightly across its 2 - inch width and a 0 . 022 - inch gauge wire , stretched at each end by supports , was placed in the delamination zone . the delamination zone was then closed and the closed end of the sample was clamped in the upper jaw of an instron tensile tester . the wire supports were attached by appropriate means to the lower jaw of the tester and the two jaws were separated at a rate of 6 inches per minute . as this occurred , the wire delaminated the structure . the force measured to cause delamination was a &# 34 ; key value ,&# 34 ; reported in pounds per 2 - inch width . a prior art release coating was prepared having the following composition . ______________________________________ingredient weight in pounds______________________________________ethyl cellulose 11 . 7denatured alcohol 85 . 8methyl ethyl ketone 1 . 4pigment dispersion in dioctyl phthalate 1 . 1______________________________________ the coating was applied at a rate of 3 . 7 pounds per 100 square yards of carrier using a rotogravure printing process . a clay coated kraft paper was employed as the carrier . the solvent was evaporated in an air stream and the non - foamable and foamable plastisol layers were applied and gelled as described above at 285 ° f . a sample of the structure was subjected to a key test , giving a key value of 0 . 33 pounds . the sample was printed , clear coated and fused to give a foamed product which was also subjected to the key test . an average key value of 0 . 27 pounds was obtained . ______________________________________ingredient weight in pounds______________________________________40 % solids pmma solution 37 ( acryloid a - 102 from rohm & amp ; haas co .) cellulose acetate propionate ( cap - 482 - 0 . 5 50from eastman chemical co .) denatured alcohol 82ethyl acetate 190pigment 2______________________________________ this composition had a viscosity of 24 seconds measured using a no . 3 zahn cup . the coating was applied at a rate of 3 . 2 pounds per 100 square yards of carrier using a rotogravure printing process . a clay - coated kraft paper was employed as the carrier . the solvent was evaporated in an air stream and the structure was then further processed as described above . no delamination occurred during processing , and the release carrier was easily stripped from the carrier after the final fusion step . the majority of the release coating remained with the carrier . key tests performed on gelled samples and foamed samples as described above gave average key values of 2 . 99 and 1 . 05 pounds , respectively . these results clearly illustrate that the release coating maintained good adhesion during processing , but substantially lost its adhesion characteristics during the fusion step so as to allow easy delamination of the structure . ______________________________________ingredient weights by pounds______________________________________pmma polymer ( acryloid a - 11 from 7 . 5rohm & amp ; haas co .) cellulose acetate propionate 50 ( cap - 482 - 0 . 5 from eastman chemical co .) denatured alcohol 53isopropyl acetate 46nitroparaffin solvent blend ( 70 % 178nitroethane , 25 % isopropyl acetate and5 % cellosolve acetate ) pigment 1______________________________________ the viscosity of this composition was 24 seconds measured using a no . 3 zahn cup . the coating was applied to the paper and the structure was processed as earlier described . results comparable to those described in example ii were obtained , the key values for the gelled and foamed samples being 2 . 72 and 0 . 87 pounds , respectively . ______________________________________ingredient weights by pounds______________________________________toluenesulfonamide - formaldehyde resin 33 ( santolite mhp obtained from monsantochemical co .) cellulose acetate propionate ( cap - 482 - 0 . 5 50obtained from eastman chemical co .) denatured alcohol 78ethyl acetate 183pigment dispersion in dioctyl phthalate 4______________________________________ the viscosity of this material was 24 seconds measured using a no . 3 zahn cup . this release coating was applied to the carrier and treated in the usual manner . key values for the gelled and foamed samples were 1 . 74 and 0 . 84 pounds , respectively . ______________________________________ingredient weight by pounds______________________________________ethylcellulose ( standard ethoxy grade , 7 cps , 194from dow chemical co .) toluenesulfonamide - formaldehyde resin 386 ( santolite mhp obtained from monsantochemical co .) nitroparaffin solvent blend 1300antioxidant 3octyl tallate epoxy plasticizer 6pigment dispersion in dioctyl phthalate 26______________________________________ the viscosity of this material was 24 seconds as measured using a no . 3 zahn cup . this release coating was applied to a felt carrier having a rougher , more porous surface than that of the paper carrier . the coated felt was processed in essentially the same manner described above . a key value of 1 . 03 pounds was obtained for the foamed samples ; however , no measurement could be obtained for the gelled sample which was so strongly adhered that delamination could not be started at forces which were less than 5 - pound capacity of the test apparatus . the present invention is not restricted solely to the descriptions and illustrations provided above but encompasses all modifications envisaged by the following claims .
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US-39264682-A
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a battery warmer for warming the battery set of an electrically powered vehicle is disclosed . a resistive heating battery warmer is provided that increases the temperature around the batteries during down time and during charging . the batteries maintain the warmth generated by the warmer in an insulated battery compartment even during operation at cooler temperatures . also , during operation , warmth is restored to the battery compartment by ducting from the electric motors or by using a generator to drive a small engine to power heating coils to maintain the battery temperature .
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in the figures , a battery warmer 80 is provided to warm the battery set 40 , in order to extend the range of an electric mower 10 shown in fig1 . although many variations on the construction of the electric vehicle and the accompanying battery warmer are possible , for purposes of illustration , the mower 10 includes three wheels 20 , 21 , and 22 . two front drive wheels 20 and 21 are powered by an electric drive motor 30 . the rear wheel 22 is positioned behind and between the two front drive wheels 20 and 21 and is pivotable to steer the mower 10 . of course numbers other than three wheels can also be used , and a different combination of drive and steering wheels could also be used while still remaining within the scope of the present invention . the cutting units 60 , 61 , and 62 are positioned ahead of each of the wheels 20 , 21 , and 22 respectively . the cutting units shown in the figures are reel cutting units , but they optionally may be rotary cutting units , or other types of cutting units . the cutting units 60 , 61 , and 62 are mounted on lifts 1 , 2 , and 3 . electric linear actuators may be used to raise and to lower the lifts , although other means are possible such as hydraulics , pulleys , or gears . when the cutting units 60 , 61 , and 62 are in the lowered , operative position , the lifts 1 , 2 , and 3 allow free vertical motion of the cutting units 60 , 61 , and 62 producing an even cut over an undulating surface such as a golf course green . a controller 50 controls the operations of the electric mower 10 . fig2 is an overhead view of one layout of the resistive heating coils 84 of the battery warmer 80 that preferably are located underneath the battery set 40 . although other types of heating mechanisms can be used without departing from the scope of the present invention , the resistive heating coils 84 are disclosed . in the preferred embodiment , the battery set 40 houses batteries 41 - 48 ( fig3 ), four on each side of the set . these batteries are preferably 6 - volt lead - acid deep cycle batteries , but can be almost any type of battery such as : nickel - metal hydride , nickel - cadmium , nickel - zinc , zinc / air , zinc / bromine , etc . the battery set 40 is located in a substantially closed battery compartment 49 of the mower 10 . the coils 84 of the preferred embodiment are positioned beneath each battery 41 - 48 in a &# 34 ; zigzag &# 34 ; manner or in any other pattern that substantially covers the area under the battery set 40 . each set of horizontally placed coils 84 is positioned in a battery warmer compartment 88 underneath a single battery in the battery set 40 , and the coils 84 are electrically coupled to each other between each battery 41 - 48 at connectors 89 . the coils 84 on each side of the battery set 40 have two connectors 81 for connecting to the battery charger 86 ( not shown ). the temperature of the battery compartment 49 is regulated by a thermostat ( not shown ) which disconnects power to the battery warmer 80 when the temperature is between a specified range , around 70 ° to 85 ° fahrenheit . when the battery set 40 is charging , the battery warmer 80 is operational to keep the battery set 40 warm so it can achieve more efficient charge . after charging is completed , but before the operator powers the mower 10 for operation , the battery warmer 80 remains connected to power and keeps the battery set 40 warm so the accumulated charge does not diminish prior to operation of the vehicle 10 . for the most efficient battery charge , the thermostat operating in combination with the battery warmer 80 should keep the battery compartment 49 at a temperature between around 70 ° fahrenheit and 85 ° fahrenheit . without the battery warmer system presently disclosed , as the temperature decreases below around 70 ° fahrenheit , the available charge on the battery set 40 diminishes as well . in a cold environment , therefore , the effect of the battery warmer 80 will be greater . as the temperature decreases from around 70 ° fahrenheit to around 35 ° fahrenheit or colder , the charging capability of the battery set 40 due to the battery warmer 80 will increase by 1 / 3 to 2 / 3 &# 39 ; s of the maximum charging capacity . the present invention also provides for continued heating of the battery set 40 during operation of the mower 10 , which also increases the range through which a charged battery set 40 will operate . fig3 shows a side view of the battery set 40 as it is arranged underneath the hood 83 of the mower 10 . in one preferred embodiment , battery tray 82 lies underneath the battery set 40 . the battery tray 82 includes the battery warmer 80 as described with respect to fig2 . during operation of the mower 10 , the battery warmer 80 receives power from the drive motor 30 and keeps the battery set 40 at an ambient temperature ranging from around 70 ° to 85 ° fahrenheit . beneficial results during operation also can be obtained by the embodiment shown in fig3 even if the battery warmer 80 is not functional ( or not present ) during mower 10 operation . in fig3 both the battery set 40 and the battery tray 82 are positioned inside a substantially closed battery compartment 49 located underneath the hood 83 of the mower 10 . an air duct 85 communicates with the battery compartment 49 . the other end of the air duct 85 is positioned in the immediate vicinity of the electric drive motor 30 . when the electric drive motor 30 powers the drive wheels 20 and 21 , heat 87 is generated around the motor 30 . the air duct 85 captures the heat 87 , which then is directed through the air duct 85 into the battery compartment 49 . forcing the heat 87 from the electric drive motor 30 into the enclosed battery compartment 49 keeps the temperature in the battery compartment 49 higher than it would normally be . the heat 87 is used either to warm the battery set 40 or to keep the battery set 40 warm . the higher temperature increases the range of the battery set 40 while the mower 10 is operating so that more area can be mowed without needing to recharge the battery set 40 . fig4 also shows the air duct 85 communicating with the battery compartment 49 . the other end of the air duct 85 , however , is operably connected with a small separate motor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this separate motor 90 is powered by electricity , but those skilled in the art will recognize that the separate motor 90 can be powered by any known means , e . g ., internal combustion , and still be in accordance with the spirit of the present invention . in one embodiment , the separate motor 90 generates thermal energy or heat 87 which travels up the air duct 85 and into the battery compartment 49 . in another embodiment , the separate motor 90 powers the resistive coils 84 of the battery warmer 80 so that the coils 84 can provide heat to the battery set 40 . the separate motor 90 operates on power from a generator 92 . the generator 92 powers the motor 90 so that the battery compartment 49 can be maintain at an ambient temperature for the battery set 40 during operation of the electric mower 10 , during charging of the battery set 40 , and during down time of the electric mower 10 . the generator 92 and separate motor 90 combination is operational using either the air duct 85 or the resistive heating coils 84 to warm the battery set 40 . in the foregoing specification , the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims . for example , the heat gathering function of the air duct 85 can be combined with the heat generating function of the coils 84 . in this embodiment , power to the coils 84 is provided by the mower motor 30 as described above , and at the same time , heat 87 is captured by the air duct 85 from around the motor 30 in the manner described above and ducted into the battery compartment 49 . a thermostat senses when the temperature inside the battery compartment 49 drops below around 70 ° fahrenheit and turns on power from the motor 30 to the battery warmer 80 to provide even further heat for the battery set 40 . this embodiment allows for the advantages of both the heat gathering embodiment and the heat generating embodiment . heat is provided from the mower motor 30 during operation ; and further heat if necessary is provided by the coils 84 . during charging and down time , the above - described embodiment functions in the same manner as the embodiment disclosed with respect to fig2 . the specification and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive manner .
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US-78747497-A
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the invention relates to a method for visually presenting a set of properties of a web site , which comprises : predefining within a provider &# 39 ; s search engine a set of properties and assigning to each property a visual symbol ; using a spider program , visiting by said provider &# 39 ; s search engine each web site and determining those properties from said set that are characteristic to that web site ; associating by said provider &# 39 ; s search engine with each web site those symbols corresponding to said determined properties ; forming for each web site a corresponding combined visual representation of the web site based on said associated symbols ; and when listing search results to a user , including the combined visual representation for each web site respectively .
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in order to facilitate the reading of the description to follow , a number of terms and initials are defined below : a search engine is a system that searches for information that sustains some search criteria . regarding the internet , a search engine is a web application that searches for web sites that sustain some search criteria . a search criterion is a rule for which web pages of the internet are checked . the rule is a mathematical expression combined of logical operator ( s ) and operand ( s ). the operand ( s ) are word ( s ) and / or their synonyms . for example , if w 1 , w 2 and w 3 are words , the search criterion can , for example , be the existence of the rule ( w 1 or ( w 2 and w 3 )) in the content of a web site . another example for a search criterion : ( w 1 and ( w 2 or w 3 )). a heuristic method is a means for solving a problem that does not guarantee a good solution all the time , but generally does provide such . a heuristic method is a group of rules , suggestions , guides , or techniques that may be useful in making progress toward the solution of a problem . classification means assigning items to one of a set of predefined classes of objects based on a set of observed features . for example , one might determine whether a particular mushroom is “ poisonous ” or “ edible ” according to its color , size , and gill size . classifiers can be learned automatically from a set of examples through supervised learning . classification rules are rules that discriminate between different partitions of a database based on various attributes within the database . the partitions of the database are themselves based on an attribute called the classification label ( e . g ., “ faulty ” and “ good ”). indexing is the operation of compiling a massive search - index of the sites of the internet . clustering is an approach to place objects into meaningful groups based on their similarity . clustering , unlike classification , does not require the groups to be predefined . alternatively , the clustering applies an algorithm to determine obvious or hidden groupings of data items . the object of applying clustering algorithms is to discover useful but unknown classes of items . clustering methods are implemented , for example , in artificial intelligence and data mining . data structure is the physical layout of data . data fields , memo fields , fixed length fields , variable length fields , records , word processing documents , spreadsheets , data files , database files and indices are all examples of data structures . a linked list is a group of data items , each of which points to the next item . it allows for the organization of a sequential set of data in noncontiguous storage locations . a tree structure is an algorithm for placing and locating data entities in a database . the algorithm finds data by repeatedly making choices at decision points called nodes . a node can have as few as two branches ( also called “ children ”), or as many as several dozen . in a tree , records are stored in locations called leaves . this name derives from the fact that records always exist at end points ; there is nothing beyond them . the starting point is called the root . the maximum number of children per node is called the order of the tree . the internet , or www ( world wide web ), is a worldwide system of computer networks — a “ network of networks ” in which users at any one computer can , if they have permission , receive information from any other computer . fig2 schematically illustrates a theoretical example of a collection of web sites that are related to the movie “ the matrix ”. the web sites are : whatisthematrix . com , the official web site of the movie ( e . g ., which is owned by the producer of the movie ); upcomingmovie . com the web site which contains information regarding the upcoming sequent movie ; amazon . com the site where the book on which the movie is based on can be bought ; jet - li . com the web site of the director of the movie ; carrieannmoss . com the web site of the major actress ; some corresponding amateur web sites , and so forth . as is well known , there are connections , generally called “ links ” or “ hyperlinks ”, which refer internet users from one web site to other web site ( s ). actually , links point from one web page to another web page , or even to the same web page , however since web sites comprise web pages , we can assume that a link points from one web site to another web site , or even to the same web site . for example , link l 1 refers users from the web site si , where l 1 resides on , to web sites s 2 and s 3 . l 2 refer users to web sites s 1 , s 3 and s 4 , etc . generally , links are made to “ connect ” between web sites . furthermore , the more links point to a web site , the higher its popularity . in other words , a web site to which more links refer , maybe considered as more “ important ” than a web site to which fewer links refer . in that sense , the web site whatis . thematrix . com to which 3 links refer , is more “ important ” or “ popular ” than the web site jet - li . com . furthermore , all the web sites of fig2 form a virtual group “ connected ” by a somewhat common subject . fig3 schematically illustrates a theoretical example of the hyperlinks in three related groups of web sites : football , basketball and baseball . the number of hyperlinks pointing between the members of the group are : the football group : 5 hyperlinks point between the members of the group , and 3 hyperlinks to / from the other groups . the basketball group : 11 hyperlinks point between the members of the group , and 3 hyperlinks to / from the other groups . the baseball group : 5 hyperlinks point between the members of the group , and 2 hyperlinks to / from the other groups . fig4 schematically illustrates a theoretical example of a wider view of web sites . the figure shows three major groups : sport , health and business . the sport group comprises three sub - groups : football , basketball and baseball . again , the presence of a group can be determined by counting the hyperlinks between a group and the hyperlinks pointing from / to a group and the outside world . it can be seen that most links in web sites having a common subject remain in the group , and less point out of the group . in this example , only three hyperlinks are pointing from / to the sport group to the other groups , while the number of links pointing between the members of the group is much higher . the same is true at the health and business groups . prior to carrying out a search , a great deal of the internet web sites should be indexed , by means of an indexing process . according to the present invention the indexing is carried out in two stages : the groups of the web are determined according to the hyperlinks pointing to and out of the internet sites . since the grouping criteria is the hyperlinks ( such as the number of hyperlinks , the density of hyperlinks , etc . ), this is a totally objective process , in contrary to the prior art , where the groups are determined by a human factor or text - oriented , and hence the results were subjective . for a matter of fact , the clustering process is so indifferent to text , that even after the cluster formation , it is still unknown what is the topical common denominator of the new - formed group . determining the groups can be a lengthy process , since any possible combination of web sites is to be checked . for example , if a set of 10 web sites is checked , named as “ a ” to “ j ”, then any combination should be considered , such as a , b ; a , c ; a , d ; a , b , c ; a , b , d ; a , b , e ; a , b , c , d , e ; a , b , c , d , f ; and so forth in order to determine groups . the decision as to when a group is formed is subject to an automatic decision based on statistical and / or mathematical parameters such as variance and significance in the link &# 39 ; s density , variance , direction , proportion , etc . the problem of grouping objects ( not necessarily web entities ) is well known in the art , and many algorithms were developed in order to speed up the process . in the prior art , the grouping process is called “ clustering ”. since the internet comprises more than 100 millions of web sites ( billions of web pages ), automatic clustering of the internet is long and heavy process , even when fast algorithms and fast computing machines are implemented . therefore , according to the invention , the clustering is made prior to the carrying out of a search . the clustering is performed by a “ clustering engine ”, which also works in the background . another aspect of the clustering problem is naming the determined groups , in order to determine what is their subject , since the link - oriented grouping is indifferent to text , and therefore can not relate a subject title to the new formed groups . the process of entitling a group is called herein “ labeling ”. such a process can be carried out by heuristic methods , with or without the assistance of a human factor . regarding the examples described in fig3 and 4 , frequent appearance of the word “ football ”, “ basketball ” and “ baseball ” in a cluster may lead to the conclusion that the cluster deals with a group of sport . a step toward automatization of the labeling process is carried out by determining the major words that appear in a cluster , and then relating the words to a subject . fig5 schematically illustrates an example of clusters organized in a tree structure , according to an embodiment of the invention . the “ sport ” cluster ( or “ group ”) contains several sub - clusters ( or sub - groups )— football , basketball and boxing sub - clusters , etc . the cluster “ charlie &# 39 ; s angels ” appears as a sub - cluster of the tv series cluster , as a sub - cluster of the movies cluster and as a sub - cluster of the boxing cluster ( there is a boxing team that is called “ charlie &# 39 ; s angels ”). the circles denote web sites . a web site can belong to several clusters . the data structure created by the clustering process can also be seen as a map of the web , since every site in the web has a specific location in the tree . the search process uses the search - index that was constructed in the indexing process . as much web sites have been indexed , as much reliable the results of the search . the process of searching starts from the major clusters of the search - index . for example , searching for web sites regarding “ charlie &# 39 ; s angels ” produces seventy web sites in the entertainment cluster and forty web sites in the sport cluster . if the subject is searched in relevance with entertainment , then the next search will be in the entertainment cluster . searching for web sites regarding “ charlie &# 39 ; s angels ” in the entertainment cluster produces twenty web sites in the tv series cluster , forty web sites in the movies cluster , and ten web sites in the rest of the clusters . the search is refined by selecting the movies cluster , and so forth . fig6 is a high - level flow chart of a process for carrying out a search for web sites , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention . the process is divided to two parts : indexing and searching . the indexing process totally distinct from the searching process . while the indexing is a process carried out in order to prepare , order , and cluster the internet for the search , the searching is a process that is initiated by an internet user , which accesses the search site , uses a search engine . the indexing can be carried out before and during the searching process . the output of the indexing process is used for the searching process . marked as 101 , is the process that is made by the searching facility that includes clustering and labeling . as a result , trees of clusters are constructed . the web sites of the internet are scanned and the titles of the web sites , the links and the addresses of the pages in which predefined keywords are found are stored in a database . then , a clustering algorithm is executed on the collected data in order to determine clusters . then the detected clusters are labeled by a labeling process . the searching , which is conducted by a user , starts at 102 . at 103 , the user defines the search criteria . at 104 , the database is scanned in order to find the clusters ( as defined at 101 ) contain clusters that meet the criterion . at 105 , the names of the clusters that contain instance ( s ) of the searched words are presented to the user . according to an embodiment of the invention , the tree of clusters is such that each node contains , for example , about 8 - 10 branches . at 106 , after the user assesses the results , if he wishes to refine the search , the process continues with 107 . otherwise the process proceeds to its end at 109 . at 107 , the user clicks on the pointing entity ( usually a name or an icon presented on his display ) associated with the desired cluster . at 108 , the sub group of the selected cluster that contains instances of the searched words is displayed to the user , and then the process returns to 105 . at 109 , the process ends . at this stage , a list of web sites is displayed to the user , and he may select the web site to browse by clicking its hyperlink . it is preferable that the list will contain no more than tens of links . the presentation of hundred of links would overwhelm and confuse the user . it should be understood that the process of refining the search may also be carried out by using the pre - classifying of the web sites . it is to be clear that the indexing is a preliminary stage , and it is not carried out each time a search is performed . in the prior art , hyperlinks to web sites that have been found in a search are presented as a list . some search engines also provide a rating number . other search engines provide the paragraph ( of the web page ) that includes the searched words . as a matter of fact , this type of presentation is one - dimensional . in order to make the list of the found web sites more understandable and easier to analyze , the presentation of the list of web sites is preferably carried out as follows : according to a preferred embodiment of the invention , the web sites of the internet are categorized by predefined attributes . then , on the presentation , the attributes will have a visual expression . the following example presents some attributes by which web sites can be categorized : commercial / academic / private comprises / does not comprise a virtual store ; the amount of information importance ( which is determined by the number of links pointing to and from it ). etc . according to a preferred embodiment of the invention , the attributes of the web sites found in a search are presented in a subjected visual presentation , possibly a 3d - dimensional . for example , according to one embodiment of the invention , all the web sites are visualized in an urban form as follows : the web sites are presented as buildings in a street . the importance attribute is expressed in the height of the buildings . the width of a building may reveal the amount of content . a display - window in a building may represent the existence of an e - store . if the web site is owned by an enterprise , then it may be represented by an office type building . if the web site is owned by a private person , the building may appear as a house . if the web site is of an educational institute , it may be presented as a campus . and so forth . a user that carries out a search may focus on the relevant web pages by several steps wherein the street presentation is the last one of them . the steps are equivalent to the levels in a tree of clusters . according to an embodiment of the invention , each level may be presented as a geographical entity : a continent represents the highest level ( entertainment and sport in fig7 ). the next levels can be countries , cities , streets and buildings ). according to this approach , the search begins in a conventional manner by specifying the keywords with or without the logical terms between them ( and , or , not , etc .). as a result , the user receives an illustration of the “ continents ” where the searched words have been found . fig7 schematically illustrates an example of a presentation of the results of the first stage of a search , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention . the search was for the phrase “ charlie &# 39 ; s angels ”. optionally , the results are presented in a 2 - d map on which the main clusters are displayed as continents : the sport continent , the entertainment continent , the health continent , etc . the clusters , in which the term “ charlie &# 39 ; s angels ” appeared , are marked for the user . of course alternatively this presentation can be a textual presentation or most preferably 3d presentation . the size of the continent is preferably proportional to the number of web sites included in that cluster . since the entertainment cluster contains more web sites than the sport cluster , it is of greater size in this example . after selecting the entertainment “ continent ” ( the selection being carried out by clicking the selected object ), the user is presented with the “ countries ”— tv series , movies , plays , music , etc . again , the countries , in which the search subjects have been found , are being marked to the user ( see fig8 ). the size of the “ country ” is proportional to the number of the web sites of this entity . the relevance of an entity to the search criterion can be visually marked also . for example , as greater the relevance , as highlighted the entity . after selecting the “ country ”, the user is presented with the “ cities ” in the selected “ country ”, as illustrated in fig9 . the last level of the focusing process is the presentation of a street , as described above . fig1 schematically illustrates an example of a “ street ” presentation of a group of web sites found in a web search , according to an embodiment of the invention . the buildings , each represents a web site , are numbered from 11 to 16 . building 14 represents a web site , which is owned by an enterprise , hence , its presentation is like an office building . building 13 represents an amateur web site and hence , it is presented like a private house . building 16 represents a web site that is owned by an academic institute , and therefore is presented like a campus . building 11 represents a web site that sells products , for example , it has an e - store , and thus it comprises a display - window . as mentioned above , the height of each building is relative to the number of hyperlinks pointing to and from the web site represented by it . the width of the web site represents , for example , the amount of information in the web site . this parameter can be determined by the amount of words , pages , bytes , and so forth . it should be noted that the parameters of each web site , as well as the continents , which are formed according to clusters , are attained and prepared for display by the search engine facility prior to the search by the user , by a process independent of the user search , which is carried out in real time . the application described above is geographically oriented . however , other reference “ worlds ” may be implemented in order to emphasize the attributes of a web site . fig1 schematically illustrates a system for searching of web sites , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention . web sites 30 are a part of the internet 21 . the web sites list can be obtained by a spider program . the system 27 for providing the capability of searching of web pages by users 25 is essentially a server with connection to the internet . it concentrates the activities of indexing and searching . it comprises : a spider program 22 , for scanning the web sites of the internet ; a database 24 , for storing the information collected by the spider program 22 ; an indexing application 23 , for carrying out the clustering , labeling and classification of the web sites . the indexing is a process , which is carried out independent of the search process , and its purpose is to organize all the web sites of the web prior to the search . for example , the indexing concerns organizing all the web sites in clusters , classifying the web sites according to predetermined properties , etc . ; and a seeker application program / server 28 for interacting with the users 25 , carrying out the search ( by the appropriate queries to database 24 ) and for sending the results to the users 25 ( usually as web pages , which usually perform a visual presentation of user &# 39 ; s web browser ). fig1 schematically illustrates a method and system searching of web sites , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention . two processes are carried out separately as follows : indexing of the internet . searching for web sites that sustain provided criterion ( s ). indexing : according to an embodiment of the present invention , the indexing 23 comprises the activities of clustering , labeling and classification of the web sites according to the predefined attributes , as described above . a spider program 22 scans the web sites of the internet . the found web sites are added to a database 24 . by implementing clustering method ( s ) a tree of clusters is obtained . the gathered information ( tree of clusters , and the list of web sites and their classification ) is stored in database 24 . searching : the search starts by a user determining the search criterion . usually the determination is carried out by providing a list of words and the relation between them . the user generally provides the search criterion by interacting via a web page . then a query is posted from the system to database 24 , and the results of the query are presented to the user . this stage is carried out by a seeker program 32 . the results of the search may be presented in a textual form or , but preferably in a graphical form described above ( marked as 33 ). if the user is not satisfied with the search results , then the system may interview the user in order to focus the search , and the system posts a new query to the database 24 . the above examples and description have of course been provided only for the purpose of illustration , and are not intended to limit the invention in any way . as will be appreciated by the skilled person , the invention can be carried out in a great variety of ways , employing more than one technique from those described above , all without exceeding the scope of the invention .
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US-45320406-A
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an improved process for forming an acoustical or thermal insulating fibrous glass product is provided , wherein the binder employed is asphalt and the asphalt is converted into a substantially insolubilized form .
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in accordance with the present invention , the asphalt is applied in the form of an aqueous emulsion using equipment that had been employed in the past to directly spray a binder onto a downwardly flowing stream of glass fibers . these fibers are then collected , as in the past , in the form of a blanket on a conveyor , and are heated at a temperature and for a time sufficient to remove water and convert the asphalt from its solvent soluble state to a virtually insolubilized form . for example , even afte immersion for 30 days in toluene and in methylene chloride there was substantially no detectable solubilization . as used herein , the term asphalt means asphalts which are free of rubber and are non - chemically modified . that is , they are conventional asphalts not asphalts which have been combined with rubber or reacted with asphalt reactive materials , such as , for example , vinyl aromatics and rubber . preferably , the asphalts for use herein are the air blown asphalts as well as asphalt flux . representative air blown asphalts are ac - 20 , ac - 10 and ac - 5 . such asphalts are most desirably applied as an aqueous emulsion and the emulsion may be produced by techniques well known in the art . more conveniently , however , any of the numerous commerically available emulsions will be employed . such emulsions are exemplified by those commercially available from the koppers chemical company under their designation crs - 1 emulsion or their rs - 1 emulsion . another suitable emulsion is that available from byerlite under their designation k - 1 - c . the emulsions employed in the practice of this invention may be either anionic , cationic or nonionic . as will be readily apparent , such emulsions will include the dispersed asphalt , water and an appropriate emulsifying agent . preferably , a glass lubricant will be added to these emulsions . one such suitable lubricant is an acetic acid stabilized reaction product of tetraethylene pentamine and stearic acid . other suitable lubricants include sulfonated mineral oils , polyoxyethylene steartes and oleates , sorbitan oleates and stearates , as well as isostearates . suitably , the emulsions which are applied will contain about 60 percent to about 98 . 5 ( by weight ) water . as applied , desirably the asphalt content of the emulsion will be about 1 percent to about 38 . 5 percent . the remainder of the asphalt emulsion will include an emulsifying agent , for example , a cationic , anionic or nonionic surfactant present in an amount sufficient to emulsifying the asphalt and preferably a lubricant . the lubricant will desirably be present in an amount of about 0 . 05 % percent of about 1 . 0 percent ( based on the weight of emulsion ). generally , the non - aqueous portion of the emulsion will contain about 1 percent to about 10 percent of the above - described materials . usually the emulsion will be applied in sufficient amounts so that the final thermal or acoustical insulating product will contain about 1 . 0 to about 12 . 5 percent by weight of the insolubilized asphalt binder ( based on the total weight of asphalt and glass ). in order to enhance the properties of the final insolubilized form of asphalt , it is desirable to include sulphur in the emulsion . fine results are obtained by employing a weight ratio of sulphur to asphalt between about 1 . 5 : 1 . 0 to about 1 : 20 . such sulphur serves to increase the bonding ( crosslink ) density and further reduces solubility in organic solvents . after application of the asphalt emulsion to the downwardly moving stream of fibers , the fibers are collected as a blanket on a conveyor . the coated fibers are then heated for a sufficient period of time and at a sufficient temperature to remove the water and convert the asphalt to a substantially insolubilized form . this heating is done in the presence of a free oxygen containing gas , preferably air , and preferably is done at a temperature of at least about 140 ° c . for a period of time of at least about 50 hours . thus , outstanding insolubilized asphalt binders have been obtained , for example , by heating at about 190 ° c . for about three days and at about 170 ° c . for about five days . such insolubilized form of asphalt showed tenaceous bonding to the glass fibers . thus , by practicing the present invention , wherein the insolubilized form of asphalt is employed as a binder for acoustical and / or thermal insulating fibrous glass products , a binder will be obtained which has many desirable characteristics including high solvent resistance , one which exhibits self - extinguishing fire characteristics , and one which is relatively inexpensive compared to currently employed binders . while the foregoing describes the present invention , it will , of course , be apparent that modifications are possible which , pursuant to the patent statutes and laws , do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention .
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US-24903781-A
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a method and apparatus for recording time information for received digital data streams are provided . the method includes recording first time information and second time information on a recording medium . the first time information is part of management data for managing presentation data and the second time information is time information of the presentation data . the format of the first time information coincides with the format of the second time information .
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in order that the invention may be fully understood , preferred embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . it is understood that the methods of the present invention can be implemented in the apparatus of fig1 or other apparatuses or systems . for the sake of easy understanding , the present invention will be discussed referring to the elements of fig1 . fig7 and 8 depict the data format of the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) and the packet arrival time ( pat ) of a transport stream packet in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . when the control unit 250 of the streamer 200 records the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) contained in the stream object general information ( sob_gi ) on the recording medium 230 , the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) is recorded as 6 - byte data as shown in fig7 ( a ) comprising a 9 - bit packet arrival time extension ( pat_ext ) and a 39 - bit packet arrival time base ( pat_base ) in accordance with the mpeg format . the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) is part of navigation / management data . in the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ), the packet arrival time extension ( pat_ext ) is a modulo - 300 counter that is incremented at a rate of 27 mhz , whereas the packet arrival time base ( pat_base ) is incremented at a rate of 90 khz . on the other hand , the packet arrival time ( pat ) of a transport stream packet received through the communication interface 210 is 4 - byte data as shown in fig7 ( b ) comprising a 9 - bit packet arrival time extension ( pat_ext ) and 23 - bit packet arrival time base ( pat_base ). like the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) in fig7 ( a ), the packet arrival time extension ( pat_ext ) in fig7 ( b ) is a modulo - 300 counter that is incremented at a rate of 27 mhz and the packet arrival time base ( pat_base ) is incremented at a rate of 90 khz . the pat of the transport stream packet shown in fig7 ( b ) is a time stamp recorded along with an application packet , and is part of a sob as shown in fig3 . in consequence , as shown in fig7 ( a ) and 7 ( b ), the 4 - byte packet arrival time ( pat ) of the transport stream packet has the same format as the lower 4 bytes of the 6 - byte stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ). thus , according to the present invention , the lower 4 - byte data of a stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) always coincides with one of the recorded 4 - byte packet arrival times ( pats ). also , there is certainly a packet arrival time ( pat ) coinciding with the lower 4 - byte data of the search time ( st ) requested by a user , the 6 - byte search time ( st ) comprising a packet arrival time base ( pat_base ) and a packet arrival time extension ( pat_ext ) specified by the mpeg format . the 4 - byte packet arrival time ( pat ) of a transport stream packet can represent up to 93 . 2 s ( 93 . 2 = 223 / 90 khz ) since its packet arrival time base ( pat_base ) is 23 - bit data that is incremented at a rate of 90 khz . the packet arrival time ( pat ) is reset to zero whenever the value reaches the limit . the control unit 250 keeps examining occurrence of reset . if reset occurs , the control unit 250 controls the stream recording unit 220 to record information indicative of the occurrence of reset ( pat_carry ) in the header information area pertaining to a sector comprising a plurality of transport stream packets ( tsps ) and header information , as explained before with reference to fig3 . the reset indication information is used in the case of data search . the reset indication information ( pat_carry ) as shown in fig8 may be recorded as 1 - bit data in the application header extension area , one of header information contained in the associated sector . fig9 shows the way the packet arrival time ( pat ) of each transport stream packet is created when a digital data stream received by the set top box 100 is recorded by the streamer 200 . it is assumed that a stream object unit ( sobu ) is made up of 32 sectors with each sector having 2048 bytes and the transfer rate of the data stream is not higher than 10 kbps . hence , the time needed to record a stream object unit ( sobu ) is 52 . 4 s ( 52 . 4 = 32 sectors × 2048 byte / 10 kbps ) and the packet arrival time ( pat ) is reset at 93 . 2 s intervals . in other words , a stream object unit is created every 52 . 4 s ( s 1 , s 2 , . . . ), and the packet arrival time ( pat ) is reset every 93 . 2 s ( r 1 , r 2 , . . . ) and so the reset indication information ( pat_carry ) is also created every 93 . 2 s ( c 1 , c 2 , . . . ). as a result , the packet arrival times ( pats ) of all transport stream packets belonging to a stream object unit ( sobu ) have mutually exclusive values as long as the transfer rate of the digital data stream exceeds 10 kbps . the method for searching for the position ( s ) of a transport stream packet corresponding to the search time ( st ) requested by a user from the data stream recorded as shown in fig9 will be explained with reference to fig2 . first , the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) contained in the stream object general information ( sob_gi ) of each stream object ( sob ) is compared with the requested search time ( st ) and a stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) that is closest to but does not exceed the request search time ( st ) is detected . referring to the mapping list ( mapl ) of the stream object sob # 1 containing the detected stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ), the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat 1 ˜ 4 ) contained in the mapping list ( mapl ) are summed up . the sum value is multiplied by the unit time ( x ) and added to the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ). the procedure is repeated until the calculated value ( s_s_apat + x ( σiapat )) approaches the requested search time ( st ) without exceeding it . in fig2 , the summation and multiplication is repeated to include iapat 4 because the calculated value ( s_s_apat + x ( σiapat )) exceeds the search time ( st ) if the calculation continues to iapat 5 . the stream object corresponding to the calculated value is sobu 5 , which corresponds to the upper 2 - byte data of the search time ( st ) requested by the user . from the start position a ′ of the searched stream object sobu 5 , the 4 - byte packet arrival time ( pat ) of each transport stream packet is detected . the detected packet arrival time ( pat ) is compared with the lower 2 - byte data of the search time ( st ) requested by the user to find the transport stream packet ( ts ) the packet arrival time ( pat ) of which coincides with the lower 2 - byte data of the search time ( st ). in summary , using the stream start application packet arrival time ( s_s_apat ) and incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) contained in the mapping list , the stream object unit sobu 5 corresponding to the upper - unit time data of the requested search time ( st ) is detected and then a transport stream packet the packet arrival time of which coincides with the lower - unit time data of the search time ( st ) is detected . as a result , the position of the detected transport stream packet coincides with the requested search time ( st ). in this case , however , if the 4 - byte packet arrival time added to each transport stream packet overflows after the start of the associated stream object unit ( sobu ) and before certain unit time elapses , the actual packet arrival time may become different from the arrival time of the first transport stream packet calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time in the mapping list . this case will be explained in detail with reference to fig1 . fig1 depicts an example where the packet arrival time of each transport stream packet being received is recorded as 4 - byte data . in this case , it is assumed that the unit time of the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) corresponds to the bit 3 of the 4th byte of the packet arrival time ( the bit shaded in fig1 ). therefore , whenever the unit time elapses , the bit 3 of the 4th byte is toggled . in fig1 , the packet arrival time reference information (( a ) in fig1 ) of the first transport stream packet of the nth stream object unit ( sobu # n ) is fffedefb ( 16 ) and the packet arrival time reference information (( b ) in fig1 ) of the third transport stream packet is fffffeff ( 16 ) . because the unit time elapses after the third transport stream packet arrives , the lower 4 bytes of the 6 bytes indicative of the packet arrival time are reset after the third transport stream packet arrives and before the unit time elapses and a carry is propagated to the upper 2 bytes . accordingly , the fifth transport stream packet , for example , has the arrival time reference information of 00007eefh , which is less than the previous value . the upper 2 bytes of the actual packet arrival time of the first transport stream packet are 6ebe ( 16 ) but the value is not recorded on the recording medium . in the case of data search , therefore , the upper 2 bytes are calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information . however , because a carry already exists before the first time duration of the unit time of the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) elapses within the associated stream object unit ( sobu ), the value of the upper 2 bytes obtained based on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information is greater than that of the upper 2 bytes of the actual packet arrival time by 1 . for this reason , in the case of data search , the upper 2 bytes calculated base on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information should be not regarded as the upper 2 bytes prefixed to the 4 - byte arrival time reference information detected from the transport stream packet . fig1 depicts the case where a carry is generated as explained before . it is shown that the actual packet arrival time (( d ) in fig1 ) differs from the 6 - byte packet arrival time (( c ) in fig1 ) comprising the upper 2 bytes (( b ) in fig1 ) calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information and the 4 byte arrival time reference information (( a ) in fig1 ) detected from the first transport stream packet . in fig1 , the time information corresponding to a stream object unit ( sobu ) calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information is expressed by the upper 3 bytes and upper 6 bits of the forth byte . this is because the unit time of the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) does not have time resolution lower than 218 bits . in order to compensate for the error in the calculated packet arrival time , therefore , it is inevitable to check whether the 4 - byte packet arrival time reference information generated a carry after the first packet of an arbitrary stream object unit ( sobu ) arrives and before the unit time of the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) elapses . to this end , the control unit 250 compares the lower 14 bits of the 30 - bit time information calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information with the upper 14 bits of the 4 - byte arrival time reference information of the first transport stream packet of the current stream object unit ( sobu ) and concludes that a carry is generated if the latter is greater than the former . if so , the control unit 250 subtracts the least significant bit of the upper 2 - bytes from the 30 bits calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time ( iapat ) information , takes the 2 - byte result as the upper 2 bytes of the packet arrival time of the first transport stream packet of the associated stream object unit , and compares the packet arrival time with the requested search time . in the example shown in fig1 , the number 11011110111110 ( 2 ) is greater than the number 00000000000000 ( 2 ) and thus the upper 2 bytes of the arrival time of the first transport stream packet is obtained by subtracting 000100000000 ( 16 ) from 6ebfxxxxxxxx ( 16 ) and taking the upper 2 bytes from the result . as a result , the time information comprising the 2 - byte data and the 4 - byte packet arrival time detected from the transport stream packet is used in the case of data search . the existence of carry may be checked in a different manner . for example , the control unit 250 retrieves all data of the sectors constituting the associated stream object unit and checks the reset indication information ( pat_carry ) recorded in the header information in each sector . if any of the reset indication information indicates carry , the packet arrival time can be corrected by the aforementioned method . otherwise , the upper 2 bytes of the value calculated based on the incremental application packet arrival time information can be used as the upper 2 bytes of the packet arrival time . as one skilled in the art would readily recognize , the recording medium 230 can be , e . g ., a dvd . the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the sprit or essential characteristics thereof . the present embodiments are 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 foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein .
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US-40556206-A
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a device for introducing an object into a vagina includes finger mounting means whereby the device is mountable on a user &# 39 ; s finger , and a holder which protrudes from the finger mounting means and which is insertable into a user &# 39 ; s vagina , the holder being configured to hold an object whilst being inserted into the user &# 39 ; s vagina and then release the object once positioned inside the vagina .
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in fig1 to 4 of the drawings , reference numeral 10 refers generally to a device for introducing an object into a vagina in accordance with the invention . the device 10 includes an elongate body 12 having a trailing end 14 and a leading end 16 . a flexible cover or skirt 18 protrudes from a trailing end 14 of the body 12 . a socket 20 extends longitudinally inwardly from a trailing end 14 of the body 12 . the socket 20 is dimensioned such that an end portion of a user &# 39 ; s finger , typically a middle finger , is snugly receivable therein such that the body 12 effectively forms an extension of the user &# 39 ; s finger . a nail receiving recess 22 extends from the socket 20 to accommodate a user &# 39 ; s finger nail . the nail receiving recess 22 also serves to orientate the body 12 relative to a user &# 39 ; s finger as described in more detail herebelow . a lower part of the body is shaped to be similar to the shape of a lower part of a penis . the leading end 16 of the body 12 generally has the shape of a glans penis . as can best be seen in fig1 of the drawings , a bottom surface 24 of the leading end 16 is curved in side view to inhibit abrasion of the posterior vaginal wall in use . the leading end of the body thus has a rounded point which flares back like the corona of a glans penis which in use lifts and wedges the opposing vaginal walls apart when the body 12 is inserted into a vagina . the portion of the body 12 extending forwardly from the socket 20 forms a holder in the form of a cradle , generally indicated by reference numeral 26 . the cradle 26 defines a circular cylindrical recess 28 within which a tampon 30 is snugly receivable . a longitudinally extending upper portion of the body 12 is open such that a substantial portion of a tampon inserted into the recess 28 is exposed . the cradle 26 defines a seat 34 within which a trailing end portion of the tampon 30 is receivable . the leading end 16 of the body 12 is provided with a slit 36 ( fig2 ). the slit permits a tampon to be released from the cradle 26 through the leading end of the body 12 as is described in more detail herebelow . as can clearly be seen in fig1 of the drawings , the nail receiving recess 22 and the recess 28 are disposed on opposite sides of the body 12 such that , in use , the recess 28 is on that side of the finger corresponding to the inner surface of the finger . in use , a tampon 30 is positioned in the recess 28 as shown in fig3 of the drawings . a retrieval string 38 attached to a trailing end of the tampon 30 is positioned such that it runs along the outside of the body 12 and cover 18 . a user &# 39 ; s finger is inserted into the socket 20 with the finger nail 42 positioned in or in register with the nail receiving recess 22 . the user then inserts the body 12 , leading end 16 first , into her vagina . by virtue of the shape of the leading end 16 , the two sides of the leading end are urged towards one another as the body 12 is inserted thereby effectively closing the slit 36 and preventing the passage of the tampon 30 therethrough . in another embodiment , shown in fig6 , the two sides of a leading end 16 of a device 100 overlap to prevent the passage of a tampon therethrough during insertion of the device 100 . once the body 12 has been fully inserted , the finger is twisted to dislodge the tampon 28 from the body which is then gently withdrawn from the user &# 39 ; s vagina . by virtue of the fact that a substantial portion of the tampon 30 intermediate its ends is exposed , friction between the tampon and the vagina tends to retain the tampon 30 in position . the flexibility of the leading end 16 of the body 12 is selected such that as the body 12 is removed , the two sides of the leading end open up to permit the tampon 30 to pass therethrough and remain in the vagina in the desired position . the device 10 , 100 can then either be washed for re - use or disposed of . in the case of a disposable device 10 , 100 , it may be pre - packaged with a tampon 30 in position in the recess 28 . reference is now made to fig5 of the drawings , in which reference numeral 50 refers generally to another device in accordance with the invention and , unless otherwise indicated , the same reference numerals used above are used to designate similar parts . the main difference between the device 50 and the device 10 is that , in the case of the device 50 , a longitudinal axis 52 of the socket 20 and a longitudinal axis 54 of the cradle 26 are disposed at an angle relative to one another . the angle is typically about 150 °. this corresponds to the angle of inclination of the vagina of a standing woman relative to the horizontal and thereby facilitates correct alignment of the tampon for introduction into the vaginal introitus . the connection between the part of the body 12 in which the socket 20 is provided and the part of the body 12 defining the cradle is sufficiently flexible to permit the portion of the body 12 in which the socket 20 is provided to be displaced angularly so that the axes 52 , 54 can be brought more - or - less into line to facilitate full insertion of the body 12 . this arrangement serves to indicate to the user the correct direction in which the body should be introduced through the introitus and the direction in which the straightened body should be displaced along the vaginal cavity . the inventor believes that the device 10 , 50 includes the following advantages : the length of the body 12 is not intimidating , but nonetheless provides effective depth of deposition of the tampon or other object into the vagina . the body 12 is of a relatively soft , elastic material which is less difficult and painful to insert than applicators of which the inventor is aware . further , the cross - section of the body 12 is easier and more comfortable to insert into a vagina . friction against the back wall of the vagina is reduced due to the shape of the holder . further , the glans penis like leading end 16 of the body 12 is easier and more comfortable to insert than the leading end portions of conventional devices . in addition , the shape of the leading end reduces the risk of micro - trauma on the vaginal wall and hence reduces the risk of infection . in addition , in the device 50 , the angle of the socket 20 relative to the holder 26 promotes easier introduction of the holder through the introitus and indicates the direction for its advancement up the vagina . there is a built - in correction for the directional inclination of the vaginal cavity , which causes less risk of injury and discomfort to the user . the holder can be inserted while the user is sitting or standing and the procedure is therefor much easier and more comfortable to accomplish physically and much less an affront to a female &# 39 ; s dignity . in addition , the provision of the cover 18 avoids the user &# 39 ; s hand coming into contact with vaginal discharge thereby improving hygiene and reducing the risk of transmission of diseases such as hepatitis and the like . the procedure is more pleasing aesthetically because it avoids contamination of the user &# 39 ; s finger and nail by menstrual fluids or vaginal discharge .
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US-62267207-A
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fluid sensing shut - off devices with timer and methods of operation to shut off fluid flow if a primary shutoff valve sticks in the on condition . an embodiment is disclosed using a microphone to sense fluid flow , with a microprocessor periodically awakening from a sleep mode to power the sensor and determine if there is flow . if there is flow , the microprocessor times flow , and if flow is not shut off within a predetermined length of time , the microprocessor shuts off the valve . the valve itself normally held in a magnetically latched , valve open state , but may be unlatched by a current pulse to close the valve . various embodiments and applications are disclosed .
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one embodiment of the present invention is its use on the water inlet of a toilet to detect a leaking toilet valve , and shut the running water off after a preset time to prevent the costly and environmentally unwise waste and loss of water . the sensor could sense fluid by an electronic sensor , by using a probe , by sensing water level , or by detecting fluid flow audibly . the fluid valve could shut off a variety of fluid flow , i . e ., household water , gardening , irrigation , gas . the shut - off device could be powered by virtually any source of power , i . e ., ac or dc powered , solar , or powered by mechanical means . fig1 is a cross - section of the valve of one embodiment of the present invention taken through the inlet 20 and outlet 22 of the valve . the valve body 24 supports , at the left side thereof , what is referred to herein as a lower diaphragm support 26 and a spring housing 28 fastened to the valve body 24 by screws 30 . at the right side of fig1 , the valve body 24 supports an actuator housing 32 held in place by screws 34 . within the valve body is a shaft 36 sealed against leakage by diaphragms 38 and 40 , retained in position on the shaft by center diaphragm supports 42 and 44 , which in turn are held in position by spring clips 46 and 48 in grooves in shaft 36 . the shaft 36 supports a seat rubber 47 within seat rubber housing 49 , also held in position on the shaft by spring clips 50 and 52 . o - ring 54 provides a seal between the valve body 24 and the lower diaphragm support 26 , with o - ring 56 providing a further seal along shaft 36 whenever the seat rubber 46 is forced against seat 58 in the valve body . at the left end of the assembly of fig1 , a preloaded spring 60 pushes against a spring guide 62 , which in turn pushes against the spring clip 46 and center diaphragm support 42 to encourage shaft 36 and the various parts coupled thereto toward the right . at the right side of the figure is an actuator support 64 and a cup shaped magnetic lower frame 66 with an annular magnet 68 at the right end thereof . a magnetic plunger 70 has a slip fit in the magnet 68 , with the end of the plunger touching the right end of shaft 36 . the assembly of the lower frame 66 and magnet 68 is held in position by an upper frame 72 and the actuator housing 32 . also within the cup shaped lower frame 66 is a bobbin 74 with a coil of wire 76 thereon . fig1 actually shows the valve in an intermediate position between its open position and its closed position . in particular , when plunger 70 is pushed to its left - most position against the force of spring 60 , the left face of plunger 70 will abut the adjacent face of lower frame 66 to form a substantially zero air gap magnetic circuit having a circuit portion comprised of lower frame 66 and the magnet 68 and a second portion comprising the plunger itself . this is a substantially zero air gap magnetic circuit because the left face of plunger 70 is in contact with the adjacent face of lower frame 66 and for the reason that the plunger 70 is a slip fit within magnet 68 . thus there is a substantial magnetic force that will hold the plunger 70 in its left - most position , the magnetic force and the spring force of spring 60 being portioned so that when the plunger is in its left - most position , the magnetic force will exceed the spring force to hold the valve in the open position . however , a current pulse through coil 76 of sufficient amplitude and duration and of appropriate sense will sufficiently reduce the magnetic flux density between the left face of plunger 70 and the adjacent face of lower frame 66 to reduce the magnetic force on plunger 70 to a magnitude less than the force of spring 60 . thus upon occurrence of such a pulse , spring 60 will cause shaft 36 and the parts attached thereto , as well as plunger 70 , to move their right - most position , forcing seat rubber 47 against seat 58 in the valve body 24 to close the valve . when closed , seat rubber 46 will be firmly against seat 58 to seal against the seat , with o - ring 56 sealing along the shaft 36 to help prevent valve leakage . when the current pulse through coil 76 is terminated , the valve will stay in the closed position because the air gap now existing between the left face of plunger 70 and the adjacent face of lower frame 66 limits the flux density recovery in this area , thereby providing a magnetic valve opening force which is now less than the force of spring 60 holding the valve closed . the valve may be manually reset , however , by pushing plunger 70 to the left - most position , opening the valve and again magnetically latching the valve in the open position with the left face of plunger 70 against the adjacent face of lower frame 66 . fig2 is a view of the assembled valve without electronics . the parts viewable in that assembly are the valve body 24 with inlet and outlet ports 22 , the actuator housing 32 held on by screws 34 , plunger 70 , lower diaphragm support 26 and spring housing 28 held in the assembly by screws 30 . the electronics for controlling the fluid sensing shut - off device of the preferred embodiments of the present invention may be seen in fig3 and 4 . the upper part of fig3 , generally indicated by the numeral 78 , merely illustrates the battery power supply , in a preferred embodiment comprising three aa batteries with various size capacitors suppressing noise and diode d 1 providing reverse voltage protection . in the lower part of the circuit of fig3 is a microprocessor ( μp ) with a conventional crystal oscillator circuit 80 providing a reference clock input for the microprocessor . the microprocessor is programmed to periodically wake up from a sleep mode and provide sensor power on line 82 , which powers the circuit on fig4 , specifically applying sensor power through resistor r 1 to a flow sensor , in a preferred embodiment a microphone m 1 , as well as to power dual operational amplifiers a 1 , operational amplifier a 2 and comparator c 1 . the microphone m 1 is disposed within the body of the valve in the final assembly and may touch the body or be slightly spaced from the body , though in either event , responding to the flow noise of fluid flowing through the open valve . amplifiers a 1 and a 2 have the positive inputs thereto biased by the voltage across resistor r 2 , with the positive input to comparator c 1 being one diode voltage drop higher than that voltage as a result of the voltage drop across diode d 2 . consequently when there is no fluid flow , and thus no microphone input , the outputs of amplifiers a 1 and a 2 will be equal to the voltage on their positive inputs , namely , one diode voltage drop below the positive input to comparator c 1 . thus with no flow the output of the comparator on line 84 will be high . this holds the output of the precision monostable multi - vibrator mv fixed pr stable , which is sensed by the microprocessor μp before reentering the sleep mode . if , however , flow has been initiated through the valve through the opening of another valve in series therewith , the flow sensor , microphone in the preferred embodiment , will provide an output that when amplified by amplifiers a 1 and a 2 of fig4 , will cause the output of comparator c 1 to oscillate , thereby triggering the multi - vibrator mv to provide an alternating state output to the microprocessor μp . the microprocessor , on sensing that alternating input , will start timing the duration of that alternating input until either the alternating input stops or the time of flow reaches a predetermined duration , after which the microprocessor will turn on mosfet mos 1 to apply the voltage v 1 , v 2 across the coil of the valve of fig1 . in that regard , mosfet mos 2 is merely diode connected to absorb the back emf from the coil when mosfet mos 1 is subsequently turned off . the microprocessor μp will turn on mosfet mos 1 long enough to reduce the magnetic field and thus the magnetic force pulling plunger 70 to the left - most position , allowing spring 60 to force the valve to the right - most or closed position , after which the current pulse may be terminated , with the valve remaining in the closed state until plunger 70 is again manually pushed to the left as viewed in fig1 . also shown in fig3 is a low voltage sensing capability . in particular , a voltage divider generally indicated by the numeral 86 provides two measures of the battery voltage vbat to a dual ultra - low power comparator 88 with internal reference , which will provide two outputs , one indicating a low battery ( the word battery as used herein an in the claims including multiple batteries ) and the other output indicating the battery is so low as to risk malfunction of the sensing system if the valve is not immediately closed . thus on first sensing the low battery , the microprocessor will provide an output to cause a low frequency flashing of light - emitting diode led 1 , with a still lower battery voltage indication causing the microprocessor to pulse mosfet mos 1 on to close the valve . now referring to fig5 , the manner in which the electronics and battery power supply attach to the valve body 24 may be seen . in particular , case 90 houses a printed circuit board with the microprocessor μp and other electronics therein , with cover 92 covering the three aa batteries for the battery power supply . the microphone in the preferred embodiment is mounted on the printed circuit board itself and extends into the valve body 24 for picking up the sound and vibrations from the turbulent fluid flow through the valve . the preferred embodiment of the present invention is intended for use in the water supply line for a toilet to shut off the water flow in the event the normal toilet water flow shut - off valve malfunctions for any reason . however , the present invention may be used in other instances to preserve water or protect property in systems wherein normal water flow either occurs for a predetermined time period , or at least for a predetermined maximum time period . for instance , one such other use may be in the water supply line to an ice cube maker in a refrigerator . in this application , if the solenoid valve supplying water to the ice cube maker locks in the valve open condition , substantial property damage can result unless an automatic backup shut - off valve is used , such as the present invention valve . other applications could include dishwashers and clothes washers , irrigation systems , and the like , wherein much water can be wasted and substantial damage property can result from a valve stuck in the on position . in that regard , valve systems in accordance with the present invention may readily be scaled to accommodate large or small flows as required . by having the microprocessor in the sleep mode a large majority of the time , battery life in the system of the present invention may approach the shelf life of the batteries . obviously the valve systems of the present invention could be powered from 110v ac power , though battery power is preferred to minimize installation difficulty and cost . also while a microphone and microprocessor based system has been disclosed herein , obviously other types of flow sensors and control electronics may be used as desired . in that regard , the flow duration before automatic shut - off could be varied for different applications , and if desirable , could be made field programmable . thus while certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed and described herein for purposes of illustration and not for purposes of limitation , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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US-40238509-A
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an automated system and associated method for building a comprehensive database of a configurable entity that is available from one or more web sites , while removing redundancies . the system merges data tree structures that contain redundant data into more tractable data tree structures where those redundancies have been removed . more specifically , a feature of the present system is to automate the process of collecting information from one or more web sites and convert the raw data into a logically fashioned , non - redundant tree structure . advantageously , web users would be able to retrieve information stored on one or more web pages and locally merge the data .
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the following definitions and explanations provide background information pertaining to the technical field of the present invention , and are intended to facilitate the understanding of the present invention without limiting its scope : e - business , e - shopping , or e - commerce transactions : business transactions conducted online using the internet or another communications network . html ( hypertext markup language ): a standard language for attaching presentation and linking attributes to informational content within documents . during a document authoring stage , html “ tags ” are embedded within the informational content of the document . when the web document ( or “ html document ”) is subsequently transmitted by a web server to a web browser , the tags are interpreted by the browser and used to parse and display the document . in addition to specifying how the web browser is to display the document , html tags can be used to create hyperlinks to other web documents . http ( hypertext transfer protocol ): the protocol most often used to transfer information from world wide web servers to browsers . internet : a collection of interconnected public and private computer networks that are linked together with routers by a set of standard protocols to form a global , distributed network . search engine : a remotely accessible world wide web tool that allows shoppers to conduct keyword searches for information on the internet . server : a software program or a computer that responds to requests from a web browser by returning (“ serving ”) web documents . tree structure : a means of representing data in a hierarchical fashion such that the information consists of a root , branches and leaves . branches join at nodes . alternatively , the tree structure may be described in terms of parent - child relationships . url ( uniform resource locator ): a unique address that fully specifies the location of a content object on the internet . the general format of a url is protocol :// server - address / path / filename . web browser : a software program that allows shoppers to request and read hypertext documents . the browser gives some means of viewing the contents of web documents and of navigating from one document to another . web document or page : a collection of data available on the world wide web and identified by a url . in the simplest , most common case , a web page is a file written in html and stored on a web server . it is possible for the server to generate pages dynamically in response to a request from the shopper . a web page can be in any format that the browser or a helper application can display . the format is transmitted as part of the headers of the response as a mime type , e . g . “ text / html ”, “ image / gif ”. an html web page will typically refer to other web pages and internet resources by including hypertext links . web site : a database or other collection of inter - linked hypertext documents (“ web documents ” or “ web pages ”) and associated data entities , which is accessible via a computer network , and which forms part of a larger , distributed informational system such as the www . in general , a web site corresponds to a particular internet domain name , and includes the content of a particular organization . other types of web sites may include , for example , a hypertext database of a corporate “ intranet ” ( i . e ., an internal network which uses standard internet protocols ), or a site of a hypertext system that uses document retrieval protocols other than those of the www . world wide web ( www also web ): an internet client — server hypertext distributed information retrieval system . xml : extensible markup language . a standard , semi - structured language used for web documents . during a document authoring stage , xml “ tags ” are embedded within the informational content of the document . when the web document ( or “ xml document ”) is subsequently transmitted by a web server to a web browser , the tags are interpreted by the browser and used to parse and display the document . in addition to specifying how the web browser is to display the document , xml tags can be used to create hyperlinks to other web documents . [ 0039 ] fig1 portrays an overall environment in which a system 10 for automated merging and pruning of data trees , according to the present invention , may be used . the system 10 includes a software or computer program product that is typically embedded within , or installed , at least in part , on a host server or computer 15 . alternatively , the system 10 can be saved on a suitable storage medium such as a diskette , a cd , a hard drive , or like devices . while the system 10 will be described in connection with the www , the system 10 can be used with a stand - alone database of documents that may have been derived from the www and / or other sources . the cloud - like communication network 20 represents for example the internet , and is comprised of communication lines and switches connecting servers such as servers 25 , 27 to gateways such as gateway 30 . the servers 25 , 27 and the gateway 30 provide the communication access to the internet and other linked computers 35 . these servers 25 , 27 act as both a means and source information that can be queried by the host server 15 for desired information . the host server 15 is connected to the network 20 via a communications link such as a telephone , cable , or satellite link . the servers 25 and 27 can be connected via high speed internet network lines 42 , 44 , 46 to other computers and gateways . servers 25 and 27 provide access to stored information in documents . of particular interest with respect to this invention are those based on the xml language , indicated generally at 50 , 55 , and 60 . the xml documents 50 , 55 , 60 very likely include embedded hypertext links to other related , locally stored pages , and hypertext links 70 , 72 , 74 , 76 to other webs sites or documents 55 , 60 that are stored by various web servers such as the server 27 . the merging and pruning system 10 serves to process the tree - structured information stored in these representative documents 50 , 55 , 60 . [ 0042 ] fig2 illustrates the process flow in automated merging of data trees . first , the system determines which documents need to be ( or could be ) merged ( 105 ). this is application - specific but typically involves identifying documents containing data trees of matching types . for instance , two documents that both contain product data for computer systems are considered matching . the set of documents to merge is usually those that have been obtained by extracting specific type of data from a web site or web sites , for instance all product description documents in a particular product category of a product catalog web site . next , one of the documents is picked as the “ first ” document ( 110 ) with which other documents will be merged . any document can be picked for serving as the first document . the remaining documents are merged with the first document , one by one ( 115 , 120 , 125 ). when a document is merged with the first document , it is also removed from the document collection . when no documents remain in the document collection , the merge process is complete and the final result , namely all documents merged with the first document , can be output ( 130 ). [ 0044 ] fig3 further illustrates an exemplary case in which the system 10 of fig1 is employed . a group of four related input xml documents a , b , c , d that are obtained , for example , from various sources on the world wide web , are processed by the system 10 to generate a new merged and pruned output document x , that contains all of the information of the individual input documents a , b , c , d but without redundancy . the following example , expressed using the extensible markup language ( xml ) syntax , illustrates typical content in a document a . & lt ; system name =“ computera ” price =“ 1800 ”& gt ; & lt ; component name =“ cpu ”& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ intel 600 mhz ” price =“ 100 ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ component & gt ; & lt ; component name =“ disk ”& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ ide 10 gb ” price =“ 100 ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ component & gt ; & lt ;/ system & gt ; the following example , expressed using the extensible markup language ( xml ) syntax , illustrates typical content in a document x . & lt ; system name =“ computera ” price =“ 1800 ”& gt ; & lt ; component name =“ cpu ”& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ intel 600 mhz ” price =“ 100 ”/& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ intel 700 mhz ” price =“ 200 ”/& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ intel 800 mhz ” price =“ 300 ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ component & gt ; & lt ; component name =“ disk ”& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ ide 10 gb ” price =“ 100 ”/& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ ide 20 gb ” price =“ 150 ”/& gt ; & lt ; option name =“ ide 30 gb ” price =“ 200 ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ component & gt ; & lt ;/ system & gt ; an important functionality of the system 10 of fig1 as applied to the plurality of documents , is represented by a merge document m , which contains both the matching and merging instructions or rules to be applied to the input documents a , b , c , and d . in particular , the root node of the first document a is paired with the root node of the other documents b , c , d . if a matching root node is found , the two trees are merged to form a new document . their sub - tree nodes are subsequently merged in a recursive fashion , again following the instructions contained in the merge document m . the following example , expressed using the extensible markup language ( xml ) syntax , illustrates typical contents of a merge document . & lt ; system & gt ; & lt ; match test =“$ 1 /@ name == $ 2 /@ name ”/& gt ; & lt ; merge select =“$ 1 /@*”/& gt ; & lt ; component & gt ; & lt ; match test =“$ 1 /@ name == $ 2 /@ name ”/& gt ; & lt ; merge select =“$ 1 /@*”/& gt ; & lt ; unique & gt ; & lt ; merge select =“$ 1 / option ”/& gt ; & lt ; merge select =“$ 2 / option ”/& gt ; & lt ;/ unique & gt ; & lt ;/ component & gt ; & lt ;/ system & gt ; also contained in the merge document m are the details of how redundant information is to be discarded . in the particular example of fig3 the first input document a is merged with the second input document b . the product 138 of the input documents a and b is compared and merged with the next input document . the product 139 of this combination is compared and merged with the next input document d . the final product , which in this example is the output document x , contains all of the information of the individual input documents but without replicated information . while the recursive process is illustrated in fig2 and described herein as being implanted in a sequential manner , i . e ., in series , it should be understood that the merging and pruning operation of the present invention may be processed in parallel . as an illustration , the first and second input documents a and b , may be merged in accordance with the rules of the merge document m , and the other two input documents c and d , may also be similarly merged concurrently with , but independently of the input documents a and b . subsequently , the two products of the two independent merging operations ( a , b ) and ( c , d ) will be merged also in according with the rules of the merge document m . in operation , and with further reference to fig4 ( fig4 a , 4b , 4 c ), the system 10 of fig1 may be understood to compare the data of three data trees , namely those of input documents a , b , and c . as a concrete example , consider a situation where each of these input documents provides data related to a specific type of computer . input document a can be represented by a data tree 140 , that contains a root node , system a , designated by the reference numeral 155 , with components cpu 160 that refers to the speed of the central processor unit , and disk 165 that refers to the storage capacity , as well as cpu option 170 and component disk option 175 . similarly , input document b can be represented by a data tree 145 , that contains a root node , system a , designated by the reference numeral 180 , with components cpu 185 and disk 190 , as well as cpu option 195 and component disk option 200 . finally , input document c can be represented by a data tree 150 , that contains a root node , system a , designated by the reference numeral 205 , with components cpu 210 and disk 215 , as well as cpu option 220 and component disk option 225 . in the initial pass of the input documents a , b , c through the system 10 , the system 10 recognizes that the three data trees 140 , 145 , and 150 contain identical roots 155 , 180 , and 205 and thus they pertain to the same commodity . in particular , the system 10 observes , in this exemplary case , that the data trees 140 , 145 , and 150 all contain system “ a ” which is a specific type of computer . based on this finding , the system 10 merges the three trees 140 , 145 , and 150 into a new data tree 250 , as illustrated in fig5 . the data tree 250 initially comprises all the nodes 160 , 165 , 170 , 175 , 185 , 190 , 195 , 200 , 210 , 215 , 220 , and 225 of the input documents a , b , and c , including redundant nodes . as explained earlier in connection with fig2 and 3 , a series of recursive passes by the system 10 uncovers the fact that components 160 , 185 , and 210 refer to the same subcomponent , namely the cpu . as a result , similar sub - nodes 165 , 190 , and 215 that correspond to these nodes 160 , 185 , and 210 are determined by the system 10 to be redundant . these redundancies are removed in a merge process , resulting in an output data tree 260 of fig8 . in particular , two of three “ cpu ” nodes and two of three “ disk ” nodes are removed , leaving a data tree with no redundancies , i . e ., no redundant nodes . in this particular case the remaining node “ cpu ” is 160 , the node “ disk ” contained in the tree is 165 . the end product may be the data tree 260 of fig8 or , alternatively , the information , e . g ., the price structure , that is readily gleaned from the merged and pruned tree structure and heretofore , unavailable or simply obfuscated — either purposely or by the inherent structure of the information . the following is a listing of a representative pseudocode of the software elements of the automated merging and pruning system 10 of fig1 . while this code has been simplified to pertain to only two data trees , due to the incremental nature of the overall process , it may be generalized with recursion aspects to apply to any number of trees . important features of the pseudocode include the match feature which tests for specific attributes at a given hierarchical level and determines if documents have commonality and the merge functionality which builds a new document from the children of the individual documents , then removes redundancies using the “ remove duplicates ” subprogram . tree merge - docs ( doc a , doc b , doc m ) { r = merge - trees ( parse ( a ), parse ( b ), parse ( m )) return r } tree merge - trees ( tree a , tree b , tree m ) { tree r = empty if ( element ( a ) == element ( b ) and element ( a ) == element ( m ) and match ( a , b , attribute ( child ( m , “ match ”), “ test ”))) { / / trees match , merge them . insert - tree ( r , merge ( a , b , m , element ( m )))) } else { / / trees don &# 39 ; t match , output both . insert - tree ( r , a ) insert - tree ( r , b ) } return r } tree merge ( tree a , tree b , tree m , string s ) { tree r = new tree ( s ) for - each node n in children ( m ) { if ( element ( n ) == “ unique ”) { s = merge ( a , b , n , s ) insert - child - nodes ( r , remove - duplicates ( s )) } else if ( element ( n ) == “ merge ”) { s = select - tree ( a , b , attribute ( n , “ select ”)) insert - child - nodes ( r , s ) } else if ( element ( n ) == “ match ”) { / / ignore . handled in merge - trees ( ) } else { / / not unique or merge or match . s = merge - trees ( child ( a , element ( n )), child ( b , element ( n )), n , element ( n )) insert - tree ( r , s ) } } for - each node n in children ( a ) { if ( not ( contains ( children ( m ), n ))) insert - node ( r , n ) } for - each node n in children ( b ) { if ( not ( contains ( children ( m ), n ))) insert - node ( r , n ) } return r } tree parse ( doc d ) { read d into memory and parse it into a tree data structure return tree data structure } tree select - tree ( tree a , tree b , selection s ) { select subtrees from a and / or b as directed by s , then return result } tree insert - tree ( tree t , tree u ) { insert u as a child of t and then return t } tree insert - child - nodes ( tree t , tree u ) { for - each node n in children ( u ) { t = insert - node ( t , n ) } return t } tree insert - node ( tree t , node n ) { insert n as a child of t and then return t } remove - duplicates ( tree t ) { tree r = new tree ( element ( t )) for - each node n in children ( t ) { boolean foundsame = false ; for - each node m in preceding - siblings ( n ) { if ( equals ( n , m )) { foundsame = true ; break ; } } if ( not ( foundsame )) r = insert - child ( r , n ) } return r } boolean equals ( tree t , tree u ) { return true if t and u are identical } string element ( node n ) { return name of n element } boolean match ( tree a , tree b , condition c ) { return true if a and b match based on c return false otherwise } list ( node ) children ( tree t ) { return list of t &# 39 ; s children } node child ( tree t , element e ) { return child node named e in t } string attribute ( node n , attribute a ) { return value of a in n } it is to be understood that the specific embodiments of the invention that have been described are merely illustrative of certain applications of the principle of the present invention . numerous modifications may be made to the system and method for automated merging and pruning of data trees as described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . moreover , while the present invention is described for illustration purpose only in relation to the www , it should be clear that the invention is applicable as well to any device that stores data in trees or tree - like structures .
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US-83496501-A
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in a domestic appliance such as a washer , dishwasher , dryer , beverage preparation device or the like having several control circuits driven by varying voltage supplies , the input control circuit is supplied with a relatively low voltage and is electrically isolated from higher voltages within the circuitry of the appliance . an optical isolator is provided in the communication channel between the input control circuit and a power control circuit which is connected to circuit elements connected to the a . c . line voltage . the low voltage supply driving the input control circuit is also isolated from the a . c . line voltage . all operator accessible components are coupled to the input control circuit and are therefore isolated from the a . c . line voltage .
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the invention described in the present application may be better understood with reference to the following detailed description and appended drawings . the circuitry as illustrated in fig1 contains various modules and / or component groups which individually are conventional and may be selected as would occur to one of ordinary skill in the art . an input control circuit 1 receives signals from a plurality of sensors 3 which measure , for example , liquid status , component or liquid temperature , or the status of some other parameter of the apparatus or the material contained therein . one or more of such sensors 3 may supply a sensed information signal to the input control circuit 1 through the use of an analog / digital converter 2 which digitizes the sensed information signal . while the analog / digital converter 2 of fig1 is illustrated as a separate element from the input control circuit 1 , the analog / digital converter may be optionally integrated into the input control circuit 1 as a part thereof . a line voltage input is applied to the domestic appliance from an ac voltage supply line at input voltage points l1 and l2 . a safety transformer 4 constructed in accordance with the standards of vde 0551 , for example , receives the line voltage applied to voltage points l1 and l2 and may optionally lower the line voltage to a desired operating voltage . the output of the safety transformer 4 is connected to an ac - dc converter 5 . the transformer 4 and the ac - dc converter 5 supply the input control circuit 1 with a direct current of , for example , 4 - 6 volts . as shown in fig1 a key entry pad 6 and display 7 are additionally connected to the input control circuit 1 to facilitate the adjustment and identification of desired operational processes . safety transformer 4 ensures that no main supply voltage can be transferred to the control circuit 1 , the display 7 , or the keypad 6 . thus , the line voltage is isolated from the input control circuit 1 and its associated user or operator accessible keypad 6 and display 7 , ensuring the high degree of safety necessary to protect such users without the otherwise necessary air or insulation gap . the sensors 3 associated with the input control circuit 1 are also isolated from the line voltage since these sensors may be touchable by the user or operator and thus must comply with the same high safety standards . the domestic appliance of the present invention employs a number of controlled outputs such as the switching valves 8 , motor 9 and any other necessary component such as 10 . these components must be supplied with a relatively high voltage output and thus are provided with their own power control circuit 11 for supplying this relatively higher drive voltage . in the embodiment of fig1 the power control circuit 11 is a relatively low - voltage driver which provides switching signals to a plurality of amplifying components such as transistors 12 or triac 12 , which may switch the ac line voltage or other high voltage to the power components 8 - 10 . alternatively , the power control circuit could be driven by the line voltage , if desired . in the present preferred embodiment , the power control circuit 11 is driven by a relatively low - voltage drive of , for example , 24 volt d . c . accordingly , an ac - dc converter 5 &# 39 ; is provided to lower the line voltage and convert it to dc . the ac - dc converter 5 &# 39 ; may include a voltage divider and / or transformer . the power control circuit 11 controls the gating of the circuit components 12 , 12 &# 39 ; by supplying gating or switching signals thereto on conductors 20 . the power control circuit 11 according to the teachings of the present invention is not safety isolated from the line voltage . since the input control circuit 1 should be completely isolated from the line voltage , signal transmission from the input control circuit 1 to the power control circuit 11 is conducted via a signal conductor 13 having safety isolation provided therein . outgoing signals provided by the input control circuit 1 are transmitted through a photo - electric converter 14 which , for example , includes a photo - transistor or light emitting diode 15 and a photo - electric sensor 16 . the modulation of the light emitting diode 15 is sensed by the photo - electric sensor 16 which passes the modulated signal on to signal conductor 13 . thus , transmission of control signals is facilitated without any direct electrical connection between the input control circuit 1 and power control circuit 11 . the embodiment of fig1 illustrates only a single communication channel including a single conductor 13 between the input control circuit 1 and power control circuit 11 . however , is should be understood that plural communication channels employing plural photo - electric converters 14 and conductors 13 may also be utilized to communicate between the input control circuit 1 and power control circuit 11 . as shown in fig1 a parallel - serial converter 17 is provided in the input control circuit 1 and a serial - parallel converter 18 is provided in the power control circuit 11 to facilitate the multiplexing of the control signals onto the single communication channel . although the preferred embodiment of the present invention employs a photo - electric converter 14 to isolate the input control circuit 1 from the power control circuit 11 , it is also possible to employ a safety transformer ( not shown ) instead of the photo - electric converter 14 to isolate the input control circuit 1 for the power control circuit 11 . however , such a safety transformer causes a filtering or rounding of the communication pulses and thus is less desirable than the photo - electric converter 14 of the preferred embodiment . according to the teachings of the present invention , however , it is important to provide electrical isolation between the input control circuit 1 and power control circuit 11 . as previously stated , the use of a parallel - serial converter 17 in the input control circuit 1 and a serial - parallel converter 18 in the power control circuit 11 enables the use of a single transmission channel to transmit almost any quantity of data . these conversion processes can be realized , for example , by means of a &# 34 ; micro - controller &# 34 ; as is known in the art . the control of the communication channel can be distributed either to the input control circuit 1 or the power control circuit 11 or to both circuits . in constructing a device according to the teachings of the present invention , consideration must be made as to whether parallel transmission or the use of a parallel - serial and serial - parallel converter should be utilized . according to the teachings of the present invention , the circuitry described in fig1 is utilized in a beverage preparing and dispensing apparatus for dispensing lemonade , soft drinks or the like as illustrated in fig2 . in this figure , a box type housing 22 is illustrated with the front thereof partially cut away to better illustrate the contents thereof . the beverage dispensing appliance includes beverage containers a , b and c for containing beverage concentrate for three different beverages . all containers a - c are provided without flow valves 8 of the type illustrated in fig1 . these out flow valves 8 are electromagnetically operated through signals provided by conductors 20 . sensors 3 are provided for measuring the fill level of each of the beverage containers a - c . the conductors associated with each of these sensors 3 are connected to the input control circuit 1 . individual beverages may be selected by the customer for dispensing through actuation of manual controls 23 provided on the control panel 24 . the manual controls 23 correspond to the individual switches of the keypad 6 of fig1 . a display 7 is provided on the front panel of the device housing 22 for displaying the beverage selected . the beverage dispensing apparatus of fig2 additionally contains a water dispenser 25 which dispenses a given quantity of water into a blending and supply duct 26 for mixing with the beverage concentrate received from containers a - c . this mixture is accomplished within the blending and supply duct 26 for supply to the customer into a cup or other receptacle 27 . a sensor 3 ( not shown ) is also mounted in the water dispenser 25 to determine the water level within the dispenser . this sensor is likewise connected to the input control circuit 1 . a pressurized gas container 28 is provided for receiving , for example , co 2 gas for carbonating selected beverages . the pressurized gas container 28 is connected to water dispenser 25 via a gas line 30 provided with a pressure - reducing valve 29 . the water to be supplied to the blending and supply duct 26 may therefore be carbonated by co 2 . the water dispenser 25 is surrounded by a cooling shield 31 in which a cooling coil ( not shown ) is provided . the cooling coil is connected to a coiling motor as part of a refrigeration system in a manner well known in the art . a sensor 3 is provided within the water dispenser 25 to measure the temperature of the water to be dispensed into the blending and supply duct . should water temperature exceed a predetermined value , further cooling is enabled . the input control circuit 1 is connected via the signal conductor 13 to the power control circuit 11 . the power control circuit 11 is separated from the housing 22 by an appropriate dielectric insulator 32 . the dielectric insulator 32 shields the housing from the supply line voltage and also protects the power control circuit from adverse environmental factors such as waters and acids . the valves 8 and cooling motor are connected to the power control circuit by the conductors 20 . the beverage vending machine explained above with respect to fig2 illustrates the applicability of the circuitry of fig1 for providing good electrical isolation of the touchable , primarily metallic parts of the machine . in an apparatus where gases , acids , and water are necessary for beverage preparation , possible electrical leakage of the line voltage to the metallic parts of the machine must be avoided . from the foregoing description , it is apparent that the isolation techniques utilized in accordance with the teachings of the present invention provide advantages in such a device . these advantages derive from the concepts set forth in the present application which may exhibit a variety of forms . modification of the teachings of the present application may be made as would occur to one of ordinary skill in the art . the specification of the present application therefore does not limit the scope of the present invention which should be determined solely by the scope of the appended claims .
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US-63195990-A
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an improved wedgelock assembly for retaining printed wiring boards in a device . the snap - together wedgelock assembly is made up of a screw assembly and a main wedge . the main wedge having fingers for retaining the screw assembly in place .
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main wedge 10 of fig1 a , 1b and 1c is the prior art main wedge utilized in the wedgelock assembly . fig1 a illustrates the side view , fig1 b illustrates an end view and fig1 c illustrates the top view . channel 12 , as shown in fig1 b , is adapted such that a screw may be inserted through channel 12 . opening 13 of channel 12 is tapered at the top of channel 12 , thereby preventing a screw from being removed from the channel . fig2 illustrates the complete prior art wedgelock assembly . screw 32 is inserted through first wedge 40 , then through main wedge 10 along longitudinal axis 15 , and finally through second wedge 45 with captive nut 46 attached . as referred to above , the tapered end 13 of channel 12 prevents screw 32 from being removed from the main wedge through the top of channel 12 . thus , in order to remove screw assembly 30 , which comprises screw 32 , first wedge 40 and second wedge 45 , one must disassemble screw assembly 30 . fig3 a and fig3 b illustrate the assembled wedgelock assembly . fig3 a illustrates the relaxed position for the wedgelock assembly . fig3 b illustrates the expanded wedgelock assembly . the wedgelock assembly is inserted into a slot in a device ( not shown ). upon being inserted into the channel , the wedgelock assembly is expanded in order to retain the wedgelock assembly and the printed wiring board in the device . fig4 a illustrates the improvement upon the prior art . for this embodiment , main wedge 50 utilizes a pair of fingers 52 and 54 in order to retain screw assembly 30 in place . main wedge 50 has a first end 56 , a second end 57 and a top portion 58 . top portion 58 being open to allow screw assembly 30 to be inserted into channel 53 . screw assembly 30 , again , comprises screw 32 , first wedge 40 , second wedge 45 and captive nut 46 . in addition , due to the use of fingers , it is possible now to add positive stop 47 to the end of screw 32 . for the preferred embodiment , positive stop 47 is a standard nut with lock - tight thread to prevent movement . the end of screw 32 , behind positive stop 47 , is crimped in order to retain positive stop 47 in place . as shown in fig5 fingers 52 and 54 allow for the shaft of screw 32 to be inserted into channel 53 of main wedge 50 and to be removed from channel 53 . fingers 52 and 54 are flexible such that they allow screw assembly 30 to be inserted into main wedge 50 ; however , fingers 52 and 54 will not allow screw assembly 30 to fall out of channel 53 . fig6 a and 6b illustrate the assembled snap - together wedgelock assembly . fig6 a is a top view and fig6 b is a side view . due to the use of fingers , it is possible for the wedge assembly to be preassembled prior to use and upon mounting main wedge 50 on the printed wiring board , screw assembly 30 is simply snapped into place . with the addition of positive stop 47 , second wedge 45 will not come off the end of screw 32 during disassembly . further , due to use of fingers 52 and 54 , it is possible to remove screw assembly 30 without completely disassembling screw assembly 30 . to remove the screw assembly , place screw assembly 30 in the relaxed position , remove the printed wiring board from the channel and snap screw assembly 30 out of main wedge 50 . although the preferred embodiment illustrates a main wedge which utilizes fingers for retaining screw assembly 30 , it is possible that main wedge 50 be designed such that instead of fingers the screw assembly is completely assembled and then the top portion of the main wedge 50 is crimped in order to retain screw assembly 30 in place .
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US-80694591-A
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systems and methods for distributed location determination are disclosed . mobile computing devices within proximity of one another can exchange signals to determine relative physical locations . such signals include signals for determining proximity or distances that can be used by the mobile computing devices to triangulate the relative positions of the mobile computing devices . the signals can also include unique identifiers that can be used to associate a determined position with a particular mobile computing device . the mobile computing devices share their own location information and location information for other known mobile computing devices to distribute the location determination tasks . data from stationary nodes and external positioning systems may be superimposed on the relative position determination to add external location references . the resolution of the external location references can be enhanced using the relative positions determined by the mobile computing devices .
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described herein are techniques for systems and methods for location determination systems , and in particular to indoor and outdoor peer - based location determination . 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 defined by 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 . conventional location systems , such as gps , offer a “ best guess ” approach to triangulating position and accuracy is often limited resolutions of +/− 5 meters . the resolution of gps and other external reference location determination system is further reduced in indoor implementation due to physical obstructions of radio frequency signals originating outdoor or from outerspace . other systems , such as wifi triangulation , also offer a semi - accurate location data indoors but are limited by the number of available signals with which to perform a calculation and , again , require the bulk of the work involved in triangulation to happen on the object or device and thus negatively impacts energy usage and performance . the present disclosure relates to electronic position determination systems and in particular to systems and methods for decentralized triangulation of positions of mobile devices . some embodiments include decentralized systems and methods for obtaining and maintaining location information . such embodiments advantageously include robust and scalable data transfer and transformation mechanisms . embodiments of the present disclosure provide enhanced location triangulation system with higher location resolution , lower energy requirements , better network resiliency , and data bi - directionality . in indoor implementations of various embodiments , client devices may periodically advertise themselves using one or more wireless transmission media , such as bluetooth le . in some embodiments , the client devices can also act as location reference nodes for other client devices in a dynamic network . such dynamic networks may also include nodes configured to receive the signals from the client device and other nodes used in triangulation calculations , perform the calculations required for triangulation , store the results of the calculation , and communicate with one another . the dynamic network of nodes may exchange information with each other , elect individual nodes to perform specific tasks , and recover gracefully from a failed node with no perceptible change in operation or performance . fig1 is system 100 for location determination according to various embodiments of the present disclosure . system 100 may include a client 130 , multiple nodes 105 , and a server 125 . nodes 105 may access or communication with one another and the server 125 through the network 120 . client 130 may include a computing device having a transmitter , a receiver , transceiver , or other devices with functionality for sending or receiving triangulation signals . for example , client 130 may send and receive signals such as , radio frequency ( rf ) signals , optical signals , infrared ( ir ) signals , ultrasonic signals , or the like . the client 130 may also include a processor and memory that can be configured to generate transmit signals and process received signals . accordingly , client 130 may broadcast , or as often referred to herein as , “ advertise ”, information about the location and status the client 130 and respond to received signals . nodes 105 may also include transmitters , receivers , transceivers , or other devices with functionality for sending or receiving triangulation signals that a compatible with the signals of the client 130 . accordingly , the nodes 105 may also send and receive may send and receive signals such as , radio frequency ( rf ) signals , optical signals , infrared ( ir ) signals , ultrasonic signals , or the like . in addition , the node 105 may also include a processor and a memory that can be configured to generate transmit signals and process received signals . in addition , the processor may be configured to process trigonometric triangulation algorithms , perform data transformations , and process communication information sent and received over a secondary communication channel or network ( e . g ., ieee 802 . 11x wireless networks or ethernet ). the server 125 may include a computer system or any other resource available via the network 120 . accordingly , the server 125 may include a repository for data store for data available to the nodes 105 and the client 130 . repository may include data for the nodes 105 and / or client 130 . fig2 is a flowchart of a method 200 for determining the location of the client 130 that is introduced into the system 100 of nodes 105 depicted in fig1 . before or when the client 130 enters vicinity of nodes 105 of system 100 , it can begin broadcasting and advertisement signal to be received by some or all of the nodes 105 . in one embodiment , the client 130 may broadcast the advertisement signal at regular intervals . in other embodiments , the claim 130 may broadcast advertisement signal at intermittent intervals determined by a predetermined timing scheme known to the nodes 105 , the client 130 , and server 125 . in such embodiments , the advertisement signal may include information about the client 130 . for example , the advertisement signal may include a unique identifier associated with client 130 . method 200 may begin at action 205 in which one of the nodes 105 receives and advertisement signal from the client 130 . the receiving node 105 , in response to first receiving advertisement signal from the client 130 , can check its local records stored in a local transitory or non - transitory computer readable memory to determine if the client 130 is known , in determination 210 . for example , the node 105 can check its local records to determine if it has had previous communication with the client 130 . in one embodiment , determining whether the client device is known can include checking a local database stored in the receiving node 105 for a record of a previous communication associated with unique identifier of the client 130 . if , in determination 210 , the receiving node 105 determines that the client 130 is unknown , the receiving node 105 may establish a connection other nodes 105 in the system 100 through the network 120 , in action 215 . through the connection over the network 120 , the receiving node 105 may request information from the other nodes 105 regarding the client 130 or the associated unique identifier . accordingly , the receiving node 105 may determine from the information received from the other nodes 105 whether the client 130 identified by the received unique identifier is known to the system 100 . in some embodiments , receiving node 105 may determine whether the receiving node is the node 105 closest to the client 130 , in determination 220 . to determine whether the receiving node 105 is the nearest of the nodes 105 to the client 130 , receiving node 205 may perform a comparative analysis of the data regarding the client 130 received from the other nodes 105 . for example , the comparative analysis may include calculating metrics that describe the distance of each node 105 to the client 130 . the metrics may include , but are not limited to , indications of proximity or timestamp indicators . if in determination 220 , the receiving node 105 determines that it is the nearest node 105 to the client 130 , the receiving node 105 may be designated as the master node . the master node , as referred to herein , is the note that collect information from all the other nodes 105 , and perform the triangulation calculations in action 240 . in action 240 , the master node may also store the results of the triangulation calculations , and distribute the results to the other nodes 105 and server 125 in the system 100 . however , if in determination 220 , the receiving node 105 determines that it is not the node 105 nearest the client 130 , then the process ends for that particular node 105 , at 255 . in some embodiments , at 255 , receiving node may return back to a “ ready ” state to ready itself to receive advertisement signals from the client 105 or other devices . in one embodiment , while the receiving node 105 is the ready state , no further advertisement signals from the previously recognized client device 130 will be processed . however , the receiving node 105 will be receptive to receiving new advertisement signals from newly encountered 130 . accordingly , there may be no limits to the number of clients 130 that the system 100 can handle . going back to the determination 210 , in which the receiving node 105 determines that the client 130 from which the advertisement signal was received is known to the system 100 , then at action 225 , the receiving node 105 determine whether that node 105 is the master node for the client 130 , at determination 225 . if the receiving node 105 determines that it is indeed the master node for the client 130 , then it can establish a connection to some or all of the other nodes 105 , in action 230 . establish the connection with all the other nodes 105 may include singer request for responses and waiting for the responses or a timeout period to expire . in some embodiments , the expiration of the timeout period results in the immediate and the workflow , as illustrated by the determination 235 in which the receiving node 105 determines that responses were not received before the timeout period expired . alternatively , if responses are received from some or all of the other nodes 105 , method 200 can proceed to action 240 , in which the receiving node 105 performs the trigonometric triangulation calculations and distributes the results to the other nodes 105 . in some embodiments , the receiving node 105 acting as the master node may also store the results in a remote or local data store . for example , the results of the trigonometric triangulation calculations may be stored in the server 125 or other external data store . if , however , in determination 225 , the receiving node 105 determines that it is not the master node 105 for the client 130 , then the receiving node 105 may wait for a connection from the master node . in some embodiments , waiting for the connection from the master node may initiate a time out period countdown . in determination 250 , if the receiving node 105 determines that the timeout period expired before the master node connects , then the method 200 may end at 255 . alternatively , if the receiving node 105 determines that the timeout period has not expired , then the method 200 may proceed to action 215 , in which the receiving node 105 may determine an alternate master node . receiving a successful connection from the master node may trigger receiving node 105 to send any data it may have regarding the client 130 to the master node . fig3 illustrates determination of the geometry 300 of the system 100 used in the trigonometric triangulation calculations of various embodiments of the present disclosure . fig3 illustrates the known distances 305 , 310 , and 315 between the nodes 105 as shown . because the precise distances 305 , 310 , and 315 are needed for the precise determination of the location of the client 130 , various embodiments the present disclosure provides for the periodic calibration of the distances . in some embodiments , the calibration of the distances may also include periodically calibrating the noise to signal ratio within the system 100 to account for any possible shifts in the noise floor . for example , changes in the number of clients 130 within the system 100 may contribute to the decrease in the signal - to - noise ratio . fig4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for calibrating the system 100 , according to an embodiment of the present disclosure . the method 400 may begin at action 405 in which one of the nodes 105 advertises or broadcasts the activation of a calibration process . the activation of a calibration process may be informative ( i . e ., alerting other nodes 105 that the calibrating node 105 may be off line 4 ), or the activation of the calibration process may be a command to other nodes 105 to also initiate a calibration process . the node 105 that initiates the calibration process is referred to herein as the initiating node . in action 410 , initiating node attempts to establish connections with some or all of the other nodes in the system 100 through the network 120 . establishing the connection with the other nodes may include sending a request for connections and waiting for a response . the initiating node may wait for responses from some or all of the other nodes 105 for a predetermined timeout period . if in determination 415 , the initiating node does not receive any responses before the timeout period expires , the receiving node may disconnect from the other nodes 105 in action 440 and returns to normal operation at 445 . however , if in determination 415 , the initiating node receives responses from some or all the other nodes 105 before the expiration of the timeout period , then the initiating node stops waiting and begins the rest of the auto calibration process . in one embodiment , the initiating node may begin transmitting like it were a client 130 , and action 425 . the other nodes 105 , while still connected to initiating node through the network 120 , may receive the signals transmitted by the initiating node and return information about the received signals to the initiating node through the network 120 . initiating node may receive the information about its transmitted signals from the other nodes , in action 430 . for example , the other nodes may return information regarding the transmission strength of the signal , signal - to - noise ratios , and other signal processing information . the initiating node can store the return values from the other nodes 105 , in action 435 , to use in calibration calculations . initiating node may then disconnect from all the other nodes , in action 440 . fig5 is a flowchart of a method 500 for the exchange of data among the nodes 105 in system 100 . in some embodiments , the method 500 may occur in parallel with the performance of the trigonometric triangulation calculations performed by a node 105 in action 240 of method 200 illustrated in fig2 . in some embodiments , method 500 is initiated by the receipt of an advertisement signal that includes the indication of a request is received from a client 130 at one or more of the nodes 105 . the request may indicate a particular action or function to be initiated by the nodes 105 . in action 510 , a node 105 may wait for an process advertisement signals from clients 130 as described in reference to method 200 of fig2 . in determination 515 , the node 105 can determine whether the received advertisement signal is valid . in some embodiments , determining whether the received advertisement signal is valid includes determining whether the advertisement signal includes a request for an action or function of the node 105 can perform . if in determination 515 , the node 105 determines that the advertisement signal is not valid or includes a request for a function that cannot be performed by the node 105 , then the node 105 may send the client 130 an error message , in action 445 . sending the error message from the node 105 to the client 130 may include establishing an electronic communication connection and sending a predetermined error code . once the error code is sentenced to the client 130 , the node 105 and the client 130 may resume normal activity . in some embodiments , the normal activity may include the client 130 sending regular advertisement signals , and the node 105 receiving such signals . if however , in determination 515 , the node 105 determines that the request is valid , then the node 105 may initiate operations to perform the requested action . specifically , in action 520 , the node 105 may transform the request from the client 130 into a format compatible with the network 120 or other external services ( i . e ., web services or database server ). alternatively , the node 105 may respond directly to the requesting client 130 . for requests of the node 105 forms and sentenced to an external service , such as the server 125 or another node 105 , in action 525 the node 105 can determine whether not a response is received and valid in determination 525 . if the responses received and valid , then the node 105 may transform and transmit the response to the client 130 . if no response is received or the response is invalid , then the node 105 may report an error message to the client in action 545 . fig6 is a schematic of a system 600 that is similar to system 100 of fig1 with the addition of a global positioning satellite ( gps ). each of the nodes 105 may be connected to one another through the network 120 . in addition , each of the nodes 105 may include a receiver for receiving signals 610 from the gps . accordingly , signals from the gps can be used to determine location of each node 105 . conventional systems , like gps , offer an approximation to triangulating position , therefore the accuracy of such systems is often limited to a resolution of approximately ± 5 meters . the accuracy of such system is further reduced for indoor applications were clear line of sight to the gps satellites is often obstructed , the resolution of the gps rf signals is diminished . some systems exclusively use wireless networking signals ( e . g ., 802 . 11x ) as triangulation signals . embodiments of the present disclosure offer clear advantages over such systems because the ability to share proximity and location information among multiple clients , increases the available location data and thus increase possible location determination resolution , while also reducing power consumption by sharing the calculation workload across more computing device . each computing device acting at the client or the client - node in embodiments need only perform a fraction of the trigonometric triangulation calculations . embodiments of the present disclosure provide higher resolution location triangulation systems for use in both indoor , outdoor , and ad hoc scenarios in which fewer than all clients 130 know their location . other advantages of the present disclosure include lower energy consumption , better network resiliency , and bi - directional data exchange . to increase accuracy indoors , clients 130 periodically advertise using one or more types of signals . in some embodiments , clients 130 may use bluetooth le signals to broadcast and receive advertisement and signals and triangulation signals . some embodiments include a dynamic network of nodes or client - nodes that receive signals used in triangulation , perform the calculations required for triangulation , store the results of the calculation , and communicate with other nodes or client - nodes in the dynamic network . as used herein , the term dynamic network refers to a network of nodes or client - nodes that link to one another as needed when in proximity to one another . the dynamic network of nodes or client - nodes may exchange information with each other , elect individual nodes to perform specific tasks , and recover from the inclusion of a failed node with no perceptible change in operation or performance by the user . in other embodiments , each nodes or client - node may transmit the triangulation signal and the data / synchronization signals using the same communication medium or protocol ( e . g ., bluetooth , 802 . 11x , ir signals , optical , sonic , etc .) such that any client , node , or client - node for which a location has been triangulated may request the results of said triangulation , thus further reducing the energy consumption and allowing for bi - directionality of data . fig7 is a schematic of a peer based location determination system 700 . as shown , each of the n client - nodes 705 , wherein n is a natural number , may include components of the nodes 105 and / or client 130 described herein . accordingly , each client - node 705 may perform the functionality of the nodes 105 or the client 130 simultaneously or in alternating intervals . for example , client - nodes 705 may include a mobile computing device , such as a smartphone , tablet computer , and the like , that can send , receive , and process triangulation signals . the signals may include , but are not limited to , rf signals , ir signals , optical signals , and sonic signals . the triangulation signals may include independent signals that are dedicated to purpose of location determination . in some embodiments , the triangulation signals may be included in other communication signals that the client - node 705 send and receive . in either independent or combined triangulation signals , the triangulation signals may be incorporated into or embedded into cellular voice or data signals , wireless networking signals , and close proximity data connection signals ( e . g ., bluetooth ). in any given configuration of client - nodes 705 , some of the client - nodes 705 may or may not be able to receive triangulation signals from some or all of the other client - nodes . for example , as illustrated in fig7 , client - nodes 705 pairs connected by solid - line connections 730 represent client - nodes 705 that are sufficiently close such that they may exchange triangulation signals with one another , while the client - node 705 pairs connected with dotted - line connections 735 are separated in space to the extent that they cannot exchange triangulation signals . the triangulation signals may include both the inter client - node 705 communication signals ( i . e ., data signals used for communicating and calibration ) and the triangulation signals ( i . e ., proximity and timing signals ). the client - nodes 705 may perform the various methods of triangulation , calibration , and data exchange described herein in reference to fig2 , 4 , 5 , and 6 . in addition , the client - nodes 705 may also receive triangulation signals from an external system , such as a gps satellite . the signals from the external system can be used by the client - nodes 705 to directly describe the location of the client - node 705 and also to describe any client - node 705 not capable of locating itself , either because of lacking of suitable equipment or being unable to receive a viable signal . each client - node 705 may request data and respond to requests for data from other client - nodes 705 . in some embodiments , each client - node 705 may periodically receive a list of currently - visible nodes from other client - nodes 705 or nodes 105 to which it has access . for instance , in the scenario shown in fig7 , client - node 705 - 1 has access to and is able to connect to client - nodes 705 - 2 and 705 - n . client - node 705 - 1 cannot , however , access client - nodes 705 - 3 or 705 - 4 . a request made from client - node 705 - 1 to client - node 705 - 2 would reveal status , position , and proximity information about client - nodes 705 - 3 , 705 - 4 , and 705 - n from the perspective of client - node 705 - 2 . further , a request for information sent to client - node 705 - 4 would reveal information about client - nodes 705 - 2 , 705 - 3 , and 705 - n . in some embodiments , information determined from the signals from an external source and / or the information obtained by each of client - nodes 705 from one another , can be used by each client - node 705 to form an accurate representation of the physical and geo - spatial layout of all client - nodes 705 at any given moment in time . for instance , because client - node 705 - 2 has direct access to every other client - node 705 depicted , it can use information received from all the other client - nodes 705 to generate a relative location diagram , such as the one depicted in in fig7 . client - node 705 - n has information about the distance from itself to client - node 705 - 1 as well as client - node 705 - 4 . client - node 705 - 3 has information about the distance from itself to client - nodes 705 - 2 and 05 - 4 . knowing all possible connections and all impossible connections allows for accurate calculation wherein a diagram like the example depicted in fig7 can be drawn automatically by the client - nodes 705 . in some embodiments , client - nodes 705 can operate in client - mode , node - mode , or client - node mode . fig8 illustrates an example computing device and network that may be used to implement one embodiment of the present disclosure . computing device 810 includes a bus 805 or other communication mechanism for communicating information , and a processor 801 coupled with bus 805 for processing information . computing device 810 also includes a memory 802 coupled to bus 805 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 801 , including instructions for performing the techniques described above . this memory may also be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 801 . possible implementations of this memory may be , but are not limited to , random access memory ( ram ), read only memory ( rom ), or both . a storage device 803 is also provided for storing information and instructions . the information instructions can be in the form of computer readable code stored on the storage device , accessible and executable by processor to implement various techniques and methods of the present disclosure . common forms of storage devices include non - transient , non - volatile computer readable media , for example , a hard drive , a magnetic disk , an optical disk , a cd , a dvd , a flash memory , a usb memory card , or any other medium from which a computer can read . computing device 810 may be coupled via the same or different information bus , such as bus 805 , to a display 812 , such as a cathode ray tube ( crt ), touchscreen , or liquid crystal display ( lcd ), for displaying information . an input device 811 such as a keyboard and / or mouse is coupled to a bus for communicating information and command selections from the user to processor 801 . the combination of these components allows the user to communicate with the system . the transceiver 807 may include one or more transmitters or receivers for sending and receiving communication and triangulation signals . as used herein , triangulation signals may include any signal that can be used to determine proximity or distance of one computing device to another . according , the triangulation signals may include rf signals , optical signals , ir signals , sonic signals , and the like . the transceiver 807 can transmit signals generated by the cpu 801 and relay received signals to the cpu 807 for processing or location determination . in some embodiments , location determination may include performing triangulation calculations . computing device 810 also includes a network interface 804 coupled with bus 805 . network interface 804 may provide two - way data communication between computing device 810 and the local network 820 . the network interface 804 may be a digital subscriber line ( dsl ) or a modem to provide data communication connection over a telephone line , for example . another example of the network interface is a local area network ( lan ) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible lan . wireless links is also another example . in any such implementation , network interface 804 sends and receives electrical , electromagnetic , or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information . computer system 810 can send and receive information , including messages or other interface actions , through the network interface 804 to an intranet or the internet 830 . in the internet example , software components or services may reside on multiple different computer systems 810 or servers 831 across the network . software components described above may be implemented on one or more servers . a server 831 may transmit messages from one component , through internet 830 , local network 820 , and network interface 804 to a component or container on computer system 810 , for example . software components of a composite application may be implemented on the same system as other components , or on a different machine than other software components . this process of sending and receiving information between software components or one or more containers may be applied to communication between computer system 810 and any of the servers 831 to 835 in either direction . it may also be applied to communication between any two servers 831 to 835 . the above description illustrates various embodiments of the present disclosure along with examples of how aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented . the above examples and embodiments should not be deemed to be the only embodiments , and are presented to illustrate the flexibility and advantages of the present disclosure as defined by the following claims . based on the above disclosure and the following claims , other arrangements , embodiments , implementations and equivalents will be evident to those skilled in the art and may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the claims .
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US-201313940252-A
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the invention includes a number of methods and structures pertaining to semiconductor circuit technology , including : methods of forming dram memory cell constructions ; methods of forming capacitor constructions ; dram memory cell constructions ; capacitor constructions ; and monolithic integrated circuitry . the invention includes a method of forming a capacitor comprising the following steps : a ) forming a mass of silicon material over a node location , the mass comprising exposed doped silicon and exposed undoped silicon ; b ) substantially selectively forming rugged polysilicon from the exposed undoped silicon and not from the exposed doped silicon ; and c ) forming a capacitor dielectric layer and a complementary capacitor plate proximate the rugged polysilicon and doped silicon . the invention also includes a capacitor comprising : a ) a first capacitor plate ; b ) a second capacitor plate ; c ) a capacitor dielectric layer intermediate the first and second capacitor plates ; and d ) at least one of the first and second capacitor plates comprising a surface against the capacitor dielectric layer and wherein said surface comprises both doped rugged polysilicon and doped non - rugged polysilicon .
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this disclosure of the invention is submitted in furtherance of the constitutional purposes of the u . s . patent laws “ to promote the progress of science and useful arts ” ( article 1 , section 8 ). methods of forming dram arrays of the present invention are described with reference to fig2 - 17 , with fig2 - 13 pertaining to a first embodiment of the invention , and fig1 - 17 pertaining to a second embodiment of the invention . in describing the first embodiment of the present invention , like numerals from the preceding discussion of the prior art are utilized where appropriate , with differences being indicated by the suffix “ a ” or with different numerals . referring to fig2 a semiconductor wafer fragment 10 a is illustrated at a preliminary step of a process of the present invention . wafer fragment 10 a comprises a semiconductive material 12 a , field oxide regions 14 a , and a thin gate oxide layer 16 a . over gate oxide layer 16 a is formed polysilicon layer 18 a , silicide layer 20 a and silicon oxide layer 22 a . silicide layer 20 a comprises a refractory metal silicide , such as tungsten silicide , and polysilicon layer 18 a typically comprises polysilicon doped with a conductivity enhancing dopant . layers 16 a , 18 a , 20 a and 22 a can be formed by conventional methods . referring next to fig3 polysilicon layer 18 a , silicide layer 20 a and silicon oxide layer 22 a are etched to form wordlines 24 a and 26 a . such etching can be accomplished by conventional methods . between wordlines 24 a and 26 a are defined electrical node locations 25 a , 27 a and 29 a , with wordlines 26 a comprising transistor gates which electrically connect node locations 25 a , 27 a , and 29 a . node locations 25 a , 27 a and 29 a are diffusion regions formed within semiconductive material 12 a . referring to fig4 and 5 , a nitride layer 28 a is provided over wordlines 24 a and 26 a and subsequently etched to form nitride spacers 30 a laterally adjacent wordlines 24 a and 26 a . referring to fig6 an insulative material layer 34 a is formed over material 12 a and over wordlines 24 a and 26 a . insulative layer 34 a may comprise , for example , bpsg , and can be formed by conventional methods . insulative layer 34 a comprises an upper surface 35 a . openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a are formed extending through insulative layer 34 a to node locations 25 a , 27 a and 29 a , respectively . referring to fig7 an undoped silicon layer 100 is formed over insulative layer 34 a and within openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a . undoped silicon layer 100 narrows openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a , but does not fill such openings . undoped silicon layer 100 preferably has a thickness of from about 50 angstroms to about 1000 angstroms , with a thickness of about 300 angstroms being most preferred . undoped silicon layer 100 preferably comprises substantially amorphous silicon . such substantially amorphous layer can be 5 - 10 % crystalline . undoped silicon layer 100 can be formed by conventional methods , such as , for example , by deposition utilizing either silane or disilane . for purposes of the continuing discussion , and for interpreting the claims that follow , “ undoped ” silicon is defined as silicon having a dopant concentration of less than 5 × 10 18 atoms / cm 3 , and “ doped ” silicon is defined as silicon having a dopant concentration of at least 5 × 10 18 atoms / cm 3 . “ undoped ” silicon preferably comprises less than or equal to 1 × 10 18 atoms / cm 3 , and “ doped ” silicon preferably comprises at least 1 × 10 19 atoms / cm 3 . a doped silicon layer 102 is formed over undoped silicon layer 100 and within openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a . in the shown embodiment of the invention , doped layer 102 completely fills openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a . however , in alternative embodiments of the invention , such as the embodiment discussed below with reference to fig1 - 17 , layer 102 can only partially fill openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a . as will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art , the thickness of layer 102 will vary depending on whether layer 102 is chosen to completely fill openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a , or to partially fill such openings . doped silicon layer 102 preferably comprises doped polysilicon , and can be formed by conventional methods . after formation of layers 100 and 102 , an upper surface of wafer fragment 10 a is planarized to remove layers 100 and 102 from over insulative layer 34 a . such planarization can be accomplished by , for example , chemical - mechanical polishing ( cmp ). referring to fig8 after the above - discussed planarization , pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 remain in openings 38 a , 39 a and 40 a ( shown in fig7 ), respectively . pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 comprise undoped silicon layer 100 and doped silicon layer 102 , and are over node locations 25 a , 27 a and 29 a , respectively . pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 also comprise exposed upper surfaces 116 , 118 and 120 , respectively . fig9 illustrates a top view of the fig8 wafer fragment , and shows that pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 actually comprise a core of doped silicon layer 102 surrounded by undoped silicon layer 100 . referring again to fig8 insulative layer 34 a is selectively removed relative to the silicon of pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 to form a new upper surface 37 a lower than previous upper surface 35 a ( shown in fig7 ). the preferred bpsg insulative layer 34 a can be selectively removed relative to pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 using a conventional oxide etch . the selective removal of insulative layer 34 a exposes a sidewall surface 110 of pedestal 104 , a sidewall surface 112 of pedestal 106 , and a sidewall surface 114 of pedestal 108 . sidewall surfaces 110 , 112 and 114 comprise undoped silicon layer 100 . additionally , in the shown embodiment a portion of undoped silicon layer 100 is below upper surface 37 a of bpsg layer 34 a , and remains unexposed . the depth of removal of insulative layer 34 a can be controlled by a number of methods . for example , layer 34 a could be removed via a timed etch . as another example , an etch stop layer could be formed within layer 34 a at a desired depth of surface 37 a . an example of a layer 34 a comprising an etch stop layer is a layer comprising bpsg and having a silicon nitride etch stop layer formed within the bpsg at a level of upper surface 37 a . as exposed sidewall surfaces 110 , 112 and 114 of pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 comprise undoped silicon layer 100 , and as exposed upper surfaces 116 , 118 and 120 of the pedestals comprise exposed doped silicon layer 102 , as well as exposed undoped silicon layer 100 , the pedestals comprise exposed doped silicon and exposed undoped silicon at the processing step of fig8 . referring to fig1 , a rugged polysilicon layer 122 is substantially selectively formed from the exposed undoped silicon of surfaces 110 , 112 114 , 116 , 118 , and 120 ( shown in fig8 ), and not from the exposed doped silicon of surfaces 116 , 118 and 120 . rugged polysilicon layer 122 comprises materials selected from the group consisting of hsg and cylindrical grain polysilicon . the substantially selective formation of a preferred hsg polysilicon layer 122 from undoped silicon surfaces but not from doped silicon surfaces can be accomplished by the following process . first , wafer fragment 10 a is loaded into a conventional chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) furnace and is subjected to an in situ hydrofluoric acid ( hf ) clean to remove native oxide . the in situ hf clean preferably comprises a flow rate of 85 standard cubic centimeters per minute ( sccm ) of hf gas and 8500 sccm of h 2 o gas , at a pressure of 15 torr , for a time of about 20 seconds . wafer fragment 10 a is then exposed to silane to form amorphous silicon seeds on the undoped silicon . wafer fragment 10 a is then annealed for approximately 20 minutes at about 560 ° c . the seeding and anneal steps convert undoped amorphous silicon into rugged polysilicon ( such as hemispherical grain polysilicon ), while leaving exposed doped silicon layers not converted to rugged polysilicon . it is noted that the above - described process for forming hsg polysilicon does not require disilane , and hence is different than the “ pure ” selective hemispherical grain deposition utilized in high vacuum tools with disilane . after the formation of rugged polysilicon layer 122 , a short polysilicon etch is performed to remove any monolayers of silicon deposited on insulative layer 34 a during the above - described seeding step . such polysilicon etch can be accomplished with conventional conditions , and may comprise either a wet etch or a dry etch . the above - described process for forming rugged polysilicon layer 122 advantageously avoids formation of polysilicon on a back side ( not shown ) of wafer fragment 10 a . the method can also avoid double bit failures by removing monolayers of silicon after formation of hsg . subsequent thermal processing of pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 can out - diffuse dopant from doped polysilicon layer 102 into undoped silicon layer 100 ( shown in fig8 ), to convert unexposed portions of undoped silicon layer 100 into a doped polysilicon layer 119 . subsequent thermal processing can also out - diffuse dopant from doped polysilicon layer 102 into rugged polysilicon layer 122 . thermal processing to out - diffuse dopant from doped polysilicon layer 102 into adjacent undoped layers will typically comprise temperatures of 800 ° c . or greater . referring to fig1 , a dielectric layer 124 is provided over insulative layer 34 a and over pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 . dielectric layer 124 will typically comprise silicon nitride and / or silicon oxide , although other suitable materials are known to persons of skill in the art . a capacitor cell plate layer 126 is provided over dielectric layer 124 . capacitor cell plate layer 126 will typically comprise doped polysilicon , but other suitable materials are known to persons of skill in the art . referring to fig1 , a patterned masking layer 128 is formed over pedestals 104 and 108 , leaving pedestal 106 exposed . subsequently , wafer fragment 10 a is subjected to etching conditions which remove cell plate layer 126 and dielectric layer 124 from proximate pedestal 106 . after such etching , pedestal 106 is electrically isolated from pedestals 104 and 108 , with the only remaining electrical connection between pedestal 106 and pedestals 104 and 108 being through wordlines 26 a . methods for removing cell plate layer 126 and dielectric layer 124 from proximate pedestal 106 are known to persons of ordinary skill in the art . referring to fig1 , masking layer 128 is removed and an insulative layer 130 is formed over pedestals 104 , 106 and 108 , and over insulative layer 34 a . insulative layer 130 may comprise , for example , bpsg , and can be formed by conventional methods . a conductive bitline plug 75 a is formed extending through insulative layer 130 and in electrical contact with pedestal 106 . pedestal 106 comprises rugged lateral surfaces 136 and an upper surface 118 which has a predominant portion not comprising rugged - polysilicon . as shown , the non - rugged polysilicon of upper surface advantageously provides a smooth landing region for bitline plug 75 a . pedestal 106 and bitline plug 75 a together form a bitline contact 77 a . a bitline 76 a is formed over bitline plug 75 a and in an electrical connection with pedestal 106 through bitline plug 75 a . bitline 76 a and bitline plug 75 a may be formed by conventional methods . the above - described method can be used to avoid chemical - mechanical polishing of a rugged polysilicon layer , thus avoiding a potential source of double bit failures . fig1 illustrates a dram array 83 a of the present invention . dram array 83 a comprises capacitors 62 a and 64 a . capacitors 62 a and 64 a comprise capacitor storage nodes 132 and 134 , respectively , which comprise doped polysilicon layer 102 , doped polysilicon layer 119 and rugged - polysilicon layer 122 . as the doped polysilicon layer 119 is formed from the undoped silicon layer 100 ( shown in fig8 ), the undoped silicon layer 100 and doped silicon layer 102 of pedestals 104 and 108 in fig8 together define capacitor storage nodes 132 and 134 . storage nodes 132 and 134 have rugged - polysilicon - comprising lateral surfaces 138 and 140 , respectively . storage nodes 132 and 134 further comprise top surfaces 116 and 120 , respectively , which have predominant portions which do not comprise rugged - polysilicon . cell plate layer 126 and dielectric layer 124 are operatively proximate to storage nodes 132 and 134 so that the storage nodes , together with cell plate layer 126 and dielectric layer 124 , form operative capacitors 62 a and 64 a . dielectric layer 124 contacts rugged surfaces 138 and 140 , as well as top surfaces 116 and 120 of storage nodes 132 and 134 . capacitors 62 a and 64 a are connected to pedestal 106 through wordlines 26 a . capacitor 62 a , together with bitline contact 77 a and an interconnecting wordline 26 a , comprises a first dram cell 79 a . capacitor 64 a , together with bitline contact 77 a and an interconnecting wordline 26 a , comprises a second dram cell 81 a . a second embodiment of the invention is described with reference to fig1 - 17 . in describing the embodiment of fig1 - 17 , numbering similar to that utilized above for describing the embodiment of fig2 - 13 is utilized , with differences being indicated by the suffix “ b ”, or by different numbers . referring to fig1 , a wafer fragment 10 b is shown at a processing step subsequent to that of the above - discussed fig6 . wafer fragment 10 b comprises wordlines 24 b and 26 b having constructions identical to that discussed above with regard to the prior art . wafer fragment 10 b further comprises node locations 25 b , 27 b and 29 b between wordlines 24 b and 26 b . wafer fragment 10 b also comprises a semiconductor substrate 12 b and field oxide regions 14 b formed over substrate 12 b . an insulative material layer 34 b is formed over wordlines 24 b and 26 b , and over semiconductive material 12 b . insulative layer 34 b may comprise a number of materials known to persons of ordinary skill in the art , including bpsg . openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b extend through insulative layer 34 b to node locations 25 b , 27 b and 29 b , respectively . a first undoped silicon layer 146 extends over insulative layer 34 b and within openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . undoped silicon layer 146 preferably comprises amorphous silicon , and preferably has a thickness of from about 50 angstroms to about 500 angstroms . undoped silicon layer 146 can be formed by conventional methods , such as cvd . undoped silicon layer 146 narrows openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . a doped silicon layer 148 is formed over undoped silicon layer 146 and within narrowed openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . doped silicon layer 148 preferably comprises polysilicon , and can be formed by conventional methods , such as cvd . doped silicon layer 148 preferably has a thickness of from about 50 angstroms to about 500 angstroms , and preferably does not fill openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . rather , doped silicon layer 148 preferably further narrows openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b beyond where openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b were narrowed by undoped silicon layer 146 . a second undoped silicon layer 150 is formed over doped silicon layer 148 and within openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . undoped silicon layer 150 preferably comprises the same preferable materials of first undoped silicon layer 146 . accordingly , second undoped silicon layer 150 preferably comprises substantially amorphous silicon . second undoped silicon layer 150 preferably has a thickness of from 50 to 500 angstroms , and in the shown preferred embodiment does not fill openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . after formation of layers 146 , 148 and 150 , wafer fragment 10 b is planarized to remove layers 146 , 148 and 150 from over insulative layer 34 b . such planarizing may be accomplished by , for example , chemical - mechanical polishing . after the planarization of wafer fragment 10 b , pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b ( shown in fig1 ) having upper surfaces 116 b , 118 b and 120 b ( shown in fig1 ), respectively , remain within openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . referring to fig1 , the material of insulative layer 34 b is selectively removed relative to the silicon of pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b to form an upper surface 37 b of insulative layer 34 b which is below upper surfaces 116 b , 118 b and 120 b of pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b . the removal of insulative layer 34 b exposes sidewalls 110 b , 112 b and 114 b of pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b , respectively . the exposed sidewalls 110 b , 112 b and 114 b comprise first undoped silicon layer 146 . additionally , in the shown embodiment a portion of undoped silicon layer 146 is below upper surface 37 b of bpsg layer 34 b , and remains unexposed . in the shown preferred embodiment , pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b comprise hollow interiors corresponding to openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b ( shown in fig1 ). the depth of removal of insulative layer 34 b can be controlled by methods such as those discussed above with reference to fig8 for controlling the depth of removal of insulative layer 34 a . referring to fig1 , which is a top view of the fig1 wafer fragment , second undoped silicon layer 150 lines the hollow interiors corresponding to openings 38 b , 39 b and 40 b . referring to fig1 , wafer fragment 10 b is subjected to processing identical to that discussed above regarding fig1 to convert exposed undoped silicon surfaces to rugged - polysilicon surfaces , while not roughening exposed doped silicon surfaces . such treatment forms a rugged - polysilicon layer 122 b from exposed portions of first undoped silicon layer 146 ( shown in fig1 ) and forms a rugged - polysilicon layer 160 from second undoped silicon layer 150 within the interiors of pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b . such processing also out - diffuses dopant from doped silicon layer 148 into adjacent undoped layers and thus converts unexposed portions of undoped layer 146 ( shown in fig1 ) into doped regions 119 b . subsequent processing , similar to the processing discussed above with reference to fig1 - 13 , may be conducted to form a dram array from pedestals 104 b , 106 b and 108 b . in such dram array , pedestals 104 b and 108 b would be storage nodes for first and second capacitors , respectively , and pedestal 106 b would form a conductive contact to a bitline . such subsequent processing is not illustrated as the description above regarding fig1 - 13 is sufficient to enable a person of skill in the art to form a dram array from the structure of fig1 . it is noted , however , that the storage nodes formed from pedestals 104 b and 108 b would differ from the storage nodes of fig1 in that the storage nodes formed from pedestals 104 b and 108 b would have the shape of upwardly open containers , with the interiors of such containers being lined by rugged - polysilicon layer 160 . the above - described drams and capacitors of the present invention can be implemented into monolithic integrated circuitry , including microprocessors . to aid in interpretation of the claims that follow , the term “ semiconductive substrate ” is defined to mean any construction comprising semiconductive material , including , but not limited to , bulk semiconductive materials such as a semiconductive wafer ( either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials thereon ), and semiconductive material layers ( either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials ). the term “ substrate ” refers to any supporting structure , including , but not limited to , the semiconductive substrates described above . in compliance with the statute , the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural and methodical features . it is to be understood , however , that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown and described , since the means herein disclosed comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect . the invention is , therefore , claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents .
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US-88774297-A
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an superconductive article and method of forming such an article is disclosed , the article including a substrate and a layer of a rare earth barium cuprate film upon the substrate , the rare earth barium cuprate film including two or more rare earth metals capable of yielding a superconductive composition where ion size variance between the two or more rare earth metals is characterized as greater than zero and less than about 10 × 10 − 4 , and the rare earth barium cuprate film including two or more rare earth metals is further characterized as having an enhanced critical current density in comparison to a standard yba 2 cu 3 o y composition under identical testing conditions .
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the present invention is concerned with high temperature mixed rare earth superconductive thin films having enhanced in - field critical current density in comparison to ybco films under similar conditions . such enhancement in in - field critical current density is highly reproducible and involves careful control of the rare - earth ion size variance in the mixed rare earth superconductive thin films . in the present invention , the high temperature superconducting ( hts ) material is generally ybco , e . g ., yba 2 cu 3 o 7 − δ , y 2 ba 4 cu 7 o 14 + x , or yba 2 cu 4 o 8 , although other minor variations of this basic superconducting material , such as use of other rare earth metals such as , e . g ., erbium , samarium , neodymium , europium , gadolinium , holmium , ytterbium , or dysprosium , as a substitute for some or all of the yttrium as is well known , may also be used . other superconducting materials such as bismuth and thallium based superconductor materials may also be employed . yba 2 cu 3 o 7 − δ is preferred as the superconducting material . in addition , mixtures of superconducting materials may be used and multilayers of the same or differing superconducting materials may be used . the thin films of high temperature superconducting materials are generally from about 0 . 2 microns ( 200 nanometers ( nm )) to about 5 microns ( 2000 nm ) in thickness , more preferably in the range of from about 0 . 6 μm ( 600 nm ) to about 4 μm ( 2000 nm ). thicker film than 4 to 5 μm may be formed in some instances if desired . among the various rare earth metals suitable in forming the high temperature superconducting ( hts ) compositions ( re - ba 2 cu 3 o 7 or re - bco ) of the present invention can be any of the rare earth elements ( e . g ., re 1 and re 2 ) from the group of yttrium , neodymium , promethium , samarium , europium , gadolinium , terbium , dysprosium , holmium , erbium , thulium , ytterbium , and lutetium . binary combinations of the rare earth elements may include yttrium and neodymium , yttrium and promethium , yttrium and samarium , yttrium and europium , yttrium and gadolinium , yttrium and terbium , yttrium and dysprosium , yttrium and holmium , yttrium and erbium , yttrium and thulium , yttrium and ytterbium , yttrium and lutetium , neodymium and promethium , neodymium and samarium , neodymium and europium , neodymium and gadolinium , neodymium and terbium , neodymium and dysprosium , neodymium and holmium , neodymium and erbium , neodymium and thulium , neodymium and ytterbium , neodymium and lutetium , promethium and samarium , promethium and europium , promethium and gadolinium , promethium and terbium , promethium and dysprosium , promethium and holmium , promethium and erbium , promethium and thulium , promethium and ytterbium , promethium and lutetium , samarium and europium , samarium and gadolinium , samarium and terbium , samarium and dysprosium , samarium and holmium , samarium and erbium , samarium and thulium , samarium and ytterbium , samarium and lutetium , europium and gadolinium , europium and terbium , europium and dysprosium , europium and holmium , europium and erbium , europium and thulium , europium and ytterbium , europium and lutetium , gadolinium and terbium , gadolinium and dysprosium , gadolinium and holmium , gadolinium and erbium , gadolinium and thulium , gadolinium and ytterbium , gadolinium and lutetium , terbium and dysprosium , terbium and holmium , terbium and erbium , terbium and thulium , terbium and ytterbium , terbium and lutetium , dysprosium and holmium , dysprosium and erbium , dysprosium and thulium , dysprosium and ytterbium , dysprosium and lutetium , holmium and erbium , holmium and thulium , holmium and ytterbium , holmium and lutetium , erbium and thulium , erbium and ytterbium , erbium and lutetium , thulium and ytterbium , thulium and lutetium , and ytterbium and lutetium . ternary combinations can be used as well , e . g ., combinations of : yttrium , dysprosium and holmium ; yttrium , dysprosium and gadolinium ; yttrium , holmium , and erbium ; and the like . also , quaternary combinations may be used as well , e . g ., yttrium , dysprosium , erbium and holmium , and the like , as may additional combinations including more than four of the individual rare earth elements . it is desired to have a low ion size variance between the mixed rare earth metals . calculation of the rare earth ( re ) ion size variance is according to the formula for variance : where σ 2 is the variance of the mixture of re ions , i ; y i is the mole fraction of ion i , and r a is the mean ionic radius . for example , for a composition of dy 1 / 3 ho 2 / 3 ba 2 cu 3 o y , the variance σ 2 is [ ⅓ ( 1 . 027 2 )+ ⅔ ( 1 . 015 2 )]− 1 . 019 2 or 0 . 32 × 10 − 4 å 2 . in addition to the ion size variance , control of the mean ionic radius can be a controlled factor . the mean ionic radius of the rare earth metals in the composition can be at about the radius of the yttrium ion , i . e ., about 1 . 019 angstroms , used in conventional ybco superconductors , or the mean ionic radius of the rare earth metals in the composition can be either above or below that of yttrium . generally , when the mean size of the ions increases much above that of yttrium , the result is an increase in the processing temperatures needed in forming the superconductive material . as this can create other problems , it may not be desirable to go much above the mean ion radius of yttrium . generally , when the mean size of the ions decreases much below that of yttrium , the result is an decrease in the superconductive transition temperature of the resultant composition . so it may not be desirable to go much below the mean ion radius of yttrium . while it may be generally desirable to maintain the mean ionic radius of the rare earth metals in the composition at about the radius of the yttrium ion , low ion size variances can still be achieved at varying mean ionic radii . for example , for compositions having a mean ionic radius above yttrium , near that of dysprosium , i . e ., about 1 . 027 angstroms , a composition of y 0 . 13 gd 0 . 04 dy 0 . 83 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 0 . 35 × 10 − 4 can be formulated . similarly , compositions having a mean ionic radius below yttrium , near that of holmium , i . e ., about 1 . 015 angstroms , a composition of y 0 . 55 ho 0 . 25 er 0 . 2 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 0 . 35 × 10 − 4 or a composition of y 0 . 73 er 0 . 27 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 0 . 44 × 10 − 4 can be formulated . various compositions having a mean ionic radius near that of yttrium have been identified and yield a low ion size variance , including , e . g ., y 0 . 2 dy 0 . 42 ho 0 . 24 er 0 . 16 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 0 . 65 × 10 − 4 , dy 0 . 33 ho 0 . 67 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 0 . 32 × 10 − 4 , dy 0 . 81 yb 0 . 19 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 2 . 72 × 10 − 4 , gd 0 . 30 er 0 . 70 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 5 . 10 × 10 − 4 , eu 0 . 24 er 0 . 76 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 7 . 05 × 10 − 4 , sm 0 . 20 er 0 . 80 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 9 . 00 × 10 − 4 , and y 0 . 95 ho 0 . 26 dy 0 . 24 ba 2 cu 3 o y with a low ion size variance of 0 . 02 × 10 − 4 . in the present invention , the initial or base substrate can be , e . g ., any polycrystalline material such as a metal or a ceramic such as polycrystalline aluminum oxide or polycrystalline yttria - stabilized zirconia ( ysz ). preferably , the substrate can be a polycrystalline metal such as a nickel alloy . suitable nickel alloys can include nickel alloys such as various hastelloy metals , haynes metals and inconel metals . the base substrate may also be a textured metal or metal alloy , e . g ., pure nickel , copper , nickel alloy or copper alloy as described by goyal et al . in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 741 , 377 substrates from such a textured metal process are generally referred to as rolling assisted biaxially textured substrates ( rabits ). the metal substrate on which the superconducting material is eventually deposited should preferably allow for the resultant article to be flexible whereby superconducting articles ( e . g ., coils , motors or magnets ) can be shaped . as such a metal substrate can have a rough surface , it can be mechanically polished , electrochemically polished or chemically mechanically polished to provide a smoother surface . alternatively , the desired smoothness for subsequent depositions can be provided by the first coating layer , i . e ., an inert oxide material layer . the ion source gas in the ion beam assisted deposition is preferably argon . the ion beam assisted deposition of mgo is conducted with substrate temperatures of generally from about 20 ° c . to about 100 ° c . the mgo layer deposited by the ibad process is generally from about 5 nm to about 20 nm in thickness , preferably about 8 nm to about 15 nm . after deposition of the oriented cubic oxide material having a rock - salt - like structure , e . g ., mgo , an additional thin homo - epitaxial layer of the same oriented cubic oxide material , e . g ., mgo , can be optionally deposited by a process such as electron beam or magnetron sputter deposition . this thin layer can generally be about 40 nm to 100 nm in thickness . deposition of the homo - epitaxial layer by such a process can be more readily accomplished than depositing the entire thickness by ion beam assisted deposition . a high temperature superconducting ( hts ) layer , e . g ., a mixed rare earth - bco layer , can be deposited , e . g ., by pulsed laser deposition or by methods such as evaporation including coevaporation , e - beam evaporation and activated reactive evaporation , sputtering including magnetron sputtering , ion beam sputtering and ion assisted sputtering , cathodic arc deposition , chemical vapor deposition , organometallic chemical vapor deposition , plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition , molecular beam epitaxy , a sol - gel process , liquid phase epitaxy , a trifluoroacetic acid process or a barium fluoride ( baf 2 ) process and the like . in pulsed laser deposition , powder of the material to be deposited can be initially pressed into a disk or pellet under high pressure , generally above about 1000 pounds per square inch ( psi ) and the pressed disk then sintered in an oxygen atmosphere or an oxygen - containing atmosphere at temperatures of up to 950 ° c . for at least about 1 hour , preferably from about 12 to about 24 hours . an apparatus suitable for pulsed laser deposition is shown in appl . phys . lett . 56 , 578 ( 1990 ), “ effects of beam parameters on excimer laser deposition of yba 2 cu 3 o 7 − δ ”, such description hereby incorporated by reference . suitable conditions for pulsed laser deposition include , e . g ., the laser , such as an excimer laser ( 20 nanoseconds ( ns ), 248 or 308 nanometers ( nm )), targeted upon a rotating pellet of the target material at an incident angle of about 45 °. the substrate can be mounted upon a heated holder rotated at about 0 . 5 rpm to minimize thickness variations in the resultant film or coating , the substrate can be heated during deposition at temperatures from about 600 ° c . to about 950 ° c ., preferably from about 700 ° c . to about 850 ° c . an oxygen atmosphere of from about 0 . 1 millitorr ( mtorr ) to about 500 mtorr , preferably from about 100 mtorr to about 250 mtorr , can be maintained within the deposition chamber during the deposition . distance between the substrate and the pellet can be from about 4 centimeters ( cm ) to about 10 cm . the deposition rate of the film can be varied from about 0 . 1 angstrom per second ( å / s ) to about 200 å / s by changing the laser repetition rate from about 0 . 1 hertz ( hz ) to about 200 hz . generally , the laser beam focused on the substrate surface can have dimensions of about 3 millimeters ( mm ) by 4 mm with an average energy density of from about 1 to 4 joules per square centimeter ( j / cm 2 ). after deposition , the films generally are cooled within an oxygen atmosphere of greater than about 100 torr to room temperature . the present invention is more particularly described in the following examples which are intended as illustrative only , since numerous modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . eight targets of different compositions ( see table 1 ) were prepared . the rare earth ( re ) ion size variance was changed according to the formula for variance : where σ 2 is the variance of the mixture of re ions , i ; y i is the mole fraction of ion i , and r a is the mean ionic radius . for each composition , the mean ionic radius was the size of y 3 + , i . e . r a = 1 . 019 . for each target , appropriate re - 123 commercial starting powders were mixed , ground , pressed , and then sintered at 950 ° c . in flowing oxygen gas . the targets were ablated using pulsed laser deposition with a krf excimer laser ( λ = 248 nm ), at a repetition rate of 10 hz . all of the depositions were carried out at the same substrate - to - target distance of 5 cm and an oxygen pressure of 200 mtorr . the substrates used were either single crystal srtio 3 ( sto ), srtio 3 - buffered mgo single crystals , or srtio 3 - buffered ion beam assisted mgo on hastelloy substrates , hitherto referred to as ion - beam assisted deposition ( ibad )- mgo . after deposition at 760 to 790 ° c ., samples were cooled to room temperature in o 2 at 300 torr . inductive t c measurements were performed as well as transport j c measurements on bridges using a four - probe technique and a 1 μv / cm voltage criterion . angular studies were performed in a 7 t split - coil horizontal magnet , with the sample rotating around a vertical axis and j ⊥ h ( maximum lorentz force configuration ). the measured angle θ between h and the normal to the films ( which coincides with the crystallographic “ c ” axis ) was accurate to better than 0 . 1 °. all j c measurements were made at the local liquid nitrogen temperature of 75 . 5 k . microstructural characterization was carried out by x - ray diffractometry , and transmission electron microscopy ( tem ). table 1 shows details of the samples prepared in this study . fig1 shows j c normalized by self - field ( j c sf ) as a function of magnetic field to 3 t ( h ∥ c ), for films on sto . there is little change in t c or j c sf across the sample series . however , the highest variance sample ( σ 2 = 30 × 10 − 4 ) has the lowest t c and j c sf values . several σ 2 = 0 . 32 × 10 − 4 samples of composition dy 1 / 3 ho 2 / 3 ba 2 cu 3 o 7 − x , herein referred to as dy : ho , were prepared since this composition showed the optimum performance of j c in field , particularly at low fields (& lt ; 0 . 5 t ). although only one set of j c ( h ) data is shown in fig1 for dy : ho and for ybco , the data are highly typical of other samples of these compositions . for ybco ( σ 2 = 0 ), the normalized j c drops by a decade in 1 t . for the optimum variance sample , j c drops by a decade in & gt ; 2 . 5 t . fig2 shows j c ( 0 . 2 t )/ j c sf versus variance . for the samples with nonzero variance , there is a systematic trend of decrease in normalized j c with variance . despite the high t c of the ybco sample , it has the poorest low field ( μ 0 h & lt ; 0 . 3 t ) behavior of all the samples . table 1 shows excellent reproducibility of the j c ( 0 . 2 t )/ j c sf values for the four σ 2 = 0 . 32 samples ( three on single crystal substrates and one on ibad - mgo ), with values of about 0 . 5 . the j c ( 0 . 2 t )/ j c sf values for ybco are highly typical of other ybco samples made in the same laboratory . hence , at 0 . 2 t , for ybco j c normally drops by a factor of about 4 , whereas for dy : ho , it drops by a factor of about 2 . while the data in table 1 is shown for 0 . 2 t , improved j c &# 39 ; s are also found at much higher fields . fig3 shows j c as a function of magnetic field to 7 t ( h ∥ c ) and the inset shows j c for h ∥ ab . ybco films ( sample 26 and sample 871 ) are compared to dy : ho on sto ( sample 32 ), sto / mgo ( sample 84 ), and ibad ( sample 921 ). for both field orientations , the j c &# 39 ; s of the ybco films are almost coincident regardless of the substrate used . for all of the dy : ho samples , the curves are very close at low fields ( μ 0 h & lt ; 0 . 5 t ) and over the whole field range are improved with respect to ybco . for h ∥ ab , the dy : ho samples again show improved performance over ybco , the one on ibad - mgo being the best . fig4 shows the angular variation at μ 0 h = 1 t of sample 871 and sample 921 ( ybco and dy : ho on ibad - mgo , respectively ), as well as ybco on sto ( sample 26 ). the dy : ho sample has the highest j c in all field directions . in order to elucidate the origin of the enhanced j c of dy : ho , the dy : ho on ibad - mgo , and ybco on sto data are normalized to the ab plane peak at θ = 90 ° by multiplying them by 0 . 42 and 0 . 87 , respectively . from this normalization , there are two major observations . ( 1 ) the near absence of a c - axis peak ( θ = 0 °) for dy : ho , which signals a significant reduction of the c - axis correlated defects . this can be explained by the more laminar growth morphologies of the re - 123 &# 39 ; s compared to ybco ; and , ( 2 ) the collapse of the j c ( θ ) data outside the c - axis peak region ( at θ & gt ; 25 ° for ybco on sto and dy : ho on ibad - mgo and θ & gt ; 50 ° for ybco on ibad - mgo ) this indicates a shared pinning origin . in a recent publication , civale et al ., appl . phys . lett ., v . 84 , pp . 2121 - 2123 ( 2003 ), have shown that the behavior of fig4 corresponds to the effect of anisotropy with random disorder pinning . hence , the enhanced pinning observed for the variance series is consistent with pinning by random pointlike disorder , namely random displacements of oxygen ions which result from ion size variance . cross - sectional tem of dy : ho / sto / mgo ( sample 92 ) high density of ab planar defect in the form of stacking faults as well as some buckling of the ab planes . it is presently unclear whether the faults originate as a result of the variance - inducing ion displacements , or whether they are simply intrinsic to the more laminar growth morphology characteristic of re - 123 &# 39 ; s . in any case , the regions around the terminations of the faults could act as pointlike defect pinning centers in addition to the random oxygen ion displacement defects . in other work ( macmanus - driscoll et al ., nat . mater ., v . 3 , no . 7 , p . 439 - 443 , ( 2004 )) improvements in pinning in & gt ; 1 μm films of ybco have been shown through the introduction of bazro 3 nanoparticles within the film . these heteroepitaxial second phases induced additional edge dislocations along the c - axis direction in the films and corresponding intense broad c - axis peaks . here , similar levels of pinning enhancement have been demonstrated but through a different mechanism . the possibility exists to combine the use of low variance mixed re samples with bazro 3 nanoparticles to further improve pinning . fig5 ( a ) and 5 ( b ) show that low ion size variance improve field dependence up to 6 t at 65 k and up to 4 t at 75 . 5 k . the value at 65 k is important as that temperature is under pumped liquid n 2 , a temperature which many applications may be carried out at . in addition , the graph shows that as temperature is lowered , the variance effect becomes more pronounced . hence , at 50 k , where some applications may be conducted , the variance effect will be very significant . in summary , it has been shown that there is a strong systematic dependence of the low - field j c on re ion size variance in mixed re - 123 films , where the average re ionic radius is kept constant . at 0 . 2 t , samples with a nonzero variance on single crystal and ibad - mgo substrates have consistently higher j c &# 39 ; s than ybco by a factor of 2 . also , while for ybco , j c drops by a decade in 1 t , the optimum variance sample j c drops by a decade in & gt ; 2 . 5 t . the optimum sample composition , dy : ho , has the lowest re ion size variance . although the present invention has been described with reference to specific details , it is not intended that such details should be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention , except as and to the extent that they are included in the accompanying claims .
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US-92547904-A
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a dye solution composition containing a black dye obtained by the action of at least one acid or its salt : ho . sub . n so . sub . 3 h , cl . sub . n cooh , br . sub . n cooh on one or a mixture of dyes of the formula : ## str1 ## wherein r is phenylene or naphthylene residue ; x and x &# 39 ; are each h , sulfonic acid group or sulfonate group ; y and y &# 39 ; are each h or alkali metal ; r &# 39 ; is one of amino group - containing radicals : ## str2 ## , except that when r &# 39 ; has not sulfonic acid group , x and x &# 39 ; are not the same and when r &# 39 ; has sulfonic acid group , x and x &# 39 ; are h . this is highly stable , preservative and water soluble , and is useful as ink composition for ball - point pen and ink jet recording .
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the method of producing the dyes of formula ( i ) as a starting material of this invention is described in british patent specification no . 1 465 889 in detail . the reaction between one of the starting dyes and an acid selected from hydroxymethane sulfonic acid , hydroxyethane sulfonic acid , chloroacetic acid , bromoacetic acid , β - chloropropionic acid and β - bromopropionic acid can be readily performed in water or water - containing organic solvent by the addition of sodium bicarbonate or soda ash ( sodium carbonate ), in neutrality or alkalinity at room temperature or under heating . the base dyes of this invention produced in this way are prepared into dye solution compositions as intended in a conventional manner . that is , to the thick dye solutions thus obtained or to the dye pastes or powders which are obtained from the dye solutions by separation and purification of the dyes in conventional manner are added water and / or organic hydrophilic solvent , and if required , a surface active agent , defoaming agent , preservative agent , anticorrosive , etc . are further added thereto . as a water - soluble organic solvent , there may be mentioned , for example , glycols , glycol monoalkyl ethers , isopropyl alcohol , dioxane , dimethylsulfoxide , dimethylformamide , formamide , tetrahydrofuran , dimethylacetamide . again , a viscosity - regulating agent such as polyamino or hydroxy compounds , for example , urea , alkyl ureas , dextrin , alkylcelluloses , glycerine , etc . may be added . a further dye may be incorporated as far as it will not impair the performances of the dye solution compositions according to this invention . the dye solution compositions with which this invention is concerned not only are useful for dyeing of papers , cotton , linen , silk , leathers , miscellaneous goods , etc ., but also can be used as ball - point pen ink . according to another embodiment of this invention , the dye solution compositions containing the base dyes of this invention can be used preferably as inks for ink jet recording , namely inks which , in recording , are jetted from spout of droplet - forming device as droplets . in the ink compositions for ink jet recording , the content of the base dyes of this invention varies depending on the kind of solvent used , characteristics required for such inks , etc ., but is in the range of 0 . 5 - 15 %, preferably , 1 - 10 % based on the total weight of the ink composition . the ink compositions for ink jet recording according to this invention contain water as a major solvent ingredient . water only or preferably , a mixture of water and a variety of water - soluble organic solvents may be used . as such water - soluble organic solvent , it is preferred to use , for example , polyvalent alcohols such as ethylene glycol , polyethylene glycol ; lower alkyl ethers of polyvalent alcohols such as triethylene glycol monomethyl ( or ethyl ) ether ; diethanolamine , triethanolamine , n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone , etc . the content of the foregoing water - soluble organic solvent in the ink compositions is , based on the total weight of the ink compositions , generally in the range of 10 - 80 %, preferably 15 - 50 %. the inks for ink jet recording of this invention thus formulated are superior in themselves , but in order to further improve their characteristics known additives may also be added to them . for instance , a viscosity - regulating agent such as polyvinyl alcohol , cellulose , water - soluble resins ; a surface tension - regulating agent , e . g . cation , anion or nonion series surfactants ; a metal blocking agent such as edta ; a mildewproofing agent such as sodium pyrithionate , dehydroacetic acid , etc . ; a specific resistance - regulating agent such as lithium chloride , ammonium chloride , sodium chloride , etc . can be mentioned . the inks for ink jet recording of this invention have suitable physical properties such as viscosity , surface tension and so on , do not clog the fine spout orifices , afford recording images of sufficiently high chroma , do not cause any change in the physical properties and precipitation of solid contents during preserving , can be recorded on various kinds of materials without limiting the kind of material to be recorded , have a high fixing speed and confer images superior in water resistance , light resistance , wear resistance and resolving power . the advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following non - limitative examples . a black dye , 100 g , containing 40 g of the dye of formula ( ii ): ## str5 ## and a diluent ( mainly , sodium chloride and anhydrous sodium sulfate ) is added to 200 ml of water and the solution is heated at 70 °- 75 ° c . after addition of 7 g of soda ash , to the solution is added slowly 5 g of monochloroacetic acid , and the mixture is stirred at 70 °- 75 ° c . for 2 hours to result in a deep black aqueous solution . after cooling , the aqueous solution is neutralized to salt - out and filtered to obtain a paste which is in turn purified in a conventional manner to yield 42 g of black dye powder ( designated as &# 34 ; dye a &# 34 ;). the black dye powder , 10 g , is mixed and dissolved in 70 g of water and 30 g of ethylene glycol to prepare a black dye solution . the black solution , when used for dyeing of a paper , colored it deep black and was stable over 6 months . a black dye , 100 g , containing 40 g of the dye of formula ( ii ) in example 1 is added to 200 ml of water and the solution is heated to 70 °- 75 ° c . after addition of 7 g of soda ash , 5 g of β - chloropropionic acid is added slowly to the solution and the mixture is stirred for 2 . 5 hours in alkalinity . resulting black thick solution is concentrated , dried and purified in a conventional manner to give 42 g of a black dye powder ( designated as &# 34 ; dye b &# 34 ;). the black dye powder , 10 g , is mixed and dissolved in 80 g of water and 20 g of ethylene glycol to obtain a black dye solution . it was stable over 6 months without increase in viscosity . the black dye powder is prepared into a ball - point pen ink according to the formula : ______________________________________ &# 34 ; dye b &# 34 ; 8 gglycerine 5 gethylene glycol 5 gdiethylene glycol 10 g &# 34 ; plysurf &# 34 ; a 212 e 0 . 5 g ( surfactant manufactured by daiichikogyo seiyaku k . k . in japan ) butyl p - oxybenzoate 0 . 1 gwater 71 . 4 g______________________________________ according to the foregoing compounding formula , an ink was prepared by using the dye of formula ( ii ) instead of the black dye powder ( dye b ). it caused gelation in 2 months . crude dye , 100 g , containing 41 g of the dye of formula ( iii ): ## str6 ## is added to 200 ml of water , and the solution is heated at 50 °- 55 ° c . sodium hydroxymethane sulfonate , 10 g , is added to the solution and the mixture is stirred at 50 °- 55 ° c . for 2 hours . after cooling , the reaction mixture is neutralized to salt - out and filtered to obtain a paste . the paste is purified in usual manner to yield 46 g of black dye powder ( designated as &# 34 ; dye c &# 34 ;). the black dye powder , 10 g , is mixed and dissolved in 70 g of water and 30 g of diethylene glycol to give a black dye solution . it was stable over 6 months . crude dye , 100 g , containing 40 g of the dye of formula ( iv ): ## str7 ## is added to 200 ml of water , and the solution is heated at 70 ° to 75 ° c . after addition of 7 g of soda ash , to the solution is added slowly 5 g of monochloroacetic acid , and the mixture is stirred for 2 hours in alkalinity . the resulting black solution is concentrated , dried and purified in a conventional manner to obtain 42 g of black dye powder ( designated as &# 34 ; dye d &# 34 ;). ______________________________________ &# 34 ; dye d &# 34 ; 10 gethylene glycol 14 gwater 62 . 5 gthiodiglycol 13 gsodium pentachlorophenolate 0 . 5 g______________________________________ for comparison purposes , an ink was prepared according to the aforementioned compounding formula by using the dye of formula ( iv ) instead of &# 34 ; dye d &# 34 ;, but it became thickened in 2 months . crude dye , 100 g , containing 40 g of the dye of formula ( v ): ## str8 ## is added to 200 ml of water and the solution is heated at 50 °- 55 ° c . sodium hydroxyethane sulfonate , 10 g , is added to the solution and the mixture is stirred at 50 °- 55 ° c . for 2 hours . after cooling , the reaction mixture is neutralized , salt - out and filtered to obtain a paste . the paste is purified in usual manner to obtain 44 g of black dye powder ( designated as &# 34 ; dye e &# 34 ;). the black dye powder , 10 g , is mixed and dissolved in 80 g of water and 20 g of glycerine to obtain a black dye solution which is stable over 6 months . crude dye , 100 g , containing 42 g of the dye of formula ( vi ): ## str9 ## is added to 200 ml of water and the solution is heated at 70 °- 75 ° c . after addition of 7 g of soda ash , 3 g of β - bromopropionic acid is slowly added to the solution and the mixture is stirred for 2 hours in alkalinity . the resulting black solution is concentrated , dried and purified in a usual manner to yield 44 g of black dye powder ( designated as &# 34 ; dye f &# 34 ;). this product is useful for the dyeing of papers and pulps and for ball - point pen inks . a mixture of 20 g of the dye of formula ( vii ): ## str10 ## and 21 g of the dye of formula ( viii ): ## str11 ## is added to 200 ml of water and the solution is heated to 70 °- 75 ° c . after addition of 7 g of soda ash , 5 g of monochloroacetic acid is slowly added and the mixture is stirred for 2 hours in alkalinity . after cooling , it is filtered to obtain a deep black aqueous solution . this is useful for the coloring of papers , pulps and stable over 6 months . ______________________________________ parts by weight______________________________________example 8 ink composition :&# 34 ; dye a &# 34 ; 5ion - exchanged water 65sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05glycerine 28triethanolamine 2example 9 ink composition :&# 34 ; dye b &# 34 ; 5ion - exchanged water 48sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05diethylene glycol 30polyethylene glycol (# 200 ) 15diethanolamine 2example 10 ink composition :&# 34 ; dye c &# 34 ; 5ion - exchanged water 65sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05glycerine 28triethanolamine 2example 11 ink composition :&# 34 ; dye d &# 34 ; 3ion - exchanged water 61 . 9sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05diethylene glycol 20polyethylene glycol (# 400 ) 15edta 0 . 1example 12 ink composition :&# 34 ; dye e &# 34 ; 6ion - exchanged water 48sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05diethylene glycol 29polyethylene glycol (# 300 ) 15isopropyl alcohol 2______________________________________ the above - mentioned compositions were each mixed and dissolved thoroughly in respective vessels , filtered under pressurization through a teflon filter of 0 . 45 μm in pore size and deaerated by means of a vacuum pump to prepare respective inks . with the five inks thus obtained , the tests ( a )-( d ) described below were conducted using a recording device equipped with on - demand type of recording head for ejecting ink by means of a piezoelectric oscillator ( ejection orifice diameter : 50 μm , driving voltage of piezoelectric oscillator : 60 v , frequency : 4 khz ) and yielded good results of them all . each of the inks was sealed tightly in a glass vessel and preserved at - 20 ° c . and 60 ° c . for 6 months , but any insoluble precipitate was not observed and there were no changes of physical properties and color tone of the solution . each ink was ejected continuously for 24 hours in the atmospheres of room temperature , 5 ° c . and 40 ° c . as a result , recording was taken securely and with high quality from beginning to end under all the conditions . intermittent ejecting at intervals of 2 seconds and ejecting after standing for 2 months were examined . secure and homogeneous recording was performed without clogging at the orifice tip in both cases . recorded image was deep in chroma and clear . after exposure to indoor light for 3 months , chroma lowering rate of it was less than 1 % and it blotted little when dipped in water for 1 minute . ______________________________________ parts by weight______________________________________ &# 34 ; dye f &# 34 ; 4ion - exchanged water 49sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05polyethylene glycol (# 200 ) 10diethylene glycol monobutyl ether 25ethylene glycol 12______________________________________ an ink composition was prepared from the afore - mentioned ingredients in a similar manner to example 8 . it was examined with respect to the properties ( a ) and ( b ) above similarly to example 8 employing a recording device fitted with on - demand type multi - head for recording with ink droplets which are formed by imparting thermal energy to the ink within the recording head ( ejection orifice diameter : 35 μm , resistance of exothermic resistor : 150ω , driving voltage : 30 v , frequency : 2 khz ), and yielded good results . the procedure of example 4 is repeated except that 100 g of crude dye containing 40 g of dye of formula ( ix ): ## str12 ## instead of dye of formula ( iv ) is used as a starting material . as a result , 44 g of purified black dye powder is obtained ( designated as &# 34 ; dye g &# 34 ;). this dye powder , 10 g , is prepared , according to the formulation of example 4 , into an ink composition which is stable over more than one year . ______________________________________ parts by weight______________________________________ &# 34 ; dye g &# 34 ; 3ion - exchanged water 61 . 9sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 05diethylene glycol 20polyethylene glycol (# 400 ) 15edta 0 . 1______________________________________ the aforementioned ingredients are thoroughly mixed and dissolved , filtered under pressurization through a teflon filter of 0 . 45 μm in pore size and deaerated to prepare an ink . this ink composition was undergone the tests described in example 8 by means of the recording device in example 8 , and yielded good results comparable to the results of example 8 with respect to preservative stability , ejection stability , ejection responsibility and recording image .
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US-69870685-A
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the present invention relates to chrolactomycin compound represented by the following formula : ## str1 ## or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof having antibacterial and antitumor activities .
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fab ms spectrum and high resolution fab ms spectrum : jeol ltd ., jms hx / hx - 110a mass spectrometer nmr spectrum : jeol ltd ., jnm - α400 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer bruker , dmx500 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer optical rotation : [ a ] d 28 . 5 =- 7 . 75 ° ( c = 0 . 45 , ch 3 oh ) theoretical : 431 . 2069 ( as c 24 h 31 o 7 ) ir absorption spectrum ( kbr ): ν max 3800 - 2400 , 3410 , 2954 , 2929 , 2866 , 1793 , 1712 , 1689 , 1641 , 1626 , 1458 , 1255 , 1186 , 1178 , 1113 , 1074 , 966 cm - 1 1 h - nmr spectrum : δ ( cdcl 3 ) 0 . 89 ( 3h , d , j = 6 . 8 hz ), 0 . 94 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 03 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 08 ( 3h , d , j = 6 . 6 hz ), 1 . 12 ( 3h , d , j = 6 . 8 hz ), 1 . 21 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 25 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 34 ( 1h , ddd , j = 2 . 0 , 6 . 7 , 14 . 9 hz ), 1 . 55 ( 1h , dd , j = 9 . 6 , 14 . 3 hz ), 1 . 61 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 62 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 76 ( 1h , dd , j = 10 . 5 , 14 . 9 hz ), 1 . 79 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 95 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 34 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 71 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 60 ( 3h , s ), 4 . 26 ( 1h , br . d , j = 9 . 8 hz ), 4 . 53 ( 1h , s ), 5 . 67 ( 1h , d , j = 1 . 7 hz ), 6 . 41 ( 1h , d , j = 1 . 0 hz ), 6 . 83 ( 1h , dd , j = 1 . 8 , 6 . 0 hz ) ppm 13 c - nmrspectrum : δ ( cdcl 3 ) 20 . 1 ( q ), 20 . 5 ( q ), 23 . 6 ( q ), 23 . 8 ( t ), 27 . 2 ( d ), 30 . 4 ( d ), 32 . 1 ( t ), 34 . 3 ( t ), 34 . 5 ( d ), 37 . 6 ( t ), 42 . 7 ( d ), 45 . 1 ( t ), 54 . 6 ( q ), 78 . 6 ( s ), 82 . 1 ( d ), 83 . 4 ( s ), 84 . 0 ( d ), 121 . 1 ( t ), 132 . 9 ( s ), 140 . 9 ( d ), 143 . 7 ( s ), 168 . 9 ( s ), 171 . 0 ( s ), 190 . 1 ( s ) ppm solubility : soluble in methanol , acetone , ethyl acetate , chloroform and dimethylsulfoxide ( dmso ) and sparingly soluble in hexane . color reaction : positive to iodine reagent , sulfuric acid / ethanol reagent , phosphomolybdate / cerium sulfate reagent , and orcinol sulfate . a chrolactomycin compound can be obtained by culturing in a medium a microorganism belonging to the genus streptomyces and having the ability to produce a chrolactomycin compound , allowing a chrolactomycin compound to accumulate in the culture , and recovering the chrolactomycin compound from the culture . as the strains having the ability to produce a chrolactomycin compound , any strains which belong to the genus streptomyces and have the ability to produce a chrolactomycin compound can be used . in addition , any mutants of such strains which are obtained by various artificial mutation methods such as uv irradiation , x - ray irradiation and treatment with mutagens or by spontaneous mutation may also be used in the present invention , insofar as they have the ability to produce a chrolactomycin compound . a typical example of a suitable stain is streptomyces sp . 569n - 3 strain . the typical strain ( 569n - 3 ) capable of producing the compound of the present invention has been isolated from the soil sample , and has the following mycological properties : number of spores in chain formed at the end of the sporophore : 10 or more form and size : rods , about 0 . 5 to 0 . 7 μm × 0 . 7 to 0 . 8 μm the 569n - 3 strain grows weakly or vigorously on synthetic and natural media which are generally used . the color of the substrate hyphae is ocher to dark brown . formation of soluble brown pigment was observed on some of the culture media . the cultural characteristics such as growth and color after culturing at 28 ° c . for 14 days are shown below . the color names are given according to color harmony manual ( container corporation of america , 4 th edition , 1958 ). color of substrate hyphae : light olive gray ( 1 1 / 2 ge ) formation and color of aerial hyphae : normal , white ( a ) to pussy willow ( 5dc ) formation and color of aerial hyphae : normal , pussy willow ( 5dc ) to lead gray ( 5ih ) formation and color of aerial hyphae : normal , white ( a ) to pussy willow ( 5dc ) the physiological characteristics of 569n - 3 strain are shown below . the result of 1 ) was obtained after 14 days of culturing , and the results of 2 )- 6 ) were obtained after 2 weeks of culturing at 28 ° c . the basal medium used was a pridham gottlieb agar medium . in the following , &# 34 ;+&# 34 ; indicates that the strain utilized the carbon source , &# 34 ;-&# 34 ; indicates that the strain did not utilize the carbon source , and &# 34 ; w &# 34 ; indicates that it is not clear whether the strain utilized the carbon source . 1 ) optical isomer of diaminopimelic acid in the strain : ll form the strain is classified into the genus streptomyces among actinomycetes in view of its characteristics : that spore chains are formed on the aerial hyphae , that it belongs to the type i cell wall group ( ll - diaminopimelic acid ); and that the major quinone components are a 3 - saturated type menaquinone 9 [ mk - 9 ( h6 )] and a 4 - saturated type menaquinone 9 [ mk - 9 ( h8 )]. the strain was named streptomyces sp . 569n - 3 and was deposited with the national institute of bioscience and human - technology , agency of industrial science and technology ( higashi 1 - 1 - 3 , tsukuba city , ibaraki pref ., jp ) on oct . 30 , 1997 with the accession number ferm bp - 6158 , under the budapest treaty . for culturing the chrolactomycin - compound - producing strains of the present invention , conventional methods for culturing actinomycetes are generally employed . as the medium , either a synthetic medium or a natural medium may be used insofar as it appropriately contains carbon sources , nitrogen sources , inorganic substances , and the like which can be assimilated by the strains employed . examples of the carbon sources include glucose , starch , dextrin , mannose , fructose , sucrose , lactose , xylose , arabinose , mannitol , molasses and the like which are used singly or in combination . depending on the assimilation ability of the strains , hydrocarbons , alcohols , organic acids and the like can also be used . examples of the nitrogen sources include ammonium chloride , ammonium nitrate , ammonium sulfate , sodium nitrate , urea , peptone , meat extract , yeast extract , dry yeast , corn steep liquor ( csl ), soybean meal ( sbm ), casamino acid and the like which are used singly or in combination . besides , inorganic salts such as sodium chloride , potassium chloride , magnesium sulfate , calcium carbonate , potassium dihydrogenphosphate , magnesium phosphate . 8h 2 o , ferrous sulfate , calcium chloride , manganese sulfate , zinc sulfate and copper sulfate may be added , if necessary . further , trace ingredients that promote the growth of the strain used or the production of the chrolactomycin compound may be added to the medium , if necessary . the culturing method is preferably a liquid culture method , the more preferably a submerged stirring culture method . culturing is carried out at 16 to 37 ° c ., preferably 25 to 32 ° c ., and at ph 4 to 10 , preferably ph 6 to 8 . for ph adjustment of the medium , aqueous ammonia , an ammonium carbonate solution or the like is used . generally , culturing is completed in 1 to 7 days , and a chrolactomycin compound is produced and accumulated in the culture broth and in the microbial cells . it is preferable to discontinue culturing when the amount of the product accumulated in the culture reaches the maximum . for the isolation and purification of a chrolactomycin compound from the culture , an ordinary method for isolating a microbial metabolite from the culture can be utilized . for example , the culture is separated by filtration into a culture filtrate and microbial cells , and the microbial cells are extracted with a solvent such as chloroform , acetone , methanol or the like . then , the extract is mixed with the culture filtrate , and the resultant mixture is passed through a column of polystyrene adsorbent such as diaion hp - 20 ( mitsubishi chemical corporation ) to adsorb the active substance , followed by elution with a solvent such as methanol or acetone . the eluate is concentrated , and the concentrate is subjected to column chromatography on octadecyl group - bound silica gel ( ods ), high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ), or column chromatography on silica gel , to give a chrolactomycin compound . during the procedures of culturing , isolation and purification , a chrolactomycin compound can be detected by using thin layer chromatography ( tlc ), and then an iodine reagent . the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of a chrolactomycin compound include pharmaceutically acceptable metal salts , ammonium salts , organic amine addition salts , and amino acid addition salts . the metal salts include alkali metal salts such as lithium salt , sodium salt , and potassium salt , alkaline earth metal salts such as magnesium salt , and calcium salt , aluminum salt , zinc salt , etc . ; the ammonium salts include ammonium , tetramethylammonium , etc . ; the organic amine addition salts include salts with morpholine , piperidine or the like ; and the amino acid addition salts include salts with glycine , phenylalanine , aspartic acid , glutamic acid , lysine or the like . when the desired product is a salt of a chrolactomycin compound and the compound actually obtained is such a salt , it can be directly purified and recovered as a product . when the compound obtained is a free compound , it can be converted into its salt by dissolving or suspending it in a suitable solvent and adding a base thereto . a chrolactomycin compound may exist in the form of various isomers such as tautomers and structural isomers , and the present invention covers all possible isomers including these isomers and mixtures thereof . a chrolactomycin compound and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof may exist in the form of adducts with water or various kinds of solvents , which are also within the scope of the present invention . the biological activity of the chrolactomycin compound is described below by test examples . the antibacterial activity of a chrolactomycin compound against bacteria was examined . the antibacterial activity was determined by an agar dilution method using a medium ( ph 7 ) composed of 3 g / l bacto - trypton ( difco ), 3 g / l meat extract , 1 g / l yeast extract , 1 g / l glucose and 16 g / l agar . the antibacterial activity was shown by minimum inhibitory concentration ( mic ). table 1______________________________________test microorganisms mic ( μg / ml ) ______________________________________staphylococcus aureus atcc6538p 5 . 2 enterococcus hirae atcc10541 10 . 4 bacillus subtilis no . 10707 5 . 2______________________________________ growth inhibition against human mammary cancer mcf - 7 , human bladder cancer t24 , human epidermal cancer a431 and human renal cancer achn cells : respective cells were dispensed into a 96 - well microtiter plate ( nunc # 167008 ) in 1 × 10 3 cells / well portions in the case of mcf - 7 and t24 or in 1 . 5 × 10 3 cells / well portions in the case of a431 and achn and cultured at 37 ° c . for 24 hours in a 5 % co 2 incubator . thereafter , a 30 mm solution of a chrolactomycin compound was diluted stepwise by 3 - fold , and the resulting solution was added to each well in an amount of 50 μl . the final concentration of each solution was 100 μm at the maximum at this stage . they were cultured again at 37 ° c . for 72 hours in the 5 % co 2 incubator . five hours before the end of the culturing , mtt [ 3 -( 4 - dimethylthiazol - 2 - yl )- 2 , 5 - diphenyltetrazolium bromide , sigma ] which had been dissolved in the culture medium to a final concentration of 1 mg / ml was dispensed into the plate in 50 μl / well portions . after completion of the culturing , dmso was dispensed in 150 μl / well portions , and the resulting mixture was stirred vigorously with a plate mixer to completely dissolve mtt - formazan crystals . the absorbance at 550 nm was measured by a micro - plate spectrophotometer m - spmax 250 ( wako pure chemical industries , ltd .). the cell growth inhibiting activity was shown by the 50 % inhibitory concentration ( ic 50 ). table 2______________________________________ ic . sub . 50 ( μm ) compound mcf - 7 t24 a431 achn______________________________________chrolactomycin 0 . 69 0 . 45 1 . 6 1 . 2______________________________________ the first and second seed culture media used were those ( ph 7 . 2 ) composed of 10 g / l glucose , 10 g / l soluble starch , 5 g / l bacto - trypton , 3 g / l meat extract , 5 g / l yeast extract , and 0 . 5 g / l magnesium phosphate , 8h 2 o . one loopful of the strain was inoculated into 10 ml of the first seed culture medium in each of two 70 - ml test tubes and cultured at 28 ° c . for 216hours under shaking . the resulting first seed culture ( 20 ml ) was inoculated in 6 . 25 ml portions into 125 ml of the second seed medium in each of two 2 - l erlenmeyer flasks and cultured at 28 ° c . for 48 hours under shaking . the resulting second seed culture was inoculated in 125 ml portions into 2 . 5 l of a main fermentation medium ( total amount of the medium : 5 l ) in each of two 5 - l tanks and cultured at 28 ° c . for 140 hours with aeration under stirring ( rotation : 500 rpm ; aeration : 2 . 5 l / min .). the main fermentation medium used was a medium ( ph 7 . 0 ) composed of 40 g / l soluble starch , 10 g / l sbm , 5 g / l csl , 5 g / l dry yeast , 5 g / l potassium dihydrogenphosphate , 0 . 01 g / l zinc sulfates . 7h 2 o , 0 . 001 g / l cobalt chloride . 6h 2 o , 0 . 001 g / l nickel sulfate , and 0 . 5 g / l magnesium phosphate . 8h 2 o . to the resulting fermentation culture ( 4 l ) was added a filter aid ( radiolite # 600 , showa kagaku kogyo co ., ltd .) at a concentration of 10 %, followed by filtration in a centrifuge . to the strain which was thus separated from the culture filtrate was added 750 ml of methanol , and the mixture was sufficiently stirred and extracted , and filtered again under suction in the centrifuge . the resulting methanol extract was mixed with the culture filtrate , and water was further added thereto to give 4 l of a solution . this was passed through a column packed with 220 ml of diaion hp - 20 to adsorb the active components . impurities were eluted with 700 ml of a 80 % aqueous methanol solution , and then the active components were eluted with 700 ml of methanol . the active fraction was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give a brown oily substance . this oily substance was dissolved in a small amount of methanol and passed through a column packed with 100 ml of diaion hp - 20ss to adsorb the active components . impurities were eluted with 300 ml of a 60 % aqueous acetonitrile solution , and then the active components were eluted with 300 ml of a 70 % aqueous acetonitrile solution . the active fraction was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give a brown oily substance . this oily substance was dissolved in a small amount of chloroform , applied to a silica gel column ( wako gel c - 200 , wako pure chemical industries , ltd .) and developed with a chloroform - methanol mixture . impurities were eluted with a chloroform / methanol ( 100 : 1 , v / v ) mixture , and then the active components were eluted with a chloroform / methanol ( 50 : 1 , v / v ) mixture . the active fraction was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to give a brown oily substance . this oily substance was dissolved again in a small amount of chloroform , applied to a silica gel column ( lichroprep si 60 , merck & amp ; co ., inc .) and developed with an ethyl acetate / methanol mixture . impurities were eluted with ethyl acetate , and then the active fraction was eluted with methanol . this was concentrated and subjected to preparative high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ) under the following conditions to give the active fraction . the active components were extracted with ethyl acetate and concentrated to dryness to give 23 . 2 mg of chrolactomycin . eluent : acetonitrile / 10 mm potassium phosphate buffer ( ph 5 . 9 ) ( a linear gradient of from 2 : 8 to 7 : 3 ( v / v ), 0 to 50 minutes ) as described above , a chrolactomycin compound having antibacterial and antitumor activities and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof can be provided according to the present invention .
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US-21546898-A
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a falling film of water is applied around the periphery of a fluid bed olefin polymerization reactor to cool the wall and reduce the temperature in the fluid bed near the inside surface of the wall . cooling has the effect of reducing static in the reactor , which in turn ameliorates a sheeting problem and can enhance production by facilitating control of the relation of the reactor temperature and the dew point of recycled gas . the process may be used concurrently with a gas cooling and condensing recycle system wherein at least some of the condensed recycle gas is injected in the vicinity of the internal wall surface .
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in fig1 reactor 1 is a standard “ unipol ” reactor , a type commonly used for making polyethylene , ethylene copolymers , and other olefin polymers . the reactor 1 includes straight section 2 , which typically extends 50 feet above distribution plate 9 , and expanded section 3 . as is known in the art , the raw material monomer is continuously introduced in the gas phase near the bottom of the bed , shown schematically as line 4 , and an appropriate catalyst from source 6 is introduced into the fluid bed at a point 5 . cocatalyst and other additives may be introduced from sources 22 and 23 . particles of polymer 25 are formed by the action of the catalyst on the monomer , suspended in reaction zone 7 , and withdrawn as product at a take - off point 8 usually near distributor plate 9 . gas is continuously recycled through line 10 to a heat exchanger 11 , where it is cooled and / or condensed to remove the heat of reaction . in an alternate scheme not shown , gaseous feed monomer may be introduced to line 10 and makeup liquid in line 24 ; line 4 would not be used . our invention may be used with other variations known to the art for conducting the polymerization process in a fluid bed reactor . introduction of a nonreactant gas such as propane , butane , isobutane , pentane , isopentane , hexane , heptane , octane ( saturated hydrocarbons having 3 - 8 carbons ), or mixtures thereof into the system will help to control the dew point of the gas phase in the reactor . see u . s . pat . no . 4 , 981 , 929 discussed above . make - up gas , which generally consists of the monomer , nitrogen , and hydrogen , but may contain isopentane , propane , or other nonreactant gas , is fed to the bed at a rate to keep a steady state gaseous composition . the composition of the make - up gas is determined by a gas analyzer 12 positioned above the bed . the gas analyzer determines the composition of the gas being recycled and the composition of the make up gas is adjusted accordingly to maintain an essentially steady state gaseous composition within the reaction zone 7 . the dew point may also be calculated by the gas analyzer ( or a separate analyzer ) in a known manner . the polymer production rate of the bed is controlled by the rate of injection of the catalyst components . the productivity of the bed may be increased by simply increasing the rate of injection of the components and decreased by reducing the rate of injection . since any change in the rate of injection of the catalyst components will change the rate of generation of the heat of reaction , the temperature of the recycle gas is adjusted upwards or downwards to accommodate the change in rate of heat generation . this insures the maintenance of an essentially constant temperature in the bed . complete instrumentation of both the fluidized bed and the recycle gas cooling system is , of course , necessary to detect any temperature change in the bed so as to enable the operator to make a suitable adjustment in the temperature of the recycle gas . removal of particulate product through take - off point 8 is preferably controlled by a pair of timed valves which establish a separation zone 13 as is known in the art unused monomer gas may be removed in separation zone 13 and reinjected at a point not shown in the recycle line 10 . under a given set of operating conditions , the fluidized bed is maintained at essentially a constant height by withdrawing a portion of the bed as product at a rate equal to the rate of formation of the particulate polymer product . since the rate of heat generation is directly related to product formation , a measurement of the temperature rise of the gas across the reactor ( the difference between inlet gas temperature and exit gas temperature ) is determinative of the rate of particulate polymer formation at a constant gas velocity . to the more or less conventional reactor 1 has been added a pipe ring 14 , and on the pipe ring 14 is a plurality of nozzles 18 ( see fig2 ) forming sprays 17 directed toward the exterior of the reactor wall . pipe ring 14 is in turn connected through line 15 to a source 16 of cooling water . immediately below the sprays 17 and on the wall of reactor 1 a sheet or film 19 of water is seen to form . this water film 19 is of a thickness or intensity which is normally and preferably substantially uniform around the periphery of the straight section 2 of the reactor at the level of pipe ring 14 . the initial flow is preferably of a substantially even rate around the periphery of the reactor . the flow of water to the pipe ring 14 and nozzles 18 may be regulated either manually or automatically . referring now to fig2 the drawing shows an overhead view of a section of straight section 2 , the distributor plate 9 and other parts in the interior of the reactor 1 being omitted . straight section 2 is surrounded by pipe ring 14 , in this case bearing twenty nozzles 18 , each of which directs a water spray 17 toward straight section 2 water is supplied from source 16 through line 15 . the sprays 17 preferably contact each other so as to coat the complete periphery of the straight section 2 and form a continuous circumferential falling film as seen in fig1 . in fig3 the disposition and action of the falling water film 19 has been exaggerated to illustrate an important effect in our invention . the water spray 17 ejected from pipe ring 14 through nozzle 18 strikes the reactor straight section 2 and initially forms a relatively thick and somewhat turbulent accumulation of water in upper region 20 . while the innermost water tends to cling to the straight section 2 , the outermost water is not so retarded . both the innermost and outermost accelerate briefly as they flow downwardly , but by the time the film reaches a lower region 21 of straight section 2 , it is somewhat thinner but does not continue to accelerate , as the surface effects on contact with the reactor surface predominate over the effect of gravitational pull . the film 19 on lower region 21 is of a slightly higher temperature than when it first strikes the reactor in the form of a spray , having absorbed heat energy from straight section 2 during its downward fall ; it nevertheless is almost as efficient in removing heat from lower region 21 as is upper region 20 . thus , while the greatest rate of cooling may take place near sprays 17 and in region 20 , it should not be assumed that there is little cooling effect in the lower regions , even for falling films which originate as high as the expanded section 3 . it was noticed that electrical charges due to static electric phenomona in an operating commercial reactor were reduced during heavy rainstorms , and it was speculated that the reduction in static electric charge was correlated with a reduction in temperature of the reactor wall . directing a fire monitor — a nozzle on a swivel — on the reactor with supplemental pumping provided a dramatic decrease in static . two fifteen - minute tests were conducted in a pilot plant . in the first , the fluid bed had a temperature of 83 ° c . and a dewpoint of 74 ° c . prostatic agents were added to the polymerization system to generate static electricity in the system , static electricity was in fact generated , and when water was applied to the expanded section and straight section and permitted to flow downward in a sheet or film , the static electricity dropped to zero . in the second test , the bed was at 88 ° c . and the dewpoint at 60 ° c . ; accordingly the high bed temperature induced static electricity without the necessity of introducing prostatic agents to generate it . the static was cut from 650 volts to 250 volts by the application of water to the expanded section , allowing it to drain downward in a film - like sheet around the base of the expanded section and on down the entire length of the straight section . it was observed that the bed temperature decreased significantly in both cases , and in each case the static returned roughly to its previous level shortly after the application of water was ceased . a pipe ring similar to pipe ring 10 in fig1 was constructed around a commercial reactor on the straight section ( similar to straight section 2 in fig1 ) about ten feet above the plate ( similar to distributor plate 9 in fig1 ). the pipe ring completely encircled the reactor on the straight section , which had a diameter of about 14 . 5 feet . the pipe ring utilized pipe of four inches in diameter and had 17 nozzles spaced evenly around its full circumference . firewater was pumped into the pipe ring at flow rates described below . when the spraying was begun , the bed temperature was 84 ° c ., the dew point was 65 ° c ., and the static was in a band of − 100 v to + 500 v . skin thermocouples ( thermocouples inserted into the reactor and extending about { fraction ( 1 / 16 )} inch to about ⅜ inch from the inside surface of the wall into the fluid bed ) had demonstrated spikes about 5 - 7 ° c . above the bed temperature prior to pumping the water . in a first variation , pumping of water was begun at an initial rate of 300 gallons per minute , whereupon the static dropped rapidly to a band between − 50 volts and 0 volts , the internal wall temperature dropped to about 45 ° c ., the skin thermocouples dropped about 4 to about 8 ° c . to a new baseline , and also began spiking to as low as 60 ° c . after pumping was terminated , the skin thermocouples returned to the initial baseline , and resumed positive excursions . this experience was repeated over several cycles . in a second variation , it was desired to determine whether an optimal level of wall cooling could be achieved . accordingly , the water pumping rate was reduced in steps of 100 gpm beginning at 300 , i . e . 300 gpm , 200 gpm , 100 gpm and zero . it was observed that the static band width increased slightly with each step down , and the negative thermocouple excursions continued down to 60 - 65 ° c . it was also observed that at 100 gpm , the water film ceased to be continuous — that is , it separated into discrete portions or streams . water flow rate was then increased directly to 600 gallons per minute . static showed little improvement over 300 gpm , and negative thermocouple excursions continued . it was concluded that the application of water reduced static in the region of water contact , and caused sharp decreases in temperature near the interior wall . rubble and sheeting formation was minimal . our invention is useful in all types of gas phase , fluid bed reactors for olefin polymerization — that is , we are not limited to the particular methods of monomer feed and recycle described herein ; we may use any type of catalyst . in a preferred mode of our invention , where the reactor has a diameter of 14 . 5 feet , the water spray is applied at ar rate of 200 to 600 gallons per minute to the periphery of the straight section at a height , preferably of at least three feet , and most preferably at least ten feet , above the plate . thus , in this preferred mode , the spray is applied so that each foot of the circumference of the straight section receives about 6 . 6 gallons of water per minute at a height of at least ten feet . generally , a quick response to an undesired high temperature will mean the application of about 4 . 4 to about 13 . 2 gallons of water per foot of circumference of the straight section at a height of at least 3 feet above the distribution plate . thus our preferred process for a commercial reactor having a diameter of 8 to about 20 feet involves applying a falling film of water , beginning at least 3 feet above the distributor plate , at a rate of 4 . 4 to 13 . 2 gallons per minute per foot of reactor circumference . there is a large variety of nozzles available in commerce , and we may use any of them , but we particularly prefer those which are able to bring about a smooth - flowing film or sheet of water from a point immediately below the application of the spray . certain spray nozzles are designed to provide particular patterns of spray , to generate large drops , jets , or fine atomized drops . the fine atomized drops may be gas - assisted — that is , they are broken into small droplets by the introduction of air or other gas in the nozzle and achieve a high degree of efficiency of heat removal . if a further reduction in the amount of water used is desired , the gas and / or the water may be cooled before application to the reactor ; of course the water may be cooled when it is used without atomization or gas assist , and this may be particularly desirable where it is recirculated , since otherwise it may increase in temperature through reuse . a falling film of water within our invention may be formed by a pipe ring much closer to the reactor shown in fig2 having a large number of simple holes directed toward the reactor , thus forming a film without the use of sprays , such as by simply applying the flowing water directly to the reactor surface rather than forming a separate stream or jet through the air . a weir or similar device may also be used to form a simple flow of water . while we prefer sprays , any method of forming a falling film is satisfactory . while flow rates of 300 gallons per minute of water , and up to 600 gallons per minute , are discussed above , it should be understood that these amounts and rates are discussed in the context of a reactor of a shape similar to that of fig1 wherein the diameter of straight section 1 is about 14 . 5 feet and its height is about 50 feet , with additional volume in the expanded section . in addition to the geometry and dimensions of the reactor , the rate of reaction should also be taken into account , as it of course has a direct bearing on generation of the heat of reaction . our invention contemplates maintaining the temperature near the inside of the reactor wall at a temperature at a point which is in a desired relation to the dew point of the gas ; accordingly , the most direct method of assuring that temperature difference is to monitor the dew point and conduct the cooling to maintain a monitored temperature inside the reactor wall at a desired difference from the dew point . most often , it will be desired to maintain the temperature near the wall to be below the dew point — for example , as much as 24 degrees centigrade below the dew point — however , there may also be occasions and conditions in which it is desired to maintain a temperature above the dew point , which may be monitored in the expanded section , the recycle line , or near the reactor wall . further , as mentioned above with reference to u . s . pat . no . 4 , 981 , 929 , the application of water to the outside of the reactor may be coordinated with the use of a nonreactant in the recycle gas to control the dew point of the recycle gas . the dew point may be modulated by varying the introduction of nonreactant liquid to the recycle fluid . in any case , it is clear that our invention will reduce the incidence of static charge and attendant sheeting , as shown in the experiments above . it is to be understood that our invention is not intended to be used when there is no need for it — that is , control systems may be installed , for example , to operate the system only when the difference between the inside wall temperature and the dew point of the gas is outside of a predetermined range . thus , the application of water may be intermittent . the temperature near the inside of the reactor wall may be monitored in any known manner ; generally it is done with a thermocouple positioned at the desired spot . we have found that the temperature responds rather quickly to the application of a film of water to the outside of the reactor . our invention reduces the number of shutdowns of the reactor by assuring avoiding conditions known to cause sheeting and other formations of undesirably large masses of product . in addition , it permits more efficient operation by providing more control over the relationship between dewpoint and reaction temperature .
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US-94600101-A
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disclosed herein are new types of hydraulic piston valve actuators wherein the piston is replaceable with different sized pistons . further disclosed are parts of the piston interchange system resulting in the fewest number of parts changed between one piston diameter and another piston diameter . methods of changing from one piston diameter to another piston diameter are also disclosed .
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the particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of various embodiments of the invention . in this regard , no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the invention , the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice . the following definitions and explanations are meant and intended to be controlling in any future construction unless clearly and unambiguously modified in the following examples or when application of the meaning renders any construction meaningless or essentially meaningless . in cases where the construction of the term would render it meaningless or essentially meaningless , the definition should be taken from webster &# 39 ; s dictionary 3rd edition . distal , in certain instances , can be defined as toward the top of the actuator and away from any valve on which the actuator rests . proximal , in certain instances , can be defined as toward a valve on which an actuator is mounted and away from the top of the actuator . outward or outwardly , in certain instances , can be defined as away from a central axis in a direction substantially perpendicular to such a central axis . as used herein , the term “ conduit ” means and refers to a fluid flow path . as used herein , the term “ line ” means and refers to a fluid flow path . as used herein , the term “ fluid ” refers to a non - solid material such as a gas , a liquid or a colloidal suspension capable of being transported through a pipe , line or conduit . examples of fluids include by way of non - limiting examples the following : natural gas , propane , butane , gasoline , crude oil , mud , water , nitrogen , sulfuric acid and the like . as used herein , the term “ attached ,” or any conjugation thereof describes and refers to the at least partial connection of two items . it is contemplated that in certain embodiments of the invention disclosed herein , a hydraulic actuator is disclosed comprising a top plug having at least one outlet port with a plug such as a pressure relief valve the top plug also has an inlet port for receiving a pressure fluid . the top plug in this embodiment has a proximal side comprising a top shaft bore and at least one inlet port bore . in the aforementioned embodiment , the proximal side of the top plug may abut the distal side of a piston sleeve . in such embodiments , the proximal side of the top plug may possess one or more sealing grooves which may contact the distal end of the piston sleeve . within the sealing grooves are seals , such as polypack seals or o - rings which prevent the escape of hydraulic fluid . the piston sleeve possesses at least one hydraulic fluid port running from the distal side of the piston sleeve to the proximal side of the piston sleeve to a hydraulic piston chamber . the hydraulic piston chamber has a distal side comprising the proximal side of the piston sleeve and a proximal side comprising the distal side of the piston . the hydraulic piston chamber also has a lateral side comprising the inward facing wall portion of the piston sleeve . in this embodiment , the piston sleeve has an outward facing wall abutting or almost abutting an inward facing wall of the actuator housing . when referring to the term almost , the space between the piston sleeve and the actuator housing would be sufficient to slide the piston sleeve into the actuator housing in a manner that prevents hydraulic fluid from leaking distally to the piston sleeve when sealed . while not being bound to a particular theory , the distance could be from 1 mm to about 10 mm . further , the outward wall of the piston sleeve or the inward wall of the actuator housing may have one or more grooves or indentations for receiving a seal such as an o - ring or a polypak seal . still further , the wall portion of the piston sleeve may have a proximal den abutting a sleeve retaining ledge on the inward facing wall of the actuator housing . in such embodiments , the top plug may be attached to the actuator housing by being threaded into the actuator housing with the inward wall of the actuator housing having a threaded portion adapted to receive an outwardly threaded portion of the top plug . alternatively the top plug may be bolted to the actuator housing . in certain embodiments , the top plug may have a plurality of vertical bores which align with a plurality of vertical threaded bores within the actuator housing . bolts may pass through the plurality of vertical bores and be threaded into the vertical threaded bores within the actuator housing . in other embodiments , the top plug is affixed to the actuator housing by horizontal bolts . in such embodiments , the top plug may fit within the inner wall of the actuator housing . the top plug may possess a plurality of horizontal threaded bores , likewise , the actuator housing may possess a plurality of horizontal bores so that the bolts may be inserted through the horizontal bores and be threaded into the horizontal threaded bores . preferably , in such embodiments , distal or proximal to the horizontal threaded bores may be one or more grooves adapted to receive a seal such as an o - ring . in further embodiments of the invention , regardless of the attachment method used to attach the top plug to the actuator housing , the top plug may be separated from the distal side of the piston sleeve and thereby form a first hydraulic chamber . hydraulic fluid may enter the hydraulic piston chamber via at least one hydraulic fluid port running form the distal side of the piston sleeve to the proximal side of the piston sleeve . in this embodiment , the number and diameter of the hydraulic fluid port or ports can be optimized to reduce the flow of hydraulic fluid from the first hydraulic chamber to the hydraulic piston chamber in order to prevent slamming of the piston into the proximal side of the piston sleeve . additionally such embodiments can provide a slower opening and closing of the gate valve which may be advantageous in certain applications . in still another embodiment , the piston sleeve may not have a top area proximal to the piston sleeve wall , and may therefore be referred to as a topless piston sleeve . in such embodiments , in lieu of hydraulic fluid ports , the lack of a top area of the piston sleeve provides a single pressure chamber . in any of the aforementioned embodiments , the proximal end of the wall portion of a piston sleeve may contact the distal portion of a sleeve retaining ledge to prevent proximal travel of the sleeve past a desired placement . alternatively or additively , in some embodiments the sleeve may have an area on its outward facing wall that is threaded and designed to be received by reciprocal threading on the inward facing wall of the actuator housing . in such embodiments , both proximal and distal movements of the piston sleeve would be inhibited by this feature . still further , in embodiments of the invention regarding topless piston sleeves , the topless piston sleeves may be retained in relation to the actuator housing with a plurality of sleeve bolts through horizontal sleeve bores and entering threaded actuator housing bores adapted to receive the sleeve bolts . preferably , the bolts and bores are positioned distal to the most distal portion of the distal side of the piston when unpressurized or proximal to the most proximal position of the proximal side of the piston when pressurized . further embodiments of the invention pertain to the interchangeability of different diameter pistons and corresponding piston sleeves having an inner diameter adapted to receive the piston . in general , the outer diameter of the piston sleeve is about the same as the inward facing wall of the actuator housing . in this aspect of the invention , the piston has an outward facing wall that is about the diameter of the inner diameter of the sleeve so as to be able to slide in a proximal to distal direction and vice versa relative to the sleeve . in many embodiments , the piston may have one or more sealing grooves that circumscribe the piston and are adapted to receive o - rings and the like . alternatively , the inward facing wall of the piston sleeve may have one or more sealing grooves surrounding the piston which are adapted to receive seals such as o - rings and the like . it is envisioned that such grooves and seals on the piston or the piston sleeve may prevent loss of hydraulic fluid and pressure . further regarding the sleeve and piston combination , the piston diameter and sleeve inner diameter may be changed by removing and replacing the sleeve and piston with a new combination of the desired size without changing the entire actuator . in certain embodiments , the standard sizes may increase in 0 . 5 cm , 1 cm or 1 inch increments and the like based on piston diameter . in implementation of one embodiment of the present invention , a top plug having vertical bolts is removed from the distal end of the actuator housing turning and removing the vertical bolts . next , wherein a topless piston sleeve is not used , the sleeve may be removed by grasping and pulling on the top shaft of the piston if present or by pulling on the piston sleeve from the hydraulic fluid ports . in some instances , it may be desirable to insert a tool such as a screw driver or wrench into the hydraulic fluid ports to aid in pulling out the piston sleeve and the piston . alternatively , in embodiments wherein there is threading on the outward facing wall of the piston sleeve adapted to be received by reciprocal threading on the inward facing wall of the actuator housing , the piston sleeve may be removed by unscrewing and then pulling the piston sleeve out of the actuator housing . alternatively in embodiments wherein a topless piston is used , a spanner wrench or manual extraction may be used to remove the piston sleeve . once the piston and piston sleeve are removed , the new piston and piston sleeve may be inserted together into the actuator housing until the piston sleeve makes contact with the retainer ledge . in this implementation or method , the new piston sleeve will have the same outward diameter wherein the outward facing wall abuts or almost abuts the inward facing wall of the actuator housing . however , the new piston sleeve may have greater or lesser distance between its outward facing wall and its inward facing wall , such that the inner diameter of the piston sleeve is greater than or less than the previous piston sleeve . consequently , the piston will have a corresponding outer diameter that is the same or about the same as the inner diameter of the piston sleeve . this allows for a larger or smaller piston to be used in an actuator depending on desired application without changing the actuator . in instances wherein a piston sleeve with a top is used , the piston may be inserted into the proximal end of the piston sleeve before inserting the piston and piston sleeve into the actuator housing . in instances wherein a topless piston sleeve is used . the piston may be inserted into the piston sleeve at the same time or a different time from the sleeve being inserted into the actuator housing . in either type of piston sleeve , the user will push or otherwise insert the piston sleeve in a proximal direction until the proximal end of the piston sleeve abuts the retainer ledge , wherein proximal advancement will be stopped . at such time , the top plug can be inserted or otherwise placed in or on top of the distal end of the actuator housing . the top plug can be aligned such that the inlet port bore aligns with the hydraulic fluid port . this may be achieved by markings on the piston sleeve , actuator housing and top plug . once the top plug is in the correct position , bolts can be inserted into the vertical bores and into the vertical threaded bores of the actuator housing , thus securing the top plug to the actuator housing . still further , in implementation of the present invention , hydraulic fluid is pumped into the inlet port , through the inlet port bore and into the hydraulic fluid port wherein the pressure fills the hydraulic piston chamber , forcing the piston in a proximal direction . the hydraulic fluid may come from an external hydraulic fluid pressure source . upon pushing the piston in a proximal direction , the downstop is pushed in a proximal direction and the central spring is compressed . the operator shaft , which is in connection with the downstop is pushed in a proximal direction thus opening or closing a gate valve , depending on configuration . when the actuator is depressurized , the central spring forces the downstop and the operator shaft in a distal direction , thereby reversing the flow configuration of the gate valve from opened to closed or vice versa . referring to fig1 is a cross sectional illustration of a hydraulic actuator 5 comprising a top plug 10 at the distal end of the actuator and having at least one outlet port 20 with a plug such as a pressure relief valve . the top plug also has an inlet port 30 for receiving a hydraulic fluid . the top plug has a proximal side comprising a top shaft bore 40 and at least one inlet port bore 50 . the proximal side of the top plug 10 may abut the distal side of a piston sleeve 60 . in such embodiments , the proximal side of the top plug 10 may possess one or more sealing grooves 65 which may contact the distal end of the piston sleeve . within the sealing grooves are top plug seals 67 , such as polypack seals or o - rings which prevent the escape of hydraulic fluid . the piston sleeve 60 possesses at least one hydraulic fluid port 70 running from the distal side of the piston sleeve to the proximal side of the piston sleeve to a hydraulic piston chamber 80 . the hydraulic piston chamber 80 has a distal side comprising the proximal side of the piston sleeve and a proximal side comprising the distal side of the piston 85 . the hydraulic piston chamber 80 also has a lateral side comprising the inward facing wall portion of the piston sleeve . as seen in fig1 , the piston sleeve 60 has a piston sleeve outward facing wall 90 abutting or almost abutting an inward facing wall of the actuator housing 100 . regarding the attachment of the top plug to the distal end of the actuator housing , as seen in fig1 , the top plug may have a plurality of vertical bores 110 which align with a plurality of vertical threaded bores 120 within the actuator housing 100 . bolts 125 may pass through the plurality of vertical bores 110 and be threaded into the vertical threaded bores 120 within the actuator housing . fig2 is a cross sectional illustration of another embodiment of a piston sleeve of the present invention . in this embodiment the piston sleeve may not have a top area proximal to the piston sleeve wall 130 , and may therefore be referred to as a topless piston sleeve 140 . in this embodiment , in lieu of hydraulic fluid ports , the lack of a top area of the piston sleeve provides a single pressure chamber . as illustrated in either fig1 or fig2 , the proximal end of the wall portion of a piston sleeve 60 or 140 may contact the distal portion of a sleeve retaining ledge 150 located on the inward facing wall of the actuator housing , to prevent proximal travel of the sleeve past a desired placement . further as illustrated in either fig1 or fig2 , proximal to the sleeve retaining ledge 150 may be one or more piston sleeve sealing grooves 160 which circumscribe the piston and are adapted to receive piston sleeve seals 170 such as o - rings and the like . still further , as illustrated in fig2 , and as also seen in fig1 , the piston 85 has a proximal end . the proximal end of the piston is in contact with a downstop 180 , which has a distal side and a proximal side as well as a centered threaded bore 190 adapted to receive an operator shaft 200 . the distal end of the operator shaft is threaded into center threaded bore 190 of the downstop 180 located on the proximal side of the downstop 180 . further , regarding the proximal side of the downstop , 180 , the central spring 210 circumscribes the operator shaft 200 and has a distal end which abuts the proximal end of the downstop 180 and a proximal end which abuts the bonnet ring 220 as seen in fig3 . as seen from fig3 , which is a cross sectional illustration of the proximal end of a piston actuator and a valve body , the bonnet ring 220 connects the actuator housing 100 to the bonnet 230 . further , the bonnet ring as a bonnet ring central bore which is threaded onto the outward facing edge of the packing retainer 240 . the distal end of the packing retainer is depicted having drift shims 250 which are used to adjust the stroke of the actuator . further , the packing retainer 240 possesses a central packing retainer bore 260 through which the operator shaft 200 passes . the proximal end of the operator shaft thus passes through the packing retainer , past the bonnet ring 220 , and the bonnet 230 and into the valve body 270 wherein it is connected to a gate 280 situated within the valve body , in order to open and close the gate and allow or prevent fluid flow from the flow axis 290 of the valve body , depending on whether the actuator is pressurized with hydraulic fluid as depicted in fig1 and 2 , or unpressurized .
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US-201213648595-A
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a method for manufacturing powdered quantum dots comprising the steps of : a ) reacting quantum dots comprising a core , a cap and a first ligand associated with the outer surfaces thereof with a second ligand , the second ligand displacing the first ligand and attaching to the outer surfaces of the quantum dots , b ) isolating the quantum dots having the attached second ligand from the reaction mixture , c ) reacting the isolated quantum dots having the attached second ligand with a small organic molecule whereby the small organic molecule attaches to the second ligand , d ) reacting the quantum dots having the attached small organic molecule with a cross - linking agent to cross - link the small organic molecule attached to the second ligand with an adjacent second ligand attached to the surfaces of the quantum dots , e ) isolating the quantum dots formed in step ; and f ) drying the isolated quantum dots to form powdered quantum dots . the invention includes the quantum dots .
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the present invention provides a method for large - scale production of water - soluable semiconductor nanocrystals , alternatively referred to as quantum dots , in a cost - effective manner . more particularly , the present invention provides a method of producing water - soluble quantum dots wherein the quantum dots so produced are supplied to a user as a powder . the present invention also provides for a method of producing a quantum dot in a powdered form wherein the quantum dot can thereafter be conjugated to a biomolecule selected from a range of different biomolecule species . as well , the present invention provides a method of detecting a biomolecule in a sample through the use of a probe molecule - luminescent reporter molecule construct comprising a quantum dot conjugated to the probe molecule . the term “ quantum dot ” will be understood to mean a water - soluble luminescent semiconductor nanocrystal , which comprise a core , a cap and a hydrophilic attachment group . the term “ core ” will be understood to mean a nanoparticle - sized semiconductor . while any core of the iib – vib , iiib – vb or ivb -— ivb semiconductors can be used in the context of the present invention , the core must be such that , upon combination with a cap , a luminescent quantum dot results . a iib – vib semiconductor is a compound that contains at least one element from group iib and at least one element from group vib of the periodic table ; a iiib – vb semi conductor is a compound that contains at least one element from group iiib and at least one element from group vib of the periodic table , and so on . the core may be a iib – vib , iiib – vb or ivb -— ivb semiconductor that ranges in size from about 1 nm to about 10 nm . in one form the core is a iib – vib semiconductor and ranges in size from about 2 nm to about 5 nm . examples include a core that is cds or cdse . the term “ cap ” will be understood to mean a semiconductor that differs from the semiconductor of the core and which binds to the core , thereby forming a surface layer on the core . the cap must be such that , upon combination with a given semiconductor core , a luminescent quantum dot results . the cap should passivate the core by having a higher band gap than the core . in this regard , the cap may be a iib – vib semiconductor of high band gap . in particular , the cap may be zns or cds . in particular forms of the invention , the cap is zns when the core is cdse or cds and the cap is cds when the core is cdse . the term “ first ligand ” is used to describe a passivating organic layer present on the surface of the quantum dot comprised of the organic solvent in which the quantum dot is prepared . the first ligand be displaced as described below to provide an outer coating that renders the quantum dot in a state for processing according to the method of the present invention . in one embodiment of the present invention , the first ligand is any molecule that is hydrophobic ( e . g ., trioctylphosphine oxide ( topo ), octylamine , or lipid - type molecules ). the term “ second ligand ” encompasses ligands which are used to displace the first ligand from the surface of the quantum dot . more specifically , the second ligand can be any organic group that can be attached , such as by any stable physical or chemical association , to the surface of the cap of the luminescent semiconductor quantum dot and can render the quantum dot water - soluble without rendering the quantum dot non - luminescent . accordingly , the second ligand may comprise a hydrophilic moiety . in one embodiment , the second ligand enables the quantum dot to remain in solution for at least about one hour . in another embodiment , the second ligand enables the quantum dot to remain in solution for at least about one day . in yet another embodiment , the second ligand allows the quantum dot to remain in solution for at least about one week . the second ligand may also allow the quantum dot to remain in solution indefinitely . desirably , the second ligand is attached to the cap by covalent bonding and is attached to the cap in such a manner that the hydrophilic moiety is exposed . the second ligand may be attached to the quantum dot via a sulfur atom . the second ligand may be an organic group comprising a sulfur atom and at least one hydrophilic attachment group . a suitable hydrophilic attachment group includes , for example , a carboxylic acid or salt thereof , a sulfonic acid group or salt thereof , a sulfamic acid group or salt thereof , an amino substituent , a quaternary ammonium salt , or a hydroxyl . the organic group of the hydrophilic attachment group of the present invention may be a c 8 – c 13 alkyl group or an aryl group . c 8 – c 13 alkyl groups have been quite useful and so has the c 10 alkyl group . therefore , specifically the second ligand of the present invention may be a thiol carboxylic acid , or the second ligand may be mercaptoundecanoic acid ( mua ). the term “ cross - linking agent ” is used to describe a compound that is capable of forming a chemical bond between molecular groups on similar or dis - similar molecules so as to covalently bond together the molecules . in the present invention , a suitable cross - linking agent is one that couples amines to carboxyl groups , for example n -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- n ′- ethylcarbodiimide ( edc ), and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcc ). the term “ small organic molecule ” is used to describe an organic compound either synthesized in the laboratory or found in nature . typically , a small organic molecule is characterized in that it contains several carbon - carbon bonds , and has a molecular weight of less than 1500 grams / mol . in the present invention , a small organic molecule can be an amino acid , such as a basic amino acid , and more particularly the amino acid lysine . as well , in the present invention , a small molecule can also be a substituted dicarboxylic acid , such as diaminopimelic acid . the small organic molecule interacts with the carboxylic acid group provided at the exposed end of each second ligand to result in the formation of an amide bond between adjacent second ligand molecules attached to the cap of the quantum dot while at the same time leaving exposed a polar group such as a carboxylic acid group if the small organic molecule in question is lysine . the term “ biomolecule ” is used to describe a synthetic or naturally occurring protein , glycoprotein , lipoprotein , amino acid , nucleic acid , nucleotide , carbohydrate , sugar , lipid , fatty acid and the like . the term “ conjugate ” is used to describe the quantum dot described above and a biomolecule wherein the biomolecule is attached to the quantum dot either directly or indirectly by any suitable means . the biomolecule can be attached to the quantum dot by being covalently bonded to the exposed polar group of the small organic molecule , for example , to the carboxyl group of the lysine that cross - links together the second ligand molecules . indirect attachment of the biomolecule can occur through the use of a “ linker ” molecule , so long as the linker does not negatively affect the luminescence of the quantum dot or the function of the biomolecule . it is preferred that the linker be one that is bio - compatible . common molecular linkers known in the art include a primary amine , a thiol , streptavidin , neutravidin , biotin , or a like molecule . in the context of the present example of the invention , a suitable linker is edc . the following example is included to illustrate the present invention , and should not be used to limit the claims in any way . the parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise indicated . to obtain a quantity of water - soluble quantum dots for subsequent utilization in a cross - linking procedure , one gram of mercaptoundecanoic acid ( mua ) ( aldrich , 95 %) was added to a 3 - neck flask and melted at 65 ° c . under argon to provide a liquid mua solution . the molecules of mua function as the second ligand coating the cap of the qd on displacing the first ligand from the cap of the qd . quantum dots having a core comprising cdse and a cap comprising zns were prepared using a known organometallic procedure . see the following references for a description of this procedure . hines , m . a ., guyot - sionnest , p . “ synthesis of strongly luminescing zns - capped cdse nanocrystals ” j . phys . chem . b , 100 , 468 – 471 ( 1996 ); peng , x . g ., schlamp , m . c ., kadavanich , a . v ., alivistos , a . p . “ epitaxial growth of highly luminescent cdse / cds core / shell nanocrystals with photostability and electronic accessibility ” j . am . chem . soc ., 199 , 7019 – 7029 ( 1997 ); dabbousi , b . o . et al . “( cdse ) zns core - shell quantum dots : synthesis and characterization of a size series of highly luminescent nanocrystallites ” j . phys . chem . b , 101 , 9463 – 9475 ( 1997 ). quantum dots are commercially available from , for example , quantum dot corporation and evident technologies . in the present example , these quantum dots were provided with a coating of trioctylphosphine oxide ( topo ) as the first ligand . the molar concentration of these qds was determined using the molar absorptivity value from the published report by yu et al . ( chem . mater ., 2003 , 15 , 2854 – 2860 ). a quantity less than about 100 mg of the topo - coated qds were injected into the mua - solution . this can be done either in a schlenk line system or in air . the quantity of mua to topo - coated qds was such that the mua was in approximately 8 , 000 times molar excess to the topo - coated qds so as to adequately coat yellow - emitting qds ( λ em = 580 nm ) with mua . a person of skill in the art will understand that the concentration of mua to topo - coated qds will have to be adjusted for different sizes of qds in order to achieve optimal results . following injection of the qds , the temperature of the solution was raised to 80 ° c . overnight with continuous stirring . after two hours of 80 ° c . incubation , 25 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ) ( emd , 99 . 9 %) was injected into the 3 - neck flask , whereupon the solution became optically clear . this solution was stirred for a further two hours , followed by cooling to room temperature whereupon chloroform was added to precipitate out the qds . any kind of highly nonpolar solvent can be used in place of chloroform . precipitated qds were centrifuged at 3 , 700 rpm to separate them from unbound mua that had not become attached to the surface of any given qd on displacement of the topo coating . thereafter , mua - coated qds were redissolved in dmso for a subsequent cross - linking step . a method according to the present invention of preparing a quantum dot having a cross - linked ligand present on its surface is generally illustrated in the schematic diagram of fig1 , while a population of such dots is shown in the photograph provided as an inset in fig1 . prior to undertaking a cross - linking of the second ligand molecules that were attached to the cap of the qd , the following solutions were prepared : solution ( a ) comprised dl - lysine ( aldrich , 98 %) dissolved in phosphate buffer saline ( pbs ) ( 10 mm , ph = 7 . 4 ), resulting in a concentration of about 16 , 000 lysine molecules / qd , while solution ( b ) comprised dicylcohexylcarbodiimide ( dcc ) ( aldrich , 99 %) dissolved in dmso at 5 times the concentration of lysine . solutions a and b & gt ; 1 ml were directly added to mua - coated qds and the resultant solution , which became cloudy immediately upon mixing , was stirred for 2 hours at room temperature . large aggregations of qds began to form in the solution after approximately 30 minutes of stirring , such large aggregations being indicative of the cross - linking of the second ligand on the surface of the qds and the qds began to precipitate from the solution . aggregated qds were recovered by centrifugation at 3700 rpm for 5 minutes , followed by washing twice with tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) to remove mua molecules that were weakly attached to the qds . recovered , washed qds were re - dissolved in distilled water and dialyzed overnight using a membrane dialysis having a pore size of 12 to 14 kda and made of regenerated cellulose to remove uncross - linked mua against distilled water . as mua is insoluble in distilled water , that which was desorbed from the surface of the qds appeared as a white precipitate inside the dialysis tube , and was removed using a syringe filter ( sigma , 0 . 22 μm pore diameter ). for final recovery , the qds having cross - linked second ligand on their surface were precipitated from the aqueous solution with the addition of thf or excess salt (& gt ; 500 mm ) and recovered by centrifugation at 3000 rpm , for five minutes . recovered , cross - linked qds were washed once with thf , re - centrifuged , and dried overnight to a powder in a fume hood at room temperature . it is also possible to take this aqueous solution of quantum dots and place it in a lyophilizer for preparation of powdered quantum dots . the resultant powdered cross - linked qds were stored at room temperature in air ( short term ) or under nitrogen for long - term storage (& gt ; 1 year ). using an initial quantity of topo - coated qds as described , a per batch quantity of approximately 400 mg of powdered qds were prepared using the method as described . a person of skill in the art will , of course , appreciate that the method of the present invention allows for the production of various sizes and quantities of powdered qds depending upon the amount of topo - coated qds that are utilized as starting material , and that larger quantities than those as described can be prepared . further cross - linking of the qds can be accomplished by incubating the qds in pbs ( 10 mm , ph = 7 . 4 ) in the presence of excess lysine and cross - linking agent n -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- n ′- ethylcarbodiimide ( edc ) ( sigma - aldrich ). it is predictable that other types of small organic molecules , such as diaminopimelic acid ( sigma - aldrich ), can be used to cross - link adjacent mua molecules present on the surface of the qd via the carboxylic acid group on the mua , thereby forming a stable coating or shell on the qd . it is believed that most types of molecules that contain at least 2 primary amino groups and 1 carboxylic acid can be used . powdered quantum dots produced in accordance with the method of the present invention were assessed for their ability to maintain their luminescent property and to remain in a monodispersed state upon being re - dissolved in an aqueous solution under a variety of conditions . samples of qds were re - dissolved in water , the ph of which was adjusted through the drop - wise addition of naoh or hcl ( greater than 100 mg can be dissolved in 1 ml of distilled water ) and monitored with a ph meter , and as shown for the two samples presented in fig2 a , the fluorescene of the re - dissolved qds did not fluctuate greatly over the ph range of about 4 to 12 . lack of fluorescence observed at a ph of less than 4 could possibly be attributed to an acid etching effect upon the qds or a breakdown of the qds under highly acidic conditions . quantum dots produced in accordance with the method of the present invention could be subjected to various ranges of temperatures , for example , those commonly used in conjunction with the performance of a polymerase chain reaction , or in cell - incubation studies , or under the elevated ( up to 70 ° c .) temperature conditions found in dna hybridization experiments . to assess whether quantum dots manufactured according to the method of the present invention could remain luminescent over a varying temperature range ( 25 ° c . to 70 ° c . ), aliquots of the powdered qds were dissolved in water ( 1 mg / ml ) and heated to varying temperatures and the fluorescence measured using a spectrofluorimeter ( fluoromax , jobin - yvon , λ ex = 350 nm , λ em = 580 nm ). referring to fig2 b , the quantum yield of the dissolved quantum dots decreased in a linear relationship the increased temperatures to which the dots were exposed . effects of increased temperature exposure were not permanent , however , as the quantum yield of the dissolved quantum dots returned to original temperature upon cooling of the dots . quantum dots , produced in a powdered format in accordance with the method of the present invention , retained the ability to remain in a monodispersed state after being re - dissolved in an aqueous solution for an extended period of time . referring to fig3 , a quantity ( 10 mg / ml ) of qds in powdered form was dissolved in 10 mm phosphate buffered saline ( pbs ) of ph 7 . 4 , and after 10 days in solution , an aliquot of the dissolved qds were spread on a glass cover slip and imaged using an epifluorescence microscope ( olympus , 100 ×, n . a .= 1 . 4 , 100 w hg lamp , λ ex = 530 +/− 30 nm , λ em = 610 +/− 40 nm ). as shown in fig3 , the dissolved qds were present as individually fluorescing entities as opposed to an aggregate of dots . the monodispersity of the powdered form of the quantum dots dissolved in various saline ( nacl ) concentrations was also confirmed by epifluorescence microcopy ( which is single quantum dot image analysis ). to confirm that the quantum dots produced using the method of the present invention did not have altered absorbance and emission characteristics , samples of the powdered form of the quantum dots were tested . as indicated in fig4 , when compared to quantum dots having the topo ligand on the surface of the dot , quantum dots having the cross - linked mua ligand on their surface exhibited no observable change in either the absorbance or emission spectra . the quantum dots were examined under epifluorescence imaging , fluorescence spectroscopy , and absorbance spectroscopy . quantum dots produced in accordance with the method of the present invention can be conjugated to various biomolecules , such as proteins or antibodies . the qds can be conjugated to any biomolecule containing primary amino functional groups . depending on the biomolecule with which the quantum dot is conjugated , the resulting conjugate can be used as a probe to detect the presence of a biomolecule that may be present within a sample , for example , to detect whether a specific protein or nucleic acid is present in a protein or nucleic acid sample that has been isolated from an organism or group of organisms and electrophoresed through an acrylamide or agarose gel . to demonstrate the ability of the quantum dots having a cross - linked ligand on their surface to form a conjugate with a biomolecule , a stock solution was prepared by dissolving 10 mg / ml of the powdered quantum dots in double distilled water . 15 μl of the stock solution was mixed with 20 μl of a 10 mg / ml solution of the protein transferrin ( sigma - aldrich ) in pbs ( 10 mm , ph = 7 . 4 ). to conjugate the protein to the quantum dot , 10 μl of 50 mm stock solution ( dissolved double distilled water ) of the cross - linking agent edc was added to quantum dot — protein mixture and the mixture shaken at room temperature for two hours to allow the conjugation reaction to occur . the entire volume of qd - transferrin conjugate was then transferred to a culture of hela cells ( 30 – 50 % confluence , cells were grown at 37 ° c . and 5 % co 2 in a 15 mm × 100 mm tissue culture dish in the presence of dulbecco minimum essential media ( gibco ) supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum ( sigma ), 1 % penicillin ( sigma ), and 1 % amphotericin b ( sigma )) and incubated overnight in 37 ° c . cells were washed repeatedly after the overnight incubation , and thereafter observed microscopically . for controls , cells were incubated with either a solution of unconjugated - qds , or tranferrin / qd without edc to hela cell cultures . referring to fig5 , when subjected to excitatory radiation ( 100 w hg excitation , emission filters 610 +/− 40 , and qds ( λex = 350 nm , λem = 580 nm )) hela cells incubated in the presence of the qd - transferrin conjugate exhibited a fluorescent pattern consistent with having endocytosed the qd - transferrin conjugate ( micrograph a ), while control cells exhibited low autofluorescence ( micrograph b ). all parameters expressed herein may be combined in any desired and suitable manner to create additional combinations or embodiments of the invention and such combinations are all within the scope of the invention disclosed herein . all parameters expressed herein may be combined in any desired and suitable manner to create additional combinations or embodiments of the invention and such combinations are all within the scope of the invention disclosed herein .
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US-11645405-A
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the present invention is a method and apparatus for retrieving information from a database . initially , the documents within the database are divided into mutually exclusive subdocuments that generally correspond to paragraphs of text . the present invention further creates a second set of subdocuments that overlap adjacent paragraphs of text . in particular , the location of the overlapping subdocuments depends on the size of the initial paragraphs . this second set of overlapping subdocuments are scored just as the mutually exclusive subdocuments are scored . the scores from both the mutually exclusive and overlapping subdocuments are used in ranking the relevance of documents to a query . the use of both sets of subdocument scores improves the effectiveness of the scoring algorithm .
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fig1 is a block diagram of a computer system used for retrieving information from a database . computer 20 comprises a central processing unit ( cpu ) 30 and main memory 40 . computer 20 is coupled to an input / output ( i / o ) system 10 and disk storage unit 50 . the i / o system 10 includes a display 5 , a keyboard 7 and a mouse 9 . in general , the disk storage unit 50 stores the program for operating the computer system and it stores the documents of the database . the computer 20 interacts with the i / o system 10 and the disk storage unit 50 . the computer 20 executes a search program that is retrieved from the disk storage unit 50 . the search program contains a series of instructions that cause the computer 20 to retrieve the text of documents , or parts thereof , that are stored in the database which are the most relevant to a query . the query is be created and sent to the computer in a variety of ways . the query can be typed into keyboard 7 or selected from a predefined list by operating the mouse 9 . also , the search program can generate a query automatically . the computer 20 responds to the query by retrieving documents from the database in the disk storage unit 50 and analyzing all of them to determine their relevance to the query . during the analysis process , the computer 20 interacts with the disk storage unit 50 to create a series of subdocuments for each document and to compute a score for each subdocument . the computer 20 then selects the subdocuments that are most relevant to the query . the computer 20 then uses this information to retrieve the text of the most relevant subdocuments and / or its associated documents and to transmit that text to the i / o unit 10 . fig2 is a flow chart that illustrates the general operation of the present invention . step 100 initially creates a query through the keyboard or other similar device . in step 110 , the query is parsed . the parsing process can be as simple as merely listing each word in the query . step 110 uses a more complex process in which the query is processed into noun phrases . this process assigns a linguistic structure to sequences of words in a sentence . terms , including noun phrases , having semantic meaning are listed . this parsing process can be implemented by a variety of techniques known in the art such as the use of lexicons , morphological - analyzers or natural language grammar structures . fig3 is an example listing of text that has been parsed for noun phrases . as is evident from the list on fig3 the phrases tagged with a ‘ t ’ are noun phrases , those tagged with a ‘ v ’ are verbs , those tagged with an ‘ x ’ are quantities and so on . in addition to processing the query , step 120 of fig2 selects a database . typically , the selection of the database does not depend on the query . the selection of a database is normally a user input to the computer system . however , the selection of a database could also be an automated process based on a predetermined list of databases in which the selection criteria is related to the query . the database that is selected in step 120 has been pre - processed such that it is inverted prior to being selected . the process for inverting a database is illustrated in fig4 . the first step in the inversion process 132 is to select a document from a database . in step 134 , the documents in the database are divided into subdocuments . there are two types of subdocuments created in the process of fig4 . the first type of subdocument has its boundaries created on paragraph breaks unless the paragraph is too short or too long . that is , subdocuments correspond to paragraphs in the order that they appear in the document until a paragraph has fewer than a first preselected threshold number of sentences or words or until a paragraph has more than a second preselected threshold number of sentences or words . fig5 illustrates an example of this subdocument creation process . the document of fig5 consists of 5 paragraphs . paragraphs 200 and 205 contain 14 sentences each , paragraph 210 contains 3 sentences and paragraphs 215 and 220 contain 30 sentences each . the subdocuments 225 and 230 correspond to paragraphs 200 and 205 because they contain more than a first preselected threshold of 8 sentences and less than a second preselected threshold of 20 sentences . subdocument 235 begins at the boundary between paragraphs 205 and 210 but , since paragraph 210 contains less than 8 sentences , subdocument 235 does not end at the paragraph boundary between paragraphs 210 and 215 . rather , the combination of paragraph 210 and 215 are examined to determine whether they contain greater than 20 sentences . since this is the case , a default paragraph size is selected ( for example , 12 sentences ) and the 3 sentences of paragraph 210 are added with the first 12 sentences of paragraph 215 to form subdocument 235 . subdocument 240 is formed from the remaining sentences of paragraph 215 . subdocuments 245 and 250 are created from paragraph 220 because paragraph 220 contains more than 20 sentences . the process illustrated in fig5 creates a series of subdocuments 225 , 230 , 235 , 240 , 245 and 250 that contain respectively , 14 , 14 , 15 , 18 , 12 and 18 sentences . for purposes of scoring subdocuments in a vector space analysis , the size of these subdocuments is comparable . however , this subdocument creation process has divided the document text in places that are not on paragraph boundaries . these artificial breaks , illustrated at 260 and 270 of fig5 separate text that the author of the document believed should be grouped together . in order to capture the author &# 39 ; s judgment in the scoring process , overlapping subdocuments are created at these artificial break points . the overlapping subdocuments , illustrated as 265 and 275 in fig5 are centered over the artificial text break boundary and have a total size equal to the default paragraph size . in the subdocument creation process ( step 134 of fig2 ), the parameters for the minimum , maximum and default sizes of the subdocuments can be larger or smaller than the numbers given in the example discussed above . normally , these parameters will be empirically determined and may vary depending on the type of database . for example , these parameters may be set differently for processing a scientific database than for processing a literature database . returning to fig4 once the subdocuments have been created , all of the subdocuments are parsed in steps 136 and 138 . in this example , the parsing process is the same noun phrase parsing process used for the query . once the subdocuments have been parsed , a term list containing subdocument noun phrases and the subdocuments in which the noun phrases appear is generated in step 140 . all the subdocuments for each document are processed in this way and the list of terms and subdocuments is updated . finally , all the documents of a database are processed according to steps 132 - 140 . the result of this inversion process is a term list identifying all the terms ( specifically noun phrases in this example ) of a database and their associated subdocuments . returning to fig2 once the inverted database has been selected and the query has been parsed , the subdocuments of the database are scored against the query in step 145 . fig6 illustrates the process for scoring the subdocuments . in step 305 of fig6 a term is selected from the query . in step 310 , all the subdocuments in which that term appears are returned from the inverted database . for each of the subdocuments , a similarity score for the query term and the subdocument is computed in step 320 . these similarity scores for all the subdocuments are computed and summed over all the query terms . a final score for each subdocument is generated in step 330 . after each subdocument has been scored in step 145 of fig2 step 150 performs a heap sort process to rank order the documents of the database according to the best scoring subdocument for each document . the best scoring subdocument could be either a paragraph type subdocument or an overlapping type subdocument . since paragraphs are often limited to single topics , the subdocuments corresponding to paragraphs are normally the best scoring subdocuments . however , when artificial breaks in the paragraph text have been introduced , topics may bridge text in adjacent subdocuments . in these types of cases , an overlapping subdocument will sometimes be the highest scoring subdocument . in these cases , the adjacent paragraph subdocuments will not score as high as the overlapping subdocument because the context of the topic was lost when the text of the paragraph was divided . as a result , the use of the combination of paragraph and overlapping subdocuments in scoring documents is effective for selecting the most relevant documents . this scoring technique avoids the loss of search meaning that occurs when arbitrary boundaries for subdocuments are used in relevance scoring while also normalizing the scoring process for the size of the document . returning to fig2 once the documents have been rank ordered in step 150 , the computer system sequentially displays text from the highest ranking documents in step 160 . the displayed text is normally the test from the highest ranking subdocument . in alternate embodiments , the displayed text can be the entire document . in still further embodiments , the displayed text could be a list ( ranked by score ) of the subdocuments in the document . while this invention has been particularly described and illustrated with reference to particular embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the above description or illustrations may be made with respect to form or detail without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention .
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US-22511599-A
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a backhoe coupling for joining members of a backhoe attachment is provided , the coupling having a pivot pin assembly that includes a pivot pin and a retaining plate . the pin has a groove for receiving the retaining plate . the retaining plate has an edge that is sized to fit into the groove and prevent it from being extracted . the groove has two blocked regions on opposing sides of the pin that prevent the pin from rotating freely with respect to the retaining plate .
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referring to fig1 , a loader - backhoe 100 is shown having a loader attachment 102 and a backhoe attachment 104 . the loader attachment 102 and backhoe attachment 104 are pivotally coupled to a tractor 106 . tractor 106 is supported on front wheels 108 and rear wheels 110 for movement over the ground . the rear 112 of loader - backhoe 100 has two elongate extending members including upper member 114 and lower member 116 that extend from rear 112 . these members are disposed one above the other . two through passages 118 and 120 ( fig5 ) extend through members 114 and 116 , respectively . backhoe attachment 104 is coupled to members 114 and 116 to pivot about a substantially vertical axis with respect to tractor 106 . in particular , swing tower 122 is coupled to members 114 and 116 by pivot pin assemblies 124 and 126 ( fig5 ). backhoe 104 also includes a boom 128 that is pivotally coupled to swing tower 122 by pivot pin assemblies 130 and 132 . pivot pin assemblies 130 and 132 define a substantially horizontal pivotal axis between boom 128 and swing tower 122 . pivot pin assemblies 130 and 132 extend through swing tower 122 and boom 128 to define horizontal pivotal axis 134 about which boom 128 pivots with respect to swing tower 122 . backhoe attachment 104 also includes dipper 136 that is pivotally coupled to the upper end of boom 128 . dipper 136 is coupled to boom 128 by two pivot pin assemblies 138 and 140 . pivot pin assemblies 138 and 140 define a substantially horizontal pivotal axis about which dipper 136 pivots with respect to boom 128 . backhoe attachment 104 also includes a dipper cylinder 142 that is coupled to and between boom 128 and dipper 136 to pivot dipper 136 with respect to boom 128 when cylinder 142 extends and retracts . the upper end of hydraulic dipper cylinder 142 is pivotally coupled to dipper 136 by pivot pin assembly 144 . pivot pin assembly 144 extends through openings in both dipper 136 and the upper end of cylinder 142 . backhoe attachment 104 also includes a hydraulic bucket cylinder 146 that is pivotally coupled to dipper 136 by pivot pin assembly 148 . pivot pin assembly 148 defines a substantially horizontal pivotal axis between dipper 136 and bucket cylinder 146 . fig2 , 4 , and 9 illustrate details of the construction of all of pivot pin assemblies 124 , 126 , 130 , 132 , 138 , 140 , 144 , and 148 which are identically constructed each pin assembly 124 , 126 , 130 , 132 , 138 , 140 , 144 , and 148 shown in detail in fig2 , 4 , and 9 includes a pin 152 and a pin retaining plate ( or pin retainer ) 154 . pin 152 is cylindrical in form having a major diameter 156 that extends substantially the entire length of the pin . a circumferential groove 158 is disposed at one end of pin 152 . groove 158 is configured to receive retainer 154 . groove 158 preferably extends around the entire circumference of pin 152 , preferably having a width of between 0 . 1 and 0 . 3 inches . it has a depth measured from the major diameter of pin 152 of between 0 . 2 and 0 . 5 inches . groove 158 is disposed at one end of pin 152 and is spaced between 0 . 1 and 0 . 3 inches from the end of the pin . this spacing produces a flange 160 that extends around the entire circumference of pin 152 . the pin is manufactured by turning an elongate metal member such as a steel rod on a machine tool ( for example a lathe or screw machine ) reducing its diameter with a turning tool until it has the desired outer diameter of the pin . the rod is further turned on a lathe or screw machine to create the groove . a turning tool reduces the diameter of the pin thereby creating the groove . these turning processes cold - work the surface of the pin and the groove walls , leaving striations , indentations or scores 153 on the surface of the pin and groove that typically extend circumferentially around the outer diameter of the pin , and on the walls and bottom of the groove . these marks 153 indicate that the pin was turned to create its outer diameter and also that the groove was formed by turning . they indicate the process by which the surface of the pin and the surface of the groove were formed . once the basic pin body and groove have been made , the pin is placed in a press and two opposing sections 162 and 164 of flange 160 are bent in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis 166 of pin 152 such that the opposing sections 162 , 164 of the flange 160 are recessed below the end surface of the pin , and block two opposing portions 168 , 170 of groove 158 . by recessing sections 162 , 164 of flange 160 into blocked portions 168 , 170 of groove 158 , the circumferential groove 158 is subdivided into two semicircular arcuate groove portions that are sized to receive the retaining plate . the blocked portions 168 , 170 of groove 158 are disposed 180 degrees apart . the semicircular arcuate groove portions each have a length of between 140 and 175 degrees . they are preferably of equal length . this process of recessing the flange into the groove leaves characteristic striations , indentations and scores 153 on the surface of the two opposing sections 162 , 164 of flange 160 indicating that they are formed by being pressed or stamped in a direction generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pin until the recessed portions of the flange are plastically deformed into the groove 158 . retainer 154 is in the form of a planar sheet of metal , preferably steel , that has an aperture 172 passing therethrough and one edge 174 that is configured to be inserted into either one of the semicircular arcuate portions of groove 158 that are formed when portions 168 , 170 of groove 158 are blocked . retainer 154 has a thickness along edge 174 that is slightly smaller than the width of groove 158 . in this manner , retainer 154 can be easily inserted into groove 158 with no special tools . retainer 154 is inserted into groove 158 in a direction generally perpendicular to longitudinal axis 166 of pin 152 . it preferably is inserted to the bottom of groove 158 such that it engages the groove to a depth of 0 . 3 to 0 . 5 inches along an arc of 90 to 140 degrees . the ends 176 , 178 of edge 174 are preferably just adjacent to the crushed portions 168 , 170 of groove 158 . with retainer 154 in this position , pin 152 can rotate only a few degrees , preferably at least 5 degrees , but preferably no more than 90 degrees , more preferably no more than 45 degrees , even more preferably no more than 25 degrees , and most preferably no more than 10 degrees with respect to retainer 154 . groove 158 and retainer 154 are sized to provide a slight spacing between retainer 154 and pin 152 both in a direction parallel to longitudinal axis 166 and a direction perpendicular to axis 166 . this spacing permits pin 152 to “ float ” slightly with respect to retainer 154 , yet preventing pin 152 from leaving the members in which it is inserted . this allows for slight mechanical misalignments , roughness or irregularities in surfaces or other manufacturing tolerances that might otherwise prevent the use of a pin . pin 152 includes lubricating passageways formed integral with the pin that permit an operator of the vehicle to lubricate the pivot joints . these lubricating passageways include a first grease passage 180 that extends longitudinally through the center of pin 152 from the end of the pin at which groove 158 is located to a point 182 that is generally located midway between the two ends of pin 152 . a second passageway 184 extends from one side of cylindrical sidewall 186 of pin 152 to the other side of cylindrical sidewall 186 of pin 152 . passageway 184 intersects longitudinal axis 166 of pin 152 and passage 180 . in this manner , a lubricant such as grease can be injected into the end of passage 180 , can be forced down the length of passage 180 and can be forced outward through passage 184 until it exits pin 152 coating opposing sides of sidewall 186 . the opposing ends of passageway 184 are configured to be located within the joint itself , preferably abutting the second member of the pivot joint ( i . e . the member to which retaining plate 154 is not attached ). pin 152 is forced by retainer 154 to rotate with respect to the second member , and therefore the movement of the second member with respect to passageway 184 serves to distribute the lubricant that exits passageway 184 . any grease exiting the opposing ends of passageway 184 is thereby forced between the pin and the apertures of the vehicles in which it &# 39 ; s received to lubricate the pin . this reduces wear and extends the life of the pin 152 and the components in which it is inserted . a grease fitting 188 is preferably inserted into the open end 190 of passage 180 to ensure that no water enters the lubricating passages and that no grease can escape except through the ends of passageway 184 . the insertion of the pivot pin assemblies illustrated in fig2 , 4 , and 9 into any of the locations indicated in the figures is relatively simple . first , the two pivoting members that are to be pivotally joined or coupled together are positioned with respect to each other such that mating holes on each component are coaxial . once in this position , the operator inserts pin 152 into the aligned apertures until groove 158 is only slightly above the surface of the assembly . at this point , the operator inserts edge 174 of retainer 154 into one of the semicircular groove portions formed by crushing opposing portions of circular groove 158 . with retainer 154 in this position , the operator then slides a pin further into the aligned apertures of the structures that it is pinning together until retainer 154 abuts the surface of one of the structures . using pivot pin assembly 124 ( fig5 ) as an example , the operator positions retainer 154 to abut surface 190 of swing tower 122 . the operator aligns aperture 172 with threaded hole 194 , inserts threaded fastener 192 through aperture 172 of retainer 154 and into threaded hole 194 of swing tower 122 . the operator rotates fastener 192 until the head of fastener 192 compresses retainer 154 against surface 190 and fixes retainer 154 in position against the top surface of the swing tower 122 . aperture 172 and threaded hole 194 are located such that when fastener 192 is threadedly engaged with hole 194 retainer 154 extends into groove 158 of pin 152 such that pin 152 can neither be inserted deeper into the holes in which it is received nor withdrawn from those holes . the various holes and apertures are positioned such that pin 152 is not fixed rigidly with respect to swing tower 122 or to elongate member 114 , when fastener 192 fixes retainer 154 against surface 190 . instead , the components are configured to provide pin 152 a slight amount of axial play ( typically on the order of 0 . 050 - 0 . 100 inches ) and also to provide pin 152 a small degree of rotational play about its longitudinal axis 166 ( e . g . the 90 , 45 , 25 , or most preferably 10 degrees of pin - to - retainer play mentioned above ). by permitting a slight degree of play with respect to retainer 154 and with respect to the structure retainer 154 is fastened to , pin 152 of pin assembly 124 can float lightly with respect to both structures and preferably seize against neither one of them . this floatation combined with the internal lubricating passageways 180 , 184 , substantially reduces the wear of the pin and the joint that it defines . from the foregoing , it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be effected without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concept of the present invention . for example , the pins may be made of any of a variety of metals , such as steel , iron , aluminum , titanium , copper , brass , bronze , and nickel , or alloys or mixtures containing one or more of these metals , or other elements . as another example , the particular arrangement and lengths of the couplings and elongated arms and members shown herein can be changed into their configurations . as another example more or fewer elongated members may be added to the backhoe or excavator linkage to make it longer or shorter without departing from this invention . as another example , one or more members may be removed from the illustrated work vehicle members and still fall within the scope of the claims . the individual members may be reconfigured , such as by changing their length , their orientation , their construction , the size of the holes coupling the members , and the length of the holes that defined the pivot joints , while still falling within the scope of the appended claims . it will be appreciated that the present disclosure is intended as an exemplification of the invention , and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated . the disclosure is intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims .
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US-22524205-A
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an air brake lock assembly helps to prevent air brake actuation knobs from being actuated . the air brake lock in accordance with the present invention is a theft - prevention device that mounts over the air brake knobs on the dash of a semi - truck cab . it is installed between the dash and the knobs and , when locked , the assembly prevents the knobs from being pushed in . if the air brake knobs cannot be pushed back in , the air brake will remain locked and the truck and trailer will remain immobile . in one embodiment of the present invention , the assembly includes a base and an enclosure for each brake knob . an air brake lock is disposed between the knobs such that the knobs can be selectively locked and unlocked . in one embodiment , the assembly is spring - loaded . in another embodiment , the assembly is not spring - loaded .
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referring now to the drawings in detail , fig1 is a perspective view showing a portion of a first preferred embodiment of the air brake lock assembly , generally identified 10 , that is constructed in accordance with the present invention . fig1 is an exploded perspective view of the same assembly 10 . unlike an air brake button housing of the type that is known in the art , the assembly 10 is composed of a knob enclosure 30 , 40 for each knob 130 , 140 , respectively , a lock subassembly 50 and a housing 20 that packages all of these components . conventionally , there is provided a square knob enclosure 30 and an octagonal knob enclosure 40 , the respective knobs 130 , 140 being associated with them . the square knob 130 is used to control the brakes of the semi - truck and is yellow in color whereas the octagonal knob ( or “ octo knob ” as may be used herein ) is red and is used to control the brakes of the semi - trailer . the air brake lock assembly 10 is operated by turning a key 51 that is inserted into a lock cylinder 52 of the lock subassembly 50 to provide “ locking ” and “ unlocking ” action to the assembly 10 . the lock cylinder 52 has a disc shaped locking plate 54 mounted to a bottom or back side 53 of the cylinder 52 . see fig2 and 6 . the locking plate 54 is bent in such a way that its cam - like outer edges 55 are inclined creating a helical profile . see also fig7 . the locking plate 54 is positioned in the housing 20 so the outer edges 55 of the plate 54 rest in slots 31 , 41 that are located on the sides 32 , 42 of the knob enclosures 30 , 40 , respectively . see fig1 , for example . when the lock cylinder 52 is turned 90 ° back and forth , the outer inclined edges 55 of the locking plate 54 push against the knob enclosures 30 , 40 , thereby toggling the enclosures “ in ” and “ out .” when the knob enclosures 30 , 40 are toggled out , the air brake knobs 130 , 140 are pushed “ out ” into the “ lock ” position . see fig2 . when the knob enclosures 30 , 40 retract back “ in ,” the knobs 130 , 140 can also be pushed back into the “ unlocked ” position . as illustrated in fig2 and 5 , the first embodiment of the assembly 10 is a spring loaded concept . that is , this first embodiment has springs 132 , 142 that provide additional force to push the brake knobs 130 , 140 outwardly . in this way , the load on the lock cylinder 52 is reduced , such as where a substantial amount of force is needed to move the air brake levers ( not shown ) outwardly . as shown , the springs 132 , 142 and knob enclosures 30 , 40 are placed into two corresponding sockets 23 , 24 of the housing 20 . see also fig3 . as shown in fig6 and 7 , the housing 20 is then flipped upside - down in order to install the locking plate 54 to the lock cylinder 52 . the locking plate 54 drops into the middle of the housing 20 and is then turned to engage the plate edges 55 with the corresponding slots 31 , 41 on the knob enclosures 30 , 40 . the locking plate 54 is then secured with a machine screw or other fastener 58 which threads into the back of the lock cylinder 52 . the installed locking plate 54 retains the knob enclosures 30 , 40 and springs 132 , 142 , respectively , in the housing 20 . it should also be noted in fig7 that each of the sockets 23 , 24 includes an inwardly curved portion 25 , 26 , respectively , the curved portions 25 , 26 further comprising openings 27 , 28 . it is the openings 27 , 28 that allow a portion of the knob enclosures 30 , 40 to be exposed such that the outer edges 55 of locking plate 54 can engage them . as illustrated in fig8 a through 8c , the knobs 130 , 140 of the brake levers are unscrewed from each respective shaft 131 , 141 . with the lock assembly 10 in the unlocked position , the housing 20 slides over lever shafts 131 , 141 , and the knobs 130 , 140 are screwed back down . when the lock cylinder 52 is returned to the locked position , the knob enclosures 30 , 40 advance up and around the respective knobs 130 , 140 , preventing them from turning and becoming unscrewed . where the force needed to push the levers out is small enough , additional springs may not be needed to reduce the load on the lock cylinder 52 . in this case , which is a second embodiment of the assembly , generally identified 110 , the springs can simply be eliminated , which will result in the entire package being slightly more compact . see fig9 and 10 . the tooling should also be a little less complex in this second embodiment , as locating features for the springs are eliminated from other components . the remainder of the assembly procedure for the “ spring - less ” design is exactly the same as it is in the spring loaded concept of the first embodiment . the only difference is that the spring installation step is omitted . lastly , there are several options for molding the knob enclosures 30 , 40 . for example , one enclosure 140 design that is shown in fig1 requires slightly more complex and expensive tooling that uses shutoffs to create the undercut slot 41 on the side 42 , but doesn &# 39 ; t require any secondary operations . another enclosure 44 design requires much less complex tooling without any shutoffs . this design , however , does require an additional secondary operation to cut the slot 45 in the side 47 after the part is molded . referring now to fig1 to 16 , a third preferred embodiment of the air brake lock assembly , generally identified 210 , that is constructed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated . specifically referring to fig1 , it will be seen that the assembly 210 comprises a “ sliding lock plate ” configuration . this embodiment is similar to the prior embodiments in that the assembly 210 includes a housing 220 , a square knob enclosure 230 , an octo knob enclosure 240 and a lock cylinder 250 . referring now to fig1 , it will be seen that the lock cylinder 250 includes a central portion that can be used to secure the lock cylinder 250 to the housing 220 using a lock cylinder nut 251 that is disposed to the inner side of the housing 220 . the lock cylinder 250 also comprises a bottom portion , or “ tail ,” 252 that is shaped to engage an aperture 262 defined within a cam plate 260 . the cam plate 260 is secured to the tail 252 of the lock cylinder 250 using a lock cylinder screw 255 and a lock washer 257 , or other suitable fastening means . the assembly 210 further comprises a bottom plate 270 which effectively “ captures ” two locking plates 280 within the housing 220 . the bottom plate 270 is affixed to the housing 220 by use of fasteners , such as screws 271 . the bottom plate 270 has a central aperture 272 that is flanked to each side with opposing side apertures 274 . the side apertures 274 are profiled to match the shaft profiles of the knob enclosures 230 , 240 such that the shafts 232 , 242 of the knobs 230 , 240 can pass through them . disposed between the bottom plate 270 and the housing 220 are the locking plates 280 , each plate 280 has somewhat of an h - shape to it and is identically configured to the other . referring now to fig1 , it illustrates the parts whereby the locking plates 280 are captured within the housing 220 . as shown , the cam plate 260 is mounted to the tail 252 of the lock cylinder 250 . the cam plate 260 has cam - like outer edges 264 that functionally cooperate with apertures 282 disposed at a first side 284 of each locking plate 280 . each locking plate 280 further comprises an opposing second side 286 that similarly comprises an aperture 288 defined in it . in application , the cam plate 260 slides the two locking plates 280 back and forth from an unlocked position to a locked position . with that action , the second side 286 of each locking plate 280 slides under a knob enclosure 230 , 240 to prevent the knobs ( not shown ) from being pushed downward . referring now to fig1 to 20 , a fourth preferred embodiment of the air brake lock assembly , generally 310 , that is constructed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated . the assembly 310 of the fourth preferred embodiment comprises an adjustable height arrangement . this embodiment likewise has a housing 320 , which comprises a housing subassembly 322 having an upper housing 324 and a lower housing 326 . the assembly 310 also comprises a square knob enclosure 330 , an octo knob enclosure 340 , a lock cylinder 350 and a lock cylinder insert 356 . referring now to fig1 , it will be seen that the lock cylinder 350 is inserted into the circular aperture 355 of the cylinder insert 356 , the cylinder insert 356 fitting within an aperture ( not shown ) of the housing 310 and extending into the housing 310 . as with the prior embodiment , the lock cylinder 350 comprises a tail 352 the end of which is engaged with a locking cam 360 . the locking cam 360 is flanked by two locking plates 380 , all of which is held in place by a spacer block 370 . lower plates 390 are disposed below the spacer block 370 but within the lower housing 326 . in this configuration , the housing subassembly 322 consists of the upper and lower housings 324 , 326 , respectively , which can “ telescope ” in and out from each other to allow for an adjustable height of the housing 320 . set screws 321 located in each of the four corners of the housing subassembly 322 ensure that the housing height can be adjusted and remain secure in a set position . see fig1 . the sliding locking plates 380 conceal the set screws 321 when the assembly 310 is in the “ locked ” position . this ensures the assembly 310 cannot be adjusted to a lower position such that the knobs ( not shown ) and the air brake security assembly 310 can be removed . referring now to fig2 , it shows that the locking cam 360 was modified from a sheet metal plate to a cast or molded cam to provide better contact with the locking plates 380 . functionally , the locking cam 360 and the locking plates 380 operate substantially the same as the prior assembly 210 operated , the locking cam 360 having cam - like outer edges 364 that functionally cooperate with apertures 382 disposed at a first side 384 of each locking plate 380 . referring now to fig2 to 26 , a fifth preferred embodiment of the air brake lock assembly , generally 410 , that is constructed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated . the assembly 410 of the fifth preferred embodiment comprises a contoured lower housing arrangement . specifically , this embodiment also has a housing 420 , which comprises a housing subassembly 422 having an upper housing 424 and a lower housing 426 . the assembly 410 also comprises a square knob enclosure 430 , an octo knob enclosure 440 , a lock cylinder 450 and a lock cylinder insert 456 . referring now to fig2 , it will be seen that the lock cylinder 450 is inserted into the circular aperture 455 of the cylinder insert 456 , the cylinder insert 456 fitting within an aperture ( not shown ) of the housing 420 and extending into the housing 420 . as with the prior embodiment , the lock cylinder 450 comprises a tail 452 the end of which is engaged with a locking cam 460 . the locking cam 460 has the same two locking plates 480 to either side of it , all of which is held in place by a spacer block 470 . these plates 480 function in the same way that their previously - discussed counterparts 280 , 380 function relative to the assemblies 210 , 310 , respectively . lower plates 490 are disposed below the spacer block 470 but within the lower housing 426 . in this modified configuration , the housing subassembly 422 consists of the upper and lower housings 424 , 426 , respectively , and housing springs 428 to hold the lower housing 426 tightly against adjustment set screws 421 to prevent the housing 410 from vibrating and moving around . specifically , the housing springs 428 push the upper housing 424 upwardly against the set screws 421 whereas the adjustment screws 421 push the lower housing 426 downwardly to increase the overall height of the assembly 410 . see fig2 a and 23b . further in this embodiment , and as is shown in fig2 , knob enclosure springs 432 , 442 were added in the housing subassembly 422 to ensure that the enclosures remain seated tightly against the air brake knobs 430 , 440 . that is , the knob enclosure springs 432 , 442 push the knob enclosures 430 , 440 upward against the air brake knobs ( not shown ). it should also be noted that the contour of the lower housing 426 was modified to fit both older and newer freightliner ® truck dashes ( freightliner is a registered mark of daimler trucks north america llc ). see fig2 . as shown in fig2 , an installation shim 400 is used to ensure that the locking plates 480 are not “ pinched ” to the point of binding when the housing 410 is adjusted tightly between the knobs and the dash ( also not shown ). referring lastly to fig2 and 28 , a sixth preferred embodiment of the air brake lock assembly , generally 510 , that is constructed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated . the assembly 510 of the sixth preferred embodiment comprises a modified knob enclosure arrangement . specifically , a lip 533 , 543 was added to the outer perimeter 532 , 542 of the knob enclosures 530 , 540 , respectively , to provide more material for the operator to grip the knobs ( not shown ). snap features ( also not shown ) were also added to secure the knobs in the knob enclosures 530 , 540 . 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 disclosed and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept .
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US-201414515789-A
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the invention is directed to an electric toothbrush having a brush section and a drive shaft received in the brush section . the brush section includes a first bristle supporting structure operatively coupled to the shaft for motion about an axis essentially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the shaft , and a second bristle supporting structure operatively coupled to the shaft for substantially transverse oscillating motion of the entire second bristle supporting structure relative to the longitudinal axis of the shaft . the first bristle supporting structure is generally cylindrically shaped and carries a plurality of bristle clusters .
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the subsequent description relates to a further development of the toothbrush disclosed in german published patent application de 39 3 850 a1 as well as of german patent application p 42 39 251 . 9 with an alternative gearing for the bristle supporting structure , whose disclosure content is incorporated in the present application by express reference . fig1 a and 1b of the present application illustrate schematically in a top plan view and , respectively , a side view a brush section 24 of an electric toothbrush of the invention . the brush section 24 is comprised of a hollow mounting tube 36 receiving rotatably therein a shaft 75 . a bristle supporting structure 38 carrying bristles 45 combined into individual tufts is rotatably mounted at the free end of the brush section 24 . in a manner not shown , the shaft 75 is coupled to means 150 imparting an alternating rotary motion to the shaft 75 about the shaft longitudinal axis . the angular range through which the shaft 75 may be rotated is ± 35 degrees , approximately . referring to fig2 the axis of rotation of the shaft 75 and the axis of rotation of the bristle supporting structure 38 are preferably arranged at approximately right angles to each other . the bristle supporting structure 38 is provided with a bevel gear 47 meshing with a bevel gear segment 48 disposed at the head end of the shaft 75 . this bevel gear arrangement provides for transmission of the alternating rotary motion of the shaft 75 to the bristle supporting structure 38 . in fig1 a , the direction of rotation of the shaft 75 is identified by the reference numeral 90 , while the direction of rotation of the bristle supporting structure 38 is designated by the reference numeral 91 . according to fig1 a , 1b and 2 , an interproximal brush 100 is arranged at a distance to the bristle supporting structure 38 and approximately in the area of the brush section 24 . the interproximal brush 100 protrudes from the shaft 75 at about a right angle thereto , being fixedly connected with the shaft and extending outwardly through an opening 108 in the mounting tube 36 . neglecting the pivotal motion , the bristles 109 of the interproximal brush 100 extend in about the same direction as the bristles 45 of the bristle supporting structure 38 . further , the bristles 109 of the interproximal brush 100 are in particular about 1 to 2 mm longer than the bristles 45 of the bristle supporting structure 38 . the interproximal brush 100 includes a mount 101 in which the bristles 109 are held . the bristles 109 are combined to form in particular two bristle clusters 102 , 103 disposed transversely to the shaft 75 in side - by - side arrangement . in a first type of fastening , the mount 101 is joined to the shaft 75 by means of adhesive bonding or welding . in a second type of fastening , the mount 101 has on its underside two trunnions 104 , 105 fitted into mating bores 106 , 107 in the shaft 75 . this second type of fastening the mount 101 to the shaft 75 may be further strengthened by the added provision of adhesive bonding or welding . being rotationally fixed relative to the shaft 75 , the interproximal brush 100 performs an alternating pivotal motion about the axis of rotation of the shaft 75 when the electric toothbrush is activated , which motion is designated by the reference numeral 92 . as the shaft 75 rotates in alternating directions , the interproximal brush 100 executes a wiper - type pivotal motion serving in particular interproximal cleaning needs . the alternating rotary motion of the bristles 45 of the bristle supporting structure 38 being used for cleaning substantially the outside surfaces of the teeth . in a further embodiment , the mount 101 is positioned in relation to the shaft 75 by means of a pin 120 ( fig5 ). to this end , the mount 101 has in a base section 134 thereof a bore 124 . further , a rib structure 126 may be disposed at the lower end of the base section 134 . at its head end , the shaft 75 is provided with a bore 128 , in particular a blind - end bore . a forward head section 136 of the mounting tube 36 includes equally a bore 130 which may also be configured as a blind - end bore . the center lines of the bores 128 and 130 are coincident with the axis of rotation 122 of the shaft 75 . the head end of the shaft 75 may have an extension on one side in the form of a web member 138 including a groove , not shown in the drawings , in the axial direction for receiving , where applicable , the rib structure 126 formed on the base section 134 . to mount the interproximal brush 100 on the brush section 24 , the pin 120 is fitted into the bore 128 , and the shaft 75 which is initially outside the mounting tube 36 is introduced into the open end of the mounting tube 36 . the interproximal brush 100 is fitted into the opening 108 from above , and the shaft 75 , together with the pin 120 , is pushed in the mounting tube 36 in the direction of the head section 136 . as this occurs , the pin 120 passes through the bore 124 in the base section 134 of the mount 101 and is received within the bore 130 in the head section 136 of the mounting tube 36 . by this means , not only is the mount 101 fixedly secured in place on the shaft 75 , but also a bearing of the head end of the shaft 75 is accomplished in relation to the axis of rotation 122 . according to a still further embodiment , the bristle supporting structure 38 may include a recess in the form of a circular segment 132 covering an angular range that corresponds approximately to the angle of oscillation of the bristle supporting structure 38 . in the area of this circular segment 132 , the mount 101 of the interproximal brush 100 is then arranged in the immediate vicinity of the bristle supporting structure . due to such integration of the mount 101 in the area of the bristle supporting structure 38 , a compact cleaning head having a single bristle cluster is obtained , in which a plurality of bristles 45 perform an oscillatory motion about the center line of the bristle supporting structure 38 , while the bristles 109 of the interproximal brush 100 perform an oscillatory motion about the axis of rotation 122 of the shaft 75 . also in this embodiment , the bristles 109 of the interproximal brush 100 are of a longer configuration than the bristles 45 . to enhance stability of the longer bristles 109 , these are advantageously of a thicker configuration than the bristles 45 or are of greater stiffness as a result of the material selected .
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US-92982697-A
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improved system for controlling the movement of rotary article conveying mechanism in is glassware forming machines employing a reversing arm , operating mechanism for said arm to move same between a parison forming station and a blow molding station , said operating mechanism including a double action fluid driven actuator , solenoid controlled valves for the actuator , an arm position sensor , an actuator pressure sensor , a logic circuit receiving signals from the sensors , a digital valve responsive to signals from the logic circuit for fluid flow control from the actuator , a regulator controlling fluid pressure to the actuator , and a control panel containing digital indicators , mode switches and a mode indicator and a digital display for reception and transmission of signals to and from the logic circuit , the end result being the precise timing of reversing arm operation and elimination of impact at the end of reversing arm movement , with identical operational mechanism for the take - out arm , with the additional anti - shock safeguard by means of a pressure controlled damper set to a predetermined pressure to control the actuator upon failure of the normal actuator controlling elements .
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referring now to the drawings and in particular to fig1 in which is shown an inverting mechanism for the type is machine for forming glassware articles of well known configuration and which is comprised generally of a blank mold 1 having a cavity 2 which is opened vertically , and in which a glass gob is fed by well known apparatus ( not shown ) to form a parison 3 in the blank mold 1 , in such a manner that the glass gob is fed downwardly into the crown 4 which forms the neck of the glassware article to be formed , and which is shown fixed at the end of an inverting arm 5 , which , by means of a bracket 6 is secured to the pinion 7 carried by shaft 8 to which is imparted the inverting movement by swinging of arm 5 around the shaft 8 , moving from the position shown by full lines in fig1 of the drawings , in which the inverting arm 5 and the crown 4 are under the blank mold 1 in the preforming station , until reaching the position marked by dotted lines in fig1 of the drawings , where the parison 3 is supported by crown 4 and the arm 5 , and is placed in the blowforming station . actuation of the inverting mechanism of a type is machine of the well known type is achieved by provision of teeth 12 on pinion 7 secured to shaft 8 , said pinion 7 meshing with rack 11 carried by piston rod 10 of fluid actuator 13 provided with fluid inlet and outlet 14 and 15 respectively . after the parison 3 is formed in blank mold 1 , which is comprised of two mating halves of the mold , the inverting mechanism is operated to leave the parison 3 supported freely by its neck on the crown 4 at the end of arm 5 , and then by sending a signal for inverting , the fluid actuator 13 drives the rack 11 and intermeshed pinion gear 7 for inversion of the reversing arm 5 to place the parison 3 in the blow molding station in order that the parison 3 is in the proper position for reception by the blow mold 9 , as illustrated in fig1 of the drawing . said blow mold is generally formed of two halves of the mold which close once the parison 3 has been placed in the position marked by dotted lines in fig1 . also , in the process of forming the glassware article in the blow mold 9 , the crown 4 is opened in response to reception of a second signal from the timing mechanism of the machine , and a new reversing signal is received by fluid actuator 13 which reverses its action to move the rack 11 and teeth 12 of pinion 7 which rotates about the shaft 8 thus reversing the arm 5 and the crown 4 to move the same to their original position in the preforming station , whereby closure is accomplished in the blank mold 1 to repeat the cycle of the machine . referring now in particular to fig2 of the drawings , a takeout unit is illustrated for a type is machine for forming glassware articles , said machine being of the well known type which comprises a blow molding station which includes the blow mold 9 previously described within which the glassware article 60 is fabricated from the parison 3 . the takeout mechanism also includes a takeout arm 105 equivalent to the reversing arm 5 and which comprises a gripping actuating mechanism 104 for manipulation of the grippers 61 in a well known manner , which need not be described in detail as it is not considered part of the novelty of the invention . the grippers 61 are adapted to close around the neck of the glassware article 60 to convey it from the blow mold 9 to the dead plate 62 , where it is cooled while awaiting an pusher mechanism ( not shown ) to transport same to the next stage in the process which could be annealing in a suitable furnace or an area for storage . the takeout arm 105 is operated in a manner quite similar to that of the inverting arm 5 which is securely fixed to pinion 7 rotatable about shaft 8 , said pinion being preferably provided with teeth 12 for engagement with the teeth 11 of rack 10 , said rack being actuated by fluid actuator 13 through fluid inlet 14 and outlet 15 , all of the aforesaid being similar to the inverting mechanism previously described and for that reason the description of the same is not repeated herein in order to eliminate repetitious matter . the movement control system means of the present invention will now be described in terms of the inverting mechanism of a type is machine for manufacturing glassware articles , but it should be understood that the same principles are involved in the application of this control system means for the takeout mechanism of the glassware articles of said machine . it is well known that in the type is machine of former technology all of these movements are made with practically no control and only by reception of inverting and reversing signals or the feeding or takeout signals in the case of the takeout mechanism and the reception of a stop signal which normally occurs in a predetermined interval prior to termination of the movement in order to change the direction of fluid in the actuator 13 , in such a manner that the mechanism is stopped to avoid an undesirable velocity at the end of the movement . this type of control does not achieve acceleration or deceleration of the mechanism in a smooth manner for avoiding distortion of the parison 3 in the inverting movement and furthermore it does not achieve a stopping action of the inverting arm 5 at zero speed in any of its positions for avoiding the final impact of the arm when it arrives at its terminal position either in the inverting or the reversing movement . the control system means of the present invention which is more clearly illustrated in fig2 of the drawings comprises essentially the gear 7 which rotates about the shaft 8 , to which a movement state sensor spa is coupled for transmitting a signal every certain number of degrees of rotation of the shaft 8 , for example 3 ° for each signal , in order that said signal can be fed through an electrical conductor 19 to a microprocessor or microcomputer 22 , which can be either independent of or formed as an integral part of the data processor which is a part of the electronic timing control system of the glassware forming machine . the gear 7 has teeth 12 meshing with teeth of the rack 11 which extends from piston rod 10 of fluid driven piston 16 functioning within an actuator cylinder 13 comprising two fluid chambers 17 and 18 , supplied with fluid through conduits 14 and 15 , whereby in the illustrated form of our invention the fluid may be air , it being understood that any type of fluid such as gas , liquid or hydraulic fluid such as oil or the like may be used and be considered within the scope of the present invention . in communication with the chamber 17 , which is the braking chamber of the inverting mechanism illustrated in fig1 a pressure sensor sp1 is installed to send continuous pressure signals through the conductor 20 to the microprocessor 22 , and in communication with the chamber 18 , which is the driving chamber of the inverting mechanism for imparting the inverting movement , a pressure sensor sp2 is installed which sends continous pressure signals through conductor 21 to the microprocessor 22 which is programmed by an adequate equation which takes into account the form and / or parison 3 factors which are formed by the blank mold 1 , as well as the pressures in the chambers 17 and 18 and the position of the mechanism , transmitted at predetermined number of degrees of rotation by means of the angular position sensor through the conductor 19 , to produce a sequence of inverting movements which are in accord with the equation which has been incorporated in the microprocessor 22 by means of adequate programming of the same , which it is deemed unnecessary to describe herein as it is well known . the inverting movement is achieved by means of a viscoelastic predetermined equation , producing an accelerated speed in a regulated manner from zero until a predetermined maximum , from which a decelerated speed is effected until zero speed is attained at the end of its movement , and the position indicated by dotted lines in fig1 of the drawings is reached . the fluid actuator 13 is connected to a pressure source p31 , electronically regulated and controlled through a conduit 15 which varies the source pressure according to the requirements of the glassware article being handled by means of conduit 32 which is regulated by the closing valve 33 actuable between its closed position as indicated in the diagrammatic block view at 34 , and its opened position as indicated in the diagrammatic block view at 35 , a solenoid 37 functioning against the action of the spring 36 fixed to an integral part of the machine . the pressure source which introduces fluid to the actuator 13 continues through conduit 39 toward a directional valve 40 , operable between its cross flow position indicated by the diagrammatic block 41 and its direct flow or parallel position indicated by diagrammatic block 42 , such bidirectional displacement being achieved by means of actuation of two solenoids 43 and 44 , which actuate the valve 40 , and which will be described in greater detail hereinafter . depending on the position of valve 40 , the fluid in conduit 39 passes to any of conduits 14 or 15 preparatory to entering any of the chambers 17 or 18 of the fluid actuator 13 to move piston 16 in the desired direction . one or the other conduits 14 and 15 will be used as a discharge conduit for the chambers 17 or 18 , and said discharge by means of valve 40 will cause the fluid to circulate from the corresponding chamber to the conduit 47 which leads to the digital valve 48 , having eight operating bits 49 , which provides a considerable large plurality , that is , 256 valve positions between the totally opened position and the totally closed position , thus providing adequate regulating of the fluid discharge in conduit 47 , to conduit 51 and to the atmosphere through an adequate conduit 52 . the microprocessor 22 , which receives signals from sensors spa , sp1 and sp2 , processes by a viscoelastic equation the movement permanently contained in its memory , and also by the control board 27 which will be described in detail hereinafter , such signals in accord with the equation above mentioned , operate the interface card 24 which by means of solid state relays 25 control the solenoids 37 , 43 and 44 through signal conductors 38 , 45 and 46 respectively , and the microprocessor also controls the digital valve 48 and its bits 49 , through the logic circuit 50 illustrated in fig3 of the drawings . the control board 27 transmits and receives signals through logic circuit 26 to the interface card 24 , from said interface card , and interchanges information through logic circuit 23 with the microprocessor 22 for the purposes as indicated hereinafter . the control board 27 which may be integrated with or separate from the timing control system of the previously mentioned machines , contains three digital switches 29 , of the thumbwheel type , by means of which the operator sets the inversion times of the mechanism composed of the arm 5 and the crown 4 , and a digital display 30 with two series of three digits , which receives and reads out the information introduced by the operator through digital switches 29 to set the required inverting timing in accordance with the glassware article being produced by the glassware article forming machine . furthermore , said control board 27 has a switch key 28 capable of setting the system in any one of two positions , that is , the information readout position or the operating position of the electronic control system of the present invention . in this manner the operator , by means of the digital switches , can feed in the time required for the inverting step as well as the forming factor , in accordance with the type of glassware article being formed , and by moving the switch key 28 to readout position the operator can check that the inverting time is being read correctly , that is , the operator can check the setting introduced by movement of the digital switches 29 , so as to determine what to correct as it would appear at all times on the digital display 30 . the time will be given in hundredths of a second and consequently can be given up to 999 hundredths of a second as the maximum time for the inverting step , by means of the control board 27 of the system of the present invention . with the switch key 28 moved to the readout position the setting of the time is checked when the switch key is moved to the operating position preparatory to the reception of an inverting signal which will be sent to the microprocessor 22 , which is a part of or separate from the timing system of the machine , or if the microprocessor receives a corresponding signal from the timing system . upon receipt of the operation commencement signal for inverting , the relay system 25 actuated by moving the switch key 28 to the operating position and operated by the interface card 24 , a signal is sent through conductor 38 to the solenoid 37 to close the same and changing valve 33 to its open position shown at 35 , for reception of the flow of liquid from the pressure source p31 through conduit 32 , passing through block 35 of the valve 33 , and the conduit 39 to the directional valve 40 . at the same time the solid state relays 25 will send a signal to solenoid 43 , through conductor 45 to close valve 40 and move into position 42 directly , whereby the fluid coming from conduit 39 passes through the valve 40 and from there to conduit 15 to increase pressure to the chamber 18 thus causing the piston 16 to be elevated , and by movement of the piston bar 10 , the gear 7 and the shaft 8 will be rotated , at precisely which moment the movement state sensor spa commences to send retransmitted signals through the conductor 19 to the microprocessor 22 , in order to adequately regulate the movement of the machine as will be described hereinafter . the fluid in chamber 17 of the actuator 13 will therefore be discharged through the conduit 14 to the valve 40 from whence it will pass through conduit 47 to the digital valve 48 which functions by means of its eight operating bits 49 from signals transmitted by logic circuit 50 having solid state relays suitably controlled by the microprocessor 22 , in response to the position and pressure signals transmitted through conductors 19 , 20 , and 21 . thus , opening and closing of the valve 48 will depend on the equation involved for allowing the fluid to discharge with more or less velocity through conduit 51 to the outlet 52 . the control system means of the present invention , inasmuch as it is duly regulated by three sensors , namely the movement state sensor spa , and the pressure sensors sp1 and sp2 has an absolute assurance of its performance at all times that the digital valve 48 is regulated prior to the movement of the piston 16 in a manner as hereinafter described . the microprocessor is programmed with an autoregressive function , in such a manner that by means of signals received through the conductors 19 , 20 and 21 , the microprocessor 22 and the interface card 24 calculate with anticipation the times that each movement of the inverting mechanism requires to transmit the appropriate signal through the logic circuit 50 to the digital valve 48 , in order that the equation be followed with absolute accuracy , whenever the mechanism is in a predetermined position and the valve 48 is at predetermined port position , inasmuch as said valve has an approximate 15 millisecond time delay response , and inasmuch as the control is transmitting the signal in advance , the pressure on the exhaust line 14 is already advancing due to the fact that valve 48 is at the proper port position to the following partial movement when the mechanism arrives at a predetermined position . it follows , therefore , that the acceleration provided by chamber 18 can be controlled when reaching a predetermined number of degrees of movement , and at this moment the entry of fluid to the chamber 18 is terminated by transmission of a signal to solenoid 37 for closing valve 33 in its position 34 indicated in fig3 of the drawings , by means of which the remaining movement of the piston 16 is regulated by the counterpressure exerted in the chamber 17 by valve 48 and its several openings whereby the piston 16 is stopped and consequently so is the inverting mechanism , until a practically zero speed is reached at the end of its movement . although the mechanism of the present invention is very efficient to reduce the speed to zero at the end of the inverting movement and to control such movement through a predetermined movement equation , as a preventative measure , a fluid damper 53 is preferably included in the mechanism of the present invention , said damper being connected to the discharge conduit 14 of the inverting mechanism through a conduit 55 , said damper having a diaphragm 54 , above which is a fluid cushion feed conduit 56 from a pressure control source pc57 , whereby , should the valve 48 fail for any reason at the end of the inverting movement , the damper 53 set to a predetermined pressure , by means of its diaphragm 54 will exert a predetermined counterpressure in the chamber 17 in order to partially stop the piston 16 , and movement dampened by the fluid cushion created in the damper 53 , thus providing 100 % assurance that zero speed is achieved at the end of the movement stage , thus avoiding any impact on the mechanism , particularly upon actuation in the inverting mode , and thereby avoiding damage to the mechanism as well as distortion of the parison conveyed by crown 4 . once the inverting movement is terminated , the microprocessor 22 , either directly or through the reception of a signal from the timing system of the machine , transmits another signal to the solenoid 37 through the conductor 38 , opening the valve 33 to cause the fluid to pass from the pressure source p31 , through the conduit 32 , crossing valve 33 and through the conduit 39 , toward the directional valve 40 , that also receives a signal from the microprocessor conductor 46 , to close the solenoid 44 and actuate the valve to its crossed position 41 , whereby the fluid from conduit 39 crosses through conduit 14 to the chamber 17 , causing piston 16 to descend and actuate by means of the rack 11 on pinion 7 , and causing reverse movement of arm 5 and crown 4 , to position them again as shown by solid lines indicated in fig1 of the drawings . with this movement just described the digital valve 48 actuates only to perform the braking at the end of the movement , at all times it not being important to follow an equation of a special type , inasmuch as in the case of reversal , it is not necessary to be careful with the parison as the mechanism is returning unloaded and consequently it is only necessary to avoid damage to the mechanism itself due to any impact at the end of its movement . it can be achieved by the exertion of the proper counterpressure through the digital valve 48 to produce a cycloidal movement profile at all times that said valve does not require gradual changes in its bits 49 , and may be closed rapidly during the movement in order to ensure that there is no impact on the mechanism . in the event of some regression it is not necessary to use a damper of the type of damper 53 connected to conduit 15 , although this could be employed in order to achieve maximum security for the mechanism . the interface card and its interrelation with the control system of the present invention can be seen more clearly in fig4 of the drawing , in which said interface card has been shown in detail with its essential components . in fig4 of the drawings it can be seen that the three sensors spa , sp1 and sp2 , feed signals through their respective conductors 19 , 20 and 21 to the microprocessor 22 , which transmits logic signals through circuit 23 to position means 58 which is connected through conductors 61 to a decoder 59 which feeds signals through conductors 62 to the interface card 24 which comprises a three state bus as clearly illustrated in fig4 of the drawings . the interface card 24 also receives logic signals from the position means 58 through circuit 60 . the digital switches 29 send digital signals through conductor 63 to the interface card or bus 24 which also receives signals from the control switch key 28 through conductor 65 . the interface card sends signals through conductors 64 to the digital display 30 of the control board and also sends logic signals through circuit 66 to the solid state relays 25 which actuate the solenoids 37 , 43 and 44 as previously described to operate the closing valve 33 and the directional valve 40 , as well as to send digital signals through logic circuit 50 to the digital valve 48 for the purpose hereinbefore described . it will be clearly apparent to those skilled in the art that what has been hereinbefore described is identically applicable to the takeout mechanism illustrated in fig2 of the drawings , as the inverting movement of the inverting mechanism described in connection with fig1 is precisely similar to the takeout arm 105 which compares with the inverting arm 5 , whereby all which has been described in relation to the inverting mechanism applies precisely to the takeout mechanism as to the movement control of the takeout arm 105 , when it carries the glassware article 60 and when it reverses and returns empty . it is therefore not considered necessary to repeat all which has been specified heretofore since it should be obvious that the operation of the control of the present invention is equally applicable to the inverting and takeout mechanisms of a type is forming machine for glassware articles . it should be appreciated that , for the first time , insofar as we are aware , there has been provided an electronic control system means employing a digital valve in the discharge line of a fluid actuator which operates an inverting mechanism or the takeout mechanism , which can be actuated by following a viscoelastic equation which allows decreasing to a minimum the stress on the glassware article being formed and which ensures that the inverting or takeout movements are performed with the proper acceleration or deceleration for each type of article by the feeding of the form and desired time of inversion or takeout factor , thus eliminating the impact on the inverting or takeout mechanism as movements of said mechanism is reduced to practically zero velocity upon approaching the final positions of their movements . what has been described represents a considerable improvement with respect to the available controls and mechanisms in the machines of prior art technology in which only the inverting or takeout movements were performed with natural acceleration and with uncontrolled deceleration due to the actuation of the counterpressure of the fluid actuator , but such counterpressure was not completely regulated , whereby movement was accomplished by following an available equation for the type of article being handled and therefore this resulted in preforms which were inefficiently produced , and the finished glass articles were frequently rejected because of deficiencies in structure , and a large percentage of imperfections and breakage . the autoregressive model of the electronic control system means of the present invention provides for advance transmission of signals to the digital valve in order to provide advanced control of the movement equation to ensure absolute accuracy . although the hereinbefore description calls for certain modes of the invention is should be understood that it is possible to make certain modifications and therefore we do not wish to be restricted to what has been described but reserve all rights to such changes as fall within the scope of this specification and the claims which follow .
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US-21768080-A
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the water aeration capsules provide a quick and highly portable system for aerating polluted water . the capsules contain bubbles of air , oxygen , and / or other gas surrounded by a water soluble membrane . the capsules are ballasted to sink . magnetically attractive ballast elements may be provided , and a magnetic sheet may be placed on the bottom of a smaller body of water to enhance the settling of the capsules . the gas burial disposal capsules may be formed of non - degradable material for substantially permanent gas storage , or of degradable material to allow the gases to slowly permeate the surrounding earth for slow and relatively harmless release . the gas may be pressurized within the capsules to approximately the pressure of the surrounding earth .
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the water aeration capsules comprise several different configurations of capsules that are each adapted for treating a body of water with air , oxygen , and / or other gas ( es ). fig1 a and 1b of the drawings provide a front view in section and a front view of a first embodiment of a water aeration capsule 10 a , while fig1 c and 1d illustrate alternative embodiment capsules 10 b and 10 c . the only difference between the various capsules 10 a , 10 b , and 10 c is their shape or geometric configuration , the basic structure comprising a closed shell surrounding an internal volume containing a gas and a ballast weight or element therein , which is the same for all of the various configurations or embodiments of the capsule . the capsule 10 a comprises a thin , closed water soluble shell , skin or membrane 12 a , defining a gas - filled internal volume 14 a . a ballast element 16 a is placed within the internal volume , the ballast element having sufficient mass to result in a collective specific gravity greater than one for the entire capsule 10 a and its gas - filled interior , i . e ., the capsule 10 a will sink when dropped into a body of water . the corresponding water aeration capsules 10 b of fig1 c and 10 c of fig1 d have substantially the same structure , differing only in their geometric shapes . the capsule 101 ) of fig1 c includes a shell , skin , or membrane 12 b enclosing a gas - filled volume 14 b and a ballast element 16 b , while the capsule 10 c of fig1 d includes a shell , skin , or membrane 12 c enclosing a gas - filled volume 14 c and a ballast element 16 c . the shapes of the various water aeration capsules 10 a through 10 c are exemplary , and it should be understood that virtually any practicable shape may be used to form such a water aeration capsule . the capsule shell , skin or membrane 12 a ( or 12 b , 12 c for the capsules 10 b , 10 c of fig1 c , 1 d ) may be formed of any suitable water soluble material that is substantially impervious to the gas contained therein until dissolved in water . various salts , sugars , and / or water soluble polymers , such as polyvinyl alcohol or the like , may be used to form the outer shell or skin 12 a . all of these substances are conventional , and accordingly no further disclosure need be provided . it should be understood that the above - listed materials for forming the shell or membrane 12 a of the capsule 10 a are exemplary , and other suitable conventional water soluble materials may be used in lieu thereof . the capsule shell , membrane or skin may be flexible or brittle , depending upon the material ( s ) used . if brittle materials are used , the shell may break or be crushed by water pressure at relatively deep levels , but this is certainly acceptable as it will release the air or other gas contained therein , the broken portions of the shell dissolving later . generally , the capsule membrane , skin , or shell has insufficient strength to contain air or gas at much higher than ambient pressure , but the air or gas may be placed within the capsule at somewhat higher than ambient pressure ( i . e ., a pressurized capsule ), if the shell , skin or membrane has sufficient strength . the intended purpose of the water aeration capsule 10 a , and other capsule embodiments , is to treat a body of contaminated or polluted water with oxygen in order to promote the growth of desirable bacteria that , in turn , process the pollutants in the water , changing the processed pollutants to less harmful organic materials . accordingly , a preferred gas with which the capsules 10 a ( or 10 b , 10 c , etc .) may be filled is oxygen , but standard air ( approximately 21 % oxygen and 78 % nitrogen , with traces of other gases ) may be used economically . it will be understood that the terms “ aerate ” and “ aeration ” as used herein are intended to describe the release of any practicable gas within a body of water by means of the aeration capsules described herein . other gases , e . g ., carbon dioxide , pure nitrogen , hydrogen , and / or inert gases such as helium , argon , and neon , may be used in lieu of or in addition to oxygen or air as desired for purposes other than oxygenating the water . the principle of encapsulating a gas and ballasting the capsule to cause it to sink in a body of water and then dissolve to release the gas remains the same for any gas contained in the capsule . the ballast weight or element 16 a ( or 16 b , 16 c , etc .) may be formed of any suitable material , so long as it provides sufficient mass to cause its respective capsule to sink in a body of water . the ballast element may be made from very common and inexpensive materials , e . g ., a non - toxic metal ( s ) such as iron , steel , copper , brass , etc ., or non - metallic materials , such as sand , clay , ceramic pellets or stone or gravel , etc . another alternative is to use some form of food for aquatic animals as the ballast means . such an embodiment is illustrated in fig8 and discussed further below . fig2 provides an illustration of a water aeration capsule 10 d having an alternative ballast weight or element 16 d therein formed of a magnetically attractive material , e . g ., ferromagnetic iron , steel , etc . a container 18 containing water 20 therein , an aquarium or fish tank , includes a magnetically attractive sheet 22 in the bottom thereof . the magnetically attractive sheet may be in the form of a plate , as shown , or a grid or thin sheet of material . the magnetically attractive sheet 22 may be electromagnetically activated , if sufficient electrical insulation is provided for the device . otherwise , latent magnetism of the magnetized sheet 22 will suffice . the principle illustrated in fig2 may be applied to small natural or man - made bodies of water as well , with the beaker - like container 18 merely being exemplary as a demonstration of the principle . the capsules 10 d may be deployed or dispensed into the water 20 in any conventional manner . in the case of a small container of water , or even a relatively small pond or narrow body of water , the capsules 10 d ( and others described herein ) may be deployed by hand by personnel on shore . as the capsules 10 d and their magnetically attractive ballast elements 16 d approach the bottom of the container 18 as they sink , their magnetic ballast elements 16 d are attracted to the magnetic plate or sheet 22 in the bottom of the container 18 , thereby increasing the sink rate of the capsules 10 d to better assure that the capsules will reach the bottom of the container 18 before being breached and releasing the gas 24 contained therein . the magnetic sheet 22 may be recovered after the body of water 20 has been aerated , the magnetically attractive ballast elements 16 d clinging magnetically to the sheet 22 for recovery and reuse . fig3 a and 3b illustrate an exemplary means of releasing a relatively large number of water aeration capsules in a larger body of water , e , g ., larger pond , lake , ocean , river , etc . a mobile carrier comprising a remotely openable container 26 is provided and filled with water aeration capsules 10 . ( the generic reference numeral 10 will be used to designate the water aeration capsules of fig3 a through 7 , as the capsules 10 may be of any of the configurations illustrated in fig1 a through 2 , or any other desired configuration .) the container 26 may be a wire basket or the like , or may be formed of unbroken panels . it is not necessary to protect the capsules 10 contained therein , as the intent is for them to dissolve in the water once they have been submerged . the mobile carrier or container 26 is lowered into the water 20 on a rope , cable , chain , or other extended element 28 , to the depth desired . when the container 26 has reached the desired depth , the lower doors or panels 26 a may be opened remotely by conventional means , e . g ., a secondary mechanical rope , cable , or line , or via an electrical signal or radio signal to the appropriate conventional actuation mechanism on or in the container 26 . when the doors or panels 26 a are opened , as shown in fig3 b , the capsules 10 are released to dissolve in the water 20 to release their aeration gases . fig4 provides an illustration of another alternative means for deploying the capsules 10 in the water 20 . in this embodiment , the mobile carrier comprises a stick , rod , or the like 30 suspended from a float or buoy 32 . ( it will be seen that the container 26 of fig3 a and 3b may be suspended from the rod and float of fig4 , if desired .) the capsules 10 of fig4 are not contained within an enclosure , but are adhesively secured to the stick or rod 30 and to one another by water soluble adhesive , e . g ., by wheat flour paste , etc . alternatively , they may be gathered on the stick or rod 30 by a porous fabric or wire mesh or screen ( not shown ) surrounding the capsules . the stick or rod 30 arrangement has the advantage of simplicity in that no remote actuation of container doors or the like is required for the release of the capsules 10 . fig5 through 7 provide illustrations of various alternative means for dispensing or deploying the water aeration capsules 10 ( or other capsule embodiments 10 a , 10 b , etc .). in fig5 , a mobile carrier comprising a ship 34 is used to lower a container 26 into the water 20 by means of a rope , cable , or other line 28 . the operation of the container 26 is essentially as described further above for the embodiment of fig3 a and 3b . in fig6 , a rotary wing aircraft , e . g ., helicopter 36 , is used as the mobile carrier , and the aeration capsule container 26 and line 28 are essentially the same as that shown in fig3 a , 3 b , and 5 . it will be recognized that a conventional fixed wing aircraft ( not shown ) may be used as the mobile carrier in lieu of the helicopter 36 of fig6 . in fig7 , a scuba diver 38 is used as the mobile carrier , along with the rod or stick 30 and float or buoy 32 illustrated in fig4 . such a deployment method might be desirable in certain bodies of water not accessible by larger craft . fig8 illustrates yet another embodiment wherein a small boat 40 is used to position a float or buoy 32 having a plurality of water aeration capsules 10 e suspended from the lower end of a cable , rope , or line 28 . the capsules 10 e may be adhesively secured to a central carrier 42 by means of water soluble adhesive , as described further above for the embodiment of fig4 . the capsules 10 e are designated differently than the capsules 10 through 10 d of earlier described embodiments , as they utilize an aquatic animal food for their ballast elements . initially , fish f and other forms of aquatic animal life will not be attracted to the capsules 10 e until they are breached to release their aquatic animal food ballast . however , once at least some of the capsules 10 e are breached in some manner ( dissolution in the water , fracturing under pressure , etc . ), the scent of the aquatic animal food ballast will be released , thereby attracting fish f and / or other forms of aquatic animal life as may be present . thus , the capsules 10 e provide the twofold function of aerating the water and also providing nutrition for any aquatic animal life that may be present when the capsules 10 e are breached , both of these functions benefiting the population of aquatic animal life in the area . fig9 a through 11 illustrate several embodiments of gas burial disposal capsules adapted for burying waste gases in the ground . fig9 a and 9b of the drawings respectively provide a front view in section and a front view of a first embodiment of a small gas burial disposal capsule 110 a , while fig9 c and 9d illustrate alternative embodiment capsules 110 b and 110 e . the only difference between the various capsules 110 a , 110 b , and 110 e is their shape or geometric configuration , the basic structure comprising a closed shell surrounding an internal volume containing a gas , which is the same for all of the various configurations or embodiments of the capsule . the capsules in their various embodiments are preferably relatively small , e . g ., on the order of an inch or less in diameter or length in order to facilitate their placement underground using various means , the volume of the capsules being substantially less than one liter . the capsule 110 a comprises a thin , closed shell 112 a defining a gas - filled internal volume 114 a . the corresponding gas burial disposal capsules 110 b of fig9 c and 110 c of fig9 d have substantially the same structure , differing only in their geometric shapes . the capsule 110 b of fig9 c includes a shell 112 b enclosing a gas - filled volume 114 b , while the capsule 110 c of fig9 d includes a shell 112 c enclosing a gas - filled volume 114 c . the shapes of the various gas burial disposal capsules 110 a through 110 c are exemplary , and it should be understood that virtually any practicable shape may be used to form such a gas burial disposal capsule . the capsule shell 112 a ( or 112 b , 112 c for the capsules 110 b , 110 c of fig9 c , 9 d ) may be formed of any suitable material , depending upon the ultimate intended disposition of the gases encapsulated within the shell ( s ). in many instances , it may be desirable to seal the gases within the capsules for a substantially indefinite period , preventing their escape for the foreseeable future . accordingly , the capsule shells 112 a , 112 b , 112 e , etc . may be formed of a substantially non - degradable material , such as corrosion - resistant steel ( i . e ., “ stainless ” steel ) or a non - degradable plastic . alternatively , it may be desirable that the capsule shells degrade over some approximate period of time , e . g ., on the order of a year , or perhaps ten years or a century , etc . accordingly , the capsule shells may be formed of a degradable metal , plastic , or other material , e . g ., mild steel that will eventually rust through , or aluminum that is subject to slow corrosive effects , etc . various degradable plastics may also be used . the gas burial disposal capsules 110 a , 110 b , etc ., are intended to be buried at some depth below the surface . it is well known that the weight of the overlying earth results in great subterranean pressures . accordingly , gas or gases may be introduced into the capsule shells at a pressure at least approximately corresponding to the pressure at the anticipated depth for burial of the capsules . this results in the internal and external pressures substantially canceling one another , thereby relieving stress on the shells 112 a , etc . of the capsules and precluding their being crushed by the subterranean pressures at the depth at which they are buried . the capsules may be placed in a pressurized environment as they are filled , and may be kept in such a pressurized environment until buried underground in order to minimize differential pressure stresses on the shells of the capsules . fig1 and 11 illustrate different means of burying the gas burial disposal capsules of the present invention . in fig1 the capsules , e . g ., capsules 110 a , although they may comprise any gas burial disposal capsule described above ., are shown being pumped by a surface pump 116 through a shaft 118 or the like into a subterranean cavity or pocket 120 . the subterranean cavity 120 may comprise a depleted oil or gas deposit or other natural or artificial subterranean cavity . such subterranean cavities provide an excellent location for the dispersal of the capsules , as they are generally far underground and the single relatively small diameter shaft 118 facilitates the sealing of the capsules deep underground where they are rendered essentially harmless . even the slow degradation of the capsules , where degradable capsule shells are used , will result in the gases slowly dissipating in the subterranean environment and slowly dispersing over a period of many years , if not centuries . fig1 illustrates an alternative method of burying the gas burial disposal capsules of the present invention . in fig1 , a burial pit 122 has been formed , e . g ., in a landfill or other disposal area . the capsules , e . g ., capsules 110 a , or alternatively , other gas burial disposal capsules described above , have been placed within the pit 122 at some level below the surface . overburden or fill 124 is then placed over the capsules 110 a ( or other capsules ) to bury them below the surface where they are rendered essentially harmless , particularly where the capsule shells are formed of substantially non - degradable metal , plastic , or other material . it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above , but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims .
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US-201213586359-A
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intensified infrared cooling of a restricted region is achieved by locating the region in the path defined by a geometric configuration , in which a small infrared radiation sink and a large infrared radiation condenser are axially related .
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the radiation cooler of fig1 and 3 comprises a heat sink 20 and a converging reflector 22 . heat sink 20 includes a forward heat conducting base 24 having a rearward black body coat 25 , and a rearwardly facing infrared radiation transmitting envelope 26 , the interior of which is evacuated . converging reflector 22 is mounted in a housing 28 within which are an ac to dc transformer 30 and a thermoelectric heat exchanger 32 . heat sink 20 is connected to thermoelectric head exchanger 32 and positioned with respect to reflector 22 by a rigid heat conduit 34 . as shown in fig1 housing 28 is mounted universally on a stand 35 having a stable base 36 , a vertically extensible section 38 and a universally pivoted section 40 . an extension cord 42 powers transformer 30 , which in turn powers heat exchanger 32 . the theoretical basis of the present invention is not understood with certainty . however , the operation of the radiation cooler of the present invention is believed to depend upon the following theoretical considerations . generally heat transfer by infrared radiation occurs between a relatively hot surface and a relatively cold surface in accordance with the following formula f = a dimensionless configuration factor that is a direct function of the magnitudes of the areas of both surfaces , the degree of parallelism of the surfaces , the closeness of the spacing of the surfaces , the closeness of the approximatimation to black body emissivity of the surfaces , and ambient conditions ; σ = the stefan - boltzman constant ( 0 . 171 × 10 . sup .- 8 btu / ft . sup . 2 h [ deg r ]. sup . 4 ) the foregoing indicates that cooling by infrared radiation is a direct function of surface area . difficulties are encountered in attempting to utilize a large open cooling surface for radiation transfer when temperature is below freezing because of mechanical problems , particularly difficulties associated with frost prevention . in accordance with the present invention , a geometrically small heat sink , in which frost and other mechanical problems can be easily controlled , is converted effectively into a geometrically large heat sink by disposing it on the axis of an infrared optical condenser of relatively large diameter . the configuration of the reflector , in various modifications is spherical , parabolic , elliptical or aspheric . in fig4 for example , a heat sink 41 and a subject region 43 of restricted area a 1 , to be cooled , are positioned at conjugate points along the axis 44 of reflector 46 . the configuration factor f 1 , is such that a significant proportion of divergent radiation from subject region 43 is converged by reflector 46 toward heat sink 41 . in fig5 for example , the heat sink 48 and a subject region 50 of extended area a 2 , to be cooled , are positioned respectively at the focal point and at infinity along the axis 52 of reflector 54 . the configuration factor f 2 is such that a significant proportion of parallel radiation from subject region 50 is converged by reflector 54 toward heat sink 48 . from an optical standpoint , optimum positioning of the subject to be cooled may be determined approximately by calculating conjugate distances and magnifications of the heat sink and the subject surface in terms of what may be thought of as negative infrared or cooling rays emitted from the heat sink . more specifically , in fig4 in the case where mirror 46 is spherical , the positions of sink 41 and subject 43 are related by the formulae : ## equ1 ## where : in fig4 in the case where mirror 46 is elliptical , sink 41 is positioned at the first focal point and subject 43 is positioned at the second focal point of the mirror . in fig5 in the case where mirror 54 is parabolic , sink 48 is positioned at the focal point of mirror 54 . in accordance with the present invention , it is preferred that , in terms of cross - sectional areas in planes that are normal to the optical axis , the area of the infrared radiation condenser is at least 5 times the area of the heat sink and that most of the exposed surface of the heat sink , say at least 80 %, communicates optically with the infrared radiation condenser . in practice the ratio of focal length to diameter of the infrared radiation condenser ; i . e . the f / number , should not exceed 2 . 0 . in the modification of fig6 and 7 , the radiation cooler comprises a heat sink 60 and a converging reflector 62 . heat sink 60 includes a rearwardly facing black body surface 64 and a rearwardly facing infrared radiation transmitting envelope 66 , the interior of which is evacuated . converging reflector is a fresnel reflector that is mounted on a housing 68 , in which are an ac to dc transformer 70 and a thermoelectric heat exchanger 72 . heat sink 60 is connected to heat exchanger 72 and positioned with respect to reflector 62 by a rigid heat conduit 74 . fresnel reflector 62 , which is disposed in generally a flat plane , is characterized by concentric conoidal facets that correspond to any of the spherical , parabolic , elliptical or aspheric configurations of the reflector of fig1 . in one form fresnel reflector 62 is composed of a thin metal , for example aluminum or magnesium . in another form , it is composed of a plastic , for example , methyl methacrylate of polycarbonate , which has been coated on its ridged , forward face with a vacuum deposited layer of aluminum or silver , ranging from 800 to 1500 angstrom units in thickness . as shown in fig8 the heat sink comprises a substrate 76 composed preferably of a metal , particularly of a nickel - iron metal alloy such as kovar , invar or platenite which has the same thermal coefficient of expansion as envelope 78 . this substrate has a flanged rim 77 for hermetic junction with the envelope , shown at 78 . the face of sink 76 within the envelope is either anodized or coated with a carbon pigment or lacquer 79 to provide a black face having a uniform absorbitivity throughout its area that approaches black body absorbitivity , preferably an absorbitivity of at least 0 . 75 . substrate 76 is thermally conductive contact , by means of an interposed thermally conductive hydrocarbon grease 81 , with a support wafer 83 that is welded to the heat pipe . substrate 76 is secured to support wafer 83 by a central screw ( not shown ) which extends integrally from substrate 76 and is turned into a threaded bore ( not shown ) in support wafer 83 . preferably , envelope 78 is composed of an infrared transmitting material such as fused quartz , saphire , magnesium fluoride , magnesium oxide , calcium fluoride , arsenic trisulfide , zinc sulfide , silicon , zinc selenide , germanium , sodium fluoride , cadmium telluride or thallium bromide - iodide . the arrangement is such that an uninterrupted thermally conductive path , i . e . all increments being characterized by a heat conductivity of at least 5 btu / hr ( ft 2 )(° f ), extends between the substrate 76 underlying face 79 and heat conduit 84 . as shown in fig4 and 5 , it is essential that subject surface 43 or 50 be the only energy source communicating with heat sink surface 79 and heat sink substrate 76 . in other words , the uninterrupted thermally conductive path established by heat sink surface 79 , heat sink substrate 76 and heat conduit 84 is electromotively isolated , i . e . it avoids electromotive forces that would tend to generate heat by electrical flow in a acircuit . as shown in fig8 typically each of heat pipes 34 and 74 includes an outer tube 80 , an inner tube 82 and an interior cavity . outer tube 80 is composed of copper or stainless steel . inner tube 82 is composed of an open celled , porous network or wick composed of the same metal as the outer tube . the interior of the heat pipe is hermetically sealed by closed ends 84 , 86 . within the heat pipe is a fluid , for example methanol or ammonia , which when vaporized at heated extermity 84 flows through the tube toward cooled extremity 86 . at cooling extremity 86 , the fluid condenses and is drawn by capilary action through wick 82 back toward heated extremity 84 . the arrangement is such that rapid transport of heat from the heated extremity to the cooled extremity occurs with little temperature gradient . heat pipes 34 and 74 and portions of heat sinks 20 and 60 are coated with insulation 85 , which is composed for example of a natural or synthetic rubber . preferably thermoelectric heat exchangers 32 and 72 are of the peltier type , as shown in fig9 in which a load 87 to be cooled and a heat sink 88 are separated by a pair of n and p semiconductors 90 , 92 . one end of each semiconductor 90 , 92 is bonded to a common electrical conductor 94 . the opposite extremities of semiconductors 90 , 82 are bonded to isolated electrical conductors 96 , 98 . electrical conductor 94 is attached to load 87 by a thermally conducting , electrically insulating spacer 100 . likewise , electrical conductors 96 , 98 are attached to heat sink 88 by a thermally conducting , electrically insulating spacer 102 . when direct current is transmitted via leads 104 , 106 through electrical conductor 96 , n semiconductor 90 , electrical conductor 94 , p semiconductor 92 and electrical conductor 98 , cooling of load 87 occurs . in accordance with the present invention , a plurality of units of the type shown in fig9 are disposed between load 87 and heat sink 88 to provide a heat exchanger that is matched with the thermal path extending from the heat sink to establish a heat flow of at least 10 btu / hr ( ft 2 )(° f ) and preferably , at least 50 btu / hr ( ft 2 )(° f ) when associated with an infrared radiation condenser of one square foot area for medical applications . the system of fig1 comprises a temperature sensor 110 and a radiation cooler 112 . temperature sensor 110 is in the form of a thermocouple that can be taped to a portion to the body of the patient in order to monitor his body temperature . radiation cooler 112 , which is of the type shown in either fig2 and 3 or fig6 and 7 , is positioned at a predetermined distance from the patient in order to increase infrared radiation from his body . in another form , heat sensor 110 is a pyrometer that is spaced from the patient &# 39 ; s body . as shown , space cooler 112 comprises a heat sink 114 , a heat pipe 116 , a fresnel reflector 118 , and a peltier effect thermoelectric heat exchanger 120 , all of the types described up above . heat exchanger 120 and temperature sensor 110 are connected by suitable leads 122 , 124 to a controller 126 , which includes a power supply for heat exchanger 120 and heat sensor 110 , as well as an adjustable control circuit by which the patient &# 39 ; s temperature can be monitored and controlled . the foregoing specific examples of the present invention have been based upon reflection of infrared radiation by infrared condensers of the reflection type . it is to be understood however that the term infrared condenser includes refractors , i . e infrared lenses , composed , for example , of any of the infrared transmitting inorganic materials specified above or any of such plastic materials as polymethyl methacrylate , polystyrene styrene acrylonitrite , polycarbonate , polymethyl pentane and polyphenylene oxide . one example of a refracting system embodying the present invention is shown in fig1 as comprising an infrared fresnel lens 128 , a heat sink 130 , an infrared fresnel reflector 132 , a heat pipe 134 , a peltier effect heat exchanger 136 and an ac to dc power supply 138 , all enclosed within a housing 140 . in operation , each of the devices of fig1 and 3 , fig5 and 6 , and fig1 ordinarily is positioned with respect to a subject surface to be cooled in such a way that its heat sink is no farther away from the subject surface than a distance equal to twice the diameter of the reflector and such that the optical path from the infrared radiation emitting subject surface via the infrared radiation condenser to the infrared radiation absorbing heat sink is uninterrupted and unobscured so that heat flow from a subject surface to the heat sink and through the heat conduit is continuous . in other words , the device is positioned quite closely to the subject surface in order to achieve the desired heat flow . in accordance with the present invention , the infrared radiation of primary interest is in the range of from 0 . 8 to 50 microns , particularly in the range of from 4 to 4 microns , i . e . the range associated with the temperature of the human body . preferably , envelopes 26 , 66 are composed of a material that is substantially transparent in a major portion of the range of from 4 to 40 microns . since certain changes may be made in the present disclosure without departing from the present invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense .
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US-44505274-A
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an installation for the delivery of a gas of high purity under a constant pressure from either of two vessels each of which is connected to a utilization outlet via a separate supply pipe and a switching system . a switching control system acts on two high - pressure valves , one for each vessel , downstream of which is situated a single pressure regulator which controls the outlet gas pressure . the valves are actuated by an auxiliary low - pressure gas via a pneumatic memory and two detectors measuring the pressure prevailing in the two gas vessels .
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the gas distribution plant illustrated in the drawing is intended to supply a gas contained in two bottles 4a and 4b , which may in practice each consist of a set of bottles combined within a rack or frame , to a utilisation pipe 1 equipped with an expansion valve or pressure regulator 2 and with a safety valve 3 . the plant comprises a particular number of duplicated pneumatic components corresponding to the two bottles 4a and 4b . in the following description , these pairs of components will be denoted by one and the same reference , but carrying the suffix a or b depending on whether they are allocated to the one bottle or the other . these components are : two stop valves 5a , 5b situated at the outlet orifices of the two bottles , two pressure sensitive detectors 6a , 6b , two logic no units 7a , 7b , two delay units 8a , 8b , two penumatic indicators 9a , 9b , two inclusive &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; logic units 10a , 10b , and two pneumatically controlled shut - off valves 11a , 11b . the plant also comprises particular elements common to both circuits , which are : a source 12 of low - pressure gas , a manual two - position switch 13 , a pneumatic memory 14 and an auxiliary three - position switch 15 . the elements 6 to 11 and 13 to 15 are pneumatic components well known in the art and available in the industry . as a result , it is sufficient to describe their functions . the gas source 12 comprises a gas bottle 16 equipped with a pressure regulator 17 , of which the outlet , under a pressure of 6 bars for example , is connected on the one hand in parallel with the input side of the switch 13 , and on the other hand to the two inlets of the switch 15 . alternatively , the source 12 could consist of the supply of low - pressure air or of another gas of the user . the outlet of the switch 13 is connected to a first inlet of each of the components 6 to 8 and 14 . the outlet of each stop valve 5 is connected via a supply pipe 18 to a first inlet of the associated pneumatically controlled valve 11 , and the outlets of the two valves 11 are connected to the pipe 1 upstream of the pressure regulator 2 . each detector 6 has a second inlet or control inlet connected to the associated pipe 18 , between the valve 5 and the valve 11 via a pipe 19 illustrated in chain lines . when the pressure in this pipe 19 exceeds a predetermined threshold , the first inlet of the detector is connected to its outlet which is connected to a second inlet or control inlet of the associated logic no unit 7 . each logic no unit 7 interconnects its first inlet and its outlet in the absence of a pneumatic signal at its second inlet , and interrupts this connection as soon as a pneumatic signal is received at its second inlet . the outlet of the logic no unit 7 is connected to a second inlet or control inlet of the associated delay element 8 . each delay element 8 interconnects its first inlet with its outlet upon receiving a pneumatic signal at its second inlet during a predetermined period . in the absence of a signal of this nature , or if the signal is shorter than this predetermined period , it interrupts this connection . the memory 14 has two control inlets connected respectively to the outlets of the delay elements 8 , and two outlets connected , respectively , to a first inlet of the logic or units 10 . the memory contains a two - position floating slider of which the extremities are respectively aligned with the two control inlets of the memory . in each position , this slider places the first inlet of the memory in communication with one of the two outlets . the slider does not change position unless a pneumatic signal appears at the control inlet corresponding to the change of position in question . the second inlet of each logic or unit 10 is connected to a corresponding outlet of the auxiliary switch , and its outlet is connected to the control element of the associated valve 11 . a pneumatic signal appears at this outlet in the presence of a pneumatic signal at the one or other of the two inlets of the or logic unit . each indicator 9a , 9b is connected to the pipe which connects the logic respective or unit 10a , 10b to the corresponding outlet of the memory 14 . the switch 13 has a position &# 34 ; i &# 34 ; in which its inlet is placed in communication with its outlet , and a position &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; in which this communication is interrupted . the switch 15 has a neutral &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; position in which neither of its outlets is placed in communication with the corresponding inlet , and two active positions &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; in each of which one inlet of this switch is placed in communication with the second inlet of the associated logic or unit 10 . the operation of the arrangement thus described is the following . let it first be assumed that the two bottles 4a , 4b are full and contain the gas to be supplied under a high pressure , for example of 200 bars . the switch 13 is at the &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; position , as is the switch 15 . consequently , no component of the low - pressure circuit is supplied by the source 12 , so that the two valves 11 are closed and that no gas flow issues via the pipe 1 . the memory is at either of its two positions , for example as illustrated , that which places its first inlet in communication with the logic or unit 10a . upon putting the plant in operation , the switch 13 is moved to its position &# 34 ; i &# 34 ;, and the two stop valves 5 are then opened . the two detectors 6 exposed to a higher pressure than their threshold pressure , deliver a pneumatic signal at their outlets . consequently , no signal appears at the outlets of the logic no units 7 , nor consequently at those of the delay units 8 . the memory 14 thus remains in the same state it had been in previously , and the low - pressure gas which had opened the valve 11a via this memory and the logic or unit 10a as soon as the switch 13 had been operated , keeps this valve 11a open constantly . the bottle 4a consequently feeds high - pressure gas into the pipe 1 , and this gas is expanded by the expansion valve 2 to its operating pressure . the bottle 4b remains full , on standby . the indicator 9a shows that it is the bottle 4a which is in operation . this situation remains until the pressure of the gas contained in the bottle 4a reaches the threshold pressure of the detector 6 . the detector 6 then stops delivering a penumatic signal at its outlet , and a pneumatic signal consequently appears at the outlet of the logic no unit 7a . after the predetermined delay period , for example of the order of 30 seconds , this causes the appearance of a pneumatic signal at the outlet of the delay element 8a and this signal repels the slider of the memory 14 . the low - pressure gas fed to the first inlet of this memory then emerges via the other outlet and reaches the logic or unit 10b and from there the valve llb . thus , the low - pressure supply to the valve lla is cut off and that to the valve 11b is established at the same time , which is verified by means of the indicators 9a and 9b . this closes the valve 11a and opens the valve 11b , and the bottle 4b is placed in operation . the stop valve 5a may then be closed , the bottle 4a may be replaced by a full bottle and the same stop valve may be opened again . for the reasons already stated , this does not alter the state of the memory 14 and a new reserve bottle is available without the supply to the pipe 1 having been cut off . furthermore , if the threshold pressure of the detectors 6 is selected correctly as a function of the performance of the pressure regulator 2 , no surge will be detectable downstream of this latter during switchover . it will be apparent that the same actions recur when it is the turn of the bottle 4b to be drained sufficiently to reach the threshold pressure of the detectors 6 . if , for some reason ( leakage , jamming of a component , etc . . . ) the switchover does not occur , the user is warned of this event by means of the pressure gauge normally provided on the bottle in operation , and possibly by a warning system , not illustrated . it is then possible to move the auxiliary switch 15 to its position a or b corresponding to the other bottle . the low - pressure gas then travels direct to the logic or unit 10 associated with this latter and from there to the corresponding valve 11 . a manual switchover is performed in this manner , without any disturbance as regards the supply to the pipe 1 . it operates in wholly automatic manner , at a comparatively low cost , the direct utilisation of high pressure to control the switchover assures great sensitivity , high reliability and an extensive possiblity of adjustment , the gas delivery pressure remains stable during switching - over operations as already stated , the control circuit is wholly indpendent of the high - pressure circuit , and the pressure regulator 2 is scavenged constantly . this is an assurance against risks of contamination of the gas supplied , which is an appreciable assurance in the case of a gas of high purity , the presence of an auxiliary manual control circuit in parallel with the automatic control circuit is very advantageous for the user in applications in which it is out of the question to cut off the supply , as in the case of particular scientific applications . furthermore , by reason of the presence of the logic no units 7 , low - pressure gas only reaches the control inlets of the memory 14 during the short periods in which the pressure sensitive detectors 6 detect an inadequate pressure , that is to say during bottle change - over . the consumption of low - pressure gas is a minimum as a result . it should equally be observed that the presence of the delay elements 8 provides considerable ease of operation for the following reason . after a stopping period , it is desirable to put the already partly emptied bottle back in operation in order to have a full bottle on standby . this function is provided automatically by the installation in accordance with the invention . as a matter of fact , during a protracted stoppage ( stop valves 5 closed ), the pressure in the pipes 19 may drop because of leaks below the threshold of the detectors 6 , so that these are &# 34 ; idle &# 34 ;. upon starting the following time , the switch 13 is initially operated ; no signal appears at the outlet of the detectors and a pneumatic signal is consequently supplied by the two logic no units 7 . the delay period is sufficient to allow the opening of one or the other of the two stop valves 5 , which sets off the two detectors 6 and consequently suppresses the output signal of the logic no units . in this manner , neither of the delay elements provides an output signal and the memory remains in its initial condition , whatever the opening sequence of the valves 5 . this remains valid if the pressure has dropped in only one of the two pipes 19 and if no leak had occurred , there is no risk of the state of the memory 14 having changed . it will be observed moreover that the plant described in the foregoing is completely pneumatic . consequently , it provides total safety in environments in which sparking risks are prohibited . its compact nature facilitates its servicing . as a modification , in the case in which the bottles 4a and 4b contain an inert gas such as nitrogen or co 2 , the auxiliary bottle 16 may be replaced by a take off from the pipes 18 . the plant is then completely independent . the invention may equally be utilised in the case in which the bottles 4a and 4b contain a liquified gas or even a liquid intended to be distributed in liquid form . the detectors 6a , 6b would then be replaced by switches responding to the level of the liquid in the two bottles .
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US-59875084-A
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a drill bit has a throw - away drill bit tip in the form of an insert secured to a shank to be mounted in a drilling tool . the insert is disengageably mechanically connected with the shank without any screws . at least a cutting edge of the insert is made of a diamond or cubic boron nitride sintered body , and the shank is made of steel . due to this structure , the insert has an excellent wear resistance and an adhesion resistance . the shank has sufficient toughness against breakage . such a drill bit does not require any resharpening for continuous use during bit life .
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an insert and a shank of the throw - away tipped drill bit according to the invention are connected with each other without screws as shown in fig4 a , 5b , 6a , 6b and 7 . fig2 a to 2c show a two - flute throw - away tipped drill bit , wherein inserts 11a and 11b are fixed by screwing to outer and inner peripheral portions of a forward end of a shank 12 respectively . fig3 shows a typical example of a throw - away tipped drill bit of a two - flute system , wherein an insert 21 is fitted in a shank 22 as shown by an arrow . the insert 21 is fixed by a screw 23 in a screw hole 24 . a coolant supply hole 25 directly supplies a coolant to the tip of the insert 21 . further , a chip breaker 26 is provided on the cutting edge of the insert 21 for separating chips . in a drill bit shown in fig4 a and 5b , an insert 31 is fitted in a shank 32 as indicated by an arrow shown in fig4 so that the insert 31 and the shank 32 are connected with each other without any screw or the like , in a so - called self - grip connection shown in fig5 a and 5b . in this self - grip connection side walls of a held portion 31a of the insert 31 are brought into contact with inner end surfaces of holding portions 33a and 33b of the shank 32 with a frictional force fit , whereby the insert 31 is fixed to the shank 32 . at least one of the holding portions 33a and 33b is able to elastically yield radially outwardly relative to a central longitudinal axis of the shank 32 by reason of a slit 34 extending axially between the holding portion 33a and a rigid axially a corresponding slit not shown may be provided between the holding portion 33b and a rigid axially extending shank section 32b . with reference to fig6 a and 6b , the state of such connection of the insert 31 with the shank 32 caused by engagement therebetween is explained as follows : before the insert 31 is engaged with the shank 32 , an angle θ 1 formed by the left and right side walls of the held portion 31a is slightly greater than an angle θ 2 formed by the opposite inner end surfaces of the holding portions 33a and 33b . when the insert 31 is press - fitted in the shank 32 , the angle θ 2 is gradually expanded by wedge action due to tapering of the left and right side walls of the held portion 31a and due to the slit 34 provided on the holding portion 33a as shown in fig4 . when θ 1 & gt ; θ 2 , the held portion 31a is in contact with the holding portion 33b only at an upper end of the inner end surface of the holding portion 33a . when θ 2 reaches θ 1 , the contact areas between both side walls of the held portion 31a and the inner end surface of the holding portion 33a , are maximized as shown in fig6 b . the press fitting operation is stopped in this state , and the holding portion 33a is elastically deformed to cause a pressing force in the contact surfaces of the holding portions and the held portion 31a , so that the insert 31 is connected with or fixed to the shank 32 by frictional force between the contact surfaces . at least one coolant supply hole 35 shown in fig4 directly supplies a coolant to the cutting edge of the insert 31 . further , a chip breaker 36 is provided on the cutting edge of the insert 31 , in order to part chips also as shown in fig3 at 25 . fig7 shows another example of a shank 32 , which is provided with two slits 34 , as shown in fig4 not only in a holding portion 33a , but also in another holding portion 33b . in this case , an insert 31 is press - fitted in the shank 32 so that both holding portions 33a and 33b are simultaneously expanded , thereby holding a held portion 31a by an elastic force . fig7 also shows a second cut - back groove 33d mirror - symmetrical relative to the groove 33c and relative to a central longitudinal axis of the shank 32 , whereby a symmetrical elastic expansion of the holding portions 33a , 33b is assured . the just described throw - away tipped drill bit according to a first example of the present invention , is formed by making the insert 31 of a material obtained by bonding a diamond sintered body onto a base of cemented carbide which is disengageably mechanically connected with a shank 32 made of steel as shown in fig4 . table 1 shows composition values of various powder materials for diamond sintered bodies forming insert samples a , b , c , and d of the invention and comparative samples e and f . table 1 also shows steel materials for shanks of the inventive and comparative samples . the samples a , b , c , and d and the comparative samples e and f shown in table 1 , have the inserts connected to the shanks as shown in fig4 . sample d of the present samples a to d is substantially within the scope of the present invention , but the content ( volume percent ), shown by marks **, of diamond is considerably below a preferable range . the material for the insert of the comparative sample e is out of the scope of the present invention since the cutting edge of its insert is formed of coated cemented carbide . in the comparative sample f , the material of the cutting edge of the insert is made of si 3 n 4 , which is out of the scope of the present invention . symbol * shows materials which are out of the scope of the present invention . table 1______________________________________sample composition of insert ( vol . %) shank______________________________________example ofthe inventiona diamond powder ( 92 ), wc ( 7 ), co ( 1 ) scm435b diamond powder ( 88 ), wc ( containing sks2 15 wt . % of co ) c diamond powder ( 93 ), tic ( 5 ), co ( 2 ) skh51d ** diamond powder ( 65 ), wc ( 30 ), scm435 co ( 5 ) comparativeexamplee cutting edge : coated cemented scm435 carbide ( p30 - grade cemented carbide coated with tin film ) f * cutting edge : si . sub . 3 n . sub . 4 ceramics scm435______________________________________ scm435 chromium molybdenum steels according to japanese industrial standard ( jis g 41051979 ) sks2 alloy tool steels ( jis g 4404 1983 ) skh 51 high speed tool steels ( jis g44031983 ) performance evaluation tests for the aforementioned samples were made on drill bits having a diameter of 8 mm , under the following conditions : criterion : tip conditions etc . were observed after working up to end of life . life : generally regarded as ended when the outer peripheral flank was worn by at least 0 . 2 mm . table 2 shows the results of the aforementioned 15 performance evaluation tests . excellent results were obtained for samples a to c of the invention as compared with comparative samples e and f . the present sample d , the number of drilled holes that could be drilled is lower than for samples a , b , and c . the depth of adhesive wear of the inner peripheral face was increased for sample d with respect to the same amount of outer peripheral front flank abrasion , since the amount of diamond contained in the diamond sintered body forming the insert was less than the preferable range of 70 to 99 volume percent . table 2______________________________________ depth of adhesive abrasion wear of number of outer inner of peripheral peripheral worked front flank facesample holes ( mm ) ( mm ) ______________________________________sample of the inventiona 3500 0 . 2 0 . 01b 4300 0 . 2 0 . 01c 4700 0 . 2 0 . 01d 1520 0 . 2 0 . 10comparative samplee 840 0 . 2 0 . 15 ( significantly chipped ) f 1210 test stopped due to cutting edge chipping______________________________________ a second example of the present invention will now be described . the samples of throw - away tipped drill bits of the second example of the invention were formed by inserts and shanks of the same materials as those for the sample a of the first example , to compare cutting characteristics of three types of connection systems . the self - grip drill bit shown in fig4 to 7 corresponds to sample g . the two - flute screwed drill bit shown in fig2 a to 2c corresponds to sample h . the two - flute drill bit shown in fig3 corresponds to sample i . a comparative sample of a brazed drill bit having an insert of cemented carbide , which was out of the scope of the present invention corresponds to sample j . the cutting conditions were as follows : cutting characteristics , represented by stability , can be regarded excellent since horizontal load components , thrust and torque load values of a cutting balance acting on the drill bits by the cutting resistance are reduced and the values depending on speed are also reduced . from the results obtained for the samples of the invention , it is understood that the self - grip system of the sample g attained the most excellent cutting characteristics among the connection systems for the present throw - away tipped drill bits . table 3__________________________________________________________________________ compared characteristics cutting balance hole ( horizontal diameter component ) thrust torque over size ( n ) ( n ) ( j ) ( μm ) cutting speed v ( m / min . ) sample 50 150 50 150 50 150 remarks__________________________________________________________________________example ofthe inventiong self - grip type 100 90 1200 1200 1500 30 throw - away type shown in fig4 . h two - flute screwed type 800 320 1600 1600 1750 200 throw - away type with two inserts shown in fig2 a to 2ci two - flute screwed type 240 unmea - 5200 unmea - 2050 35 throw - away type with one insert surable surable shown in fig3 . insert departed at v = 150comparativeexamplej brazed type with cutting 80 unmea - 2000 unmea - 2900 30 helical flute , cross edge of cemented carbide surable surable thinning , resharpening available 5 times . incapable of parting chips and broken at v = 150__________________________________________________________________________ ( note ) materials for inserts and shanks of present samples g , h and i are identical to those of sample a in table 1 . the self - grip type throw - away tipped drill bit shown in fig4 to 7 was embodied in sample g of the invention , whereby the insert is fixed to the shank through elastic force exerted by the steel shank , which is provided with at least one slit 34 in the shank as described above . thus , this drill bit requires no separate fastener means such as screw means . therefore , it is possible to manufacture for the first time a drill bit with a throw - away tip having a diameter exceeding 10 mm , which has not been implemented by conventional screw mountins due to an inferior fastening strength , causing breaking of the mounting screws and the like . further , the use of the present drill bits is improved since no screwing is required for connecting the insert to the shank in the work place . rather , the drill bit can be assembled by simply press - fitting the insert into the shank . a drill bit with a throw - away insert according to the third example of the present invention is formed by preparing an insert from a material obtained by bonding a cubic boron nitride sintered body onto a base of cemented carbide and disengageably mechanically connecting the insert with a shank of steel as shown in fig4 to 7 . table 4 shows composition values of various powder materials for cubic boron nitride sintered bodies forming inserts of the invention and comparative samples . table 4 also shows steel materials for shanks of the invention and comparative samples . in all the samples shown in table 4 , the inserts and shanks are connected with each other as shown in fig4 . samples n and 0 of the samples k to 0 are substantially within the scope of the present invention but the contents ( volume percent ), shown by marks **, of cubic boron nitride power materials are out of the preferred range of 40 to 80 volume percent . the comparative sample p is out of the scope of the invention because its shank is made of k30 - grade cemented carbide , althouth its insert is formed of a cubic boron nitride sintered body . table 4______________________________________sample composition of insert ( vol . %) shank______________________________________sample ofthe inventionk cubic boron nitride powder ( 60 ) k scm435 tic ( 40 ) l cubic boron nitride powder ( 75 ), sks2 tin ( 25 ) m cubic boron nitride powder ( 55 ), sk2 wc ( 45 ) n ** cubic boron nitride powder ( 90 ), scm435 tin ( 10 ) o ** cubic boron nitride powder ( 35 ), sk2 tin ( 40 ), wc ( 25 ) comparativesamplep cubic boron nitride powder ( 60 ), k30 - grade tic ( 40 ) cemented carbide______________________________________ scm435 chromium molybdenum steels according to japanese industrial standard ( jis g41051979 ) sks2 alloy tool steels ( jis g 44041983 ) sk2 alloy tool steels ( jis g 44041983 ) performance evaluation tests for the aforementioned samples were made with drill bits of 12 mm in diameter , under the following conditions : criterion : tip conditions etc . were observed after working up to end of the tip life . life : generally regarded as ended when the outer peripheral flank was worn by at least 0 . 2 mm . table 5 shows the results of the aforementioned 15 performance evaluation tests . excellent results were obtained for the samples k to m of the invention . the present samples n and 0 are somewhat inferior in wear resistance and chipping resistance since the contents of the cubic boron nitride in the sintered bodies forming the inserts are out of the preferred range of 40 to 80 volume percent with respect to bonding phases of cemented carbide . for the purpose of reference , similar experiments were made for four types of conventional drill bits as shown in the lower part of table 5 . it is understood from the results that the samples k to m of the invention are particularly superior compared to the reference samples . table 5______________________________________ depth of wear abrasion of inner number of outer peripheral of peripheral cutting worked front flank facesample holes ( mm ) ( mm ) ______________________________________sample of the inventionk 2680 0 . 2 0 . 02l 2410 0 . 2 0 . 03m 2840 0 . 2 0 . 01n 1200 0 . 2 0 . 02 ( significantly chipped ) comparative sampleso 840 0 . 2 0 . 05p 670 test stopped due to shank breakagereference examplecutting edge : coated 140 0 . 2 0 . 11cemented carbidecutting edge : al . sub . 20 3 460 test stopped due to significant cutting edge chippingintegrated coated high - 0 cutting edgespeed steel extremely wornintegrated coated 66 test stopped due tocemented carbide shank breakage______________________________________ a fourth example of the present invention will now be described . in this example , the present samples were formed by inserts and shanks of the same materials as those for the sample k of the third example , to compare the cutting characteristics with regard to three types of connection for the self - grip drill bit shown in fig4 sample q . the two - flute drill bit shown in fig2 a to 2c represents sample r . the two - flute drill bit shown in fig3 represents sample s . a comparative sample of a brazed drill bit , having an insert of cemented carbide , which was out of the scope of the present invention is represented by sample t . the cutting conditions were as follows : cutting characteristics , represented by stability , can be regarded excellent since horizontal load components , thrusts and torque load values of a cutting balance acting on the drill bits by the cutting resistance are reduced and the values depending on speed are also reduced . from the results obtained for the samples of the invention , it is understood that the self - grip system of the sample q attained the most excellent cutting characteristics among the connection systems for the present throw - away tipped drill . table 6__________________________________________________________________________ compared characteristics cutting balance hole ( horizontal diameter component ) thrust torque over size ( n ) ( n ) ( j ) ( μm ) cutting speed v ( m / min . ) sample 50 150 50 150 50 150 remarks__________________________________________________________________________samples ofthe inventionq self - grip type 190 180 800 185 3300 20 throw - away type shown in fig4 . r two - flute screwed type 1610 590 1980 2050 3800 200 throw - away type with two inserts shown in fig2 a to 2cs two - flute screwed type 400 unmea - 7200 unmea - 4200 30 throw - away type with one insert surable surable shown in fig3 . insert departed at v = 150comparativesamplet brazed type with cutting 150 unmea - 2700 unmea - 6200 20 helical flute , cross edge of cemented carbide surable surable thinning , resharpening available 5 times . incapable of parting chips and broken at v = 150__________________________________________________________________________ ( note ) materials for inserts and shanks of present samples g , h and i are identical to those of sample a in table 1 . in first to fourth examples , at least the cutting edge of each insert is made of a diamond or cubic boron nitride sintered body , specifically as shown in fig8 a . for example , an insert cutting edge 43 of a diamond or cubic boron nitride sintered body is attached to an insert base 42 , which is made of cemented carbide or steel to form the insert 31 . in order to attain such a structure , a cutting edge piece forming an insert tip 43 of a diamond or cubic boron nitride sintered body is connected to a tip base 44 of cemented carbide by brazing . the tip base 44 in turn is secured in a groove provided in the insert base 42 also by brazing as shown in fig8 b and 8c . with the present structure it is possible to use a hard diamond sintered body or cubic boron nitride sintered body as a material for making only the cutting edge of the insert for which high wear resistance and hardness are required and to use such a strong material as cemented carbide or steel as a material for the main body of the insert . these features prolong the life of the present drill bits . it is also possible to attain a similar function or effect by making an insert 31 entirely of cemented carbide or ceramics and coating the overall surface thereof with a diamond film of less than 20 μm in thickness by vapor phase synthesis . the method of manufacturing inserts wherein a diamond coating is applied is more preferable , because such inserts can be produced at a low cost by injection molding , whereby complicated figures can be easily formed . as a result of a performance evaluation test under the same cutting conditions as the first embodiment , after drilling 3200 holes , the abrasion of the outer peripheral front flank was 0 . 2 mm with a slight chipping and the depth of wear of the inner peripheral cutting face was less than 0 . 01 mm , which was nearly equal with the samples a to c . although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail , it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation , the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims .
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US-86010292-A
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an aircraft component includes a first segment having a first leading edge surface that extends to a first end of the first segment . the aircraft component also includes a second segment having a second leading edge surface that extends to a second end of the second segment . the second end is substantially adjacent to the first end of the first segment , and is connected to the first end . the first leading edge surface includes electrical resistance heating that extends to the first end of the first segment . in addition , the second leading edge surface includes electrical resistance heating that extends to the second end of the second segment . the electrical resistance heating is capable of providing ice protection heating immediately on either side of a juncture between the connected first and second ends .
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fig5 a - 5c show one embodiment of an ice protection heater system according to the invention as applied to a multi - segment nacelle inlet lip 200 , for example . as shown in fig5 a , a nacelle inlet lip 200 includes a first inlet lip segment 110 having a first end 226 joined to a second end 222 of a second inlet lip segment 112 along a joint 211 . the joint 211 can include a narrow gap 220 between the segment ends 222 , 226 . the first inlet lip segment 110 can include a first embedded heating element 227 adjacent to the first end 226 , and the second inlet lip segment 112 can include a second embedded heating element 223 adjacent to the second end 222 . as shown in fig5 a , the joined inlet lip segments 110 , 112 can form a substantially continuous exterior surface in the region immediately adjacent to the joint 211 and gap 220 . fig5 b and 5c show details of one embodiment of the joint 211 . as shown in fig5 b and 5c , the first end 222 of the first inlet lip segment 110 can include an outermost layer 287 , a heater element layer 223 , a cellular core 245 , one or more bus strips 230 , and one or more first backing layers 292 . the core 245 can be a metallic or non - metallic honeycomb structure , for example . in the embodiment shown in fig5 b and 5c , the core 245 and the backing layers 292 combine to form a rearwardly extending first flange 293 . similarly , the second end 226 of the second inlet lip segment 112 can include a second outermost layer 283 , a second heater element layer 227 , a second cellular core 244 , one or more bus strips 230 , and one or more second backing layers 290 . also similarly , the second core 244 and second backing layers can combine to form a rearwardly extending second flange 291 . the various cores and layers can be bonded together within each inlet lip segment 110 , 112 to form a unitary structure using known composite materials and composite forming and bonding techniques . one or more additional outermost or backing layers can be provided for additional strength , to provide electrical insulation between electrically conductive portions of the structure , or for any other purpose . the respective thicknesses of the various layers shown in fig5 c are exaggerated for purposes of illustration . the first and second flanges 293 , 291 on rear portions of the ends 222 , 226 of the inlet lip segments strengthen and stiffen the segments 110 , 112 , particularly at their ends 222 , 226 . as shown in fig5 c , a splice plate 224 can extend between the flanges 293 , 291 , and across the interstitial gap 220 therebetween . in fig5 b and 5c , the width of the interstitial gap 220 is exaggerated for illustration purposes . preferably , the gap 220 is not larger than about 0 . 1 inch , and preferably , not larger than about 0 . 06 inch . in one embodiment , the gap 220 can have a nominal width of about 0 . 03 inch . the splice plate 224 can be connected to each flange 293 , 291 by a plurality of removable mechanical fasteners 221 , such as by a plurality of blind rivets , or the like . as shown in fig5 c , the fasteners 221 can extend through the splice plate 224 , through the backing layers 292 , 290 , and through the back skins 246 , 247 on the cellular cores 245 , 244 , thus securely connecting the ends 222 , 226 of the inlet lip segments 110 , 112 together . as also shown in fig5 c , because the splice plate 224 , backing layers 292 , 290 , and back skins 246 , 247 are positioned behind and away from the heating elements 223 , 227 , the fasteners 221 can be arranged such that none of the fasteners 221 penetrates or contacts any portion of the electrically conductive heating elements 223 , 227 . as shown in fig5 b , the bus strips 230 can be positioned between the fasteners 221 , such that the fasteners 221 also do not penetrate or contact any portion of the electrically conductive bus strips 230 . the bus strips 230 can be connected to an aircraft electric power supply , such as one or more batteries , an aircraft engine , an auxiliary power unit ( apu ), or a combination thereof . as shown in fig5 c , the first heating element 223 can include a first leading edge portion 296 , and a first recessed portion 297 . in this embodiment , the first leading edge portion 296 and the first recessed portion 297 can be substantially orthogonal to each other , though the heater portions 296 , 297 also can be configured at other angular orientations . similarly , the second heating element 227 can include a second leading edge portion 298 , and a second recessed portion 299 . in this embodiment , the second leading edge portion 298 and the second recessed portion 299 also can be substantially orthogonal to each other , though the heater portions 298 , 299 also can be configured at other angular configurations . because the recessed portions 297 , 299 of the heating elements 223 , 227 extend into the interstitial gap 220 between the segments 110 , 112 , the adjoined leading edge portions 296 , 298 of the heating elements 223 , 227 can extend to the edges of the gap 220 . each of the heating elements 223 , 227 generally extends along at least a portion of an outer face of an inlet lip segment 110 , 112 , and further extends around a corner of an inlet lip segment 110 , 112 , such that a portion of each heater element 223 , 227 extends along an edge surface of a segment 110 , 112 . each of the bus strips 230 can include a front end 230 a that is in contact with one of the recessed portions 297 , 299 of the heating elements 223 , 227 within the gap 220 , and an opposed rear end 230 b that is positioned away from the gap 220 and the splice plate 224 , thereby permitting connection to an electrical power source . as shown in fig5 c , wires 233 or another electrical supply means can be connected to the rear ends 230 b of the bus strips 230 for applying voltages across the heating elements 223 , 227 . the bus strips 230 can be covered by an electrically insulating coating , or another insulating material . as shown in fig5 c , the heating elements 223 , 227 extend to the opposed edges of the gap 220 , and the recessed portions 297 , 299 extend into the gap 220 . accordingly , when electric power is supplied to the heating elements 223 , 227 , the heat generated by the heating elements 223 , 227 can effectively prevent and / or eliminate ice formation within the gap 220 and at and along the adjoined ends 222 , 226 of the inlet lip segments 110 , 112 . fig7 shows one alternative embodiment of the invention . in this embodiment , an ice protection heater system according to the invention again is applied to a multi - segment nacelle inlet lip 300 . as shown in fig7 , a nacelle inlet lip 300 includes a first inlet lip segment 310 having a first end 322 joined to a second inlet lip segment 312 at its second end 326 . a narrow gap 320 may exist between the segment ends 322 , 326 . as shown in fig7 , the first inlet lip segment 310 can include a first embedded heating element 323 that is adjacent to the first end 322 ,. and the second inlet lip segment 312 can include a second embedded heating element 327 that is adjacent to the second end 326 . the first end 322 of the first inlet lip segment 310 can include at least one first outermost layer 387 , a first heater element layer 323 , a first cellular core 345 , one or more bus strips 330 , and one or more first backing layers 392 . similarly , the second end 326 of the second inlet lip segment 312 can include at least one second outermost layer 383 , a second heater element layer 327 , a second cellular core 344 , one or more bus strips 330 , and one or more second backing layers 390 . the cores and layers of each inlet lip segment 310 , 312 can be bonded together to form a unitary structure using known composite materials and composite forming and bonding techniques . as discussed in more detail below , the outermost layers 387 , 383 and heater elements 323 , 327 can be perforated . as shown in fig7 , a splice plate 324 can extend between the first and second ends 322 , 326 and across the interstitial gap 320 therebetween . in fig7 , the width of the interstitial gap 320 is exaggerated for ease of illustration . preferably , the gap 320 is not larger than about 0 . 1 inch , and preferably is not larger than about 0 . 06 inch . in one embodiment , the gap 320 has a nominal width of about 0 . 03 inch . the splice plate 324 can be connected to an interior portion of each of the first and second ends 322 , 326 by a plurality of mechanical fasteners 321 , such as by a plurality of blind rivets , or the like . the fasteners 321 can extend through the splice plate 324 , through the backing layers 392 , 390 , and through the back skins 346 , 347 on the cellular cores 345 , 344 , thus securely connecting the ends 322 , 326 of the inlet lip segments 310 , 312 together . like the embodiment shown in fig5 c , the fasteners 321 can be arranged such that none of the fasteners penetrates or contacts any portion of the electrically conductive heating elements 323 , 327 . in addition , the bus strips 330 can be positioned between the fasteners 321 such that none of the fasteners 321 penetrates or contacts any portion of the electrically conductive bus strips 330 . as shown in fig7 , the first heating element 323 can include a first leading edge portion 396 , and a first recessed portion 397 . in this embodiment , the first leading edge portion 396 and the first recessed portion 397 are substantially orthogonal to each other , though the portions 396 , 397 can be configured and arranged at substantially any angle . similarly , the second heating element 327 can include a second leading edge portion 398 , and a second recessed portion 399 . in this embodiment , the second leading edge portion 398 and the second recessed portion 399 also are substantially orthogonal to each other , though the portions 398 , 399 can be configured and arranged at substantially any angle . because the recessed portions 397 , 399 of the heating elements 323 , 327 extend within the interstitial gap 320 between the segments 310 , 312 , the leading edge portions 396 , 398 of the heating elements 323 , 327 extend to and around the edges of the gap 320 . as shown in fig7 , each of the bus strips 330 can include a front end portion 330 a that is in electrical contact with one of the recessed portions 397 , 399 of the heating elements 323 , 227 , and an opposed rear end portion 330 b that extends away from the gap 320 and the splice plate 324 . wires 333 or another electric supply means can be connected to the rear portions 330 b of the bus strips 330 for connecting the bus strips 330 to an electric power source . any exposed portions of the bus strips 330 can be covered by an electrically insulating coating or other insulating material . as shown in fig7 , the heating elements 323 , 327 extend to the opposed edges of the gap 320 , and the recessed portions 397 , 399 extend into the gap 320 . accordingly , when electric power is supplied to the heating elements 323 , 327 , the heat generated by the heating elements 323 , 327 can effectively prevent and / or eliminate ice formation within the gap 320 and at and along the adjoined ends 322 , 326 of the inlet lip segments 310 , 312 . as shown in fig7 , a first plurality of openings 301 can extend through the first outer layer ( s ) 387 and the first heating element layer 323 of the first lip segment 310 to the underlying first cellular core 345 . similarly , a second plurality of openings 303 can extend through the second outer layer ( s ) 383 and the second heating element layer 327 of the second lip segment 312 to the underlying second cellular core 344 . thus , the first and second pluralities of openings 301 , 303 can provide acoustic communication pathways to the open cells of the underlying cores 344 , 345 . accordingly , the inlet lip 300 can include both ice protection and acoustic treatment that each extend to the ends 322 , 326 of the adjoined segments 310 , 312 and to the edges of the gap 320 . the embodiments described above are intended to describe and illustrate various features and aspects of an ice protection system according to the invention . persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that certain changes or modifications can be made to the specifically described embodiments without departing from the invention . for example , though the invention has been specifically described with respect to the leading edges of an aircraft engine nacelle inlet lip , the invention also can be applied to other segmented aircraft components that may be prone to ice formation and accumulation , such as an aircraft &# 39 ; s wings , or the like . all such changes and modifications are intended to be within the scope of the appended claims .
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US-96301407-A
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a high compressive strength silica mortar to be used for the installation of constructs such as building inside and outside walls , the road pavement , a slope and planting trees in the roof and manufacturing method thereof are provided . the high compressive strength silica mortar is formed of 30 to 70 wt % of silica , 40 to 70 wt % of blast furnace slag , and the 15 to 35 weight parts of polycondensation regulator for 100 weight parts of dry mortar powder of these silica and blast furnace slag , and is solidified by generating c — s — h , c - a - h , amorphous geopolymeric matrix } and zeolite in the mortar . in particular , the high compressive strength silica mortar exhibits the compressive strength of 70 . 0 mpa or more by vibration forming and curing for 12 ˜ 48 hours at 25 to 80 ° c . before removal of form and aging for 28 days , and can save energies because a firing process is not required . accordingly , the high compressive strength silica mortar has excellent properties compared with conventional cement concretes or polymer cements , and further shows high compressive strength in initial stage , which could not be generated in such products .
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the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated . the invention may , however , be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein . rather , these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . the main components of the high compressive strength silica mortar of the present invention are silica powder under 212 μm and silica particles of 212 μm to 2 mm at the ratio of 4 : 6 , blast furnace slag of 6 , 000 cm 2 / g or greater , and polycondensation regulator with al 2 o 3 and naoh as main materials . it is manufactured with 30 to 70 wt % of silica , 40 to 70 wt % of blast furnace slag , and the 15 to 35 weight parts of polycondensation regulator that has the specific gravity range of 1 . 3 to 1 . 5 for 100 weight parts of dry mortar of these silica and blast furnace slag . moreover , a technical feature of the high compressive strength silica mortar manufacturing method of the present invention is the compressive strength of the silica mortar which is at least 70 . 0 mpa by vibration forming of slurry mixture of 30 to 70 wt % of silica , 40 to 70 wt % of blast furnace slag , and the 15 to 35 weight parts of polycondensation regulator for 100 weight parts of dry mortar powder of these silica and blast furnace slag , curing it at 25 to 80 ° c . before removal of form and aging for 28 days at normal temperature . the low - grade silica used in the present invention is generated from mining in general silica mines and filled in land . low - grade silica is generated from the blast and pulverization processes to mine silica , and the desirable composition is 30 ˜ 50 wt % of particles under 212 μm ( average grain size 50 μm ) and 50 to 70 wt % of particles between 212 μm and 2 mm . if the size of silica particles is outside this range , it is difficult to exhibit high strength . the chemical composition of low - grade silica varies by mine , so we do not define the range of composition in particular . blast furnace slag is a by - product of pig iron manufacturing in a blast furnace . although there is no particular limitations , it is desirable to use those of blaine 6 , 000 cm 2 / g or greater . the reason for this is that the higher the fineness of blast furnace slag , the shorter is the response time and it is easier to create geopolymeric matrix in mortar . specifically , those of 6 , 000 cm 2 / g and 8 , 000 cm 2 / g which are produced and sold from basic material research institute , a korean company , are recommended . when you use those with the fineness of 6 , 000 cm 2 / g or lower , the compressive strength of the mortar becomes low : only 30 mpa or lower at age of 28 days , and efflorescence and cracks occur , decreasing the stability of mortar . furthermore , if blaine is higher than this , the yield rate of manufacturing is low , raising the price and lowering the price competitiveness . therefore , the present invention used the fineness of 6 , 000 cm 2 / g or higher for the blast furnace slag . also , 40 to 70 wt % is desirable because when a wt % under 40 is used , the initial strength is low and it is difficult to achieve high strength . in particular , the compressive strength was 34 mpa when 30 wt % was added . moreover , under a high volume of blast furnace slag over 70 wt %, the reaction of hydration occurs by the cao in the blast furnace slag and heat is generated inside . this hydration heat leads to cracks in mortar , lowering the strength and causing other problems . unlike low - grade silica , the chemical composition of the blast furnace slag is 88 . 6 wt % of sio 2 + al 2 o 3 + cao and 11 . 4 wt % of other elements . geopolymer and zeolite consist of a three - dimensional network structure of na 2 o , sio 2 and al 2 o 3 . the difference between these two matters is only the difference of crystal quality . therefore , sio 2 and al 2 o 3 in the slag are important sources of geopolymer and zeolite . however , the contents of sio 2 and al 2 o 3 in the blast furnace slag are 29 % and 13 %, respectively , with a difference of approximately 2 . 2 times as shown in table 1 below . the polycondensation regulator used in the present invention provides [ al 3 + ] which is the main skeleton structure in the geopolymer matrix chain , which is manufactured by condensation polymerization , and plays the role of forming alkali atmosphere ( ph 13 . 5 or higher ) for geopolymerization . furthermore , oh − of polycondensation regulator destroys the coating of blast furnace slag and cuts the covalent bonding of si — o and al — o , inducing ion elution reaction . the eluted ions form monomers between silica particles and blast furnace slag particles , and these monomers cause condensation polymerization by the energy supplied by curing and form geopolymeric matrix . when the curing temperature is 80 ° c ., both zeolite and geopolymeric matrix are generated . the polycondensation regulator used in the present invention was manufactured by the applicant ( inventor ). recommended raw materials of the polycondensation regulator are those that contain a high volume of al such aluminum dross and aluminum metals . aluminum dross is a waste from melting of aluminum and 6000 tons are generated in korea every year . because 74 . 8 % of it is al 2 o 3 , it supplements [ al 3 + ] ions for generation of geopolymeric matrix and zeolite , accelerating the generation of monomers . for more specific manufacturing method of the polycondensation regulator , the ratio of al 2 o 3 and naoh was adjusted to 1 : 1 , and the ratio of powder and solution was adjusted in tune with the preset specific gravity . then while they were mixed at high speed using a stirrer , the ions were eluted for seven days at 70 ° c . to produce a perfect solution . meanwhile , the polycondensation regulator was used in the present invention to solve the shortcomings of conventional alkali stimulants such as potassium silicate , sodium silicate , naoh , koh , and ca ( oh ) 2 . the conventional potassium silicate and sodium silicate have the ph range of 11 to 12 , which is very lower than ph 13 . 5 which is needed to cause geopolymerization , and the compressive strength of the manufactured mortar also was low at 15 to 20 mpa . the reason for this low strength is that potassium silicate or sodium silicate is hardened quickly by contacting with blast furnace slag , which causes cracks in the specimen that has been aged for a long time . another weakness of potassium silicate and sodium silicate is that they are weak in waterproofness . also , while naoh , koh , and ca ( oh ) 2 have higher ph and better workability than potassium silicate and sodium silicate , they have such problems of low compressive strength , expansion , and efflorescence . on the other hand , the polycondensation regulator proposed in the present invention is a solution produced from al - dross and the ph was adjusted to 13 . 5 or higher . with the adjustment of ph range that can cause geopolymerization and provision of al 2 o 3 , which is insufficient in blast furnace slag , geopolymeric matrix and zeolite are produced in early stage to exhibit high strength . moreover , until recently , for the polycondensation regulator for geopolymerization , which may be written as alkaline stimulant , naoh and koh separately ; koh + naoh of a composite liquid phase ; and addition compositions of composite liquid phases or composite powder compositions , such as naoh + na 2 sio 3 system , naoh + k 2 sio 3 , koh + k 2 sio 3 system , koh + na 2 sio 3 ( sodium silicate ) system , naoh + na 2 sio 3 ( sodium silicate )+ ca ( oh ) 2 , naoh + k 2 sio 3 + ca ( oh ) 2 system , koh + k 2 sio 3 + ca ( oh ) 2 system or koh + na 2 sio 3 ( sodium silicate )+ ca ( oh ) 2 system , have been used . however , these compositions have low compressive strength , are a very high price , and it is difficult for the compositions to form sufficient products in addition , metakaolin ( about 40 %) was used as a source material for al 2 o 3 to produce geopolymeric matrix . in this case , the compressive strength is similar to the level suggested by the present invention , but this method is not appropriate for reducing the co 2 generation because metakaolin is manufactured by plastic working at 750 ° c . unlike the traditional cases , the present invention tried to solve this problem by producing the product within a shorter time and adding sodium aluminate , which is a mixture of naoh and al 2 o 3 for higher strength . meanwhile , if we add al - dross as powder and naoh as liquid as described above , the al inside the al - dross reacts with naoh and generates air bubbles . therefore , it is desirable to add al - dross as liquid . the polycondensation regulator used in the present invention is characterized by the mole ratio of 1 : 1 for al 2 o 3 and naoh . the present invention first mixes the dry powders of silica and blast furnace slag in a kitchen mixer , mortar mixer , or fan mixer , and adds the polycondensation regulator for the liquid / solid ratio of 15 to 35 weight parts for 100 weight parts of dry mortar powder . this is mixed in a mortar mixer to manufacture a slurry type product . this manufactured slurry shows fluidity enough to flow at 250 or more . it is filled and formed in a vibration forming machine . the molding product from the present invention is completed by curing in a curing apparatus adjusted to the normal temperature of about 25 ° c . after removal of form . in particular , the high - strength silica mortar using silica produced by the present invention can be shipped as product by only aging at normal temperature after curing . the implementation principle of the present invention can be understood more easily by the embodiments and comparisons described below . to 100 weight parts of dry mortar powder that consists of 40 wt % of silica , 60 wt % of blast furnace slag 1 ( 8 , 000 cm 2 / g ), 33 weight parts of polycondensation regulator with the specific gravity of 1 . 45 was added to produce a slurry mixture , which was filled and formed in a vibration forming machine . this specimen was cured for 12 hours at 50 ° c ., the form was removed and aged at normal temperature for completion . the manufacturing conditions are shown in table 2 . ( same below ). the new crystalline peak inside the silica mortar obtained from this embodiment was as shown in fig1 , and the microscope picture and outside picture are shown in fig2 and 3 . fig1 shows that inside the block of the present invention are clear amorphous , c - a - h , and c — s — h phases of zeolite and geopolymer matrix . fig2 shows the clear development of the shape estimated to be the three - dimensional networked geopolymer matrix ( aluminosilicate gel , amorphous pattern ) and the crystals of zeolite ( rectangular parallelepiped ). fig3 is a picture of the silica brick product using the silica mortar manufactured with the manufacturing method for high - strength silica mortar using silica . embodiment 2 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the silica is changed to 60 wt %, blast furnace slag 1 to 40 wt %, and the polycondensation regulator to 22 weight parts . embodiment 3 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the silica is changed to 50 wt %, blast furnace slag 1 to 50 wt %, and the polycondensation regulator to 27 . 5 weight parts . embodiment 4 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the silica is changed to 30 wt %, blast furnace slag 1 to 70 wt %, and the polycondensation regulator to 35 weight parts . embodiment 5 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the polycondensation regulator is changed to 15 weight parts . embodiment 6 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the blast furnace slag is changed to 2 wt %. embodiment 7 is identical to embodiment 6 , but the silica is changed to 60 wt %, blast furnace slag 2 to 40 wt %, and the polycondensation regulator to 22 weight parts . embodiment 8 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the polycondensation regulator is changed to specific gravity 1 . 35 . comparison 1 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the blast furnace slag is changed to 3 wt %. comparison 2 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the blast furnace slag is changed from 1 to 30 wt % s and the polycondensation regulator to 16 . 5 weight parts . comparison 3 is identical to comparison 2 , but the blast furnace slag is changed to 2 wt %. comparison 4 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the polycondensation regulator is changed to 10 weight parts . comparison 5 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the polycondensation regulator is changed to naoh of specific gravity 1 . 28 . comparison 6 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the polycondensation regulator is changed to sodium silicate of specific gravity 1 . 38 . comparison 7 is identical to embodiment 1 , but the polycondensation regulator is changed to specific gravity 1 . 25 . in accordance with cement mortar manufacturing method , cement and jumunjin standard sands were dry mixed at the ratio of 1 : 2 . 45 . then water was added to this at the ratio of w / c 0 . 3 and they were wet mixed . this mortar mixture was filled into a cube mold and vibration formed . this specimen was cured for 12 hours at 60 ° c . in a steam curing apparatus to complete the manufacturing of the specimen . the compressive strength of the completed specimen was measured at the age of 3 , 7 , and 28 days . as described above , a high compressive silica strength mortar according to the manufacturing method of the present invention can improve the utilization of low - grade silica generated at activity procedure for silica mine ; can recycle wastes inducing pollution problems by manufacturing a high compressive silica mortar utilizing low - grade silica as a part of new use development ; and can protect the environment by utilizing low - grade silica piled - up , which may damage the scenery around mine . further , cement generating enormous amounts of co 2 can be replaced with the high compressive strength silica mortar , thereby controlling global warming and providing economic profit from the activation of industry and market creation according to the development for the utilization of low - grade silica . in particular , the high compressive strength silica mortar according to the manufacturing method of the present invention may exhibit the compressive strength of 70 . 0 mpa or more at age of 28 days after curing at 25 to 80 ° c . for 12 ˜ 28 hours before removal of form . accordingly , the mortar may be utilized as replacement materials of cement for building materials of construct , building landscape materials and constructs , and may be also utilized as materials for human well - being capable of controlling environmental pollution problems by not using cement or organic polymer at all , thereby resulting in the utilization thereof with respect to environmental or energy aspects . while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims . accordingly , these and other changes and modifications are seen to be within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without deviating from the spirit or scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover any such modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . accordingly , these and other changes and modifications are seen to be within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .
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US-5550808-A
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the present invention provides pharmaceutically acceptable salts having local anesthetic and anti - inflammatory activities . the preferred pharmaceutically acceptable salt is a diclofenac salt of lidocaine . diclofenac is a non - steroidal anti - inflammatory drug . lidocaine is a local anesthetic . other nsaid can be used to replace diclofenac and / or other local anesthetics can be used to replace lidocaine . the pharmaceutically acceptable salts are crystalline compounds , which are distinctively different from either the nsaid alone or the local anesthetic alone , as indicated by differential scanning calorimetry , thermogravimetric analysis , high performance liquid chromatography and fourier - transformed infrared spectroscopy analyses . these pharmaceutically acceptable salts are suitable for use in topical treatment or parenteral injection to treat patients with localized pain , including muscle pain , joint pain , pain associated with herpes infection , and wound pain .
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the present invention provides novel pharmaceutically acceptable salts which exhibit combined therapeutic effects of local anesthetic and anti - inflammatory activities . these pharmaceutical acceptable salts are an “ nsaid salt of a local anesthetic agent .” they are characterized by their distinctive physical and chemical properties , which are different from either the nsaid alone or the local anesthetic agent alone , as demonstrated by the dsc , tga , hplc , and ftir analyses as shown in fig1 - 13 . the “ nsaid salt of the local anesthetic agent ” are formed by ( 1 ) the interaction of the weak acid ( nsaid ) with the weak base ( local anesthetic ); and ( 2 ) the solvent dissolution - removal or pulverization method employed in the present invention which further enhances the salt forming process . the “ nsaid salt of the local anesthetic agent ” is readily filtered and easily dried , and , if necessary , can be easily re - purified by re - dissolving the salt in a suitable solvent followed by drying to remove the solvent . the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the present invention are prepared in accordance with the following methods : method 1 : a chosen nsaid , in its free acid form , is dissolved in a suitable solvent . a chosen local anesthetic agent , in its free base form , is dissolved in the same solvent . the dissolved nsaid and local anesthetic agent are mixed to form a mixed solution . the solvent is removed to produce the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the present invention . optionally , the pharmaceutically acceptable salt can be further purified by re - dissolving the salt in a solvent followed by drying to remove the solvent . method 2 : a chosen nsaid and a chosen local anesthetic agent , each in its respective free acid or free base form , are uniformly mixed and dissolved in a suitable solvent . the solvent is then removed to produce the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the present invention . optionally , the pharmaceutically acceptable salt can be further purified by re - dissolving the salt in a solvent followed by drying to remove the solvent . method 3 : a chosen nsaid and a chosen local anesthetic agent , each in its respective free acid or free base form , are uniformly mixed and pulverize using a physical - mechanical means to produce the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the present invention . optionally , the pharmaceutically acceptable salt can be re - purified by re - dissolving the salt in a suitable solvent followed by removing the solvent by vacuum evaporation or under nitrogen . method 4 : a chosen nsaid and a chosen local anesthetic , each in its respective salt form , are either respectively dissolved in a suitable solvent and then mixed together as indicated in method 1 , or uniformly mixed and then dissolved in a suitable solvent as indicated in method 2 . optionally , the dissolved mixture is heated to an elevated temperature ( which is determined based on the solvent used in dissolving the compounds ) followed by cooling to facilitate the formation of the salt . optionally , the salt can be further purified by re - dissolving the salt in a solvent followed by drying to remove the solvent . method 5 : a chosen nsaid and a chosen local anesthetic agent , each in its respective salt form , are mixed and then pulverized using physical - mechanical means to produce the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the present invention . optionally , the salt can be further purified by re - dissolving the salt in a solvent followed by drying to remove the solvent . the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the present invention have been confirmed by the following instrumental analyses to be distinctively different from the local anesthetic agent and / or the nsaid they originated : thermal analysis : two thermal analysis , thermogravimetric analysis ( tga ) and differential scanning calorimetry ( dsc ) were employed . tga measures the change in the mass of sample as the temperature is changed . the profile of the overall thermogravimetric weight loss versus temperature curve provides reliable indication of the phase and weight changes of the pharmaceutical compounds . dsc examines the changes in physical properties of the pharmaceutical compound with temperature or time . during operation , dsc heats the test sample , measures heat flow between the test sample and its surrounding environment , and records a test thermogram of the test sample based on the measured heat flow . dsc provides information regarding the onset temperature , the endothermal maximum of melting , and the enthalpy of the pharmaceutical compound . high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ): pharmaceutical compounds can be characterized and / or purified by hplc . alternatively , the content and / or purity of the pharmaceutical compounds can be determined by hplc method . for a given column packing , solvent system , and flow rate , most compounds tend to elute to a certain degree from an analytical and / or preparative hplc column . uv spectroscopy : the uv spectroscopy can be used to perform qualitative analysis of the pharmaceutical compounds . infrared ( ir ) spectroscopy including fourier - transformed infrared spectroscopy ( ftir ): functional groups of a pharmaceutical compound can be determined by ir spectra based on their respective light transmittance . the ir spectrum of a pharmaceutical compound is presented in a drawing in which the ordinate is the transmittance in % and the abscissa is the wavelength in cm − 1 . the ir is extremely sensitive to the structure , conformation , and environment of an organic compound and thus is a suitable method for the characterization and identification of different solid forms of drugs . an ftir microscope allows the measurement of the ir spectrum of a single crystal or group of crystals . the microscope technique minimizes the possibility of obtaining ir spectra of mixture of crystal forms and is a distinct advantage over approaches that use powdered samples . liquid chromatography - mass spectroscopy ( lc - ms ): the molecular weight and the chemical structure of the pharmaceutical compound can be determined using the liquid chromatography - mass spectroscopy ( lc - ms ) method . transdermal absorption test : the transdermal absorption of the pharmaceutical compound can be determined using the transdermal diffusion measurement instrument . local anesthetic agents are basic compounds . they are capable of forming pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts of the compounds with strong or moderately strong , non - toxic , organic or inorganic acids by methods known to the art . exemplary of the acid addition salts that are included in this invention are maleate , fumarate , lactate , oxalate , methanesulfonate , ethanesulfonate , benzenesulfonate , tartrate , citrate , hydrochloride , hydrobromide , sulfate , phosphate and nitrate salts . in the examples and experimental results to be presented in the following section ( infra ), an nsaid is proven to be an acid addition salt of the local anesthetic agents . nsaids are acidic compounds . they can form pharmaceutically acceptable base addition salts of the compounds with organic and inorganic bases by conventional methods . examples of the nontoxic alkali metal and alkaline earth bases include , but are not limited to , calcium , sodium , potassium and ammonium hydroxide ; and nontoxic organic bases include , but are not limited to , triethylamine , butylamine , piperazine , and tri ( hydroxymethyl )- methylamine . in the examples and experimental results to be presented in the following sections , a local anesthetic is proven to be a base addition salt of the nsaids . local anesthetics that are utilized to prepare the pharmaceutical compounds of the present invention include , but are not limited to the following classes of compounds : esters ( e . g ., butacaine , chloroprocaine , cocaine , cyclomethycaine , hexylcaine , procaine , proparacaine , propoxycaine , tetracaine , benzocaine ), amide ( e . g ., bupivacaine , dibucaine , etidocaine , lidocaine , mepivacaine , ropivacaine , prilocaine ), dyclonine , pramoxine and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the above compounds . the nsaids that are suitable for preparation of the pharmaceutical compounds of the present invention include , but are not limited to : acetic acid derivatives ( eg , diclofenac , etodolac , ketorolac , and bromfenac ), propionic acid derivatives ( eg , ibuprofen , fenoprofen , fluriboprofen , ketoprofen , naproxen , suprofen ), fenamates ( eg , meclofenamate , mefenamic acid ), oxicam ( eg , piroxicam , meloxicam ), indole derivatives ( eg ., indomethacin , sulindac ), pyrazolone derivatives ( eg , phenylbutazone , oxyphenbutazone ), tolmetin , celecoxib , and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the above compounds . the preferred nsaids are diclofenac and ketorolac . in addition , when comparing to the individual nsaids and local anesthetics , the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the present invention , which are prepared by mixing equal moles of nsaids and local anesthetics together followed by crystallization , possess improved aqueous solubility as well as enhanced transdermal absorption of the skin . these improvements enable the preparations of the pharmaceutically acceptable salts in many different formulations with ease which in turn offer more treatment options to the patients . these improvements simplify the manufacturing process and maintain the product quality of the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the present invention . the pharmaceutical acceptable salts of the present invention are particularly suitable for formulations as injection solution and / or topical preparations . in the injection solution , the pharmaceutically acceptable salts are preferably first dissolved in benzyl alcohol . the dissolved pharmaceutical acceptable salts are then mixed with methyl paraben and propyl paraben , before the addition of water . formulations suitable for topical administration include liquid or semi - liquid preparations suitable for penetration through the skin to the site of where treatment is required . examples of liquid preparations include , but are not limited to topical solution or drops ( such as eye , ear , or nose drops ). examples of semi - liquid preparations include , but are not limited to liniments , lotions , creams , ointment or paste , gel , emugel . the pharmaceutical ingredients are in general those commonly used and generally recognized by person skilled in the art of pharmaceutical formulation . topical solution or eye drops of the present invention may contain aqueous or oily solution or suspensions . they may be prepared by dissolving the pharmaceutical compound in a suitable aqueous solution of a bactericidal and / or fungicidal agent and / or any other suitable preservative , and preferably including a surface active agent . for eye drops , it is preferred that the resulting solution be clarified by filtration , transferred to a suitable container which is then sealed and sterilized by autoclaving . as for other topical preparations , sterilization is generally not required . examples of bactericidal and fungicidal agents suitable for inclusion in the drops include , but are not limited to , phenylmercuric nitrate or acetate ( 0 . 002 %), benzalkonium chloride ( 0 . 01 %) and chlorhexidine acetate ( 0 . 01 %). suitable solvents for the preparation of an oily solution include glycerol , diluted alcohol and propylene glycol . optionally , l - menthol can be added to the topical solution . lotions and liniments according to the present invention include those suitable for application to the skin , which contain a sterile aqueous solution and optionally a bactericide . they may also include an agent to hasten drying and cooling of the skin , such as alcohol or acetone , and / or a moisturizer such as glycerol or an oil such as castor oil or arachis oil . cream , ointments or pastes are semi - solid formulations . they may be made by mixing the pharmaceutically acceptable salts in finely - divided or powdered form , alone or in solution or suspension in an aqueous or non - aqueous fluid , with the aid of suitable machinery , with a greasy or non - greasy base . the base may contain hydrocarbons . examples of the hydrocarbons include , but are not limited to , hard , soft , or liquid paraffin , glycerol , beeswax , a metallic soap , a mucilage , an oil of natural origin ( such as almond , corn , arachis , castor or olive oil ), wool fat or its derivative , and / or a fatty acid ( such as stearic acid or oleic acid ). the formulation may also contain a surface active agent , such as anionic , cationic or non - ionic surfactant . examples of the surfactants include , but are not limited to , sorbitan esters or polyoxyethylene derivatives thereof ( such as polyoxyethylene fatty acid esters ), and carboxypolymethylene derivatives thereof ( such as carbopol ). suspending agents such as natural gums , cellulose derivatives inorganic materials such as silicaceous silicas , and other ingredients such as lanolin , may also be included . for ointment , polyethylene glycol 540 , polyethylene glycol 3350 , and propyl glycol may also be used to mixed with the pharmaceutical compound . a gel or emugel formulation of the present invention includes any gel forming agent commonly used in pharmaceutical gel formulations . examples of gel forming agents are cellulose derivtives such as methyl cellulose , hydroxyethyl cellulose , and carboxymethyl cellulose ; vinyl polymers such as polyvinyl alcohols , polyvinyl pyrrolidones ; and carboxypoly - methylene derivatives such as carbopol . further gelling agents that can be used for the present invention are pectins , gums ( such as gum arabic and tragacanth , alginates , carrageenates , agar and gelatin ). the preferred gelling agent is carbopol . furthermore , the gel or emugel formulation may contain auxiliary agents commonly used in this kind of formulations such as preservatives , antioxidants , stabilizers , colorants and perfumes . the following examples are illustrative , but not limiting the scope of the present invention . reasonable variations , such as those occur to reasonable artisan , can be made herein without departing from the scope of the present invention . preparation of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid the diclofenac salt of lidocaine in example 1 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g alcohol 120 ml lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved in 20 ml of alcohol . diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) was dissolved in 100 ml of alcohol . the dissolved lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid solutions were thoroughly mixed . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 1 was obtained by removing the alchohol by natural evaporation ( i . e ., by allowing the sample to be naturally evaporated ), reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until complete dryness . lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) and diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) were thoroughly mixed and then added to 120 ml of alcohol . alternatively , lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were sequentially added to alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture were dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 1 was obtained as removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine bv lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 2 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine free base 2 . 3434 g diclofenac free acid 2 . 9615 g alcohol 120 ml lidocaine free base ( 2 . 3434 g ) was dissolved in 20 ml of alcohol . diclofenac free acid ( 2 . 9615 g ) was dissolved in 100 ml alcohol with optional heating to facilitate dissolution . the dissolved solutions of lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were mixed . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 2 was obtained by removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine free base ( 2 . 3434 g ) and diclofenac free acid ( 2 . 9615 g ) were thoroughly mixed and then added to 120 ml alcohol . alternatively , lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were sequentially added to alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture was dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 2 was obtained by removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 3 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g isopropyl alcohol 120 ml lidocaine base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved in 20 ml of isopropyl alcohol . diclofenac acid ( 29 . 615 g ) was dissolved in 100 ml of isopropyl alcohol with optional heating to facilitate the dissolution . the dissolved solutions of lidocaine and diclofenac were mixed . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 3 was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by nature evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) and diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) were mixed and then added to 120 ml of isopropyl alcohol . alternatively , lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were seqentially added to isopropyl alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture was completely dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 3 was obtained by removing the isopropyl by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 4 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g acetone 210 ml lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved in 10 ml acetone . diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) was dissolved in 210 ml of acetone with optional heating to facilitate the dissolution . the dissolved solutions of lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were thoroughly mixed . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 4 was obtained by removing the acetone by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) and diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) were mixed and then added to 210 ml of acetone . alternatively , lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were sequentially added to acetone . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture was completely dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 4 was obtained by removing the acetone by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 5 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g toluene 500 ml lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved in 500 ml toluene . diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) was added to the toluene solution containing dissolved lidocaine free base . the mixture was stirred until complete dissolution . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 5 was obtained by removing the toluene by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) and diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) were mixed and then added to 500 ml of toluene . alternatively , lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid were mixed or sequentially added to toluene . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture was dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 5 was obtained by removing the toluene by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 6 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine - hcl 25 g diclofenac diethylamine 5 . 8 g isopropyl alcohol 100 ml lidocaine - hcl ( 25 g ) was dissolved in isopropyl alcohol . diclofenac acid diethylamine ( 5 . 8 g ) was dissolved in isopropyl alcohol . the diclofenac solution was added to the lidocaine solution and mixed to form a uniform solution . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 6 was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine - hcl hydrochloride ( 25 g ) and diclofenac diethylamine ( 5 . 8 g ) were mixed and then added to 100 ml of isopropyl alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture was completely dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 6 was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a topical solution containing a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g l - menthol 2 g acetone 210 ml alcohol 5280 ml purified water 2640 ml total weight 8000 ml ( 1 ) lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved in acetone ( 10 ml ) with stirring . ( 2 ) diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 ml ) was dissolved in acetone 200 ml with stirring . ( 3 ) the solutions of ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) were mixed to form a uniform solution . the resultant solution was condensed under reduced pressure to produce a pharmaceutical compound of the present invention . ( 4 ) the pharmaceutical compound of ( 3 ) was dissolved in alcohol 4000 g . ( 5 ) l - menthol ( 2 g ) was added to the solution of ( 4 ) and mixed until complete dissolution . purified water ( 2640 ml ) was added to the resultant solution to a final volume of 8000 ml to produce the topical solution of the present invention . preparation of an injection solution containing a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g acetone 210 ml benzyl alcohol 500 ml methyl paraben 1 . 8 mg propyl paraben 0 . 2 mg water for injection q . s . to 10000 ml ( 1 ) lidocaine free base ( 29 . 615 g ) was dissolved in acetone ( 10 ml ) with stirring . ( 2 ) diclofenac free acid was dissolved in acetone ( 200 ml ) with stirring . ( 3 ) the solutions of ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) were mixed to form a uniform solution . the resultant solution was condensed under reduced pressure or vacuum condition to obtain a pharmaceutical compound of the present invention . ( 4 ) the pharmaceutical compound of ( 3 ) was dissolved in benzyl alcohol ( 500 ml ) with stirring . optionally , mild heating was applied to facilitate the dissolution . ( 5 ) methyl paraben ( 1 . 8 mg ) and propyl paraben ( 0 . 2 mg ) were added to the solution of ( 4 ) and mixed until complete dissolution . the resultant solution was q . s . with water to a final volume of 10000 ml . the solution was then passed through a 0 . 22 μm filter to form the injection solution of the present invention . preparation of a cream containing a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g acetone 210 ml polyoxyethylene fatty acid esters 200 g carboxypolymethylene ( carbopol ) 50 g purified water 100 g total weight 1000 g ( 1 ) lidocaine free base ( 29 . 615 g ) was dissolved in acetone ( 10 ml ) with stirring . ( 2 ) diclofenac free acid was dissolved in acetone ( 200 ml ) with stirring . ( 3 ) the solutions of ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) were mixed to form a uniform solution . the resultant solution was condensed under reduced pressure or vacuum condition to obtain a diclofenac salt of lidocaine of the present invention . ( 4 ) the compound of ( 3 ) and polyoxyethylene fatty acid esters ( 200 g ) were mixed and stirred with heating to form a uniform liquid . ( 5 ) carboxypolymethylene ( 50 g ) and purified water ( 500 g ) were mixed to form a uniform liquid . ( 6 ) the liquids of ( 4 ) and ( 5 ) were mixed to form a uniform mixture . purified water 196 . 951 g was added to the resultant mixture and stirred until a uniform mixture was formed to form the cream of the present invention . preparation of an ointment containing a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g acetone 210 ml polyethylene glycol 540 200 g polyethylene glycol 3350 646 . 951 g propyl glycol 100 g total weight 1000 g ( 1 ) lidocaine free base ( 29 . 615 g ) was dissolved in acetone ( 10 ml ) with stirring . ( 2 ) diclofenac free acid was dissolved in acetone ( 200 ml ) with stirring . ( 3 ) the solutions of ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) were mixed to form a uniform solution . the resultant solution was condensed under reduced pressure or vacuum condition to obtain a diclofenac salt of lidocaine of the present invention . ( 4 ) the compound of ( 3 ), polyethylene glycol 540 ( 200 g ), and polyethylene glycol 3350 ( 646 . 951 g ) were mixed and stirred with heat to form a uniform liquid . ( 5 ) the mixture of ( 4 ) and propyl glycol were mixed and stirred until a uniform mixture was formed to produce the pharmaceutical ointment of the present invention . ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine hcl 28 . 884 g diclofenac sodium 31 . 813 g alcohol 320 ml lidocaine - hcl ( 28 . 884 g ) was dissolved in 200 ml of alcohol . diclofenac sodium ( 31 . 813 g ) was dissolved in 120 ml of alcohol . the dissolved lidocaine - hcl and diclofenac sodium solutions were thoroughly mixed . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 11 was obtained by removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine - hcl ( 28 . 884 g ) and diclofenac sodium ( 31 . 813 g ) were thoroughly mixed and then added to 320 ml of alcohol . alternatively , lidocaine - hcl and diclofenac sodium were sequentially added to alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture were dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 11 was obtained by removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 12 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) lidocaine - hcl 28 . 884 g diclofenac sodium 31 . 813 g isopropyl alcohol 320 ml lidocaine - hcl ( 28 . 884 g ) was dissolved in 120 ml of isopropyl alcohol . diclofenac sodium ( 31 . 813 g ) was dissolved in 200 ml of isopropyl alcohol . the solutions of lidocaine - hcl and diclofenac sodium were mixed . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 12 was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . lidocaine - hcl ( 28 . 884 g ) and diclofenac sodium ( 31 . 813 g ) were mixed and then added to 320 ml of isopropyl alcohol . alternatively , diclofenac sodium and lidocaine hydrochloride were sequentially added to isopropyl alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the mixture was completely dissolved . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 12 was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a ketorolac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and ketorolac free acid the ketorolac salt of lidocaine pharmaceutical compound of example 13 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) ketorolac free acid 25 . 5 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g isopropyl alcohol 500 g ketorolac free acid ( 25 . 5 g ) was dissolved in isopropyl alcohol ( 300 ml ) with stirring . lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved with stirring in 200 ml isopropyl alcohol . the solutions of ketorolac and lidocaine were mixed to form a uniform solution . the ketorolac salt of lidocaine of the present invention was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . ketorolac free acid and lidocaine free base were mixed and then added to isopropyl alcohol . alternatively , ketorolac free acid and lidocaine free base were sequentially added to isopropyl alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the solids were dissolved . the ketorolac salt of lidocaine of the present invention was obtained by removing the isopropyl alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . preparation of a ketorolac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and ketorolac free acid the ketorolac salt of lidocaine of example 14 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) ketorolac free acid 25 . 5 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g alcohol 500 g ketorolac free acid ( 25 . 5 g ) was dissolved in alcohol ( 300 ml ) with stirring . lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved with stirring in 200 ml of alcohol . the solutions of ketorolac and lidocaine were mixed to form a uniform solution . the ketorolac salt of lidocaine of the present invention was obtained by removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen until the sample was completely dried . ketorolac free acid and lidocaine free base were mixed and then added to alcohol . alternatively , ketorolac free acid and lidocaine free base were sequentially added to alcohol . the resultant mixture was then stirred until the solids were dissolved . the ketorolac salt of lidocaine of the present invention was obtained by removing the alcohol by natural evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen , until the sample was completely dried . preparation of an injection solution containing a ketorolac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and ketorolac free acid ingredients weight ( g ) or volume ( ml ) ketorolac free acid 25 . 5 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g alcohol 500 g water for injection q . s . to 1000 ml sodium chloride 9 mg ( 1 ) ketorolac free acid ( 25 . 5 g ) was dissolved in alcohol ( 300 ml ) with stirring . ( 2 ) lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) was dissolved in alcohol ( 200 ml ) with stirring . ( 3 ) the solutions of ketorolac free acid and lidocaine free base were mixed to form a uniform solution . the solution was sterile - filtered and then condense under reduced pressure or vacuum condition to produce a pharmaceutical compound of the present invention . ( 4 ) the compound of ( 3 ) was dissolved , with stirring , in 400 ml of purified water . sodium chloride was added to the resultant solution and stirred until the sample was completely dissolved . ( 5 ) additional water was added to the solution of ( 4 ) to q . s . the a final volume to 1000 ml . the resultant aqueous solution was passed through a 0 . 22 μm filter to provide the sterile pharmaceutical injection solution of example 15 . preparation of a ketorolac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and ketorolac free acid ingredients weight ( g ) ketorolac free acid 25 . 5 g lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g ketorolac free acid and lidocaine free base were mixed and then pulverized in a mortar with a pestle or using other physical mechanical forces to produce the ketorolac salt of lidocaine . the ketorolac salt of lidocaine could be further purified by dissolving the salt in a solvent followed by removing the solvent by evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 17 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) ketorolac tromethamine 25 g lidocaine hydrochloride 28 . 884 g ketorolac tromethamine ( 25 g ) and lidocaine hydrochloride ( 28 . 884 g ) were mixed and then pulverized in a mortar with a pestle or using other physical mechanical forces to produce the ketorolac salt of lidocaine . the ketorolac salt of lidocaine could be further purified by dissolving the sample in a solvent followed by removing the solvent by evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen . ingredients weight ( g ) lidocaine hydrochloride 28 . 884 g diclofenac sodium 31 . 813 g lidocaine hydrochloride ( 28 . 884 g ) and diclofenac sodium ( 31 . 813 g ) were mixed and then pulverized in a mortar with a pestle or using other physical mechanical forces to produce the diclofenac salt of lidocaine . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine could be further purified by dissolving the compound in a solvent followed by removing the solvent by evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen . preparation of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 19 contained the following ingredients : ingredients weight ( g ) lidocaine free base 23 . 434 g diclofenac free acid 29 . 615 g lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) and diclofenac ( 29 . 615 g ) were mixed and then pulverized in a mortar with a pestle or using other physical mechanical forces to produce the diclofenac salt of lidocaine . the diclofenac salt of lidocaine could be further purified by dissolving the sample in a solvent followed by removing the solvent by evaporation , reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation , or drying under nitrogen . the characteristics of the above examples were further determined using the following instruments : ( 1 ) hplc , ( 2 ) uv spectroscopy , ( 3 ) ftir , ( 4 ) lc - ms , ( 5 ) dsc , and ( 6 ) tga . the results demonstrate that the pharmaceutically acceptable salts were compounds that were physically and chemically different from the nsaid alone or the local anesthetic agent alone , as shown by dsc thermogram , tga weight loss profile , ir spectrum and hplc . the following experimental examples 1 - 4 are selective results of the pharmaceutically acceptable salts analyzed by hplc ( experimental example 1 ), dsc ( experimental example 2 ), and tga ( experimental example 3 ) and ftir ( experimental example 4 ). these experimental examples are for illustrative purpose . they are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention . reasonable variations , such as those occur to reasonable artisan , can be made herein without departing from the scope of the present invention . hplc analysis of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid hplc analysis was conducted using a mobile phase containing n - hexane , 1 , 4 - dioxane , ethanol , isopropyl alcohol , and water at a volume ratio of 560 : 320 : 120 : 4 : 2 . the flow rate was at 1 . 2 ml / min . the compound was detected at a wavelength of 280 nm . the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of experimental example 1 was prepared according to example 1 ( supra ) by mixing equal moles of lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid in alcohol followed by removing the alcohol by evaporation . if the resulting diclofenac salt of lidocaine was a simple mixture of lidocaine and diclofenac , the weight percents of the nsaid and the local anesthetic in the mixture should be unchanged , i . e ., the resulting compound should have the same weight percentages as those of the individual nsaid and local anesthetic . hplc analysis of the weight percents of lidocaine free base ( 23 . 434 g ) and diclofenac free acid ( 29 . 615 g ) were 44 % and 56 % respectively in the mixture . however , the hplc analysis of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine demonstrated weight percents of the lidocaine portion and the diclofenac portion as 43 . 2 % and 57 . 4 % respectively , indicating that the diclofenac salt of lidocaine differed from a mixture of lidocaine and diclofenac . in other words , a new compound , which was physically and chemically different from its parent compounds , lidocaine and diclofenac , was formed . differential scanning calorimetry ( dsc ) analysis of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base - diclofenac free acid lidocaine free base , diclofenac free acid , and diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared by the methods described in the present invention were analyzed by dsc . as shown in fig1 the free base of lidocaine had an onset temperature at 66 . 87 ° c . its endothermal maximum of melting was at 67 . 93 ° c . as shown in fig2 the free acid of diclofenac had an onset temperature at 178 . 12 ° c . its endothermal maximum of melting was at 178 . 99 ° c . the thermogram as shown in fig3 represented the diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared by the method described in example 4 ( i . e ., by dissolving the lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid in acetone followed by evaporation of the acetone ). this diclofenac salt of lidocaine had an onset temperature of 96 . 0 ° c . and an endothermal maximum of melting at 99 . 71 ° c ., which were significantly different from those of the lidocaine free base alone or the diclofenac free acid alone . also , the thermogram as shown in fig4 represented the diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared by the method described in example 3 ( i . e ., by dissolving the lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid in isopropyl alcohol followed by evaporation of the isopropyl alcohol ). the diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared by this method demonstrated an onset temperature of 95 . 02 ° c . and an endothermal maximum of melting at 101 . 82 ° c ., which were similar to the onset temperature of 96 . 0 ° c . and endothermal maximum of melting at 99 . 71 ° c . shown in the diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 3 . also , similar to the dsc thermogram of fig3 the dsc pattern of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine as shown in fig4 was distinctively different from that of the lidocaine free base alone or diclofenac free acid alone . finally , as shown in fig5 which represented a thermogram of dsc where the diclofenac salt of lidocaine was prepared by example 1 ( i . e ., by dissolving the lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid in alcohol followed by removing the alcohol by evaporation ). this diclofenac salt of lidocaine of example 1 showed an onset temperature of 93 . 16 ° c . and an endothermal maximum of melting at 101 . 49 ° c ., which were very similar to the data shown in fig3 and 4 . this finding suggested that the diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared by different solvents demonstrated similar melting properties and were distinctively different from both the lidocaine free base alone or diclofenac free acid alone . if the diclofenac salt of lidocaine was simply a combination of the compounds it originated , the dsc spectrum should show two separate endothermal melting peaks corresponding to the enthermal melting peaks of the lidocaine alone and the diclofenac alone . however , based on the findings in fig3 - 5 , only one single melting peak in the dsc spectrum was found in the diclofenac salt of lidocaine . also , the melting peak of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine ranged from ( 99 . 71 ° c . [ fig3 ] to 101 . 82 ° c . [ fig4 ]) was significant different from that of either the lidocaine alone [ 67 . 93 ° c .] or the diclofenac alone [ 178 . 99 ° c .]. this supported the finding that the diclofenac salt of lidocaine was not a simple mixture of the lidocaine free base and the diclofenac free acid . thermogravimetric ( tga ) analysis of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base - diclofenac free acid lidocaine free base , diclofenac free acid , and the diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared by the methods described in the present invention were analyzed by tga . as shown in fig6 the profile of weight loss versus temperature of the free base of lidocaine base in tga analysis showed that at 250 ° c ., the % of the remaining weight of the free base of lidocaine was less than 0 . 1 %. as shown in fig7 the profile of weight loss versus temperature of free acid of diclofenac in tga analysis showed that at 250 ° c ., the % of the remaining weight of the free acid of diclofenac was about 35 . 33 %. however , as shown in fig8 the tga profile of weight loss versus temperature of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine showed that at 250 ° c ., the % of the remaining weight was about 53 . 05 %. the diclofenac salt of lidocaine was prepared by dissolving the lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid in acetone , followed by removal of the acetone by natural evaporation . also as shown in fig9 the tga profile of weight loss versus temperature of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine showed that at 250 ° c ., the % of the remaining weight was about 37 . 40 %. the diclofenac salt of lidocaine was prepared by dissolving the lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid in acetone , followed by removal of the acetone by reduced - pressure or vacuum condensation . the results of the tga study indicated that the weight loss versus temperature profile of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine were distinctively different from that of the free base lidocaine but more similar to that of the free acid diclofenac . the results also indicated that different solvent removal methods might contribute to the production of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine with slightly different tga profile . ftir analysis of of a diclofenac salt of lidocaine made by lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid infrared spectroscopy ( ir ) has long been used in the evaluation of chemical compounds . fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ( ftir ) has been used to identify and evaluate organic and inorganic materials or compounds . using ftir , spectral data is collected and converted from an interference pattern to a spectrum . the system provides for subtractive elimination of background spectra , such that particular chemical compounds can be identified by a molecular “ fingerprint .” in the present studies , diclofenac free acid , lidocaine free base , a mixture of lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid ( without solvent dissolution or pulverization ), and a diclofenac salt of lidocaine according to example 1 ( supra ) were analyzed using ftir . the results were shown in fig1 - 13 . [ 0163 ] fig1 shows the ir spectrum of diclofenac free acid using ftir . there were 5 peaks identified in the diclofenac free acid ir spectrum which were unique to diclofenac . the wavelengths of these 5 peaks were 764 . 57 cm − 1 , 773 . 83 cm − 1 , 1302 . 05 cm − 1 , 1501 . 69 cm − 1 and 1577 . 81 cm − 1 ]. [ 0164 ] fig1 shows the ir spectrum of lidocaine using ftir . there were 6 peaks identified in the lidocaine free base ir spectrum which were unique to diclofenac . the wavelengths of these 6 peaks were 764 . 57 cm − 1 , 1066 . 58 cm − 1 , 1199 . 67 cm − 1 , 1296 . 93 cm − 1 , 1491 . 45 cm − 1 , 1669 . 99 cm − 1 . none of the peaks identified in the diclofenac free acid were identical to those found in lidocaine , suggesting that the characteristics of lidocaine and diclofenac were not common to each other . [ 0165 ] fig1 shows the ir spectrum of a mixture of equal moles of lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid . the mixture was without further pulverization or solvent dissolution . as shown in fig1 , at least 8 peaks , which were 758 . 46 cm − 1 , 778 . 95 cm − 1 , 1076 . 82 cm − 1 , 1281 . 58 cm − 1 , 1367 . 85 cm − 1 , 1501 . 69 cm − 1 , 1582 . 93 cm − 1 , and 1670 . 61 cm − 1 , were found in fig1 . none of the peaks found in diclofenac free acid was found in the mixture of lidocaine and diclofenac was identical . there was also no identical peak between lidocaine and the mixture of lidocaine and diclofenac . [ 0166 ] fig1 shows the ir spectrum of the diclofenac salt of lidocaine prepared according to example 1 ( supra ). seven ir peaks were found in this compound , which were 737 . 98 cm − 1 , 1041 . 11 cm − 1 , 1276 . 46 cm − 1 , 1367 . 85 cm − 1 , 1501 . 69 cm − 1 , 1572 . 69 cm − 1 , and 1701 . 32 cm − 1 . only one out of the 7 peaks , i . e ., 1367 . 85 cm − 1 was identical to the mixture of lidocaine and diclofenac ( fig1 ), suggesting that the diclofenac salt of lidocaine was chemically and physically different from the mixture of lidocaine free base and diclofenac free acid . while the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of the preferred embodiments , 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 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 .
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US-26209802-A
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a vented closure is provided in which a ptfe membrane layer comprises a vent for releasing accumulated gas pressure . the membrane is carried on a structural support which may vary from a fabric type backing to a porous plastic stem , the support permitting a variety of improved vent architecture to be utilized including vents with reduced material requirements , improved geometry , and better handling characteristics .
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as best seen in fig1 a preferred closure for a threaded container is provided by a plastic closure 1 defining a series of internal threads 3 . an integral , molded tubular stem 5 is defined along an interior surface 7 of closure 1 . stem 5 is porous in that it defines a lateral passage 9 which is in communication along either passage end with an edge of stem 5 . passage 9 is in further communication with a second passage 11 , passage 11 being defined along an axis of stem 5 and in further communication with an exterior surface 13 of closure 1 . an irregular upper surface 19 is provide immediately surrounding the upper closure aperture associated with passage 11 . surface 19 , is preferably stippled or features a raised surface pattern or other surface design which prevents a sticker or other decal from physically sealing the aperture region of passage 11 . a membrane sleeve 15 of ptfe surrounds an exterior surface of stem 5 . preferably , sleeve 15 is inserted over stem 5 where the inner diameter of sleeve 15 slightly exceeds the outer diameter of stem 5 . stem 5 provides a mechanical support for sleeve 15 . the tight fit insures the membrane is held in position and also prevents the migration of fluids along the stem / membrane interface . stem 5 and sleeve 15 collectively define the closure vent . as seen in fig1 the membrane covers the stem apertures defined by passage 9 . the ptfe material for membrane sleeve 15 is a oleophobic / hydrophobic material extrudable into a seamless tube of desired diameter which possess the desired gas permeability properties while preventing the passage of fluids . one such supplier of this material is w . l . gore & amp ; co . ( putzbrunn , germany ). the sleeve material thickness can be varied across a rather broad range . at present , a thickness ranging between 0 . 5 - 1 . 0 mm has been found useful in that the material is easier to handle . however , thinner material stocks will perform the venting function as would a ptfe layer carried on a gas permeable support backing . an additional embodiment ( not pictured ) could be provided by wrapping support stem 5 with one or more layers of a much thinner membrane material . alternatively , a portion of stem 5 could be supplied as a snap - in component which is prewrapped or equipped with the ptfe membrane layer . the above embodiments are well suited for containers housing extremely viscous fluids such as some water soluble surfactants and detergents . typical flat vents are easily blocked by a layer of viscous material . resulting pressure buildup within the container may actually trap the viscous fluids against the membrane surface , rendering the vent inoperative . the position and columnar shape of stem 5 , promotes the collection and removal of fluids by gravity . the surface properties of the membrane tend to further repel the viscous fluid . as a result of the clearing action , the vent becomes operational even after an internal pressure has accumulated . as seen in figure two , an alternative embodiment is illustrated in which the membrane sleeve 15 has a crimped end 17 . providing a crimped , sealed end allows axial passage 11 to extend the length of stem 5 . further , the crimped end may provide improved handling properties for the mechanical manipulation of the membrane material , such material having a low coefficient of friction and therefore is difficult to manipulate . for less viscous contents , an additional embodiment is seen in reference to fig3 in which an aperture 21 is defined through the closure top . a vent 32 comprising a barrier layer of ptfe 31 carried on a polyester support backing 33 is affixed in a permanent , liquid - tight seal covering the passage 21 opening of the inner cap . one source of the support - backed material is w . l . gore & amp ; co . ( putzbrunn , germany ). the cap aperture diameter can vary in size . effective results have been obtained with a diameter of less than 1 mm though any size opening sufficient to allow pressure to be released through the vent will suffice . a preferred method of attaching the vent is through sonic welding . the support backing 33 can be of polyester or any of a wide variety of other compatible materials which offer mechanical support to and facilitate the handling of the ptfe membrane material . polyester is one preferred material given its low cost , gas permeability , and its compatibility with the welding process . the support backing can be supplied as a fabric - based component of the vent as seen in fig3 and 4 . however , other structural support materials may include any gas permeable material including a porous plastic . the support can vary in shape and thickness and may be integral with the closure or provided as a separate structure comprising the vent . preferably , the support material is either conducive to sonic welding or other well known attachment methods suitable for the environmental conditions , or is integral to the cap and facilitates the attachment of the membrane barrier to the support , thereby providing the vent . the vent size and shape is only limited by the mechanical difficulties of handling small pieces of the vent material as well as the physical properties , such as viscosity , of the material which requires venting . as previously mentioned , if a vent becomes occluded with a viscous material , pressure accumulations may render the vent inoperative as pressure traps the material against the vent , effectively sealing the vent and preventing pressure release . a third embodiment of the instant invention address the competing problems of decreasing the size / cost of the ptfe containing vent versus a smaller vent size which is more prone to product blockage . as seen in fig4 vent 32 is constructed with a support backing 33 and a ptfe barrier layer 31 . a conical , raised bead 35 is formed in the vent so that a &# 34 ; drip point &# 34 ; is present to promote drainage of any fluids which may adhere to the vent . the conical bead is formed by placing the vent structure over a metal plate defining a conical shaped depression or mold . with the barrier surface facing the depression , a heated probe tip is used to form bead 35 within the mold . ideally , the conical probe tip is maintained at a temperature which matches the softening temperature of the carrier material . upon softening and forming the bead , the probe tip is removed . upon slight cooling , the carrier material is set in the molded , pressed shape to form bead 35 . in accordance with this invention , it has been found that moderately viscous materials will slough off the bead and vent even under pressurized conditions . the size of the vent is again limited only by the viscosity of the container fluid and practical aspects of handling and sonic welding of the vent . the presence of a backing material enables a reduced thickness membrane material to be used compared to the first two embodiments . the backing improves the structural strength and handling characteristics of the vent . the overall vent thickness is approximately 0 . 25 mm , the membrane portion having a thickness of about 0 . 025 mm . the above described embodiments represent a significant advancement over known prior art vented cap structures . extremely viscous materials , which heretofore precluded the use of vented closures , can now be dispensed in a vented container . the vent provides a geometry and position which promotes self - clearing of the vent . it has also been found that a vent can be sonically welded as part of an integral cap structure . this ability permits reduced sized vents to be provided at a substantial cost savings over vent structures in which the membrane material is used as a liner . a sonically welded vent can also be formed into a conical shape to promote the clearing of the vent . however , it is understood that many variations are apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from a reading of the above specification and such variations are within the spirit and scope of the instant invention as defined by the following appended claims .
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US-88162497-A
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this invention relates to monoclonal antibodies recognizing the gp130 antigen of human cells . monoclonal antibodies which recognize distinct determinants on this antigen and methods of detecting the determinants by immunoassay with the monoclonal antibodies which recognize them are disclosed . the monoclonal antibodies are useful in the detection of the gp130 antigen and human cells including melanoma which contain this antigen .
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the hybridoma lines disclosed in the present invention bear the designated deposit number and are deposited with sloan - kettering institute , 1275 york avenue , new york , n . y , 10021 . preferred cell lines of the present invention are also deposited at the patent culture depository of the american type culture collection 12301 parklawn drive , lockville md . u . s . a ., and bear the following deposit numbers hybridoma cell line 986 . 35 was deposited on nov . 21 , 1986 pursuant to , and in satisfaction of the requirements of the budapest treaty on the international recognition of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedure . the hybridoma cell line ma6 829 / ns . 1 was originally deposited with the atcc as a national deposit on mar . 31 , 1983 and was subsequently converted , on sept . 4 , 1987 , to satisfy the requirements of the budapest treaty on the international recognition of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedure deposit is for the purpose of enabling disclosure only and is not intended to limit the concept of the present invention to the particular materials deposited . tissue culture . melanoma and other cell lines were derived as described previously ( albino , a . p ., k . o . lloyd , a . n . houghton , h . f . oettgen and l . j . old , supra ; carey , t . e ., t . takahashi , l . a . resnick , h . f . oettgen and l . j old , 1976 , proc . nat &# 39 ; l . acad . sci ., u . s . a ., 73 : 3278 ; ueda , r ., h shiku , m . pfreundschuh , t . takahashi , l . t . c . li , w . f . whitmore , jr ., h . f . oettgen and l . j . old , 1979 , j . exp . med . 150 : 564 ). b cell lines were derived from virus ( ebv ) from the b . 95 . 8 marmoset lymphoid line . cultures were maintained in eagle &# 39 ; s minimum essential medium supplemented with 2 mm glutamine , 1 % non - essential amino acids , 100 u / ml penicillin , 100 μg / ml streptomycin , and 10 % fetal bovine serum ( fbs ) serological procedures . the protein a - mixed hemadsorption ( pa - mha ) and anti - mouse igg - mha assays were performed as previously described ( albino , a . p ., k . o . lloyd , a . n . houghton , h . f . oettgen and l . j . old , 1981 , supra . target cells ( plated 1 - 2 days previously ) and mouse monoclonal sera were incubated for 1 hr at 37 ° c . after washing the target cells , indicator cells were added and incubated with target cells for 1 hr . the plates were then washed gently and reactions evaluated under light microscopy . qualitative absorption tests were performed by absorbing 30 - 50 μl of serum ( diluted according to the endpoint ) with an equal volume of washed packed cells for 1 hr at room temperature for residual antibody on target cells grown in falcon 3034 plates ( falcon plasticware ). immunization . ( balb / c × c57bl / 6 ) f 1 female mice were immunized with sk - mel - 28 , an established melanoma cell line by seven immunizations over a 7 - month interval with increasing number of cells . for the initial immunization , 2 × 10 6 melanoma cells were injected subcutaneously with freund &# 39 ; s complete adjuvant . the mice are further immunized at 4 - week intervals by intraperitoneal inoculation of melanoma cells . the final immunization consisted of 50 × 10 6 melanoma cells , injected intraperitoneally and intravenously . other mice were immunized with a soluble antigen preparation consisting of a papain - digest of sk - mel - 28 ( carey , t . e ., k . o . lloyd , t . takahashi , l . r . travassos and l . j . old , 1979 , proc . nat &# 39 ; l . acad . sci ., u . s . a . 76 : 2898 )) which was subsequently fractionated by concanavalin a - sepharose and subtractive affinity chromatography on a mouse anti - hla ( w6 / 32 )- sepharose column . production of mouse monoclonal antibodies . the fusion of immune spleen cells with mouse myeloma mopc - 21 ns - 1 cells ( ratio - 5 - 10 : 1 ) was performed as described ( dippold , w . g ., k . o . lloyd , l . t . c . li , h . ikeda , h . f . oettgen and l . j . old , supra . antibody subclass was determined by double diffusion in agar with anti - ig heavy chain - specific reagents . cultures of cloned hybridomas were injected subcutaneously into nu / nu ( athymic ) mice ( nih / swiss background ). sera from mice with progressively growing tumors were used for serological and biochemical characterization . production of f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 antibody fragments . monoclonal antibody 846 was purified by the procedure of ley et al . ( ey , p . l ., s . j . prowse and c . r . jenkin , 1978 , immunochem . 15 : 429 ). briefly , 3 ml of mouse ascites fluid was mixed with 3 ml of 0 . 1m sodium phosphate , ph 8 . 0 and adjusted to ph 8 1 , with 1m tris hcl , ph 9 . 0 . this sample was then applied to a column packed with 5 ml of protein a - sepharose 4b ( sigma chemical co ., st louis , mo . ), and pre - equilibrated with 0 . 1 sodium phosphate , ph 8 . 0 at 4 ° c . the 846 igg antibody was eluted from the column with 50 ml 0 . 1m sodium citrate , ph 6 . 0 . this solution was dialyzed against two liters of 0 . 1m sodium acetate , ph 4 . 1 and the solution containing 5 mg igg 1 antibody was then reduced to a volume of 2 ml by pressure dialysis in an amicon chamber . pepsin ( 300 μg ) was then added and the solution was incubated for 16 hours at 37 ° c . the solution was neutralized with 0 . 1n naoh to a final ph of 8 . 0 , then passed over a 5 ml column of protein a - sepharose 4b ( see above ), to remove any intact immunoglobulins . the nonabsorbed flow - through was collected and tested for residual reactivity with protein a to show that all protein a - binding activity had been removed . f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments of 846 monoclonal antibody were stored at - 20 ° c . until needed . radioiodination . 846 antibodies were labeled with 125 i using the procedure of hunter and greenwood ( hunter , m . m . and f . c . greenwood , 1982 . nature 194 : 495 ). protein a - purified 846 igg antibody ( 50 μg ) was labeled with 1 mci 125 i and separated from unbound 125 i on a biogel p - 30 column . immunoprecipitation procedures . sk - mel - 28 cells were labeled as follows : ( i ) metabolic incorporation of [ 35 s ] methionine ( amersham , 1000 ci / mmol ; 1 ci = 3 . 7 × 10 10 becquerels ) by using 250 μ ci in 10 ml of methionine - free minimal essential medium ( mem ) containing 1 % fetal bovine serum ( fbs ) for 16 hours and ( ii ) metabolic incorporation of [ 3 h ] glucosamine ( 30 - 60 ci / mmol ) by using 150 μ ci in 10 ml of minimal essential medium with 10 % ( vol / vol ) fbs for 72 hrs . labeled cells were extracted with 0 . 1 % nonidet p - 40 in 0 . 15m nacl / 0 . 01m tris , ph 7 . 2 ( tris buffer ) containing 0 . 1 mm phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride , and the solution was clarified by centrifugation at 100 , 000 × g and filtered through a 0 . 22 - μm filter . immunoprecipitation was carried out by mixing a portion of the cell extract ( 5 - 10 × 10 5 cpm ) with 5 μl of mouse antibody , 15 μl of rabbit anti - mouse ig ( cappel laboratories , cochranville , pa .) serum , and 500 μl of 0 . 1 % nonidet p - 40 in tris buffer with 1 % gammaglobulin - free fbs . before use , cell extracts ( 0 . 1 - 1 ml ) were precleared with 5 μl of normal mouse serum , 15 μl of rabbit anti - mouse ig and 200 μl of 10 % ( wt / vol ) staphylococcus aureus suspension . immune complexes were isolated by using s . aureus , and the labeled components were detected by sodium - dodecyl - sulfate / polyacrlyamide gel electrophoresis and fluorography as described ( dippold , w . g ., k . o . lloyd , l . t . c . li , h . ikeda , h . f . oettgen and l . j . old , supra . pulse - labeling procedures . sk - mel - 28 cells in logarithmic phase of growth were cultured with 10 ml of methionine - free mem at 37 ° c . for 60 min . this medium was then removed and duplicate plates of cells were incubated at 37 ° c . for 15 min . the medium was removed and the plates of cells were incubated with 3 ml of the same medium plus 100 - 200 [ 35 s ] methionine and incubated at 37 ° c . for 15 min . the medium was removed and the plates washed two times with cold mem , when re - fed with prewarmed mem plus 10 % fbs . after varying chase periods , the cells were washed twice in cold phosphate - buffered salone ( pbs ) and lysed with 0 . 5 % nonidet p - 40 / 0 . 5 % deoxycholate in 0 . 05m nacl / 0 . 02 m tris , ph 7 . 4 containing 0 . 2 mm phenyl - methylsulfonyl fluoride . the solution was clarified at 10 , 000 × g and the supernatant was used for immunoprecipitation reactions as described above . endo . h treatment . sk - mel - 28 cells were pulse - labeled for 15 min and chased for 60 and 4 . 5 hours . the cells were washed and lysed , and the resulting supernatants were reacted with the 846 monoclonal antibody . after immunoprecipitation , the resulting immune complexes were dissociated in 1 % sds / 0 . 005m tris hcl ph 5 . 5 . the supernatants were diluted to 0 . 2 % sds with 50 mm tris hcl ph 5 . 5 and divided into two fractions . one set ( i . e ., the 15 min pulse , the 15 min pulse with a 60 min chase , and the 15 min pulse with a 4 . 5 hr chase ) received 2 mu endo - - n - acetylglucosamidase ( endo - h ) and was incubated at 37 ° c . for 5 hrs . a duplicate set received the same treatment but without the addition of any enzyme . after incubation , 5 g dithiothreitol was added to each tube which was then heated at 100 ° c . for 2 min and analyzed on a 7 . 5 % sds - polyacrylamide gel . table i__________________________________________________________________________characterization of four mouse monoclonal antibodiesdetecting gp130 846 239 829 986 titer × titer × titer × titer × cells 10 . sup .- 3 abs . 10 . sup .- 3 abs . 10 . sup .- 3 abs . 10 . sup .- 3 abs . __________________________________________________________________________melanomas : sk - mel - 13 1500 + 1500 + 1000 + 500 + 28 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 500 + 29 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 500 + 37 1500 + 1500 + 1000 + 200 + 75 1500 + 1000 + 1000 + 1000 + 90 1000 + 1000 + 500 + 200 + 113 1500 + 1500 + 500 + 250 + 117 1500 + 1000 + 500 + 125 + 119 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 125 + 129 1500 + 1500 + 500 + 50 + 131 1500 + 1500 + 500 + 50 + 133 1500 + 1000 + 500 + 1000 + 149 1500 + 1500 + 1000 + 500 + 41 1500 + 1500 + 1000 + 10 + 63 1000 + 1000 + 1000 + 10 + 64 1000 + 1000 + 1000 + 20 + 73 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 10 + 87 1500 + 1000 + 200 + 10 + 93 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 250 + 61 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 72 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 78 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - neuroblastomassk - nsh 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 250 + sk - nmc 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + astrocytomasu251 → 1500 + 1500 + 1500 + 150 + sk - mg - 4 100 + 50 + 50 + 5 +/- sk - mg - 7 0 . 5 +/- 0 . 5 +/- 0 - 0 - sk - mg - 1 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - c - 12 fetal brain 0 . 4 + 0 . 05 + 0 . 05 + 0 - renal cancer : sk - rc - 6 20 + 20 + 2 +/- 0 - sk - rc - 1 10 +/- 10 +/- 1 +/- 0 - caki - 1 5 - 5 - 1 - 0 - sk - rc - 2 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - sk - rc - 7 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - sk - rc - 8 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - sk - rc - 9 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - sk - rc - 28 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - normal kidney - hy 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 . 1 +/- normal kidney - id 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 . 5 + ero ( african green ) 10 + 5 + 5 +/- 0 - __________________________________________________________________________ serological specificity of anti - gp130 monoclonal antibodies . mouse monoclonal antibodies were produced against the human melanoma line , sk - mel - 28 , and a lectin - affinity purified membrane fraction of these cells . eight antibody - producing clones were selected for detailed analysis ( q . 14 , q . 24 , n . 9 , r . 23 , 846 , 239 , 986 , 829 ). clones q14 , q24 , n9 and r23 are disclosed in dippoled , et al supra . the serological specificity of the four new monoclonal antibodies 846 , 239 , 986 and 829 was determined using a panel of 80 human cell lines ( 40 melanomas , 7 gliomas , 12 epithelial cancers , 8 renal cancers , 4 lymphomas , 4 ebv - transformed b cell lines and 5 normal cell lines ) and 4 xenogeneic cell lines ( table 1 ). the serological analysis revealed that these four monoclonal antibodies had reactivities similar to each other and to four previously reported antibodies . radioimmunoprecipitation analysis . radioimmunoprecipitation experiments indicated that each of the eight monoclonal antibodies , with the exception of 986 and 829 , precipitates a 130 , 000 molecular weight protein from cells radiolabeled with [ 3 h ] glucosamine . the similarity in serological specificities between the 986 and 829 antibodies and the other six monoclonals show that these two antibodies were also detecting the gp130 ( see table 1 ), even though they are unable to efficiently immunoprecipitate it . furthermore , subtle differences between the serological reactivities of the 986 and 829 antibodies show that they may also detect epitopes spatially distinct from one another . when the 986 and 829 antibodies are mixed in equal proportions , strong precipitation of gp130 occurs . efficient precipitation of gp130 does not occur when either of the antibodies is used alone , even when the antibody concentration is increased as much as five - fold . further , the precipitation of gp130 with the combination of 986 and 829 antibodies is not the result of a nonspecific reaction since mixing either antibody with an unrelated antibody does not result in strong precipitation of the gp130 . mixing either 986 and 829 antibodies with a monoclonal antibody directed against a m r 95 , 000 glycoprotein also present on melanoma cells results in the efficient precipitation of only the gp95 . therefore , ( a ) the 986 and 829 antibodies detect the same gp130 molecule and ( b ) these antibodies are directed against two different epitopes on the gp130 . immunodepletion experiments indicate that the other six monoclonal antibodies detect the same 130 , 000 molecular weight glycoprotein and not unrelated molecules of similar mass . epitope analysis . in order to determine the actual number of epitopes detected by the eight anti - gp130 monoclonal antibodies , two variations of competition - binding assays were used . the first is a non - radioactive assay based on antibody competition for reactive sites on the cell surface of cultured melanoma cells . the scheme of this assay is as follows : ( 1 ) first prepare f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments from the 846 antibody . f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments can still combine with antigen but cannot be detected by the protein a - mha assay used as protein a requires an intact fc portion for binding . ( 2 ) block all the reactive sites of the gp130 antigen with a dilution series of 846 f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments . ( 3 ) determine if any of the other intact anti - gp130 monoclonal antibodies can bind to gp130 antigen , using the pa - mha assay . since protein a reacts with the fc portion of immunoglobulins , only intact gp130 antibodies which are attached to an epitope not spatially blocked by the 846 f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments will be detected . f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments prepared from the 846 monoclonal antibody completely inhibits reactivity with the homologous intact antibody . q . 14 , q . 24 , 239 and 846 are effectively blocked by 846 f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments . the essentially identical characteristics of the blocking reactions indicates that these four antibodies probably detect the same epitope ( determinant a ). the n . 9 , 986 and 829 antibodies are not blocked to any detectable degree by the 846 f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments and therefore detect epitopes spatially distinct from that defined by the 846 group . r . 23 antibody appears to be partially blocked by 846 f ( ab &# 39 ;) 2 fragments and may , therefore , detect an epitope spatially closer to the a determinant . these results were confirmed using a second assay based on the ability of bound intact igg to complete with 125 i - labeled igg monoclonal antibodies 846 , q . 14 , q . 24 and 239 completely inhibit binding of 125 i - labeled 846 antibody whereas 829 , 986 and n . 9 do not . the immunoprecipitation data indicates that the 986 ( determinant c ) and 829 ( determinant b ) antibodies recognize epitopes distinct from one another the n . 9 antibody appears to recognize a fourth determinant , as it is not blocked by the 846 antibody , but unlike 829 and 986 , can efficiently immunoprecipitate gp130 from cell lysates . further , n . 9 antibody biosynthetically labeled with [ 35 s ]- methionine did not block binding of non radioactive 829 or 986 antibodies . taken together these results show that the eight monoclonal antibodies tested detect four and possibly 5 , different epitopes on gp130 . intracellular processing of the gp130 molecule . sk - mel - 28 melanoma cells were pulsed with [ 35 s ] methionine for 15 min , then chased with non - radioactive medium for increasing periods of time . the cells were washed , lysed and immunoprecipitated with monoclonal antibody 846 . after a 15 minute pulse , the only protein species specifically precipitated by 846 antibody migrated with a molecular weight of 100 , 000 . the precursor can also be precipitated by the q . 14 , q . 24 , r . 23 , n . 9 and 239 antibodies . the 986 and 829 antibodies cannot precipitate the precursor individually but can do so if combined . half - life of gp130 and pr100 molecules . sk - mel - 28 cells were pulse - labeled for 15 min with [ 35 s ] methionine , chased for increasing periods of time and then lysed and immunoprecipitated with the 846 monoclonal antibody . the precipitated radiolabeled pr100 precursor and gp130 end product were resolved on polyacrlyamide gels by fluorography . the bands were cut the number of counts were quantitated . the results of this experiment indicate that the 100 kd precursor has a half - life of 45 min , while the 130 kd end product has a half - life in excess of 12 hrs . this is in contrast to another melanoma - associated antigen , gp95 , thought to be related to transferring ( brown , j . p ., r . m . hewick , i . hellstrom , k . e . hellstrom , r . f . doolittle and w . j . dreyer , 1982 . human melanoma - associated antigen p97 is structurally and functionally related to transferring nature 296 : 171 ), which has a half - life of about 10 hrs , and whose 90 kd precursor has a half - life of 90 min . synthesis of precursors to gp130 in the presence of tunicamycin . both the m r 100 , 000 precursor species and the final m r 130 , 000 product can be labeled with [ 3 h ] d - glucosamine . in an effort to detect unglycosylated precursor species and to determine if the biochemical event responsible for the increase in molecular weight of the 100 , 000 precursor to 130 , 000 is the processing of n - linked oligosaccharide side chains , the antibiotic tunicamycin ( tm ) to inhibit nascent glycosylation . the effect of various amounts of tm on the synthesis of macro - molecules in human melanoma cells was first determined . sk - mel - 28 cells were treated for five hrs with tm at concentrations ranging from 0 . 6 μg / ml - 10 μg / ml and subsequently labeled for 60 min with either 50 μci [ 35 s ]- methionine or 50 μci [ 3 h ] mannose / ml in the presence of tm . fig7 indicates that a dose of tm sufficient to inhibit [ 3 h ] mannose incorporation 99 % ( 2 . 5 μg / ml ), overall protein synthesis is reduced by 23 %. sk - mel - 28 cells were subsequently incubated in the presence of 2 . 5 μg tm / ml for five hours then labeled for 60 minutes with 50 ci [ 35 s ] methionine / ml . the cells were lysed and the extracts were immunoprecipitated with anti - gp130 monoclonal serum ( 846 ). in the presence of 2 . 5 μg tm / ml , gp130 molecules are not produced . however , the precursor molecule pr100 gp is evident as is a new protein with a molecular weight of 80 , 000 . this 80 kd species may represent the primary translational product prior to any posttranslational modification . in the absence of tm or in the presence of 0 . 25 μg tm / ml both the intermediate precursor pr100 gp and the final product , gp130 , can be seen . treatment with tunicamycin inhibits incorporation of n - linked oligosaccharides , and thereby the expression of completely processed gp130 molecules . however , since tm did not completely abrogate the formation of the 100 kd precursor , the data suggested either that the concentration of tm used was insufficient to insure complete inhibition of n - glycosylation or that the pr100 gp molecule also contains some o - linked carbohydrate chains , whole synthesis is not affected by tm . as gp130 is also present in low amounts on some types of normal cells , it was of interest to determine if the processing of this protein was identical in both normal and malignant cells . pulse - chase experiments were using performed short - term cultures of normal kidney epithelium from kidney biopsies . it was found that the intracellular processing of pr100 gp to gp130 in normal kidney epithelium cells and in malignant cells was identical in all respects .
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US-16666088-A
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an apparatus and method for performing electrolysis on materials such as water , thereby electrically separating the electrolyte into its elemental components . more specifically , according to a preferred aspect of the instant invention , there is provided an apparatus for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen that uses a specially prepared cathode in conjunction with incident light energy to increase the efficiency of that process . a preferred embodiment of this apparatus uses the photo collector / cathode which comprises a thin layer of metal , preferably nickel , deposited by electroplating or a similar technique onto a conductive surface . during the electrolysis process , the cathode is irradiated with light , thereby reducing the amount of electrical energy necessary to separate a given quantity of electrolytic material .
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it should be noted at the outset , that within certain broad , general guidelines , the specific details of the geometry and construction of the inventive photo - assisted electrolysis cell are not critical . indeed , it is well within the ability of one of ordinary skill in the art to construct many different variations of the preferred embodiments given herein . for example , modifications may be made to enhance separation and collection of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas , reduce overvoltage requirements , enhance light collection capabilities , change the ionic composition of the electrolytic solution , etc ., without altering the fundamental nature of the invention . an example of an electroplating bath 1 of a type preferred for use in the present invention is depicted in fig1 and 2 . in the electroplating apparatus 1 , 2 is a cathode which is being blacked for use in the inventive electrolysis processes . in this example , the base component of cathode 2 is preferably a half cylinder of conductive metal ( e . g ., copper metal foil ) 2 soldered to a wire 4 connecting it to the dc power supply 6 . element 8 is the electroplating anode ( in this particular example a nickel coin , i . e ., a disk of nickel - containing metal ). anode 8 is preferably moved back and forth over the inner surface of the cathode to deliver a roughly equivalent ( i . e ., even ) layer of the electroplating metal to all parts of the inner surface of the cathode . container 1 is an electroplating bath containing a solution of a salt of the metal to be deposited on the surface of the cathode . in this example , the salt would preferably be niso 4 . in this embodiment of the inventive system , cathode 2 is preferably a flexible sheet of metal ( e . g ., thin , copper metal ) formed into a half cylinder . the radius of this partial cylinder is not critical within broad practical limits . the half cylinder 2 is preferably attached to an insulated , conductive wire 4 by , for example , soldering , and then cleaned to remove surface contamination . the half cylinder 2 is then preferably placed in electroplating bath 1 ( e . g ., a solution of nickel ( ii ) sulfate dissolved in water ) and connected to electrical power source 6 so that it operates as the cathode in the electroplating system 1 . anode 8 is also connected to power source 6 , by means of insulated wire 10 , to begin electro - deposition of a layer of conductive metal ( e . g ., nickel ) onto the concave inside surface 27 of the half cylinder 2 . as will be understood by those skilled in the art , other physical and chemical approaches to depositing the active surface on cathode 2 are certainly possible and have been specifically contemplated by the instant inventors . the resulting cathode surface should be dark in appearance ( rather than having a shiny metallic surface ) due to its coating by the reduced metal . as described by some chemists and as used herein and in the claims , this sort of dark surface is referred to as a “ black ”. although not essential to the invention , it is our belief that this black is a micro - crystalline deposit of the metal in question . the “ black ” layer will preferably be essentially free of any semiconductor materials and most preferably will consist of conductive metal in elemental form . that being said , it should be noted that the instant invention will operate , albeit not as efficiently , if the “ blackened ” surface is shiny . in addition to copper , examples of other materials suitable for forming the underlying base of cathode 2 include : nickel , lead , tin , chromium , graphite or graphitic carbon , gold , silver , chromium , platinum , palladium , and alloys thereof . the base could be even formed of a plastic or other non - conductive material onto which a conductive surface is applied , for example , by sputtering , painting , or other processes . the base will preferably be essentially free of any semiconductive materials and will most preferably consist essentially of conductive metal in elemental form , the most important property of the base being that it is conductive on the surface that is to form the cathode and sufficiently solid to support the coating ( s ). further , it is possible in some cases for the base to also function as the blackening material , e . g ., when the base is graphite or graphite carbon . as will also be apparent to those skilled in the art , electroplating ( blacking ) metals other than nickel can alternatively be employed in the present invention . by using platinum salts and a platinum anode , for example , a thin surface layer of “ platinum black ” can be obtained . examples of other suitable blacking materials include : palladium , copper , silver , gold , zinc , cadmium , thallium , indium , gallium , lead , tin , bismuth , antimony , arsenic , tellurium , selenium , iridium , rhodium , cobalt , iron , ruthenium , osmium , rhenium , manganese , tungsten , molybdenum , chromium , tantalium , niobium , vanadium , titanium , zirconium , lanthanum , ytterbium , scandium , strontium , praseodymium , neodymium , promethium , samarium , europium , gadolinium , terbium , dysprosium , holmium , erbium , thulium , and lutetium . examples of additional suitable materials include mixtures , alloys , mercury amalgams , and combinations of the foregoing and similar metals , or combinations of these elements with other elements , where the above elements constitute the major ( by weight ) components . the thickness of the “ black ” deposit is not critical so long as it is thick enough to coat the surface of the cathode and provide a high surface area for hydrogen generation and be dark enough to absorb light efficiently . nickel , platinum , and palladium are good choices for electroplating as they are known to interact with hydrogen at an atomic level and are used for hydrogenerations in organic chemistry . cobalt is also particularly well suited for use in the inventive apparatus as the cathode plating / blacking metal . the instant inventors have determined that , if the coating is too thick , it may potentially interfere with the electrical conductivity of the cathode . thus , for purposes of the overall efficiency of the instant invention , the preferred electrode deposit thickness will be under 1 mm thick , preferably less than 0 . 1 mm , and in some cases can be as little as only a few atoms thick . if the coating is too thick , the conductivity may suffer . if too thin , light absorption may suffer . after a suitable amount of metal is deposited on the cathode 2 , it is preferably removed from the plating bath , rinsed with water and is ready to be placed in the electrolysis cell . an embodiment 20 of the inventive electrolysis apparatus is depicted in fig5 . inventive apparatus 20 comprises : an upper valve 22 ; a barrel 24 ( e . g ., a barrel of a glass syringe ); a cathode a preferably prepared as discussed hereinabove and most preferably comprising copper foil with nickel metal electroplated on inside surface 27 thereof ; an anode 28 ( e . g ., a nickel - chromium wire ); an upper gas collection space 30 in barrel 24 ( wherein both h2 and o2 accumulate ); a level 32 of electrolyte solution in barrel 24 ; a light source 34 ; a base container 36 ( e . g ., a beaker ); and a level 38 of electrolyte solution in base container 36 . inside surface 27 of cathode 26 preferably faces anode 28 and light source 34 . in embodiment 20 of the inventive apparatus , the anode 28 is preferably a conductive wire composed of nickel - chromium alloy ( e . g ., nichrome ). however , all that is necessary is that the anode be a good conductor of electricity and resistant to the corrosive conditions of the anode region of the cell . examples of other suitable anode materials include : platinum , gold , titanium , nickel , graphite or graphite carbon , and alloys thereof . the anode will preferably be essentially free of any semiconductor materials . although many other arrangements are possible , the anode wire 28 is preferably placed adjacent the center of half cylinder cathode a along the longitudinal axis thereof so that all points on the inside surface 27 of the cathode 2 are approximately equidistant from the anode 28 . the half cylinder cathode 2 is preferably co - axial with the cylinder of barrel 24 and the anode 28 preferably extends along the center of the barrel at least as far as the cathode cylinder 2 extends . cathode 2 and anode 28 can be kept in place and alignment , for example , by placing a cork or other inert structure in at the bottom of the barrel 24 which will hold the electrodes in place yet allow free movement of water / electrolyte into and out of the bottom of the syringe . to prepare inventive electrolysis apparatus 20 for operation , valve 22 is opened and the barrel 24 is lowered into the electrolyte solution so that the solution 38 fills the bottom portion of the barrel up to the level in the surrounding container 36 . alternatively , and as further examples may be used to enable outside air to push the electrolyte liquid / solution up into the cell . then , the valve 22 is closed and the barrel 24 is raised to a point where the bottom of the barrel 24 is just below the surface of the solution 38 in base container 36 . this traps a column of the solution in barrel 24 up to level 32 . this makes it possible to measure the amount of gas evolved by noting the change in level 32 in the barrel 24 . subsequently , barrel 24 can be re - lowered into the container 36 of solution and the valve 22 opened to release the gasses produced . then , the valve 22 is closed , the cell 24 raised , and the system is ready for further operation . an alternative embodiment 40 of the inventive electrolysis apparatus is depicted in fig3 and 4 . inventive apparatus 40 comprises : an array of anode rods ( e . g ., wires ) 42 ; a sheet of blacked cathodic material 48 ; a preferably transparent barrier membrane 44 , positioned between anode array 42 and the blacked surface of cathode 48 , which will allow free flow of ions , but not bubbles 46 of h2 gas ; and a transparent window 50 that allows light , preferably visible and ultraviolet , to pass therethrough to the blacked surface of cathode 48 . the upper portion 52 of barrier 44 is preferably impermeable to gas to maintain separation between the hydrogen and oxygen produced . for simplicity , the external electrical components of inventive apparatus 40 are not shown in fig4 and 5 . window 50 can be formed of glass . however , because much solar energy comes in the form of ultraviolet light which is largely absorbed by glass , it is preferred that the light admitting portions of the inventive cell be constructed of quartz , polymers , or other materials which will facilitate the transmission of uv light into the interior of the cell . in the embodiment 20 of the inventive electrolysis apparatus depicted in fig3 , no effort is made to separate the hydrogen and oxygen gasses produced . however , it should be clear that cell 20 could be modified to allow for separation of the gasses produced . for example , a permeable or semi - permeable membrane , or even a thin , fine mesh sheet which could trap bubbles , but let light and the solution pass - through , could be used . the electrolyte solution 38 employed in the inventive electrolysis system is most preferably a dilute solution of sulfuric acid ( h 2 so 4 ) in water at a ph in the range of from about 0 . 5 to about 7 . the solution 38 will most preferably have a ph of about 2 . of course , other inorganic and organic acids may be equally useful , as would many neutral salt solutions such as solutions of sodium sulfate ( na 2 so 4 ). some salts such as sodium chloride may be less useful because of the generation of other gasses in the system that might be corrosive to the electrodes . further , some magnesium or aluminum salts can form gels under certain conditions of ph , which would render the cell less conductive , less efficient , and perhaps even opaque ( i . e ., thereby blocking access of light to the cathode ). under some circumstances , alkaline electrolyte solutions ( i . e . above ph 7 ) may be preferable . the main requirements are that the solutions be relatively conductive and not be overly corrosive to the electrodes under the electrolysis conditions , or opaque to light . examples of suitable electrolytes include : lithium , sodium , potassium , magnesium or beryllium , salts , specifically , sulfates , hydroxides , or fluorides , the main requirement being that the electrolyte solution be conductive , have only limited , and preferably no , absorbence of the incident light , and not interfere with the photo - assisted electrochemistry occurring at the electrodes . current for both the electroplating and the photo - assisted electrolysis is preferably provided by a standard commercial transformer 6 , 55 of the type sold as a battery replacement . this could be replaced by batteries or almost any other source of dc current . for test and development purposes it is convenient to be able to vary the current and voltage . however , once an optimum is determined for a given cell , geometry and construction capability to vary the current should not be essential , but could be useful . for testing , it may also be desirable to use a standard meter to measure the voltages , current flow or amperage , and / or resistance of the cell or whole system , at various points before , during and after the experiment . an overarching goal of this instant invention is to use solar energy — especially visible and ultraviolet light — to assist in the electrolysis of water . for testing purposes , the instant inventors have used a common “ high intensity ” table lamp generally available commercially , although many other light sources could have been selected in the alternative . it should be noted that this source is relatively poor in high energy uv light and rich in lower energy visible light photons . one of the distinguishing characteristics of this invention is the ability to use visible light efficiently . if desired , filters could be used in to modify the light striking the cathode surface , or lenses or mirrors could be used to concentrate , reflect , or direct the light to optimum impact on the cathode . further , where it would be advantageous to do so , narrow band or monochromatic light sources could be used . using an electroplating apparatus 1 as depicted in fig1 and 2 , a cathode 2 was formed and electroplated with nickel . the dc power supply employed in the experimental system included a plug - in transformer and a variable resistor . a 5 ¢ nickel coin was used as the electroplating anode 8 . the anode 8 and cathode 2 were connected to the power source using insulated copper wires 4 and 10 and alligator clips . cathode 2 was formed from copper foil shaped as a half cylinder having a diameter substantially equal to that of a syringe barrel 24 to be used in the next stage of the test . the bath 5 employed in the electroplating process comprised one - half teaspoon nicl 2 per 30 ml of water . the transformer was set at 4 . 5 v 300 m a and the nickel coin was moved back and forth over the inside surface of the copper cathode until the inside surface was fully and evenly electroplated with a micro - crystalline nickel layer . at the completion of the electroplating process , the cathode 2 was removed and rinsed with tap water . next , cathode 2 was employed in an electrolysis process using an electrolysis system as depicted in fig3 . the anode 28 used was a nichrome wire . the electrolyte 38 was an aqueous sulphuric acid solution having a ph of 2 . cathode 2 and anode 28 were held in place in syringe barrel 24 using a cork having holes formed therethrough to allow free movement of the electrolyte solution . the power source was linked to the cathode by means of an insulated copper wire soldered to the end of the cathode . the light source 34 employed in the test was an american optical # 655 lamp . the system 20 was tested with the light source 34 both on and off and using red , green , and blue dicroic additive filters . the system was also tested at various voltage differentials and with no input provided from the external power source . in each test , the syringe 34 was partially filled with electrolyte solution in the manner described above and the volume of solution in the syringe was recorded . the system was then operated for five minutes and the amount of hydrogen and oxygen gas generated in the test was determined by comparing the fluid volume in the syringe after the test to the fluid volume at the beginning of the test . in these tests , no gas evolution was observed until the light source was turned on . the instant inventors also observed that lower voltages were required to produce electrolysis when the light was “ on ” than under similar conditions when it was “ off ”. we believe that the observed increase in efficiency is related to the photoelectric effect as described by albert einstein where the energy of an electron emitted by a metal when struck by a photon of light is described by the equation : where e is the energy of the electron , h is planck &# 39 ; s constant , v is the frequency of the incident light , and w is the work function of the metal . in general , the photoelectric effect is described using ultraviolet light which is of higher energy than visible light . visible light generally does not have sufficient energy to give to an electron to enable it to reduce a hydrogen ion in solution to hydrogen gas . however , this limitation is overcome for purposes of the instant invention by creating an electrical potential between the anode and cathode . the application of an electrical potential to the electrode modifies the previous equation to read as follows : where p is the energy associated with the externally imposed electric field . essentially , according to our theory of operation , photon energy is used to boost the energy of an electron from the cathode up to the energy level needed for electrolysis . from this it follows that the wavelength of light required to generate photolysis is related to the external electric field . as the field strength ( voltage ) increases , the minimum energy of photons needed to generate electrolysis drops into the visible range . with no external electrical field , only photons with high energy relative to visible light give the electrons enough energy to split water into its component hydrogen and oxygen . as the external electric potential increases , the minimum energy of a photon needed to split water drops into the visible spectrum , and potentially lower . this is graphically depicted in table 1 . as illustrated in table 1 , the external potential on the electrodes provides the electron energy to go from a ( energy level with no applied electric potential ) to b ( energy level with electric potential applied ) but the electron does not have the energy to electrolyze water until that energy is provided by the photon of light . in other words , the energy a - c is the total needed for electrolysis , the energy a - b is provided by the externally imposed potential on the electrodes , and the energy b - c is provided by the light photons . the energy level b varies , increasing with increased imposed external potential . as the potential is raised , the additional photon energy required for electrolysis is reduced , enabling the capture and use of a larger portion of the incident light . since , according to the photoelectric effect , a photon imparts energy to a single electron , the number of photons needed of above the minimum energy level is ( within limits imposed by the cell design ) directly proportional to the number of electrons produced and the amount of hydrogen and oxygen produced . in other words , the more intense the light , the more hydrogen will be produced , all other things being equal . however , the production of hydrogen can also be limited by the number of electrons available at the cathode , or the flow of electrons , or the electrical current . in contrast to other systems heretofore contemplated , it is preferred that neither the cathode nor the anode employed in the inventive electrolysis apparatus include any semiconductor materials . the inventive apparatus will operate at voltages lower than 2 . 0 , although such operation may be a less efficient use of the photoenergy . additionally , in the instant invention , it is not necessary ( but may be desirable ) to add resistance to the circuit formed by the cathode and anode , other than the resistance that naturally occurs in the cell . further , the instant invention uses light to energize the electrons in the cathode metal , rather than to ionize the electrolyte solution . the inventive system preferably uses the cathode to capture light and act as a surface for electrolysis . while the inventive device has been described and illustrated herein by reference to certain preferred embodiments in relation to the drawings attached hereto , various changes and further modifications , apart from those shown or suggested herein , may be made therein by those skilled in the art , without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept , the scope of which is to be determined by the following claims .
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US-23534302-A
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a dry material is synthesized by alkali metal promoted calcium aluminate carbonates to obtain a co 2 sorbent used at a temperature higher than 600 celsius degrees . the key composition of the sorbents is 52 ˜ 69 % of cao , which is beneficial to capture co 2 at 400 ˜ 800 ° c . a breakthrough result is achieved by using this sintering - resistant sorbent , which includes the features of 50 % initial carbonation capacity and 20 folds co 2 capturing performance maintained after 40 ˜ 60 hours . besides , alkali bearing material provides good velocity in co 2 capturing / releasing cycles ; for example , by using li and k series sorbents , 40 hours is required for 40 cycles only .
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the following description of the preferred embodiment is provided to understand the features and the structures of the present disclosure . please refer to fig1 , which is a flow view showing a preferred embodiment according to the present disclosure . as shown in the figure , the present disclosure is a method of fabricating medium - high temperature co 2 sorbents made of alkali metal promoted calcium aluminate carbonates , where an alkaline oxide and al 2 o 3 are used as main components to be bond with a carbonate having ions of an alkali element , like lithium ( li ), sodium ( na ) or potassium ( k ), for a co - precipitation reaction to form a medium - high temperature co 2 sorbent through sintering ; and where , in a medium - high temperature gas flow , co 2 is captured by the sorbents in fast reaction velocities with stable capture ratios and amounts . the present disclosure comprises the following steps : ( a ) preparing acid solution 11 : a source of calcium ( ca ) ions and al ( no 3 ) 3 . 9h 2 o are mixed to obtain an acid solution , where the source of calcium ions is cacl 2 , ca ( no 3 ) 2 or ca ( ch 3 coo ) 2 . xh 2 o and x is a value between 0 and 1 ; and where a mole ratio of the ca ions source to the al ( no 3 ) 3 . 9h 2 o is between 1 : 1 and 30 : 1 in the acid solution . ( b ) preparing alkali solution 12 : naoh and a carbonate are mixed to obtain an alkali solution , where the alkali solution has 1 . 6 mole of naoh ; and where the carbonate is li 2 co 3 , na 2 co 3 or k 2 co 3 . ( c ) mixing solutions 13 : the acid solution and the alkali solution are mixed by stirring for 24 to 36 minutes to obtain a mixed solution ; and , then , the mixed solution is stayed still for 24 hours ( hrs ). ( d ) drying and filtering 14 : after the mixed solution is stayed still , the mixed solution is filtered to remove impurities and is dried to be sintered in an oven at 600 celsius degrees (° c .) for obtaining a co 2 sorbent , where , according to the carbonate used in step ( b ), the co 2 sorbent thus obtained is li — ca — al — co 3 , na — ca — al — co 3 or k — ca — al — co 3 . if li 2 co 3 is used in step ( b ) to be mixed with 1 . 6 mole of naoh , a co 2 sorbent of li — ca — al — co 3 is obtained in step ( d ); if na 2 co 3 is used , na — ca — al — co 3 is obtained ; and , if k 2 co 3 is used , k — ca — al — co 3 is obtained . on using the present disclosure , the co 2 sorbent of li — ca — al — co 3 , na — ca — al — co 3 or k — ca — al — co 3 captures co 2 at a temperature between 400 ° c . and 800 ° c . after absorbing co 2 to obtain caco 3 , co 2 density can be reduced by heating to recycle caco 3 into cao for regaining capture activity . such a cycle is expressed with the following two chemical formulas : please refer to fig2 and fig6 , which are a view showing tg curves for a preferred embodiment at different temperatures ; and a view showing characteristics of different co 2 sorbents . as shown in the figures , each single cycle processed by co 2 sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure includes steps of capturing and releasing co 2 . the ratio of co 2 captured during a few cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 shows stability of the co 2 sorbents . at 750 ° c ., thermogravimetric ( tg ) analyses are processed for 30 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 . curves 21 , 22 , 23 in fig2 show initial amount ratios of 56 %, 55 % and 49 %. the amount ratios remain 53 %, 45 % and 47 % after 30 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 , which show stability of the co 2 sorbents . when the ratio of ca to al is bigger than 7 , complex crystalline phase may be produced with high cost and quality may become hard to control . hence , in fig6 , an acetic acid is used to fabricate the co 2 sorbents having a ratio of ca to al as 7 for measuring their characteristics , including surface areas , pore characteristics and other chemical characteristics . the cao wt % is figured out by a factor of cao / ca , i . e . cao = ca × 1 . 4 . therein , the average granular size is 10 ˜ 43 μm ; the surface area is 14 . 2 ˜ 17 . 3 m 2 / g ; the pore size is 0 . 02 cc / g , which is a micropore or a mesopore ; and , the average pore diameter is 5 . 3 ˜ 20 . 5 nm . the cao contents in the co 2 sorbents have great impacts on co 2 capture capacity . the co 2 sorbents are dissolved in acid solutions for measuring elements of ca , al , etc . with inductively coupled plasma ( icp ) for figuring out cao contents . for li , na and k series co 2 sorbents , the cao contents are 51 . 9 %, 68 . 9 % and 56 . 5 %, respectively . therein , the ratios of li , na and k contained are 0 . 02 % for li series , 0 . 8 % for na series and 0 . 04 % for k series . please refer to fig3 , which is a view showing tg curves of different co 2 sorbents . as shown in the figure , co 2 sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure , which contains li , na and k ions , are used to capture co 2 from a room temperature to 950 ° c . for obtaining tg curves . as shown in tg curves 31 , 32 , 33 for the co 2 sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure , co 2 is captured at a temperature between 400 ° c . and 800 ° c . with initial capture amount ratios higher than 50 wt %, whose performances are obviously better than traditional sorbents of cao and caco 3 as shown in other tg curves 34 , 35 . besides , some more sorbents of li 2 co 3 , na 2 co 3 and k 2 co 3 have initial capture amount ratios lower than 10 wt %. hence , the co 2 sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure are better than other sorbents of cao , caco 3 , li 2 co 3 , na 2 co 3 and k 2 co 3 . moreover , the li series or k series sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure have higher co 2 capture velocity ( slope ) than the na series sorbent at a temperature higher than 600 ° c ., not to mention the other sorbents . please refer to fig4 , which is a view showing tg curves in one cycle . as shown in the figure , li series , na series and k series co 2 sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure are used to process a single cycle of capturing / releasing co 2 at 750 ° c . as results show , capture rates of the sorbents do not have big different in between . but , the li series and k series sorbents have better performance on releasing co 2 . the capture rates of the sorbents in a single cycle are 1 . 0 hour ( hr ) for li series sorbent , 1 . 5 hrs for na series sorbent and 1 . 0 hr for k series sorbent . please refer to fig5 , which is a view showing time periods spent for 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 and amounts of co 2 captured in the 40 cycles . as shown in the figure , 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 are processed to sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure for acquiring best reaction times for capturing the most co 2 . as referring to fig4 , 40 cycles for the sorbents are 1 . 0 hr for li series sorbent , 1 . 5 hrs for na series sorbent and 1 . 0 hr for k series sorbent . the amount ratios of co 2 captured are 54 ˜ 51 wt % for li series sorbent , 53 ˜ 49 wt % for na series sorbent and 53 - 49 wt % for k series sorbent . conclusively , regarding capture amount , li series sorbent has the best performance , followed by na series sorbent and k series sorbent ; regarding reaction time , li series sorbent has the best performance ; and , in the end , the li series sorbent fabricated according to the present disclosure is the best sorbent . please refer to fig7 , which is a view showing stabilities and characteristics of different co 2 sorbents after 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 . as shown in the figure , co 2 sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure and traditional sorbents of cao , limestone and li 4 sio 4 are used to obtain their stabilities and characteristics after 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 , where co 2 is captured in an environment having a 100 % co 2 concentration and a temperature of 650 ˜ 750 ° c . ; and where co 2 is released in an environment having a 100 % n 2 density ratio and a temperature of 650750 ° c . a result is as follows : ( 1 ) a single cycle of capturing / releasing co 2 spends 1 . 0 ˜ 1 . 5 hrs and , so , 40 cycles spend 40 ˜ 60 hrs , where the time for the cycle includes time for capturing co 2 and time for releasing co 2 in the cycle . ( 2 ) stable amount ratios of co 2 captured ( gco 2 / g sorbent ) for 1 ˜ 40 cycles are 49 ˜ 54 wt % for the sorbent fabricated according to the present disclosure ; 67 ˜ 54 wt % for cao ; 44 ˜ 36 wt % for limestone ; and 22 ˜ 32 wt % for li 4 sio 4 , where each of the ratios is a ratio of increased weight after capturing co 2 in current cycle to original weight after releasing co 2 in previous cycle . ( 3 ) the sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure have high r40 values bigger than 94 %, which reach the highest international standard ( 85 ˜ 90 %) and are almost equal to li 4 sio 4 &# 39 ; s performance ( r40 = 94 %). in addition , after 40 ˜ 60 hrs of using , the sorbents still have stable performances obviously higher than cao , limestone and li 4 sio 4 . therein , r40 is the amount of co 2 captured after 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 . ( 4 ) after 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 , the weights of co 2 captured by the sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure is 20 times to the original weights of the sorbents used . ( 5 ) total amount of co 2 captured is related to the sorbent used and the time spent for capturing / releasing co 2 . this characteristic is expressed with a unit of mgco 2 / mg sorbent . h , where the sorbents fabricated according to the present disclosure have a value of 0 . 52 and is better than the other values , like 0 . 34 . hence , the present disclosure fabricates medium - high temperature co 2 sorbents with calcium aluminate carbonate promoted with alkali metal , where the sorbents contains 52 ˜ 69 % of cao to capture co 2 at a temperature of 400 ˜ 800 ° c . with initial capture ratios higher than 50 wt %. furthermore , the sorbents combine cao and al 2 o 3 to maintain good performances for 40 to 60 hrs with weights of co 2 captured 20 times to original weights of the sorbents , where the na series sorbent spends 50 hrs for 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 and the li and k series sorbents spend 40 hrs for 40 cycles only . to sum up , the present disclosure is a method of fabricating medium - high temperature co 2 sorbents made of alkali metal promoted calcium aluminate carbonates , where calcium aluminate carbonates promoted with alkali metals are fabricated into co 2 sorbents having capture ratios higher than 50 wt % during a time period more than 40 hrs and having fast capture velocities for spending just 40 hrs for 40 cycles of capturing / releasing co 2 . the preferred embodiment herein disclosed is not intended to unnecessarily limit the scope of the disclosure . therefore , simple modifications or variations belonging to the equivalent of the scope of the claims and the instructions disclosed herein for a patent are all within the scope of the present disclosure .
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US-201113179699-A
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an improved shell - and - tube steam instantaneous heat exchange system of a closely coupled feedback design which overheats water in the heat exchanger portion of the system and then blends the water , as needed , with proportional amounts of cold water to achieve the correct outlet temperature for a wide range of flow rates . the system uses at least two primary heat exchangers to provide redundancy in the case of failure of a major component of the system . steam flow through the heat exchangers is controlled by the use of steam traps , rather than using a thermostatically controlled valve to vary the supply of steam . to obtain precise temperature control during varying water volume use , water is directed from the blended outlet of a first water tempering valve into the hot inlet port of a second water tempering valve . the first valve is designed to blend cold and hot water to a predetermined temperature which is higher than the second water tempering valve , so as to bias the second tempering valve , thereby minimizing thermal hunting and providing tighter temperature control from the second tempering valve .
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fig1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operational flow of the heat exchange system of the invention . in one embodiment , this instantaneous water heater system utilizes steam from a local boiler or district plant to provide energy to heat water up to a desired temperature for a variety of hot water end use applications . the water temperature control scheme which is illustrated in fig1 and which will be described in greater detail herein operates with equal precision whether hot water or another hot fluid is used as the energy source to heat the process water up the desired end use temperature , or whether steam is utilized as the energy source . the basic building blocks of the heat exchange system are a first process shell - and - tube 11 having a cold water inlet 13 . preferably , at least a second process shell - and - tube heat exchanger 15 is provided also having a cold water inlet 17 and being mounted in water circulating circuit 19 in parallel fashion with the first process heat exchanger 11 to provide redundancy in the case of the failure of either of the first and at least second heat exchanger systems 11 , 15 . each of the process heat exchangers 11 , 15 are of conventional design . the particular heat exchangers which are illustrated contain a tube coil or bundle within an outer shell and a steam source 21 is provided for continuously supplying steam to a selected one of the shell - and - tube heat exchangers 11 , 15 . preferably , the steam is supplied to the tube bundle side of the exchanger at about 250 ° f . with the water to be heated passing around the tube bundle through the heat exchanger shell . when steam is used as the energy source , the steam flow through the heat exchangers 11 , 15 is controlled by steam traps 23 , 25 , located in an outlet conduit 24 , 26 from each heat exchanger tube bundle . as relatively colder water enters each heat exchanger 11 , 15 through the heat exchanger shell , heat is transferred from the steam in the tube bundle to the surrounding water in the shell , thus condensing the steam and creating steam condensate . each steam trap 23 , 25 is set to open when a preset weight of condensate has been collected . as the steam traps 23 , 25 open to discharge a preset amount of condensate , additional steam is able to enter each heat exchangers tube bundle which provides additional heat for transfer to the water in the heat exchanger shell . as has been briefly discussed in the background section of the application , the heat exchangers 11 , 15 are sized to provide the heat transfer capability required to obtain the desired quantity of heated water from the system . the system also provides a unique control system which adapts to changes in demand on the system . in most applications , the temperature of the water to be heated varies dramatically according to the time of year and other factors . also , in most applications , the quantity of water flowing through the heat exchanger tube bundles varies according to the time of day and use patterns of the application . the heat exchanger outlet water temperature must be regulated in order to accommodate variability resulting from the inlet water temperature and flow rate changes . however , applicant &# 39 ; s system does not attempt to control the outlet water temperature by controlling the steam flow through the heat exchanger using a temperature responsive valve . systems which attempt to control the steam flow in this manner have an inherent thermal lag . as a result , the outlet water temperatures typically vary greatly when faced with wide swings and inlet water temperature and flow rates . these swings can exceed 50 % of the difference between the cold water temperature and the desired hot water temperature when flow through the water heater changes quickly from full water flow capability to zero flow and back to full flow . the present system operates upon a different principal in which hot water produced by the heat exchangers 11 , 15 is always hotter than the required outlet temperature . as will be explained in greater detail , the overheated water flows into a series of water tempering valves to blend hot and cold water to achieve the ultimately desired outlet water temperature . the input of the steam from the steam source 21 to the heat exchanger tube bundle is unregulated and only controlled in terms of the condensate trap operation . in one embodiment of the invention , the system provides accurate temperature regulation at constant flow rates and also allows temporary temperature excursions as the flow rate varies . this cruder type of control is often acceptable for industrial applications . in another embodiment of the device , the outlet water temperature downstream of the heat exchangers 11 , 15 is controlled to within plus or minus 5 ° f ., or less , at any flow rate exceeding five gallons per minute . since the five gallons per minute flow rate is easily achieved with a regularly installed building piping loop recirculation pump , the tight water temperature control applies to all flow conditions , including near instantaneous changes between maximum water flow to zero flow and back to maximum flow . to obtain this type water temperature control during varying water volume usage , each of the first and at least second heat exchangers 11 , 15 also has associated therewith a first and second water blending valves mounted in series , such as valves 27 , 29 for heat exchanger 11 and valves 31 , 33 for heat exchanger 15 . as can be seen from fig1 , the water blending valves are mounted in series with each water blending valve having a cold inlet port 35 , a hot inlet port 37 and a blended water outlet 39 , using blending valve 27 as an example . water from the blended outlet 39 of the first water blending valve 27 is directed to the hot inlet port 41 of the second water blending valve 29 . the first water blending valve 27 acts to blend cold water and hot water to a predetermined temperature set point which is above a set point of the second watering blending valve 29 to thereby bias the second water blending valve and minimize thermal hunting . for example , the set point of the first blending valve 27 is preferably set at about 10 - 30 ° f ., most preferably about 20 - 25 ° f . higher than the blending valve 29 . because the second valve 29 does not see as wide a temperature fluctuation as the first valve 27 , valve fluctuation and thermal hunting is minimized . an additional benefit of using two tempering or blending valves in series is the fact that the failure of a single valve would not allow excessively hot water to discharge from the water heater outlet . if the first water blending valve 27 fails in the full hot open position , the second water blending valve 29 will control the water temperature well below a maximum water temperature set condition . likewise , a failure of the second water blending valve 29 in the full hot open position would result in water temperature being controlled by the first water blending valve 27 . in addition to the redundancy provided by the two water blending valves 27 , 29 for each heat exchanger 11 , 15 a first temperature limiting device 43 is associated with the first water blending valve 27 and a second temperature limiting device 45 is associated with the second water blending valve 29 , for each of the heat exchanger systems . the first temperature limiting device 43 is operable to sense water temperature in the blended water outlet of the first water blending valve 27 and to shut off the flow of hot water if the sensed temperature exceeds a predetermined limit . in similar fashion , the second temperature limiting device 45 is operable to sense water temperature in the blended water outlet of the second water blending valve 29 and to shut off the flow of hot water if the sensed temperature exceeds a predetermined limit . as an additional safety measure , the water circulating circuit 19 leading to the cold water inlet 35 of each secondary water blending valve has a metering valve 47 , 49 mounted therein . each of the metering valves is a gate valve having a range of open positions and a fully closed position which preset a fixed orifice . the fixed orifice serves to maintain a minimum flow of cold water even when the valves 47 , 49 are in the fully closed position , to ensure that water exiting the water blending valve in question does not become too hot . a water backflow preventer in the form of a check valve 51 , 53 is also installed in the cold water supply conduit leading to the cold water inlet 17 of each heat exchanger to maintain pressure on the heat exchanger if the system water pressure is lost . as also will be appreciated with respect to fig1 and 2 , each of the process heat exchangers 11 , 15 have a hot water outlet 55 , 57 which is connected to a respective one of the water blending valves ( such as valve 27 in fig1 ) by a portion of downward piping 59 of the hot water conduit . the first water blending valve ( for example , valve 27 ) is therefore mounted ( see fig2 ) at a selected horizontal elevation , the selected horizontal elevation being below the respective horizontal elevation of the process heat exchanger hot water outlet 55 . the downward piping 59 serves to act as a heat trap to retain hot water in the respective process heat exchanger 11 , 15 during periods of no flow of hot water from the heat exchanger . in other words , the heat trap prevents heat from migrating into the remainder of the plumbing at no flow conditions . returning to fig1 , in one embodiment a secondary heat exchanger 61 is also provided having a first side for receiving hot condensate from the steam traps 23 , 25 and having a second side . an additional water circulation conduit 63 is provided for circulating a source of relatively colder water through the second side of the secondary heat exchanger 61 to preheat the source of relatively colder water . the preheated water exiting the secondary heat exchanger 61 is circulated through the primary cold water circulation circuit 19 to the cold inlet of the first and second heat exchangers 11 , 15 . where the heat exchange system is used to supply hot water to a building having an existing building water recirculating circuit and a water recirculating pump , the existing building water recirculating pump can be used to pump relatively cooler building return water through the secondary heat exchanger 61 to preheat the relatively cooler building water before again passing it through the process heat exchangers 11 , 15 . the building return water is “ relatively cooler ” than the steam condensate , even though it is a part of the building hot water recirculating circuit . fig1 shows the secondary heat exchanger in isolated fashion . in this case , the heat exchanger 61 is a plate type exchanger of conventional design . the heat exchanger receives return water at , for example 108 ° f ., and discharges relatively hotter water at , for example 130 ° f ., after heat exchange with the steam condensate which is typically at about 212 ° f . the outlet conduit ( 62 in fig1 ) is connected to the cold water inlet conduit ( 64 in fig2 ) by means of a flexible hose 66 which facilitates placement of the plumbing components on the support stand 65 . fig2 - 13 illustrate additional structural features of the heat exchange system of the invention . as best seen in fig2 , 4 and 6 , a rigid support frame or stand 65 is provided for supporting the first and second process heat exchangers 11 , 15 and associated piping and components . the rigid support stand 65 has a pair of spaced vertical support members 67 , 69 ( fig6 ) connected by an upper and a lower cross member 71 , 73 , respectively . the upper cross member 71 , as shown in fig2 and 6 has an angularly oriented support flange ( 75 illustrated in fig6 ) mounted thereon for receiving an upper extent ( generally shown as 77 in fig2 ) of a selected one of the process heat exchangers to support the heat exchangers . as shown in fig8 , the support flange 75 has a generally u - shaped opening 79 for engaging and supporting the heat exchanger 11 . this also isolates the weight of the steam inlet 21 and associated piping ( 81 in fig3 ), whereby the load imposed by the associated heat exchanger piping and components is transferred to the support stand 65 through the support flange 75 . as shown in fig2 , 3 , and 7 , an adjustable lower mounting bracket 83 is provided for each of the process heat exchangers 11 , 15 and mounts on the lower cross member 73 of the support stand 65 for further stabilizing the process heat exchangers on the support stand . as will be appreciated , the heat exchanger flange support system provides support for the process heat exchangers 11 , 15 to transfer steam piping angular and support loads to the stand 65 . traditional heat exchanger mounting arrangements have tended to result in all of the steam piping loads being carried by the flange to shell attachment . these loads can be substantial and can damage the flange to shell connection and cause other piping attached to the heat exchanger to move out of position or incur stress which can result in stress corrosion failure of certain heat exchanger designs and / or materials . bolts 84 ( fig7 ) are received in a mating slot on the cross member 73 which allow adjustment of the vertical position of the mounting brackets 83 . in order to accommodate the position the heat exchanger after it is mounted to the stand 65 by the flange 75 , the adjustable lower mounting bracket 83 is designed to attach to the heat exchanger in whatever position results from the flange mounting . the traditional strap type mounting method forces the heat exchanger to be held in a fixed position defined by the fixed saddle of the strap system . if the flange mounted heat exchanger of the invention was forced into this fixed saddle location and held in place by the strap position of the strap system , undesirable stress would be applied to the heat exchanger flange to shell connection . as will also be appreciated with respect to fig2 , the upper cross member 71 is designed to provide support for the heavy components of the water blending system , such as valve 27 and its associated plumbing , which are approximately balanced on either side of the cross member 71 and which can be attached to it by an adjustable clamping system or other suitable arrangement . similarly , the lower cross member 73 is designed to serve as a hanger support attachment point to carry the weight of the lower piping , secondary heat exchanger and associated components of the water blending system . the steam instantaneous heat exchangers of the invention are designed for single or multiple attachments to the support stand 65 . when provided as a multiple water heater , the individual water heater design accommodates attachment for combined inlet and outlet single point water connections . however , as has been discussed , multiple units can provide redundancy and can provide for higher water delivery . the support stand 65 can be expanded to accommodate multiple heat exchanger and water blending systems through the extension of the cross members 71 , 73 . the frame weld design of the stand 65 is also customized in order minimize weld distortion at the frame . with reference to fig3 - 5 , each of the vertical support members , such as member 67 in fig5 , is attached to a runner skid 85 by means of a gusset member 87 . each gusset member 87 is positioned to contact a vertical support member 67 at a planar contact surface . each gusset member is welded across the planar contact surface using a skip welding pattern , such as the skips illustrated at 89 in fig5 . for example , instead of using a full weld , approximately ½ ″ skips are provided to minimize the weld that crosses the flat side of the skid 85 in fig5 . this tends to minimize stress on the runner skids 85 and prevents buckling . fig2 and fig1 - 13 illustrate additional components of the plumbing , including the plumbing related to the secondary heat exchanger 61 . as briefly discussed , where the building or other structure being serviced has an existing return recirculation pump and water circuit , the significant energy which is contained in the steam condensate in the traps 23 , 25 can be used to preheat the recirculated return water , thereby improving the efficiency of the system . the energy from the steam traps 23 , 25 can be captured and used to preheat the water coming into the heat exchangers 11 , 15 by using the secondary heat exchanger or sub - cooler 61 . traditionally , the building water circulation system will have a pump added to the system to move a portion of the cold supply water through the secondary heat exchanger 61 , followed by adding this heated water back into the cold water entering the process heat exchanger . in one embodiment of the invention , the existing building recirculation pump ( not shown ) is used to pump the cooler building return water through the secondary heat exchanger 61 and then into the cold water inlet of the process heat exchanger 11 , simplifying the piping system and avoiding the cost of an independent secondary heat exchanger pump . other arrangements are also possible . for example , a “ t ” and balancing valves could be added to the suction side of the existing building recirculation pump so that the one pump can return recirculated water and draw cold supply water through the secondary heat exchanger 61 through separate piping . an invention has been provided with several advantages . the system of the invention utilizes steam from any convenient source to provide energy to heat water to a desired temperature for a variety of hot water end use applications . the thermal lag which has tended to characterize the prior art instantaneous systems is eliminated providing near instantaneous water temperature control . outlet water temperature downstream of the water heater system can be controlled to within plus or minus 5 ° f ., or less at any flow rate exceeding five gallons per minute . the five gallon per minute flow rate is easily achieved with a conventionally installed building pipe loop recirculation pump . the tight water temperature control achieved with the system of the invention applies to all flow conditions , including near instantaneous changes between maximum water flow to zero flow and back to maximum flow . a variety of safety features ensure that no scalding water or steam is delivered through the water outlets in the event of failure of major component of the system . while the invention has been shown in several of its forms , it is not thus limited but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof .
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US-27319505-A
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in one embodiment , a method , of fabricating a stimulation lead for stimulating tissue of a patient , comprises : providing a lead body , the lead body comprising a plurality of conductors embedded within insulating material ; providing a plurality of terminals ; electrically coupling the plurality of terminals with the plurality of conductors ; providing a plurality of electrodes , the plurality of electrodes comprising a plurality of substantially continuous longitudinal trenches on a surface of the electrodes , the electrodes comprising areas of reflow material forming microstructures substantially continuously along walls of the longitudinal trenches ; and electrically coupling the plurality of electrodes with the plurality of conductors .
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fig1 a depicts an example laminotomy or paddle lead 110 according to one representative embodiment . laminotomy lead 110 includes a proximal end and a distal end . the proximal end includes a plurality of electrically conductive terminals 118 . the distal end includes a plurality of electrically conductive electrodes 120 ( only electrodes 120 - 1 through 120 - 10 are annotated for the sake of clarity ) arranged within a flat , thin paddle - like structure . the electrodes 120 are mutually separated by insulative material of the paddle . for a paddle structure adapted for implantation within a cervical vertebral level , the electrodes are preferably spaced apart 1 . 5 mm laterally and 2 . 5 mm longitudinally . the length of each electrode is preferably approximately 4 . 0 mm and the width of each electrode is preferably approximately 1 . 0 mm thereby providing a geometrical surface area of approximately 4 . 0 mm 2 . for a paddle adapted for implantation within a thoracic vertebral level , the electrodes are preferably spaced apart by 1 . 0 mm laterally and 2 mm or 3 mm longitudinally . conductors 122 ( which are embedded within the insulative material of the lead body ) electrically connect electrodes 120 to terminals 118 . in the specific example shown in fig1 a , the paddle includes five columns and four rows of electrodes 120 . alternative numbers of columns and rows may be employed . the multiple columns of electrodes enable lateral control of the applied electrical field to stimulate the exact lateral position of the pertinent nerve fiber ( s ). specifically , it is desirable to selectively stimulate respective dorsal column fibers that are associated with an afflicted region of the patient &# 39 ; s body without affecting other regions of the patient &# 39 ; s body . the multiple columns of electrodes according to representative embodiments provide sufficient resolution to relatively finely control the stimulation of one or several specific fibers . additionally , the multiple columns provide a degree of positional tolerance during the surgical placement of the paddle within the epidural space , because any one of the columns can be used to stimulate the pertinent nerve fiber ( s ). also , if the paddle is displaced relative to the pertinent nerve fibers subsequent to implantation ( e . g ., due to lead migration ), the stimulation pattern applied by the pulse generator can be shifted between columns to compensate for the displacement . in some embodiments , paddle lead 110 is adapted to be implanted within a patient such that the electrodes are positioned within a cervical vertebral level or a relatively high thoracic vertebral level . a benefit of implanting paddle lead 100 within a relatively high vertebral level is the ability to obtain paresthesia over a relatively large range of regions of the patient &# 39 ; s body . for example , a first row can be used to treat a first pain location ( e . g ., pain in the lower extremities ) and a second row can be used to treat a second pain location ( e . g ., post - laminectomy pain in the back ) which could otherwise conventionally require multiple stimulation leads if implanted in other vertebral levels . preferably , after implantation , one or more electrode combinations on a first row of electrodes can be determined that is effective for a first pain location with minimal effects on other regions of the body . the first pain location can be addressed by stimulating specific dorsal column fibers due to the relatively fine electrical field resolution achievable by the multiple columns . then , one or more electrode combinations on a second row of electrodes can be determined for a second pain location with minimal effects on other regions of the body . the second pain location could be addressed by stimulating other specific dorsal column fibers as an example . preferably , a degree in selectivity in stimulating dorsal column fibers is provided when selecting the one or more electrode combinations for the respective rows to limit paresthesia to the specific bodily regions . the selectivity in stimulating respective dorsal column fibers can be facilitated by “ steering ” of the electrical field . steering may occur using any suitable technique known in the art . for example , closely timed ( non - overlapping temporally ) stimulation pulses on different electrode combinations may be used to shift the locus of stimulation laterally using a single - source implantable pulse generator . alternatively , simultaneous or overlapping application of stimulation pulses using different electrode combinations may be used to shift the locus of stimulation when a multi - source implantable pulse generator is employed . anodal blocking may also be utilized to select anode states for selected electrodes as is known in the art . conductors 122 are carried or embedded in the insulative material of sheaths or lead bodies 124 . in some embodiments , each sheath 124 carries eight conductors 122 . with only two sheaths 124 with eight conductors each , there would only be sixteen conductors 122 . to accommodate the lower number of conductors 122 than electrodes 120 , multiple electrodes 120 are coupled to the same conductor 122 ( and , hence , to a common terminal 118 ). in one embodiment , electrodes 120 - 1 and 120 - 4 are coupled to a common conductor 122 , electrodes 120 - 5 and 120 - 6 are coupled to a common conductor 122 , electrodes 120 - 7 and 120 - 8 are coupled to a common conductor , and electrodes 120 - 9 and 120 - 10 are coupled to a common conductor . in some embodiments , other electrode designs can be employed to minimize the number of conductors 122 required to support the various electrodes 120 . for example , a relatively large number of electrodes ( e . g ., thirty - two , sixty - four , and greater ) could be utilized on the paddle structure . the electrodes could be coupled to one or several electrical gates ( e . g ., as deposited on a flex circuit ). the electrical gates can be controllably configured to couple each electrode to a conductor 122 carrying cathode pulses , to couple each electrode to an anode termination , or to maintain each electrode at a high impedance state . the electrical gates could be controlled using a main controller ( a logic circuit ) on the paddle structure that is coupled to a data line conductor 122 . the data line conductor 122 is used to communicate signals from the ipg that identify the desired electrode states . the main controller responds to the signals by setting the states of the electrical gates as appropriate . terminals 118 and electrodes 120 are preferably formed of a non - corrosive , highly conductive material . examples of such material include stainless steel , mp35n , platinum , and platinum alloys . in a preferred embodiment , terminals 118 and electrodes 120 are formed of a platinum - iridium alloy . each conductor 122 is formed of a conductive material that exhibits desired mechanical properties of low resistance , corrosion resistance , flexibility , and strength . while conventional stranded bundles of stainless steel , mp35n , platinum , platinum - iridium alloy , drawn - brazed silver ( dbs ) or the like can be used , a preferred embodiment uses conductors 122 formed of multi - strands of drawn - filled tubes ( dft ). each strand is formed of a low resistance material and is encased in a high strength material ( preferably , metal ). a selected number of “ sub - strands ” are wound and coated with an insulative material . with regard to the operating environment of representative embodiments , such insulative material protects the individual conductors 122 if its respective sheath 124 was breached during use . sheaths 124 and the paddle structure of lead 110 are preferably formed from a medical grade , substantially inert material , for example , polyurethane , silicone , or the like . importantly , such material should be non - reactive to the environment of the human body , provide a flexible and durable ( i . e ., fatigue resistant ) exterior structure for the components of lead 110 , and insulate adjacent terminals 118 and / or electrodes 120 . additional structure ( e . g ., a nylon mesh , a fiberglass substrate ) ( not shown ) can be internalized within the paddle structure to increase its overall rigidity and / or to cause the paddle structure to assume a prescribed cross - sectional form . the paddle structure may be fabricated to possess a substantially flat profile . as one alternative , the paddle structure may be fabricated to possess a prescribed arc along a transverse or lateral direction of the paddle structure as shown in the cross - sectional view of fig1 b . on each longitudinal side of the paddle structure , “ wing ” structures 130 , 132 may be formed for the purpose of retaining the paddle structure within the central portion of the epidural space . in some embodiments , one or several electrodes 120 could be disposed on the wing structures 130 , 132 . while a number of material and construction options have been discussed above , it should be noted that neither the materials selected nor a construction methodology is critical to the present invention . although the number of rows of electrodes enables a greater degree of flexibility in treating neurological disorders , the number of rows reduces the possible surface area for the electrodes of lead 110 . for the reasons previously discussed , conventional ipgs limit the amount of current applied to tissue by electrodes to prevent electrode damage or degradation and to prevent adverse tissue reactions . the use of electrodes with smaller surface area and conventional surface characteristics further limits the amount of current that would be typically provided by an ipg . in view of such limitations for conventional ipgs and conventional electrodes , it may not be possible to sufficiently stimulate neural tissue associated with a particular patient disorder . for example , if the maximum stimulation current is unduly limited , it may not be possible to stimulate deeper dorsal column fibers with a conventional ipg and conventional electrodes at a relatively high vertebral level to obtain paresthesia for a particular region of the patient &# 39 ; s body that is afflicted by chronic pain . some embodiments compensate for the reduction in surface area by processing the electrode surface to improve the charge transfer characteristics of electrodes 120 . in one embodiment , paddle lead 110 is constructed using electrodes 120 of platinum alloyed with 10 % iridium . each electrode is laser micro - machined to provide a surface texture that comprises a plurality of surface features . in this preferred embodiment , an esi 4420 yag laser is operated at 266 nm , 300 mw , and 2 khz , with a transverse rate of 10 mm / sec over multiple passes over the electrodes to produce the respective features . in one embodiment , longitudinal channels or trenches are formed , having a width of about 100 micron and a depth of about 100 micron . in other embodiments , the width can range from 25 - 100 microns and the depth can range from 25 - 100 microns . fig2 a - 2d depict respective electrodes 201 - 204 of platinum iridium alloy having respective surface textures . each electrode 201 - 204 comprises a geometrical surface area of 0 . 06 cm 2 ( 2 mm × 3 mm ). the surface texture of electrode 201 is the conventional surface texture of electrodes utilized in typical neurostimulation paddle - style leads . the surface textures of electrodes 202 and 204 are defined by linear channels or trenches formed along the length of electrodes 202 and 204 using the esi 4420 yag laser as discussed above . the width of these channels are 0 . 02 inches and 0 . 04 inches respectively . electrode 203 comprises a cross - hatched surface area formed by machining respective sets of linear channels in opposing directions . using such machining , electrode 203 possesses the greatest increase in geometrical surface area , while electrode 202 possesses the least , and electrode 204 possesses an intermediate amount . fig3 a - 3f depict sem images 301 - 306 of the surface textures of electrodes 201 - 204 . images 301 - 303 correspond to electrodes 201 - 203 , respectively . images 304 - 306 are images of electrode 204 at multiple magnification levels . in addition to the macroscopic surface features , the laser machining of electrodes 202 - 204 creates surface microstructure roughness as shown in fig3 b - 3f . the roughness of the electrode surfaces most likely results from the creation of locally high temperatures within or adjacent to the laser machined channels . the microstructure roughness caused by such high temperatures is referred to as “ reflow material ” herein . the microscopic surface features are present within the machined trenches and , in some cases , extend over the edges of the trenches . electrodes 201 - 204 were subjected to electrochemical analysis . the analysis of the electrodes included determining the relative surface area of the electrodes by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy ( eis ). even though the distance between trenches in electrodes 202 and 203 is smaller and , hence , electrodes 202 and 203 possess a greater number of trenches , these electrodes did not possess the greatest amount of total surface area . instead , electrode 204 exhibited the greatest surface area . quantitatively , electrodes 202 , 203 , and 204 exhibited surface area increases by factors of 36 , 52 , and 111 , respectively relative to the surface area of electrode 201 . electrodes 201 - 204 were also subjected to constant potential pulses and the current resulting from the pulses was measured . following the trend in the effective surface area data , electrode 201 exhibited the lowest current delivery capacity while electrode 204 exhibited the highest current delivery capacity . electrodes 202 and 203 exhibited intermediate current delivery capacity . electrodes 201 - 204 were further subjected to relatively high amplitude constant current pulses and the resulting potentials on the electrodes were measured . electrode 201 exhibited the propensity for exceeding the biologically safe cathodic potential . specifically , it was observed that the potential present on electrode 201 could exceed the potential necessary for irreversible chemical reactions to occur . the surface textures of electrodes 202 - 294 reduced the possibility of exceeding biologically safe potential levels for constant current pulses . by processing electrode surfaces using laser machining according to some representative embodiments , superior stimulation performance may be achieved . at lower stimulation currents , the amount of energy required from the pulse generator may be lowered as lower potentials are required to source the necessary current . also , the possibility of damage to the electrode surfaces and adverse tissue reactions may be reduced as the electrode potential is maintained under the safe potential levels even when relatively higher current stimulation pulses are employed . although preferred embodiments provide electrodes for neurostimulation leads , electrical leads for other medical applications may employ laser machined electrodes . for example , cardiac leads or gastric stimulation leads may employ electrodes according to some representative embodiments . also , although paddle leads have been described according to some embodiments , ring electrodes could be laser machined for use in percutaneous leads according to other embodiments . for example , trenches could be laser machined in a circumferential manner about a ring electrode to increase its effective surface area . fig4 depicts stimulation system 400 according to one representative embodiment . system 400 includes paddle lead 110 coupled to ipg 410 which is in wireless communication with programmer device 420 . an example of a commercially available ipg is the eon ® rechargeable ipg available from advanced neuromodulation systems , inc ., although any suitable ipg could be alternatively employed . as shown in fig4 , paddle lead 110 is coupled to header ports 411 of ipg 410 . the electrical connectors within each header port 411 electrically couple respective terminals 118 of lead 110 to a switch matrix ( not shown ) within ipg 410 . the switch matrix selectively connects the pulse generating circuitry ( not shown ) of ipg 410 to the various terminals 118 , and , hence to the electrodes 120 . the sealed portion of ipg 410 contains the pulse generating circuitry , communication circuitry , control circuitry , and battery ( not shown ) within an enclosure to protect the components after implantation within a patient . the control circuitry may comprise a microprocessor , microcontroller , one or more asics , and / or any suitable circuitry for controlling the pulse generating circuitry . the control circuitry controls the pulse generating circuitry to apply electrical pulses to the patient via electrodes 120 of paddle 110 according to multiple pulse parameters ( e . g ., pulse amplitude , pulse width , pulse frequency , etc .). the electrodes 120 are set to function as cathodes or anodes or set to a high - impedance state for a given pulse according to the couplings provided by the switch matrix . the electrode states may be changed between pulses . electrodes 120 are preferably processed to include laser machined trenches as discussed above . the surface characteristics of electrodes 120 permit increased current density relative to conventional electrodes and , hence , constant current pulses may be employed at higher levels than would be typically employed for similarly sized conventional electrodes . when paddle lead 110 is initially implanted within the patient , a determination of the set ( s ) of pulse parameters and the electrode configuration ( s ) that effectively treat the patient &# 39 ; s condition is made . the determination or programming typically occurs through a physician &# 39 ; s interaction with stimulation therapy configuration software executed on the programmer device 420 . the software steps the physician or clinician through a number of parameters and electrode configurations . in preferred embodiments , the electrode configurations are stepped through by “ steering ” the electrical field by moving the anodes and / or cathodes as discussed above . the patient provides feedback to the physician regarding the perceived stimulation that occurs in response to the pulse parameters and electrode configuration ( s ). the physician effects changes to the parameters and electrode configuration ( s ) until optimal pulse parameters and electrode configuration ( s ) are determined . the final pulse parameters and configurations are stored within ipg 410 for subsequent use . the pulse parameters and configurations are used by ipg 410 to control the electrical stimulation provided to the patient via paddle lead 410 . although certain representative embodiments and advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate when reading the present application , other processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the described embodiments may be utilized . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps .
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US-201213592052-A
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