Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology allows numerous peripheral devices to be connected to computing devices in a plug-and-play fashion. Such devices include, for example, keyboards, speakers, cameras, joysticks, mice, hard drives, flash drives, DVD drives, and various transceivers. Current peripheral devices are designed and implemented as defined by the Universal Serial Bus 2.0 Specifications, Revision 2.0, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Users now expect a high level of performance from USB devices. These peripheral devices require ever-increasing bus bandwidth. Therefore, USB technology is evolving from USB 2.0 “High-Speed” to USB 3.0 “SuperSpeed”.
The Universal Serial Bus 3.0 Specifications, Revision 1.0, which is also herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, define a number of criteria to be met in order to comply with the USB 3.0 Specifications. USB 3.0 improves on USB 2.0 by improving power management while leveraging existing USB infrastructure. USB 3.0 is a physical SuperSpeed bus combined in parallel with a physical USB 2.0 bus. It has similar architectural components as USB 2.0, including USB 3.0 interconnect, USB 3.0 devices, and USB 3.0 host. The USB interconnect is the manner in which USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices connect to and communicate with the USB 3.0 host. The USB 3.0 interconnect inherits core architectural elements from USB 2.0, although several are modified to accommodate the dual bus architecture. Modifications in USB 3.0 include eight primary conductors: three twisted signal pairs for USB data paths and a power pair. One of the twisted signal pairs accommodates for USB 2.0 data path, while two of the twisted signal pairs are used to provide USB 3.0 data paths, one for the transmit path and one for the receive path. In all, USB 3.0 inherits the Vbus, D+, D−, and GND wires from USB 2.0, and incorporates VDD33 conductors to accommodate for SuperSpeed interfaces. USB 3.0 accommodates forwards and backwards-compatibility with existing USB 2.0 peripherals at a lower speed using a Type-A connector.
While USB technology evolves towards the USB 3.0 standard, many current computing devices and peripherals only support USB 2.0. One such peripheral includes a transceiver. 40-nm FPGA's and ASCI's with transceivers have higher integration than prior nodes, including the 65-nm and 45-nm nodes. Another performance benefit of the 40-nm process includes shorter minimum transistor gate lengths than the 45-nm process. Further, power consumption is reduced in the 40-nm node, as smaller process geometries reduce parasitic capacitances. Therefore a need exists for integrating a USB 2.0 transceiver on the same SOC as a USB 3.0 PHY without incurring excess area or system costs.


Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to techniques for real-time and offline location tracking using passive RFID technologies.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method which relies on the storing and remotely retrieving of data using devices, such as RFID tags or transponders. RFID tags or transponders are also known as proximity, proxy, or contactless cards, because data from an RFID tag can be retrieved without physical contact. Generally, a device, such as an RFID reader, uses radio waves to remotely retrieve a unique identifier stored using the RFID tag when the RFID tag is within proximity of the RFID reader. RFID tags can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification by the RFID reader. RFID readers can be placed on doorways, in train cars, over freeways, mounted on vehicles, and also can be embodied in mobile handheld devices.
RFID technologies have been traditionally implemented in different ways by different manufacturers, although global standards are being developed. Thus, computer applications using RFID are also typically hard-coded to specific RFID devices sold by the same manufacture. One problem with this arrangement is that the computer applications are limited to using only the data retrieved from the specific RFID readers.
In order to provide automated shipping and receiving, real-time inventory, automated shipping and received, and real-time security, other types of RFID sensor devices, such as environment sensors (e.g., temperature and humidity sensors), location sensors (e.g., Global Positioning System or GPS devices), and notification devices, may be required. For example, one cold chain solution provides an RFID tag embedded with a temperature sensor. Cold chain refers to a temperature-controlled supply chain. An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted series of storage and distribution activities which maintain a given temperature range.
However, one problem with embedding sensors with RFID tags is that the increase in cost and complexity associated with each RFID tag. Furthermore, if computer applications are tied directly to specific RFID readers, the only items for which sensor data can be used from those applications are those that can be tagged and directly sensed using the specific RFID readers.
Accordingly, what is desired are improved methods and apparatus for solving the problems discussed above, while reducing the drawbacks discussed above.


Compression ignition engines cause combustion of a hydrocarbon by injecting the hydrocarbon into compressed air and can be fuelled by diesel fuel, biodiesel fuel, blends of diesel and biodiesel fuels and compressed natural gas. The purpose of the present invention is different from the invention claimed in UK patent application no. 1003244.9 filed on 26 Feb. 2010 entitled “Filter”. The purpose of the invention in that patent application is a filter for particulate matter in exhaust gas of a positive ignition engine.
Ambient PM is divided by most authors into the following categories based on their aerodynamic diameter (the aerodynamic diameter is defined as the diameter of a 1 g/cm3 density sphere of the same settling velocity in air as the measured particle):                (i) PM-10—particles of an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm;        (ii) Fine particles of diameters below 2.5 μm (PM-2.5);        (iii) Ultrafine particles of diameters below 0.1 μm (or 100 nm); and        (iv) Nanoparticles, characterised by diameters of less than 50 nm.
Since the mid-1990's, particle size distributions of particulates exhausted from internal combustion engines have received increasing attention due to possible adverse health effects of fine and ultrafine particles. Concentrations of PM-10 particulates in ambient air are regulated by law in the USA. A new, additional ambient air quality standard for PM-2.5 was introduced in the USA in 1997 as a result of health studies that indicated a strong correlation between human mortality and the concentration of fine particles below 2.5 μm.
Interest has now shifted towards nanoparticles generated by diesel and gasoline engines because they are understood to penetrate more deeply into human lungs than particulates of greater size and consequently they are believed to be more harmful than larger particles, extrapolated from the findings of studies into particulates in the 2.5-10.0 μm range.
Size distributions of diesel particulates have a well-established bimodal character that corresponds to the particle nucleation and agglomeration mechanisms, with the corresponding particle types referred to as the nuclei mode and the accumulation mode respectively (see FIG. 1). As can be seen from FIG. 1, in the nuclei mode, diesel PM is composed of numerous small particles holding very little mass. Nearly all diesel particulates have sizes of significantly less than 1 μm, i.e. they comprise a mixture of fine, i.e. falling under the 1997 US law, ultrafine and nanoparticles.
Nuclei mode particles are believed to be composed mostly of volatile condensates (hydrocarbons, sulfuric acid, nitric acid etc) and contain little solid material, such as ash and carbon. Accumulation mode particles are understood to comprise solids (carbon, metallic ash etc.) intermixed with condensates and adsorbed material (heavy hydrocarbons, sulfur species, nitrogen oxide derivatives etc.). Coarse mode particles are not believed to be generated in the diesel combustion process and may be formed through mechanisms such as deposition and subsequent re-entrainment of particulate material from the walls of an engine cylinder, exhaust system, or the particulate sampling system. The relationship between these modes is shown in FIG. 1.
The composition of nucleating particles may change with engine operating conditions, environmental condition (particularly temperature and humidity), dilution and sampling system conditions. Laboratory work and theory have shown that most of the nuclei mode formation and growth occur in the low dilution ratio range. In this range, gas to particle conversion of volatile particle precursors, like heavy hydrocarbons and sulfuric acid, leads to simultaneous nucleation and growth of the nuclei mode and adsorption onto existing particles in the accumulation mode. Laboratory tests (see e.g. SAE 980525 and SAE 2001-01-0201) have shown that nuclei mode formation increases strongly with decreasing air dilution temperature but there is conflicting evidence on whether humidity has an influence.
Generally, low temperature, low dilution ratios, high humidity and long residence times favour nanoparticles formation and growth. Studies have shown that nanoparticles consist mainly of volatile material like heavy hydrocarbons and sulfuric acid with evidence of solid fraction only at very high loads.
Particulate collection of diesel particulates in a diesel particulate filter is based on the principle of separating gas-borne particulates from the gas phase using a porous barrier. Diesel filters can be defined as deep-bed filters and/or surface-type filters. In deep-bed filters, the mean pore size of filter media is bigger than the mean diameter of collected particles. The particles are deposited on the media through a combination of depth filtration mechanisms, including diffusional deposition (Brownian motion), inertial deposition (impaction) and flow-line interception (Brownian motion or inertia).
In surface-type filters, the pore diameter of the filter media is less than the diameter of the PM, so PM is separated by sieving. Separation is done by a build-up of collected diesel PM itself, which build-up is commonly referred to as “filtration cake” and the process as “cake filtration”.
It is understood that diesel particulate filters, such as ceramic wallflow monoliths, may work through a combination of depth and surface filtration: a filtration cake develops at higher soot loads when the depth filtration capacity is saturated and a particulate layer starts covering the filtration surface. Depth filtration is characterized by somewhat lower filtration efficiency and lower pressure drop than the cake filtration.
Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx by nitrogenous compounds, such as ammonia or urea, was first developed for treating industrial stationary applications. SCR technology was first used in thermal power plants in Japan in the late 1970s, and has seen widespread application in Europe since the mid-1980s. In the USA, SCR systems were introduced for gas turbines in the 1990s and have been used more recently in coal-fired powerplants. In addition to coal-fired cogeneration plants and gas turbines, SCR applications include plant and refinery heaters and boilers in the chemical processing industry, furnaces, coke ovens, municipal waste plants and incinerators. More recently, NOx reduction systems based on SCR technology are being developed for a number of vehicular (mobile) applications in Europe, Japan, and the USA, e.g. for treating diesel exhaust gas.
Several chemical reactions occur in an NH3 SCR system, all of which represent desirable reactions that reduce NOx to nitrogen. The dominant reaction is represented by reaction (1).4NO+4NH3+O2→4N2+6H2O  (1)
Competing, non-selective reactions with oxygen can produce secondary emissions or may unproductively consume ammonia. One such non-selective reaction is the complete oxidation of ammonia, shown in reaction (2).4NH3+5O2→4NO+6H2O  (2)
Also, side reactions may lead to undesirable products such as N2O, as represented by reaction (3).4NH3+5NO+3O2→4N2O+6H2O  (3)
Various catalysts for promoting NH3-SCR are known including V2O5/WO3/TiO2 and transition metal/zeolites such as Fe/Beta (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,917) and transition metal/small pore zeolites (see WO 2008/132452).
EP 1663458 discloses a SCR filter, wherein the filter is a wallflow monolith and wherein an SCR catalyst composition permeates walls of the wallflow monolith. The specification discloses generally that the walls of the wallflow filter can contain thereon or therein (i.e. not both) one or more catalytic materials. According to the disclosure, “permeate”, when used to describe the dispersion of a catalyst slurry on the wallflow monolith substrate, means the catalyst composition is dispersed throughout the wall of the substrate.
WO 2008/136232 A1 discloses a honeycomb filter having a cell wall composed of a porous cell wall base material and, provided on its inflow side only or on its inflow and outflow sides, a surface layer and satisfying the following requirements (1) to (5) is used as DPF: (1) the peak pore diameter of the surface layer is identical with or smaller than the average pore diameter of the cell wall base material, and the porosity of the surface layer is larger than that of the cell wall base material; (2) with respect to the surface layer, the peak pore diameter is from 0.3 to less than 20 μm, and the porosity is from 60 to less than 95% (measured by mercury penetration method); (3) the thickness (L1) of the surface layer is from 0.5 to less than 30% of the thickness (L2) of the cell wall; (4) the mass of the surface layer per filtration area is from 0.01 to less than 6 mg/cm2; and (5) with respect to the cell wall base material, the average pore diameter is from 10 to less than 60 μm, and the porosity is from 40 to less than 65%. See also SAE paper 2009-01-0292.
NOx absorber catalysts (NACs) are known e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,887 and are designed to adsorb nitrogen oxides (NOx) from lean exhaust gas (lambda>1) and to desorb the NOx when the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas is decreased. Desorbed NOx may be reduced to N2 with a suitable reductant, e.g. gasoline fuel, promoted by a catalyst component, such as rhodium, of the NAC itself or located downstream of the NAC. In practice, control of oxygen concentration can be adjusted to a desired redox composition intermittently in response to a calculated remaining NOx adsorption capacity of the NAC, e.g. richer than normal engine running operation (but still lean of stoichiometric or lambda=1 composition), stoichiometric or rich of stoichiometric (lambda<1). The oxygen concentration can be adjusted by a number of means, e.g. throttling, injection of additional hydrocarbon fuel into an engine cylinder such as during the exhaust stroke or injecting hydrocarbon fuel directly into exhaust gas downstream of an engine manifold.
A typical NAC formulation includes a catalytic oxidation component, such as platinum, a significant quantity, i.e. substantially more than is required for use as a promoter such as a promoter in a TWC, of a NOx-storage component, such as barium, and a reduction catalyst, e.g. rhodium. One mechanism commonly given for NOx-storage from a lean exhaust gas for this formulation is:NO+½O2→NO2  (4); andBaO+NO2+½O2→Ba(NO3)2  (5),wherein in reaction (4), the nitric oxide reacts with oxygen on active oxidation sites on the platinum to form NO2. Reaction (5) involves adsorption of the NO2 by the storage material in the form of an inorganic nitrate.
At lower oxygen concentrations and/or at elevated temperatures, the nitrate species become thermodynamically unstable and decompose, producing NO or NO2 according to reaction (6) below. In the presence of a suitable reductant, these nitrogen oxides are subsequently reduced by carbon monoxide, hydrogen and hydrocarbons to N2, which can take place over the reduction catalyst (see reaction (5)).Ba(NO3)2→BaO+2NO+ 3/2O2 or Ba(NO3)2→BaO+2NO2+½O2  (6); andNO+CO→½N2+CO2  (7);(Other reactions include Ba(NO3)2+8H2→BaO+2NH3+5H2O followed by NH3+NOx→N2+yH2O or 2NH3+2O2+CO→N2+3H2O+CO2 etc.).
In the reactions of (4)-(7) above, the reactive barium species is given as the oxide. However, it is understood that in the presence of air most of the barium is in the form of the carbonate or possibly the hydroxide. The skilled person can adapt the above reaction schemes accordingly for species of barium other than the oxide and sequence of catalytic coatings in the exhaust stream.
In Europe, since the year 2000 (Euro 3 emission standard) emissions are tested over the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). This consists of four repeats of the previous ECE 15 driving cycle plus one Extra Urban Driving Cycle (EUDC) with no 40 second warm-up period before beginning emission sampling. This modified cold start test is also referred to as the “MVEG-B” drive cycle. All emissions are expressed in g/km.
The Euro 5/6 implementing legislation introduces a new PM mass emission measurement method developed by the UN/ECE Particulate Measurement Programme (PMP) which adjusts the PM mass emission limits to account for differences in results using old and the new methods. The Euro 5/6 legislation also introduces a particle number emission limit (PMP method), in addition to the mass-based limits.
Emission legislation in Europe from 1 Sep. 2014 (Euro 6) requires control of the number of particles emitted from both diesel and gasoline passenger cars. For diesel EU light duty vehicles the allowable limits are: 500 mg/km carbon monoxide; 80 mg/km nitrogen oxides (NOx); 170 mg/km total hydrocarbons+NOx; 4.5 g/km particulate matter (PM); and particulate number standard of 6.0×1011 per km. The present specification is based on the assumption that this number will be adopted in due course.
A difficulty in coating a filter with a catalyst composition is to balance a desired catalytic activity, which generally increases with washcoat loading, with the backpressure that is caused by the filter in use (increased washcoat loading generally increases backpressure) and filtration efficiency (backpressure can be reduced by adopting wider mean pore size and higher porosity substrates at the expense of filtration efficiency).


The present invention relates to communication of data and in particular to modulation of data transmitted between two entities of a communication system.
A communication system is a facility which facilitates communication between two or more entities such as communication devices, network entities and other nodes. A communication system may be provided by one more interconnect networks. It is noted that although a communication system typically comprises at least one communication network, for example a fixed line network or a wireless or mobile network, in its simplest form a communication system is provided by two entities communicating with each other. The communication may comprise, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and so on.
A user may communicate by an appropriate communication device. An appropriate access system allows the communication device to access to a communication system. An access to the communications system may be provided by a fixed line or wireless communication interface, or a combination of these. Examples of wireless access systems include cellular access networks, various wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs), satellite based communication systems and various combinations of these.
A communication system typically operates in accordance with a standard and/or a set of specifications and protocols which set out what the various elements of the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. For example, it is typically defined if the user, or more precisely user device, is provided with a circuit switched bearer or a packet switched bearer, or both. Also, the manner in which communication and various aspects thereof should be implemented between the user device and the various elements of the communication and their functions and responsibilities are typically defined by a predefined communication protocol.
In a radio or wireless system an entity in the form of a base station provides a node for communication with user communication devices, often referred to as mobile stations. Communications in the direction from the base station to the user device is seen as occurring on a “downlink” (DL). Communications in the direction from the user device to the base station is then seen as occurring on an “uplink” (UL). It is noted that in certain systems a base station is called ‘Node B’.
Signalling between various entities may be divided between signalling of control data and actual data. The latter refers to the data content the users wish to communicate. Control signalling, in turn, associates to transfer of information that is not related as such to the data content the users may wish to be transferred. In the following these two forms of signalling are separated by referring to control signalling and data signalling, where appropriate.
To ensure proper operation of the system, the control signalling typically has higher quality requirements than the data signalling. On the other hand, the amount of information conveyed by control signalling such as by acknowledgement signalling is typically only one or two bits. This is less than what can be carried by data modulated symbols, for example Quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) symbols. For example 16QAM carries 4 bits and 64 QAM carries 6 bits.
An example of control signalling is the transfer of positive and negative acknowledgement information signalling, often referred to as ACK/NACK signalling. The acknowledgement signalling is used to provide feedback concerning previous transmissions, for example if a previous data transmission such as a data packet is properly received.
Despite the advantages in signalling technologies, there is still need to optimize the performance of communications between two devices, for example though reduction of errors in control signalling. Use of a single modulation method for control signalling and data signalling might be desired in various applications.
The herein described embodiments aim to address one or several of the above mentioned shortcomings and/or desires.


The making of dental impressions is a precise art because of the necessity of forming a mold in which an accurate model of dental anatomy may be made. Heretofore, it has been customary for many years to mix the material in which the impression is to be made from certain ingredients and then disposing the same in a conventional impression tray of various types. It is obvious that if the material in which the impression is to be made is relatively readily flowable, it is capable of entering fissures and interstices, whereby, when the mold material is introduced into the molded cavity of the impression, it will be capable of reproducing the minute as well as the major features of the dental anatomy. Obviously; however, the more viscous the impression material, the less likelihood there is of small details of the anatomy being reproduced in the mold of which the pattern is to be made.
Examples of previous techniques in the use of dental impression material in an impression tray or otherwise, heretofore, are found in the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,458 to Lytton dated July 2, 1968, represents a special type of device for making dental impressions particularly capable of pressing the surrounding gum away from a tooth around the gingival, whereby the pattern molded from the impression will extend below the gum line.
Another example of the use of a conventional tray is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,601 to Jahn dated May 13, 1975. In this patent, there is provided a spacer hood which is stretched over the impression material and the impression tray is inserted into the mouth of a patient and the patient is asked to close his mouth in biting on the impression material. To form a more precise impression, the spacer hood then is removed, a secondary impression material is applied and the impression tray again is introduced into the mouth of the patient so that a second impression may be taken.
A more recent development in the production of loaded dental impression trays which are pre-filled with impression material comprises the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,936 to Wang dated Nov. 19, 1985, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In this disclosure a transparent impression tray is provided which is filled with a light-curable impression material. When thus filled, the impression material is covered with a light-opaque covering which extends across the top and ends of the tray and the exterior surfaces of the tray are covered with light-opaque material such as metal foil; the foil serving an additional advantage of reflecting actinic light which is applied to the transparent tray and thus causes the light to permeate the entire mass of the impression material when such artificial light is applied thereto.
The prior art methods of using dental impression materials are cumbersome to use in the dental operatory or laboratory because many of the prior art materials are cured using two-component self-cured systems, and must therefore be prepared in the operatory or laboratory immediately prior to use. It is difficult for the practitioner to keep air voids out of the material when it is mixed; and after the preparation has begun, he has a limited time, usually about 5 minutes, in which to use the material before it self cures or begins to cure. Consequently, batches of dental impression materials made in the operatory and laboratory sometimes have to be discarded and the procedures repeated
Also, it is sometimes difficult for the practitioner to judge the correct amount of material to be used to obtain an impression, and excess material has a tendency to escape from the tray and become loose in the mouth, and said loose material may cause the patient discomfort and trigger the gagging reflex. When flowable impression materials are used, the tendency of the material to flow out of a dental tray may cause similar problems.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for means and a method for obtaining dental impressions whereby the practitioners time in the operatory is reduced, there is less mess involved, the amounts of impression material to be used are premeasured, the dental impression material to be used is free of air voids, where means are provided to prevent dental impression material from flowing out of a tray, and provides for increased patient comfort
It has been found that the above objectives can be obtained by using a light activated, prepackaged, premeasured impression material


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor, and more specifically, it relates to a method of manufacturing a conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor comprising a solid electrolyte containing a conductive polymer and an ionic liquid.
2. Description of the Background Art
An electrolytic capacitor employing a conductive polymer for an electrolyte and a cathode conductive layer is known in general. In relation to such a conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor, it is known that an electrolytic capacitor exhibiting a low leakage current and having high heat resistance and high moisture resistance can be manufactured by employing a dopant hardly damaging a dielectric layer consisting of an anodized film or also using a solid organic onium salt having repairability for a valve metal (refer to Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-22938, for example).
However, the conductive polymer essentially has no anodic oxidizability, whereby improvement in the withstand voltage characteristic of the conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor is limited. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-96210 (1991) describes a method of improving the withstand voltage by aging an anodic body having a solid electrolytic layer thereby performing re-repair/forming, as means for solving this problem.
However, this document, describing a method of aging the anodic body by applying a constant voltage not more than half a forming voltage, discloses that the yield is remarkably deteriorated if the forming voltage is increased. Thus, there is no technique disclosing that at least 50% of a forming voltage for a valve metal can be extracted as a normal voltage in relation to a conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor.
Further, it is known that dissociation between a forming voltage and a withstand voltage is increased when the forming voltage is increased (refer to Electrolytic Condenser Review, Vol. 53 (1), 95 (2002)). While the forming voltage and the withstand voltage are equivalent to each other up to about 30 V (however, the actual working voltage is set to about 15 V in consideration of safety), the withstand voltage is remarkably reduced at a forming voltage exceeding 30 V. The withstand voltage is 50 V and the practical voltage is not more than 24 V whether forming is performed at 100 V or 300 V. When the forming voltage is increased, further, the capacitance is unpractically reduced. In general, therefore, it is extremely difficult to manufacture an electrolytic capacitor having an actual working voltage of at least 24 V in relation to a conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor.
In order to solve this problem, it is attempted to provide an insulating layer referred to as a buffer layer on a dielectric film. If such a layer is provided, however, equivalent series resistance (ESR) or a tan δ characteristic is deteriorated, to damage the high performance of the conductive polymer electrolytic capacitor.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arc tube, and a method of fabricating the arc tube for a discharge lamp in which a cylindrical shroud glass is welded on and integrated with an arc tube main body having a sealed glass bulb that serves as a discharge portion and is formed at a portion of the main body along the longitudinal direction thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 12, an arc tube is configured in a manner that a cylindrical shroud glass 8 for shielding ultraviolet rays is welded on and integrated with an arc tube main body 1 having a sealed glass bulb 2 which serves as a discharge portion and is formed at a portion of the main body along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the sealed glass bulb 2 is covered by the shroud glass 8. Reference numerals 8a, 8b depict welding portions of the shroud glass 8.
Electrodes a, a are provided in an opposite manner within the sealed glass bulb 2 sandwiched between the pinch seal portions 3a, 3b, and lead wires c, c coupled to molybdenum foils b, b are drawn from the pinch seal portions 3a, 3b at both ends of the glass bulb, respectively. Cylindrical portions 4a, 4b as non-pinch seal portions are formed at the front and rear portions of the pinch seal portions 3a, 3b so as to be extracted therefrom, respectively.
The shroud glass 8 cuts ultraviolet rays in a wavelength range that may be harmful to the human body among light emitted from the sealed glass bulb 2.
A sealed space 7, formed by the shroud glass 8 and surrounding the arc tube main body 1, suppresses devitrification generated at the arc tube. That is, since the lamp room in which the arc tube is disposed communicates with the outside of the lamp room through an air hole performing breathing operation, and the atmosphere within the lamp room contains a lot of moisture, the moisture causes the devitrification generated at the arc tube. Therefore, the arc tube main body 1 is covered by the sealed space 7 so that the arc tube main body 1 does not contact the atmosphere containing the moisture, thereby suppressing the generation of the devitrification.
In order to fabricate the arc tube shown in FIG. 12, first, the rod-shaped arc tube main body 1 having cylindrical portions 4a, 4b formed at both ends thereof is fabricated. Thereafter, the arc tube main body 1 is inserted within a shroud glass tube 9, then the front and rear end sides of the shroud glass tube 9 are heated to be molten and softened. After that, the softened portions are deformed by using forming rolls in a direction for reducing the diameter of the shroud glass tube (a direction shown by the arrows in FIG. 12) and pressed against the pinch seal portions 3a, 3b of the arc tube main body 1 at the inside of the glass tube and welded at the pinch seal portions. Then, the shroud glass tube 9 is cut at predetermined portions as necessary.
However, according to the conventional arc tube described above, there arises a problem that the devitrification phenomenon occurs despite the fact that the shroud glass 8 (the shroud glass tube 9) is welded to the arc tube main body 1 to form the sealed space 7.
The inventors of the present invention inspected the cause of the occurrence of the devitrification phenomenon and determined that the cause resides in the sectional shape of the arc tube main body (the pinch seal portions 3a, 3b) for welding the shroud glass 8 thereon. That is, although the cross section of the shroud glass tube 9 is cylindrical, the cross section of the pinch seal portion 3a (3b) is rectangular as shown in FIG. 13(a) since it is typically pinched by a pincher. Thus, in the welding process of the shroud glass, as shown by a phantom line in FIG. 13(a), when the shroud glass tube 9, which is molten and softened and pressed in the direction for reducing the diameter thereof along its radius direction, contacts closely to the surface (flat surface) of the pinch seal portion 3a, an opening S extending in the axial direction along the contact surface is formed (see FIG. 13(b)). As a result, the atmosphere (moisture) within the lamp room enters into the sealed space 7 around the arc tube main body 1 from the opening S formed at the welded portion, thereby causing devitrification.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that an opening is not formed at the contact surface between the arc tube main body 1 and the shroud glass 8 when the welded portion of the shroud glass at the arc tube main body 1 is formed in a circular shape in its cross section.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an arc tube for a discharge lamp and a method for fabricating the arc tube in which the welded portion of the shroud at an arc tube main body is formed in a circular shape in its cross section thereby preventing the forming of an opening at the contact surface between the arc tube main body and the shroud glass.
In order to attain the aforesaid object, an arc tube for a discharge lamp according to the present invention is arranged in a manner such that the arc tube includes an arc tube main body at which a sealed bulb, for example, a glass bulb, serving as a discharge portion sandwiched by front and rear pinch seal portions is formed at a portion of a tube along a longitudinal direction thereof, and a cylindrical shroud which is welded on and integrated with the arc tube main body so as to cover the sealed bulb to form an airtight sealed space around the arc tube main body,
the front and rear end portions of the shroud are welded on shroud weld portions with circular cross sections provided at front and rear end sides of the arc tube main body, respectively. In the embodiments described herein, the shroud may be formed of glass, and the arc tube body may be formed from a glass tube. of course, other materials known to those skilled in the art may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present invention.
A method of fabricating an arc tube for a discharge lamp according to the present invention includes an arc tube main body fabricating process for fabricating an arc tube main body at which a sealed glass bulb serving as a discharge portion sandwiched by front and rear pinch seal portions is formed at a portion of a glass tube along a longitudinal direction thereof, and a shroud glass welding process for welding and integrating a cylindrical shroud glass on and with the arc tube main body so as to cover the sealed glass bulb, wherein
in the arc tube main body fabricating process, shroud glass welded portions with circular cross sections are formed on front and rear end sides of the arc tube main body, respectively, and
in the shroud glass welding process, the arc tube main body is inserted into the shroud glass tube, predetermined positions of the shroud glass having been heated, molten and softened are modified in a direction of reducing diameters thereof, and the predetermined positions are welded on the shroud glass welded portions on the front and rear end sides of the arc tube main body, respectively.
At the time of welding the shroud glass to the arc tube main body, the predetermined positions of the shroud glass tube having been heated, molten and softened are modified inside so as to reduce their diameter in a radial direction. As shown in FIG. 9 (a diagram showing a state where the shroud glass is shrink-sealed) in an embodiment of the invention, each of the outer peripheral surfaces of the shroud glass welded portion of the arc tube main body (a shrink seal portion 15a and a cylindrical portion 14a) and the inner peripheral surface of the molten diameter-reduced area of the shroud glass tube 20 may have a circular shape almost matching to each other. Thus, the inner peripheral surface of the molten diameter-reduced portion of the shroud glass tube 20 is molten and welded on the outer peripheral surface of the shroud glass welded portion of the arc tube main body (the shrink seal portion 15a and the cylindrical portion 14a) uniformly along the peripheral direction thereof without causing any space therebetween, so that such a space for releasing the sealed space around the arc tube main body to the atmosphere is not formed at the welding portion between the arc tube main body and the shroud glass tube.
In particular, when inactive gas, adjusted to be a negative pressure such that a pressure becomes about 1 atm. upon lighting and heating the arc tube, is supplied within the airtight sealed space formed around the arc tube main body, the arc tube main body is prevented from contacting moisture in the atmosphere.
Further, in a method of fabricating an arc tube according to the present invention, in the arc tube main body fabricating process, a cylindrical non-pinch seal portion is formed in an extended manner at a backward portion of the pinch seal portion on the rear end side of the arc tube main body, and a shrink seal portion is formed adjacent to a forward portion of the pinch seal portion on the front end side of the arc tube main body, and
in the shroud glass welding process, the rear end side of the shroud glass tube is welded on the cylindrical non-pinch seal portion on the rear end side of the arc tube main body, and the front end side of the shroud glass tube is welded on the shrink seal portion on the front end side of the arc tube main body.
At the rear end portion of the shroud glass, the circular inner peripheral surface on the rear end side of the shroud glass tube which is molten, softened and modified in a direction of reducing the diameter thereof matches almost with the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical non-pinch seal portion on the arc tube main body side, and so the inner peripheral surface of the molten shroud glass is molten and adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the non-pinch seal portion uniformly along the peripheral direction thereof without causing any space therebetween.
In contrast, at the front end portion of the shroud glass, since the outer peripheral surface of the shrink seal portion has a circular shape, the circular inner peripheral surface on the front end side of the shroud glass tube which is molten, softened and modified in a direction of reducing the diameter thereof adheres to the circular outer peripheral surface of the shrink seal portion on the arc tube main body side uniformly along the peripheral direction thereof without causing any space therebetween.
Incidentally, the welded portion with a circular cross section on the front end side of the arc tube main body may be, for example, a cylindrical portion (see FIG. 11) serving as a non-pinch seal portion extending forward of the front end side pinch seal portion; a pinch seal portion with a circular cross section provided adjacent to the forward portion of the front end side pinch seal portion with a rectangular cross section; a shrink seal portion provided adjacent to the forward portion of the front end side pinch seal portion; the pinch seal portion with the circular cross section and the cylindrical portion (see FIG. 10); or the shrink seal portion and the cylindrical portion (see FIG. 1). The shrink seal portion to which the shroud tube is welded can be formed in the following manner.
The arc tube main body may be fabricated in a manner that the predetermined filling material is supplied to the glass bulb of the glass tube which one end side is subjected to the primary pinch sealing, and thereafter the other side of the glass tube is subjected to the secondary pinch sealing. Then, the secondary pinch sealing process is performed in a manner that the seal expected area near the glass bulb is heated, molten and softened while the glass bulb of the glass tube is cooled by using cooling medium. In this respect, prior to the secondary pinch sealing using a pincher, the seal expected area having been heated, molten and softened deforms and shrinks in the diameter reducing direction due to the negative pressure within the glass tube (the negative pressure formed by condensing the filling material such as inactive gas etc. within the glass bulb) and so the shrink seal portion with the circular cross section is formed. In other words, the secondary pinch seal expected area of the glass bulb is entirely shrink-sealed. Then, the glass bulb side of the shrink seal portion is pinch-sealed with the predetermined width (a portion of the shrink seal portion closer to the glass bulb is pinch-sealed so that the shrink seal portion with the predetermined width remains), whereby the shrink seal portion with the circular cross section (shroud glass welded portion) is formed adjacent to the pinch seal portion with the rectangular cross section.
The width (length) of the shrink seal portion serving as the shroud glass welded portion may be in a range of L/6 to L/2, where L represents the entire length of the seal portion (that is, the pinch seal portion and the shrink seal portion). The inventors have determined that when the width is equal to or less than L/6, it becomes difficult to weld the shroud glass and a space is generated at the welding surface. In contrast, when the width is equal to or more than L/2, the length of the pinch seal portion becomes shorter, so that the property of the adhesion between the glass layer and the electrode assembly at the seal portion may be degraded and the airtightness of the sealed glass bulb may not be secured.
Further, in a method of fabricating an arc tube for a discharge lamp according to the invention,
in the arc tube main body fabricating process, a cylindrical non-pinch seal portion provided with a circular flange portion on an outer periphery thereof is formed in an extended manner at a backward portion of the pinch seal portion on the rear end side of the arc tube main body, and
in the shroud glass welding process, the rear end side of the shroud glass tube is welded on the circular flange portion on the rear end side of the arc tube main body.
The circular flange portion serving as the shroud glass welded portion is disposed closely to the inside of the rear end portion of the shroud glass tube, and the rear end portion of the shroud glass tube having been heated, molten and soften is molten and welded smoothly on the circular flange portion on the inside.
Also, the arc tube main body fabricating process may include a glass bulb forming process for forming a glass bulb at a portion of the glass tube; a primary pinch seal process for inserting an electrode assembly from one end side of the glass tube provided with the glass bulb and pinch-sealing a portion near the glass bulb; a sealing and exhausting process for supplying predetermined filling material such as mercury to the glass bulb, inserting an electrode ashy from the other end side of the glass tube and holding the ashy thereat, supplying inactive gas within the glass bulb and pinch-sealing or tipping off an opening end side of the glass tube to seal within the glass tube; and a secondary pinch seal process for pinch-sealing a portion of the glass tube near the glass bulb,
the shroud glass welding process includes a process for welding the rear end side of the shroud glass tube on the rear end side of the arc tube main body, and a process of welding the front end side of the shroud glass tube on the front end side of the arc tube main body,
in the secondary pinch seal process constituting the arc tube main body fabricating process, a seal expected area near the glass bulb is heated and molten to perform shrink sealing while cooling the glass bulb by using cooling medium, thereafter the glass bulb side of the shrink seal portion is pinch-sealed with a predetermined width to form a shrink seal portion adjacent to the pinch seal portion,
in the shroud glass tube front end side welding process constituting the shroud glass welding process, a pressure within the shroud glass tube which rear end side being welded on the rear end side of the arc tube main body is kept at a negative pressure, a welding expected area on the front end side of the shroud glass tube is heated, molten and softened, and the front end side of the shroud glass tube is shrink-sealed to the shrink seal portion adjacent to the pinch seal portion.
In the secondary pinch seal process of the arc tube main body fabricating process, the seal expected area on the front end side of the glass tube having been heated, molten and softened deforms and shrinks in the diameter reducing direction due to the negative pressure within the glass tube (the negative pressure formed by condensing the filling material such as inactive gas, etc. within the glass bulb) and so the shrink seal portion with the circular cross section is formed. Then, the glass bulb side of the shrink seal portion is pinch-sealed thereby to form the shrink seal portion (shroud glass welded portion) adjacent to the forward portion of the pinch seal portion on the front end side of the arc tube main body.
In the shroud glass tube front end side welding process of the shroud glass welding process, the welding expected area of the shroud glass tube having been heated, molten and softened deforms and shrinks in the diameter reducing direction due to the negative pressure within the glass tube and is molten and welded on the shrink seal portion with the circular cross section (the shroud glass welded portion) on the front end side of the arc tube main body.
In addition, in the method of fabricating an arc tube,
in the arc tube main body fabricating process, a cylindrical non-pinch seal portion is formed in an extended manner at a forward portion of the pinch seal portion on the front end side of the arc tube main body, and
in the shroud glass welding process, the front end side of the shroud glass tube is welded on only the cylindrical non-pinch seal portion on the front end side of the arc tube main body or on a welded portion with a circular cross section including the cylindrical non-pinch seal portion.
Since the front end side of the shroud glass tube is welded on the cylindrical non-pinch seal portion on the front end side of the arc tube main body, the axial length of the welding surface can be made larger.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminate comprising an acrylic resin layer, a thermoplastic resin layer and a propylene-based resin layer, to a structure comprising the laminate and a polypropylene resin substrate, and to an automotive part and a part of household appliances, the parts comprising the foregoing structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To produce a molded resin article of good design property by preforming a decorative or colored film by vacuum forming or the like, inserting the film preformed into a mold for injection molding, thereafter injecting a synthetic resin to allow the decorative or colored film to laminate to a part of the surface of the resulting molded article has recently been proposed as a method for improving the design property of the surface of a molded article without performing painting. For instance, Japanese Patent Kohyo Publication No. 2-503077 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open 11-207896 disclose that a colored molded article is produced by use of a laminate constituted of a transparent layer, a colored layer and a substrate, as a paintless film.
Incidentally, in the case where a molded article of good design properties is produced by such a method, it is general to use a polyolefin resin such as polypropylene as a resin for injection molding which will form a substrate of the molded article. Further, it is important for a molded article to be excellent in scratch resistance, surface luster property, weather resistance and the like. Furthermore, it is required to produce such a molded article at low cost. Therefore, at present, adopted is a method comprising the steps of preforming a laminate comprising an acrylic resin layer as a transparent layer or a colored layer, a polypropylene resin layer as a substrate layer by thermoforming such as vacuum forming into a predetermined shape, inserting the resulting preformed laminate into a mold for injection molding, and injecting, after the insertion, a polyolefin resin. In the above method, the xe2x80x9csubstrate layerxe2x80x9d indicates a layer in the laminate that will come in contact with an injection molding resin which will become a substrate.
However, it has become clear that such a conventional laminate may form cracks therein during its handling, for example, at the time of its setting for thermoforming or at its release from a mold after its forming. Such cracking will become a serious problem because it will deteriorate the appearance of a structure after the injection of a polyolefin resin.
The present invention was made for the elimination of the above problem. The object of the present invention is to provide a laminate of good crack resistance wherein the laminate does not form cracks at the time of its setting during its thermoforming or of its release from a mold after its thermoforming.
The present invention provides a laminate comprising at least:
a resin layer (A) containing a propylene-based resin (a);
a resin layer (B) containing a thermoplastic resin (b) with a tensile elongation at break of not less than 100%; and
a resin layer (C) containing an acrylic resin (c), wherein the resin layer (A),
the resin layer (B) and the resin layer (C) are disposed in layers in this order.
The present invention further provides a structure comprising the foregoing laminate and a substrate containing a polyolefin resin, the substrate being laminated to the resin layer (A) of the laminate. Furthermore, the present invention provides an automotive part and a household appliance part comprised of the foregoing laminate structure.


Piezoelectric ceramic plates are used for a variety of electronic components, such as a piezoelectric actuator, which utilize, as a mechanical driving source, displacement or force generated via a piezoelectric phenomenon. With broadened use of piezoelectric actuators, multi-layer piezoelectric actuators from which larger displacement or larger generated force can be obtained at lower voltages have become increasingly used.
Since conventional piezoelectric ceramic plates develop significant deformation (variation in shrinkage) after firing, such piezoelectric ceramic plates are subjected to processing, such as cutting and polishing, after firing in order to control the shape and dimensions of the piezoelectric ceramic plates into prescribed ranges (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an errorproof device, and more particularly to the combination of an errorproof device and a modular socket.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional communication modular socket for connection with a modular plug used in a telephone line or a modem does not have the ability to distinguish whether the plug to be inserted into the socket has the appropriate dimension. For example, the currently available RJ 11 or RJ45 plugs are both used for communication devices and respectively have a dimension different from the other. Because the RJ 11 plug has a smaller dimension than that of the RJ 45 plug, the RJ 11 plug may be erroneously inserted into the modular socket (namely the RJ 45 socket) configured to mate for the RJ 45 plug and thus leads on the RJ 45 modular socket may be damaged.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved modular socket having an errorproof device therein to mitigate the aforementioned problems.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an underground continuous wall job practice applying into soft base anti-seepage, and meanwhile involves to its special drill.
2. Description of Prior Art
In accordance with the conventional underground continuous walls, most of them are used for anti-seeping in foundation of dams, basements, harbor and sluice gate base or both banks of rivers and so on. The job practice is to excavate a trench in the job location firstly, then to pour concrete to construct a continuous proof-water wall in the pit. In this way, too much earthmoving has to be processed in the construction procedure, and too much the concrete is used, the time limit of project is too long and the production cost is very high. And once encountering with groundwater or complex geological structure, the sidewalls of said trench couldn""t be kept in standing so that the construction difficult is increased. If utilizing steel sheet wall or prefabricated concrete plate pile and so on, the investment cost will double and redouble, the anti-seepage effect is also not good as expected. A rapid construction method of concrete shell pile in soft basement and its special drill disclosed in Chinese Patent No.98113070.4 provides a way of constructing a single pile, but not constructing a continuous wall underground conveniently and economically.
It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide a rapid and economic construction way to build an underground shell-pile continuous wall to have better expected anti-seeping effect, meanwhile to provide a special drill for carrying out this job practice.
This object is achieved by a job-practice adapting cluster of shell-piles to build an underground wall. Follows steps carry out said job practice:
1. Attach a circular pile shoe having cutting faces on the bottom end of the barrel core space of each special-drill building cluster of shell-piles.
2. Locate the first special drill on the job position vertically standing on said pile shoe, and exert pressure on the vibrating head at the tip end of said special drill to press said special drill sinking into the ground to get the desired depth in the soft soil layer, the expelled soil is driven out along the inside wall of inner draining hole of said special drill.
3. Locate and connect the second special drill with the first special drill by coupling the male connector of the second special drill to the female connector of the first special drill, and process the second special drill as described in step 2 to sink into the desired depth.
4. Pour the concrete from the loading hopper of the first special drill, vibrate said special drill as pouring, and withdraw up said special drill simultaneously to depart said pile shoe from the drill trunk until the first special drill is dragged out from the ground completely to build the first shell pile.
5. Put on a new pile shoe on the used first special drill or prepare the third special drill, repeat the step 3 to locate and connect the new special drill to the second special drill, and sink into the designed depth.
6. Repeat the step 4 to withdraw the second special drill, meanwhile build the second clustering shell pile with the first one.
7. In the same way, repeat the circular steps until to build enough many shell-piles to construct an underground continuous wall.
For archiving above-described job practice, said special drill is designed to comprise of a pair of centered an inner sleeve and an outer sleeve, a barrel core space formed between the outside wall of said inner sleeve and the inside wall of said outer sleeve, and a circular pile shoe fitted into the ring opening at the bottom side of said barrel core space, and a flange retained on the top ends of said inner and outer sleeves, and a vibrating head attached on the top side of said flange; said vibrating head has a draining hole connecting to the inner cave of said inner sleeve, and a loading hopper set upon the outside wall of said outer sleeve approaching the top end connecting to the barrel core space, and a pair of male connecter and female connector are fixed on the outside wall of said outer sleeve axially and parallelly, and their including angle to the central axial should be not less than 60xc2x0.
Due to applying this job practice, less earthmoving is processed during the construction procedure, less concrete is needed, it can be used for pouring and building an underground continuous shell-pile wall in the real time at the work site, so that the time limit of project is shortcut, and the cost is reduced, and a better anti-seepage effect is archived.
Said special drill provided in the present invention has a simple structure; by rapid connecting and locating male and female connectors fixed on said special drill, conjunction of shell-pile is became into easy. Draining the expelled soil can be processed as sinking the special drill so that the sinking drag turbine is less, and earthmoving is less too.


The invention relates to a valve-train of an internal combustion engine with a camshaft that comprises a carrier shaft as well as a cam element that is locked in rotation on this carrier shaft and that can move between two axial positions and that has at least one cam group of directly adjacent cams with different cam lobes and an axial connecting link constructed as a groove with external guide walls for defining two intersecting connecting link pathways, and with an activation pin that can couple into the axial connecting link for moving the cam element in the direction of both connecting link pathways.
Such a valve-train assembly that is used for the variable activation of gas-exchange valves by moveable cam elements and in which a single activation pin is sufficient for each cam element, in order to move the cam element in the direction of both connecting link pathways, is already known from DE 101 48 177 A1, which is considered class-forming. In that publication, two cam elements are disclosed with alternatively constructed axial connecting links, wherein the first axial connecting link has a central guide web for forming inner guide walls for the activation pin and the second axial connecting link consists merely of outer guide walls.
The latter construction has the advantage that the production expense for the axial connecting link is significantly lower due to the elimination of the guide web. One significant risk with respect to the functional safety of the valve-train assembly in the case of this construction is that, however, the displacement process of the cam element is completely finished, i.e., without incorrect switching, only when the inertia of the mass in motion of the cam element is sufficient to move it into its other end position after passing through the intersection region of the connecting link pathways without forced guidance of the activation pin, that is, to a certain extent, in free fall. A prerequisite for the sufficient inertia of the mass in motion of the cam element is obviously a minimum rotational speed of the camshaft that is directly dependent on the friction between the cam element and the carrier shaft. Displacement of a cam element with a rotational speed below this minimum rotational speed could have the result that the cam element remains “at a half-way point” and a cam follower acting on the gas-exchange valve is simultaneously acted upon by several cams of the cam group in an uncontrolled manner and simultaneously under high mechanical loading. In addition, in this case there is no longer the ability to move the cam element through action of the activation pin later into one of the end positions, because in this case there is no longer axial allocation between the activation pin and the outer guide walls.
This functional risk is indeed significantly smaller in the case of the first construction of the axial connecting link with a central guide web whose inner guide walls cause a further accelerating forced guidance if the rotational speed of the cam element is lower than the activation pin. Nevertheless, there is also the risk here that the activation pin does not pathway into the specified connecting link pathway after passing through the intersection region, but instead collides with the end face of the guide web also under high mechanical loading.


Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of atomic sensors, and more particularly to a physical unit of a chip-scale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) gyroscope.
Description of the Related Art
A typical NMR gyroscope includes a physical unit and an electric unit. The physical unit includes: an optical source, optical elements, an atomic vapor chamber, and photodetectors. The physical system of the chip-scale NMR gyroscope is achieved by a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) processing. However, MEMS suffers from the following problems: 1) The atomic vapor chamber of the MEMS generally adopts a glass-silicon-glass sandwich structure, but the pump light beam and the probe light beam are difficult to orient orthogonally in the light-atom interaction region. 2) The two light beams are provided by two independent semiconductor lasers, and temperatures, frequencies of the output laser beams, and the powers of the two lasers are separately controlled, thereby resulting in large resource consumption; besides performances of the two light beams change independently, resulting in in difficulties in cooperation of the two light beams under working conditions. 3) Although in some atomic vapor chambers of the MEMS adopting the glass-silicon-glass sandwich structure, the pump light beam and the probe light beam are orthogonal to each other within the light-atom interaction region, it is difficult to couple the light into the atomic vapor chamber.


Tiles are often secured to a substrate such as a floor, wall, countertop, or the like using grout/mortar located underneath the tiles and between the tiles. When tiles are being installed, it is often desirable that adjacent tiles are laid in a manner such that top surfaces of the adjacent tiles are level with each other.


Storage devices, in general, have various methodologies for placing and allocating data onto the designated locations of the applicable storage medium, depending generally on the type of storage medium. As such, most storage media have an “address space” that may be used to associate a physical “storage space” on that media and which address space is presented to consumers of the data storage as the available storage. Depending on the storage media, there may be unique challenges and utilizations for managing the address space for the different types of media.
For example, a typical flash memory device may in fact have 1.2 TB of physical storage, but only 800 MB of address space available for use by a data consumer; while described below in greater detail, this is to manage a unique property of flash memory associated with the requirement that prior to updating data in a memory cell that already has data therein, the data must first be deleted (not overwritten) and any deletion happens with reduced granularity than is possible by writes. In other words, a complete erase block (which will be denoted as a “row” of memory cells in some examples) must be first deleted to write new data to any currently occupied/in-use memory cell in that erase block. When such data to be deleted or updated co-exists in an erase block with live data (which therefore cannot be erased), flash devices are presented with a problem which they have evolved in various ways to address.
In flash devices, a data address space is used to manage this flash-specific issue, particularly in cases when (1) other memory cells within an erase block have data that must be maintained and (2) an increased number of the available rows of memory have at least one cell with live data. In such cases, data must be reallocated to ensure that there remain available rows of memory cells which can be entirely deleted if necessary. The address space is configured to provide a data address for data stored in memory blocks that are originally associated with memory blocks in a row (i.e. erase block), such row also containing other live and possibly non-related data, with memory blocks in other rows that do not suffer the same limitation (meaning that data can be written thereto without deleting the entire row or that the remaining memory blocks in the row can be deleted without destroying other live data). In order to avoid the scenario in which there are no more rows that can be safely deleted, because all or nearly all rows contain at least one block with live data, the flash device may be configured to consistently re-associate the data in the data address space to preserve available rows; in some cases, the flash device is overprovisioned with memory relative to the address space; in some cases, the flash device is also overprovisioned with processing capability, for example with a dedicated high-speed processor to manage the allocation of the data; in some cases, all or a combination of some of these are implemented.
While the above issue relates to flash memory devices, similar translation layers may exist in other forms of data storage devices in which the physical locations, or addresses or other indicators of the actual location of storage locations within the storage media, may be abstracted by virtual addresses (which may be referred to herein as data addresses). For example, in spinning disk devices, the physical data locations are frequently defragmented or collocated within the same track on a disk, or moved to an outer track (upon which data retrieval may be faster), since data located in close proximity speeds performance in spinning disk media. In order to keep track of the data, a translation layer, such as a register that maintains a log or table keeping track of data addresses and physical location indicators is maintained. The data addresses exist in a data address space and, from the perspective of the physical storage media, are not currently managed in order to impact performance of the device.
From the perspective of the data consumer at any layer or abstraction (like for example, a user, a file system, or the forwarding tables on a network switch), all of this translation, and the underlying physical locations are not visible; the data consumer views the storage device as having a capacity that is equal in size to that of the data address space, and in fact may in cases be indistinguishable from such data address space. From the perspective of a data consumer, a flash device, for example, is a storage resource with a capacity that is the same as the address space.
Flash memory is becoming a widely used storage media due to its improved performance in some respects: fast access speeds, low-power, non-volatile, and rugged operation. Most flash devices comprise a flash translation layer (FTL) that generally comprises an FTL driver that works in conjunction with an existing operating system (or, in some embedded applications, as the operating system) to make linear flash memory, with erase blocks that are larger than individual write blocks, appear to the system like a single memory resource. It does that by doing a number of things. First, it creates “virtual” small blocks of data, or sectors, out of the flash's large erase blocks. Next, it manages data on the flash so that it appears to be “write in place” when in fact it is being stored in different spots in the flash. Finally, FTL manages the flash so there are clean/erased places to store data.
File systems, or other data consumers, such as, for example, operating systems on data consuming devices, such as DOS, typically use drivers that perform input and output in structured pieces called blocks. Block devices may include all disk drives and other mass-storage devices on the computer. FTL emulates a block device. The flash media appears as a contiguous array of storage blocks numbered from zero to one less than the total number of blocks. In the example of DOS interacting with a flash memory device, FTL acts as a translation layer between the native DOS BPB/FAT file system and flash. FTL remaps the data to the physical location at which the data is to be written. This allows the DOS file system to treat flash like any other block storage device and remains ignorant of flash device characteristics. FTL appears to simply take the data from the file system and write it at the specified location (sector). In reality, FTL places the data at a free or erased location on the flash media and notes the real location of the data. It may in some cases also invalidate the block that previously contained the block's data (if any), either in the FTL or in a separate data tracking module elsewhere on, or in data communication with, the FTL or the computing processor resources that is running the FTL. If the file system asks for previously written data, it requests the data at the specified data address and the FTL finds and reads back the proper data from the actual physical storage location. Flash media allows only two states: erased and non-erased. In the erase state, a byte may be either all ones (0xFF) or all zeroes (0x00) depending on the flash device. A given bit of data may only be written when the media is in an erase state. After it is written to, the bit is considered dirty and unusable. In order to return the bit to its erase state, a significantly larger block of flash called an Erase Zone (also known as an erase block) must be erased. Flash technology does not allow the toggling of individual bits or bytes from a non-erased state back to an erased state. FTL shields the file system from these details and remaps the data passed to it by writing to unused data areas in the flash media. This presents the illusion to DOS, or other data consumer, that a data block is simply overwritten when it is modified. In fact, the amended data has been written somewhere else on the media. FTL may, in some cases, also take care of reclaiming the discarded data blocks for reuse. Although there are many types and manufacturers of flash memory, the most common type is known as NOR flash. NOR flash, such as that available from Intel Corporation™, operates in the following fashion: Erased state is 1, programmed state is 0, a 0 cannot be changed back to a 1 except by an erase, and an erase must occur on a full erase block. For additional detail, the following document may be referenced: “Understanding the Flash Translation Layer (FTL) Specification”, Intel, 1998, and is incorporated herein fully by reference.
The emergence of commodity PCIe flash marks a remarkable shift in storage hardware, introducing a three-order-of-magnitude performance improvement over traditional mechanical disks in a single release cycle. PCIe flash provides a thousand times more random IOPS than mechanical disks (and 100 times more than SAS/SATA SSDs) at a fraction of the per-IOP cost and power consumption. However, its high per-capacity cost makes it unsuitable as a drop-in replacement for mechanical disks in all cases. As such, systems that have either or both the high performance of flash with the cheap capacity of magnetic disks in order to optimize these balancing concerns may become desired. In such systems, the question of how to arrange data across both such media, but also within such media is helpful in optimizing the requirements for wide sets of data. For example, in the time that a single request can be served from disk, thousands of requests can be served from flash. Worse still, IO dependencies on requests served from disk could potentially stall deep request pipelines, significantly impacting overall performance.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art.


Cable hangers are commonly used to secure cables to structural members of antenna towers and or along tunnel walls. Generally, each cable is attached to a structural member by cable hangers mounted at periodically-spaced attachment points.
Antenna towers and/or tunnels may be crowded due to the large numbers of cables required for signal-carrying. Over time, as systems are added, upgraded and/or expanded, installation of additional cables may be required. To conserve space, it may be desirable for each set of cable hangers to secure more than a single cable. Certain cable hangers have been constructed to secure multiple cables; other cable hangers have a stackable construction that permits multiple cable hangers to be interlocked extending outwardly from each mounting point/structural member. Stacked and multiple-cable-type cable hangers significantly increase the number of cables mountable to a single attachment point.
One popular stackable cable hanger is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,191,836 to Korczak, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. One such cable hanger, designated broadly at 10, is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The hanger 10 includes curved arms 5 that extend from a flat base 6. Locking projections 7 extend from the free ends of the arms 5. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the locking projections 7 are inserted into a reinforced hole 8 in a tower structure 4 to mount the hanger 10 thereon. The base 6 of the hanger 10 includes a reinforced hole 9 that can receive the projections of another hanger 10 to mount a second cable.
As can be best seen in FIG. 2, the arms 5 include arcuate sections 14 that together generally define a circle within which a cable can reside. Two cantilevered tabs 12 extend radially inwardly and toward the base 6 at one end of the arcuate sections 14, and two cantilevered tabs 16 extend radially inwardly and toward the base 6 from the opposite ends of the arcuate sections 14. The cantilevered tabs 12, 16 are deployed to deflect radially outwardly when the hanger 10 receives a cable for mounting; this deflection generates a radially inward force from each tab 12, 16 that grips the jacket of the cable.
Hangers can be “stacked” onto each other by inserting the locking projections 7 of one hanger into the large hole 9 of the next hanger. One variety of cable hanger of this type is the SNAP-STAK® hanger, available from CommScope, Inc. (Joliet, Ill.).
The SNAP-STAK® hanger is offered in multiple sizes that correspond to the outer diameters of different cables. This arrangement has been suitable for use with RF coaxial cables, which tend to be manufactured in only a few different outer diameters; however, the arrangement has been less desirable for fiber optic cables, which tend to be manufactured in a much greater variety of diameters. Moreover, fiber optic cables tend to be much heavier than coaxial cables (sometimes as much as three times heavier per unit foot), which induces greater load and stress on the hangers.
Multiple approaches to addressing this issue are offered in co-assigned and co-pending U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0281881 to Vaccaro, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in full. One cable hanger discussed in this publication is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and designated broadly at 610 therein. The cable hanger 610 is somewhat similar to the cable hanger 10, inasmuch as it has a base 606, curved arms 605 and locking projections 607 that resemble those of the hanger 10 discussed above. However, the cable hanger 610 also has flex members 618 that define chords across the arcuate sections 614 of the arms 605. As can be seen in FIG. 4, cantilevered gripping members 612, 616 extend from the flex members 618 and into the cable-gripping space S within the arms 605. It can also be seen in FIG. 3 that the flex members 618 are tripartite, with two vertically offset horizontal runs 618a, 618c merging with the arcuate sections 614 of the arms 605 and a vertical run 618b extending between the horizontal runs 618a, 618c. The gripping members 612, 616 extend from opposite sides of the vertical run 618b and are vertically offset from each other.
In use, the cable hanger 610 is employed in the same manner as the cable hanger 10; a cable is inserted into the space S between the arms 605, which are then closed around the cable as the locking projections 607 are inserted into a mounting hole. The cantilevered gripping members 612, 616 can help to grip and to center the cable within the space S. The presence of the flex members 618, which are fixed end beams rather than cantilevered tabs, can provide additional gripping force beyond that of the cable hanger 10.
In view of the foregoing, it may be desirable to provide additional configurations of cable hangers to enable a technician to adapt to different cable sizes and mounting conditions.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a catalyst component or catalyst that is useful for the stereoregular polymerization or copolymerization of alpha-olefins and more particularly concerns a magnesium-containing supported titanium-containing catalyst component or catalyst that is useful for producing a homopolymer or copolymer of an alpha-olefin.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Although many polymerization and copolymerization processes and catalyst systems have been described for polymerizing or copolymerizing alpha-olefins, it is highly desirable to develop a catalyst component or a catalyst that has improved activity for catalyzing such reactions. It is also advantageous to tailor a process and catalyst system to obtain a specific set of properties of a resulting polymer or copolymer product. For example, in certain applications a product with a broader molecular weight distribution is desirable. Such a product has a lower melt viscosity at high shear rates than a product with a narrower molecular weight distribution. Many polymer or copolymer fabrication processes which operate with high shear rates, such as injection molding, oriented film, and thermobonded fibers, would benefit with a lower viscosity product by improving throughput rates and reducing energy costs. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop a catalyst or catalyst component that is useful for producing a homopolymer or copolymer of an alpha-olefin having a broadened molecular weight distribution. Also important is maintaining high activity and low atactic levels such as measured by hexane soluble and extractable materials formed during polymerization or copolymerization.
Magnesium-containing supported titanium halide-based alpha-olefin polymerization or copolymerization catalyst components or catalyst systems containing such components are now well known in the art. Typically, these catalyst components and catalyst systems are recognized for their performance based on activity and stereospecificity. Numerous individual processes or process steps have been disclosed which have as their purpose the provision of improved supported, magnesium-containing, titanium-containing, electron donor-containing olefin polymerization or copolymerization catalysts. More particularly, Arzoumanidis et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,866,022; 4,988,656; and 5,013,702 disclose a method for forming a particularly advantageous alpha-olefin polymerization or copolymerization catalyst or catalyst component that involves a specific sequence of specific individual process steps such that the resulting catalyst or catalyst component has exceptionally high activity and stereospecificity combined with very good morphology. A solid hydrocarbon-insoluble, alpha-olefin polymerization or copolymerization catalyst or catalyst component with superior activity, stereospecificity and morphology characteristics is disclosed as comprising the product formed by 1) forming a solution of a magnesium-containing species from a magnesium hydrocarbyl carbonate or magnesium carboxylate; 2) precipitating solid particles from such magnesium-containing solution by treatment with a transition metal halide and an organosilane as a morphology controlling agent; 3) reprecipitating such solid particles from a mixture containing a cyclic ether; and 4) treating the reprecipitated particles with a transition metal compound and an electron donor.
Arzoumanidis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,679 discloses a process for the preparation of a magnesium hydrocarbyl carbonate by reacting a suspension of a magnesium alcoholate in an alcohol with carbon dioxide and reacting the magnesium hydrocarbyl carbonate with a transition metal component. Arzoumanidis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,299 discloses a process for the preparation of a magnesium carboxylate by reacting a solution of a hydrocarbyl magnesium compound with carbon dioxide to precipitate a magnesium carboxylate and reacting the magnesium carboxylate with a transition metal component.
While each of the processes of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,540,679; 4,612,299; 4,866,022; 4,988,656; and 5,013,702 affords alpha-olefin polymerization or copolymerization catalysts or catalyst components which have high activity for polymerizing or copolymerizing alpha-olefins to produce homopolymer or copolymer products which have desirable characteristics, it is highly desirable to develop additional alpha-olefin polymerization or copolymerization catalysts or catalyst components--and methods for the manufacture thereof--that have even further improved catalytic activity and that afford polymers or copolymers which also have broadened molecular weight distribution.
For example, Karayannis, Cohen and Ledermann, pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/862,960, filed Apr. 3, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,354, disclose a solid, hydrocarbon-insoluble catalyst or catalyst component and a method of production thereof, which are based on the catalyst or catalyst components and methods of production thereof, respectively, of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,540,679; 4,612,299; 4,866,022; 4,988,656; and 5,013,702, wherein the resulting catalyst or catalyst component is a product formed by: A. forming a solution of a magnesium-containing species in a liquid, wherein the magnesium-containing species is formed by reacting a magnesium-containing compound with carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide; B. precipitating solid particles from the solution of the magnesium-containing species by treatment with a titanium halide; and D. treating the precipitated particles with a titanium compound and an electron donor; wherein the treated precipitated particles from Step D comprise magnesium and vanadium components, and wherein vanadium is introduced into at least one of (i) the aforesaid magnesium-containing species in Step A by reacting the magnesium-containing compound or species with a vanadium-containing compound or complex, or (ii) the aforesaid solid particles precipitated in Step B by treatment of the magnesium-containing species with a titanium halide and a vanadium-containing compound or complex; or (iii) the aforesaid precipitated particles treated in Step D by treatment of the precipitated particles with a titanium compound, an electron donor and a vanadium-containing compound or complex that is free of a halide component. Use of the catalyst or catalyst component disclosed in the aforesaid Karayannis, Cohen and Ledermann pending patent application for the polymerization or copolymerization of an alpha-olefin affords polymers or copolymers which have a broadened molecular weight distribution, but such pending patent application does not disclose a substantial increase in catalytic activity for such polymerization or copolymerization.
Similarly Tachibana et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,429 discloses a catalyst for use in polymerization of olefins which comprises a carrier mainly composed of a magnesium compound precipitated from a solution and a catalytic component supported on the carrier and selected from titanium halides, vanadyl halides and vanadium halides is described. The catalyst is obtained by a process which comprises: (A) mixing (a) at least one magnesium compound with (c) a saturated or unsaturated monohydric or polyhydric alcohol for reaction in dissolved state in the presence of (b) carbon dioxide in an inert hydrocarbon solvent to obtain component (A); (B) subjecting the component (A) to mixing and reaction with (d) a titanium and/or a vanadyl halide and/or a vanadium halide of the general formula, VX.sub.r (OR.sup.8).sub.4-n and also with (e) at least one boron compound, silicon compound and/or siloxane compound thereby obtaining solid product (I): (C) reacting the solid product (I) with (f) a cyclic ether with or with R.sup.12 OH thereby causing dissolution and re-precipitation to obtain solid product (II): and (D) subjecting the solid product (II) to further reaction with (g) component (B) consisting of a titanium halide and/or a vanadyl halide and/or a vanadium halide and/or a SiX.sub.S (OR.sup.9).sub.4-s, thereby obtaining solid product (III), followed either by further reaction with a mixture of the component (B) and (h) an electron donor or by reaction of (g) with the solid product (III) obtained by the reaction between the solid product (II) and (h) or (h) with (j) electron donor, thereby obtaining solid product (IV) for use as the catalytic component.
Catalysts for the polymerization of olefins containing other relevant combinations of metal components have also been disclosed. For example, Albizzati et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,817 discloses a catalyst for the polymerization of olefins, obtained by means of the reaction of: (a) a compound of a transition metal, typically titanium, containing at least one metal-halogen linkage, supported on a magnesium halide in the active form, with (b) a compound of titanium, zirconium or hafnium containing at least one metal-carbon linkage. Similarly, Howard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,263 discloses a catalyst for the polymerization of propylene, which is the reaction product of (a) a metal oxide such as aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, silica and magnesia or physical mixtures thereof, and (b) an organometallic compound of zirconlure, titanium or hafnium.
In addition, polymer or copolymer morphology is often critical and typically depends upon catalyst morphology. Good polymer morphology generally involves uniformity of particle size and shape, a narrow particle size distribution, resistance to attrition and an acceptably high bulk density. Minimization of very small particles (fines) typically is very important especially in gas-phase polymerizations or copolymerizations in order to avoid transfer or recycle line pluggage. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop alpha-olefin polymerization and copolymerization catalysts and catalyst components that have good morphology, and in particular, a narrow particle size distribution. Another property which is important commercially is the maintenance of an acceptably high bulk density.


Over the last decade there has been a critical need to provide remote users a native transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) link across ultra-high frequency satellite communications (UHF SATCOM), especially among military service branches. For many users (troops, small ships, submarines, aircraft and others) UHF SATCOM is the only available radio frequency (RF) path. While there have been attempts to provide products with such capability, these products are not interoperable with other products. Further, the products have limited capabilities and other drawbacks.
Therefore, there is a current need for a protocol that may provide multi-user TCP/IP access across UHF satellite communications and that may operate on low bandwidth, handle long-latency communication, operate with half-duplex communications, and provide a high channel quality.


There exist in the marketplace today a number of different hook-fastener media to be described below. It is our belief that each of these existing hook-fasteners suffers from one or more shortcomings which hamper their utility and utilization.