The present invention relates to fiber optic devices. In particular, it relates to a flexible microbend device that may be attached to an optical fiber and used in a sensor arrangement for measuring internal strain in a structure.
Optical fibers are used to convey light between a light source and a light detector. Light in the fiber can be modulated by bending or otherwise distorting the fiber. This produces a modulated signal which can be picked up and processed by the light detector.
Microbend devices may be used to induce distortions in a fiber causing the light passing through the fiber to be modulated at a frequency corresponding to the force applied to the device. Typically, the device is applied to the fiber such that it surrounds the fiber.
One known device is a two jaw corrugated arrangement which squeezes an optical fiber to modulate the light signal passing therethrough. Macedo et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,907) describes such a device where an upper piece is firmly connected to an enclosure by a support. A lower piece was attached to an elastic membrane. When either a static pressure or dynamic time varying pressure reaches the membrane, it deflects pushing the lower piece, toward the upper piece, thus deforming the optical fiber which is held against the ridges of the device. They also describe another approach in U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,700 where two steel pieces having corrugated like surfaces with interleaving ridges form a vise which would be used to squeeze and thus deform the fiber. Such devices fail to have the compactness and flexibility desired for measuring forces internally in a structure.
Kramer (U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,129) introduced microbends by interweaving an optical fiber through rungs of a ladder-like structure, encapsulating it in a foam-like material, and surrounding it with a sheath. Light transmitted through the optical fiber is diminished to a value less than a threshold value upon the occurrence of microbending caused by pressure applied at any location along the length thereof. The rungs of the ladder structure are sized and spaced to provide a proper locus about which microbending may be produced. Sansone (U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,497) points out one of the deficiencies of this sensor by stating that it must use part of the structure it is embedded in to complete the sensor design. In fact, the utility of this type of sensor is limited in that it must be woven into the substrate or structure being measured and cannot be later repositioned as needed.
Udd et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,931) introduced microbends into their sensor system by melting the optical fiber and pulling simultaneously to give the fiber a smaller diameter. Lengths of this fiber were spliced into the unmelted fiber to produce the sensor. Deformation of the fiber affects propagation of light therethrough, permitting detection based upon detected changes in light throughput. As with the Kramer device, the deficiency in this design is that once spliced into the fiber, there is no way to later reposition the structure.
Sansone (U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,497) describes an intrinsically self-deforming microbend deformer. In this device, the fiber is twisted about itself. At least one twisted section acts as an intrinsically self-deforming microbend deformer. The problem with this device is that there is no way to obtain a fixed period and/or thus be able to adjust the sensitivity of the sensor.
An object of the present invention is to provide a microbend device that may be removed and reattached to an optical fiber along its length.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a microbend device that is flexible.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sensor that employs a flexible microbend device, such that the sensor is intensity-based.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for using a sensor that employs a flexible microbend device, such that the method is used to measure either radial or linear forces.
By the present invention, a flexible microbend device for attachment to an optical fiber is provided. The device comprises an upper bending element grid having at least one flexible element and a lower bending element grid having at least one flexible element. Each upper bending element grid alternately engages each lower bending element grid.
When the device is attached to an optical fiber, it forms a fiber optic microbend sensor. The optical fiber is positioned between each flexible element of the upper bending element grid and each flexible element of the lower bending element grid such that each flexible element alternates between the upper and the lower bending element grids.
In use, the sensor is either attached to a surface of a structure or embedded in a host material. Optical power is introduced to the microbend sensor and the reflected light is monitored with a detector.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be obtained by means of instrumentalities in combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


Activity in both humans and even animals depends largely on functioning, active muscles. As a consequence, sensing and monitoring of muscle activity is important for many reasons. For instance, in sports medicine, information about the fatigue level of a muscle is useful for preventing over-exertion of muscles, which might lead to muscle-based injuries. In addition, sensing muscle activity could be leveraged for precision training, allowing athletes to monitor progress on targeted muscle groups as needed. Finally, other ubiquitous applications such as muscle-controlled prosthetics could also be enabled by muscle activity data.
There are two main methods for detecting and monitoring muscle activity. The first is electromyography (EMG), which accurately measures the electrical potential of active muscle fibers. By amplifying and processing these electrical signals, information about muscle activation and activity can be inferred. The second method is mechanomyography (MMG). Mechanomyographic methods use vibration transducers to detect skeletal muscle activity. A brief discussion of the physiology of skeletal muscle vibrations that enable mechanomyography based systems is provided herein.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example skeletal muscle 100 and in particular the quadriceps and the tendons 106a, 106b and muscle belly 102 (including muscle fibers 104) are shown. Skeletal muscles 100 generally consist of three parts: a muscle belly 102, composed of muscle fibers 104, and two tendon ends 106a, 106b. Activating skeletal muscles during physical activity causes the muscle fibers 104 to contract, resulting in mechanical vibrations due to: tremors of the human motor system, muscle fibers 104 sliding against each other and artifacts detected when a muscle belly's 102 circumference increases during muscle contractions and decreases during relaxation. These skeletal muscle vibrations are carried through to and detected at the skin level. The vibrations vary depending on the muscle fatigue status, muscle group size, and location in the body e.g., skeletal muscle proximity to bones of different mass and size.
As a method for inferring muscle activity, EMG while accurate, has the major setback that it is difficult, invasive and even painful to use. It requires perfect contact with the skin, necessitating the use of gels in the case of surface EMG, or the insertion of small needles into the muscle, in the case of fine-wire EMG. Mechanomyography methods on the other hand, work by externally detecting the mechanical vibrations occurring in the muscle belly of skeletal muscles when the muscle is activated using vibration transducers. As such they are less invasive and more convenient for muscle monitoring use in a dynamic environment. Current vibration transducer technologies include fabric stretch sensors, force sensitive resistors (FSR) and a combination of any of or all of available inertial sensors including accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers.


As described in Patent Document 1, a tablet cassette has been structured as follows: a rotatably-driven rotor is disposed in a bottom of a cassette body; the outer peripheral surface of the rotor is formed with a plurality of guide grooves in an axial direction and a circumferential groove in a circumferential direction; the guide groove is communicated with a tablet outlet formed in the bottom of the cassette body; a partitioning member is attached to the outer surface of the cassette body so as to enter the circumferential groove of the rotor; and the lowermost tablet and another tablet placed thereon, which are introduced to the guide groove, are separated from each other by the partitioning member so that only the lowermost tablet is dispensed from the tablet outlet. Patent Document 2 further describes a similar partitioning member that is inserted in an insertion hole of a cassette body and is secured by a cover. The aforementioned tablet cassettes need to use the rotor that has a different guide groove depending on the size of the tablet, and also need to change the attachment position of the partitioning member.
Thus, various proposals have been made so as to dispense a plurality of types of tablets having different sizes using the same tablet cassette.
Patent Document 3 discloses a tablet cassette configured as follows: a rotor includes a core body and an outer cylindrical body releasably engaging the core body; the outer cylindrical body having a guide groove with different width and depth is replaceable depending on the size of the tablet to be dispensed; a partitioning member is configured to be movable up and down by tightening or loosening a bolt; and the position of the partitioning member is changed depending on the size of the tablet to be dispensed. However, the above-described structure requires two complicated tasks, i.e., a change of the outer cylinder bodies and replacement of the partitioning member. Patent Document 3 also discloses that a ring body is fitted between the outer surface of the rotor and the inner surface of the cassette body to reduce the cross-section of the guide groove, and that a groove-depth adjuster movable in a radial direction is provided on a bottom of the guide groove so as to adjust the depth of the guide groove. However, it is difficult to mount and fix the ring body, and moving and fixing the groove-depth adjuster for each guide groove are complicated and time-consuming. Since the outer cylindrical bodies and the ring bodies are changed according to the shape of the tablet, replacement parts therefor are required.
Patent Document 4 discloses the following structure: a plurality of insertion holes are provided in a cassette body, and a partitioning member is fitted and fixed to the insertion hole located at a height corresponding to the size of a tablet; alternatively, a plurality of insertion holes and positioning holes are provided, the partitioning member is inserted in the insertion hole located at a height corresponding to the size of a tablet, and a pin provided in the partitioning member is fitted into the positioning hole to fix the partitioning member. However, the above-described structure has a problem that it cannot adjust the entry amount of the partitioning member to a guide groove.
In Patent Documents 1 to 4, the lowermost tablet and another tablet placed thereon, which are introduced to the guide groove, are separated from each other by the partitioning member, and these tablets make a sliding contact with the partitioning member as the rotor rotates. This results in a problem that the tablets are easily damaged.


This invention relates to thermoformed thermoplastic truck bedliners in general and to bedliners with structure for engaging load restraining members in particular.
Although long used in agricultural and commercial applications, pick-up trucks with open cargo beds have also become increasingly popular as personal and family vehicles. The commercial vehicle owner, although concerned with performance and cost effectiveness of the vehicle, often considers the vehicle as a traveling company advertisement or symbol. A neat and well-maintained vehicle is more likely to favorably impress customers. Owners of personal vehicles, while concerned with functionality and efficiency, are also concerned with pride of ownership, personal image, and outward appearances. In addition, the automotive enthusiast desires to maintain his vehicle in as close to a "like new" condition as possible.
Truck bedliners of plastic or rubber are commonly employed to protect the pickup truck cargo bed. These truck bedliners are available in a wide variety of configurations to suit the wide variety of available trucks. One-piece thermoformed thermoplastic truck bedliners provide a cost effective means of protecting the truck cargo bed.
To facilitate the handling of cargo, many truck cargo boxes have features which stabilize and control shifting of cargo in the truck box. For instance, the box may have stake holes along the upper peripheral edges so that boards may be inserted into the sides of the truck box, so extending the sides to retain light-weight, high-volume loads. Some truck boxes have supports on the side walls for horizontal boards, so that wide loads may be supported above the interiorly extending truck wheel wells on horizontal boards.
Some trucks have features formed into the sides of the truck to support a plank or "2.times.4" board so it extends upright across the width of the bed. Boards extending across the floor of the bed of the cargo box are useful to prevent the shifting of cargo as the truck accelerates and brakes.
Truck bedliners have been developed which extend existing features in truck cargo boxes and which provide features such as horizontal board pockets for use in truck boxes that lack them. For instance, one type of truck bedliner provides a series of board slots formed by vertical ribs which extend into the interior of the cargo box. These series of board slots allow a vertical 2.times.4 board to be adjustably positioned among the slots to secure the load into place.
Bedliners come in two general types, so-called "over-the-rail" liners which extend up and cover the upper edges of the cargo box, and so-called "under-the-rail" liners in which side-walls of the liner terminate under the upper flanges or rails of the cargo box.
Board holder pockets have been used for a number of years to support boards horizontally to prevent shifting of cargo. Board holder pockets, however, open upwardly, and hence retain the possibility that a board held therein may be rotated or shifted out of the pocket if subjected to an upwardly-directed force.
A thermoformed truck bedliner is needed which will accept commonly sized timbers to extend across the truck bed and which will support the timbers against loads applied by shifting cargo.


Dietary supplements containing viable probiotic bacteria are increasing in popularity in the marketplace as their health benefits become recognized. Reported benefits range from alleviating constipation and diarrhea to reducing various intestinal infections such as those caused by rotaviruses, pathogenic E. coli and Helicobacter pylori as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,090,840 and 7,029,669. Beneficial species of Lactobacillus and bifidobacteria are among the widely recognized probiotics, and strains of these bacteria that are capable of colonizing the intestinal tract are advantageous (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,150,986 and 6,887,465).
Colonization may involve physical attachment to epithelial cell surfaces such as those of the microvilli in the ileum section of the small intestine, or simple domination of the contents of the cecum, or adherence within the mucin layers of the colon. There is much to learn about how probiotics colonize the mammalian intestinal tract but it has been established that when colonization occurs, more probiotic microorganisms appear in the feces and this correlates with more probiotic microorganisms in both the proximal and distal sections of the intestinal tract. See Muralidhara et al, 1997, Journal of Food Protection Vol. 40, No. 5, Pages 288-295. Young pigs were used to demonstrate the relationship between colonization and fecal probiotic counts in Muralidhara's work; the porcine intestinal tract is very similar in physiology to the human intestinal tract and similar studies with young pigs are presented in examples of the present invention to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Colonization that results in the competitive exclusion of pathogenic microorganisms is particularly beneficial and can occur when probiotics occupy most of the intestinal attachment sites and are encouraged to produce lactic acid and other antimicrobial compounds. Effective intestinal colonization by probiotics depends on the availability of proper microbial nutrition that must be provided by the diet. See Gibson et al 1995, Gastroenterology 106: 975-982; Christl et al, 1992, Gut 33: 1234-1238 and Reid et al, 1990, Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 3: 335-344. However, normal diets do not provide nutrients that necessarily benefit probiotics so there is a need to fortify the diet with such nutrients. Prebiotics are one class of microbial nutrients that are currently popular in the marketplace. They are typically certain oligosaccharides that are not digested in the small intestine but serve as nutrients for select probiotic bacterial genera, e.g., bifidobacteria, when they arrive in the colon. An article titled “Prebiotics Enhance Gut Health” by Laura Brandt is available online at the nutrasolutions website; another titled “Prebiotics: A More Reliable Way to Increase Gut-Friendly Bacteria” by Dr. James Meschino is available at the chiroweb website, in the archival section. Today, a variety of functional foods are fortified with prebiotics such as fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin, in an effort to provide probiotic stimulation in vivo. This practice adds cost to the foods being fortified and is not very effective in stimulating Lactobacillus probiotics. Thus, there is a need for reducing the cost of prebiotics while providing for both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium stimulation.
Although enzymes have been used to generate prebiotics under laboratory conditions followed by subsequent feeding of the preformed prebiotics to achieve probiotic stimulation (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,791,015 and 6,730,502), no one has suggested using enzymes to generate these effects in vivo. U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,350 discloses the use of the prebiotic enzymes cellulose, amylase and hemicellulase, for use as dietary supplements, but not use of these enzymes to stimulate administered probiotics, or enhancement of their prebiotic effect by addition of polysorbate compounds. U.S. patent application 20010031276 discloses the use of polysorbate compounds as feed additives for ruminant animals but does not relate to their use in combination with prebiotics and probiotics, or their use in non-ruminant animals.
If polysorbate surfactants are combined with enzymes, water activity (Aw) becomes important. High levels of Aw, e.g., Aw>0.04, can significantly destabilize the shelf life of certain enzymes. Polysorbates are viscous, sticky, non-aqueous liquids that are not available in dry form. Before incorporation into enzyme formulations, polysorbates must be rendered into dry powders and the Aw of any formulation containing them should be below 0.04.
“Internal Probiotic Culture” or IPC, as used herein, is the totality of viable probiotic microorganisms present in the intestinal tract at any given time: i.e., the sum of probiotic microorganisms adhering to intestinal epithelial cells, mucous and mucin layers, ingested food and waste material. It is desirable to enhance the IPC of humans and mammals. IPC can be estimated from the total viable Lactobacillus and/or Bifidobacteria counts (colony forming units) present in fresh fecal matter.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fabrication of a thin-film magnetic head. In particular, it relates to a method of fabricating a stitched writer portion of such a head that is suitable for high data-rate recording of magnetic information.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Thin film magnetic heads are used to record and retrieve data stored in the form of small magnetized regions on disks and tapes. These heads contain a read portion, which is typically a shielded magnetic field sensor of a giant magneto-resistive (GMR) type, and a write portion, consisting of a magnetic pole and yoke structure inductively energized by current carrying coils.
The need to record and retrieve data stored with increasing area densities and at increasingly higher data rates has necessitated the design of very narrow write heads with high linear resolution. The narrow write head allows data to be stored in correspondingly narrow tracks. The high linear resolution, which is achieved by the formation of a thin write gap and a strong magnetic field, allows the storage of more data per unit length of track.
An important advance in the fabrication of write heads that help to meet these stringent requirements is the so called xe2x80x9cstitched write head design.xe2x80x9d This design embodies a simplified method of forming a narrow upper magnetic pole piece by joining or xe2x80x9cstitchingxe2x80x9d together two separately deposited pole pieces, the upper pole tip and the upper pole yoke, along a pedestal formed from a portion of the upper pole tip photoresist mask. In contrast to methods that form the upper pole piece and yoke monolithically, the stitching process allows the narrow tip section to be formed within a thinner photoresist mask, which is highly advantageous in the context of the fabrication process.
The performance of the stitched writer design and the advantages inherent in the nature of its fabrication process can be further improved by overcoming several deficiencies which limit its applicability to high data-rate recording. In particular, the stitched writer head as formed by the methods of the present art has a lengthy throat region along which the magnetic flux is diminished. Thus, in order to maintain an acceptable flux level for recording at the air-bearing surface (ABS), the design requires a high saturation writing current. This, in turn, causes side erasures and adversely affects data already written on adjacent disk areas.
Several methods have been advanced to improve the flux characteristics of the stitched writer design and, indeed, to improve such other designs as have been suggested to meet the need for high recording resolution. Chang et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,391) teach a method for forming a write head with a recessed stitched yoke on a planar portion of an insulating layer. The contour of said insulating layer minimizes the flux leakage between the yoke portion and the pole tip portion stitched to it. Two inventions of Chen et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,687 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,700) teach methods for forming a write head having a U-shaped notch which opens out at the air-bearing surface and between whose ends is formed the upper pole tip. The structure so formed provides a parallel path for conducting the magnetic flux to said pole tip, thereby allowing the proper flux concentration for writing in narrow trackwidths. The invention of Cole et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,164) teaches a method of forming a pole tip structure that lays both above and below the write gap and has a track width of less than 1 micron. The symmetry of this arrangement supports good flux transfer with no leakage. The invention of Santini (U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,596) provides a method for improving the resolution of the photolithography process that is used to define the shape of the pole tip. Specifically, the invention teaches a method of reducing light reflections in the photolithography process by moving the point at which the pole yoke flares sufficiently far back from the position of the pole tip so that reflections from the flare do not interfere with the definition of the pole tip.
An alternative approach to improving the flux characteristics of the stitched pole design involves concentrating the flux by improving the geometry of the junction between the upper pole tip and upper pole yoke. This is presently being achieved by a design (FIG. 1) that incorporates a recessed upper pole yoke (FIG. 1 (10)) and a xe2x80x9cstepxe2x80x9d (FIG. 1 (12)) formed of non-magnetic material positioned in the rear underside of the pole tip where it contacts the write gap layer. The step effectively channels the flux through a smaller area, thereby increasing its intensity across the write gap region (FIG. 1 (14)) and enhancing the writing process. Although the use of the step provides a significant improvement in the stitched head design, its placement in the pole tip will ultimately prove to be disadvantageous as thinner pole tips and shorter throat heights are increasingly necessitated for high data-rate applications. The present invention teaches a method for fabricating a recessed yoke, stitched head writer with the flux concentrating advantages of the step formation, but without the disadvantages of the step placement in the upper pole tip.
A first object of this invention is to fabricate a stitched pole magnetic write head that is capable of recording magnetic data at high rates and increased densities.
A second object of this invention is to fabricate a stitched pole magnetic write head that has a lower saturation write current.
A third object of this invention is to fabricate a stitched pole magnetic write head with improved nonlinear transition shift performance.
A fourth object of this invention is to fabricate a stitched pole magnetic write head having improved overwrite performance.
A fifth object of this invention is to fabricate a stitched pole magnetic write head that significantly reduces the problem of side erasure.
A sixth object of this invention is to fabricate a stitched pole magnetic write head with a reduced effective throat height and upper pole thickness.
These objects will be achieved by means of a novel modification of the present stitched pole, stepped pole-piece fabrication process. The proposed modification is the removal of the step from the underside of the upper pole piece and its effective repositioning in the form of a xe2x80x9crecessed step,xe2x80x9d a non-magnetic spacer embedded into an upper layer of the lower pole of the write head, said spacer thereby being placed beneath the write gap layer of said write head. The flux concentrating region so formed is less sensitive to the position of the upper pole piece, thereby allowing the formation of a shorter throat height as will be required in future high data rate applications.


Various electronic parts mounting apparatus are known. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 57-48672, previously filed by the present applicant, a tipped part seal-in tape is wound and accommodated in a tape reel, the tape being intermittently drawn and delivered to a fixed part-removing station. The tipped parts are suctioned off the tape by a plurality of reciprocally movable suction nozzles which are provided below a lower portion of the peripheral edge of an intermittently rotating turntable. The tipped parts are mounted on a table which is movable and controllable in an X-Y direction for positioning and identifying the tipped parts suctioned and held by the suction nozzles.
Positioning apparatus for tipped parts held by the suction nozzles are described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-24,997 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 58-136,288 Specifications, in which the tipped parts are positioned according to an arranging mode on a print substrate. For purposes of this application, "print substrate" means a printed circuit board. The tipped parts are urged from various directions by positioning pawl members disposed in a fixed positioning station. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-168,298 Specification, discloses an apparatus in which the position and shape of the tipped parts are recognized in advance by optical means. The suction nozzles are then rotated to properly position the tipped parts and simultaneously correct deviations in the positioning of the rotating nozzles at the time of suction.
However, in the conventional positioning apparatus and in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-24,997 Specification, the positioning and rotation of the nozzles to adjust the direction of the tipped parts cannot be effected at the same time, which limits the speed of the apparatus. An apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 58-136,288 shows in FIG. 27 a V-shaped notched groove 201 which is formed at the end of a suction nozzle 200 to suction and hold a cylindrical tipped part. When a center between the V-shaped notched groove 201 at the end of the suction nozzle 200 and each of the positioning pawl members 203 and 204 is deviated from each other, the cylindrical tipped part 202 tends to be positioned by the positioning pawl members 203 and 204 in an unstable state where the tipped part 202 does not properly fit in the V-shaped notched groove 201. In addition, when the tipped part 202 is released from each of the positioning pawl members 203 and 204 after completion of the positioning, the tipped part 202 may become disoriented due to movement in such a way that the tipped part 202 is fitted into the notched groove 201 under the influence of the suction force of the suction nozzle 200. For this reason, it is difficult to adjust the direction of the notched groove 201 at the end of the suction nozzle and the direction of each of the positioning pawl members 203 and 204 for providing precise coincidence, which has to be carried out for each suction nozzle. Moveover, the apparatus must be replaced according to the shape and size of the tipped parts.
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-168,298 Specification, when the rotational center between the suction nozzles is deviated, the position of the tipped parts after rotation becomes deviates, and therefore, a troublesome precise adjustment of the rotational center of each of the suction nozzles needs to be carried out.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal ink-jet ink having excellent storage stability and an ink cartridge for containing the ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet recording method is a recording method involving causing a small ink droplet to fly to plain paper or a dedicated glossy medium to form an image. The method has become rapidly widespread in association with advance of a reduction in price of a recording apparatus and an increase in recording rate of the apparatus. In particular, there has been a growing need for photograph picture quality because a digital camera has become widespread, so an additional improvement in image quality and printing at an additionally high speed have been requested. Accordingly, more sophisticated techniques than the conventional ones have been requested, and examples of the techniques include: a reduction in size of an ink droplet; an increase in density at which nozzles are arranged; an increase in length of a head in association with an increase in number of nozzles; and control of ejection of an ink droplet.
On the other hand, a thermal ink-jet recording mode is a mode involving: foaming ink by utilizing thermal energy; and ejecting the ink to a recording medium. The mode enables high-speed, high-density, high-definition, high-quality recording, and is suitable for colorization and a reduction in size of a recording apparatus. A general head to be used in the recording mode includes: a substrate for an ink-jet recording head on which a heat element for foaming ink and wiring to be electrically connected to the heat element are produced; and a flow path for ejecting the ink on the substrate.
In addition, the substrate for an ink-jet recording head is modified in various ways in order that electrical energy to be inputted may be saved and a reduction in lifetime of the substrate resulting from destruction of a heat generating portion in association with the foaming of ink may be prevented. In particular, a protective layer for protecting a heat element placed between a pair of wiring patterns from ink is modified in many ways.
It is advantageous for the protective layer to have a high thermal conductivity or a small thickness from the viewpoint of thermal efficiency. However, it is advantageous for the protective layer to have a large thickness from the viewpoint of protection of wiring to be connected to the heat element from ink. Accordingly, the thickness of the protective layer must be set to an optimum thickness from the viewpoints of energy efficiency and reliability. In particular, a layer in contact with ink are affected by both of cavitation damage due to the foaming of the ink, that is, mechanical damage, and damage due to a chemical reaction with an ink component at high temperature, that is, chemical damage, so influences of the mechanical damage and the chemical damage need to be sufficiently taken into consideration.
In view of the foregoing, the protective layer of an ink-jet substrate generally has a layer having high stability against mechanical damage and chemical damage as an upper layer (i.e., layer in contact with ink), and an insulating layer for protecting wiring as a lower layer. To be specific, in general, a Ta layer, which is a layer extremely stable both mechanically and chemically, is formed as the upper layer, and an SiN layer, SiO layer, or SiC layer, which can be easily formed by using an existing semiconductor producing device and is stable, is formed as the lower layer.
Detailed description of the foregoing is as described below. An SiN layer having a thickness in the range of from about 0.2 μm or more to 1 μm or less is formed as a protective layer on wiring, and then a protective layer as an upper layer is formed. A Ta layer has a thickness in the range of from 0.2 μm to 0.5 μm, which is referred to as a cavitation resisting layer, is formed as the upper layer because the layer serves as a layer to cope with cavitation damage. With this constitution, compatibility between the lifetime and reliability of a heat element of an ink-jet substrate is achieved.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H05-330048 discloses, as an ink-jet technique using a thermal head, an ink-jet head using a material containing Si, N, or Ir at a specific ratio for a heat element to improve durability and thermal conversion efficiency. There is also disclosed an ink containing a chelating reagent at a specific concentration from the viewpoints of improvement in ejection durability of a thermal head and in suppression of a kogation to be deposited at a heat generating portion due to ejection (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H06-093218). There is also disclosed an ink containing an ammonium salt of an acid having a methyl group or a methylene group, and a carboxyl group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-012803). Those conventional arts each relate to suppression of erosion of a Ta layer in association with ejection duration or the suppression of a kogation to be deposited on the Ta layer when the Ta layer is arranged as the surface layer of the protective layer of a heat generating portion. In addition, ink contains a specific compound at a specific concentration, whereby a balance between the deposition of a kogation and the erosion of the Ta layer due to ejection duration is optimized for the lengthening of the lifetime of the ink.


The present invention relates to a new 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (or EPSPS) which displays increased tolerance with respect to herbicides which are competitive inhibitors with respect to phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) of EPSPS activity. This more tolerant EPSP synthase possesses at least one xe2x80x9cthreonine by isoleucinexe2x80x9d substitution. The invention also relates to a gene coding for such a protein, to plant cells transformed by chimeric gene constructions containing this gene, to the plants regenerated from these cells and also to the plants originating from crossing using these transformed plants.
Glyphosate, sulfosate and fosametine are broad-spectrum systemic herbicides of the phosphonomethylglycine family. They act essentially as competitive inhibitors of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EC 2.5.1.19) or EPSPS with respect to the PEP (phosphoenolpyruvate). After their application to the plant, they are translocated in the plant where they accumulate in the rapidly growing parts, in particular the cauline and root spices, causing damage to the point of destruction of sensitive plants.
Plastid EPSPS, the main target of these products, is an enzyme of the pathway of biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids, which is encoded by one or more nuclear genes and synthesized in the form of a cytoplasmic precursor, then imported into the plastids where it accumulates in its mature form.
The tolerance of plants to glyphosate and to products of the family is obtained by stable introduction into their genome of an EPSPS gene, of plant or bacterial origin, which is mutated or otherwise in respect of the characteristics of inhibition by glyphosate of the product of this gene. In view of the mode of action of glyphosate and the degree of tolerance to glyphosate of the product of the genes which are used, it is advantageous to be able to express the product of the translation of this gene so as enable it to be accumulated in substantial amounts in the plastids.
It is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,060, to confer on a plant a tolerance to a herbicide of the above type, especially N-phosphonomethylglycine or glyphosate, by introducing into the genome of plants a gene coding for an EPSPS carrying at least one mutation that makes this enzyme more resistant to its competitive inhibitor (glyphosate) after localization of the enzyme in the plastid compartment. These techniques, however, need to be improved in order to obtain greater reliability in the use of these plants under agricultural conditions.
In the present description, xe2x80x9cplantxe2x80x9d is understood to mean any differentiated multicellular organism capable of photosynthesis, and xe2x80x9cplant cellxe2x80x9d is understood to mean any cell originating from a plant and capable of constituting undifferentiated tissues such as calluses or differentiated tissues such as embryos or plant parts or seeds.
The subject of the present invention is the production of transformed plants having increased tolerance to herbicides of the phosphonomethylglycine family, by regeneration of cells transformed by means of new chimeric genes containing a gene for tolerance to these herbicides.
The subject of the invention is also a chimeric gene for conferring on plants increased tolerance with respect to a herbicide having EPSPS as its target, comprising, in the direction of transcription: a promoter region, optionally a transit peptide region, a sequence of a gene coding for a glyphosate tolerance enzyme and an untranslated polyadenylation signal region at the 3xe2x80x2 end, characterized in that the glyphosate tolerance gene contains, relative to the gene from which it is derived, a xe2x80x9cthreonine 102 by isoleucinexe2x80x9d substitution in the xe2x80x9caroAxe2x80x9d (EPSPS) region. Preferably, it comprises, in addition, in the same region, a xe2x80x9cproline 106 by serinexe2x80x9d substitution. These substitutions can be introduced or be present in an EPSPS sequence of any origin, in particular of plant, bacterial, algal or fungal origin.
The transit peptides which can be used in the transit peptide region can be, known per se, of plant origin, for example originating from maize, sunflower, pea, tobacco or the like. The first and the second transit peptide can be identical, similar or different. They can, in addition, each comprise one or more transit peptide units according to European Patent Application AP 0 508 909. It is the role of this characteristic region to permit the release of a mature and native protein, and especially the above mutated EPSPS, with maximum efficacy in the plasmid compartment.
The promoter region of the chimeric gene according to the invention may be advantageously composed of at least one gene promoter or promoter fragment which is expressed naturally in plants (tubulin, introns, actin, histone).
The untranslated transcription termination signal region at the 3xe2x80x2 end of the chimeric gene may be of any origin, for example of bacterial origin, such as that of the nopaline synthase gene, or of plant origin, such as that of the Arabidopsis thaliana histone H4A748 gene according to the European Patent Application (European Application 633 317).
The chimeric gene according to the invention can comprise, in addition to the essential portions above, at least one untranslated intermediate (linker) region, which can be located between the different transcribed regions described above. This intermediate region can be of any origin, for example of bacterial, viral or plant origin.
Isolation of a cDNA coding for a maize EPSPS:
The different steps which led to the obtaining of maize EPSPS cDNA, which served as substrate for the introduction of the two mutations, are described below. All the operations described below are given by way of example, and correspond to a choice made from among the different methods available for arriving at the same result. This choice has no effect on the quality of the result, and consequently any suitable method may be used by a person skilled in the art to arrive at the same result. Most of the methods of engineering of DNA fragments are described in xe2x80x9cCurrent Protocols in Molecular Biologyxe2x80x9d Volumes 1 and 2, Ausubel F. M. et al., published by Greene Publishing Associates and Wiley-Interscience (1989) (hereinafter, references to protocols described in this work will be designated xe2x80x9cref. CPMBxe2x80x9d). The operations relating to DNA which were performed according to the protocols described in this work are especially the following: ligation of DNA fragments, treatment with Klenow DNA polymerase and T4 DNA polymerase, preparation of plasmid and of bacteriophage xcex DNA, either as a minipreparation or as a maxipreparation, and DNA and RNA analyses according to the Southern and Northern techniques, respectively. Other methods described in this work were followed, and only significant modifications or additions to these protocols have been described below.


This invention concerns so called “knee bolsters”, which are structures installed in automotive vehicles forward of the driver's seat positioned to be engaged by the driver's knees if the person submarines below the steering wheel mounted air bag during a collision.
Knee bolsters sometimes employ crushable or deformable impact absorbing structures which restrain the driver by contact by his or her knees, the crushing of the structure absorbing the energy of the person's momentum over a range of deformation to lower the stress on the person's knees and the load transmitted to the thigh bone.
Deformable structure knee bolsters are designed to be crushed by the person as the person is decelerated by the collision in order to reduce or prevent injury to the person.
Another requirement is the prevention of damage to or interference with the steering column mechanism during crushing of the knee bolster impact absorbing structure so as to allow the steering column to steer axially and absorb the upper body impact and to allow steering control to be maintained after a collision, if possible.
Costs are always a problem in automotive design, and the knee bolsters have sometimes been assembled from a number of components, representing an assembly cost.
Large aluminum sections have been proposed to be extruded to eliminate assembly costs, with portions cut out from the large extrusions. Large extrusions are themselves costly such that these structures are still somewhat expensive to manufacture.
Other knee bolsters have involved crush cells which have curved webs which are deformed, but such webs have a geometry which results in a buckling collapse of the web, greatly reducing the structure's ability to absorb energy. This can result in a great reduction in the restraining resistance of the structure. Such collapse can also produce gross bulging which can interfere with proper operation of the steering mechanism. Also, such a collapse mode can cause the surface impacted by the knees to directly hit the steering column and hinder the proper functioning of the steering column.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a deformable structure type knee bolster which is low in cost yet reliably providing adequate resistance to deformation over a range of crushing movement and prevents the development of any interference with the steering column mechanism.


Meat skinning machines conventionally have a toothed gripping roll located adjacent a sharpened skinning blade for separating the skin from meat, fish and poultry products. The products to be skinned are moved manually into the gripping roll and towards the blade as the skinning operation takes place. Obviously, any contact between the operator's hands and the gripping roll and blade is likely to invite injury to the operator.
Safety circuits have been incorporated into skinning machines whereby the power to the operating components of the machine will immediately stop whenever the hands of the operator move into and contact a danger zone in the immediate area of a gripping roll and blade. Typical safety circuits are disclosed in my copending applications Ser. No. 426,668 filed Oct. 26, 1989 and Ser. No. 447,156 filed Dec. 7, 1989. The safety circuits of these two applications are incorporated herein by reference.
One of the difficulties in providing a safety circuit and apparatus for meat skinning machines dwells in the matter of instantaneously stopping the power mechanism when the operator inadvertently contacts components in the danger zone of the machine. The inertia of electrical motors contributes to this problem of obtaining instantaneous stoppage of the machine when a dangerous situation arises.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a safety means for meat skinning machines which will substantially instantaneously stop the gripping roll of the machine when a safety circuit is actuated without also having to deactivate the power source of the machine.
A further object of this invention is to provide a safety means for meat skinning machines which is adaptable for use with a plurality of different safety circuits.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a safety means for meat skinning machines which is reliable and easily serviced.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.


This invention relates to apparatus for continuously variable rotary power transmission. More particularly, this invention relates to such apparatus which incorporate variously sized and shaped counter rotating friction wheels.
A known continuously variable power transmission comprises a conical wheel which is frictionally paired with a second wheel, the axes of rotation of the conical and second wheels typically being aligned so that they lie within a single flat reference plane. In such configuration, while the points of frictional contact between the conical and second wheels are near the conical wheel""s base, rotation of the conical wheel counter rotates the second wheel at a high speed. Conversely, frictional contact near the conical""s wheel""s point results in counter rotation of the second wheel at a relatively low speed. Such an assembly provides continuously variable rotary power transmission as a result of a potentially infinite number of positions of the second wheel between the conical wheel""s point and base.
In order for the above exemplary conical wheel transmission to effectively transmit rotary power, an acceptable level of friction must exist at the points of contact between the two wheels. A known means for enhancing wheel driving friction at such contact point forms one or both of the wheels from a material having a high coefficient friction, such as rubber. However, high friction materials, such as rubber, are often undesirably utilized because they lack durability. Another known means of enhancing wheel driving friction at the contact point is to widen the contact face of the second wheel, resulting in a lengthening of its zone of frictional contact with the conical wheel. However, in such configuration, opposing sliding friction force vectors invariably arise on opposite sides of a centrally located useful static friction zone. The resultant sliding friction undesirably causes heat build up, and undesirably reduces the mechanical efficiency of the rotary power transmission.
The instant inventive continuously variable transmission overcomes or ameliorates the problems discussed above by providing a dual conical friction wheel assembly which is capable of continuously variable power transmission through mechanical deformation of one of the friction wheels of the assembly, such friction wheel comprising an axially skewable scroll.
(Descriptions below use the spacial orienting terms xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9crearwardxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cupperxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9clowerxe2x80x9d solely for convenience of reference. The scope of the invention includes all spacial orientations.)
A primary structural component of the instant inventive continuously variable transmission comprises a rotatable scroll, preferably comprising an axially extending bar axle having a spindle mounted thereover in the manner of a quill assembly, the spindle being capable of rotating about the bar axle, the spindle preferably being further capable of sliding linearly along the bar axle.
A regular trapezoidally shaped ribbon or strap of sheet steel is preferably wrapped a multiplicity of times around the annular outer surface of the spindle, causing the angled edges of the trapezoidal sheet to form upper and lower conical friction wheel faces.
While the rotatable scroll is symmetrically configured, the pitches of its conical upper and lower faces are equal. Upon an upward skewing of the spiral wrappings of the rotatable scroll to enhance or increase the pitch of its conical lower face, the conical face of its upper face is correspondingly decreased. Conversely, downward skewing of the rotatable scroll increases the conical pitch of its upper face and correspondingly decreases the conical pitch of its lower face. Suitably, the skewable spirally wrapped component of the rotatable scroll may alternately comprise a multiplicity of nesting tubes having progressively narrower axial lengths, such nesting tubes being skewable as described above.
Second and third primary structures of the instant invention comprise upper and lower solid or non-skewable conical friction wheels. The conical friction wheels are necessarily held in frictional contact with the upper and lower conical faces of the rotatable scroll. The conical friction wheels are preferably mounted pivotally with respect to the rotatable scroll so that pivoting and counter pivoting motions of the conical friction wheels alternately skew the skewable (preferably spirally wrapped) component of the rotatable scroll upwardly and downwardly, altering the pitches of the scroll""s faces as described above. Upon clockwise pivoting of the upper and lower conical friction wheels with respect to the rotatable scroll, the faces of the scroll are skewed upwardly causing, upon counter rotation of the friction wheels against the scroll, the upper conical friction wheel to rotate faster than the lower conical friction wheel. Conversely, counter clockwise pivoting of the upper and lower conical friction wheels downwardly skews the faces of the scroll, causing the upper conical friction wheel to rotate more slowly than the lower conical friction wheel.
Mounting means in the nature of a support frame is preferably provided, the support frame enabling the upper and lower conical friction wheels to pivot in relation to the rotatable scroll for alternately upwardly and downwardly skewing the faces of the rotatable scroll, the support frame preferably further enabling the upper and lower conical friction wheels to counter rotate against the upper and lower conical faces of the scroll for continuously variable transmission of rotary power through the scroll.
Accordingly, an object of the instant invention is the transmission of rotary power through a skewable or deformable scroll for continuously variable power transmission.
Other and further objects, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will become known to those skilled in the art upon review of the Detailed Description which follows, and upon review of the appended drawings.


Adequate effective reservoir characterization is important for effective development of oil and gas reservoirs. Further, the knowledge of formation properties such as permeability, porosity, water saturation etc. may be important for effective well completion design. This may be particularly true for Inflow Control Device (ICD) completion design, intelligent completion design, and horizontal and multilateral well designs. Also, effective reservoir management in an attempt to optimize the production and oil recovery often depends upon good dynamic reservoir characterization. Among all formation properties, permeability (or fluid conductivity) is often the most difficult to determine or predict, and has been a long-standing challenge specifically in the heterogeneous reservoirs having faults, fractures, Vugs or high conductive flow channels. The general perception is the rock with greater porosity usually correlates with greater permeability, which does not hold true in many cases. For example, a formation with small pore throat size may have highly interconnected pores, but these pores and pore channels are too small and the paths available are too restrictive for fluid movement, which substantially reduces the permeability.
Formation permeability can be directly determined using core plugs in the laboratory, by using a formation fluid tester in a wellbore, or determined with well tests by use of pressure-transient analysis. However, the measured permeability directly from these methods provides permeability at discrete points and has limitations in estimating the permeability continuously across the none-cored wells, particularly in the horizontal wellbore. Also, the amount of core available for direct permeability measurement is typically limited (due to the cost and logistics associated with core sampling), and permeability estimates usually are made by correlations, by use of wireline-log responses. Further, the permeability measured from these sources might have some uncertainty in estimating the permeability at actual reservoir conditions.
Many investigators have attempted to grasp the complexity of permeability function into a model with general applicability. Most of the models developed are empirical models based on the correlation between formation permeability, formation porosity and irreducible water saturation. These empirical models typically involve measuring porosity and irreducible water saturation of the core and developing mathematical models relating porosity and irreducible water saturation to permeability. In order to use this approach, it is desirable to obtain effective porosity, which is the portion of the porosity that is not isolated and is connected to the pore network and therefore can contribute to fluid flow, and irreducible water saturation. These parameters are not available directly from well logs. Instead, they are estimated from other well log data. However, porosity derived from well log data is not necessarily effective porosity, and methods for deriving irreducible water saturation often rely on effective porosity. Furthermore, empirical models developed for certain formations often perform poorly when used in other fields or formations.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal head and a thermal printer, and more particularly to a thermal head and a thermal printer using a single crystalline silicon substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, thermal heads for performing thermosensitive recording by selective heat generation of a heat generating element have been used.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H02-137943 and H06-320769 disclose a thermal head using a single crystalline silicon substrate.
The thermal head disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H02-137943 and H06-320769 includes: a heat generating element formed on a single crystalline silicon substrate via an insulating film; a driver circuit unit formed on the single crystalline silicon substrate; a wiring layer for connecting the driver circuit unit to the heat generating element; and a protecting film for protecting a thermal head surface.
A heat generating resistor protrudes toward a printing medium for increasing contact pressure with a printing medium such as thermal paper or an ink sheet to increase printing efficiency.
Proposed methods therefor include a method of partially etching a silicon substrate to form a protruding portion and forming a heat generating portion on the protruding portion, and a method of forming a silicon oxide film having a thickness of several μm on a silicon substrate, then forming a protruding shape on the silicon oxide film by patterning, and forming a heat generating portion on the protruding portion.
In the structure in which a heat generating resistor is disposed on the protruding portion formed by partially etching the silicon substrate of the conventional techniques described above, the heat generating resistor is located near the silicon substrate having a large thermal conductivity of 152 W/m·K. Thus, thermal energy generated by the heat generating resistor easily escapes toward the silicon substrate to increase heat loss and thus increase power consumption.
In the structure in which the silicon oxide film is formed into a protruding shape, the limit of a height of the protruding portion is several μm due to the limit of stress, and thus sufficient contact pressure with the printing medium cannot be obtained and clear image quality cannot be obtained in some cases.
The present invention has an object to provide a thermal head that increases contact pressure between a heat generating portion and a printing medium to increase printing quality with a low heat loss.


Broadband connectivity has revolutionized how individuals and small businesses (collectively referred to as subscribers) connect to the Internet, providing high bandwidth connections with relatively low costs. Broadband connectivity is provided to subscribers in many different forms, including but not limited to: coaxial cable (cable), digital subscriber line (DSL), geosynchronous satellite, wireless, and direct point-to-point optical and wireless. Of course, each method of broadband delivery is usually different and normally is not compatible. Regardless of how the connectivity between the subscriber and the Internet is achieved, there is an underlying commonality that exists in all types of broadband. It is the processing that occurs with data/information packets coming into and out of the subscriber's computer(s).
The packets can be divided into one of two groups based on their position in relation to the interface between the subscriber's equipment and the service provider's equipment. Packets can either be local or external. Local packets are packets on the subscriber's side of the interface while external packets are packets on the service provider's side of the interface. Local packets may be packets sent from one computer in the subscriber's network to another in the same subscriber's network (should the subscriber have a computer network) or packets from the subscriber's single computer to itself. When packets are transmitted, processing must be performed on the packets to determine if they are to remain in their respective domains or they are to cross the interface.
A common solution for processing the local and external packets is via the use of a single processing module that performs needed processing for both local and external packets. The single processing module typically resides at the interface itself. The use of a single processing module permits the sharing of resources and eases design by reducing the overall number of interacting modules. However, the sharing of the single processing module places a large burden on processing resources to perform tasks such as address filtering and translation for local addresses. The address filtering and translation processing may interfere with and affect the performance of the processing of external packets, therefore reducing the overall performance.
A fairly common solution to the processing of external and local packets is to create two separate modules that are separately responsible for processing external packets and local packets. By separating the processing, it is much less likely that there would be interference since there is no interaction unless a packet crosses the interface. However, the separation of the processes can result in unnecessary duplication of modules, such as the communications protocol modules.
A need has arisen for method and apparatus that reduces interaction and interference between local and external packet processing and at the same time minimizes the unnecessary duplication of modules.


An HVAC system generally includes a closed loop refrigeration system with at least one evaporator, at least one condenser and at least one compressor. As the refrigerant travels through the evaporator, it absorbs heat from a heat transfer fluid to be cooled and changes from a liquid to a vapor phase. After exiting the evaporator, the refrigerant proceeds to a compressor, then a condenser, then an expansion valve, and back to the evaporator, repeating the refrigeration cycle. The fluid to be cooled (e.g. air) passes through the evaporator in a separate fluid channel and is cooled by the evaporation of the refrigerant. The cooled fluid can then be sent to a distribution system for cooling the spaces to be conditioned, or it can be used for other refrigeration purposes.
One type of air conditioner system is a split system where there is an indoor unit or heat exchanger, which is generally the evaporator, and an outdoor unit or heat exchanger, which is generally the condenser. Often, the outdoor unit is placed outdoors and is subject to outdoor ambient conditions, particularly temperature. When the outdoor ambient temperature falls, the amount of heat being removed from the refrigerant in the condenser increases. The increased heat removal in the condenser can result in a decrease in the refrigerant pressure at the suction line to the compressor, commonly referred to as head pressure. The decrease in head pressure results in a lowering of the temperature of the refrigerant at the evaporator. When the temperature of the refrigerant at the evaporator becomes too low, icing of the system can occur. Icing is a condition when the temperature at the exterior of the evaporator is sufficiently low to freeze water present in the atmosphere. The ice formed by the water frozen on the surface reduces the available heat transfer surface and eventually prevents the proper operation of the HVAC system by inhibiting heat transfer and/or damaging system components.
Some attempts to address the problem of icing have utilized the control of system pressure. In one approach, a variable speed condenser fan or a plurality of condenser fans having independent controls are used to control airflow over the condenser coil. As the amount of air passing over the coil decreases, the amount of heat transfer taking place at the coil decreases. Therefore, the temperature of the refrigerant in the condenser and the pressure of the system increase to allow the indoor coil to cool the air without icing problems. The use of the variable speed condenser fan or a plurality of condenser fans having independent controls has the drawback that it is expensive and requires complicated wiring and controls.
An alternate approach for the problem of low system pressure or icing is a parallel set of condensers in the refrigerant cycle, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,686. The parallel set of refrigerant condensers allows for two modes of operation. One mode of operation allows refrigerant to flow from only one of the refrigerant condensers. During this mode of operation, the condenser that does not permit the flow of refrigerant fills with liquid refrigerant. Because of this flooding, there is a reduction in the effective surface area of the condenser. The reduced surface area thereby reduces the ability of the condenser to remove heat from the refrigerant. Therefore, the temperature of the refrigerant in the condenser and the head pressure of the system increase allowing the indoor coil to cool the air without icing. The use of parallel refrigerant condensers has the drawback that it requires an additional condenser coil and additional piping, thereby increasing the space and cost required for installation. Another drawback associated with refrigerant flooding of the condenser coil is the resultant decrease in system capacity. Refrigerant normally available in a properly operating system is trapped in the condenser coil and not available to the compressor, thereby decreasing system capacity.
An additional alternate approach for the problem of low system pressure is the use of a valve that controls the discharge or flow of liquid refrigerant from the condenser to a receiver vessel downstream of the condenser to maintain control of the amount of condensing surface exposed to the outside temperature, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,550. The discharge of refrigerant from the condenser is controlled by a pressure-response valve that mechanically opens to allow the flow of liquid refrigerant from the condenser to the receiver vessel reducing the level of liquid inside the condenser, thereby lowering the system pressure. Alternatively, the valve is closed to stop the flow until the level of refrigerant rises in the condenser in an amount that reduces the effective cooling surface of the condenser. The reduced surface area thereby reduces the ability of the condenser to remove heat from the refrigerant, thereby raising the pressure of the system. The use of a pressure-response valve and a vessel downstream of the condenser to maintain control of the amount of condensing surface has the drawback that it includes a specially designed valve and additional piping, thereby increasing the required space and cost. As discussed above, another one of the drawbacks with refrigerant flooding the condenser coil is decreased system capacity. Refrigerant normally available in a properly operating system is trapped in the condenser coil and not available to the compressor, thereby decreasing system capacity.
An additional alternate approach for the problem of low system pressure is the use of a refrigerant bypass around the condenser, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,699 and U.S. Reissued Pat. No. Re. 27,522. If the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant in the condenser are sufficiently high, a valve will close on a condenser bypass and the flow of refrigerant will be directed to the condenser. If the temperature and pressure of the condenser are not sufficiently high, the valve will open on a condenser bypass and at least some of the flow of refrigerant will be directed away from the condenser. The result of the bypass is an increase in pressure through the pipe leading to the evaporator downstream of the compressor. The use of a bypass has the drawback that it includes a specially designed valve and additional piping, thereby increasing the required space and cost.
What is needed is a method and system for controlling the system refrigerant pressure without the drawbacks discussed above.


The invention relates to a fuel supply system for a spark-ignition internal combustion engine having arranged on each cylinder a blow-in nozzle for the introduction of a mixture of fuel and a combustion gas into a combustion chamber.
Spark-ignition internal combustion engines have an unsatisfactory efficiency in particular in the part-load range as a result of high charge exchange losses. One possibility for reducing said charge exchange losses and thereby improving efficiency resides in exhaust gas recirculation. By means of exhaust gas recirculation, the engine can operate unthrottled during part-load operation, which reduces the required charge exchange work of the engine and increases the compression pressure.
An increase in the proportion of recirculated exhaust gas can however also bring about a degradation of the ignitability and combustion of the mixture of fuel, air and exhaust gas. Misfiring can even occur.
In order to utilize the advantages of a high exhaust gas recirculation rate and in order to obtain the ignitability required for this purpose, DE 199 45 544 A1 discloses a fuel supply system for a spark-ignition internal combustion engine in which a first fuel metering device comprises an intake pipe injector which is arranged in an intake duct which opens out into the combustion chamber. By means of the intake pipe injector, a fuel quantity is injected in order to form a lean mixture with a predefined exhaust gas proportion. For reliable ignition, one blow-in valve is provided per cylinder, which blow-in valve, in order to ignite the lean mixture, blows a mixture of a small liquid fuel quantity and air as a combustion gas into the combustion chamber. The quantity which is blown in can be easily and reliably ignited. After ignition, the mixture quantity ignites the remaining mixture.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an internal combustion engine with a fuel supply system which is small and effectively supplies a mixture of fuel and combustion air into the cylinders of the engine.


This application is based upon and claims benefit of priority of Japanese Patent Application No. Hei-11-366454 filed on Dec. 24, 1999, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device on an SOI (Silicon on Insulator) substrate, and more particularly to a method of forming an oxidized film on a silicon layer of the SOI substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional method of manufacturing capacitors or MOS transistors on a silicon substrate, an impurity is diffused into the silicon substrate in a high density to form a highly doped layer, and then an oxidized film is formed on the highly doped layer. Electrodes made of poly-silicon or the like are formed on the silicon dioxide film.
It is frequently required that such a silicon dioxide film has a high quality to be durable against a high voltage. However, such a high quality is difficult to be realized when the oxidized film is formed on the highly doped layer. This is because the highly doped layer tends to become a gettering site and the silicon dioxide film is contaminated with contaminants such as heavy metals, and the durability of the silicon dioxide film is adversely affected by the contaminants.
It is possible to form an additional gettering layer in the silicon substrate to improve the quality of the oxidized film. However, it is generally difficult to form such a gettering layer in the SOI substrate. JP-A-10-25621 proposes to form the gettering layer in the SOI substrate, but at least an additional costly process to form the same is required in a series of manufacturing processes of a semiconductor device.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of forming a quality oxidized film on the SOI substrate without using the process of forming the gettering layer.
An impurity such as boron or phosphorus is diffused into a silicon layer on an SCI substrate by ion-implantation and driven-in, thereby forming a diffused layer having a high density of the impurity on the SOI substrate. Then, an oxidized film is formed on the diffused layer by thermal oxidation. The oxidized film is heat-treated at a high temperature of 1100xc2x0 C. or higher, preferably 1150xc2x0 C. or higher. When boron is diffused to form the diffused layer, the high temperature heat treatment is performed for 20 minutes or longer. When phosphorus is diffused, the high temperature heat treatment is performed for a period of 20 minutes or longer but not exceeding 60 minutes.
By applying the high temperature heat treatment to the oxidized film, contamination in the oxidized film is driven-out, or annealed-out. Thus, the quality of the oxidized film such as durability against a high voltage is improved.
To form a capacitor using the oxidized film, electrodes made of a material such as poly-silicon are patterned on the oxidized film. Other semiconductor elements such as an LDMOS (Lateral Diffused MOS) may be formed on the same SOI substrate in addition to the capacitor. In this case, the high temperature heat treatment can be performed as a common process for improving the quality of the oxidized film and for forming other semiconductor elements.
Further, plural capacitors, e.g., a first capacitor and a second capacitor may be formed using the oxidized films having respectively different thickness. In this case, a preliminary oxidized film covering both areas for the first and second capacitors is first formed. Then, only the oxidized film covering the second capacitor area is removed by wet-etching, keeping the preliminary oxidized film for the first capacitor. Then, the silicon layer is again thermally oxidized to form a new oxidized film covering both areas for the first and second capacitors. Thus, a thin film is formed for the second capacitor and a thick film is formed for the first capacitor. The high temperature heat treatment is performed either immediately after both oxidized films are formed or after the capacitor electrodes are formed on the oxidized films. The quality of both oxidized films is improved by a single high temperature heat treatment.
According to the present invention, the quality of the oxidized film or films formed on the SOI substrate is improved by the high temperature heat treatment without forming an additional gettering layer.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become more readily apparent from a better understanding of the preferred embodiment described below with reference to the following drawings.


A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a target portion of a substrate. Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that circumstance, a mask, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) that has a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively exposed. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion in one go, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through the beam in a given direction (the “scanning”-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti parallel to this direction.
Progressive improvements of a lithographic apparatus have been made which have allowed patterns with smaller resolutions to be projected onto substrates. One such improvement involves providing a liquid between a projection system of a lithographic apparatus and a substrate. This provides the projection system with a numerical aperture (NA) greater than 1.0 (e.g. 1.35NA).


Electronic devices, such as portable electronic devices, have gained worldwide popularity due to their broad applications. Portable electronic devices may include, for example, smartphones, wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, laptop computers with wireless or Bluetooth® capabilities, cellular telephones, etc. A user may use, for example, a smartphone to perform a variety of functions including making telephone calls, sending electronic messages, taking photos, reading articles, and other functions, by installing applications.
With the increasing number of applications, users tend to install more and more applications on their portable electronic devices. At the same time, users have started reading articles and/or news on their portable electronic devices. To accommodate users' various usages, manufacturers have brought into the market portable electronic devices that have relatively large touchscreens to enable rendering of more icons and contents. This, however, gives rise to problems for users who operate portable electronic devices by using one hand. For example, if a user operates a portable electronic device by one hand, and touches the touchscreen of the portable electronic device with a thumb, the thumb of the user may not reach icons that are located far from the thumb location on the touchscreen. In this case, the user may need to instead use both hands to operate the portable electronic device via the touchscreen.
To solve this problem, existing technologies relating to Human-Computer Interaction may provide a settings menu, by which a user sets his/her hand use preference. For example, if a user prefers to use both hands to operate a touchscreen, the user can set a corresponding preference on the settings menu.
However, the existing technologies are not only complicated but also require presetting. Situations may arise in which a user has a need to use both hands, even though the user usually uses one hand to operate a portable electronic device. As an example, when the user is reading an article on the portable electronic device while being a passenger in a vehicle, the user may need to use both hands to avoid shaking or dropping the portable electronic device. Due to this need, the user may not have time to preset a user preference to use both hands. As a result, a user may drop a portable electronic device while only one hand is being used to hold the portable electronic device.


The present invention is related to an apparatus for controlling the indexing of hydraulic stepping motor and in particular to a servo-valve for controlling the flow of htdraulic fluid thereto.
Hydraulic stepping motors are known which are constructed as a linear motor in form of a pressure fluid cylinder or in form of a hydraulic rotating motor. In either case it is known to combine such motors with a control or servo-valve comprising slide valve having a reciprocable linear shift member or with a member reciprocably rotatable about a central axis (see German Pat. No. OS 1,550,365). In connection with slide valves having a linear shiftable member it is possible and known to use also asymmetric pistons.
It is an object of the instant invention to provide improved apparatus for the control of hydraulic motors which may use any of these combinations. The apparatus may also be provided known intermediate amplifiers or gears altering the gear ratio between the hydraulic motor and the control valve.
It is the object of the instant invention to develop a hydraulic step motor of the type described in such a way as to render possible in a simple construction a high number of step positions and one having little leakage. In addition it is the object to provide a device having a very good dynamic performance, an insensitiveness against varying load moments, higher start-stop-frequencies and step losses.
According to the invention these tasks are solved by providing in conjunction with a hydraulic stepping motor a servo-control system comprising a slide valve comprising a housing and a slidable valve member arranged in, and coextensive with, the housing. The slidable valve member includes at least two fluid manifolds conjointly movable therewith and a plurality of primary positioning webs and secondary sealing webs alternately spaced from one another and uniformly distributed over its periphery. These projections define a plurality of intermediate gaps alternately connected with one or the other of the fluid manifolds. A plurality of uniformly distributed channels provided in the housing opens against these webs. The channels have a width identical with the peripheral width of the primary projections, but have mutual distances different from those existing between the primary projections and are fewer in number than these primary projections.
The main connecting conduits provide communication between the source of fluid under pressure and the fluid manifolds. A plurality of return conduits, each of which is connected to one of the channels, is coupled to a selector valve comprising a plurality of control valves each communicating with at least one of the return conduits. The control valves are actuable to couple a selected return conduit to a return duct outlet opening into a sump whereto the source of fluid under pressure is connected to receive therefrom the fluid it pressurizes.
In idle condition a uniform pressure exists as long as the valves in the selector are closed. In response to the opening of one of the valves, the corresponding intermediate gap discharges the fluid through its corresponding channel and the return fluid conduit, via the opened valve into the sump, thus a drop of pressure being provoked in the discharging gap and the step motor being caused to revolve in the decreased pressure direction. Then, one of the primary webs moves towards and covers the previously opened channel and finally blocks it. Therefore, the rotary valve member ceases to move and the fluid escape channel closure restores the pressure in the servo-valve, so that the rotation stops after a predetermined step only. Thus an effective control of step rotation is provided.
Preferably the servo-valve is of a rotary type including a rotatable cylindrical member housed in a cylindrical wall. The webs comprise radial projections. However, linear housing and slide members may be used since these too can be made with projecting webs and channels.
An advantage of the foregoing construction lies in the fact that by connecting the gaps between the webs, on the same facial sides, to a common manifold, indexing in opposite directions can be obtained in one or more steps.
It is particularly useful if in the preferable embodiment each separating web is broadened up to form a sealing member in such a way that in each position of the movable member at least some of the channels in the valve housing are covered by the sealing web.
The present invention results in a high number of indexing positions, together with a very small possibility of leakage. Due to this diminished leakage the dimensions of the slide valve may be significantly decreased in comparison with known systems having an equal number of positions. Furthermore, the number of control valves necessary in the selector valve device may be substantially decreased so that there is a remarkable decrease in constructive expenditure. The width of the separating webs, respectively, may in order to obtain a favorable behavior in operation, be chosen so that at both sides of each positioning web there remain gaps which are slit like ducts having a width corresponding to the width of the positioning web itself.
Preferably, the number of channels is nearly equal to the number of the positioning webs. Most favorably the number of the positioning webs and the number of the channels differ only to the extent of the valve 1.
Furthermore, it is useful if the conduits of two or more non-adjacent channels are connected to the return conduit via a single control valve of the selector valve device.
The invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the attached drawings showing two embodiments.


The present invention relates to a shift interlock device, and more particularly to a brake-transmission-shift-ignition (BTSI) interlock device and circuit integrated into a shifter.
Brake-transmission-shift-ignition (BTSI) interlock devices and circuits are known in the art, and further it is known to incorporate a toggle mechanism and preassembled switch into such devices. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,132 to Osborn, issued Jun. 2, 1998. A known existing BTSI shifter similar to U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,132 is described in the discussion below entitled xe2x80x9cPrior Artxe2x80x9d. (See FIGS. 1-2 of the present disclosure.) This known existing BTSI shifter includes a preassembled micro switch that is soldered onto a circuit board. The subassembly is then operably positioned in and secured to the handle of a shift lever assembly of a vehicle shifter. However, this shift lever assembly is undesirably expensive, partially because of the cost of the circuit board, but also because of secondary process costs (e.g. soldering, manual placement and attachment within the handle, and electrical connections). Also, circuit boards have quality and warranty concerns because they are not well suited for the vibrations and harsh environments commonly associated with vehicle shifters (e.g. temperature and humidity variations in the passenger compartment associated with day and night, and/or temperature extremes associated with winter and summer, and/or vibrations and with shifting the shift lever and/or associated with traveling at high speeds along a bumpy road and/or when an engine idles). Accordingly, further improvement is desired in this assembly, including reducing component costs and increasing the automation and efficiency of assembly, and improving the durability and robustness of the shift lever assembly.
It is also known to use a lead frame in a brake shifter interlock having a toggle mechanism. For example, see Withey U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,562, which discloses a lead frame incorporated into a toggle interlock device. In the Withey arrangement, the lead frame incorporates conductive components forming a switch. But this switch arrangement can have quality problems, since the conductive components are subject to distortions and dimensional variations, wear, and other problems that occur during installation and use and during the wide temperature variations commonly experienced by shifters. This can lead to poor and unreliable operation of the integral switch. It is desirable to incorporate a preassembled switch into a circuit using a lead frame. However, problems still remain in terms of assembly and warranty problems associated with soldering and/or other electrical connections. Also, the problems associated with dimensional inconsistencies and part-handling common in lead frames need to be addressed, as well as the overall ability to automatically assemble the components.
Accordingly, a shifter is desired solving the aforementioned problems and having the aforementioned advantages.
The present invention includes a shifter for a vehicle having an electrical control circuit. The shifter includes a base, a shift lever pivoted to the base, and an interlock device on one of the base or the shifter that engages an abutment surface on the other. The abutment surface is configured to be selectively engaged by the interlock device to control movement of the shift lever. The interlock device includes a preassembled switch, an electromechanical device, and a lead frame having at least four conductors. The electromechanical device has an interlock member movable to an extended position for engaging the abutment surface and movable to a retracted position for operating the switch and allowing the shift lever to move. The four conductors operably interconnect the switch and the electromechanical device and define a three-prong terminal adapted for electrical connection to the vehicle control circuit for operating the electromechanical device and for signaling to the vehicle control circuit that the interlock member has been operated.
In another aspect of the present invention, a preassembled interlock device includes a housing and a toggle interlock mechanism including an extendable pin operably positioned in the housing. The pin is extendable to a position outside the housing for engaging an abutment surface. A preassembled switch, an electromechanical device, and a lead frame are attached to the housing in an arrangement where the electromechanical device operates the switch when the extendable pin is retracted. The lead frame includes at least four conductors operably interconnected to the switch, the electromechanical device, and to a terminal adapted for electrical connection to a control circuit for operating the electrical mechanical device, and for signaling to the vehicle control circuit that the extendable pin has been moved.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a method of assembly for an interlock device comprises steps of providing a housing, and positioning a lead frame in the housing. The method further includes operably positioning a toggle interlock mechanism in the housing, the interlock mechanism including an electromechanical device having a pin extendable to a position outside of the housing. The method also includes positioning a preassembled switch in the housing, including electrically connecting the switch to the lead frame. The method also includes electrically connecting the electromechanical device to the lead frame so that the electromechanical device operates the switch when the extendable pin is retracted. The method further includes separating parts of the lead frame to form at least four separate conductors that operably interconnect the switch and the electromechanical device to a terminal adapted for electrical connection to a control circuit for operating the electromechanical device, and for signaling to the control circuit that the interlock member has been extended.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a preassembled interlock device includes a housing having a plurality of protrusions, and a toggle interlock mechanism including an extendable pin positioned in the housing but extendable to a position outside of the housing. The interlock device also includes an electromechanical device attached to the housing, a preassembled switch in the housing including a plurality of first contacts, and a lead frame having at least four conductors including a plurality of second contacts. When the electromechanical device is energized, it retracts the pin and operates the switch. The first contacts are positioned and oriented to telescopingly engage the second contacts during assembly. The second contacts each include a mechanical retainer that retains the first contacts in operable engagement with the second contacts and further they are adapted to electrically operably interconnect the electrical mechanical device to a control circuit for operating the electrical mechanical device. The lead frame further includes a plurality of location holes with retaining tines that engage the housing protrusions to non-releasably and accurately locate the lead frame in the housing.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a shifter for a vehicle having an electrical control circuit includes a base component, a shift lever component operably positioned on the base component, and an interlock device on one of the base and shift lever components. The interlock device is configured and adapted to selectively engage an abutment surface on the other of the components for interlocking the shift lever in a selected gear position. The interlock device includes a preassembled switch and a lead frame, with the preassembled switch having at least three first contacts and the lead frame having at least three second contacts engaged with the first contacts. The first contacts are positioned and oriented to telescopingly engage the three second contacts during assembly, and at least one of the first and second contacts each include a mechanical retainer for securely retaining the first contacts in operable engagement with the second contacts after assembly.
These and other aspects, objects, and features of the present invention will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon studying the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.