The present invention produces ethanol in a reactor that comprises a catalyst composition and a feed stream comprising acetic acid and a recycled liquid stream comprising ethyl acetate. The catalyst composition comprises a first catalyst comprising platinum, cobalt, and/or tin and a second catalyst comprising copper. The crude ethanol product may be separated and ethanol recovered.

The present invention is directed to processes for the recovery of ethanol from a crude ethanol product obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid using a low energy process. The crude ethanol product is separated in one or more columns. At least one of the columns is operated at a controlled pressure to enhance separation of ethanol and organics. In one embodiment, there are at least two columns that operate at controlled pressures.

The present invention is directed to processes for recovering ethanol obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid. Acetic acid is hydrogenated in the presence of a catalyst in a hydrogenation reactor to form a crude ethanol product. The crude ethanol product is separated in one or more columns to recover ethanol. In some embodiments, less than 10 wt. % ethanol is recycled to the hydrogenation reactor.

A system for controlling a plurality of vehicles can include at least one communications bus and a plurality of RFID detection tags that can be fixed to the communications bus equidistant from each other to define a plurality of RFID regions. Each vehicle within an RFID region can further include an RFID reader for receiving information from, and transmitting information to, the RFID tags. As the vehicle enters the RFID region for a particular RFID tag, the position of the vehicle (within the RFID region) can be communicated to the communications bus. A traffic control unit can be connected to the communications bus, and monitor can be in communication with a plurality of remotely controlled traffic control assets, such as stop signs, yield signs, traffic cones. After receiving position information on the vehicle, the monitor can selectively activate the traffic devices remotely to control vehicle traffic flow.

Fault Current Limiters (FCL) provide protection for upstream and/or downstream devices in electric power grids. Conventional FCL require the use of expensive conductors and liquid or gas cryogen handling. Disclosed embodiments describe FCL systems and devices that use lower cost superconductors, require no liquid cryogen, and are fast cycling. These improved FCL can sustain many sequential faults and require less time to clear faults while avoiding the use of liquid cryogen. Disclosed embodiments describe a FCL with a superconductor and cladding cooled to cryogenic temperatures; these are connected in parallel with a second resistor across two nodes in a circuit. According to disclosed embodiments, the resistance of the superconducting components and its sheath in the fault mode are sufficiently high to minimize energy deposition within the cryogenic system, minimizing recovery time. A scheme for intermediate heat storage also is described which allows a useful compromise between conductor length enabled energy minimization and allowable number of sequential faults to enable an overall system design which is affordable, and yet allows conduction cooled (cryogen free) systems which have fast recovery and allows for multiple sequential faults.

A superconducting structure (1) has a plurality of coated conductor tapes (2; 2a-2o), each with a substrate (3) which is one-sided coated with a superconducting film (4), in particular an YBCO film, wherein the superconducting structure (1) provides a superconducting current path along an extension direction (z) of the superconducting structure (1), wherein the coated conductor tapes (2; 2a-2o) provide electrically parallel partial superconducting current paths in the extension direction (z) of the superconducting structure (1), is characterized in that the coated conductor tapes (2; 2a-2o) are superconductively connected among themselves along the extension direction (z) continuously or intermittently. A more stable superconducting structure with which high electric current strengths may be transported is thereby provided.

The coupled resonator comprises a first low frequency resonator, such as a balance spring (1) and a second higher frequency resonator, such as a tuning fork (2), the two resonators (1 and 2) including permanent mechanical coupling means. Application to the regulating system of a timepiece.

RNA interference is provided for inhibition of Frizzled Related Protein-1 mRNA expression, in particular, for treating patients having glaucoma or at risk of developing glaucoma.

The present disclosure provides reagents that can be used to label synthetic oligonucleotides with rhodamine dyes or dye networks that contain rhodamine dyes.

A procedure for improved temperature control in controlled radical polymerization processes is disclosed. The procedure is directed at controlling the concentration of the persistent radical in ATRP and NMP polymerizations procedures and the concentration of radicals in a RAFT polymerization process by feeding a reducing agent or radical precursor continuously or intermittently to the reaction medium through one of more ports.

One or more temporal stimulation parameters of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) are selected to substantially modulate one or more target physiological functions without substantially modulating one or more non-target physiological functions. In one embodiment, a stimulation duty cycle is selected such that VNS is delivered to the cervical vagus nerve trunk to modulate a cardiovascular function without causing laryngeal muscle contractions.

Methods and systems for conveying or transmitting to any given user in an OFDMA-MU-MIMO system scheduling information of other co-scheduled users to permit the user to perform error-correction on received data and/or interference reduction on its received signals. The scheduling information can include resource block assignment, modulation constellations employed, coding rates employed, power levels utilized and precoder matrix indices used. Further, the scheduling information can be conveyed in part through dedicated reference symbol layers or pilot streams. Moreover, a base station may transmit a preliminary estimate of the total number of users the base station expects to schedule, or an upper-bound on the total number of users, to the MU-MIMO users to permit the MU-MIMO users to determine preferred precoder matrix indices and indications of channel quality indices.

In general, to provide acknowledgment information by a first wireless device, the first wireless device sends repeated instances of acknowledgment information in respective first and second frame structures, in response to receipt of first information from a second wireless device. In addition, the first wireless device also sends further acknowledgment information in the second frame structure that is responsive to second information received from the second wireless device.

A fastener includes a t-nut having a barrel and a flange. The flange includes an opening which leads to a threaded barrel. The threaded barrel extends from the opening in the flange to a distal end portion thereof. An end cap has an annular recess on a first side thereof and has a raised annular ridge on a second side thereof. The raised annular ridge of the end cap is affixed to the flange of the t-nut by welding the end cap to the flange. Dirt, water and moisture cannot enter the barrel because the end cap is sealed to the flange. Additionally, the barrel may be relatively short as it is fully threaded prior to the affixation of the end cap to the flange.

In various embodiments, a tapered thread roll, a set of tapered thread rolls, a thread rolling tool, and a thread rolling method are provided for rolling angled or tapered threads onto a workpiece to create a threaded workpiece. In at least one embodiment, the threaded workpiece may comprise a polished rod or a polished rod precursor as specified by the American Petroleum Institute for use in an oil-field sucker-type pump, for example.

A method can be used for controlling the switching operation of a switching power converter that includes a semiconductor switch coupled in series to an inductor. The switching power converter consumes an input current from a power supply and provides an output current to a load. In each switching cycle a switch-on time instant is detected for the semiconductor switch. The semiconductor switch is closed thus enabling, at the detected switch-on time instant, the input current passing through the semiconductor switch. The semiconductor switch is opened after a desired on-time, during which the input current rises from zero to a peak value, has passed. A time interval is detected, in which the instantaneous output current is not zero. A first value that represents the peak of the input current is obtained during the on-time.

A method of storing data includes providing a write signal for a write head of a hard disk drive, generating a transition pulse signal derived from the write signal using a transition pulse generator, and generating a logic signal to drive a thermal source associated with the write head of the hard disk drive. The logic signal includes the logical summation of a cyclical base pulse signal and the transition pulse signal.

Techniques are provided for increasing spectral efficiency over data channels in a storage or communication system. In some embodiments, data may be encoded and transmitted over multiple channels. The transmitted data from the multiple channels may be considered together as a channel bundle, thereby increasing the edge transitions of the group of signals to improve clock recovery and reduce coding constraints. In some embodiments, the channel bit size is reduced to maximize data rates based on the reduced coding constraints. Furthermore, the channel bundle has only one channel with timing markers, so that a receiver may receive information from the channel bundle and recover clocking based on the timing markers in the one channel.

In various embodiments, an electrode has a shaft extending from an electrode head and a cooling passage extending from an open end disposed at an attachment end of the shaft to a closed end disposed within the electrode head.

A support arm for a water-cooled, current-conducting electrode includes wall elements, wherein each wall element is a flat conductive metal with a hollowed out recess on its outer surface extending over its length. The support arm further includes a cover extending over each recess to define a closed cooling channel within each wall element when the cover is welded to the wall element. The cover includes with an inlet port and an outlet port for cooling water.

A coupling for connecting a rotating tube cleaning shaft to a tube cleaning machine where high pressure fluid is pumped through the coupling, where the coupling is sealed to contain the high pressure fluid, and where a machine driven rotary flexible shaft passes through the coupling.

A method of forming a cross-linked protein structures includes preparing a solution of protein dissolved in a benign solvent and forming an intermediate protein structure from the solution. The intermediate protein structure can be cross-linked by providing for a specific ratio of chemical cross-linking agents to form the cross-linked protein structure. The solution can be prepared by adding a cross-linker of N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) at a ratio of two-to-one of NHS to EDC to alcohol. PBS buffer (20×) can be added to the solution until the volume ratio of PBS buffer (20×) to alcohol is about one-to-one. About 16 percent by weight of protein can be dissolved in the solution. The solution can be electrospun to form an intermediate protein structure. After a period of time, the protein structure can be cross-linked to form the cross-linked protein structure.

Self-assembled silica condensates are described as well as their use in coating compositions. The self-assembled silica condensates can be formed from the hydrolysis of medium to long chain trialkoxy silane compounds. Coating compositions containing the self-assembled silica condensates can provide coatings having improved scratch and mar resistance and can have excellent recoat adhesion.

A system for determining disablement of driving of a hybrid vehicle is disclosed. The system for determining disablement of driving of a hybrid vehicle may include: power electronic components having a battery at which DC electricity is stored, an inverter converting the DC electricity of the battery into AC electricity, and a motor receiving the AC electricity from the inverter and generating driving torque; an engine burning a fuel so as to generate driving torque and being selectively connected to the motor; an engine clutch selectively connecting the engine to the motor; a transmission connected to the motor to receive the driving torque of the motor or the driving torque of the engine; and a control portion controlling operations of the power electronic components, the engine, and the engine clutch, wherein the control portion turns off a system ready indication in a case that driving of the vehicle is disabled.

A two-wheeled inverted pendulum vehicle includes: single-winding first and second motors respectively rotating one of two wheels; first and second control systems respectively supplying drive currents to the first and second motors; a sensor detecting a physical quantity that varies with a turn of the vehicle; a dynamic brake unit being able to switch between active and inactive states of dynamic brake being applied to the first motor; and a control unit, when the control unit has determined that the vehicle is turning about the second motor side on the basis of the physical quantity while supply of drive current from the first control system to the first motor is inhibited, activating dynamic brake in the dynamic brake unit. The first control system, when an abnormality has been detected in the first control system, inhibits supply of drive current from the first control system to the first motor.

The disclosed embodiments provide a battery pack for use with a portable electronic device. The battery pack includes a first set of cells with different capacities electrically coupled in a parallel configuration. Cells within the first set of cells may also have different thicknesses and/or dimensions. The first set of cells is arranged within the battery pack to facilitate efficient use of space within a portable electronic device. For example, the first set of cells may be arranged to accommodate components in the portable electronic device.

Systems and methods are disclosed for isolated bands of fractional tracks in data storage devices, particularly devices employing shingled magnetic recording. In one embodiment, a device may comprise a data storage medium including a first data storage area including tracks overlapped in a shingled manner and having a first circumferential portion of a track to store data, a second data storage area, and a guard area disposed between the first data storage area and the second data storage area, the guard area including a second circumferential portion of the track as a partial guard track. In some embodiments, the guard area may include at least one sector in the first circumferential portion of the track, such that at least one sector of the guard area is interposed between data storage sectors of the first data storage area.

A device for checking the running performance of a motor vehicle, which can have at least the following components: a system for measuring a distance of a motor vehicle which is integrated in a motor vehicle, a vehicle communication system for wireless data transmission, where the system is identifiable by a unique identification number of the motor vehicle, and data may be transmitted from the vehicle to a receiver, a stationary database system for storing and providing data, which is equipped with a receiver that allows communication with the in-vehicle communication system, and an interface which allows stationary and mobile communication terminal system.

Administering message acknowledgements in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes, with each compute node including a processor and a messaging accelerator, includes: storing in a list, by a processor of a compute node, a message descriptor describing a message and an acknowledgement request descriptor describing a request for an acknowledgement of receipt of the message; processing, by a messaging accelerator of the compute node, the list, including transmitting, to a target compute node, the message described by the message descriptor and transmitting, to the target compute node, the request described by the acknowledgement request descriptor; receiving, by the messaging accelerator from the target compute node, an acknowledgement of receipt of the message, including notifying the processor of receipt of the acknowledgement; and removing, by the processor from the list, the message descriptor and the acknowledgment request descriptor.

An LED lamp includes a base, a head connected to the base, an LED mounted on the base and a cover fixed on the base and covering the LED. The cover is made of metal and defines a plurality of through holes therein.

A LED lamp is disclosed which has a plurality of light unit, each of the light unit has at least one flat metal lead for heat dissipation and the lower part of the metal lead is mounted on a heat sink for a further heat dissipation.

An LED assembly that includes optics and optical arrangements for light emitting diodes (LEDs). In some embodiments, a reflector is provided within a void between the lens and the LED. This reflector can reflect light emitted by the LED in a non-preferred direction back toward the preferred direction. In other embodiments, an optical element is formed or otherwise provided in the lens cavity and shaped so that, when the lens is positioned above the LED, the refractor bends the emitted light in a preferred direction. In some embodiments, both a reflector and optical element are provided in the LED assembly to control the directionality of the emitted light. Such embodiments of the invention can be used to increase the efficiency of an LED by ensuring that generated light is being directed to the target area of choice.

A lamp holder for holding a source of LED light includes a lamp holding component that is sized and arranged to securely receive the source of LED light. Keyed openings, engageable with fasteners associated with the mounting surface, are used to releasably attached the lamp holding component to the mounting surface and to urge the source of LED light against the mounting surface once the lamp holding component is attached thereto. Electrical contacts carried by the lamp holding component, provided to engage corresponding electrical contacts of the source of LED light, are also arranged to urge the source of LED light against the mounting surface when the lamp holding component is attached to the mounting surface. The lamp holding component also includes resiliently mounted holding elements for releasably holding the source of LED light in an accessible location.

The present invention provides a method of making a flexible foaming member from recycled material. The present invention relates to a production method to recycling wastes containing rubber, plastic and metal materials and pulverize them into scraps under normal temperatures, then roughly separate the various materials contained in the waste scraps into different layers based on the difference of specific gravity, and further take out the scraps of rubber and plastic materials with lower specific gravity from the waste scraps, then conduct multiple heating and pulverizations under different temperatures to produce composite-material scraps, and then using some composite-material scraps to mix flexible materials and foaming agents, then pressing the mixture into a plate-like foaming material, and conduct vulcanization and foam forming for the plates of foam material to become a elastic foam.

An articulated work holder for a fractional dimensioned, performance vehicle including a base member and first, second and third, support arms having multiple degrees of rotational movement and a vise member carrying vehicle engagement pads for supporting a fractional dimensioned, performance vehicle between the vise engagement pads.

A work orienting plate or angled vise parallel for use with a machine vise and which angled plate has first, second and third reference edges with the second and third reference edges being spaced apart side edges that are perpendicular to the first edge. Angled work piece support edges join the second and third reference edges, respectively. The angled work piece support edges are at different angles from one another so that a work piece can be supported on any one of the edges relative to a reference surface of a vise on which the work orienting plate is mounted to position the work piece at selected angles for machining angled surfaces.

A vehicle brake system includes a brake pedal unit (BPU) coupled to a vehicle brake pedal and including an input piston connected to operate a pedal simulator during a normal braking mode, and coupled to actuate a pair of output pistons during a manual push through mode. The output pistons are operable to generate brake actuating pressure at first and second outputs of the BPU. A hydraulic pressure source for supplying fluid at a controlled boost pressure is included. The system further includes a hydraulic control unit (HCU) adapted to be hydraulically connected to the BPU and the hydraulic pressure source, the HCU including a slip control valve arrangement, and a switching base brake valve arrangement for switching the brake system between the normal braking mode wherein boost pressure from the pressure source is supplied to first and second vehicle brakes, and the manual push through mode wherein brake actuating pressure from the BPU is supplied to the first and second vehicle brakes.

A flat, box-shaped hydraulic block for the mechanical fastening and hydraulic interconnection of solenoid valves, pump elements, etc. of a slip-controlled vehicle brake system connects connections of installation spaces for the pump elements to connectors for a brake master cylinder and connections of receptacles for pressure build-up valves which run past one another via flat chambers on longitudinal sides of the hydraulic block and short blind bores. As a result, the receptacles of the pressure build-up valves are connected to the connectors for the brake master cylinder. The chambers damp pressure pulses of the pump elements of a piston pump.

An apparatus or method which accepts a burst of pulses at a frequency which may not be tightly controlled and converts this into a trajectory command that is a suitable motion profile for an incremental motor control application. The output of the invention can be a pulse stream that can be fed to an existing incremental pulse input motor drive or the invention can be embedded into a motor drive where its output is a numerical sequence that defines a physically realizable trajectory to be fed to the control circuits and software within the motor drive.

Presented is a near field communication system and method to automatically establish an interconnection between two electronic devices. The system includes a first electronic device including an NFC chip communicatively coupled to a passive NFC tag, where the NFC tag having an integrated circuit with a predefined information content, a second device including an active NFC reader configured to read the predefined information content from the NFC tag based on an identification of a proximate distance therebetween, and where the NFC tag is capable of transmitting an activation signal to the NFC chip to enable transition of the NFC chip from a first state to a second state such as to establish a near field wireless communication link between the two devices to enable exchange of digital content therebetween.

A first set of antibodies are bonded to a substrate, and are exposed to and bonded with target antigens. A second set of antibodies are bonded to nanoparticles, and the nanoparticle labeled antibodies are exposed to the targeted antigens. An electromagnetic write-head magnetizes the nanoparticles, and then a read-sensor detects the freshly magnetized nanoparticles. The substrate comprises a flexible film or a Peltier material to allow selective heating and cooling of the antigens and antibodies. Nanoparticles of different magnetic properties may be selectively paired with antibodies associated with different antigens to allow different antigens to be detected upon a single scan by the read-sensor.

A tool selection method, for a machine tool, comprising the steps of identifying the maximum tip distance (D2) of a currently selected tool (141), a next designated tool (142) and an intermediate tool (143) disposed therebetween; moving a tool rest (10) in the +(plus)X-axis direction after a machining by the currently selected tool (141) is completed until the tip of the currently selected tool (141) is spaced from a workpiece (W) along the X-axis by a distance provided by adding a clearance distance (E) to a difference between the maximum tip distance (D2) and the tip distance (D3) of the currently selected tool (141); moving the tool rest (10) in the +(plus)Y-axis direction until the tip of the next designated tool (142) is aligned with the rotation center axis (12a) of the workpiece (W) in the X-axis direction; and moving the tool rest (10) in the −(minus)X-axis direction.

A drilling machine drills at a multiplicity of target locations on a component. Two robots, calibrated with calibration data, move the component in a 6-D coordinate system. A metrology system ascertains the position of the component relative to the drilling machine. The movement of the robots is effected by commands generated by off-line programming. The component is moved relative to the drilling machine to a target position, ready for drilling, by a closed-loop process in which the differences in position between the expected position (the target position) and the actual position (as viewed by the metrology system) are corrected.

A tool selection method, for a machine tool, comprising the steps of identifying the maximum tip distance (D2) of a currently selected tool (141), a next designated tool (142) and an intermediate tool (143) disposed therebetween; moving a tool rest (10) in the +(plus)X-axis direction after a machining by the currently selected tool (141) is completed until the tip of the currently selected tool (141) is spaced from a workpiece (W) along the X-axis by a distance provided by adding a clearance distance (E) to a difference between the maximum tip distance (D2) and the tip distance (D3) of the currently selected tool (141); moving the tool rest (10) in the +(plus)Y-axis direction until the tip of the next designated tool (142) is aligned with the rotation center axis (12a) of the workpiece (W) in the X-axis direction; and moving the tool rest (10) in the −(minus)X-axis direction.

A drilling machine drills at a multiplicity of target locations on a component. Two robots, calibrated with calibration data, move the component in a 6-D coordinate system. A metrology system ascertains the position of the component relative to the drilling machine. The movement of the robots is effected by commands generated by off-line programming. The component is moved relative to the drilling machine to a target position, ready for drilling, by a closed-loop process in which the differences in position between the expected position (the target position) and the actual position (as viewed by the metrology system) are corrected.

A conduction cooled high power semiconductor laser and a method for fabricating the same are provided. The conduction cooled high power semiconductor laser comprises a heat sink (2) and one or more semiconductor laser units (1). The semiconductor laser unit consists of a laser chip (3), a substrate (4) bonded to the laser chip for heat dissipation and electrical connection, and an insulation plate (5) soldered to the substrate for insulation and heat dissipation. The semiconductor laser unit is soldered on the heat sink with the insulation plate therebetween. The semiconductor laser unit may be tested, aged, and screened in advance, and thereby the yield of the lasers can be improved and the manufacturing costs can be reduced. The laser has desirable heat dissipation performance, high reliability, and is applicable to high temperature and other complex and volatile environments.

A vertical geometry light emitting diode is disclosed that is capable of emitting light in the red, green, blue, violet and ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The light emitting diode includes a conductive silicon carbide substrate, an InGaN quantum well, a conductive buffer layer between the substrate and the quantum well, a respective undoped gallium nitride layer on each surface of the quantum well, and ohmic contacts in a vertical geometry orientation.

A fastener for attaching objects to channeled members wherein the objects have a hole extending therethrough and the channeled members have a longitudinal slot formed between projecting longitudinal walls. The fastener includes a button and a retainer. The button includes an abutment wall, an abutment surface and an axially extending slot. The retainer includes an engagement boss and a head at opposite ends of shaft. The retainer extends through the button slot. For attaching the object, the button extends through the object hole with the abutment wall adjacent the object and the abutment surface adjacent the channeled member. The retainer boss and part of the shaft extend through the longitudinal slot. The retainer is rotated for engaging the longitudinal walls with the boss. The longitudinal walls are sandwiched between the boss and the button abutment surface and the object is sandwiched between the channeled member and the button abutment wall.

A digitally controlled oscillator has a high-order ΔΣ modulator configured to be of at least an order higher than a first order and configured to input a digital control signal and output a pseudorandom digital output signal, a first-order ΔΣ modulator configured to input the pseudorandom digital output signal and generate a control pulse signal including a pulse width corresponding to the pseudorandom digital output signal, a low pass filter configured to pass a low frequency component of the control pulse signal, and an oscillator configured to generate a high-frequency output signal whose frequency is controlled based on the control pulse signal outputted by the low pass filter so as to be a frequency corresponding to the digital control signal.

A digitally-controlled oscillator includes a base frequency generator having an odd number of base inverters connected end-to-end to generate an output signal that oscillates at a predetermined frequency and a frequency-adjusting unit connected to the base frequency generator. The frequency-adjusting unit includes a first string of switchable inverters connected in series with each other, the switchable inverters having sizes that decrease from an input end of the first string to the output end of the first string.