56results about How to "Limited to component" patented technology

The present invention is a prosthetic for replacement of at least a part of the nucleus of a intravertebral disc. The prosthetic device is composed of at least two essentially parallel soft layers of an elastically deformable hydrogel and at least one rigid layer, the rigid layer having less compressibility than the soft layers, being adjacent to the soft layers, parallel to them, and firmly attached to them. In some embodiments, the soft layers have the same thickness and composition. Typically, the prosthesis has more than one rigid layer and these rigid layers have the same thickness and composition. The number of soft layers is usually one more than the number of rigid layers, with, e.g., at least three soft layers. The invention also includes a method of prosthesis production, which involves prefabricating soft and rigid layers; stacking at least two prefabricated soft and at least one prefabricated rigid layer in a parallel fashion into their final form, and, permitting the layers to firmly connect to one another by mutual interaction. In this method, at least one type of the layers is prefabricated in the dehydrated state, which is done by dehydrating stretched foil in an apparatus preventing its contraction and thereby decreasing its area. There is at least partial dehydration of the prosthesis under pressure applied in a direction tangent to the planes of the layers. In preferred embodiments, while in the state of almost full dehydration, is sterilized using ionizing radiation or a gaseous chemical agent, after which it is partially rehydrated within the sterile wrapper using water vapor.

The invention relates to a VSC-converter for converting direct voltage into auxiliary voltage and vice versa, which comprises a series connection of at least two current valves (5, 6) arranged between two poles (7, 8), a positive and a negative, of a direct voltage side of the converter, each current valve comprising several series connected circuits (12), each of which circuits comprising a semiconductor component (13) of turn-off type and a rectifying component (14) connected in anti-parallel therewith, an alternating voltage phase line (16) being connected to a midpoint (15), denominated phase output, of the series connection of current valves (5, 6) between two of said current valves while dividing the series connection into two equal parts. Each of the series connected circuits (12) of the respective current valve comprises, in order to make possible a good voltage distribution between the semiconductor components (13) of turn-off type included in the respective current valve, a snubber capacitor (17) connected in parallel with the semiconductor component (13) of turn-off type included in the circuit. The converter (1) further comprises a resonance circuit (18) for recharging the snubber capacitors (17) of the current valves.

In a copper electroplating apparatus having separate anolyte and catholyte portions, the concentration of anolyte components (e.g., acid or copper salt) is controlled by providing a diluent to the recirculating anolyte. The dosing of the diluent can be controlled by the user and can follow a pre-determined schedule. For example, the schedule may specify the diluent dosing parameters, so as to prevent precipitation of copper salt in the anolyte. Thus, precipitation-induced anode passivation can be minimized.

Damping valve assembly includes a first damping valve, which, in a first operating range, opens as the flow velocity of the damping medium increases, where a second operating range with a progressive damping force characteristic is influenced by a throttle in conjunction with a control slide, which can be moved into a closed position. The control slide has a pressure-actuated surface, which, as a function of the flow velocity of the damping medium, acts in the closing direction on the control slide.

In the present invention, there is provided a three-dimensional image display apparatus, including: (A) a light source including U₀×V₀ planar light emitting members disposed in a two-dimensional matrix; (B) an optical modulation section having a plurality of pixels modulating light beams successively outputted from the planar light emitting members by section of each of the pixels to produce a two-dimensional image and emitting spatial frequencies of the produced two-dimensional image along a plurality of diffraction angles corresponding to different diffraction orders produced from the pixels; and (C) a Fourier transform image forming section Fourier transforming the spatial frequencies of the two-dimensional image emitted from the optical modulation section to produce a number of Fourier transform images corresponding to the number of diffraction orders and forming the Fourier transform images.

An inner tub of a washing machine is rapidly braked during a portion of a deceleration phase following an extraction phase of an overall spin cycle. A controller establishes the braking operation over a critical speed band or resonant frequency zone during which excessive vibrations would be developed. The critical speed band is preferably determined based on one or more signals received from speed, load, and/or out-of-balance sensors.

A fishing lure utilizing a solid, resin-like body encapsulating electrical circuits, including an internal oscillating microchip, in a translucent bait shaped body. Several light emitting diodes are programmed to blink sequentially in a predetermined pattern, thus illuminating the entire lure body. An externally attached magnet is moved toward an internal reed switch to activate the LED's. The lure is disposable with no requirements for changing encapsulated battery.

An overvoltage protection element with a housing, an overvoltage-limiting component arranged in the housing, and with two connection elements for electrically connecting the overvoltage protection element to the current or signal path to be protected, wherein, normally, the connection elements are each in electrically conductive contact with a pole of the overvoltage-limiting component. Reliable and effective electrical connection in the normal state and reliable isolation of a defective overvoltage-limiting component are ensured by the fact that a thermally expandable material is arranged within the housing in a way that, in the event of thermal overloading of the overvoltage-limiting component, the position of the overvoltage-limiting component is changed by expansion of the thermally expandable material relative to the position of the connection elements in a way that causes at least one pole of the overvoltage-limiting component to be out of electrically conductive contact with the corresponding connection element.

A modular elbow prosthesis is disclosed, as well as a surgical approach and implantation technique, for using the prosthesis. The system is the first and only to allow for a, Biomechanically Anatomical, Nonconstrained, Compartmental (BANC) Elbow Arthroplasty. The modularity of the system allows it to be implanted as an unicompartmental or partial elbow replacement or a total elbow replacement. The modular elbow prosthesis for partial elbow replacement includes a cylindrical medial humeral component, a polyethylene ring thereon, and a semicircular medial ulnar component which mates with the polyethylene ring. Additionally, for total elbow replacement, the modular elbow prosthesis also includes a circular lateral humeral component, a polyethylene ring thereon, a semicircular lateral ulnar component, and a radial component. Implantation of the prosthesis is through a minimally invasive medial surgical approach with the aid of precision biomechanical guides. The application is well suited for canines, other quadrupeds, and people.

A policy based software component system (24) for modifying software component behavior includes an interceptor (34) for intercepting an interface event being transmitted from a software application (14) comprising software components (20, 22). A rules database (32, 40) stores software component modifying rules, and an adaptor (35) modifies the interface event based on the software component modifying rules stored in the rules database (32, 40). A policy engine (36) attempts to match the interface event with the software component modifying rules stored in the rules database (32, 40), and subsequently coordinates the modification of the interface event by the adaptor (35) when the policy engine (36) matches the interface event with at least one of the software component modifying rules stored in the rules database (32, 40).

An overload protection circuit for supplying electric power has advantageous applications especially in supplying power to capacitive loads. In prior art circuits, the charging current is lead to the capacitive load through a linearly operating transistor or through a power resistor. Therefore, prior art circuits often involve a risk of exceeding safe operating area of a power transistor, or circuits with a large number of components are needed. The present overload protection circuit has an inductor (L) coupled in series with a switching element (Q). Load current is measured (35, 38), and the switching element (Q) is controlled (35, 36) to supply current to the load via the inductor (L) until a determined current limit is achieved. After achieving the current limit the switching element (Q) is controlled to off-state, during which the freewheeling current of the inductor (L) is lead through a voltage dependent element (Z).

A vehicle gaseous fuel supply system includes a high pressure filter, a primary pressure-reducing valve, a solenoid cut-off valve, safety means, and a secondary pressure-reducing valve. A regulator is formed by disposing the high pressure filter, the solenoid cut-off valve, and the primary pressure-reducing valve on a common regulator body that has a passage providing a connection between the high pressure filter and the solenoid cut-off valve, a passage providing a connection between the solenoid cut-off valve and the primary pressure-reducing valve, and an exit passage having one end connected to the primary pressure-reducing valve. Between the safety means and the secondary pressure-reducing valve which are connected to the other end of the exit passage, at least the secondary pressure-reducing valve has its valve housing formed as a body separate from the regulator body. As a result, the dimensions of the regulator formed by integrating a plurality of components can be reduced thereby lessening restrictions on the layout, and the arrangement of passages in the regulator body can be simplified thereby making the machining easy and achieving a reduction in cost.

A conveyor belt (11) is formed by coupling multiple chain links 15 aligned in a conveyance direction X. The chain link (15) is provided with multiple recess parts (15a) and first hinge parts (21) protruding in the conveyance direction X from positions between which each of the recess parts (15a) is placed. If some object hits on an outer end of the conveyor belt (11) to apply force to the first hinge part (21), a section including the first hinge part (21) and a bulging part (30) pivots about a fulcrum at an outer base end of the first hinge part (21) to deform this section. In this invention, a point of action where force acts on the conveyor belt (11) and the center of pivotal motion of the first hinge part (21) and the bulging part (30) are determined to be spaced by a relatively short distance.

Electronically steered radar systems such as frequency scanning radars are particularly suitable for detecting and monitoring slow moving, ground-based targets. So-called crawler radar systems are intended for detection of targets that deliberately attempt to avoid detection by keeping low and by moving slowly. Disclosed is a radar system which includes an electronically steered antenna and a receiver arranged to process signals received from a target located at a distance from the radar system so as to identify a Doppler frequency associated with the target. The antenna stares at, rather than glides past, the target surrounding clutter. This means that the spectral spreading of static ground clutter associated with mechanical radar systems can be eliminated, overcoming one of the shortcomings of mechanical radar systems that would otherwise render a crawler radar system unsuitable for Doppler processing.

A passenger automotive vehicle wheel bearing assembly having improved impact Brinell resistance is provided. Due to a controlled gap between a rotating component and a non-rotating component or a vehicle suspension structure, the non-rotating component or the vehicle suspension structure is permitted to share impact loads caused by a sufficient radial or side impact (such as a pothole or curb impact) to the rotating component, thus preventing excessive loads from being transmitted to rolling elements, and providing greater resistance against Brinell impact damage that would generate a noise and/or vibration condition in the bearing assembly. Wheel bearing assemblies according to the invention provide increased impact Brined resistance while avoiding excessive contact between the rotating component and the non-rotating component or the vehicle suspension structure during extreme cornering maneuvers.

This invention controls the code generation quantity adaptively with respect to the pattern of images and changes in the images, etc., so as to alleviate degradation in image quality, and to effectively reduce the spatial redundancy in order to provide a margin in the code quantity and to improve the overall image quality. An adaptive filter has a coefficient table memory that holds N coefficient tables, filter coefficients F₁, F₂ . . . F_N that provide different filtering characteristics, a filter coefficient selecting 46 for selecting one filter coefficient F_k from filter coefficient tables and filter calculating unit performing prescribed calculations on the DCT coefficients using the selected filter coefficient F_K.

In an electric power steering system, a vehicle reactive force model computes a correction spring reactive torque in such a manner that an elasticity component included in a steering reactive force is increased with an increase in a lateral acceleration. As the lateral acceleration increases, an increase in a basic drive torque is suppressed by a larger amount. By an amount by which the magnitude of the basic drive torque is suppressed, a target pinion angle computed by a target pinion angle computing unit decreases and a correction component for a basic assist component is decreased. A steering assist force is decreased, and a steering reactive force is increased with a decrease in the steering assist force. Thus, it is possible to obtain an appropriate steering reactive force based on the magnitude of the lateral acceleration.

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing ferritic stainless steel slabs with equiaxed grain structures and the ferritic stainless steel manufactured by it, which control concentration of alumina inclusions in molten steel to maximize an available TiN generation effect serving as a non-uniform nucleating site of ferrite when solidifying it, thereby improving equiaxed crystal ratio, the method comprising the steps of: performing oxygen decarburization reaction by blowing oxygen from the upper part of the molten steel in a vacuum oxygen decarburization ladle; injecting Al in the molten steel to which the oxygen decarburization reaction is made for Cr₂O₃ reduction; making composite deoxidation by injecting deoxidizer in the molten steel into which the Al is injected for the Cr₂O₃ reduction; making alloying process by injecting alloying metal in the molten steel; first judging for judging whether Al concentration is in the range of a setting value by analyzing the Al concentration in the molten steel; if the Al concentration satisfies the setting value, stirring it using inert gas and second judging for judging whether alumina inclusion concentration in the final molten steel corresponds to a target value; and if the alumina inclusion concentration satisfies the target value, continuously casting the molten steel.

A device is described for training a wild bear to be at a particular location on a regular daily schedule that matches the hunter's hours. The device provides multiple food enclosures, a scent dispenser, and a timer. The timer causes one of the food enclosures to be opened at each set interval, and dispenses a scent to signal the bear that “dinner is served”. The food enclosure which is opened will preferably only remain open for a limited time interval, for exemplary purposes one hour, so that the wild bear must be present at the scheduled time. Consequently, food is accessible only for one hour each day. The food enclosures are configured to allow a varied diet to be provided for the bear to keep him interested.