75results about How to "Maximize force" patented technology

An articular cartilage fixation device and method for repairing and regenerating diseased or injured soft tissue such as articular cartilage of the knee, hip, shoulder, and the like. A cartilage flap or cartilage repair device is retained within the chondral or osteochondral defect for a an sufficient amount of time such that the cartilage repair device can perform its function and facilitate an appropriate healing response. A plurality of biocompatible anchors are attached to a plurality of flexible members and are shaped to seat into the tissue beneath or near the defect such that the cartilage flap is retained within the defect.

Wind driven apparatus for an aerial power generation system include driven elements and controls. The driven elements are configured and shaped to provide maximum force from both lift and drag during the downwind phase of operation and minimum force during the upwind phase. The driven elements have a sail portion with a leading edge and a trailing edge. The controls change the driven elements between high force configurations for downwind operation and low force configurations for upwind operation, adjust the pitch and azimuth angles of the driven elements, and control the camber.

A wire slicing system and method for using it include one or more of the following features: arrangements and / or operations that relate to handling the wire; apparatus and methods that relate to wire tensioning; equipment and techniques for manipulating the workpiece; arrangements and / or operations designed for cooling and swarf (debris) removal; controls and / or automation that can be used in conjunction with these features.

An electrical connector to be electrically connected to a plug includes a plastic base, a metal housing and an engaging element. A connection slot and terminals are formed on the base. Each terminal has a pin portion extending out of the plastic base. The metal housing covers the plastic base while exposing the connection slot and the pin portions. The engaging element has a fixing part and an elastic engaging piece which is located within the connection slot. A projecting engaging portion, which is near a distal end of the engaging element and engages with the plug, is formed. The metal housing is composed of a thin metal plate which is bent. The engaging element and the metal housing pertain to different parts. A thickness of the engaging element is greater than that of the metal housing. The engaging element is assembled in the plastic base through the fixing part.

A surgical suture system, tissue restraint / suture capture and tissue anchor for tissue repair and reattachment of torn tissue to a tissue substrate, medical, veterinary or dental prosthesis or medical implant. The system includes a plurality of tissue restraints / suture captures which each include a central locking aperture sized and configured to receive a beaded suture member passed therethrough which minimizes longitudinal tensioning and / or restraining movement, the “GO” force, of a beaded suture member in the forwardly direction through the locking apertures for suture tightening and which maximizes “NO-GO” force to pull the suture in the reverse direction. Uniquely configured tissue anchors and other medically implantable devices securely receive one of the tissue restraints / suture captures for tensioning of a suture member between tissue and the tissue anchor.

A release binding is shown for releasably attaching a ski boot to a telemark or cross-country ski having a load spool with a circumferential groove and a substantially elliptical holding portion attached perpendicular to the bottom of a toe plate. A release plate having a load spring with two sides is attached to the ski. To assemble the boot on the ski, a lever is moved to an unlocked position placing the minor axis of the ellipse of the load spool perpendicular to the two sides of the spring. After the boot is assembled to the ski, the lever is moved to a locked position which moves the major axis of the ellipse of the spool until it is perpendicular to the sides of the spring.

A handle adapter utilized with an exercise weight, a dumb bell or a heavy object provides an improved grip upon the exercise weight and positions the weight or heavy objects in a vertical position or in a linear alignment in relation to the hands throughout the exercise or work movement, reducing stress upon the wrist, cartilage, tendons ligaments and joints during movement of the weight during exercise and to improve isolation upon the muscles while reducing the possibility of injury to the effected joints of the hands, arms and shoulders.

A handheld hair styling appliance 1 has an electric motor 19, electric heat element 21, and hair engaging elements 10, 11, 12 including a set of stationary extending parts with respective shearing edges 40, 41 and a set of movable extending parts having respective shearing edges 31, 32, whereby when the moving parts move relative to and in proximity with the stationary parts, the respective shearing edges of each cooperate to compress strands of hair therebetween. The movable parts are spring-mounted to a carriage 29 and are urged into close proximity with the stationary parts, such that constant pressure is applied to hair strands positioned therebetween.

An electrical connector to be electrically connected to a transmission cable plug. The connector includes a plastic base, a metal housing and at least one fastening assembly. At least one connection slot and a plurality of terminals are formed on the plastic base. Each of the terminals has a pin portion extending out of the plastic base. The metal housing covers the plastic base while exposing the at least one connection slot of the plastic base and the pin portions of the terminals to the outside. The at least one fastening assembly contacts the metal housing and thus is electrically connected to a circuit board. The at least one fastening assembly and the metal housing pertain to different parts.

A flow modulation valve has a slidably translating hollow armature with at least one energizable coil wound around and fixably attached to the hollow armature. The energizable coil or coils are influenced by at least one permanent magnet surrounding the hollow armature and supported by an outer casing. Lorentz forces on the energizable coils which are translated to the hollow armature, increase or decrease the flow area to provide flow throttling action. The extent of hollow armature translation depends on the value of current supplied and the direction of translation depends on the direction of current flow. The compact nature of the flow modulation valve combined with the high forces afforded by the actuator design provide a flow modulation valve which is highly responsive to high-rate input control signals.

A battery terminal for a vehicle is provided which is prevented from being separated from a battery post by increasing rotation holding force and cross holding force of a pressing portion that presses a battery post, prevents a battery post from being damaged in fastening, and is more easily separated when a battery is replaced. The battery terminal includes a pressing portion configured to press the outer side of a battery post. A clamping portion includes a pair of elastic clamping members integrally extending from both ends of the pressing portion and to which a clamping bolt and a clamping nut are fastened through fastening apertures of the elastic clamping members. A burring protrudes toward the first elastic clamping member and is formed around a fastening aperture of the second elastic clamping member facing the first elastic clamping member of the pair of elastic clamping members.

An electrical connector to be electrically connected to a transmission cable plug. The connector includes a plastic base, a metal housing and at least one fastening assembly. At least one connection slot and a plurality of terminals are formed on the plastic base. Each of the terminals has a pin portion extending out of the plastic base. The metal housing covers the plastic base while exposing the at least one connection slot of the plastic base and the pin portions of the terminals to the outside. The at least one fastening assembly contacts the metal housing and thus is electrically connected to a circuit board. The at least one fastening assembly and the metal housing pertain to different parts.

A spring device comprising at least one annular support plate defining a ring with a central axis; a plurality of circumferentially spaced, parallel oriented coil springs disposed about the at least one annular plate; and, a plurality of lock assemblies spaced about the plate. Each of the lock assemblies being in position within a spring cavity of one of the coil springs to allow additional springs to be provided on the spring device. In addition, the lock assemblies are dimensioned so that the coil spring is retained in a prestressed condition.

At least one non-volatile device is coupled to a first Coulomb island. The floating gates of these non-volatile devices are connected to the island and can charge the Coulomb islands. One device can charge the island positively while a second device can be used to charge the island negatively. The Coulomb island can have a small probe opening where a charge can be introduced by using mechanical means such as an external probe or a MEMS switch. A fully charged capacitor formed in a first substrate can provide additional energy to a levitated substrate if the first substrate is connected to the levitated substrate. Bonding wires can be attached to a substrate that is attached to a mother substrate. Then, Coulomb forces can levitate the substrate from the mother substrate and the bonding wires can provide a source of power to the levitated substrate.

An actuator for miniature cameras and the like is disclosed. The actuator can comprise a plurality of magnets and a plurality of coils disposed generally symmetrically with respect to the magnets. The magnets and the coils are configured so that they cooperate in order to effect substantially linear movement due to a Lorentz force therebetween. In this manner, undesirable rotational forces can be substantially mitigated. The actuator can be used to effect movement of optical elements to facilitate variable focus, zoom, and / or image stabilization, for example.

Coulomb forces are used to create various metallic shapes within substrates. These shapes are formed by coupling a plurality of substrates together where each substrate contains a metallic pattern. The substrates are assembled together on a mother substrate and the substrates can be positioned either parallel to a planar surface or perpendicular to an edge of the mother substrate. Thus, metallic shapes can be formed that are orthogonal to each other. Such a capability is a desirable feature for antenna construction. The various metal shapes can be used to construct: dipole, patch, Yagi, monopole, bow-tie, meanderline and MIMO antennas. Furthermore, the antenna can be reassembled to adjust the physical dimensions of the antenna while in the consumer product to better match the antenna to a different frequency band.

A system is described that can assemble substrates over one another to form a stacked substrate. The various layers of the stacked substrate can be separated from each other by using Coulomb forces. In addition, a beam substrate can be used to increase the separation. In addition, a first substrate can be flipped around and connected to the edge of a second substrate. The instructions for assembly and a FSM (Finite State Machine) can be included in the stacked substrate to pave the way for a self-constructing 3-D automaton. The beam substrate can be used to carry heat, fluids, electrical power or signals between the various layers of the stacked cells besides providing a mechanical support. A stacked substrate can be assembled into 3-D structures. These structures can have applications in antennas and RF circuits, for example.

An anchoring system to secure a mounting plate at a base of a pole or column to a concrete foundation includes a plurality of base plates. Each base plate has a planar surface, center-point, and plurality of fastener openings spaced about the center-point. A plurality of concrete anchoring fasteners having a common cross-sectional diameter secures each base plate to the foundation. An attachment bolt at the center-point of each base plate extends perpendicular to the planar surface for securing through an attachment bolt opening inside a peripheral edge of the mounting plate. The anchoring fasteners for securing the base plates to the foundation are spaced apart no less than ten times the common cross-sectional diameter.

A resonator and / or a magnetometer has a resonating structure which is naturally resonant in at least one resonant mode, the resonating structure being significantly wider at a free end thereof than it is at a fixed end thereof, the resonating structure having at least one pair of sense electrodes disposed on opposing major surfaces of the resonating structure and having a conductive path formed as a loop, the loop being disposed near or at edges of the resonating structure so that the loop follows a path which is significantly wider at the free end of the resonating structure than it is at the fixed end of the resonating structure and wherein the at least one pair of sense electrodes are formed inwardly of the edges of the resonating structure and also inwardly of the path of the loop.

A system configured to generate a motion adjustment instruction for a user performing an action is provided. The system comprises: a target module configured to obtain a target biomechanical load distribution for the user, a sensor arrangement configured to monitor the motion of the user so as to obtain monitored motion data, a monitoring module configured to calculate a monitored biomechanical load distribution for the user in accordance with the monitored motion data, an adjustment module configured to calculate a target adjustment to the motion of the user that corresponds to a reduction of a deviation of the monitored biomechanical load distribution from the target biomechanical load distribution, and an instruction module configured to generate a motion adjustment instruction in accordance with the target adjustment.

An electrical connector to be electrically connected to a plug includes a plastic base, a metal housing and an engaging element. A connection slot and terminals are formed on the base. Each terminal has a pin portion extending out of the plastic base. A metal housing covers the plastic base while exposing the connection slot and the pin portions. The engaging element has a fixing part and an elastic engaging piece which is located within the connection slot. A projecting engaging portion, which is near a distal end of the engaging element and engages with the plug, is formed. The metal housing is composed of a thin metal plate which is bent. The engaging element and the metal housing pertain to different parts. A thickness of the engaging element is smaller than that of the metal housing. The engaging element is assembled in the plastic base through the fixing part.

A reconfigurable system is described that can optimize the performance of the system. Substrates can be detached, levitated, moved, dropped and reattached as desired by the use of Coulomb forces generate between Coulomb islands. Thus, a system using a first set of substrates for a given frequency range can be exchanged with a second set of substrates operable at a different frequency range by the use of Coulomb forces. Making this exchange in an RF system can improve the selectivity and decrease the power dissipation of the system. One of the exchanges can involve inductor to shift the frequency of oscillation, for example. A control unit can be used to control the movement and replacement of all substrates. The formation of minimal energy potentials of Coulomb forces are determined to move a substrate over an underlying substrate.

A system for powering vehicles such as bicycles using leverage type pedals each connected to a freewheeling sprocket and then connected to a common drive shaft in the rear of the vehicle. A keyed shaft connects all free wheeling sprockets and provides for each sprocket to drive the keyed shaft in one rotational direction. A hand powering unit operates through a separate free wheeling sprocket and is also arranged like a lever in similar manner to the pedals. Lowered seating for horizontal movement of legs is preferred arrangement.

A substrate is levitated a first distance over a mother substrate when a first group of Coulomb islands are charged. A second group of Coulomb islands are charged and increase a separation to a second distance. When the magnitude of the potential of all Coulomb islands is decreased, the separation decreases from the second distance to the first distance. All potentials associated with the Coulomb islands have decreased yet the distance of separation equals to the first distance. Increasing the number of Coulomb islands in a substrate can reduce the magnitude of potentials applied to the Coulomb islands thereby reducing the concern of voltage stress.

A Yoga block designed to promote cervical lordosis by contouring the block to allowing room for the shoulders and a cut out for the spinous processes at the top of the block.

A solenoid assembly is provided that includes male and female plungers and an electromagnetic coil configured to be energized to create a magnetic flux. Each plunger has a plunger face, where the female plunger face is configured to correspond with the male plunger face. The male plunger has a plurality of angled plunger steps that define the male plunger face, each angled plunger step including a corner having an angle in the range of 95 degrees to 115 degrees. The female plunger face has a similar, corresponding angled face. The solenoid assembly is suitable for use as a long stroke linear solenoid.

A system for feeding and transporting documents includes a feeder stage and a transport stage. Documents are fed singly, in order, from a stack of documents in a hopper assembly. A flag / flag block arrangement provides a force to move the documents along the hopper floor toward the feeder and to feed a document with a presentation force. The flag block includes a horizontal element for concentrating the presentation force at a desired position at the feeder. The horizontal element has sufficient depth away from the feeder such that the documents are essentially free to expand, thereby concentrating the presentation force while reducing drag forces. The flag / flag block arrangement is useful, for example, when the system is used to process envelopes.