1166 results about "Liquid interface" patented technology

The invention provides a simple method, devices and several machines for simultaneously stirring and aerating thousands of vessels or wells of microplates in a robust manner and with economy. This method uses the simple principle of magnetic stirrers being levitated vertically when passed laterally or vertically through a strong horizontal dipole magnetic field. The dipole magnetic fields may be produced by using permanent magnets, electromagnets or a modulating/reversing electro-magnetic field. Each vessel contains a magnetic ball, disc, bar, dowel or other shape (stirrers) which in their magnetic attraction to the dipole magnetic field will cause the stirrers to levitate up in the vessel as the stirrer's magnetic poles attempt to align with the center of the dipole's magnetic field. The stirrers will fall to the bottom of the vessel by gravity or by changing the relative position of the levitating magnetic field to pull them down, or by passing the vessel laterally over another magnetic field. The up and down movement of the stirrers provides a vigorous mixing of the contents of many vessels at same time. If the level of the vessel's meniscus is situated so the stirrers pass through it on their way up and down, the air/liquid interface is significantly increased thereby significantly increasing aeration of the liquid.

A method of controlling a liquid lens in an imaging device, the liquid lens including a liquid-liquid interface between first and second immiscible liquids deformable by electrowetting; a chamber containing the first and second liquids, the first liquid being an insulating liquid and the second liquid being a conducting liquid; and a first electrode in contact with the second liquid and at least one second electrode insulated from the second liquid by an insulating layer, the first and second electrodes being arranged to allow a plurality of voltages levels to be applied between the first and second electrodes to control the curvature of the liquid-liquid interface, the method including: determining motion data representative of a movement of the imaging device; determining focusing data representative of a desired focus of the imaging device; determining the plurality of voltage levels to be applied between the first and second electrodes, wherein each of the voltage levels is a function of the motion data, the focusing data and at least one parameter relating to the liquid lens and preliminary determined in a calibration phase.

A silicon casting apparatus for producing polycrystal silicon ingot by heating a silicon melt (8) held in a mold (4) from above by a heater (3) and cooling it from below while changing the heat exchange area of a heat exchange region (HE), defined between a pedestal (5) having the mold (4) placed thereon and a bottom cooling member (6), in such a manner as to keep pace with the rise of the solid-liquid interface of the silicon melt (8), thereby causing unidirectional solidification upward along the mold (4); and a method of producing polycrystal silicon ingot using such apparatus. According to this production method, the temperature gradient given to the silicon melt (8) can be maintained at constant by adjusting the heat exchange area, so that polycrystal silicon ingot having good characteristics can be produced with good reproducibility.

The invention discloses a preparation method of a graphene material. The preparation method comprises the following steps of: with graphite carbon as a raw material, adding potassium hypermanganate and concentrated sulfuric acid in batches in different stages to control an oxidation process of graphite; adjusting the pH value of the oxidized solution to obtain graphene oxide colloidal dispersing solutions (GOS) with different concentrations; dropwise adding the GOS on the surface of a carrier or spreading out the GOS on a non-intersolubility liquid/liquid interface and drawing into a grapheneoxide thin-film (GOF); carrying out high-speed centrifugation and drying treatment on the GOS to obtain graphene oxide solid powder (GOP); reducing the GOS by selecting an appropriate reducing agent,and centrifugally drying to obtain reduced graphene solid powder (GRP); dispersing a proper amount of GRP in an organic solvent to prepare a reduced graphene oxide colloidal dispersing solution (GRS); and dropwise adding the GRS on the surface of the carrier or spreading out on the non-intersolubility liquid/liquid interface and drawing into the reduced graphene thin-film (GRF). Various graphene materials prepared by the invention are easy to mutually transform; and the concentration of the colloidal solution and the thickness of the thin-film can be controlled in a certain range.

Natural joint interfaces wear out and/or are damaged causing pain and disability. They can be currently replaced by artificial surfaces made of materials or in the near future by magnetic fields. They would benefit from a PVES (paramagnetic visco-viscoelastic supplement) that can replace or augment natural joint interfaces or augment total joint replacements. Joint replacement components can be modular and would benefit from a PVES to decrease wear and damp impact between modular parts of a single component. The PVES is a dynamic interface allowing components to be less rigid. Energy transmission is reduced. PVES can act as an interface between natural damaged joint surfaces obviating the need for classic total joint replacement or between the surfaces of artificial joint components to improve or supplement their function. These PVES can be controlled by magnetic fields with respect to their location, physical properties, loads, etc. PVES are typically made of paramagnetic ions and a substrate molecule. One such PVES can be made of gadolinium ions and hyaluronic acid to form gadolinium hyaluronate.

The present invention is generally directed to improved methods, devices, and systems for eye surgery. In some embodiments, the invention may provide new and/or improved devices, systems, and methods for detecting surgical fluids in a fluidics cassette, particularly cassettes which are used to couple an eye treatment probe to an eye treatment console. Rather than relaying on internal reflection by a gas-liquid interface, the fluid detection techniques described herein may make use of the changes in propagation of light through a portion of the holding tank when the portion varies between empty and full. For example, light may propagate directly through the holding tank portion when there is no surgical fluid, but may be directed away from a light detector when the portion of the holding tank is filled with surgical fluid. As the light may be controllably refracted using the interface between the transparent holding tank material and the surgical fluid, the propagation properties of the light may be more reliably predicted and controlled. While the sensor may not determine the actual liquid level within the holding tank, a plurality of individual liquid detectors may be sufficient to determine when it is appropriate to (for example) turn drain pumps on and off, when the holding tank is in danger of being overfilled, and the like. Other aspects of the invention may provide devices, systems, and methods for producing different types of fluidics cassette using a single cassette body type.

Methods and apparatus for additive manufacturing of three-dimensional objects from polymerizable liquids are described. The methods and apparatus are implemented in the form of a bottom up additive manufacturing apparatus, and in preferred embodiments are implemented in the form of Continuous Liquid Interface Production (or “CLIP”) methods and apparatus. Rotation of at least one of the carrier and the build plate is preferably included, for example to facilitate the filling of the build region with the polymerizable liquid.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates to an electrically controlled focusing ophthalmic device (43) to be worn by a user, comprising:—at least one active liquid lens comprising a liquid/liquid interface movable by electrowetting under the application of a voltage,—a driver for applying a DC voltage to said active liquid lens, the amplitude of the voltage to be applied being a function of the desired focusing;—a sensor (41) for detecting eyelid closing events and/or microsaccades of the user;—a controller for synchronizing said sensor and the driver, such that the driver may reverse the polarization of the DC voltage during a microsaccade and/or an eyelid closing event of the user.

An ink jet recording apparatus has an ink jet head for ejecting ink. The ink jet recording apparatus includes a main tank for reserving the ink; a supply sub-tank for reserving the ink supplied from the main tank and supplying the ink to the ink jet head with a static pressure method; an ink circulation system including a first supply piping for connecting the main tank and the supply sub-tank to each other; and a filter provided on an ink circulation path of the ink circulation system on an ink jet head side with respect to a gas-liquid interface of the supply sub-tank at a time of ink circulation. The ink circulation system circulates the ink among the main tank, the supply sub-tank and the ink jet head. The ink circulation system is constructed so that at least a part of the ink passed through the first supply piping is directly ejected to one of a surface of the filter on an ink jet head side and a surface of the filter on a gas-liquid interface side.

Methods and devices to determine rate of particle production and the size range for the particles produced for an individual are described herein. The device (10) contains a mouthpiece (12), a filter (14), a low resistance one-way valve (16), a particle counter (20) and a computer (30). Optionally, the device also contains a gas flow meter (22). The data obtained using the device can be used to determine if a formulation for reducing particle exhalation should be administered to an individual. This device is particularly useful prior to and/or following entry in a cleanroom to ensure that the cleanroom standards are maintained. The device can also be used to identify animals and humans who have an enhanced propensity to exhale aerosols (referred to herein as “over producers”, “super-producers”, or “superspreaders”). Formulations to reduce particle production are also described herein. The formulation is administered in an amount sufficient to alter biophysical properties in the mucosal linings of the body. When applied to mucosal lining fluids, the formulation alters the physical properties such as the gel characteristics at the air/liquid interface, surface elasticity, surface viscosity, surface tension and bulk viscoelasticity of the mucosal lining. The formulation is administered in an effective amount to minimize ambient contamination due to particle formation during breathing, coughing, sneezing, or talking, which is particularly important in cleanroom applications. In one embodiment, the formulation for administration is a non-surfactant solution. In one embodiment, the formulations are conductive formulations containing conductive agents, such as salts, ionic surfactants, or other substances that are in an ionized state or easily ionized in an aqueous or organic solvent environment. Preferably the formulation is administered in the form of an aerosol.

A method for the preparation of a monolayer of meso-scaled particles within a size range of one nanometer to several hundreds of microns. The method includes the steps of (A) providing a thin liquid film onto an external surface of a rotary member; (B) dispensing meso-scaled particles at a desired rate onto an external surface of the thin liquid film so as to position the particles at a gas-liquid interface; (C) forming a uniform monolayer of the particles on the gas-liquid interface; and (D) transferring the monolayer from the gas-liquid interface to a solid substrate. Monolayers of meso-scaled particles on solid surfaces are useful in many areas of science and technology, including functional coatings that modify the physical and chemical properties of the underlying surfaces. The method is particularly useful for the preparation of catalyzed proton exchange membranes for fuel cell applications.

An optical lens arrangement including a lens barrel having a monolithic structure and including a first, a second, a third, and a fourth contact region having a common axis, a liquid lens having a structure containing a first conductive liquid and a second insulating liquid, both liquids immiscible, having different refractive indices and meeting each other at a liquid-liquid interface the curvature of which is controllable by a voltage applied to first and second electrode, wherein the structure has first and second fixed lenses in contact respectively with one of the liquids, and a third fixed lens, wherein outer edges of the first, second and third fixed lenses are positioned in contact with respective first, second and third contact regions of the lens barrel to align the first, second and third fixed lenses with each other, and wherein the fourth contact region contacts an edge of the liquid-liquid interface.

There is disclosed a method for producing a silicon single crystal in accordance with the Czochralski method wherein a crystal is pulled with controlling a temperature in a furnace so that DELTAG may be 0 or a negative value, where DELTAG is a difference between the temperature gradient Gc (° C./mm) at the center of a crystal and the temperature gradient Ge (° C./mm) at the circumferential portion of the crystal, namely DELTAG=(Ge-Gc), wherein G is a temperature gradient in the vicinity of a solid-liquid interface of a crystal from the melting point of silicon to 1400° C., and with controlling a pulling rate in a range between a pulling rate corresponding to a minimum value of the inner line of OSF region and a pulling rate corresponding to a minimum value of the outer line, when OSF region is generated in an inverted M belt shape in a defect distribution chart which shows a defect distribution in which the horizontal axis represents a diameter of the crystal and the vertical axis represent a pulling rate. There can be provided a method of producing a silicon single crystal wafer by CZ method wherein OSF in the ring shape distribution generated when being subjected to thermal oxidation or latent nuclei of OSF is present in a low density, and neither FPD, COP, L/D, LSTD nor defect detected by Cu decoration is present under a stable manufacture condition.

A method for producing a silicon ingot having no defect over a wide range of region with stability and good reproducibility, wherein when a silicon single crystal (11) is pulled up form a silicon melt (13), the shape of a solid-liquid interface (14) which a boundary between the silicon melt (13) and the silicon single crystal (11) and the temperature distribution on the side face (11b) of a single crystal under being pulled up are appropriately controlled.

The invention provides hot-cold combined casting mould horizontal continuous casting equipment of cupronickel tubing and a technology thereof. The equipment comprises a smelting system for melting metal, a heat insulation system for storing molten metal, a horizontal continuous casting system for casting and shaping and an auxiliary system, wherein in the continuous casting system, the front end of a cold shaping section is provided with a hot shaping section so as to effectively control the solid-liquid interface of a tube billet to be located near the juncture of a cold section and a hot section; a shorter water-cooling copper bush and electromagnetic induction heating are adopted to reasonably design coil structure and the power and the frequency of a heating power supply, reduce electromagnetic constraint force to balance the hydrostatic pressure of a metal fusant, reduce friction between a primary kish and the casting mould, improve the surface quality of the tube billet and prolong the service life of the casting mould. Thus, the inner surface and the outer surface of the tube billet manufactured by the invention have good quality and no defects of orange peel, wrinkles, cracks and the like, net shape continuous casting is realized, the production efficiency and the metal yield are improved and the production cost is obviously lowered.

The invention provides a method for constructing tissue engineering skin. In the method, human epidermal stem cells and hypodermal fibroblasts are taken as seed cells, and a homologous acellular dermal matrix modified by a human placental type IV collagen is taken as a stent, so that active dual-layer engineering skin is compounded and constructed by using a gas-liquid interface separate culture method. The tissue engineering skin constructed by using the method is closer to the structure of natural skin; and as proved by histomorphology, the tissue engineering skin has an epidermal and hypodermal double-layer structure, wherein the hypodermal collagen stent has a complete structure, an epidermal layer is provided with a plurality of layers of cells of different differentiation degrees, and the morphological requirement of the tissue engineering skin is met.