441 results about "Solid body" patented technology

A non-cannulated dilator that is designed with a rigid elongated solid body and with a judiciously configured tip is utilized as the first dilator of a series of dilators which are inserted into the body of a patient for minimally invasive spinal surgery and is made from a solid elongated body, that could be round, ovoid or other cross sectional configuration whose diameter is greater than one and a half (1½) millimeter, and that includes a tool engaging end portion at the proximal end is sufficiently rigid so as not to bend and has a pointed shaped insertion end portion at the distal end with the point of the pointed end being discreetly blunted and utilized in a surgical procedure as a replacement of the typical guide wire and is characterized as providing a “fee” to the surgeon as it penetrates through the tissue and muscle of the patient as it proceeds toward the target.

A series of microactuators for manipulating small quantities of liquids, and methods of using these for manipulating liquids, are disclosed. The microactuators are based on the phenomenon of electrowetting and contain no moving parts. The force acting on the liquid is a potential-dependent gradient of adhesion energy between the liquid and a solid insulating surface.

A hybrid medical implant having a biocompatible, nonabsorbable core portion and a bioabsorbable textured outer surface portion overlying the core portion. The hybrid implant is useful as a prosthesis for tissue augmentation and/or reconstruction. The core portion of the implant includes a body formed from a nonabsorbable, biocompatible implantable material such as silicone or urethane elastomer. The core portion may be either a solid body, a viscous gel body or a fluid-filled shell. The textured outer surface portion envelops the core portion and presents an irregular, bioabsorbable textured surface to the exterior environment. As a capsule forms around the implant following implantation, the irregular contour of the outer surface of the implant disorients structural proteins in the capsule to impede spherical contraction thereof. Either during the formation of the capsule and/or after the capsule is formed, the outer bioabsorbable surface portion of the implant is absorbed by the body of the host. After bioabsorbtion of the bioabsorbable outer surface portion, the remaining core portion of the implant remains enveloped by the capsule but unattached to capsular tissue. The outer bioabsorbable portion of the hybrid implant may include more than one biocompatible, bioabsorbable material.

A vehicle surroundings monitoring apparatus comprises image solid object detecting means for detecting image solid objects based on image information outputted from a CCD camera, millimeter wave solid object detecting means for detecting millimeter wave solid objects based on signals outputted from a millimeter wave radar, fusion solid object establishing means for establishing fusion solid objects composed of single image solid objects, single millimeter wave solid objects and a combination of the image solid objects and the millimeter wave solid objects by fusing the image solid objects and the millimeter wave solid objects, first reliability judging means for judging a degree of reliability of the fusion solid objects based on a detecting situation of the respective fusion solid objects by the image solid object detecting means, second reliability judging means for judging a degree of reliability of the fusion solid objects based on a detecting situation of the respective fusion solid objects by the millimeter wave solid object detecting means and preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle from the fusion solid objects when it is judged that the fusion solid objects have a specified level of reliability according to either of the first reliability judging means and the second reliability judging means.

A composite structure mainly composed of hydratable fine fibers in the form of microfibril and a water swellable solid body, the fibers being obtained from cellulose or derivatives thereof, and at least part of the surface of the solid body is covered with the fine fibers. The absorbent composite can be formed in various form of, for example, particle, pellet, sheet and the like, especially of a sheet type with a supporting sheet of a non-woven fabric. The present invention further provides a method of making the composite structure.

The invention relates to an object (1) that is cut by means of a laser and a water beam and to further processing of the cut material. The object is glued on a carrier (3) that is provided with an adhesive and can be transparent for the radiation used in the water beam (7). The carrier can be a solid body and preferably a fibrous mat (3). Said body or mat is penetrated by the water beam. The object (1) or the cut material thereof is held on the carrier (3) before, during and after cutting through in such a way that said object or material does not change position. In a preferred embodiment, a silicon wafer is used as the object because of the high cutting exactness to be obtained. Other materials can also be used.

Devices for the treatment of intervertebral discs are described. The devices, when implanted into the nucleus pulposus of an intervertebral disc, provide for the controlled release of one or more active agents into the disc. The active agent can be a chemonucleolytic agent such as chymopapain. The device can also comprise one or more binders. The device can be an elongate solid body having a tapered or rounded insertion end. Alternatively, the device can include a plurality of particles. For devices containing multiple active agents, the configuration of the device be chosen to provide for the sequential or simultaneous release of each of the active agents. The elongate solid body can include a sheath comprising a first active agent and a core comprising a second active agent. Methods of making the devices and methods of treatment comprising implanting the devices into an intervertebral disc are also described.

An interbody spinal implant, such as a solid-body or composite implant. The implant has at least one integration surface with a roughened surface topography including a repeating pattern, without sharp teeth that risk damage to bone structures, adapted to grip bone through friction generated when the implant is placed between two vertebral endplates and to inhibit migration of the implant. The repeating pattern is formed of at least three at least partially overlapping repeating patterns. The repeating patterns may radiate at a fixed distance from at least one point and may include recesses having a slope of thirty degrees or less relative to the integration surface. Also disclosed are processes of fabricating the integration surfaces.

A variable optical device for controlling the propagation of light has a liquid crystal layer (1), electrodes (4) arranged to generate an electric field acting on the liquid crystal layer, and an electric field modulation layer (3,71) arranged between the electrodes and adjacent the liquid crystal layer for spatially modulating said electric field in a manner to control the propagation of light passing through said optical device. The electric field modulation layer has either an optical index of refraction that is essentially spatially uniform, or a polar liquid or gel, or a very high low frequency dielectric constant material having a dielectric constant greater than 20, and preferably greater than 1000. The modulation layer can have a solid body having a first low frequency dielectric constant with a shape selected to impart a desired modulation of the electric field, and a second low frequency dielectric constant material surrounding or adjacent to the solid body such that the solid body and the second material form a layer geometry.

The invention relates to a dental implant, comprising an implant part, an abutment part and a central positioning bolt, which is characterized in that a peripheral cylindrical spiral body of the implant part is divided into three sections of an implant shoulder part, an implant main body part and an implant cone part, a self-tapping slot is formed on the cone part, an inner hole which can be inserted in the abutment part to form the inner intubation sleeve type connection is formed therein; the inner hole is divided into the upper section of a conical part, the middle section of an implant inner hole deep part and the lower section of an implant inner thread with the diameter less than that of the middle section; the abutment part is a rotary body which is sequentially reverse conical, positive curved, positive conical and cylindrical from top to bottom at the periphery, the abutment part can be a solid body and can also be the rotating body with a through hole which can be equipped with the central positioning bolt at the center, and the periphery thereof is a circular table which is sequentially reverse conical, positive curved, positive conical and cylindrical. The dental implant of the invention has rapid implantation, great strength, tight positioning and early retention, which can prevent the rotation, transfer the scattered bite force and scatter the stress function of the central bolt.

Microcoils can be used in medical devices to enhance RF response signals and to create fields to enhance imaging capability in MRI imaging systems. An improved microcoil design includes a device to be inserted into a patient comprising a solid body having at least one pair of radially opposed microcoils physically associated with the solid body, each microcoil having an outside microcoil diameter of 6 mm or less, individual windings of each microcoil together defining a geometric plane for each microcoil, and the plane of each microcoil being parallel to the plane of another microcoil in the pair of radially opposed microcoils.

A wheelchair navigation system for a motorized wheelchair includes dual cameras, proximity sensors, microphones, and rotation sensors for the wheels. Small markers are placed on the walls of a location or room. The navigation system uses the proximity sensors, rotation sensors and cameras in conjunction with the specialized software to determine where objects or impediments are located in the room and thereby redirect the path of the wheelchair so as to avoid such objects. The wheelchair is walked through the marked location thereby ‘teaching’ various paths which are recorded in the computer and recalled later when the wheelchair is in use. The proximity sensor perform sensing operations during performance of the teaching functions for thereby permitting avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of the teaching functions.

Systems and methods for modifying fluid flowing over solid bodies are provided. A representative system incorporates a vorticity concentration-producing component and a synthetic jet actuator. The vorticity concentration-producing component is disposed on a pressure side of the solid body. The fluid flowing over the solid body remains attached to a surface of the solid body in a vicinity of the vorticity concentration-producing component. The synthetic jet actuator includes a jet housing that incorporates an internal chamber with a volume of fluid and an opening in the jet housing connecting the internal chamber to an external environment having the fluid. The synthetic jet actuator is operative to periodically change the volume within the internal chamber such that a synthetic jet stream comprising a series of fluid vortices is generated and projected in the external environment out from the opening of the jet housing resulting in a reduction in pressure drag of the solid body compared to the pressure drag exhibited by the solid body without operation of the synthetic jet actuator.

A sound field microphone is provided. The sound field microphone includes a plurality of pressure-gradient microphone capsules symmetrically arranged in three dimensional space on the sides of a virtual polyhedron. The virtual polyhedron defines a first volume. A solid body is located in a-space created between the plurality of microphone capsules. The solid body occupies a second volume which is in the range of between about 1% to about 65% of the first volume.

A method is provided for applying a fluid onto a surface of a solid substrate. The method employs a distribution member having an upper surface and a lower surface, and including a permeable portion having channels therethough. The distribution member is positioned such that the lower surface of the distribution member is in opposing relation to the surface of the substrate. Once the distribution member is in position, the fluid is dispensed onto the upper surface of the permeable portion of the distribution member such that the fluid penetrates the distribution member and is retained thereby. In addition, a distribution pressure differential is applied between the upper and lower surfaces without using mechanical means such as a squeegee so that a portion of the fluid passes through the channels of the permeable portion of the distribution member and onto the solid substrate surface. Other embodiments of the invention include an apparatus for carrying out the aforementioned method and a reagent application station for applying a plurality of reagents onto a surface of a solid substrate.

A stereo-image recognition unit detects a pedestrian from a solid body acquired from the image by a stereo camera and issues various warnings by outputting signals to an LED and a speaker according to the position of the pedestrian, the vehicle speed, and a signal from a turn signal switch. The unit determines whether the solid body approaches a predetermined region in the image, with one end of the solid body in the width direction being detected and the other end not being detected, and detects the width of the solid body when the other end is detected. The unit then determines whether the solid body is a pedestrian by comparing the width with a predetermined threshold. Accordingly, the unit can rapidly and reliably detect a pedestrian who approaches the vehicle traveling route and inform a driver of it and reduce an operation load necessary for detecting a pedestrian.

Methods for preparing a substrate for the arraying and immobilizing of biomolecules or cells are described. The methods include providing a solid support and depositing by a chemical plasma-mediated polymerization process a polymeric coating on the surface. The polymeric coating comprises at least one pendant functional group capable of attaching a biomolecule or a cell. A material of the polymeric coating is preferably selected in such a way that its surface properties enhance binding between the pendant group and the biomolecule or cell. A substrate for the immobilization of biomolecules and cells is also provided. The substrate comprises a solid support made of a polymeric material. The solid support has at least one first pendant functional group suitable for attaching a first biomolecule or a first cell on its surface. The substrate further comprises a polymeric coating deposited on the surface of the substrate. The polymeric coating increases the attachment of the first biomolecule or the first cell to the first functional group.

A method and apparatus for the detection, treatment or collection of a quantity of solid animal excrement from a surface, particularly a grassy surface. The method includes the steps of autonomously or semi-autonomously detecting the presence of the excrement on the surface, moving a collection/treatment device into position over the detected excrement, and, thereupon, subjecting the detected excrement to one or more of deodorization, disinfection, enhancement of deterioration, dispersal and/or collection of the detected excrement. The apparatus of the present invention operates without the immediate or continued intervention of a human. Preferably, the device us robotic in nature, is readily portable, and preferably includes a rechargeable power source.

This invention relates to micro-encapsulated particles of solid matter and a quasi-continuous method for producing the same, especially those having water-insoluble characteristics or a hydrophobic form, taking into careful consideration ecologically and economically favorable ways of recycling the media used, and the resulting smallest possible amount of waste products such as waste water and polymer residues, while simultaneously ensuring that even exposed parts of the solid bodies are coated, such as crystal tips and grooves, which are insufficiently coated using standard methods due to the hydrodynamic conditions on these areas.