Abstract: A method of forming an electrically-conductive pattern includes selectively electroplating the top portions of a substrate that corresponds to the pattern, and separating the conductive pattern from the substrate. The electroplating may also include electrically connecting the conductive pattern to an electrical component. Conductive ink, such as ink including carbon particles, may be selectively placed on the conductive substrate to facilitate plating of the desired pattern and/or to facilitate separation of the pattern from the substrate. An example of a conductive pattern is an antenna for a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device such as a label or a tag. One example of an electrical component that may be electrically connected to the antenna, is an RFID strap or chip.

Abstract: A fastening system head for attachment to a movable frame, in particular to a robot, has a carrier to which a fastening tool is attached which is rotatable about an axis of rotation. The fastening tool has a holding device for an element fasteneable to a component, and has a fastening drive device to move the holding device along a fastening direction for fastening. The axis of rotation is oriented crosswise to the fastening direction. A feed mechanism is included to feed elements to the fastening tool. At least one additional feed mechanism is provided on the fastening system head, for feeding elements to the fastening tool.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of producing a liquid ejecting head unit that has a plurality of liquid ejecting heads combined with one another. Each of the plurality of liquid ejecting heads has a fluid channel formation substrate, which has pressure generation chambers that are in communication with nozzle orifices through which liquid is ejected, and piezoelectric elements, each of which is made up of a lower electrode, a piezoelectric layer that has hysteresis characteristic in a polarization electric field, and an upper electrode, formed on the fluid channel formation substrate with a vibrating plate being interposed therebetween. The liquid ejecting head unit production method according to an aspect of the invention includes: acquiring coercive electric fields of the piezoelectric layers of the liquid ejecting heads; classifying the liquid ejecting heads into ranks on the basis of the acquired coercive electric fields; and combining the liquid ejecting heads that belong to the same rank together.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a wiring board comprising an insulating member, comprising: a penetrating hole formation process of forming a penetrating hole in the insulating member; a placement process of inserting a conductive connecting particle into the penetrating hole; a connecting particle pressing process of disposing the conductive layers on both surfaces of the insulating member, pressing the conductive layers toward the connecting particle in the penetrating hole, and deforming the connecting particle in the pressing direction to obtain the connecting member; and a patterning process of patterning the conductive layers, wherein, in the connecting particle pressing process, the pressing is performed such that the cross-sectional area in the direction along the insulating member surface of at least a portion of the connecting member is greater than the contact area of the connecting member with the conductive layers.

Abstract: A method for making gas and liquid storage tanks such as automotive fuel tanks includes providing two or more blanks of air hardenable martensitic stainless steel in the annealed condition. The steel blanks have a thickness in the range of 0.5-5.0 mm., and are formed utilizing stamping, forging, pressing, or roller forming techniques or the like into the form of a tank shell components. The shell components are hardened and assembled into a storage tank. The shell components are hardened by application of heat, preferably to between 950° C. and 1100° C. for standard air hardenable martensitic stainless steels. Thereafter, the automotive fuel tank is preferably cooled at a rate greater than 25° C. per minute to achieve a Rockwell C hardness of at least 39. The automotive fuel tank may undergo additional heat treating processes including high temperature or low temperature tempering processes which may incorporate electro-coating.

Abstract: An electronic assembly 400 and a method for its manufacture 800, 900, 1000 1200, 1400, 1500, 1700. The assembly 400 uses no solder. Components 406, or component packages 402, 802, 804, 806 with IPO leads 412 are placed 800 onto a planar substrate 808. The assembly is encapsulated 900 with electrically insulating material 908 with vias 420, 1002 formed or drilled 1000 through the substrate 808 to the components' leads 412. Then the assembly is plated 1200 and the encapsulation and drilling process 1500 repeated to build up desired layers 422, 1502, 1702. The planar substrate 808 may be a flexible substrate 2016 allowing bending of an assembly 2000 to fit into various enclosures.

Abstract: A tool for changing first and second parts of a connector from a pre-assembly relationship into an assembled relationship. The tool is portable and has a frame with an operating mechanism thereon. The operating mechanism has a plunger that is movable to thereby change the relationship of the connector parts. The operating mechanism is operable by a pressurized fluid within a container that is connected to the frame.

Abstract: The invention concerns the assembly of a cross-member and an instrument panel. The invention concerns an assembly method including assembling a ventilation element (40, 42) on a cross-member (26, 28), and assembling the panel instrument on the cross-member (26, 28) such that a centering device penetrates into the orifice. The method includes: prior to assembling the ventilation elements (40, 42) on the cross-member (26, 28), arranging thereon a base (10) of the centering device of reduced height so that it does not obstruct the assembling of the ventilation elements (40, 42), and, prior to assembling the instrument panel on the cross-member (26, 28), arranging, on the base (10), a body of the centering device. The invention is applicable to motor vehicle cockpits.

Abstract: A flexible circuit printable board can be favorably produced by a process composed of steps of forming in a polyimide film having a metal coat on each surface side a via hole penetrating at least one metal coat and the polyimide film; and applying a mixture of liquid and abrasive grains under pressure onto the via hole, whereby smoothing an edge of the via hole and cleaning the via hole.

Abstract: A system and method for the production level screening of low flying magnetic heads in the manufacture of disk drive head disk assemblies (HDAs) is disclosed. A test disk is provided and has a plurality of bumps extending from at least one surface thereof to a predetermined height between 2 and 12 nanometers. The test disk is rotated to fly a head of a head gimbal assembly selected from the group adjacent the surface of the test disk. An interaction of the head with one or more of the plurality of bumps may be sensed and the head gimbal assembly may be screened out from the group in response to the sensing of the interaction.

Abstract: A method for fabricating thin DITO or SITO touch sensor panels with a thickness less than a minimum thickness tolerance of existing manufacturing equipment. In one embodiment, a sandwich of two thin glass sheets is formed such that the combined thickness of the glass sheets does not drop below the minimum thickness tolerance of existing manufacturing equipment when thin film process is performed on the surfaces of the sandwich during fabrication. The sandwich may eventually be separated to form two thin SITO/DITO panels. In another embodiment, the fabrication process involves laminating two patterned thick substrates, each having at least the minimum thickness tolerance of existing manufacturing equipment. One or both of the sides of the laminated substrates are then thinned so that when the substrates are separated, each is a thin DITO/SITO panel having a thickness less than the minimum thickness tolerance of existing manufacturing equipment.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a method and programmable apparatus for the assembly of body components to an automotive body that has undergone a progressive series of framing and welding steps so as to produce a structurally rigid body frame, termed a body-in-white. More specifically, this invention relates to creating a new net locating scheme (X, Y and Z Cartesian coordinate system) for a body-in-white to direct associated tooling to create net attachment features on a rigid body frame with respect to a new net locating scheme so that components may be attached to a automotive body at a net location eliminating the need for any slip plane attachment techniques.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing gel containing wire connectors with a silicone gel that remains in an unseparated state wherein the temperature of the gel precursors are elevated before being mixed and dispensed into the cavity of a wire connector where the mixed gel precursors are allowed to cool and cure without the necessity of additional heating of either the mixed gel precursors or the wire connector.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing antenna elements for use with wireless communication devices comprises a number of cutting techniques that allow the size of the antenna elements to be adjusted. Rollers cut the tabs that form the antenna elements. In a first embodiment, a plurality of rollers are used, each one effecting a different cut whose position may be phased so as to shorten or lengthen the antenna element. In a second embodiment, the rollers are independently positionable to shorten or lengthen the antenna element.

Abstract: In a manufacturing method, energy beam heat is radiated to a target area of the motor assembly which is used for a storage disk drive. By radiating energy beam thereto, a portion of the motor assembly is deformed in a non-contact manner, thus, without being affected by elastic recovery of a portion of the motor assembly to be deformed, the machining accuracy of the motor assembly is adjusted in a precise manner.

Abstract: A system and method for forming a wire harness covering having a predetermined three-dimensional geometry is provided. The system and method make use of a mold and a post-molding fixture. In a first phase, the mold is used during an injection molding process to form a substantially flat and partially-cured harness covering having an intermediate, substantially two-dimensional shape. In a second phase, the post-molding fixture is used after the injection molding process to orient the harness with covering to a predetermined three-dimensional geometry corresponding to the desired final shape.

Abstract: An armature for an electric motor has a lamination stack on a shaft with a commutator mounted on one end of the shaft. Magnet wires wound in slots in the lamination stack, the commutator and armature shaft are at least partially encapsulated in thermoset. The commutator has a commutator ring divided into a plurality of segments with slots between the segments that are filled with a second plastic when the commutator is made by molding a core of the second plastic, such as phenolic, in the commutator ring before the commutator ring is mounted on the armature shaft. Prior to molding the thermoset, the commutator ring is sealed. The seal prevents the thermoset from flowing into the slots between the commutator ring segments or over the commutator ring.

Abstract: According to various production methods for producing a piezoceramic multilayer actuator, in the course of the production method, multilayer locks (10) are electrochemically or mechanically processed in such a way that a recess structure is obtained. The lateral surfaces (22; 24) of the electrodes (20) inside these recesses are electrically insulated using the slip casting method in order to be able to contact the remaining electrodes by imprinting an outer metallization.

Abstract: A method for terminating a telecommunications cable where the cable comprises a plurality of twisted pairs of wires is disclosed. The method comprises providing an interconnection module comprising a pair of contacts for each of the twisted pairs, aligning the end portions and interconnecting each of the aligned end portions with a corresponding pair of conductive contacts. Aligning comprises arranging the end portions such that when connected to the contact pairs, the twisted pairs remain uncrossed.

Abstract: An iridium oxide (IrOx) nanowire neural sensor array and associated fabrication method are provided. The method provides a substrate with a conductive layer overlying the substrate, and a dielectric layer overlying the conductive layer. The substrate can be a material such as Si, SiO2, quartz, glass, or polyimide, and the conductive layer is a material such as ITO, SnO2, ZnO, TiO2, doped ITO, doped SnO2, doped ZnO, doped TiO2, TiN, TaN, Au, Pt, or Ir. The dielectric layer is selectively wet etched, forming contact holes with sloped walls in the dielectric layer and exposing regions of the conductive layer. IrOx nanowire neural interfaces are grown from the exposed regions of the conductive layer. The IrOx nanowire neural interfaces each have a cross-section in a range of 0.5 to 10 micrometers, and may be shaped as a circle, rectangle, or oval.