Abstract: Method of assembling a large, lightweight, composite optical device such as a mirror or lens, includes providing a plurality of flat, lightweight optical element sections, fastening each optical element section to an associated frame segment to provide a plurality of optical elements and detachably fastening a plurality of the optical elements together in a manner causing all of them to lie in a single plane. After use, the device is disassembled and the optical elements are stacked in a compact mass to make them readily portable.

Abstract: A commercially attractive arrangement for monolithic integration of a nonlinear optical polymer transverse electro-optic device on an electronic integrated circuit chip. The invention provides for conductive polymer cladding layers immediately adjacent to an optical signal transmitting nonlinear optical polymer core layer. The cladding layers result in a reduced core layer poling voltage, reduced device length, and 5 VDC or less controlling voltage, allowing inclusion into electronic integrated circuit chips of a size compatible with multichip module integration.

Abstract: A gas treatment unit is operated or placed in over-capacity mode during periods of low or zero electrical consumption by a metal treatment unit in order to produce a gas, at least a major part of which is not sent to the metal treatment unit during those periods but is at least temporarily stored in liquid or gas form.

Abstract: A valve device is used to reduce the air pressure in a brake pipe disposed on a railroad car in a train consist at a location in the train consist remote from the locomotive of the train consist. The valve device defines a primary supply passage, a branch supply passage and an exhaust passage. The primary and branch passages communicate with the brake pipe. All of the passages communicate with an elongated bore defined within the valve device. The valve device includes an adjustable first valve, a second valve, an electric motor drive and a pneumatic drive. The adjustable first valve and the second valve are both part of an elongated valve body member that can move reciprocatingly within the elongated bore. The adjustable first valve is used to vent air pressure from the brake pipe via the primary and exhaust passages at various rates of discharge. The rate of discharge is in proportion to the extent the adjustable first valve is commanded open.

Abstract: A molded, non-metallic insert is disclosed that is of a form which replicates the seat configuration of the oxy-fuel cutting torch into which it is intended to be inserted. The insert material is compressible and resilient and allows a cutting tip, without special requirements, to be installed into the cutting torch so equipped with the insert. The insert is resistant to the difficult environmental conditions in which it is required to operate, in the industrial situations in which it is used. The insert resists elevated temperatures and the chemical and physical effects of the gases it contacts while sealing the flowpaths of the oxygen and fuel flowing through the torch head and cutting tip.

Abstract: A process to detect metal impurities in a gas or gas mixture including the steps of directing the gas or gas mixture through non-metallic pipings to a sampling device and sampling the gas or gas mixture for metal impurities detection, wherein the sampling device is close to an inlet and/or outlet of a machine employing the gas or gas mixture as a processing gas, the machine being surrounded by a booth containing a gaseous atmosphere which is continuously circulated in the booth, partially renewing said atmosphere continuously, and exhausting excess atmosphere.

Abstract: Device for freezing fluid substances with the aid of a cryogenic fluid comprising:a conveying channel which conveys the substance to be frozen and the cryogenic fluid in a conveying direction relative to a horizontal, the conveying channel comprising, in the conveying direction, (i) at least one section which is inclined in relation to the horizontal to which is joined (ii) an essentially horizontal section comprising a conveying device;a metering device; anda withdrawing device for the substance to be frozen, wherein the metering device and the withdrawing device are placed at opposite ends of the conveying channel.

Abstract: A faujasite aluminosilicate with a Si/Al ratio in the range of 1.05 to 1.26 having an non-uniform aluminum distribution, synthesized by crystallizing the zeolite from a mixture of alkali metal aluminate and alkali metal silicate wherein the mixture has an alkali metal oxide to silica ratio of at least 1.6 and a water to alkali metal oxide ratio of at least 37. The X-zeolite has utility as a gas separation adsorbent such as separating oxygen from nitrogen in air.

Abstract: An apparatus for improving the flow of fluid to be treated in boundary regions of a mass (2) of particulate material. The apparatus has at least one deflecting surface (4), making an angle with the main direction of the flow of fluid passing through the mass, in the boundary region in order to divert the flow of the fluid locally. The apparatus may be used in plants for purifying or separating gas mixtures.

Abstract: Recent upgrades to the MOTRAN atmospheric radiation code improve the accuracy of its radiance predictions, especially in the presence of clouds and thick aerosols, and for multiple scattering in regions of strong molecular line absorption. MODTRAN3.5 features a generalized specification of cloud properties, while research version MODTRAN4 implements a Correlated-k (CK) approach for more accurate calculation of multiply scattered radiance. Comparisons to cloud measurements demonstrate the viability of the CK approach. The impact of these upgrades on predictions for AVIRIS viewing scenarios is discussed for both clear and clouded skies; the CK approach provides refined predictions for AVIRIS nadir and near-nadir viewing.

Abstract: A method of in-line surface-hardening of products is provided. In the process, the products are introduced into a chamber with at least one conveyor. The chamber includes a frigorie transfer means for surface-hardening the products. A surface hardened product is extracted from the chamber upon receipt of a product request signal emitted by a preparation unit located downstream of the device. The at least one conveyor is controlled to, upon receiving the product request signal, extract from the chamber the surface-hardened product which has resided longest in the chamber and, substantially at the same time, introducing into the chamber a new product to be surface hardened. The frigorie transfer means is controlled so as to control the quantity of frigories to be transferred to the products present in the chamber per unit time as a function of at least one elapsed period between two successive times at which preceding request signals from the preparation unit were received.

Abstract: The cleaning process according to the present invention includes three main steps including supercritical extraction of soluble contaminants with a solvent composition, subcritical removal of particulate material with agitation, and solvent recovery and recycle. The supercritical extraction of soluble contaminants is performed by pumping a solvent composition into a cleaning vessel containing articles to be cleaned and pressurizing and heating the fluid in the vessel to a supercritical state. Then the subcritical phase is begun to remove particulate material from the articles by reducing the pressure and temperature of the solvent composition in the cleaning vessel to a subcritical state and reforming the liquid/gas interface. Agitation of the articles in the cleaning vessel is provided by recirculation of the solvent composition or by motion of a mechanical device within the cleaning vessel.

Abstract: A single-bed PSA system comprising a blower, an adsorber vessel, and a gas product storage tank separates a gas mixture using a three-step cycle comprising adsorption, evacuation, and pressurization. Pressurization is accomplished by introducing gas from the gas product storage tank into both the feed end and the product end of the adsorber vessel. Preferably a portion of the pressurization gas is introduced into the adsorber vessel by the blower, which also is used for providing feed to the adsorber and for withdrawing gas from the adsorber during the evacuation step.

Abstract: A method for making a rigid polyurethane foam by reacting a polyisocyanate and a polyol in the presence of a urethane catalyst, a blowing agent and a silicone surfactant characterized by employing as a blowing agent a C1-C4 HFC or HCFC, preferably HFC-245fa, and as the silicone surfactant a polyether-polysiloxane coploymer having a total surfactant molecular weight of 12,000 to 100,000 g/mole, a wt % siloxane in the surfactant of 10 to 40 wt %, a molecular weight of the polyether portion of 1200 to 6,000 g/mole, and a wt % of ethylene oxide in the polyether portion of 30-100 wt %.

Abstract: Provided is a process for the production of hydrogen cyanide by reacting methane, ammonia and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst. The process, more specifically, comprises first establishing a temperature for the catalyst in the reaction using air as a source for oxygen. This essentially establishes the gauze temperature of the plant. Additional oxygen is then provided to the reaction to provide oxygen enrichment of the reaction feed, while also adjusting the amount of ammonia and methane reactants in the reaction feed such that the volume percent of the ammonia and methane is above the upper flammability limit and the temperature of catalyst is maintained within 50.degree. C. of the temperature of the catalyst originally established as the fixed gauze temperature of the plant. The process of the present invention allows one to increase production of hydrogen cyanide while maintaining safe operation and not sacrificing catalyst performance in return.

Abstract: Provided is a novel method and system for harmonic detection spectroscopy. The method comprises providing a cell having a sample region which is circumscribed by at least one wall. The cell has at least one light entry/exit port, with each entry/exit port containing a light transmissive window having a surface facing the sample region and disposed so as to seal the cell in the circumferential direction. A sample gas flows through the sample region in a direction parallel to a cell central axis, and the cell operates at less than atmospheric pressure. A frequency and/or amplitude modulated light source is provided for directing a light beam through one of the at least one light transmissive windows into the cell.

Abstract: The invention relates to improved carboxylated styrenic polymers suited for use in the graphic arts industries as dispersants for pigments and varnishes. The base polymer comprises polymerized units of styrene and an .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated monocarboxylic acid, with said polymer incorporating hydrophilic functionality. The improvement in the polymer composition comprises the polymerized incorporation of hydrophilic functionality based upon the half acid ester of an .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated dicarboxylic acid or anhydride thereof and a polyethylene glycol monoether having greater than three ethylene oxide units. The half ester not only provides surfactant properties to the polymer through the incorporation of the polyethylene glycol ether but also provides carboxyl functionality necessary for water dispersibility. The number average molecular weight is from 1,500 to 20,000 and the acid numbers for these polymers typically range from 125 to 300.

Abstract: An electrolysis cell for the efficient production of hydrogen and oxygen is described which comprises a substantially closed housing defining therewithin anode and cathode chambers and having first and second inlets and outlets for flowing electrolyte through the anode and cathode chambers; an ion exchange membrane within the housing separating the anode chamber from the cathode chamber; first and second electrically conductive sheet members disposed within the respective anode and cathode chambers adjacent the membrane and substantially coextensive therewith; discrete electrically conducting ultramicroelectrode particles, preferably in the 5 to 10 micron size range, disposed within the anode and cathode chambers and defining the anode and cathode of the cell; and a source of DC electrical current operatively connected to the first and second sheet members.

Abstract: A low-cost Si-based construction for optical and electronic bulk-heterostructure devices and multiple-quantum-well devices in which the active layers of the device are SiC or AlGaN or InGaN or InAlN. Material quality is high, and the MQW devices such as blue light lasers or LEDs have stable pseudomorphic layers with low defect densities. The low-cost large-area 3C SiC substrate is created by converting 100% of a 100-500 angstrom (.ANG.) layer of Si in a silicon-on-insulator wafer to 3C SiC with propane at 1300 degrees C. The SiO2 layer provides strain-free support for the "perfect" 3C SiC crystal layer. Direct-gap wurtzite nitride heterostructures, bulk or pseudomorphic MQW, are grown upon an (0001) 6H SiC epilayer on the (111) 3C SIC substrate, or directly upon the (111) 3C SiC substrate. For zincblende heterostructures, a (100) 3C SiC substrate is used.

Abstract: A method for protecting a titanium aluminide substrate against environmental degradation at higher temperatures, which comprises applying a layer of a ductile titanium alloy to at least one exterior surface of the substrate and applying an oxidation resistant coating to the exterior surface of the ductile layer. The titanium aluminide substrate may be monolithic or a fiber-reinforced composite structure. The oxidation resistant coating is an ion-plated coating of (a) a noble metal, such as gold or platinum, or (b) a coating of tungsten followed by an ion-plated coating of a noble metal.