Abstract: Methods and apparatus for identifying defective lithium-ion polymer battery electrodes are disclosed. The methods include assembling a stack of electrodes, monitoring voltage of the stack during the assembling, and identifying defective electrodes based on the voltage monitoring.

Abstract: A microcomposite structure for use as a component of a lithium battery is formed from a liquid phase mixture by the removal of a solvent. The microcomposite structure includes a continuous reticulated solid polymer phase, a formed in situ gel-electrolyte phase, and a solid phase surfactant at the interface between the gel and polymer phases for stabilizing the gel phase within the pores of the solid polymer phase. The liquid phase mixture comprises a polymer blend, an aprotic solvent system for the polymer blend, a substantially dissolved anionic surfactant, and a phase separation liquid that is miscible with the aprotic solvent system, but in which the polymer blend is substantially insoluble. The microcomposite structure is formed by casting the liquid phase mixture on a surface and removing solvent until the microcomposite structure forms.

Abstract: A carriage assembly for a computer disk drive is provided. The carriage assembly comprises a movable carriage for supporting read/write heads for movement relative to one or more magnetic disks, the movable carriage having one or more slots. A guiding structure supports the movable carriage for guiding the movement of the movable carriage, the guiding structure having one or more slots. A plurality of spherical balls is provided with each spherical ball located between a slot of the movable carriage and a slot of the guiding structure.

Abstract: An improvement in a system for encoding a data field on a disk with write gate data. The system has an encoder and a data receiving controller for directing write gate data in the form of 0 and 1 bits to the encoder. The encoder, in response to the write gate data, produces a primary code in the form of 0 and 1 bits and directing the primary code to the disk. The primary code has certain predetermined criteria with the encoder producing a secondary coding rate as an exception when the write gate data does not result in the predetermined criteria. The improvement comprises a mechanism for ensuring that the last predetermined number of bits in the data field are free from the exception.