Abstract: Distribution valve comprising: a stationary element comprising a first valve bearing surface, said stationary element comprising a plurality of first fluid ports and at least one second fluid port, each of said fluid ports emerging at said first valve bearing surface and being in fluidic communication with a corresponding conduit provided in said stationary element; a movable element comprising a second valve bearing surface in contact with said first bearing surface, said movable element being arranged to be movable with respect to said stationary element and being arranged to bring at least one of said first ports into fluidic communication with said second port in function of the relative position of said movable element with respect to said stationary element; characterised in that: said stationary element comprises a mixing chamber in fluidic communication with one of said first fluid ports.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of operating a node of a power distribution system in an optimised manner so as to minimise transmission losses on an external power bus. A power generator feeds in electrical energy via an inverter capable of carrying out Volt/VAR control under the command of an optimiser associated with a supervised learning model such as a support vector machine. This optimisation takes place in two distinct training phases, one in which the supervised learning model is trained, another in which optimal control parameters for the inverter are obtained.

Abstract: Method of forming a metallic plating (9) on a substrate (1), comprising the steps of: —providing a substrate (1) comprising a hydrocarbon-based polymer containing C—C and either or both of C—H and N—H bonds; —covalently bonding an azide-containing primer compound (3) to said substrate (1) by C—H and/or N—H insertion, said primer compound (3) comprising molecules each having at plurality of C—H and/or C—N insertion sites; —in the absence of in-situ polymerisation, covalently bonding a pre-synthesised chelating polymer (5) to said primer compound (3) by C—H and/or N—H insertion, said chelating polymer (5) being capable of forming ligand bonds with metal atoms or ions; —dispersing a plating catalyst (7) in said pre-synthesised polymer (5); —forming said metallic plating (9) on said pre-synthesised polymer (5) by means of electroless plating or electroplating

Abstract: A laser source apparatus (100) for generating temporal dissipative cavity solitons (1) comprises an input source-device (10), being configured for providing an input light field (2), and an optical resonator device (20) with a resonator (21) having a third order optical Kerr non-linearity and being coupled with the input source device (10) for generating the cavity solitons (1) by the driving input light field (2), wherein the input source device (10) is configured for providing the input light field (2) as a pulse train of laser pulses (3). Preferably, the pulse repetition rate of the input laser pulses (2) is adapted to the free spectral range of the resonator (21) and the carrier envelope offset frequency of the input laser pulses (2) is adapted to one of the resonant frequencies of the resonator (21). Furthermore, a method of generating temporal dissipative cavity solitons (1) is described.

Abstract: Method of operating an energy system, said energy system comprising: a local common transmission bus; at least one local energy connected to said bus; at least one local load connected to said bus; an energy store connected to said bus; a controllable interface arranged to exchange energy between said bus and an external distribution network external to said energy system; a controller adapted to control said interface so as to carry out said exchange of energy. According to the invention, the controller defines three modes based on the state of charge of the energy store which determine if, and how, energy is exchanged with the external network so as to optimize self-consumption and to perform ramp-rate reduction and peak shaving as appropriate.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a micromechanical component intended to cooperate with another micromechanical component, the method comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming a mould on said substrate, said mould defining sidewalls arranged to delimit said micromechanical component, providing particles on at least said sidewalls, depositing a metal in said mould so as to form said micromechanical component, and liberating said micromechanical component from said mould and removing said particles.

Abstract: An electronic device including a digital circuit to be compensated and a compensation device for compensating PVT variations of this digital circuit. This compensation device is arranged also for controlling the operating speed of the digital circuit and can also be arranged for equalising a rise time and a fall time of a logic gate including the transistors of the digital circuit. The electronic device implements a first loop, allowing to control the operating speed of the digital circuit by exploiting the same voltage at the compensation terminals of the compensation device and at the terminals at the digital circuit and at a critical path replica module allowing to control the threshold voltages of the respective transistors. The electronic device can implement also a second loop allowing to equalise the rise and fall times of a logic gate including the transistors of the digital circuit.

Abstract: Photovoltaic module comprising: a front sheet arranged on a light incident side of said photovoltaic module; a back sheet arranged on an opposite side of said photovoltaic module to said front sheet; a photovoltaic conversion device disposed between said front sheet and said; back sheet; at least one front encapsulation layer disposed between said photovoltaic conversion device and said front sheet and comprising pigment particles distributed therein; characterized in that said, front encapsulation layer comprise a first zone a second zone, said first zone being situated closer said front sheet than said second zone, said first zone comprising a higher density of pigment particles than said second zone.

Abstract: Photovoltaic module comprising: a front sheet arranged on a light incident side of said photovoltaic module; a back sheet arranged on an opposite side of said photovoltaic module to said front sheet; a photovoltaic conversion device disposed between said front sheet and said back sheet; at least one front encapsulation layer disposed between said photovoltaic conversion device and said front sheet; wherein said front encapsulation layer comprises pigment particles distributed therein

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a photovoltaic module comprising at least a first layer and a second layer affixed to each other by means of an encapsulant, said method comprising steps of: providing a lamination device; disposing said first layer in said lamination device, disposing upon said first layer an encapsulant material manufactured by the steps of: providing a base resin comprising a silane-modified polyolefin and having a melting point below 90° C., forming a mixture of said base resin and an additive comprising a crosslinking catalyst, said cross-linking catalyst being present in a proportion of 0.01 to 5 parts per hundred of resin, melting said mixture at a temperature between 90° C. and 190° C., preferably between 160° C. and 180° C.

Abstract: A compensation device for compensating PVT variations of an analog and/or digital circuit. The compensation device includes a transistor having a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal, and a fourth terminal allowing to modify a threshold voltage of the transistor. The transistor is configured to be in saturation region. The voltage at the third terminal has a predetermined value and the difference between the voltage at the second terminal and the voltage at the third terminal has a predetermined value. A current generation module is configured to generate a current of a predetermined value. A compensation module is configured to force this current to flow between the first terminal and the third terminal by adjusting the voltage of the fourth terminal.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device, comprising the steps of: providing a substrate; depositing a first electrode layer on said substrate; depositing a p-type hole transport layer on said first electrode layer; depositing a Perovskite-based absorber layer on said p-type hole transport layer; depositing an n-type electron transport layer on said Perovskite-based absorber layer; and depositing a second electrode layer on said n-type electron transport layer, wherein said second electrode layer comprises boron doped zinc oxide or tin oxide and is deposited by chemical vapour deposition at an absolute pressure of 5 mbar or less.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a photovoltaic module comprising at least a first layer and a second layer affixed to each other by means of an encapsulant, said method comprising a lamination step wherein the encapsulant material comprises a silane-modified polyolefin having a melting point below 90° C., pigment particles and an additive comprising a cross-linking catalyst; and wherein in said lamination step heat and pressure are applied to the module, said heat being applied at a temperature between 60° C. and 125° C.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an optical system including at least one objective lens (2) for receiving light from an object (1), an array of image forming elements (4) for generating multiple images of the object on an image sensor plane (SP) and a filter (F). The optical system is configured to form a real image of the filter on the array of image forming elements to filter the multiple images of the object, the filter being arranged with respect to the at least one objective lens so that a real image of the filter is formed on the array of image forming elements, and wherein the optical system is configured to be telecentric in the image plane of the filter.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a micromechanical component intended to cooperate with another micromechanical component, the method comprising the steps of providing a substrate, forming a mould on said substrate, said mould defining sidewalls arranged to delimit said micromechanical component, providing particles on at least said sidewalls, depositing a metal in said mould so as to form said micromechanical component, and liberating said micromechanical component from said mould and removing said particles.

Abstract: A security feature has a plurality of luminescent surface elements, wherein luminescence lifetime varies between the surface elements. In order to verify the security feature, a lock-in imager is used. The security feature is illuminated with excitation light, which is intensity-modulated with a modulation frequency. The luminescent light emitted by the security feature is detected synchronously with the modulation frequency in a plurality of pixels. This is used to determine a measure of a phase shift between the excitation light and the luminescent light in different pixels. The security feature is verified taking account of the measure of the phase shift in different pixels.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for liquid measurements including: —providing a sensor including a surface arranged to receive a liquid thereupon, an electrical heating element arranged to heat the surface, and an arrangement for measuring a temperature of the surface; —receiving liquid on the sensor surface; —heating the surface by means of the electrical heating element at a known rate while taking a plurality of temperature measurements thereof in function of time, the heating being at an absolute temperature of at least 90% of the boiling point of the liquid under ambient pressure; and—deriving a volume or a flow rate measurement related to the liquid from the electrical heating rate and the temperature measurements.

Abstract: Method for manufacturing a 3D electromechanical component, having at least one embedded electrical conductor, comprising the steps consisting in: implementing an additive manufacturing operation for building an electrically conductive skeleton of the 3D electromechanical component including a structural hull and at least one conductive wire at least partially located inside the structural hull and having first and second ends, at least one of which is mechanically linked to the structural hull; filling the structural hull with an insulating material provided in a state in which it exhibits liquid-like behaviour; implementing a solidification step to provide a solid-like behaviour of the insulating material, the latter thus embedding at least partially an electrical conductor.

Abstract: An optical combiner including an array of pairs of resonating waveguide gratings. The waveguiding layer of the array, which includes the resonating waveguide gratings, is configured to guide at most ten guided light modes in the visible wavelength range. At least a portion of the resonating waveguide grating array is configured to incouple a portion of incident light on the array and to outcouple a fraction of that incident light. The outcoupled fraction has a predetermined wavelength ? in the visible and near-infrared wavelength range and has a predetermined spectral width ??. The optical combiner is preferably configured to be used in a near-eye display apparatus. The invention is also achieved by a near-eye display apparatus that is adapted to combine projected images provided by a light emitter with light provided by a scene observed by an observer looking through the optical combiner.

Abstract: A method for estimating blood pressure (BP) values comprises: measuring at a first PTT value, a second PTT value, and further PTTref values using a method comprising measuring a first arterial pressure pulse arrival time (PAT) and measuring a second PAT value; calculating a PTT value from the difference between the first PAT value and the second PAT value; processing a sequence of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) images to identify at least one region of interest (ROI); and estimating at least one of the first and second PAT value from the variation of impedance value determined from the at least one ROI. The method allows for the non-invasive and continuous determination of the PB values by using a calibration factor.