Abstract: The present disclosure pertains to a system configured to protect flows in piping systems using minimal spare components. Some embodiments may provide: a first piping subsystem configured to receive a portion of the input flow; a second piping subsystem configured to receive the portion of the input flow by substituting for the first subsystem; a test subsystem configured to detect whether each of the first and second subsystems is able to vent when at least one, in the each subsystem, of a respective pressure and a respective pressure rate satisfies first and second criteria, respectively; and first and second pilots configured to detect a maximum pressure and a maximum pressure rate, respectively, of the portion of the first and second subsystems.

Abstract: An inlet duct for use with an engine is presented. The invention includes a duct structure, at least one spike disposed along an interior surface of the duct structure, and an inlet throat formed by one or more apexes disposed along an equal number of spikes. The inlet throat corresponds to the minimum cross-sectional area through which airflow passes as otherwise allowed by the maximal obstruction formed by the apex(es) within the duct structure. Each spike is bounded by a longitudinal ridge and a lateral ridge along an upper end and a base. The ridges intersect at the apex. A portion of each spike upstream of the inlet throat functions primarily as a supersonic diffuser and downstream as a subsonic diffuser. Airflow is isentropically compressed and then expanded within the inlet duct so that greater-than-subsonic flow at an input end is reduced to subsonic flow at an output end.

Abstract: Provided is a two-stage dryer system. The two-stage dryer system includes a cooling dehumidifier configured to condense and remove moisture contained in compressed air by cooling the compressed air flowing therein, and then discharge the compressed air; and a deliquescent dehumidifier configured to bring the compressed air discharged from the cooling dehumidifier in contact with a deliquescent agent to remove the moisture contained in the compressed air through a process of deliquescence caused by the deliquescent agent, and then discharge the air with the moisture removed.

Abstract: Devices and methods for separating multi-phase fluids, comprising a first porous medium portion and a second porous medium portion. The device comprises a fluidic channel comprising an inlet; the first porous medium portion between the fluidic channel and a first auxiliary outlet; and the second porous medium portion between the fluidic channel and a second auxiliary outlet. The method comprises presenting a combined flow comprising a first fluid phase and a second fluid phase to a separator, wherein the first porous medium portion has a higher affinity for the first fluid phase than for the second fluid phase, and the second porous medium portion has a higher affinity for the second fluid phase than for the first fluid phase.

Abstract: A hygienic food product to food product heat exchanger (1). The heat exchanger (1) has an elongated and hollow housing (4), a metal tube plate (6) arranged at each of the opposite ends of the elongated housing (4) for defining a closed interior space (10) inside the elongated and hollow housing (4), a plurality of tightly spaced metal tubes (2) axially extending between the tube plates (2) with the ends of the tubes being received in correspondingly tightly spaced holes the tube plates (6) or with the lumen of the tubes being aligned with said correspondingly tightly spaced holes in the tube plates. The metal tubes (2) are sealingly secured to the metal tube plates (6) by a welding joint (20) on the inwardly facing side of the tube plates (6).

Abstract: A pump comprising an impeller having a hub base and an impeller body. The impeller body comprises a base which is concentric relative to a rotational axis of the impeller, and at least one eccentric apex.

Abstract: The present disclosure is related to the separation of chemical species using multiple liquid phases.

Abstract: The present disclosure is related to the continuous liquid-liquid chromatographic separation of chemical species using multiple liquid phases and related systems and articles.

Abstract: A hydraulic damper and an intelligent prosthetics. The hydraulic damper includes a housing, a piston, a piston rod, and a damping adjustment component; an energy storage chamber and a damping chamber loaded with hydraulic fluid are arranged inside the housing; the piston is movably provided in the damping chamber and separates the damping chamber into first chamber and second chamber, the energy storage chamber is closer to the second chamber; the piston rod is inserted into the first chamber, one end of the piston rod is connected to the piston, another end of the piston rod penetrates through one end of the housing away from the energy storage chamber; and the damping adjustment component is connected to the first chamber, the second chamber, and the energy storage chamber, respectively, to adjust resistance of movement of the piston, thereby reducing sealing difficulty and weight of the hydraulic damper.

Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring operation of a sump pump are provided. A method includes connecting a power adapter to the sump pump and a float-switch. The power adapter includes a controller positioned within a housing, prongs in communication with components coupled to the controller, a first receptacle and a second receptacle. The controller is configured to establish a wireless connection to a first wireless network, and transmit a message to a remote server over the first wireless network. The controller is further configured to determine a power status of a float switch and control the pump based on power status of the float switch.

Abstract: A computing machine receives a plurality of observations. The computing machine generates an observation data structure. The computing machine extends, in accordance with the causal structures and hierarchical relationships, the observation data structure to include predicted states or predicted actions that are not from the plurality of observations. The computing machine reduces, in accordance with consistency rules stored in a memory of the computing machine, the extended observation data structure. The computing machine provides an output associated with the reduced observation data structure.

Abstract: A ball valve adaptor assembly for connection to a ball valve cartridge and for connection to a valve actuator, wherein the adaptor comprises: an outlet connector, the outlet connector comprising an outlet connector plate and an outlet pipe, the outlet connector plate configured to connect to a housing outlet of the ball valve cartridge with the outlet pipe extending away from the housing outlet, and an inlet connector, the inlet connector comprising an inlet connector plate and an inlet pipe, the inlet connector plate configured to connect to a housing inlet of the ball valve cartridge with the inlet pipe extending away from the housing inlet, an actuator connector configured to reversibly connect to the outlet and inlet connector plates and configured to reversibly connect to the valve actuator, and wherein in use, when the outlet plate, inlet plate and actuator connector are connected, a cartridge cavity is formed between the outlet plate, inlet plate and the actuator connector, and wherein the cartridge ca

Abstract: A computer generates historical time and velocity data for vehicles based on data from sensor(s) observing the vehicles. The computer determines, based on the historical time and velocity data, a control policy that controls movement of the vehicles. The control policy is represented as a weighted combination of a set of predefined policies. Determining the control policy comprises calculating weights or parameters for a weighted combination of the set of predefined policies that minimizes a residual error term. The residual error term is computed based on a difference between the historical time and velocity data and predicted time and velocity data associated with the weighted combination of the set of predefined policies. The computer determines an action plan based on the determined nonlinear control policy. The computer transmits, to a machine, a control signal causing the machine to perform or simulate at least a part of the determined action plan.

Abstract: A steam generator for use with a liner assembly for pipeline repair or reinforcement, includes: a water heater configured to heat water to generate steam; a water feed conduit configured to convey water to the water heater; an air heater configured to generate heated air; an air supply conduit configured to convey pressurized air to the air heater; a heated air supply conduit configured to convey heated air from the air heater to the water heater to yield a steam-air mixture; and an output conduit configured to convey the steam-air mixture from the water heater. An automated steam generator system including the steam generator is also described.

Abstract: A method for designing a combustion system which emits less of at least one environmentally-harmful emission is presented. In a describing step, an injector which introduces a fuel into a combustion chamber is described via a CFD code. In a modeling step, combustion kinetics of the fuel are modeled via a pre-processing code as the fuel mixes and reacts with an oxidizer. In a first selecting step, at least one primary scalar is derived during the modeling of the combustion kinetics. In a performing step, a table look-up is performed to obtain at least one data from a look-up database based on the primary scalar. In a second selecting step, at least one secondary scalar is selected in addition to the primary scalar(s). In a specifying step, at least one chemical pathway of formation or destruction for the secondary scalar is specified via a chemistry manager wherein the secondary scalar is representative of the environmentally-harmful emission(s) of the chemical pathway(s).

Abstract: A probe assembly configured to selectively restrict fluid flow through an outlet of a closed transfer system. The probe assembly has an elongate probe body with a top end portion, a bottom end portion, an outer wall, and an internal structure defining a fluid chamber extending from the bottom end portion to the top end portion. The fluid chamber has a fluid chamber inlet at the bottom end portion extending through the outer wall into the fluid chamber and a fluid chamber outlet at the top end portion extending from the fluid chamber through the outer wall. A probe tip with a cylindrical bore is configured to engage the top end portion of the elongate probe body and a probe tip outlet is configured to be in fluid communication with the fluid chamber outlet. A rotating head located circumjacent to the probe tip and adjacent to the probe tip outlet is configured to rotate about the probe tip.

Abstract: An inlet duct for use with an engine is presented. The invention includes a duct structure, at least one spike disposed along an interior surface of the duct structure, and an inlet throat formed by one or more apexes disposed along an equal number of spikes. The inlet throat corresponds to the minimum cross-sectional area through which airflow passes as otherwise allowed by the maximal obstruction formed by the apex(es) within the duct structure. Each spike is bounded by a longitudinal ridge and a lateral ridge along an upper end and a base along a lower end. The longitudinal ridge and the lateral ridge intersect at the apex. In preferred embodiments, the longitudinal ridge is at least partially non-linear so as to properly conform to the interior surface of the duct structure. The portion of each spike upstream of the inlet throat functions primarily as a supersonic diffuser. The portion of each spike downstream of the inlet throat functions primarily as a subsonic diffuser.

Abstract: A computing machine accesses text from a record. The computing machine identifies, using a natural language processing engine, an entity mapped to a first span of the text. The first span includes a contiguous sequence of one or more words or subwords in the text. The computing machine determines a bias category for the entity. The bias category is selected from a predefined list of bias categories. The determined bias category for the entity depends on a second span of the text. The second span includes a contiguous sequence of one or more words or subwords in the text. The second span is different from the first span.

Abstract: A computing machine accesses text from a record. The computing machine identifies, using a natural language processing engine, an entity mapped to a first span of the text. The first span includes a contiguous sequence of one or more words or subwords in the text. The computing machine determines a bias category for the entity. The bias category is selected from a predefined list of bias categories. The determined bias category for the entity depends on a second span of the text. The second span includes a contiguous sequence of one or more words or subwords in the text. The second span is different from the first span.

Abstract: A computing machine receives an input comprising unstructured text. The computing machine identifies, within the unstructured text, one or more entities using a named entity recognition (NER) engine in a trained machine learning model. The trained machine learning model embeds tokens from the text into a vector space and uses generated embeddings to identify one or more tokens as being associated with the one or more entities. The computing machine determines, using the trained machine learning model that identifies the one or more entities and based on the embedded tokens, an assertion applied, within the text, to at least one entity. The assertion is represented as a vector in a multi-dimensional space. Each dimension corresponds to a part of the assertion. The trained machine learning model is a span-level model that both identifies the one or more entities and determines the assertion based on candidate spans of tokens.