Abstract: In a wear protection layer comprising, disposed on a substrate, a plurality of individual layers including a first individual layer of a metallic hard material disposed directly on the substrate, periodically repeated composite arrangements of three individual layers comprising two individual layers of different metallic hard materials and one individual layer consisting of a covalent hard material are disposed on the first individual layer of a metallic hard material whereby the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the metallic hard materials are combined with the properties of the covalent hard materials.

Abstract: In a flywheel energy accumulator including, in a vacuum-tight housing, a vertical shaft with a rotor of an electric motor/generator arranged in the axial center of the shaft and flywheels mounted on the shaft at opposite sides of the rotor, the electric motor/generator and the flywheels are included in modules, each with a housing ring, which are mounted on top of one another and receive bearing modules including support discs mounted between, and adjacent, the housing rings with superconductive magnetic bearings disposed in the center thereof around the shaft for supporting the shaft with the flywheels and the rotor. The number of superconductive bearings is twice the number of flywheels.

Abstract: A process for rapidly mixing phosgene and an amine in the gas phase to produce the corresponding isocyanate. Micro-structure mixers are used for the rapid mixing. The educts emerge from the micro-structure mixer in the form of thin free jets which mix very rapidly by diffusion and/or turbulence. As a result, the mixing operation is accelerated substantially as compared with conventional reactors. The isocyanate yield is also increased.

Abstract: In a de-icing system for preventing the formation of ice on, or for de-icing, icing-prone areas of an airplane, the icing-prone areas include dielectric composite structural materials, which are highly permeable for electromagnetic waves, and at least two microwave sources are provided and connected to microwave uncoupling areas disposed adjacent the icing-prone areas, and the microwave sources are interconnected by redundant switchable microwave guides permitting bridging of a microwave source in case of failure of such microwave source.

Abstract: In a worm-like operating mechanism including hydraulic or pneumatic actuators arranged around a central axis, the actuators include serially arranged bags disposed in communication with one another and folded meander-like and having fluid passages for supplying fluid under pressure to, or evacuating, the actuators individually, so that the operating mechanism can be lengthened or shortened or bent in any direction.

Abstract: In an apparatus for the selective heating of foods disposed on a serving tray to serving temperature by means of a microwave oven having a gyrotron as a heat source, individual guide means are provided for guiding the microwave radiation individually to particular dishes on the tray and a control computer controls the radiation of, and the heat generated in, the dishes during passages of the tray with the dishes through the microwave oven.

Abstract: On a turbine blade a protective corrosion resistant surface layer consisting of a MCrAlY alloy is generated by melting the surface of the turbine blade with the MCrAlY alloy uniformly distributed over the surface of the turbine blade by a pulsed electron beam to a depth of 5-50 .mu.m whereby a smooth surface is generated.

Abstract: In a surgical suturing needle having opposite pointed tips and a mid-section provided with an eye for receiving and retaining a surgical thread and being bent corresponding to a path of movement of the needle when transferred between the jaws of a suturing instrument, the pointed needle tips have a cone angle of between 25 and 35.degree. for non-traumatic piercing of the tissue to be sutured and, adjacent both of its opposite pointed tips, the needle has recessed surface areas to be engaged by pressure pins disposed in the jaws of the suturing instrument for firmly retaining and engaging the needle with the jaws in a predetermined position.

Abstract: In an apparatus for guiding a medical probe into body cavities, a handle housing is provided consisting of inner, upper and lower modules. The inner module comprises a rinsing liquid supply and suctioning hose assembly, which can be removed and discarded after use. The lower housing part includes probe support and guide structures and the upper housing part includes operating slide members engaging the hoses of the hose assembly for controlling the flow through the hoses. It also includes means extending through the inner module and engaging the probe support in the lower module for axially moving the probe support and the probe retained therein. A two-lumina shaft extends from the apparatus in alignment with the probe and receives the probe, and flow communication structures are provided for interconnecting the two hoses with the lumina in the shaft.

Abstract: In a gamma camera comprising a hollow-body scintillator crystal which is open at one end and has optoelectronic transducers disposed at its outer surface for sensing light signals generated by gamma radiation entering the scintillator crystal, a collimator with a pin hole is disposed at the open end of the scintillator crystal and has a cone-like projection with an apex where the pin hole is disposed. A number of such hollow scintillator crystals may be arranged on sheets with cone-like projections having pin hole apexes so as to be coaxial with the pin holes.

Abstract: In a probe disposed at the distal end of a heart catheter for the coagulation of muscle and connective tissues by subjecting them to a high frequency field, a pressure sensor is provided for measuring the axial force effective on the probe tip which pressure sensor inlcudes a plastic body with an axial bore into which a light conductor extends and which has at its end opposite the light conductor a mirror for reflecting light supplied through the light conductor back into the light conductor. The plastic body is resiliently movably supported with respect to the light conductor so that the light reflected by the mirror back into the light conductor depends on the displacement of the probe tip caused by a pressure force applied to the probe tip.

Abstract: In a method of manufacturing a composite material structure consisting of a substrate with a layer of essentially pure sp.sup.2 - and sp.sup.3 -hybridized carbon with a sp.sup.3 -hybridized carbon proportion which increases toward the surface of the carbon layer, the carbon layer is deposited on the substrate by a PVD process using a magnetron sputtering apparatus in a process chamber in which an argon partial pressure of 0.6 to 1.0 pa is maintained and, during the carbon deposition, a bias voltage is maintained which is increased with increasing thickness of the layer from 0 to 300 volts.

Abstract: In a static micromixer a flow guide structure consisting of a stack of foils provided with passages formed into alternate foils so as to extend between a mixing chamber at one end of the flow guide structure and different admission chambers at the opposite end of the flow guide structure, the passages are curved so that they are all parallel at their exit ends adjacent the mixing chamber and, at their entrance ends, the flow guide structure has face areas which are inclined with respect to the exit end face of the flow guide structure at such an angle that the curved passages have all about the same length.

Abstract: In a high-mode microwave resonator for high-temperature treatment of materials, the resonator comprises a housing with a polygonal cross-section formed by planar housing wall segments and planar end walls. One of the end walls includes an in-coupling window arranged so as to direct a microwave beam into the resonator at an angle with respect to the housing axis and toward an edge between adjacent wall segments such that the microwave beam is divided, upon reflection, into two symmetrical beam components which, upon further reflection, provide for an essentially homogeneous field distribution throughout the resonator interior.

Abstract: In a method of producing a self-focusing reflection grating structure for the series manufacture of microspectrometers including flexible foil strips provided with a grating structure and supported in a microspectrometer housing, a foil is first mounted onto a support member of an ultraprecision turning lathe on which circumferential parallel grooves are cut into the foil by microforming diamonds providing a saw-tooth pattern of annular teeth with predetermined tooth spacing, the foil is then cut into a plurality of foil strips and the strips are bent into a curved shape providing a focusing reflection grating structure.

Abstract: In a micro-mechanical actuator having, disposed on a substrate, an actuator housing with a channel and a pressure chamber formed at one end of the channel, a piston with a guide rod projecting from one end and a piston rod projecting from the other end in the opposite directions is movably disposed in the channel and the rods are supported in slots formed in bearing blocks disposed at opposite ends of the piston for guiding the piston slideably in the channel, and a fluid admission and discharge passage extends through the substrate in the area of the pressure chamber whereby fluid can be admitted to, or removed from, the pressure chamber for actuating the piston.

Abstract: In a pulsed electron beam source based on the vacuum principle, comprising a vacuum diode having a multi-point emission cathode with a flange and a plurality of emission points, a control grid, a pulse generator, a magnetic compression unit consisting of field coils, a drift chamber, a target chamber and a synchronization unit, the multipoint emission cathode is embedded in a shield electrode, and the shield electrode is connected to the cathode base by way of a resistor which is so sized that the shield electrode is capable of freely floating.

Abstract: In a flywheel energy accumulator comprising a vertical shaft rotatably supported in a vacuum housing by superconduct ive magnetic axial support bearings, lower and upper flywheels are mounted on the shaft in axially spaced relationship, a homopolar dynamic machine with a rotating magnetic field is disposed in the space between the flywheels and includes a stator supported in, or forming part of, the housing and a rotor mounted on the shaft so as to be disposed within the rotor, and the superconductive magnetic supporet bearings include a lower passive axial thrust bearing with an annular magnet disposed below the lower flywheel and an upper positive axial pull bearing with an annular magnet disposed above the upper flywheel and disc-shaped superconductors disposed adjacent the annular magnets such that both bearings provide magnetic forces jointly counteracting the gravity forces of the shaft, the rotor and the flywheels.

Abstract: A method and apparatus employs Hall probes for contactless, longitudinal and transversal homogeneity examination of a critical current density j.sub.c in a superconductor tape that is cooled to below a transition temperature T.sub.c. The cooled superconductor tape is pulled through an external, locally limited magnetic field that has a constant gradient and a fixed magnetic field axis. The magnetic field generated by a screening current induced in a region of the superconductor tape penetrated by the external magnetic field is scanned using a first Hall probe at a distance of a few tenths of millimeters to the superconductor tape. The external magnetic field outside of a field range of the induced persistent currents is measured with a second Hall probe. A compensated difference between the first and second Hall probe signals is used as a qualitative measure for a critical current density j.sub.

Abstract: In a superconducting short circuit current limiter for an AC power supply net including an iron core, a primary coil and a secondary short-circuited superconductive coil, both being magnetically coupled with the iron core but being arranged at a distance from each other, the iron core has gaps at opposite sides of the secondary coil for thermically uncoupling the secondary coil from the rest of the magnetic core and a tertiary coil is arranged closely adjacent the primary coil in a magnetically strongly coupled relationship therewith, and has a heat capacity sufficient to accommodate the joulean heat generated when a fault or short circuit occurs in the power supply net, and the iron core has an area of reduced cross-section which is so selected that it becomes magnetic flux saturated when the current in the primary coil exceeds a predetermined reaction current level.