Abstract: An exhaust duct for cooling an exhaust flue. One or more modular coolant coils are disposed about the outer circumference of or within the flue interior cavity for thermal communication with exhaust gas. Each coil has a helical spiral profile extending along the flue axial dimension, an interior lumen there through for passage of coolant provided by a cooling system, and a respective inlet and outlet for respective intake and discharge of coolant. Optionally at least one remotely adjustable valve is coupled to the coolant coil and an industrial automation controller, for regulation of coolant flow rate within the coil. The coolant coils may incorporate one or more coolant temperature sensors in communication with the controller. A plurality of exhaust duct cooling coils may be under common control of the controller, for allocation of coolant among the coils and other portions of the cooling system.

Abstract: A vehicle that is guided by a guiding system is monitored for derailment. The guiding system has a guiding member interacting with a railhead of a rail that guides the vehicle. The device includes a clamp with a bottom jaw tightly surrounding the railhead in a contactless manner in the closed position thereof, capable of opening the jaw when interaction is lost between the guiding member and the rail. The opening results when the railhead at least partially exits the jaw. A top rod of the clamp enables mechanical transmission of the opening of the jaw to a switch. The switch has a nominal configuration corresponding to the closed position of the clamp during correct re-railing and an alarm configuration generated by mechanical transmission of the opening of the jaw to the switch. The alarm configuration actuates a safety system of the guided vehicle.

Abstract: A method and device lock a guiding system of a vehicle guided by at least one rail. The locking device includes first and second cylinders combined with guiding devices belonging to the guiding system of a steering axle. Each of the cylinders contains at least two characteristic configuration states: a first configuration state placing the guiding device with which the cylinder is combined in a first guiding state, and a second configuration state placing the guiding device with which the cylinder is combined in a second guiding state. A power supply supplies power to the cylinders to switch the configuration state. The power supply is coupled with a rotary member, the rotation of which is mechanically linked to the movement of the vehicle, such that a change in the direction of rotation of the rotary member is transmitted to the power supply and switches the configuration state of the cylinders.

Abstract: A method and a device for monitoring the presence of at least one guide rail for a guided vehicle, include a first detector located downstream of a wheel. The detector is capable of detecting the presence of the rail and of transmitting a first signal relating to the presence of the rail to a monitoring member. A second detector located upstream of the wheel can be connected in parallel to the first detector and is capable of detecting the presence of the rail. The second detector can communicate a second signal, relating to the presence of the rail, to the monitoring member.

Abstract: In a method and a device for securely checking the exclusivity of a binary active/passive state of redundant units, the device includes: at least one exclusive communication device of the state capable of transmitting an exclusive signal relating to the exclusivity of the state to at least one checking device integrated within each of the units. The checking device is capable of checking and confirming the exclusivity of the state. Each of said redundant units in the active state is capable of transmitting to the exclusive communication device the identity signal; the exclusive communication device is capable of receiving at least one of the identity signals from the redundant units; the exclusive communication signal is capable of producing the exclusive signal from at least one of the identity signals; and the checking device is capable of determining the exclusivity of the state of the unit by reading the exclusive signal.

Abstract: A valve assembly has a valve body having an inlet section for a pressurized fluid and an outlet. A piston is movable within the valve body between an open position and a closed position blocking fluid communication. The piston has an end section, a sealing section and a middle section located between the end section and the sealing section. A cavity receives the piston within the valve body. The cavity has a superior chamber, an intermediate chamber, and an inferior chamber. A spring within the superior chamber exerts a spring force onto the piston to urge the piston towards the open position. An actuator device provides upon actuation for a first flow of fluid outside the cavity from the inlet section to the superior chamber. The first flow causes a pressure within the superior chamber to increase until it is about the same as the pressure within the container so that the spring force moves the piston to the open position.

Abstract: A system of assembling storage devices in the form of electrical energy modules includes two pairs of positive and negative terminals for each module, in which each of the pairs of positive and negative terminals is distributed over at least one of the external faces of each module, thus forming a terminal strip of the module. At least one interconnection block can be inserted onto part of each of the terminal strips of two separate modules and itself includes at least two pairs of anchoring points so as to form an assembly block, either by stacking the storage modules or by juxtaposing the same. At least two anchoring points of each interconnection block are in electrical contact, while stiffening the assembly, in a manner complementary to the other anchoring points.

Abstract: A method and a device dynamically control the secure adjustment of a binary switching state of at least one electric switching system built into an automatically functioning apparatus used in the field of guided vehicles, the switching system driving at least one actuator by a driving circuit. The device includes: a control module controlling the state of the electric switching system, and a reading device capable of reading the switching state of the electric switching system and of transmitting a control signal related to the read switching state to a monitoring module. The device is characterized in that the reading device is provided downstream from the electric switching system and is coupled to the driving circuit of the actuator, thereby providing the automatically functioning apparatus with enhanced reliability and maintainability.

Abstract: A method for checking the reading of at least one mobile radiofrequency transponder moving relative to an antenna of a reader of the transponder, includes: at least one guaranteed reading area is defined around the antenna; at least one checking transponder is attached in the periphery of the guaranteed reading area in order to have the reading thereof periodically checked by the reader in addition to reading the mobile transponder. Examples of equipment for implementing the method are also provided.

Abstract: The invention relates to a radiation detector suitable for use in connection with particle therapy applications. The detector comprises at least one set of scintillating optical guides which upon exposure to incident radiation generate scintillating light. The optical guides are arranged in an array, such as in a so-called harp configuration, for detecting a transversal radiation beam profile. The scintillating optical guides are provided in a glass-based material doped with a rare earth dopant. Of particular interest are the rare earth materials: Ytterbium, Holmium, Thulium and Erbium.

Abstract: An expansion device for a rail suitable for guiding a wheel of a vehicle along a track, and a method for installing the expansion device. Specifically, the rail has a portion of track formed of a series of elements in the form of transverse track plates whose cross section is the same as that of the rail. The track plates are arranged in longitudinal succession along the portion with compressible modules inserted between them.

Abstract: A system for determining the movement properties of a guided vehicle along a section adapted for a lane signaling control. The vehicle includes at least four onboard transponders that are arranged in pairs. The two transponders of each pair are aligned in parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, with at least one pair downstream and at least one pair upstream from the vehicle, and providing distinct identification means. At least one transponder reader is provided on the ground at each end of the section. A ground calculator communicates with the readers and determines, upon the passage of at least two transponders of a vehicle, a driving direction and a front/rear intrinsic orientation of the vehicle relative to the lane.

Abstract: In a communication system and an associated method for the secured control of a route followed by a vehicle running in an approach area of a moving area, the moving area is preceded by a closing signaling provided on the ground and adapted for informing the vehicle to stop. A safety timing is determined by a ground control unit for ensuring that the vehicle stops before entering the moving area. In parallel with the closing signaling, an information request from the ground control unit is transmitted to a control safety unit. The onboard control safety unit or an associated evaluation module evaluates the braking capacity of the vehicle and encodes the same into information requested by the ground control unit and then fed back to the ground control unit. Depending on the information state, the ground control unit minimizes the safety timing or even cancels the same completely.

Abstract: The invention relates to a power adjustment system adapted for powering an electric line for supplying power to vehicles moving in a traffic lane combined with said electric line that comprises an electric supply feeder (AD) delivering an average electric power directly or via at least one converter to the electric line, and an adjustable power based on power fluctuation and required for an instantaneous traffic intensity to an energy storage means (MS) capable of powering the electric line at a peak power via at least one other converter, characterised in that a dimensioning unit (PCC) receives information on the power needs based on the traffic intensity evaluated over at least one duration of said traffic, and in that the dimensioning unit uses information for controlling an adjustment of the useful predictable storage of the storage means so that the electric power (P_IN0, P_IN1) delivered to the storage means is adjusted and minimal while exactly maintaining a sufficient energy backup in the storage mean

Abstract: In a magnetic resonance imaging method and apparatus, magnetic resonance data are acquired (an examination subject) using a zoomed method, and reconstruction of the image of the examination subject is undertaken using a parallel imaging reconstruction method.

Abstract: The so-called M2M solutions for the remote management of a machine or a process by users of a telecommunication network are addressed using an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem platform by equipping both authorized users and a machine to be controlled with IMS clients supporting presence and messaging services as minimum requirements. The client of an authorized user sees the client of the machine as a buddy of its contact list, and interaction between the users and the machine takes place by publishing presence information by the apparatus and via instant messaging between the users and the apparatus.

Abstract: A device for ejecting an at least diphasic mixture includes an injection inlet for a liquid and a gas, a distribution chamber for producing a first liquid-gas mixture, an ejection nozzle of the first liquid-gas mixture in a main direction defined by an axis-vector. The ejection nozzle has a geometry comprising, on its length at least, a minimal section or neck at a location of the axis-vector. Among others things, due to the nozzle geometry, the expansion obtained inside the ejection nozzle allows the first liquid-gas mixture from the distribution chamber to be converted into a second mixture, according to the flow configuration, consisting for instance of a diphasic mist jet having an ejection range and liquid particle size that can be controlled according to the liquid and gas mass flow and to the absolute pressure at the injection inlet.

Abstract: Requests of resources of uplink flows towards a base station (BS) and/or downlink flows towards end nodes are computed by each requesting node on an end-to-end basis. Each requesting node issues a cumulative request given by summing up the same request for each link separating the node from the BS plus each link separating the BS from the destination node, enabling the centralized node to perform connection based scheduling. The BS in response to all cumulative requests grants uplink and/or downlink resources for each link. The profile of grants is equal to the profile of requests when the amount of resources requested is below the maximum net throughput on MAC layer. When not below the maximum net through-put on MAC layer, the ideal profile of grants is normalized with respect to a ratio between the maximum net throughput on MAC layer and the amount of the overall requested resources.

Abstract: A valve assembly has a valve body having an inlet section for a pressurized fluid and an outlet. A piston is movable within the valve body between an open position and a closed position blocking fluid communication. The piston has an end section, a sealing section and a middle section located between the end section and the sealing section. A cavity receives the piston within the valve body. The cavity has a superior chamber, an intermediate chamber, and an inferior chamber. A spring within the superior chamber exerts a spring force onto the piston to urge the piston towards the open position. An actuator device provides upon actuation for a first flow of fluid outside the cavity from the inlet section to the superior chamber. The first flow causes a pressure within the superior chamber to increase until it is about the same as the pressure within the container so that the spring force moves the piston to the open position.

Abstract: A propulsion device for an agent, such as an extinguishing or cooling agent, contained in a cavity has at least a cap and a port configured to open above a calibrated pressure inside the cavity. A pressure generator is fastened to the cap and triggers the propulsion of the agent. The pressure generator has at least two containers, each having an exit ending inside the cavity and releasing a propulsion gas. At least one container is pressurized with an inert-type gas, such as helium, suited for minimal temperature fluctuations induced inside the cavity during a relief of pressure of the gas from at least one of the containers. When the gas expands it is the direct mechanical propellant of the agent.