Abstract: A wheel end disconnect assembly includes an axle shaft, a wheel hub, and a wheel end disconnect clutch. The axle shaft has a first dog clutch spline and the wheel hub has a second dog clutch spline. The wheel end disconnect clutch has a dog clutch sleeve and a rocker pin. The dog clutch sleeve has a third dog clutch spline engaged with one of the first or second dog clutch splines and arranged to selectively engage and disengage from the other of the first or second dog clutch splines, and a first spiral groove. The rocker pin has a first pin end arranged to selectively engage and disengage from the first spiral groove to axially displace the dog clutch sleeve. The first dog clutch spline and the second dog clutch spline may both be outer splines, and the third dog clutch spline may be an inner spline.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus that adapts the rate of its computational work to match the availability of energy harvested from a stochastic energy source; and, with respect to some types of energy harvesting, regulates the rate of energy capture, the rate of energy conversion, and the rate of consumption of stored potential energy, through its alteration, regulation, and/or adjustment, of that same computational work load.

Abstract: Systems and methods provided herein may include a card replacement system. The system may include an automated teller machine in data communication with a server. The automated teller machine may include an input device; a processor; a replacement card storage containing at least one replacement card, wherein the at least one replacement cards may include a magnetic stripe and a chip; a magnetic stripe writer; a chip writer; and an embossing device. The processor may be configured to: receive a replacement card request via the input device; request replacement card information from the server; encode replacement card information onto the replacement card using the magnetic stripe writer and the chip writer; and emboss user information onto the replacement card using the embossing device.

Abstract: A buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that can float on a surface of a body of water over which waves tend to pass. The pump incorporates an open-bottomed tube with a constriction. The tube partially encloses a substantial volume of water with which the tube's constriction interacts, creating and/or amplifying oscillations therein in response to wave action. Wave-driven oscillations result in periodic upward ejections of portions of the water inside the tube that can be collected in a reservoir that is at least partially positioned above the mean water level of the body of water, or pressurized by compressed air or gas, or both. Water within such a reservoir may return to the body of water via a turbine, thereby generating electrical power (making the device a wave engine), or else the device's pumping action can be used for other purposes such as water circulation, propulsion, or cloud seeding.

Abstract: An apparatus that floats at the surface of a body of water over which waves pass, causing a nominally vertical axis of the apparatus to tilt away from an axis normal to the resting surface of the body of water. Tilting allows a fluid to flow through a channel that in an un-tilted apparatus would require the gravitational potential energy of the fluid to increase (i.e., to flow uphill), but, because of the tilt allows the fluid to flow through the channel in a downhill direction. Successive wave-driven tilts of the apparatus incrementally raise water to a head from which a portion of its gravitational potential energy can be converted to electrical power by causing the water to return to a lower level by flowing through a water turbine, or through some other apparatus that performs a useful function when supplied with a flow of high-pressure water.

Abstract: Hardfacing is used to protect wear surfaces of drill bits and other downhole tools. A hardfacing member can be formed by heating a metal matrix material, e.g., via a laser process, injecting a plurality of particles into the heated metal matrix material, disposing the mixture on at least a portion of a substrate thereby forming a hardfacing member having a particle-embedded metal matrix material, and attaching the hardfacing member to a main body.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to various embodiments of methods for making an optical fiber. The methods may include drawing an optical fiber from a hollow-core preform. The hollow-core preform may include an annular support structure with an inner surface defining an interior cavity. The interior cavity may include a tube in direct contact with the inner surface of the annular support structure. The tube may include a wall defining an internal opening, the internal opening having a sealed end. The drawing may include regulating a pressure of the internal cavity to a predetermined pressure.

Abstract: A curable aqueous composition is disclosed comprising a carbohydrate, a crosslinking agent, and an amine base, wherein the curable aqueous composition has a pH adjusted by the amine base. Further disclosed is a method of forming a curable aqueous solution.

Abstract: A connector bridge configured to connect between two adjacent surgical guide foundation devices. The connector bridge may include a crossbar portion, two connector pins spaced apart from one another, and wherein the two connector pins extend outward from the crossbar portion in a generally perpendicular direction relative to the crossbar portion. The connector bridge may include a crossbar portion, two openings spaced apart from one another and formed through the crossbar portion, removable bridge pins, and wherein the removeable bridge pins may be configured to be inserted at least partially through the openings.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which a plentiful supply of carbon dioxide may be provided to a fuel-conversion process operated in the deep sea far from shore thereby permitting a conversion of electrolysis-generated hydrogen gas into a carbonaceous liquid fuel. Because the cost and complexity of storing and transporting liquid fuels by ship is substantially simpler and less costly than is transporting gases, the present invention is expected to promote the extraction and distribution of energy harvested from the deep sea by permitting it to be accomplished with reasonable logistical complexity and at a reasonable and low cost.

Abstract: An axle disconnect clutch includes an axle shaft, a tulip for a constant velocity joint, and a sliding sleeve. The sliding sleeve includes a first inner spline and a first outer spline, radially aligned with the first inner spline. One of the axle shaft or the tulip includes a second inner spline, and the other one includes a second outer spline. The sliding sleeve is axially slidable along a one of the first inner spline or the first outer spline to engage the other of the first inner spline or the first outer spline with the second outer spline or the second inner spline, respectively, rotationally connecting the axle shaft and the tulip. In an example embodiment, the sliding sleeve has an undulating profile, and a number of inner spline teeth of the first inner spline is equal to a number of outer spline teeth of the first outer spline.

Abstract: An energy farm having an electrical grid through which power generated by the devices in the farm may be combined and transmitted. The electrical grid is formed through the electrical interconnection of devices in a farm through electrical connections that remain, in whole or at least in part, adjacent to the surface of the body of water on which the devices float. A plurality of flexible converters of the network have no direct or immediate electrical interface with a subsea power cable (i.e. a cable on or under the seafloor), but instead transmit electricity to other converters in a daisy-chained fashion.

Abstract: A control system for an electric motor for a fluid moving apparatus includes a drive circuit and a processor. The drive circuit regulates power supplied to the motor to generate fluid flow. The processor is coupled to the drive circuit and controls the drive circuit to operate the motor at a first speed and torque, and at a second speed and torque, receive a first flow corresponding to the first speed and torque, determine a second flow based on a ratio of the first flow to the first speed, and corresponding to the second speed and torque. The processor is configured to define an algorithm based on the first and second speed, torque, and flow, compute a set point for a demanded flow using the algorithm, and control the drive circuit based on the set point to supply power to the motor and generate the flow.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which a difference in the thermal energies, and/or temperatures, of two bodies, materials, gases, liquids, solids, objects, and/or other groups or collections of matter, may be harnessed to provide mechanical energy to a rotary engine and/or shaft. Also disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which mechanical energy (e.g., the rotation of a shaft) may be used to produce and/or amplify a difference in the thermal energies, and/or temperatures of, and/or between, two bodies, materials, gases, liquids, solids, objects, and/or other groups or collections of matter. The disclosed thermal-to-mechanical energy conversion apparatus, as well as the complementary mechanical-to-thermal energy conversion apparatus, lacks moving parts and therefore satisfies a previously unmet need for a simple, robust, and efficient heat engine.

Abstract: A motor controller for an electric motor is provided. The motor controller includes an inverter configured to supply current to stator windings of the electric motor. The motor controller further includes a plurality of sensors configured to generate a sensor signal in response to detecting a parameter. The sensor signal represents a measured parameter. The motor controller further includes a processor coupled in communication with the inverter and with the plurality of sensors. The processor is configured to, in a first mode, transmit a control signal to the inverter to operate the electric motor at a first frequency. The processor is further configured to receive the sensor signal from the plurality of sensors. The processor is further configured to determine a first fault condition is present at the electric motor based on the measured parameter represented by the sensor signal.

Abstract: A processor comprises a computational array of computational elements and an instruction dispatch circuit. The computational elements receive data operands via data lanes extending along a first dimension, and processes the operands based upon instructions received from the instruction dispatch circuit via instruction lanes extending along a second dimension. The instruction dispatch circuit receives raw instructions, and comprises an instruction dispatch unit (IDU) processor that processes a set of raw instructions to generate processed instructions for dispatch to the computational elements, where the number of processed instructions is not equal to the number of instructions of the set of raw instructions.

Abstract: A stabilizer bar has a first connected position and a second disconnected position. One side-bar is fixed to a housing while the other side-bar is fixed to a tulip within the housing. The housing has a plurality of axial grooves. The tulip defines a plurality of slots which are aligned with the grooves when the vehicle is level. A nut has a plurality of pins that extend radially such that the nut is torsionally coupled to the housing. In a first connected position, the pins fit within the slots of the tulip to torsionally couple the nut and the housing to the tulip. To facilitate a second disconnected position, a motor driven actuator moves the nut axially such that the pins no longer engage the slots. When motor power is withdrawn, a spring pushes the nut back to the first connected position.

Abstract: This invention, in embodiments, relates to a roofing material having (a) a front surface, (b) a back surface, and (c) a sealant attachment zone disposed on at least the front surface of the roofing material, the sealant attachment zone including surfacing media that comprise at least one of mineral particles, polymeric particles, and combinations thereof. The sealant attachment zone has an average surface coverage of the surfacing media of 30% to 70%. The roofing material exhibits an increased wind uplift resistance, as measured according to ASTM D6381, as compared to a roofing material without a sealant attachment zone having an average surface coverage of surfacing media of 30% to 70%.

Abstract: A wave energy converter utilizes a flotation module that rises and falls with the passage of waves, a submerged tube containing a constriction which multiplies the speed of the water passing therethrough, a turbine (or other hydrokinetic apparatus) positioned so as to extract energy from the accelerated flow of water within and/or through the tube, and a submerged gas- or liquid-filled chamber housing one or more energy conversion components (e.g. generators, transformers, rectifiers, inverters). By providing a chamber in proximity to the turbine, generators can be placed in closer proximity to the turbine that turns them, and the shared shaft can be shorter than if the generators were placed in the buoy adjacent to the surface.