Abstract: A physical vapor deposition system includes a hermetic chamber with an open interior and an access port. A heating laser source is adapted to direct a heating laser beam into the open interior. A substrate holder assembly comprises a substrate platform positioned in the open interior and has a plurality of substrate securing stations and a motor for moving the platform. A target assembly retains a target within the open interior. A control system can include a processor for controlling the operation of the heating laser beam and the motor. A shielding member with an opening shields queued substrate securing stations from the physical vapor deposition vapors and allows only the substrate being heated by the heating laser beam to be contacted by the physical vapor deposition vapors. A method of performing physical vapor deposition and a substrate holder assembly also are disclosed.

Abstract: The present invention relates to devices and methods for coating surfaces including surfaces of medical devices, in particular the coating of microprojections on microprojection arrays. The present invention also relates to print head devices and their manufacture and to methods of using the print head devices for manufacturing articles such as microprojection arrays as well as to coating the surfaces of microprojection arrays. The present invention also relates to high throughput printing devices that utilize the print heads of the present invention.

Abstract: Electric vehicle supply equipment may include a pair of parallel contactors that electrically connect a vehicle with a power source. It also includes a controller that closes one of the pair before the other of the pair based on a cumulative exposure to in-rush current of each of the pair.

Abstract: A mold assembly and method for molding two concrete blocks in face-to-face non-contacting relationship forms blocks having smooth texture front faces. The mold assembly includes a mold box having two mold cavities configured to form two blocks in face-to-face non-contacting relationship. A common partition plate separates the two mold cavities and opposite sides of the partition plate form the smooth front faces of the blocks. The two mold cavities are each configured to form a block having a raised front face with a beveled edge around its entire perimeter and a border around the entire perimeter of the beveled edge. The portions of the border at the top and the sides of the raised front face are curved and the portion of the border at the bottom of the raised front face is straight. A core bar is slidably inserted into the mold box beneath the bottom of the partition plate, and opposite sides of the core bar extend into and form the front bottom portions of the mold cavities.

Abstract: A method for determining the content of at least metallic iron (Femet) in sponge iron or a sample thereof produced by direct reduction from iron ore. For this purpose, a mathematical model is provided, whose model output variable (Amod) is described as a function of the content of at least metallic iron (Femet) of the sponge iron or sample thereof, this mathematical model having an effective medium approximation (EMA) for the permeability (?eff) and electrical conductivity (?eff) of the sponge iron or sample thereof.

Abstract: A communicative pet collar paired with a user device for enabling pet owners to communicate with their pets via transmission of commands or instructions on a software application installed in the user device. The collar and the user device are paired using a wireless channel such as Bluetooth and voice signals are captured by the application and are transmitted to the pet collar. A Bluetooth speaker is included in the collar which plays out the commands or messages to the pet wearing the collar. The collar includes a strap to secure around the neck of the pet and can be secured using a buckle. The speaker also includes a housing which stores a vibration module, a rechargeable battery, an LED indicator, and a wireless transceiver.

Abstract: A process for the manufacturing of hot briquetted iron (HBI) from direct reduced iron (DRI) wherein iron ore is direct reduced in a reactor by a reducing gas consisting of natural gas and/or hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide under elevated temperatures and discharging the direct reduced iron to at least one briquetting device where briquettes are pressed from the direct reduced iron characterized in that the direct reduced iron after leaving the reactor and before briquetting is heated to a target briquetting temperature.

Abstract: A lock system includes a mount, a lock device, a sensor, and a communications interface. The mount configured to be coupled to a first surface located at a wall, the wall defining an opening in which a translatable structure is positioned, the mount including an engagement feature. The lock device configured to couple to a second surface located at the wall and proximate the first surface and includes a locking mechanism configured to engage with the engagement feature to inhibit the translatable structure from translating between open and closed positions. The communications interface configured to communicate signals to cause a controller configured to actuate the locking mechanism to switch between the locked state and the unlocked state to engage and disengage with the engagement feature of the stationary mount in response to the sensor sensing that the locking mechanism and the engagement feature are engageably aligned.

Abstract: An electric propulsion power system a power plant providing power to a bus, a load drawing power from the bus, a battery providing power to and drawing power from the bus. The power system also includes a control system for controlling the amount of power that the power plant provides to the bus, the amount of power that the battery provides to and draws from the bus in response to the load drawing power from the bus over time. The control system calculates a moving time-average current value over a predetermined time window using the instantaneous current measurements, determines a delta current value as the difference between a current charge/discharge limit of the battery and the moving time-average current value and determines if additional power from the power plant to the bus will be provided and a rate of current in the discharge mode or the charge mode.

Abstract: An automatic target recognizer system including: a database that stores target recognition data including multiple reference features associated with each of multiple reference targets; a pre-selector that selects a portion of the target recognition data based on a reference gating feature of the multiple reference features; a preprocessor that processes an image received from an image acquisition system which is associated with an acquired target and determines an acquired gating feature of the acquired target; a feature extractor and processor that discriminates the acquired gating feature with the reference gating feature and, if there is a match, extracts multiple segments of the image and detects the presence, absence, probability or likelihood of one of multiple features of each of the multiple reference targets; a classifier that generates a classification decision report based on a determined classification of the acquired target; and a user interface that displays the classification decision report.

Abstract: An automatic target recognizer system including: a database that stores target recognition data including multiple reference features associated with each of multiple reference targets; a pre-selector that selects a portion of the target recognition data based on a reference gating feature of the multiple reference features; a preprocessor that processes an image received from an image acquisition system which is associated with an acquired target and determines an acquired gating feature of the acquired target; a feature extractor and processor that discriminates the acquired gating feature with the reference gating feature and, if there is a match, extracts multiple segments of the image and detects the presence, absence, probability or likelihood of one of multiple features of each of the multiple reference targets; a classifier that generates a classification decision report based on a determined classification of the acquired target; and a user interface that displays the classification decision report.

Abstract: A laser system comprising a gain medium configured to amplify incident electromagnetic radiation and a nonlinear optical element configured to convert electromagnetic radiation amplified by the gain medium to a shorter wavelength. The laser system is configured to introduce mode competition and nonlinear effects such that the nonlinear optical element produces output electromagnetic radiation having a frequency spectrum comprising a first peak formed of a first group of frequencies and a second peak formed of a second group of frequencies. A trough separates the first and second peaks. The first and second peaks are the only dominant peaks in the frequency spectrum. The output electromagnetic radiation has a coherence curve comprising a contrast ratio of less than about 0.1 at an optical path difference that is within the inclusive range of about 1.5 mm to about 2.5 mm.

Abstract: A locking system for an enclosure, including a control bracket mounted to a door of the enclosure and configured to slide in a longitudinal direction along a guide rod running through a pin bracket of the control bracket. The control bracket further includes a latching pin to secure the door of the enclosure. A handle mechanism has a push rod that causes the control bracket to slide along the longitudinal direction, also causing the latching pin to move into a position that secures the door.

Abstract: A system for monitoring a plurality of machines of a facility is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of data network devices configured to communicate with one another via at least one network. The data network devices are configured to collect machine data from the plurality of machines and distribute the machine data via the at least one network. The system further comprises data display devices configured to provide a graphical user interface that enables a user to view and analyze the machine data that is collected and distributed by the data network devices.

Abstract: An optical neural network is constructed based on photonic integrated circuits to perform neuromorphic computing. In the optical neural network, matrix multiplication is implemented using one or more optical interference units, which can apply an arbitrary weighting matrix multiplication to an array of input optical signals. Nonlinear activation is realized by an optical nonlinearity unit, which can be based on nonlinear optical effects, such as saturable absorption. These calculations are implemented optically, thereby resulting in high calculation speeds and low power consumption in the optical neural network.