Abstract: A device is provided for receiving a transmission signal and for transmitting an optical beam having an adjustable intensity, wherein the optical beam effects the transmission signal. A transmitter for transmitting the beam has a controller for setting the intensity. A receiver for receiving the transmission signal has an analyzer for outputting a threshold signal if the strength of the transmission signal exceeds a predetermined limit value. A pick-up outputs a start signal for starting the transmission signal. A control unit is connected to the analyzer, the pick-up and the controller. After reception of the start signal from the pick-up, the control unit sets the intensity at the controller to a value which rises continuously from essentially zero until the analyzer outputs the threshold signal, and then leaves the controller unchanged until reception of a new start signal.

Abstract: A shunt connected superconducting energy management system (SEMS) is provided at a single switched connection between a utility grid and one or more power sensitive loads such as a semiconductor manufacturing plant having power requirements in the range on the order of 2 megawatts (MW) to 200 MW. When a voltage disturbance is sensed in the grid, power control circuitry acts to simultaneously isolate the load and the SEMS from the grid using a single switch which simultaneously provides full back up power to the load instantaneously without voltage transients or disturbances.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for relieving a capacitor of a controlled series compensator as a function of the load on its arrester when high-current line faults occur. The current flowing through the arrester is used to determine its absorbed energy, from which a temperature gradient is then determined as an indicator of a sudden load on the arrester and compared with a limit value. This comparison value is processed, as a function of the determined actual arrester temperature and the measured line current, to yield a control signal. The power converter valve of the controlled series compensator is triggered in response to this control signal in such a way that its equivalent impedance is switched from capacitative to inductive. The number of disconnections required as a result of high-current line faults is thereby considerably reduced, thus greatly increasing availability of the system.

Abstract: A heating element for heating a flowing medium includes a heat exchanger made of a plurality of metallic bodies. The metallic bodies have a plurality of passageways extending therethrough and widened on an inlet side in a conical fashion. Positive temperature coefficient (PTC) ceramic resistor are located between adjacent metallic bodies and are encased in a synthetic resin material. The same synthetic resin material is used to form bridges extending through some of the passageways which mechanically fix adjacent metallic bodies to each other. When the heating element is combined with a pipeline system, an annular ring of the same synthetic resin material surrounds the heating element to thermally and electrically insulate the heating element from the pipeline. The PTC heating elements are electrically coupled and mechanically fixed to the metallic bodies by an adhesive, and the metallic bodies thus serving as current supply conduits.

Abstract: A sintered monolithic ceramic body or an electrical multilayer component includes cavities that are alternately open toward opposite end faces and are open to a slight portion of the lateral surfaces which are at right angles to the end faces. The cavities contain ceramic particles which act as supporting elements and are completely filled with a filler metal whose melting temperature is considerably lower than the sintering temperature of the ceramic body, the metal being capable of wetting the surfaces of the ceramic layers in the cavities in its molten state. The edges between the six outside surfaces of the component are rounded off as by abrasion so that the metal fillings extend up to contact elements which are applied after the metal is introduced.

Abstract: The invention relates to a filled layer component made out of monolithic ceramic, in particular a capacitor, having a ceramic layer structure of dense and porous layers which is impregnated with a metallic material and is provided with contacts on the outer faces. According to the invention, the contacts have at least on their surfaces enrichments with constituents which form with the material of the contacts one or more intermetallic compounds which are largely insoluble in the impregnating material. These enrichments can be applied in a first manufacturing method before the impregnation process, or in another manufacturing method during the impregnation process.