Abstract: The invention relates to a catalyst-containing gas diffusion layer for fuel cells, in particular low-temperature fuel cells, e.g. PEMFCs and DMFCs. The gas diffusion layer is used on the anode side of the fuel cell and contains catalyst components which effect removal of carbon monoxide (in the PEMFC) or oxidation of methanol (in the DMFC). The catalyst components are produced directly in the porous substrate material from suitable precursor compounds by heat treatment and are distributed uniformly over the entire volume of the gas diffusion layer. As a result, the catalyst components have a particularly high activity. Furthermore, a process for producing a catalyst-containing gas diffusion layer is described. The gas diffusion layers are used in membrane-electrode units (MEUs) for low-temperature fuel cells, in particular for PEM fuel cells operated using a CO-containing reformate gas. They can also be used in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs).

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for manufacture of supported noble metal based alloy catalysts with a high degree of alloying and a small crystallite size. The method is based on the use of polyol solvents as reaction medium and comprises of a two-step reduction process in the presence of a support material. In the first step, the first metal (M1=transition metal; e.g. Co, Cr, Ru) is activated by increasing the reaction temperature to 80 to 160° C. In the second step, the second metal (M2=noble metal; e.g. Pt, Pd, Au and mixtures thereof) is added and the slurry is heated to the boiling point of the polyol solvent in a range of 160 to 300° C. Due to this two-step method, an uniform reduction occurs, resulting in noble metal based catalysts with a high degree of alloying and a small crystallite size of less than 3 nm. Due to the high degree of alloying, the lattice constants are lowered.

Abstract: The invention relates to heterogeneous catalysts which are particularly easy to produce. Said heterogeneous catalysts are generated by immobilizing preformed monometallic or multimetallic metal oxide particles in situ on an oxidic or non-oxidic carrier, wherefore metal oxide colloids which are stabilized by hydroxide ions and immobilized on carriers contained in the suspension are generated from conventional, water-soluble metal salts by means of hydrolysis and condensation. The inventive method makes it possible to produce fuel cell catalysts, for example.

Abstract: A machine-automated system tries to save vital-data of a crashed or otherwise frozen application program by: (a) identifying the apparently-frozen program; (b) identifying one or more windows within the identified program that are most likely to immediately contain data which the user is likely to consider as vital and in need of saving; and (c) instructing the frozen application program to itself transfer the data of said one or more of said identified windows to a separate, data-saving thread. A profiling database may be constructed for helping to identify the vital data-containing windows of both popular (well known) and obscure application programs. One such profiling database has ID records which define parent/child hierarchy relationships between vital data-containing windows and other windows of various application programs.

Abstract: A machine-automated system tries to save vital-data of a crashed or otherwise frozen application program by: (a) identifying the apparently-frozen program; (b) identifying one or more windows within the identified program that are most likely to immediately contain data which the user is likely to consider as vital and in need of saving; and (c) instructing the frozen application program to itself transfer the data of said one or more of said identified windows to a separate, data-saving thread. A profiling database may be constructed for helping to identify the vital data- containing windows of both popular (well known) and obscure application programs. One such profiling database has ID records which define parent/child hierarchy relationships between vital data-containing windows and other windows of various application programs.

Abstract: The present invention is an inflatable, reversible life raft with a raft body including upper and lower inflatable, peripherally disposed bladders defining a closed geometric shape. The raft body also includes upper and lower inflatable masts in pneumatic communication with the upper and lower bladders, respectively. A floor closes the geometric shape between the upper and lower bladders. The upper and lower masts support upper and lower canopies, respectively. The upper canopy forms an upright, above-water enclosure to protect survivors from the elements. The lower canopy forms an underwater ballast beneath the floor of the raft, stabilizing the life raft. The reversible life raft is equipped with a reversible, collapsible ladder attached to an exterior portion of the two stacked bladders, and is equipped with two reversible ballast pouches mounted to an exterior portion of the two stacked bladders opposite the ladder.

Abstract: A system for the measurement of high bandwidth peak power pulses from laser sources. A laser pulse from a laser is directed onto the surface of a diffuser that replicates the pulse. A linear array of fiber optics of varying fiber length transmits the replicated pulses to a detector. The detector produces n pulses having a pulse width .lambda., each separated in time by a given time delay .DELTA.t which is directly proportioned to the length of each fiber. The output of the detector is fed to a digitizing oscilloscope to produce of digitized average pulse phase output.

Abstract: A system for automatically performing the Minimum Resolvable Contrast (MRC) test on an image sensor, such as a TV camera, using a digital signal processor for controlling the testing, wherein an edge response from a square aperture target edge is used to generate a Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) which, in combination with signal and noise data obtained using the square aperture target, provides an input to automated MRC (AMRC) processing equations, from which a value can be calculated for an AMRC output. Alternatively, a slit target may be substituted for the square target aperture when measuring camera MTF.

Abstract: This invention is an apparatus and method that is able to accurately measure the system level modulation transfer function in the presence of fixed pattern noise from an imaging system electronics.

Abstract: A method of testing a laser target designator, in which an aperture in the field of view of the laser target designator has one side facing the target image detector and the laser, a beam image detector faces an opposite side of the aperture and is aligned with the opening thereof so that the beam optical axis and the opposite side of the aperture are in a field of view of the beam image detector, both sides of the aperture being illuminated, and beam video processor obtains a test video image from the beam image detector and computes a centroid of the aperture in the test video image and a centroid of the laser beam in the test video image, the displacement of these centroids being a measure of the static error while relative movement of them during dithering of the optical path from the laser target designator is a measure of the dynamic error.

Abstract: A non-mechanically scanned optical sensor system includes a stationary sensor array having an image plane, a lens system characterized by a field of view corresponding to image of a scene viewed by the lens system, an image divider for dividing the image into plural contiguous sub-images and a device for directing each of the sub-images onto substantially the entirety of the image plane of the sensor array. The directing device in one embodiment is an array of small lenses coextensive with respective light beams of respective sub-images of an image viewed by the lens system. In another embodiment, both the image divider and the directing device are realized together as an X-Y addressable array of electrically deformable optical elements, such as silicon micro-mirrors, individually directing respective ones of the sub-images to the sensor array. In another embodiment, the image divider is a spatial light modulator having an array of optical shutters controlling respective sub-images.

Abstract: A variable attenuator for optical transceivers such as laser rangefinders for ordnance control. A polarization rotation device, such as a mechanically rotatable half-wave plate or an electrooptic cell, operates in combination with a beam splitter polarizer to attenuate the transmitted laser beam by a continuously variable amount without further attenuating the received laser beam.