Abstract: A thermal-type infrared radiation detector cell includes a diaphragm structural body that forms a gap of a predetermined width over a semiconductor substrate. The diaphragm structural body is capable of either providing metal wiring films that doubles as an infrared radiation reflector film or providing a high refractive index film having a thickness set to satisfy the expression d=&lgr;×{1/(4×n)}, where n is the refractive index of the high refractive index film, and &lgr; is the wavelengths of infrared rays. As a result, in the former option, no separate infrared radiation reflector film is required, whilst in the latter no separate infrared radiation absorption layer is required. This facilitates the manufacturing process and improves the sensitivity in infrared radiation detection.

Abstract: A circuit-incorporating photosensitive device comprising: an SOI wafer including a first silicon substrate, a second silicon substrate, and an oxide film; a photodiode formed in a first region of the SOI wafer; and a signal processing circuit formed in a second region of the SOI wafer, wherein the photodiode includes a photosensitive layer formed of an SiGe layer.

Abstract: A photosensitive device includes a semiconductor substrate and a first semiconductor layer, both of a first conductivity type, with the semiconductor layer being formed on the semiconductor substrate and having a lower impurity concentration than that of the semiconductor substrate. A second semiconductor layer, of a second conductivity type, is formed on the first semiconductor layer and at least one diffusion layer of the first conductivity type is formed from the surface of the second semiconductor layer so as to reach the surface of the first semiconductor layer. The diffusion layer subdivides the second semiconductor layer into a plurality of semiconductor regions At least one photodiode portion for converting signal light into an electrical signal is formed at a junction between at least one of the plurality of semiconductor regions and the first semiconductor layer.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes: a photosensitive section essentially composed of a PN junction between a semiconductor multilayer structure of the first conductivity type and a first semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type; and a partitioning portion for splitting the photosensitive section into a plurality of regions. The semiconductor multilayer structure of the first conductivity type includes: a semiconductor substrate of the first conductivity type; a first semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type; and a second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type. The partitioning portion includes a third semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type extending from the first semiconductor layer of the second conductivity type so as to reach the second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type.

Abstract: A circuit-containing photodetector is provided which can have a high sensitivity and response to light of a short wavelength and can be manufactured in a good yield. The circuit-containing photodetector includes a semiconductor substrate, a semiconductor layer formed thereon, and a conductive impurity region formed in the semiconductor layer for transmitting a signal. In the semiconductor layer, a trench is formed to have a depth to reach the substrate. An impurity region of a photodetector element is formed at the surface of the semiconductor substrate exposed at the bottom of the trench. A signal processing circuit for processing an electric signal from the photodetector element is formed on the semiconductor layer. The conductive impurity region for transmitting the electric signal from the photodetector element is formed to extend from the bottom of the trench to the upper surface of the semiconductor layer.

Abstract: A collection method and system which restrains an increase in initial cost of energy-saving facilities, and can be applied to small scale facilities. According to the invention, the reduced amount of running cost of energy-saving facilities for a predetermined period is predictively computed based on a prediction of operation of the facilities by a target customer, and an initial cost is determined. Actual operation of the energy-saving facilities is monitored, and monitored information is stored in a history database. Based on the actual operation, the reduced amount of the running cost for the predetermined period is periodically calculated and stored in a database. A customer terminal and a financial institution terminal are periodically notified of the reduced amount via the Internet, and a business enterpriser draws the amount from the customer's account, and periodically collects the reduced amount.

Abstract: A circuit-incorporating photosensitive device comprising: an SOI wafer including a first silicon substrate, a second silicon substrate, and an oxide film; a photodiode formed in a first region of the SOI wafer; and a signal processing circuit formed in a second region of the SOI wafer, wherein the photodiode includes a photosensitive layer formed of an SiGe layer.

Abstract: A circuit-incorporating light receiving device comprises a first semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, a first semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type, a second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type, a diffusion region of the second conductivity type, provided in a first portion of the second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type, a circuit element provided in the first portion of the first semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type and a second portion of the second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type. The second semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type and the diffusion region of the second conductivity type form a light detection photodiode portion, and the diffusion region of the second conductivity type has a diffusion depth less than or equal to a penetration depth of short-wavelength signal light.

Abstract: An ice thermal storage type air conditioner includes an outdoor unit 14 equipped with a compressor 12 and an outdoor heat exchanger 13, an indoor unit 17 equipped with an indoor heat exchanger 16 and an expansion valve 18b, and an ice thermal storage tank 5. The ice thermal storage tank is equipped with a heat exchanger exchanger used as a condenser when the accumulated heat is used. The heat exchanger has a pipe-shaped heat transfer tube 1 and a plate-shaped fin 2 installed to the heat transfer tube. The fin is installed vertically, and a plurality of rows of the heat transfer tubes and the fins are arranged.

Abstract: An ice thermal storage type air-conditioner and an ice thermal storage tank, in which unused portions in the ice thermal storage tank is reduced to enhance an ice filling rate in the ice thermal storage tank or to prevent excessive icing from damaging a heat transfer unit.

Abstract: In a heat transfer tube for a zeotropic refrigerant mixture, the inner surface of the tube in which the zeotropic refrigerant mixture flows is formed with grooves having cross portions where the grooves intersect with each other, or the inner surface of the tube is formed with a plurality of independent projections. Thus, concentration boundary layers generated in the zeotropic refrigerant mixture are stirred to reduce the thickness of the concentration boundary layers, thereby decreasing the diffusion resistance and promoting the stirring effect. Consequently, there can be provided a heat transfer tube for a zeotropic refrigerant mixture which exhibits a high heat transfer performance, and a heat exchanger of a cross-fin tube type, a refrigerator and an air conditioner which include such heat transfer tubes.

Abstract: A heat exchanger, in which a plurality of fins formed on either an internal or an external face of a heat transfer tube, wherein each of the plurality of fins has a first portion including a fin top and a second portion including a fin root, and wherein the first portion has a ridgeline formed in a raised and recessed shape, or in a wave-like or corrugated shape, and the second portion has a substantially straight outline in a fin longitudinal direction in a cross section parallel to either the internal or the external face on which the plurality of fins are formed.

Abstract: A rotating motor is provided which permits heat to be efficiently dissipated from all of the stator, rotor, and inner and outer races of bearings. This assures that the rotor exhibits a high intensity as it turns. Also, long bearing life is assured. A coolant enters a cooling passage formed in a first end bracket from entrance pipes and makes a half revolution, thus cooling a first one of the bearings. Also, the coolant cools the rotor via cooling disks and rotor disks. Then, the coolant flows into an outer surface-cooling passage in a motor housing and takes a zigzag course so as to make a substantially half revolution, thus cooling the stator. The coolant then flows into a cooling passage in a second end bracket and makes one revolution, thus cooling a second bearing. At the same time, the rotor is cooled via the cooling disks and rotor disks. Subsequently, the coolant enters another outer surface-cooling passage and makes a substantially half revolution, thus cooling the stator.

Abstract: An air-conditioner of a heat pump type includes a refrigeration cycle including an interior heat exchanger, an exterior heat exchanger, a compressor, a four-way valve, and an expansion mechanism, and a non-azeotrope refrigerant composed of not less than two kinds of refrigerants is used as a working medium. A refrigerant path in each of the interior and exterior heat exchangers is divided into a group of first refrigerant passages located at a region where a proportion of the liquid-phase refrigerant is large and a group of second refrigerant passages located at a region where a proportion of the liquid-phase refrigerant is small. At least part of the group of first refrigerant passages of each of the interior and exterior heat exchangers is located at the windward side. Heat transfer tubes of the group of first refrigerant passages of each of the interior and exterior heat exchangers are smaller in flow-passage cross-sectional area than those of the corresponding group of second refrigerant passages.

Abstract: The regeneration temperature of a chemical heat pump of closed system utilizing reversible reaction between calcium oxide and water is lowered by using an aqueous solution of a salt in an absorber-condensor provided separately from a reactor filled with calcium hydroxide.

Abstract: The present invention provides an air conditioning apparatus for automobiles equipped with a heat exchanger and a control method for the apparatus, by which the heat transfer area of the heat exchanger can be properly controlled to permit a stable cycle operation, even when the capacity of a condenser is relatively overly enhanced under a condition of the low atmospheric temperature. The apparatus and the control method are achieved with such an arrangement that either one or both of headers of a heat exchanger is provided with at least one refrigerant flow rate control valve capable of opening and closing refrigerant passages in each header, the heat exchanger has a refrigerant inlet provided in one header and a refrigerant outlet provided in the other header, and the control valve is opened and closed to change the number of the passages allowing the refrigerant to pass therethrough, for thereby changing the effective heat transfer area for heat exchange dependent on the atmospheric temperature.

Abstract: A heat accumulation system has a plurality of chemical heat accumulation units arranged in parallel and each incorporating reaction vessels containing, respectively, a chemical heat accumulating material such as zeolite and a reaction medium such as water. Any surplus heat which could not be used in the regeneration of the chemical heat accumulation material in one system is utilized for evaporation of a reaction medium in the other unit. Disclosed also is a method of operating this system.

Abstract: A refrigerant flow rate measuring apparatus has a means for detecting the opening degree A of an expansion valve of a refrigeration cycle, a pressure detecting means for detecting the refrigerant pressure Pi at upstream side of the expansion valve, a pressure detecting means for detecting the refrigerant pressure Po at downstream side of the expansion valve, a refrigerant density detecting means for detecting the density .gamma.i of the refrigerant at the inlet side of the expansion valve, a converting means for directly or indirectly converting the values detected by the detecting means into electric signals, and a calculating means for calculating the flow rate of the refrigerant in accordance with the following formula, from the electric signals.

Abstract: A refrigerant flow rate control device for the refrigeration cycle of an air conditioning system of an automotive vehicle which is driven by a vacuum actuator includes a communication passageway for equalizing pressures applied to opposite ends of a valve body. The valve body has an intermediate portion maintained in communication with the atmosphere and connected to the vacuum actuator.

Abstract: In a refrigeration cycle in which the opening of the expansion valve is controlled by the super-heat degree of the refrigerant periodically detected at the outlet of the evaporator, a negative control signal is produced to rapidly change the opening of the expansion valve when the detected super-heat degree has reached zero. As a result, occurrence of the liquid back is prevented.