Abstract:
A particle-harvesting material includes a flexible, reusable, and thermally conductive material including a rough surface having dimples of a size within a first range of sizes, a microstructure including interstices of a second range of sizes, the second range of sizes including sizes smaller than the first range of sizes, and an etched portion on the rough surface configured to attract particles upon contact between the particles and the etched portion.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a battery thermal management system for maintaining the temperature of a battery pack in a hybrid vehicle below a maximum operating temperature threshold. The system comprises a battery pack having a plurality of electronically linked cells and a supply air diffuser having a pattern of openings therein for diffusing exhausted air at a substantially uniform flow throughout the battery pack. The system further comprises sensors for monitoring the temperature of at least a portion of the cells, a fan comprising an inlet through which air is drawn in and an outlet in communication with at least the supply air diffuser, for exhausting air into the first diffuser to lower the temperature of the battery pack, and an electronic control unit in communication with the sensors and the fan for controlling operation of the fan based on temperature signals received from the sensors to maintain the temperature of the battery pack below a maximum operating temperature.
Abstract:
A vacuum cleaner has a hose and wand assembly (2a, 2b, 38), onto which a floor tool may be attached. The wand (38) comprises a plurality of telescoping tubes (39,- 40, 41) which can slide between retracted and extended positions. In order to be able to transmit power and signals from the vacuum cleaner to the end of the wand assembly, conductors (4, 5, 6) are provided in a channel (3a) in the hose. The hose (2a) is connected to the interior of the wand, just beyond the last telescoping joint, with the conductors extending beyond the end of the hose to a connector (48) at the far end of the wand. This arrangement automatically provides a reliable electrical connection down the wand. Previously, electrical conductors were not employed with this type of wand as it was not straightforward to provide electrical connections across the telescoping parts.
Abstract:
A method of source code instrumentation for computer program performance profiling includes generating (14) and inserting (19) instrumentation code around a call site of a child function in a parent function. The instrumentation code may use a reference to an unique instrumentation record (13), such as a timing record. The instrumentation code may be optimised (15) to use the exit time of a preceding call site in the parent function as the entry time of the call site. It may be inserted depending on the level in the call hierarchy of the child function and its execution at run time may depend on the state of an enable flag, which can be set via a viewing interface. Two versions of the child function may be generated (18), one being instrumented and other being non- instrumented and which one is run depends on the enable flag.
Abstract:
The invention relates to a method of determining the state-of-charge of a rechargeable lithium ion battery. In accordance with one aspect, the battery's discharge voltage is determined as a function of capacity for each one of a selected number of predetermined battery temperatures. The battery's terminal voltage and real time temperature are measured. A predetermined battery temperature closest to the battery's real time temperature is selected. The state-of-charge corresponding to the battery's terminal voltage for the predetermined battery temperature closest to the battery's real time temperature is then selected. In accordance with another aspect, the battery's impedance, real-time terminal voltage and real-time current are measured. The impedance and real-time current measurements are multiplied to derive a voltage drop, which is added to the real-time terminal voltage to derive the battery's open circuit voltage. The state-of-charge corresponding to that open circuit voltage is then derived.
Abstract:
A fan assembly (200) for generating an air flow within a room includes an annular casing which defines an interior passage (202). The interior passage includes an air inlet (204), and houses, downstream from the air inlet, an impeller (22) and a motor (26) for driving the impeller to draw an air flow through the air inlet and into the fan assembly. The interior passage also has an air outlet (208) from which at least a portion of the air flow is emitted from the fan assembly. The annular casing defines a bore (222) about which the interior passage (202) extends and through which a secondary air flow from outside the fan assembly is drawn by the air emitted from the air outlet (208).
Abstract:
A fan assembly for generating an air flow within a room includes an impeller and a motor for driving the impeller to draw an air flow into the fan assembly, and a casing having an interior passage with a scroll section having a cross-sectional area that decreases from a scroll inlet section to a scroll outlet section. The scroll inlet section has an inlet port for receiving the air flow and the scroll outlet section has an outlet port for returning a first portion of the air flow to the scroll inlet section. The scroll section includes an air outlet for emitting a second portion of the air flow from the casing. The casing defines a bore through which air from outside the fan assembly is drawn by the air emitted from the air outlet.
Abstract:
An implementation tool for generating an implementation of a first data structure, wherein the first data structure comprises a plurality of linked structural components, and wherein the first data structure represents meaningful components of a given system and a parent set of interrelationships between those meaningful components, the tool comprising: first-data-structure input means, operable to receive a said first data structure, or a description thereof; and processing means operable to generate an implementation of the received first data structure, the implementation comprising: a second data structure, or a description thereof, corresponding to said first data structure, wherein said second data structure is defined by a subset of the parent set of interrelationships; and implementation rules which allow the parent set of interrelationships to be enforced during a subsequent processing operation which utilises said implementation.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a battery management system for lithium ion batteries capable of determining a battery pack's state of capacity; determining a battery pack's state of charge limits; adjusting for voltage drops and power losses over a battery's internal and/or connector impedances; adjusting the upper and lower voltage limits of a battery pack; and of actively balancing the cells making up the battery pack. In order to achieve this functionality, the battery pack management system includes an electronic control unit, which unit is coupled to module and cell-level circuitry that is designed to measure operating conditions of the battery such as voltage and current at any given time.
Abstract:
A system (10) and method for executing an interactive software application such as a game. The invention enables a game developed on one platform to be ported to another incompatible platform without recompilation or modification while the performance of the game is not reduced on porting. The system has a game application (11) that defines model objects; an engine (13) that generates and stores model objects (14); and a hardware module (15) that retrieves the model objects and executes corresponding hardware methods. The engine does not make a sequence of procedure calls to the hardware module. An abstraction layer (17) provides synchronous communication between the hardware module and the game application and further provides synchronous communication between the engine and the hardware module.