We claim:
1. A method of making a molded article for use in a casting process, comprising:
a. mixing sand particles with protein and water to effect a coating of protein on the sand particles;
b. drying the protein coated sand particles;
c. blowing the dry, protein coated sand particles without active cooling into a mold;
d. passing steam through the protein coated sand particles to hydrate and melt the protein, thereby forming bonds between contiguous sand particles to form a molded article; and
e. passing hot, dry air through the molded article to harden the protein bonds between contiguous sand particles.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the protein is a type of gelatin.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein gelatin is used at approximately 0.5 to 2.0% of the sand weight.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein a ratio of gelatin to water is approximately 1:1 to 1:5.
5. The method of claim 2, wherein a ratio of gelatin to water is approximately 1:2 to 1:3.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the drying step is performed using heat.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the heat is approximately 60 to 120 C.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mixing and the drying steps are performed simultaneously.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the steam is passed through the molded article for approximately 20 seconds at approximately 3 to 4 psi.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the hot, dry air is passed through the molded article for approximately 150 seconds.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the hot, dry air is approximately ambient temperature to 300 C.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the hot, dry air is approximately 100 to 150 C.
13. A method of making a sand core, comprising:
a. mixing sand particles with gelatin and water while supplying heat, wherein the heat melts the gelatin to effect a coating of gelatin on the sand particles and dries the gelatin coated sand particles;
b. blowing the dry, gelatin coated sand particles without active cooling into a mold;
c. passing steam through the gelatin coated sand particles to hydrate and melt the gelatin, thereby forming bonds between contiguous sand particles to form a molded article; and
d. passing hot, dry air through the molded article to harden the gelatin bonds between contiguous sand particles.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the heat is approximately 60 to 120 C.
15. A method of making a sand core, comprising:
a. mixing sand particles with gelatin and water to create a mixture;
b. supplying heat to the mixture to effect a coating of gelatin on the sand particles and to dry the water thereby drying the mixture;
c. grinding the mixture thereby making the mixture free flowing;
d. blowing the dry, gelatin coated sand particles into a mold;
e. passing steam through the gelatin coated sand particles to hydrate and melt the gelatin, thereby forming bonds between contiguous sand particles to form a molded article; and
f. passing hot, dry air through the molded article to harden the gelatin bonds between contiguous sand particles.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the mixture is heated and dried in an oven.
17. A method of making a sand core, comprising:
a. heating sand particles to above 40 C.;
b. mixing the heated sand particles with gelatin and water, wherein the heated sand particles melt the gelatin thereby coating the sand particles with gelatin;
c. drying the gelatin coated sand particles;
d. blowing the dry, gelatin coated sand particles into a mold;
e. passing steam through the gelatin coated sand particles to hydrate and melt the gelatin, thereby forming bonds between contiguous sand particles to form a molded article; and
f. passing hot, dry air through the molded article to harden the gelatin bonds between contiguous sand particles.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the mixing and drying steps are performed simultaneously.
19. A method of making a sand core, comprising:
a. mixing sand particles with protein and water to effect a coating of protein on the sand particles;
b. drying the protein coated sand particles;
c. blowing the dry, protein coated sand particles into a mold;
d. rehydrating the protein coating the sand particles within the mold thereby forming bonds between contiguous sand particles to form a molded article; and
e. passing hot, dry air through the molded article to harden the protein bonds between contiguous sand particles.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the protein is a type of gelatin.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
a moving image shooting unit configured to shoot a moving image;
a compression unit configured to compress a subject image in the moving image obtained from the moving image shooting unit to generate a compressed subject image;
a shooting mode changing unit configured to allow a user to change a shooting mode to a super-resolution mode in which images for a super-resolution processing generating a super resolution image using the images, which is a higher resolution image than each image, are shot, or a non-super resolution mode;
a compression ratio changing unit configured to change a compression ratio of compression by the compression ratio associated with the shooting mode, wherein the compression ratio in the super-resolution mode is lower than the compression ratio in the non-super-resolution mode; and
a recording unit configured to record the compressed subject image in a recording medium,
wherein in the super-resolution mode, the shooting mode changing unit changes the shooting mode to the non-super resolution mode automatically based on a predetermined number of images compressed at a low compression ratio being recorded by the recording unit, the predetermined number of images being set by a user so that the shooting mode is changed automatically when the predetermined number of images is reached and the predetermined number being equal to or larger than a number of images necessary to generate the super resolution image by the super resolution processing.
2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the super-resolution mode, the compression unit compresses frames to be generated by intraframe coding and compresses frames to be generated by interframe coding to generate the compressed subject image; and in the non-super resolution mode, the compression unit compresses frames to be generated by intraframe coding and compressed frames to be generated by interframe coding to generate the compressed subject image.
3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the super-resolution mode, the subject image is compressed only in compressed frames to be generated by intraframe coding; and in the non-super resolution mode, the subject image is compressed both in compressed frames to be generated by intraframe coding and compressed frames to be generated by interframe coding.
4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a header information writing unit configured to attach header information about the compression ratio to the compressed subject image,
wherein the recording unit records, in the recording medium, the compressed subject image to which the header information is attached.
5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:
a frame resolution changing unit configured to change frame resolution of a subject image to be recorded in the recording medium,
wherein the header information writing unit attaches header information about the frame resolution to the subject image; and
in the super-resolution mode, the frame resolution changing unit changes the frame resolution higher than that of in the non-super resolution shooting mode.
6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a primary storage unit configured to temporarily store a plurality of uncompressed subject images,
wherein when the shooting mode is changed to the super-resolution mode by the shooting mode changing unit, the compression unit compresses, at the lower compression ratio than that of in the non-super-resolution shooting mode, uncompressed subject images obtained before the time at which the shooting mode is changed to the super-resolution shooting mode and temporarily stored in the primary storage unit.
7. An image pickup method comprising:
shooting a moving image;
a compression step of compressing a subject image in the moving image obtained from a moving image shooting unit to generate a compressed subject image;
a shooting mode changing step of allowing a user to change from a super-resolution mode in which images for a super resolution processing generating a super resolution image using images, which is a higher resolution image than each image, are shot, or a non-super resolution mode;
a compression ratio changing step of changing a compression ratio associated with the shooting mode, wherein if the shooting mode is changed from the non-super-resolution mode to the super-resolution mode at the shooting mode changing step, the compression ratio is changed lower than that of the non-super resolution mode; and
a recording step of recording the compressed subject image in a recording medium,
wherein in the super-resolution mode, the shooting mode is changed to the non-super resolution mode automatically based on a predetermined number of images compressed at a low compression ratio being recorded, the predetermined number of images being set by a user so that the shooting mode is changed automatically when the predetermined number of images is reached and the predetermined number being equal to or larger than a number of images necessary to generate the super resolution image by the super resolution processing.
8. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions for a computer to execute an image pickup method comprising:
a moving image shooting step of shooting a moving image;
a compression step of compressing a subject image in the moving image obtained from a moving image shooting unit to generate a compressed subject image;
a shooting mode changing step of allowing a user to change from a super-resolution mode in which images for a super resolution processing generating a super resolution image using the images, which is a higher resolution image than each image, are shot, or a non-super resolution mode;
a compression ratio changing step of changing a compression ratio associated with the shooting mode, wherein if the shooting mode is changed from the non-super-resolution mode to the super-resolution mode at the shooting mode changing step, the compression ratio is changed lower than that of the non-super resolution mode; and
a recording step of recording the compressed subject image in a recording medium,
wherein in the super-resolution mode, the shooting mode is changed to the non-super resolution mode automatically based on a predetermined number of images compressed at a low compression ratio being recorded, the predetermined number of images being set by a user so that the shooting mode is changed automatically when the predetermined number of images is reached and the predetermined number being equal to or larger than a number of images necessary to generate the super resolution image by the super resolution processing.