I claim:
1. Apparatus to connect first portions of at least two cables to respective second portions of the at least two cables, the apparatus comprising:
a male member coupled to the first portions of the cables;
a female member coupled to the second portions of the cables;
an actuation mechanism;
wherein the actuation mechanism is adapted to displace at least part of at least one of the first and second portions of the cables radially to engage with the other portions of the cables.
2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the female member is adapted to receive at least a portion of the male member.
3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second portions comprise mating faces and the respective first and second portions of the cables engage at their mating faces.
4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein movement of the actuation mechanism results in the radial displacement of the said at least one of the first and second portions of the cables.
5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the female member is adapted to engage at least a portion of the male member and movement of the actuation mechanism in the direction of engagement of the male and female members results in the radial displacement of the said at least one of the first and second portions of the cables.
6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein movement of the actuation mechanism results in the radial displacement of the first portion of the cables radially to engage with the second portion of the cables.
7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first portions of the cables are displaced radially outwards from the male member.
8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the actuation mechanism comprises a tapered member having a tapered surface.
9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first portions of the cables comprise an engaging member which is adapted to engage the tapered surface of the tapered member.
10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein movement of the tapered member to cause a wider portion of the tapered member to engage with each engaging member causes radial displacement of each engaging member and the first portions of the cables coupled thereto.
11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the face of each engaging member engaging the tapered member is a curved face with a smaller radius of curvature than the face of the tapered member which it engages.
12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein each engaging member has at least one slot.
13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a guidance mechanism is provided between the male and female members.
14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the guidance mechanism comprises a first substantially hollow cone-shaped member attached to one of the male and female member and a second cone-shaped member attached to the other of the male and female members wherein the first cone-shaped member is adapted to receive the second cone-shaped member.
15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the male member has a protection mechanism to cover the mating races or the first portions or the cables.
16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the protection mechanism comprises a tubular member and a biasing device.
17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the biasing device deforms on entry of the male member into the female member to uncover the mating faces of the cables and reforms when the male member is withdrawn from the female member to cover the mating faces of the cables with the tubular member.
18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the male member further comprises an end plate member.
19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each first portion of cable further comprises a supporting member.
20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the male member further comprises an end plate member and each supporting member extends from the end plate member to an engaging member.
21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein a biasing mechanism is provided to resist radial movement of the supporting members.
22. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a rotation alignment mechanism to rotationally align the male and female members with respect to each other.
23. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an axial alignment mechanism to axially align the male and female members with respect to each other.
24. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the male member comprises a casing device provided with a plurality of apertures through which the mating faces can protrude.
25. Apparatus to connect a first portion of a cable to a second portion of the cable, the apparatus comprising:
a male member coupled to the first portion of the cable;
a female member coupled to the second portion of the cable;
an actuation mechanism;
wherein the actuation mechanism is adapted to displace at least part of one of the first and second portions of the cable radially to engage with the other portion of the cable.
26. A method to connect first portions of at least two cables to second portions of at least two cables, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a male member coupled to the first portions of the cables;
providing a female member coupled to the second portions of the cables;
providing an actuation mechanism; and
moving the actuation mechanism such that at least a part of the first or second portions of the cables are radially displaced to engage with the other portions of the cables.
27. A method to connect a first portion of a cable to a second portion of a cable, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a male member coupled to the first portion of the cable;
providing a female member coupled to the second portion of the cable;
providing an actuation mechanism; and
moving the actuation mechanism such that at least a part of one of the first and second portions of the cable is radially displaced to engage with the other portion of the cable.
28. An apparatus comprising a female receptacle with at least one individual connector halve(s) and a male coupler with at least one individual mating connector halve(s) that connect and lock with the individual connector halve(s) of the female receptacle when the male multiway coupler is inserted into the female multiway receptacle and is actuated, wherein the connector actuation mechanism, within the male coupler, consists of a tapered mandrel whose axial travel forces the connector halve(s) radially outwards through holes in the body of the male coupler and into connection with the mating connector halve(s) housed within the female receptacle.
29. Apparatus to connect a plurality of first conduits to respective second conduits, the apparatus comprising:
a male member coupled to the first conduits;
a female member coupled to the second conduits;
an actuation mechanism; and
a radially movable portion capable of moving at least one of the conduits;
wherein the actuation mechanism is adapted to move the radially movable portion in a radial direction to connect the first and second conduits.
30. Apparatus as claimed in claim 29, wherein the conduits are cables.
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 intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend obtainable by adding:
a. a mixture of poly (3,5-ethylenedioxythiophene) and poly(4-styrenesulphonate) (i.e. PEDOTPSS); to
b. a copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene to thereby form the intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend.
2. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend according to claim 1 wherein the viscosity of the PEDOTPSS is about 60 to about 100 mPa\xb7s.
3. An intrinisically conducting polymer (ICP) blend according to any of claims 1 or 2 wherein the amount of PSS present is in excess of the amount of PEDOT.
4. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the ratio of PEDOT:PSS ranges from about 1:1.1 to about 1:5, from about 1:1.3 to about 1:2 or about 1:2.5.
5. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the PEDOTPSS is in a liquid form and has a concentration of about 1-2% by weight, about 1-10% by weight or about 3% by weight.
6. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the PEDOTPSS is dissolved in a solvent such as water.
7. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the ratio of vinylacetate:ethylene is about 80:20.
8. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the particle size of the vinylacetate:ethylene mixture is about 0.1-10 microns, 0.1-5 microns, 0.3-3.0 microns or about 0.3-1.2 microns.
9. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the viscosity of the vinylacetate:ethylene copolymer is about 1,000-40,000 mPa\xb7s, about 1-20,000 mPa\xb7s, about 14,000 mPa\xb7s or about 2,500 mPa\xb7s.
10. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the vinylacetate:ethylene copolymer mixture is acidic and has a pH of about 2-6, about 3-5 or about 4.25.
11. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein prior to mixing the PEDOTPSS and the copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene, the PEDOTPSS is mixed with an acid such as a carboxylic acid.
12. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to claim 11 wherein the carboxylic acid is selected from any C1-C20 carboxylic acid, or combination thereof.
13. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to claim 12 wherein the carboxylic acid is any of methanoic acid, ethanoic acid, propanoic acid, butanoic acid, pentanoic acid, hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid and octanoic acid.
14. An intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to any preceding claim wherein the ICP formed by mixing the PEDOTPSS and the copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene forms a substantially homogenous blend.
15. A coated product wherein the coated product comprises a substrate with a coating of an intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend comprising PEDOTPSS and a copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene according to any of claims 1 to 14.
16. A coated product according to claim 15 wherein the coating is found to adhere strongly to the substrate, has good mechanical stability and is resistant to exfoliating.
17. A coated product according to any of claims 15 or 16 wherein the substrate is man made such as cellulose acetate, polypropylene, nylon or a biopolymer produced from renewable resources such as poly-lactic acid, poly-glycollic acid, or any copolymer thereof.
18. A coated product according to any of claims 15 to 17 wherein the coating has a thickness of about 0.001 to 0.5 mm, about 0.01 to 0.1 mm, or about 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04 mm.
19. A coated product according to any of claims 15 to 18 wherein the resistance of a coated part of the coated substrate may be about 0.1 to 500 k-ohm.
20. A coated product according to any of claims 15 to 19 wherein the coated substrate is treated with a metal salt solution dissolved in aqueous acid.
21. A coated product according to claim 20 wherein the metal salt solution is magnesium sulphate.
22. A coated product according to any of claims 20 or 21 wherein the concentration of the salt solution is about 0.01 to 5 M, about 0.05 to 1 M or about 0.1 M.
23. A coated product according to claim 20 wherein the aqueous acid is a short chain carboxylic acid such as formic acid.
24. A coated product according to claim 23 wherein the volume ratio of the carboxylic acid such as formic acid and water is about 1:1 to 1:4.
25. A coated product according to any of claims 20 to 24 wherein the treated coated substrate is rinsed successively with water to remove excess salt, followed by ethanol and acetone.
26. A coated product according to any of claims 20 to 25 wherein treating the coated substrate with a metal salt solution dissolved in aqueous acid has the effect of \u2018fine tuning\u2019 the surface and decreases the surface resistance to about less than 5 k-ohms, less than 1 k-ohms or less than about 0.5 k-ohms.
27. A method of forming a coated substrate wherein coating material is formed by adding PEDOTPSS to a copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene to form an intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend according to any of claims 1 to 14 and depositing the intrinsically conductive polymer (ICP) blend onto a substrate.
28. A method according to claim 27 wherein the ICP blend is deposited by any suitable means such as spraying, brushing, or using a dropper such as a syringe.
29. An electrode comprising a coated substrate wherein the coating of the coated substrate is an intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend comprising PEDOTPSS and a copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene according to any of claims 1 to 14.
30. Use of an electrode according to claim 29 in dental apparatus for the detection of caries.
31. Use of an electrode according to claim 29 as a thin, intermediate layer between an anode and a light emitting layer of organic polymers wherein the PEDOTPSS copolymer blends polarise the otherwise rough ITO surface for subsequent organic layer deposition and increase the anode work function, thus facilitating hole injection.
32. Use according to claim 31, wherein the anode is indium-tin oxide (ITO).
33. Use of an intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) blend according to any of claims 1 to 14 in forming conductive composite materials by depositing or impregnating the ICP blends onto natural or synthetic fabrics.
34. Use of an intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) according to claim 33 in the formation of an electrode.
35. Dental apparatus for the detection of dental caries comprising:
at least one probe electrode comprising a coated substrate wherein the coating of the coated substrate is an intrinsically conducting polymer of PEDOTPSS and a copolymer of vinylacetate and ethylene according to the first aspect, wherein the at least one probe is adapted to be placed in electrical contact with a surface of a patient’s tooth;
a second electrode adapted to be placed in electrical contact with another part of the body of the patient;
an alternating current source adapted for passing an alternating electrical current between said at least one probe electrode and said second electrode;
impedance measurement means for measuring the electrical impedance between the at least one probe electrode and the second electrode to said electrical current;
wherein said alternating current source is a variable frequency alternating current source whereby the frequency of the alternating current applied to the tooth may be varied over a predetermined frequency range and the impedance measurement means is adapted to measure impedancies corresponding to a plurality of frequency values within said range.
36. Dental apparatus according to claim 35, wherein by monitoring the impedance values, abnormalities in the detected signal are used to detect and locate dental caries.