1. A cooling channel piston comprising:
a one-piece piston having an upper part with an upper face, a ring field in the upper part, and piston bosses and piston skirts;
a radially circumferential cooling channel having a kidney-like shape located behind the ring field, the cooling channel having an upper part behind the ring field and a lower part above the piston bosses and the piston skirts, the cooling channel extending behind the ring field in a direction of the upper face of the upper part of the piston;
the cooling channel piston having an outwardly oriented support region above the piston bosses and the piston skirts;
a closing element, which closes the cooling channel after the production thereof, fastened between a lower edge of the ring field and the support region; and
the lower edge of the ring field and the portion of the support region on which the closing element is fastened being co-linearly disposed in a plane substantially parallel to a longitudinal stroke axis of the piston, such that the entire closing element is disposed substantially parallel to a longitudinal stroke axis of the piston.
2. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1, characterized in that the closing element is formed of a heat-resistant plastic material.
3. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1, characterized in that the closing element has one of a unitary and a multi-part configuration.
4. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1,
characterized in that the closing element has at least one shoulder on one of an upper edge and a lower edge, the support region having a shoulder corresponding to the at least one shoulder of the closing element.
5. The cooling channel piston according to claim 4, characterized in that the closing element is one of releasably and non-releasably connected to one of the lower edge of the ring field and to the support region.
6. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1, characterized in that the closing element has at least one opening.
7. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1,
characterized in that at least one transverse connection is provided between the cooling channel and a piston inner region of the cooling channel piston.
8. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of transverse connections are provided between the cooling channel and a piston inner region of the cooling channel piston.
9. The cooling channel piston according to claim 1 characterized in that the closing element has a plurality of openings.
10. The cooling channel piston according to claim 2, characterized in that the closing element has one of a unitary and a multi-part configuration.
11. The cooling channel piston according to claim 4, characterized in that the closing element is one of releasably and non-releasably connected to one of the lower edge of the ring field and to the support region.
12. The cooling channel piston according to claim 3, characterized in that the closing element has at least one opening.
13. The cooling channel piston according to claim 4, characterized in that the closing element has at least one opening.
14. The cooling channel piston according to claim 11, characterized in that the closing element has at least one opening.
15. The cooling channel piston according to claim 4, characterized in that at least one transverse connection is provided between the cooling channel and a piston inner region of the cooling channel piston.
16. The cooling channel piston according to claim 5, characterized in that at least one transverse connection is provided between the cooling channel and a piston inner region of the cooling channel piston.
17. The cooling channel piston according to claim 6, characterized in that at least one transverse connection is provided between the cooling channel and a piston inner region of the cooling channel piston.
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. A process for providing decision support to a user of a workflow application, the process comprising:
using the workflow application stored in a memory connected to a computer, causing a processor of the computer to coordinate a plurality of workflow processes within the workflow application;
using an application program interface from a plurality of application program interfaces, connecting a decision support engine to the plurality of workflow processes within the workflow application and to a plurality of external data sources;
at a workflow process within the workflow application, sending a query that identifies an external data source within the plurality of external data sources;
using a query manager of the decision support engine, receiving the query;
using the query manager of the decision support engine, extracting from the query an identity of the external data source;
using a connection manager of the decision support engine, opening a connection to the external data source;
using the query manager of the decision support engine, transmitting the query to the external data source;
using the query manager of the decision support engine, receiving a query result from the external data source; and
using the query manager of the decision support engine, providing the query result to the workflow application,
wherein the plurality of external data sources are logically connected to the workflow application only through the decision support engine,
wherein the application program interface includes a set of utility programs, methods or objects used by an application developer to integrate a functionality of the decision support engine into the workflow application so that the decision support engine services a plurality of queries that support decision making from the plurality of workflow processes,
wherein each workflow process of the plurality of workflow processes interfaces with the decision support engine through a corresponding application program interface to specify at least one external data source and to submit at least one query to the decision support engine,
wherein a data source is any medium used to store structured data or any computer program to retrieve data from a structured data storage medium including a file, a database, a data mining application, an internet web service and an application service provider,
wherein the workflow application uses the application program interface to implement decision support logic, and
wherein the application developer implements the decision support logic into the workflow application without implementing logic to access the data source.