1. A method of enabling a person to exercise in either one of two different modes comprising:
providing a resilient foot engaging unit and an exercising apparatus capable of selectively: (1) coupling the resilient foot engaging unit to the exercising apparatus to provide the user with one mode of exercise, and (2) releasing the resilient foot engaging unit from the exercising apparatus to enable use of the resilient foot engaging unit by itself to provide the exercising person with a different mode of exercise.
2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said exercising apparatus provides a movable body carriage for the exercising person which supports the exercising person in an operative position which allows the feet of the exercising person to move with respect to the movable body carriage;
said resilient foot engaging unit when embodied in said exercising apparatus being positioned to be engaged by one of both of the feet of the exercising person supported on the movable body carriage;
said exercising apparatus providing for the absorption of the energy of the movement of the movable body carriage in a first direction away from the resilient foot engaging unit by the exercising person supported thereon and the conversion of the absorbed energy to a movement of the movable body carriage with the exercising person supported thereon in a second direction toward the resilient foot engaging unit;
said resilient foot engaging unit when embodied in said exercising apparatus providing for the resilient absorption of the energy of movement of the resilient foot engaging unit caused by the engagement thereof by one or both of the feet of an exercising person moving with the movable body carriage in said second direction and the conversion of the absorbed energy to a bounce-off movement from the resilient engaging foot unit in the first direction, which the exercising person can translate into a movement of the movable body carriage in the first direction, the arrangement being such that the exercising person can control the repetition and magnitude of the movements of the movable body carriage by flexure of the legs at the knees.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein a movement of the movable body carriage in the second direction is accomplished by a leg movement of the exercising person against the resilient engaging foot unit, which is translated into a movement of the movable body carriage in the second direction.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein a movement of the movable body carriage in the second direction is accomplished, at least in part, by an arm movement of the exercising person in the first direction, which is translated into a movement of the movable body carriage in the second direction.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the movable body carriage is movable in a generally horizontal plane, and
wherein the absorption of the energy of movement of the movable body carriage in the first direction is effected by one or more tensile resilient resistance elements coupled to the movable body carriage.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the movable body carriage is movably supported in an inclined plane above a horizontal surface; and
wherein the first direction is upwardly along the inclined plane and the second direction is downwardly along the inclined plane.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the absorption of the energy of movement of the movable body carriage is by the upward movement of the exercising person supported on the movable body carriage along the inclined plane against the influence of gravity; and
wherein the conversion of the energy of movement of the movable body carriage is by the downward movement of the exercising person supported on the movable body carriage along the inclined plane under the influence of gravity.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the absorption and conversion of the resilient foot engaging unit are effected, at least in part, by movements of resilient elastomeric cords.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein said resilient foot engaging unit includes a unit frame being disposed: (1) when said resilient foot engaging unit is in said operative position at an angle to a horizontal support surface, and (2) when said unit is in use by itself in a position extending horizontally along the horizontal support surface.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein said resilient foot engaging unit includes an inflated dome shaped bladder mounted on said unit frame providing the resiliency of the resilient foot engaging unit.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein said resilient foot engaging unit includes a flexible sheet member resiliently mounted on said unit frame to form a resilient foot engaging trampoline unit.
12. An exerciser comprising:
a frame assembly;
a movable body carriage supported by said frame assembly and constructed and arranged to support the body of an exercising person in a position which allows the body of the exercising person to move with the movable body carriage while enabling the feet of the exercising person to be moved with respect to said movable body carriage; and
a resilient foot engaging assembly coupled with said frame assembly and constructed and arranged to be engaged by the feet of the exercising person supported on said movable body carriage,
said movable body carriage being supported for movement in a first direction away from said resilient foot engaging assembly and a second direction toward said resilient foot engaging assembly; and
said resilient foot engaging assembly being releasably fixed relative to the frame assembly and constructed and arranged to yield resiliently in response to the engagement of the feet of the exercising person moving with the movable body carriage in said second direction and to establish, as a result of the resilient yielding, a bouncing movement by the resilient foot engaging assembly in said first direction which can be translated by the exercising person into a movement of said movable body carriage in said first direction,
said resilient foot engaging assembly being releasable from said fixed relation relative to said frame assembly and being constructed and arranged to independently function as a floor engaging exercising unit by itself.
13. The exerciser of claim 12, wherein said frame assembly includes a set of generally parallel tracks constructed and arranged to be rollingly engaged by rollers provided on said movable body carriage.
14. The exerciser of claim 13, wherein movable body carriage is rollingly movable along said tracks in a generally horizontal plane.
15. The exerciser of claim 12, wherein said frame assembly includes a stand structure constructed and arranged to support said tracks.
16. The exerciser of claim 15, wherein said stand structure is constructed and arranged to support said tracks in a generally inclined plane above a horizontal surface.
17. The exerciser of claim 16, wherein said stand structure defines a number of support positions so as to allow said tracks to be mounted on said stand structure in any one of the number of support positions, each of the number of support positions defining different inclined plane above the horizontal surface.
18. The exerciser of claim 12, wherein absorption of energy by the body carriage resulting from application of force from the exercising person supported on the movable body carriage is conducted against the influence of gravity.
19. The exerciser of claim 12, further comprising one or more elongated tensile resilient resistance elements selectively coupled between said frame assembly and said movable body carriage;
wherein said elongated tensile resilient resistance elements absorb energy of movement of said movable body carriage with the exercising person supported thereon in said first direction and convert it to movement of the body carriage with the exercising person supported thereon in said second direction.
20. The exerciser of claim 12, said movable body carriage further comprising hand grips mounted thereto, said hand grips being arranged on said movable body carriage such that they may be gripped by the hands of the exercising person.
21. The exerciser of claim 12, further comprising a set of pull lines, said pull lines being connected to said movable body carriage at respective first ends thereof, having grips constructed and arranged to be engaged by the exercising person at respective second ends thereof, and being trained between said first and second ends over a set of pulleys carried by said first mentioned frame assembly;
the arrangement being such that a movement in the second direction of said pull lines by the arms of the exercising person engaging said grips is translated into a movement of said movable body carriage in said first direction.
22. The exerciser as defined in claim 12, wherein said resilient foot engaging unit comprises an inflated bladder.
23. The exerciser as defined in claim 12, wherein said resilient foot engaging unit comprises an individual circular floor engaging trampoline unit.
24. A dual mode exercising apparatus comprising:
a resilient foot engaging unit including a unit frame having resilient foot engaging structure thereon,
said unit frame being constructed and arranged to be supported on a horizontal floor surface in a first angled position so as to enable a user to perform exercise movements in which the user moves downwardly on the resilient foot engaging structure which bouncingly returns an upward movement to the user,
an exerciser constructed and arranged to have said resilient foot engaging unit removably attached thereto in an operative position wherein said unit frame is supported in a second angled position disposed at an angle to the horizontal,
said exerciser including a body carriage movable in opposite directions under a resistance system for supporting a user thereon in such a way that the user can, during a movement of the body carriage in one direction, engage the resilient foot engaging structure with the user’s feet and use the bouncingly return movement thereof to effect a movement of said body carriage in a direction opposite the first direction.
25. A dual mode exercising apparatus as defined in claim 24, wherein said resilient foot engaging structure comprises an inflated dome shaped bladder.
26. A dual mode exercising apparatus as defined in claim 24, wherein said resilient foot engaging structure comprises a flexible trampoline sheet member resiliently supported on said unit frame.
27. An exerciser comprising:
a track;
a movable body carriage mounted on said track to enable movement of said movable body support along said track in opposite directions;
an elastically deformable foot engaging assembly arranged to be engaged by feet of an exercising person supported by the movable body carriage,
said movable body carriage being movable in a first direction away from said elastically deformable foot engaging assembly and a second direction toward said elastically deformable foot engaging assembly,
said elastically deformable foot engaging assembly being elastically deformable upon receipt of force applied by engagement of the feet of the exercising person, wherein said elastic deformation of said elastically deformable foot engagable applies a force against the feet of the exercising person to facilitate a movement of said movable body carriage in said first direction away from said elastically deformable foot engaging assembly,
said elastically deformable foot engaging assembly including an inflated bladder.
28. An exercising apparatus comprising:
a frame structure constructed and arranged to be supported on a horizontal surface;
a foot engaging unit disposed on said frame structure;
a movable body carriage mounted on said frame structure for movement toward and away from said foot engaging unit; and
an electromechanical system between the frame structure and said movable body carriage for biasing said movable body carriage toward said foot engaging unit and for resisting movement of said movable body carriage away from said foot engaging unit, the electromechanical system including an electrical control circuit for electrically controlling the amount of bias and resistance provided by said electromechanical system.
29. The exercising apparatus as defined in claim 28 wherein said electromechanical system is a electromagnetic system.
30. The exercising apparatus as defined in claim 29 wherein said electromagnetic system comprises a solenoid coil unit and a solenoid plunger mounted for movement into and out of said solenoid coil unit.
31. The exercising apparatus as defined in claim 30 wherein said foot engaging unit comprises a trampoline unit.
32. The exercising apparatus as define in claim 30 wherein said foot engaging unit comprises a dome unit having an inflatated bladder.
33. The exercising apparatus as defined in claim 30 wherein said foot engaging unit comprises an inverted U-shaped bar unit.
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 method of modelling the evolution of the pH value of a porous medium after injection of an amount of alkaline agent solution into said medium, by means of a flow simulator modelling a soda transport through said porous medium, characterized in that:
the alkaline agent is considered as a soda pseudo-constituent of concentration equal to an OH\u2014 concentration corresponding to the pH value of said alkaline agent solution injected,
an OH\u2014 ions adsorption equation depending on parameters to be calibrated is used, this equation being calibrated to experimental data for determining an amount of soda pseudo-constituent adsorbed from the concentration of the soda pseudo-constituent,
the evolution of the pH value is modelled by modelling the transport of the alkaline agent solution by means of said soda transport simulator, by replacing the soda by the soda pseudo-constituent.
2) A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein calibration of the adsorption equation is performed by applying the following stages:
determining an experimental pH profile describing a pH evolution as a function of a volume of solution injected, by injecting said alkaline agent solution into a sample of said medium, and by measuring the pH value of the effluents leaving the sample,
determining a simulated pH profile by modelling the injection of alkaline agent solution into the sample by means of said simulator and of the adsorption equation,
modifying parameters of the adsorption equation until differences between said simulated profile and said experimental profile are minimized.
3) A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adsorption equation has the form of a Langmuir isotherm relative to an OH\u2014 concentration.
4) A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the adsorption equation is written as follows:
C
r
OH
–
=
q
ma
\ue89e
\ue89e
x
\ue89e
k
e
\xb7
C
w
OH
–
1
+
k
e
\xb7
C
w
OH
–
with:
CwOH\u2014: amount, concentration, of the soda pseudo-constituent in the solution
CrOH\u2014: amount, mass fraction, of the soda pseudo-constituent adsorbed
qmax, ke: parameters of the adsorption equation to be calibrated.
5) A method for enhanced recovery of hydrocarbons contained in an underground porous medium, by means of a technique of sweeping the medium by an aqueous solution comprising at least one chemical product intended to improve sweeping of said medium, wherein an amount of alkaline agent is additionally introduced so as to limit the adsorption of said chemical product, characterized in that the amount of alkaline agent to be injected is determined by carrying out the following stages:
modelling an evolution of the pH value in said porous medium after injection of an amount of alkaline agent solution into said medium, by means of the method as claimed in any one of the previous claims,
repeating said pH evolution modelling for various amounts of alkaline agent solution injected,
selecting the amount of alkaline agent solution to be added so as to optimize the enhanced recovery of hydrocarbons.