Author: claimsbot

1. A tape transport apparatus adapted to receive a tape medium and to transport the tape medium in a transport direction in order to readwrite data thereon, comprising:
a. a transducer operative to readwrite data on the tape medium;
b. a plurality of air bearings each positioned on a respective side of said transducer and having a respective air bearing surface;
c. a tape cartridge for storing said tape medium, said tape cartridge including:
(i) a housing having an inlet port and an outlet port; and
(ii) a filter interposed in the housing between said inlet and outlet ports;

d. an air pump interposed in fluid communication between said outlet port and each respective air bearing surface, said air pump operative to draw ambient air through said filter via said inlet port to produce filtered air and to direct the filtered air through each respective air bearing surface to produce a cushion of air, and
e. a tape drive operative to advance the tape medium in the transport direction across said air bearings and said transducer such that said tape medium is supported on said cushion of air.
2. A tape transport apparatus according to claim 1 including a base plate for supporting said tape cartridge, said base plate having an air passageway formed therethrough which is adapted to be placed fluid communication between said outlet port and said pump when said tape cartridge is in a docked state on said tape transport apparatus.
3. A tape transport apparatus according to claim 2 including a seal element disposed in said passageway and adapted to provide sealing engagement between said base plate and said outlet port when said tape cartridge is in the docked state.
4. A tape transport apparatus according to claim 3 wherein seal element is an O-ring.
5. A tape transport apparatus according to claim 1 including a plurality of airflow conduits interconnecting said air pump in fluid communication between said outlet port and each respective air bearing surface.
6. A method of supplying filtered air to a tape transport apparatus that is adapted to receive a tape medium from a tape cartridge and to transport the tape medium in a transport direction in order to readwrite data thereon, wherein said tape transport apparatus includes a transducer operative to readwrite data on the tape medium, a plurality of air bearings each positioned on a respective side of said transducer and having a respective air bearing surface, a pressurized air source operative to supply pressurized air to said air bearings, and a tape drive operative to advance said tape medium in the transport direction on a cushion of air across said air bearings and said transducer, said method comprising:
a. drawing ambient air through a filter disposed within the data storage tape cartridge to produce filtered air; and
b. directing the filtered air through the respective air bearing surface of each of said air bearings to produce said cushion of air.
7. The method according to claim 6 including pressurizing the filtered air with an air pump before to directing the filtered air through each respective air bearing surface.
8. The method according to claim 7 including passing filtered air at an outlet of said air pump into a plenum chamber before directing the filter air through each respective air bearing surface.

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 pretreating lignocellulosic material by thermal hydrolysis, in particular with a view to producing bioethanol, wherein the material is first admixed with water andor aqueous liquid and is then passed to a reactor, in which the soaked material is subjected to a high temperature and a high pressure to such an extent that it is accessible for a subsequent treatment with enzymes, following which the treated material is separated into a liquid part and a solid part, wherein the liquid and solid parts may subsequently be used for the production of bioenthanol by enzymation and fermentation, characterized in that exclusively steam is used in the heating, stirring and transport of the material through the steps of the retreatment, where all transport is established by pressure differences, wherein the material (30) is admixed with water or aqueous liquid and is passed to the reactor (3) through a gate (2), which may be closed, following which steam (31) is supplied to the gate (2) at a pressure which is higher than the pressure in the reactor (3), following which the material in the reactor is subjected to steam (17, 26) which is introduced through nozzles, optionally at several levels, following which the finished material separated into a solid part (22, 29) and a liquid part (21, 28) in a separator (5), and wherein the solid part of discharged for further treatment, while the liquid phase is optionally collected or recirculated.
2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the separation takes place in an economizer (4) in which the pressure is lower than the pressure in the reactor (3).
3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the waste steam (16, 34, 36) from the economizer (4, 9) is passed to the gate (2) and the economizer (9) after the discharge of the solid part.
4. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the material is passed from the reactor (3) to an oxidation reactor (7) and from there to the economizer (4), and that the pressure in the oxidation reactor (7) is kept lower than the pressure in the reactor (3), respectively the pressure in the economizer (4) is kept lower than the pressure in the oxidation reactor (7),
5. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the pretreatment takes place in two steps, as the solid part (24) from the economizer (4) is transported to an additional reactor (8) and is treated in this, following which it is passed to an additional economizer (9) from which it is discharged for further treatment, and that the pressure in the additional reactor (8) is lower than the pressure in the economizer (4), respectively the pressure in the additional economizer (9) is lower than the pressure in the additional reactor (8), such that the material may be transported solely by the pressure differences,
6. A method according to claim 5, characterized in that oxygen is added to the additional reactor (8) or to an oxidation reactor between the additional reactor (8) and the additional economizer (9).
7. A system for pretreating lignocellulosic material by thermal hydrolysis, in particular with a view to producing bioethanol comprising, in sequence, means for adding water andor aqueous liquid to the material (15, 30), a gate (2), at least one reactor (3) which may be closed off from the gate (2), means for supplying steam (17, 26) at a high pressure and at a high temperature to the reactor through nozzles, optionally at several levels, one economizer (4), a separator (5) in the economizer for separating the material into a solid part and a liquid part, and means for discharging the solid part (27), wherein the pressure conditions in these elements constantly decrease in said sequence, and wherein transport or discharge takes place solely by the pressure difference between the individual elements.
8. A system according to claim 7, characterized in that it additionally comprises an additional reactor (8) and an additional economizer (9) arranged in sequence after the economizer (4).
9. A system according to claim 7, characterized in that it additionally comprises an oxidation reactor (7) arranged after the reactor (3).
10. A system according to claim 7, characterized in that it additionally comprises a vacuum cooler (13) for cooling the solid (27) and recovering energy in the form of flash steam (29).
11. A system according to claim 8, characterized in that it additionally comprises an oxidation reactor (7) arranged after the additional reactor (8).

1-9. (canceled)
10. An estimation method for estimating a porosity ratio of a sample of material from at least one gray-scale coded image representing the sample, the method comprising:
evaluating an intermediate ratio for each value of a plurality of gray-scale threshold values lying between two determined limit values, the intermediate ratio being equal to a ratio of a number of pixels of the at least one image having a gray-scale value bounded by the threshold value to a total number of pixels in the at least one image; and
estimating the porosity ratio of the sample by analyzing variations in the intermediate ratio as a function of the threshold value, the estimating the porosity ratio comprising:
identifying, on a curve representing variations in the intermediate ratio as a function of threshold value, a point reflecting a significant change in slope of the curve; and
estimating the porosity ratio of the sample from an ordinate value of the point.
11. An estimation method according to claim 10, wherein the point reflecting a significant change of slope in the curve corresponds to a maximum of the second derivative of the curve.
12. An estimation method according to claim 10, wherein the at least one gray-scale coded image is an image representing the sample in three dimensions, and the estimated porosity ratio is a volume porosity ratio.
13. An estimation method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one gray-scale coded image is obtained by tomography.
14. An estimation method according to claim 10, wherein limit values are determined from information contained in the at least one gray-scale coded image.
15. An estimation method according to claim 10, wherein the material is a composite material.
16. An estimation method according to claim 10, further comprising, prior to the evaluating, classifying the gray-scale values of the at least one gray-scale coded image in increasing or decreasing order.
17. A non-transitory computer readable medium including executable instructions for executing the estimation method according to claim 10 when the instructions are executed by a computer.
18. A device for estimating a porosity ratio of a sample of material from at least one gray-scale coded image representing the sample, the device comprising:
means for evaluating an intermediate ratio for each value of a plurality of gray-scale threshold values lying between two determined limit values, the intermediate ratio being equal to a ratio of a number of pixels of the at least one image having a gray-scale value bounded by the threshold value to a total number of pixels of the at least one image; and
means for estimating the porosity ratio of the sample by analyzing variations in the intermediate ratio as a function of threshold value, the means for estimating:
identifying, on a curve representing variations in the intermediate ratio as a function of threshold value, a point reflecting a significant change of slope in the curve; and
estimating the porosity ratio of the sample from the ordinate value of the point.

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 Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) apparatus for recirculating engine exhaust gas comprising:
a valve member disposed in an exhaust gas recirculation passage of an engine, the valve member movable between an open position and a closed position to control the flow of the exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage; and
a bleeder that enables flow of exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage when the valve member is in the closed position, the bleeder comprises a bleeder valve to regulate a size of the bleeder.
2. The EGR apparatus of claim 1 wherein the bleeder is a size that enables a flow of at least 5%-15% of exhaust gas produced at full engine operation power in an engine cycle.
3. The EGR apparatus of claim 2 wherein the bleeder is a size that enables a flow of at least 7%-12% of exhaust gas produced at full engine operation power in an engine cycle.
4. The EGR apparatus of claim 3 wherein the bleeder is located in the valve member.
5. A method of assembling the EGR apparatus, comprising the steps of:
providing a valve member in an exhaust gas recirculation passage of an engine, the valve member movable between an open position and a closed position to control the flow of the exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage; and
forming a bleeder that enables flow of exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage when the valve member is in the closed position, the bleeder comprises a bleeder valve to regulate a size of the bleeder.
6. A method of assembling the EGR apparatus of claim 5 further comprising the following step prior to the step of forming the bleeder:
determining a size of the bleeder which enables a flow of at least 5%-15% of exhaust gas produced at full engine operation power in an engine cycle.
7. A method of assembling the EGR apparatus of claim 5 wherein the step of forming the bleeder involves forming the bleeder in the valve member.
8. An Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) apparatus for recirculating engine exhaust gas comprising:
a valve member disposed in an exhaust gas recirculation passage of an engine, the valve member movable between an open position and a closed position to control the flow of the exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage; and
a bleeder that enables flow of exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage when the valve member is in the closed position,
wherein the bleeder comprises a bleeder valve to regulate a size of the bleeder.