Author: claimsbot

1. A variable displacement vane pump, comprising:
a control ring pivotable between a first position wherein the pump has a maximum displacement and a second position wherein the pump has a minimum displacement;
a feedback mechanism responsive to the output pressure of the pump to move the control ring from the first position towards the second position in response to increases in the output pressure of the pump; and
a control spring biasing the control ring towards the first position, the longitudinal axis of the control spring being inclined at an angle of from about ten degrees to about eighty degrees with respect to a plane passing through the rotational axis about which the control ring pivots and the contact point between the control ring and the control spring.
2. A variable displacement pump according to claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axis of the control spring being inclined at an angle of from about twenty-five degrees to about sixty-five degrees when the control ring is in the first position.
3. A variable displacement pump according to claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axis of the control spring being inclined at an angle of from about thirty-five degrees to about fifty-five degrees when the control ring is in the first position.
4. A variable displacement pump according to claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axis of the control spring being inclined at an angle of from about forty degrees to about fifty degrees when the control ring is in the first position.
5. A variable displacement pump according to claim 1 wherein the control spring engages the control ring through a protrusion on the control ring, the protrusion having a curved surface allowing the protrusion to move across the end of the control spring.
6. A variable displacement pump according to claim 1 further comprising a spring cap over the end of the control spring, the spring cap engaging a protrusion on the control ring, the protrusion having a curved surface allowing the protrusion to move across the end of the spring cap.
7. A variable displacement pump according to claim 1 further comprising a spring cap over the end of the control spring, the spring cap engaging a protrusion on the control ring, and one of the protrusion and spring cap having a bearing surface allowing the protrusion to move across the end of the spring cap.
8. A variable displacement vane pump operable to provide a substantially constant output, independent of pump operating speed increases, when the pump is in its regulated operating region, the pump comprising:
a control ring pivotable between a first position wherein the pump has a maximum displacement and a second position wherein the pump has a minimum displacement;
a feedback mechanism responsive to the output pressure of the pump to move the control ring from the first position towards the second position in response to increases in the output pressure of the pump; and
a control spring biasing the control ring towards the first position, wherein the control spring is oriented with respect to a plane, extending through the rotational axis about which the control ring pivots and the contact point between the control ring and the spring, such that the moment arm of the control spring force about the point where the control ring pivots decreases as the control ring pivots towards the second position.

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 porous titanium having a low contact resistance comprising:
a porous titanium body having a skeletal structure and continuous holes that opens on an outer surface of the porous titanium body and are connected to each other to form inner holes;
an Au network formed on at least an outer surface of the skeletal structure of the porous titanium body as a continuous network structure by adhering and diffusion bonding Au on the outer surface of the skeletal structure; and
Ti oxide layers formed in clearances between adjacent Au cords of the Au network.
2. The porous titanium having a low contact resistance according to claim 1, wherein the width of at least a part of each of the Au cords of the Au network is 0.3 to 10 \u03bcm.
3. The porous titanium having a low contact resistance according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the Ti oxide layer formed in the clearance between adjacent Au cords of the Au network is 30 to 150 nm.
4. The porous titanium having a low contact resistance according to claim 2, wherein the thickness of the Ti oxide layer formed in the clearance between adjacent Au cords of the Au network is 30 to 150 nm.

1. A method of controlling birefringence in a rib waveguide structure manufactured in silicon, the rib waveguide structure comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces, the method comprising:
forming a blanket layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure directly abutting said upper face and side faces.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the blanket layer of silicon nitride extends over the substrate flanks on either side of the rib waveguide structure.
3. A method of controlling birefringence in a rib waveguide structure manufactured in silicon, the rib waveguide structure comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces, the method comprising:
growing a layer of oxide over the upper face and side faces;
stripping the oxide layer to reveal the upper face and side faces; and
forming a layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure directly abutting said upper face and side faces.
4. Use of a layer of silicon nitride in a method of fabricating a rib waveguide structure in silicon to control birefringence by depositing said layer to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure.
5. A method of manufacturing a silicon rib waveguide structure comprising:
forming an elongated rib element in a silicon substrate, the elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces; and
forming a layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said elongated rib element directly abutting said upper face and side faces, the predetermined thickness being selected such as to control birefringence in the rib waveguide structure.
6. A method of manufacturing a silicon rib waveguide structure, the method comprising:
forming an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces in a silicon substrate;
growing a layer of oxide over the upper face and side faces;
stripping the oxide layer to reveal the upper face and side faces; and
forming a layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure directly abutting said upper face and side faces.
7. A silicon rib waveguide structure comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces formed of silicon and a layer of silicon nitride directly abutting said upper face and side faces and having a predetermined thickness selected to control birefringence in the silicon rib waveguide structure.
8. A method or structure according to any preceding claim, wherein the predetermined thickness of the layer of silicon nitride is 1000 A for a waveguide structure having a width of 3-5 microns.
9. An evanescent coupler structure comprising first and second silicon rib waveguides each comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces formed of silicon and a layer of silicon nitride directly abutting said upper face and side faces and having a predetermined thickness selected to control birefringence in the evanescent coupler.
10. A structure according to claim 7, 8 or 9, wherein the blanket layer of silicon nitride extends over the substrate flanks on either side of the rib waveguide structure.
11. A method or structure according to any preceding claim wherein the waveguide structure is manufactured on a silicon-on-insulator wafer.

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. Device for optoelectronic monitoring of objects, with a transmitting unit (12) that transmits light beams (24) in a structured illuminating pattern, with a receiving unit (14), that contains an image recorder(28) on which the object (26) illuminated with structured illuminating pattern is recorded, and with a housing (10) in which the transmitting unit (12) and the receiving unit (14) are located and which has a faceplate (16) for the transmitting unit (12) and the receiving unit (14), characterized in that the transmitting unit (12), the receiving unit (14), and the faceplate (16) are positioned in the housing (10) so that the light beams that are directly reflected at the faceplate (16) do not travel (24) into the image recorder (28) of the receiving unit (14) and so that beams from the transmitting unit (12) that are diffusely scattered at the faceplate (16) are detected in the receiving unit (14) separately from the recording of the object (26).
2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmitting unit (12) contains a light source (18), a beam collimator (20), and a diffractive optical element (22) for purposes of producing the light beams (24).
3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the light beams (24) are individual beams spread fan-like in a scanning plane and in that the receiving unit (14) observes the object (26) at a viewing angle that is inclined with respect to this scanning plane.
4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the image recorder (28) contains a matrix arrangement of photoelectric elements.
5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that light beams (24) diffusely scattered at the faceplate (16) are recorded by the image recorder (28) separate from recording of the object (26).
6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the faceplate (16) has a diffusely scattering zone (46) whose recording (48) on the image recorder (28) is used for monitoring functionality.
7. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the receiving unit contains an additional receiving element (52) that is separate from the image recorder (28).
8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the receiving element receives beams from the transmitting unit (12) that are diffusely scattered at the faceplate (16).
9. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the receiving element (52) receives beams from the transmitting unit (12) that are directly reflected at the faceplate (16).
10. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that a wide angle light source (50) is provided that completely illuminates the image recorder (28) for purposes of checking functionality.