Author: claimsbot

1. An inducer comminutor device for a solids-bearing, fluid handling system, comprising:
a housing comprising an inducer section and a comminutor section, the inducer section containing an inducer therein and the comminutor section containing a comminutor therein, said housing having and inlet and an outlet, and being adapted for installation in a fluid flow upstream of a main pump impeller, whereby the comminutor is positioned between the inducer and the main pump impeller; and
a rotor disposed within the housing so as to occupy both the comminutor section and the inducer section, a first portion of said rotor being a constituent component of the inducer and a second portion of said rotor being a constituent component of the comminutor, said rotor comprising a hub and at least one rotor blade helically disposed thereon, the at least one rotor blade having a blade pitch angle progressively increasing in pitch angle from the inlet to the outlet as a first polynomial function, the rotor having a cross-section spacing from blade to blade which increases from the inlet to the outlet, the hub having a larger diameter at the outlet than the hub diameter at the inlet, the change in hub diameter from the inlet to the outlet being describable by a second polynomial function; said inducer and said comminutor defining a total fluid flow passageway through which fluid and solids transported thereby can flow from the inlet to the outlet, the solids being reduced in size by the comminutor during passage there through without separation of the fluid from the solids.
2. The inducer comminutor device of claim 1: further comprising
a rotating arc of said at least one rotor blade defining a rotor diameter;
the comminutor section having a comminutor wall defining a comminutor wall diameter, and inward extending vanes depending from the comminutor wall defining a vane diameter, the inducer section having an inducer wall diameter, the vane diameter and the inducer wall diameter being sufficiently larger than the rotor diameter to accommodate said rotor and rotation thereof without mechanical interference, the vane diameter being sufficiently close to the rotor diameter whereby rotating said rotor blades sweeping past said vanes comprise a crushing and shearing action on such solids as may enter therebetween; and
said hub and said at least one rotor blade comprising individual inducer fluid flow passages; said vanes and said comminutor wall comprising individual comminutor fluid flow passages.
3. The inducer comminutor of claim 2, wherein at least one blade comprises at least one cut-out on an outer edge of the blade in the comminutor section whereby solids transported in a fluid flow through the device are subjected to a crushing and shearing action between a striking edge of said cut-out and said vanes.
4. The inducer comminutor device of claim 3, said at least one cut-out being step shaped with a radially oriented leading edge directed towards fluid flow.
5. The inducer comminutor device of claim 4, further comprising a total sectional area of the fluid flow passageway measured on a plane normal to the meridional plane of the device at the outlet being greater than a sectional area of a throat of an impeller passage of the downstream main pump impeller, and the smallest sectional area of any individual said fluid flow passage being less than the sectional area of the throat of the downstream impeller passage.
6. An inducer comminutor device for a solids-bearing, fluid handling system, comprising:
a housing comprising an inducer section and a comminutor section, the inducer section containing an inducer therein and the comminutor section containing a comminutor therein, said housing having and inlet and an outlet, and being adapted for installation in a fluid flow upstream of a main pump impeller, whereby the comminutor is positioned between the inducer and the main pump impeller;
a rotor disposed within the housing so as to occupy both the comminutor section and the inducer section, a first portion of said rotor being a constituent component of the inducer and a second portion of said rotor being a constituent component of the comminutor, said rotor comprising a hub and at least one rotor blade helically disposed thereon, the at least one rotor blade having a blade pitch angle progressively increasing in pitch angle from the inlet to the outlet as a first polynomial function, the rotor having a cross-section spacing from blade to blade which increases from the inlet to the outlet, the hub having a larger diameter at the outlet than the hub diameter at the inlet, the change in hub diameter from the inlet to the outlet being describable by a second polynomial function;
said inducer and said comminutor defining a total fluid flow passageway through which fluid and solids transported thereby can flow from the inlet to the outlet, the solids being reduced in size by the comminutor during passage there through without separation of the fluid from the solids;
a rotating arc of said at least one rotor blade defining a rotor diameter;
the comminutor section having a comminutor wall defining a comminutor wall diameter and inward extending vanes depending from the comminutor wall defining a vane diameter, the inducer section having an inducer wall diameter, the vane diameter and the inducer wall diameter being sufficiently larger than the rotor diameter to accommodate said rotor and rotation thereof without mechanical interference, the vane diameter being sufficiently close to the rotor diameter whereby rotating said rotor blades sweeping past said vanes comprise a crushing and shearing action on such solids as may enter there between;
said hub and said blades comprising individual inducer fluid flow passages;
said vanes and the wall of said comminutor section comprising individual comminutor fluid flow passages;
said at least one blade comprising at least one step shaped cut-out on an outer edge of the blade in the comminutor section whereby solids transported in a fluid flow through the device are subjected to a further said crushing and shearing action between a striking edge of said cut-out and said vanes; and
said device further comprising a total sectional area of the fluid flow passageway measured on a plane normal to the meridional plane of the device at the outlet being greater than a sectional area of a throat of an impeller passage of the downstream main pump impeller, and the smallest sectional area of any individual said fluid flow passage being less than the sectional area of the throat of the downstream impeller passage.
7. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6, said rotor being mounted on a common shaft with said main pump impeller.
8. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6: said at least one rotor blade being multiple rotor blades.
9. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6, further comprising a fluid flow bypass connecting an outlet end of the fluid flow passageway with an inlet end of the fluid flow passageway.
10. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6, further comprising a liner within said housing.
11. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6, wherein a volumetric flow rate exiting the inducer comminutor device is equal to or greater than flow requirements of the downstream main pump impeller.
12. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6, said rotor diameter being uniform over the length of the rotor.
13. The inducer comminutor device of claim 6, the vane diameter being equal to the inducer section diameter.
14. An inducer comminutor device for a solids-bearing, fluid handling system, comprising:
a housing comprising an inducer section and a comminutor section, the inducer section containing an inducer therein and the comminutor section containing a comminutor therein, said housing having and inlet and an outlet, and being adapted for installation in a fluid flow upstream of and coaxially with a main pump impeller, whereby the comminutor is positioned between the inducer and the main pump impeller;
a rotor disposed on a common shaft with the main pump impeller and located within the housing so as to occupy both the comminutor section and the inducer section, a first portion of said rotor being a constituent component of the inducer and a second portion of said rotor being a constituent component of the comminutor, said rotor comprising a hub and at least one rotor blade helically disposed thereon, the at least one rotor blade having a blade pitch angle progressively increasing in pitch angle from the inlet to the outlet as a first polynomial function, the rotor having a cross-section spacing from blade to blade which increases from the inlet to the outlet, the hub having a larger diameter at the outlet than the hub diameter at the inlet, the change in hub diameter from the inlet to the outlet being describable by a second polynomial function;
said inducer and said comminutor defining a total fluid flow passageway through which fluid and solids transported thereby can flow from the inlet to the outlet, the solids being reduced in size by the comminutor during passage there through without separation of the fluid from the solids;
a rotating arc of said at least one rotor blade defining a rotor diameter;
the comminutor section having a comminutor wall defining a comminutor wall diameter and inward extending vanes depending from the comminutor wall defining a vane diameter, the inducer section having an inducer wall diameter, the vane diameter and the inducer wall diameter being sufficiently larger than the rotor diameter to accommodate said rotor and rotation thereof without mechanical interference, the vane diameter being sufficiently close to the rotor diameter whereby rotating said rotor blades sweeping past said vanes comprises a crushing and shearing action on such solids as may enter therebetween ; and
the at least one blade comprises at least one step cut-out on an outer edge of the blade in the comminutor section whereby solids transported in a fluid flow through the device are further subjected to said crushing and shearing action between a striking edge of said cut-out and said vanes.
15. The inducer comminutor device of claim 14:
said hub and said blades forming at least one individual inducer fluid flow passage;
said vanes and the wall of said comminutor section forming individual comminutor fluid flow passages; and
said device further comprising a total sectional area of the fluid flow passageway measured on a plane normal to the meridional plane of the device at the outlet being greater than a sectional area of a throat of an impeller passage of the downstream main pump impeller, and the smallest sectional area of any said fluid flow passage being less than the sectional area of the throat of the downstream impeller passage.
16. The inducer comminutor device of claim 14: said at least one rotor blade being multiple rotor blades.
17. The inducer comminutor device of claim 14, further comprising a fluid flow bypass connecting an outlet end of the fluid flow passageway with an inlet end of the fluid flow passageway.
18. The inducer comminutor device of claim 14, further comprising a liner within said housing.
19. The inducer comminutor device of claim 14, wherein a volumetric flow rate exiting the inducer comminutor device is equal to or greater than flow requirements of the downstream main pump impeller.
20. The inducer comminutor device of claim 14, the rotor diameter being uniform over the length of the rotor, the vane diameter being equal to the inducer section diameter.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set comprising:
a plurality of toy elastomer gel jelly blocks,
at least some of said jelly blocks being fabricated from an elastomer gel material,
at least some of said jelly blocks having a tacky exterior,
said tacky exterior causing said jelly blocks to have a tendency to adhere to each other, such adherence resulting in easy stacking of said blocks with each other such as by children who do not have fully developed coordination skills,
said jelly blocks each being soft, having shape memory, and being stretchable.
2. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel includes:
an elastomer, and
a plasticizer.
3. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 2 wherein said elastomer gel further includes a resin.
4. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 2 wherein said elastomer is an A-B-A triblock copolymer.
5. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 3 wherein said elastomer is an A-B-A triblock copolymer.
6. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 4 wherein said A-B-A triblock copolymer is selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS.
7. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 5 wherein said A-B-A triblock copolymer is selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS.
8. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 2 wherein said plasticizer is a resin.
9. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 2 wherein said plasticizer is a combination of resin and oil.
10. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 2 wherein said plasticizer is selected from the group consisting of resin, rosin and oil.
11. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said blocks are sufficiently tacky to adhere to a desired surface such as a white board.
12. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel has a hardness in the durometer range of from less than 0 to about 50 on the Shore A scale.
13. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is substantially solid and non-flowable at room temperature.
14. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is washable.
15. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is of a formulation that can be adhered to a surface and later peeled off the surface without leaving a residue.
16. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel includes:
an elastomer,
said elastomer being an A-B-A triblock copolymer,
said A-B-A triblock copolymer being selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS, and
a plasticizer,
said plasticizer being selected from the group consisting of resin, rosin, oil and combinations thereof.
17. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is soft enough that if a child is struck with one of said jelly blocks, there is little chance of the child suffering injury.
18. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set comprising:
a plurality of toy elastomer gel jelly blocks,
at least some of said jelly blocks being fabricated from an elastomer gel material, at least some of said jelly blocks having a tacky exterior,
said tacky exterior causing said jelly blocks to have a tendency to adhere to each other, such adherence resulting in easy stacking of said blocks with each other such as by children who do not have fully developed coordination skills,
said jelly blocks each being soft, having shape memory, and being stretchable; wherein said elastomer gel includes:
an elastomer,
said elastomer being an A-B-A triblock copolymer,
said A-B-A triblock copolymer being selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS, and
a plasticizer,

said plasticizer being selected from the group consisting of resin, rosin, oil and combinations thereof; and
wherein said elastomer gel is soft enough that if a child is struck with one of said jelly blocks, there is little chance of the child suffering injury.
19. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 18 wherein said elastomer gel has a hardness in the durometer range of from less than 0 to about 50 on the Shore A scale.
20. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly block set as recited in claim 18 wherein said plasticizer includes both oil and resin.
21. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set comprising:
a plurality of toy elastomer gel jelly letters,
at least some of said jelly letters being fabricated from an elastomer gel material,
at least some of said jelly letters having a tacky exterior,
said tacky exterior causing said jelly letters to have a tendency to adhere to each other, such adherence resulting in easy stacking of said blocks with each other such as by children who do not have fully developed coordination skills,
said jelly letters each being soft, having shape memory, and being stretchable.
22. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel includes:
an elastomer, and
a plasticizer.
23. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 2 wherein said elastomer gel further includes a resin.
24. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 2 wherein said elastomer is an A-B-A triblock copolymer.
25. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 3 wherein said elastomer is an A-B-A triblock copolymer.
26. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 4 wherein said A-B-A triblock copolymer is selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS.
27. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 5 wherein said A-B-A triblock copolymer is selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS.
28. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 2 wherein said plasticizer is a resin.
29. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 2 wherein said plasticizer is a combination of resin and oil.
30. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 2 wherein said plasticizer is selected from the group consisting of resin, rosin and oil.
31. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said blocks are sufficiently tacky to adhere to a desired surface such as a white board.
32. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel has a hardness in the durometer range of from less than 0 to about 50 on the Shore A scale.
33. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is substantially solid and non-flowable at room temperature.
34. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is washable.
35. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is of a formulation that can be adhered to a surface and later peeled off the surface without leaving a residue.
36. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel includes:
an elastomer,
said elastomer being an A-B-A triblock copolymer,
said A-B.-A triblock copolymer being selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS, and
a plasticizer,
said plasticizer being selected from the group consisting of resin, rosin, oil and combinations thereof.
37. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 1 wherein said elastomer gel is soft enough that if a child is struck with one of said jelly letters, there is little chance of the child suffering injury.
38. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set comprising:
a plurality of toy elastomer gel jelly letters,
at least some of said jelly letters being fabricated from an elastomer gel material, at least some of said jelly letters having a tacky exterior,
said tacky exterior causing said jelly letters to have a tendency to adhere to each other, such adherence resulting in easy stacking of said blocks with each other such as by children who do not have fully developed coordination skills,
said jelly letters each being soft, having shape memory, and being stretchable; wherein said elastomer gel includes:
an elastomer,
said elastomer being an A-B-A triblock copolymer,
said A-B-A triblock copolymer being selected from the group consisting of SEPS, SEBS and SEEPS, and
a plasticizer,

said plasticizer being selected from the group consisting of resin, rosin, oil and combinations thereof; and
wherein said elastomer gel is soft enough that if a child is struck with one of said jelly letters, there is little chance of the child suffering injury.
39. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 48 wherein said elastomer gel has a hardness in the durometer range of from less than 0 to about 50 on the Shore A scale.
40. An elastomer gel children’s toy jelly letter set as recited in claim 48 wherein said plasticizer includes both oil and resin.

1-8. (canceled)
9. A refrigerator having a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator connected in a refrigerant circuit, with the evaporator being forced-ventilated by a fan with adjustable power, the refrigerator comprising a control unit configured to regulate the power of the fan in inverse proportion to a thermal load of the refrigerator.
10. The refrigerator according to claim 9 wherein the control unit is configured to determine time elapsed since the refrigerator was switched on and to determine on the basis of the elapsed time since the refrigerator was switched on whether a high thermal load is present or a high thermal load is not present.
11. The refrigerator according to claim 9 wherein the control unit is configured to control the fan based on the thermal load of the refrigerator only during a first period of operation of the compressor after the switching on the refrigeration device.
12. The refrigeration device according to claim 9 wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether a high thermal load is present or a high thermal load is not present based on the temperature of a storage compartment.
13. The refrigeration device according to claim 9 and further comprising an outside temperature sensor and wherein the control unit is configured determine whether a high thermal load is present or a high thermal load is not present based on the temperature detected by the outside temperature sensor.
14. The refrigerator according to claim 9 wherein the control unit is configured to estimate a temperature of the compressor and to determine whether a high thermal load is present or a high thermal load is not present based on the estimated compressor temperature.
15. The refrigeration device according to claim 9 wherein the compressor is operated intermittently and the regulated power is at least one of a power averaged over an operating phase and a part of an operating phase of the compressor.
16. The refrigerator according to claim 9 wherein the control unit is configured to regulate the power of the fan by on and off sampling of the fan when the compressor is running.

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 transceiver unit comprising:
a receiver unit adapted to detect from a physical medium a first downstream handshake initiation signal and a first upstream handshake initiation signal,
a transmitter unit adapted to transmit over said physical medium a second upstream handshake initiation signal, and
a self identification module adapted to identify said transceiver unit as a central unit or as a remote unit,
characterized in that said self identification module is coupled to said receiver unit and said transmitter unit, and is further adapted to:
wait for detection of any of said first downstream handshake initiation signal and said first upstream handshake initiation signal within a first time interval,
request said transmitter unit to transmit said second upstream handshake initiation signal when none of said first downstream handshake initiation signal and said first upstream handshake initiation signal is detected within said first time interval, and wait for detection of said first downstream handshake initiation signal within a second time interval,
identify said transceiver unit as a remote unit upon detection of said first downstream handshake initiation signal within said first time interval or within said second time interval, and
identify said transceiver unit as a central unit upon detection of said first upstream handshake initiation signal within said first time interval.
2. A transceiver unit according to claim 1, characterized in that said receiver unit is further adapted to detect from said physical medium an upstream handshake confirmation signal, wherein
said transmitter unit is further adapted to transmit over said physical medium a second downstream handshake initiation signal, and
said self identification module is further adapted to:
request said transmitter unit to transmit said second downstream handshake initiation signal when none of said first downstream handshake initiation signal and said first upstream handshake initiation signal is detected within said first time interval, and wait for detection of said upstream handshake confirmation signal within a third time interval, and
identify said transceiver unit as a central unit upon detection of said upstream handshake confirmation signal within said third time interval.
3. A transceiver unit according to claim 2, characterized in that said self identification module is further adapted to request said transmitter unit to transmit said second downstream handshake initiation signal when said first downstream handshake initiation signal is not detected within said second time interval.
4. A transceiver unit according to claim 2, characterized in that said self identification module is further adapted to request said transmitter unit to transmit said second upstream handshake initiation signal when said first upstream handshake confirmation signal is not detected within said third time interval.
5. A transceiver unit according to claim 1, characterized in that said self identification module is further adapted to wait for a random or pseudo-random period of time when none of said first downstream handshake initiation signal and said first upstream handshake initiation signal is detected within said first time interval, and if said first downstream handshake initiation signal is not detected within said second time interval.
6. A transceiver unit according to claim 1, characterized in that a length of any of said first time interval or said second time interval is a random or pseudo-random number.
7. A transceiver unit according to claim 1, characterized in that said transceiver unit is a digital subscriber line transceiver unit,
and in that said first downstream handshake initiation signal is a C-TONES signal according to ITU recommendation G.994.1, said first upstream handshake initiation signal and said second upstream handshake initiation signal are R-TONES-REQ signals according to ITU recommendation G.994.1.
8. A transceiver unit according to claim 2, characterized in that said transceiver unit is a digital subscriber line transceiver unit,
and in that said first downstream handshake initiation signal and said second downstream handshake initiation signal are C-TONES signals according to ITU recommendation G.994.1, said first upstream handshake initiation signal and said second upstream handshake initiation signal are R-TONES-REQ signals according to ITU recommendation G.994.1, and said upstream handshake confirmation signal is a R-TONE1 signal according to ITU recommendation G.994.1.
9. A transceiver unit according to claim 2, characterized in that said transceiver unit is a digital subscriber line transceiver unit,
and in that said first downstream handshake initiation signal and said second downstream handshake initiation signal are C-TONES signals according to ITU recommendation G.994.1, said first upstream handshake initiation signal and said second upstream handshake initiation signal are R-TONES-REQ signals according to ITU recommendation G.994.1, and said upstream handshake confirmation signal is a R-FLAG1 signal according to ITU recommendation G.994.1.