Author: claimsbot

1. A card connector for connecting a card, comprising:
a housing; and
a contact terminal, said contact terminal comprising:
a spring section capable of elastically displacing;
a securing section fixed to the housing; and
a connecting section for connecting to a printed circuit board by soldering,
wherein said spring section includes a plurality of split spring sections, at least one of said split spring sections having a base portion extending from the securing section, and a counter contact section extending from the base portion for contacting to a contact section of the card inserted in said card connector, said counter contact section being twisted around an axis aligned along an extending direction of the counter contact section to form a twist.
2. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said twist extends over a part of said at least one of the split spring sections.
3. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said twist extends over substantially a whole part of said at least one of the split spring sections.
4. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said twist is bent obliquely relative to an extending direction of said at least one of the split spring sections.
5. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said twist is formed by turning said at least one of the split spring sections.
6. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said at least one of the split spring sections has a portion having a length or a thickness such that the at least one of the split spring sections has a resonance frequency different from that of the other of the split spring sections.
7. The card connector according to claim 6, wherein said at least one of the split spring sections is secured at a position different from that of the other of the split spring sections such that said portion has the length different from that of the other of the split spring sections.
8. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said twist is inclined inwardly.
9. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein said twist is inclined outwardly.
10. A contact terminal for a card connector, comprising:
a spring section capable of elastically displacing;
a securing section to be fixed to the card connector; and
a connecting section for connecting to a printed circuit board,
wherein said spring section includes a plurality of split spring sections, at least one of said split spring sections having a base portion extending from the securing section, and a counter contact section extending from the base portion for contacting to a contact section of a card inserted in said card connector, said counter contact section being twisted around an axis aligned along an extending direction of the counter contact section to form a twist.
11. The contact terminal according to claim 10, wherein said twist is bent obliquely relative to an extending direction of said at least one of the split spring sections.
12. The contact terminal according to claim 10, wherein said twist is formed by turning said at least one of the split spring sections.
13. The contact terminal according to claim 10, wherein said at least one of the split spring sections has a portion having a length or a thickness such that the at least one of the split spring sections has a resonance frequency different from that of the other of the split spring sections.
14. The contact terminal according to claim 10, wherein said twist is inclined inwardly.
15. The contact terminal according to claim 10, wherein said twist is inclined outwardly.

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 flow distribution network for supplying a process gas to two or more destinations, the flow distribution network comprising:
an inlet for receiving the process gas;
a network of flow distribution lines for carrying the process gas comprising a branch point downstream from the inlet and two or more branches downstream from the branch point, wherein each branch has an outlet for supplying process gas to a corresponding destination;
a variable flow element in each branch having a Cv value that varies by at least about 2% from element to element across the branches; and
a restrictive component downstream from the variable flow element in each branch, wherein the restrictive components are nominally identical,
wherein the flow of the process gas produces a system pressure drop, from the inlet to the outlets, across the flow distribution network is at least as great as the pressure at the outlets.
2. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the variable flow elements operate in the unchoked flow regime.
3. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive components produce at least about 3% of the system pressure drop on average across the restrictive components.
4. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive components produce at least about 50% of the system pressure drop on average across the restrictive components.
5. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive components produce between 10% and 80% of the system pressure drop on average across the restrictive components.
6. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the variable flow elements produce at most about 10% of the system pressure drop in the flow distribution network on average across the variable flow elements.
7. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the variable flow elements produce at most about 5% of the system pressure drop in the flow distribution network on average across the variable flow elements.
8. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the variable flow elements produce, on average, a first portion of the system pressure drop in the flow distribution network and the restrictive components produce, on average, a second portion of the system pressure drop in the flow distribution network, and wherein a ratio of the second portion to the first portion is between about 5:1 to about 20:1.
9. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the variable flow elements produces a mass flow rate that vary by at least about 2% on average from element to element across the branches when each element experiences substantially the same pressure drop.
10. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive components in the branches have Cv values that on average vary by 1% or less from component to component across the branches.
11. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive components in the branches have Cv values that on average vary by 4% or less from component to component across the branches.
12. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the variable flow element in each branch includes a valve.
13. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive component is a constriction in an associated flow distribution line downstream of the variable flow element.
14. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the restrictive components provide process gas at a nominally uniform mass flow rate to respective outlets supplying the destinations.
15. The flow distribution network of claim 14, wherein the nominally uniform mass flow rate varies by less than about 1% between outlets.
16. The flow distribution network of claim 14, wherein the nominally uniform mass flow rate varies by less than about 2% between outlets.
17. The flow distribution network of claim 1, further comprising a controller in communication with the inlet and the outlets to control the system pressure drop.
18. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the inlet pressure is less than about a 200 torr.
19. A method of balancing flow to two or more destinations, the method comprising:
receiving process gas at an inlet;
carrying process gas through a network of flow distribution lines comprising a branch point downstream from the inlet and two or more branches downstream from the branch point, each branch having a variable flow element with a Cv value that varies by at least about 2% from element to element across the branches;
supplying process gas through an outlet in each branch to a corresponding destination;
locating a restrictive component downstream from each variable flow element in each branch, wherein the restrictive components are nominally identical across the branches; and
producing a system pressure drop, from inlet to the outlets, across the flow distribution network is at least as great as the pressure drop at the outlets.
20. The method claim 19, further comprising operating the variable flow elements in an unchoked flow regime.
21. The method of claim 19, wherein producing a system pressure drop comprises producing, by the restrictive components, between 10% and 80% of the system pressure drop on average across the restrictive components.
22. The method of claim 19, wherein producing the system pressure drop comprises producing, by the variable flow elements, at most about 10% of the system pressure drop in the flow distribution network on average across the variable flow elements.
23. The method of claim 19, wherein producing the system pressure drop comprises:
producing, by the variable flow elements on average, a first portion of the system pressure drop; and
producing, by the restrictive components on average, a second portion of the system pressure drop, wherein a ratio of the second portion to the first portion is between about 5:1 to about 20:1.
24. The method of claim 19, wherein the restrictive components in the branches have Cv values that on average vary by 1% or less from component to component across the branches.
25. The method of claim 19, further comprising providing, by the restrictive components, process gas at a nominally uniform mass flow rate to respective outlets supplying destinations.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein the nominally uniform mass flow rate varies by less than about 1% between outlets.
27. The method of claim 19, wherein producing the system pressure drop, comprises controlling the system pressure drop by a controller in communication with the inlet and the outlets.
28. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the two or more destinations are in a single reactor.
29. The flow distribution network of claim 1, wherein the two or more destinations are in multiple reactors.
30. The flow distribution network of claim 1, where the pressure at the outlet of each branch is about 7 torr or less.
31. The flow distribution network of claim 1, where the pressure at the outlet of each branch is about 5 torr.
32. The method of claim 19, wherein the two or more destinations are in a single reactor.
33. The method of claim 19, wherein the two or more destinations are in multiple reactors.
34. The method of claim 19, where the pressure at the outlet of each branch is about 7 torr or less.
35. The method of claim 19, where the pressure at the outlet of each branch is about 5 torr.

What we claim is:

1. A method of removing oxidizable non-condensible gases (NCG’s) including reduced sulfur compounds, from a gas stream containing the same, which comprises:
contacting the gas stream with an oxidizing liquid which is an aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide by intimate gas-liquid and gas-gas contact in one or more contact stages to oxidize reduced sulfur compounds and any other oxidizable compounds present in the gas stream, such contacting being effected by finely atomizing said aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide into the gas stream in each of said contact stages to form a spray of droplet size distribution of about 5 to about 250 microns Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD), and
passing the treated gases through an entrainment separator to remove entrained liquid droplets from the gas stream.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the droplet size distribution is about 10 to about 100 microns SMD.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said sprays is formed by feeding said aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide to a dual-fluid spray nozzle under an atomizing pressure of about 25 to about 100 psig.
4. The method of clam 2 wherein each of said sprays is formed by feeding said aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide to a dual-fluid spray nozzle under an atomizing pressure of about 20 to about 55 psig.
5. The process of claim 3 wherein said aqueous chlorine dioxide solution has a concentration of about 1 to about 10 gL.
6. The process of claim 4 wherein said aqueous chlorine dioxide solution has a concentration of about 2 to about 5 gL.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein the quantity of chlorine dioxide contacting the gaseous stream is at least sufficient to oxidize the total oxygen demand content of the gas stream.
8. The process of claim 7 wherein the molar ratio of chlorine dioxide used to the quantity of total oxygen den is about 1:1 to about 3:1.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein said gas stream is subjected to an initial prescrubbing by intimate gas-liquid contact in one or more contact stages to cool the gas stream to its adiabatic dewpoint and to remove any particulate matter present in the gas stream, such prescrubbing being effected by finely atomizing an aqueous medium into the gas stream in each of said contact stages to form a spray of droplet size distribution of about 5 to about 100 microns SMD.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein said droplet distribution is about 10 to about 40 microns SMD.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein said aqueous medium is water.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein said aqueous medium is an aqueous alkaline medium to dissolve acid gases contained in said gas stream.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the gas stream from the entrainment separator is contacted with an aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution by intimate gas-liquid contact in one or more contact stages to remove acidic compounds formed in the contacting step from the gas stream and to reduce any gaseous chlorine dioxide remaining from the contacting step and present in the gas stream, and the gas stream so treated is passed through a further entrainment separator to remove entrained liquid droplets from the gas stream, said contacting being effected by finely atomizing said aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution into the gas stream into each of said contact stages to form a spray of droplet size distribution of about 5 to about 100 micron SMD.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein said droplet distribution is about 20 to about 60 microns SMD.
15. The method of claim 13 wherein each of said sprays is formed by feeding said aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution to a dual-fluid spray nozzle under an atomizing pressure of about 15 to about 100 psig.
16. The method of claim 14 wherein each of said sprays is formed by feeding said aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution to a dual-fluid spray nozzle under an atomizing pressure of about 20 to about 55 psig.
17. The method of claim 13 wherein said neutralizing and reducing solution is provided by a Kraft pulp mill white liquor containing sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide.
18. The method of claim 13 wherein said neutralizing and reducing solution is provided by aqueous sodium sulfite or alkaline hydrogen peroxide.
19. A method of removing reduced sulfur compounds comprising hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide from a gas stream containing the same, which comprises;
contacting the gas stream with an oxidizing liquid which is ain aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide by intimate gas-liquid contact in one or more contact stages to oxidize substantially completely the reduced sulfur compounds to form a treated gas stream substantially free from oxidizable gaseous components, said contacting step being effected by finely atomizing said aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide into the gas stream in each of said contact stages to form a spray of droplet size distribution of about 5 to about 250 microns Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD);
passing the treated gas stream through an entrainment separator to remove entrained liquid droplets from the treated gas stream and to provide a further gas stream containing acidic compounds formed in the contacting step and residual gaseous chlorine dioxide;
contacting the fiber gas stream with an aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution by intimate gas-liquid contact in one or more contact stages to remove said acidic compounds and gaseous residual chlorine dioxide from the gas stream, said contacting step being effected by finely atomizing said aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution into the gas stream into each of said contact stages to form a spray of droplet size distribution of about 5 to about 100 microns SMD;
passing the resulting gas stream through a further entrainment separator to remove entrained liquid droplets therefrom to provide a discharge gas stream; and
venting the discharge gas stream.
20. The method of claim 19 further comprising.
prescrubbing the gas stream by intimate gas-liquid contact in one or more contact stages to cool the gas stream to its adiabatic dewpoint and to remove any particulate matter present in the gas stream and to form a prescrubbed gas stream, said contacting being effected by finely atomizing an aqueous medium into the gas stream in each of said contact stages to form a spray of droplet size distribution of about 5 to about 10 microns SMD; and
forwarding said prescrubbed gas stream to said contacting with an oxidizing liquid.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein the discharge gas stream prior to venting is contacted with an aqueous medium by intimate gas-liquid contact in one or more contact stages to dissolve methanol vapor from the discharge gas stream, said contacting step being effected by finely atomizing said aqueous medium into the gas stream in each of said contact stages to form a spray therein.
22. The method of claim 21 wherein said aqueous medium is water.
23. The method of claim 19 wherein said discharge gas stream is monitored for reduced sulfur compounds concentration and chlorine dioxide concentration, and the quantity of aqueous chlorine dioxide solution feed to the oxidizing step or the quantity of aqueous neutralizing and reducing solution feed to te neutralizing step are modified in response to changes in said monitored concentrations beyond predetermined values to return the respective monitored concentrations to below the predetermined values.

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 comprising:
receiving a first virtualization request from a first entity at a virtualization broker in a network of connected entities, wherein the first virtualization request comprises context information associated with the first entity;
transmitting a request from the virtualization broker to a virtualization manager for a virtualization server identifier;
receiving a virtualization server identifier from the virtualization manager;
transmitting a second virtualization request to a virtualization server associated with the virtualization server identifier;
receiving a first response from the virtualization server comprising an indication that a resource has been virtualized;
transmitting a second response comprising the indication from the virtualization broker to the first entity.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second virtualization request comprises a subset of the context information associated with the first entity.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the virtualization server identifier from the virtualization manager comprises receiving a plurality of virtualization server identifiers.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising selecting the virtualization server identifier from among the plurality of virtualization server identifiers based on the context information associated with the first entity.
5. The method of claim 1, further transmitting a context update to a virtualization manager.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising translating the first response from a first format into the second response in a second format.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a registration request to a virtualization manager, the registration request comprising information associated with the virtualization server.
8. A virtualization management entity in a network of connected entities comprising:
a processor adapted to execute computer-readable instructions; and
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and having stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a request to register resources associated with a virtualization server entity;
storing information associated with the virtualization server entity and the resources;
receiving a request for a recommended virtualization server entity identifier from a virtualization broker entity, wherein the request for the recommended virtualization server entity identifier comprises context information;
selecting the virtualization server entity based on the context information; and
transmitting a virtualization server entity identifier to the virtualization broker.
9. The virtualization management entity of claim 8, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a context update from the virtualization server entity; and
modifying the stored information associated with the virtualization server entity and the resources based on the context update.
10. The virtualization management entity of claim 8, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a context update from the virtualization broker entity; and
modifying second stored information associated with the virtualization broker entity based on the context update.
11. The virtualization management entity of claim 8, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a context update from the virtualization server entity indicating that a resource provided by the virtualization server entity will be provided by a second virtualization server entity and no longer provided by the virtualization server entity; and
modifying stored information associated with the virtualization server entity and the resources based on the context update.
12. The virtualization management entity of claim 8, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a second request for a second recommended virtualization server entity identifier from a second virtualization management entity in a second domain, wherein the virtualization management entity is in a first domain, wherein the second request for the second recommended virtualization server entity identifier comprises second context information;
selecting a second virtualization server entity based on the second context information; and
transmitting a second virtualization server entity identifier to the second virtualization management entity.
13. The virtualization management entity of claim 8, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a request to execute a virtualization algorithm from a second virtualization broker entity;
executing the virtualization algorithm to determine a second virtualization server entity; and
transmitting a second virtualization server entity identifier associated with the virtualization server entity to the second virtualization broker entity.
14. The virtualization management entity of claim 13, wherein the request to execute the virtualization algorithm comprises context information.
15. A virtualization server entity in a network of connected entities comprising:
a processor adapted to execute computer-readable instructions; and
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and having stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a request to create a virtual resource from a first entity;
determining to accept the request to create the virtual resource;
creating the virtual resource;
transmitting a response to the first entity indicating that the virtual resource has been created.
16. The virtualization server entity of claim 15, wherein the request comprising context information, and wherein the determining to accept the request to create the virtual resource is based on the context information.
17. The virtualization server entity of claim 15, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by first processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
transmitting a context update to a virtualization management entity indicating that the virtual resource has been created.
18. The virtualization server entity of claim 15, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by first processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
obtaining a virtualization policy from a virtualization management entity.
19. The virtualization server entity of claim 18, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by first processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a request for the virtual resource from a second entity; and
providing the virtual resource to the second entity according to the virtualization policy.
20. The virtualization server entity of claim 15, wherein the memory has further stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by first processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:
receiving a request to update the virtual resource from the first entity;
modifying information associated with the virtual resource based on the request to update the virtual resource; and
transmitting a second response to the first entity indicating that the virtual resource has been updated.