All The Claims

1) A variable output AC to DC power supply with a very wide range beyond what is presently available in a compact enclosure. A manually adjustable output voltage of zero to 75 volts and an output current range with manual control of the maximum current from zero to 60 amps. This invention can replace and obsolete up to four currently available units that are required to cover the same range.
2) A unique combination of switch-mode circuitry to achieve the wide range that comprises active power factor correction, and a wide range buck converter that controls the input voltage to the dual forward output converter. This converter is dual interleaved in the isolation transformer and operates with zero voltage switching. An output current doubling rectifier and filter stage ensures very low output ripple.
3) A unique power limiting circuit which provides automatic power limiting to any desired wattage, in this application it’s limited to approximately 400 watts. This uses the inverted voltage programming reference voltage to program the maximum current output.
4) The principle in the preferred embodiment is limited 400 watts. It may be applied to any power level and combination of voltage and current, and any method of manual or programming control.

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 protective garment comprising:
an outer shell; and
an inner liner coupled to said outer shell and positioned such that said inner liner is positioned between a wearer and said outer shell when said garment is worn, the inner liner including a base material and a high lubricity material which has a lubricity that is higher than the base material by at least about 50%, wherein the high lubricity material is woven into the base material to form a plurality of discrete contact areas in which a plurality of filaments of the high lubricity material are positioned immediately adjacent to each other;
wherein said inner liner includes a plurality of strips formed by the high lubricity material woven into the base material, and wherein each contact area is positioned at the intersection of at least two of said strips; wherein the contact area comprises at least two separate warp fibers or yarns of high lubricity material each being individually woven with at least two separate weft fibers or yarns of high lubricity material.
2. The garment of claim 1 wherein an upper surface of each contact area is positioned above a plane defined by said base material.
3. The garment of claim 1 wherein said high lubricity material is a multifilament material.
4. The garment of claim 1 wherein each discrete contact area is spaced apart from any adjacent contact areas.
5. The garment of claim 1 wherein each strip comprises a plurality of generally parallel, adjacent fibers of said high lubricity material.
6. The garment of claim 1 wherein the density of the high lubricity material at a contact area is about double the density of the high lubricity material in an associated one of said strips outside of a contact area.
7. The garment of claim 1 wherein said liner substantially lacks any high lubricity material in areas other than said strips or said contact areas.
8. The garment of claim 1 wherein said inner liner constitutes 100% high lubricity material at each contact area.
9. The garment of claim 1 wherein said base material comprises a plurality of yarns oriented generally perpendicular to each other and arranged in a grid.
10. The garment of claim 1 wherein said high lubricity material shrinks less than said base material upon laundering.
11. The garment of claim 1 wherein said base material and said high lubricity material are each flame and fire resistant, and comply with requirements specified in National Fire Protection Association 1971 Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting.
12. The garment of claim 1 wherein the contact areas collectively constitute between about 5 percent and about 30 percent of the surface area of the associated side of the inner liner.
13. The garment of claim 1 wherein the associated side of said inner liner has a static friction of less than about 0.33 Newtons.
14. The garment of claim 1 wherein said garment meets National Fire Protection Association 1971 Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting.
15. The garment of claim 1 wherein said outer shell resists igniting, burning, melting, dripping or separation when exposed to a temperature of 500\xb0 F. for at least five minutes.
16. The garment of claim 1 further comprising a moisture barrier positioned between said inner liner and said outer shell, said moisture barrier being made of a material that is generally liquid impermeable and generally moisture vapor permeable.
17. The garment of claim 1 further comprising a thermal liner positioned between said inner liner and said outer shell, wherein said thermal liner has a thermal protection performance of at least about twenty.
18. The garment of claim 1 wherein the inner liner is the innermost layer of the garment and said contact areas are configured and positioned to face a wearer.
19. The garment of claim 1 wherein the inner liner is positioned and configured such that said contact areas face another liner, or said outer shell, of said garment.
20. A protective garment comprising:
an outer shell; and
an inner liner coupled to said outer shell and positioned such that said inner liner is positioned between a wearer and said outer shell when said garment is worn, the inner liner including a base material and a high lubricity material which has a lubricity that is higher than the base material by at least about 50%, wherein the high lubricity material is woven into the base in two non-parallel directions to increase the lubricity of said inner liner such that a plurality of discrete contact areas are formed in which a plurality of filaments, at least two separate warp filaments and two separate weft filaments, of the high lubricity material are immediately adjacent to each other in a plain weave.
21. The garment of claim 16 wherein said inner liner constitutes 100% high lubricity material at each contact area, and wherein said inner liner lacks any high lubricity material in a majority of a surface area thereof.
22. A garment layer including: a base material; and a high lubricity material which has a lubricity that is higher than the base material by at least about 50%, wherein the high lubricity material is woven into the base material to form a plurality of discrete contact areas in which a plurality of filaments, at least two separate warp filaments and two separate weft filaments, of the high lubricity material are immediately adjacent to each other and each are individually woven with one another to form substantially continuous contact areas.
23. The layer of claim 18 wherein said layer constitutes 100% high lubricity material at each contact area, and wherein said layer lacks any high lubricity material in a majority of a surface area thereof.
24. A method for making a protective garment comprising: accessing a garment layer including a base material; and weaving filaments of a high lubricity material into the base material to form a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart substantially continuous contact areas; wherein each filament of high lubricity material contacts an adjacent filament of high lubricity material, wherein said high lubricity material has a higher lubricity than the base material by at least about 50%, and the contact areas comprise at least two separate warp filaments and two separate weft filaments of the high lubricity material and each of the at least two separate warp and weft filaments are individually woven with one another.

1. An assembly comprising:
a tubular housing;
an inlet housing that is operatively coupled to the tubular housing;
a venturi housing that comprises an inlet housing end proximate the inlet housing, a check valve end, a longitudinal axis that extends between the inlet housing end and the check valve end, a venturi passageway disposed between the inlet housing end and the check valve end and a valve seat at the check valve end wherein the venturi housing is at least partially received by the tubular housing and at least partially received by the inlet housing;
a first spring that axially biases the venturi housing with respect to the inlet housing and the tubular housing;
a dart;
a second spring that biases the dart in a direction toward the valve seat of the venturi housing;
a check valve housing that houses the dart and the second spring and that is operatively coupled to the tubular housing.
2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the tubular housing comprises a check valve end and a valve seat at the check valve end.
3. The assembly of claim 2 wherein the valve seat of the venturi housing and the valve seat of the tubular housing comprise a low pressure valve seat and a high pressure valve seat.
4. The assembly of claim 2 wherein the valve seat of the tubular housing is a seal element that is coupled to the tubular housing.
5. The assembly of claim 4 wherein the seal element is formed of a rigid metallic material.
6. The assembly of claim 4 wherein the seal element is formed of a non-metallic flexible material.
7. The assembly of claim 1 comprising at least one O-ring disposed between the venturi housing and the tubular housing.
8. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the inlet housing comprises a shoulder that seats the first spring.
9. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the venturi housing comprises a shoulder that seats the first spring.
10. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the inlet housing comprises a shoulder that seats the first spring and wherein the venturi housing comprises a shoulder that seats the first spring.
11. The assembly of claim 1 comprising a seal element that circumscribes the tubing housing.
12. The assembly of claim 11 wherein the seal element forms a sealed region with respect to a bore of a mandrel wherein the sealed region includes an inlet port of the inlet housing and an inlet port of the mandrel.
13. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the dart comprises a domed portion.
14. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the dart comprises a low pressure seal portion and a high pressure seal portion.

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 decoder for decoding data from a communication channel, comprising:
a parity check matrix comprising:
M tiers,
wherein M\u2267B;

Dmin=B*M for M=1 . . . E or
B*M\u2267Dmin\u2267F for M>E,
wherein Dmin comprises a minimum Hamming distance; and
tc=M,
wherein tc comprises a column weight,
wherein the parity check matrix comprises no period-four cycles, and
wherein B, Dmin, E, F and M comprise integers;
a soft channel decoder configured to decode data; and
a soft linear block code decoder configured to decode data decoded by the soft channel decoder in accordance with the parity check matrix.
2. The decoder of claim 1, wherein each of the M tiers comprises an identity matrix having a corresponding rank Pi, wherein 1\u2266i\u2266M.
3. The decoder of claim 2, wherein the rank of the identity matrix of one of the tiers is mutually prime with respect to the rank of the identity matrix of another one of the tiers.
4. The decoder of claim 2, wherein the M tiers are arranged in increasing rank order.
5. The decoder of claim 4, wherein the parity check matrix comprises C columns, wherein C\u2266(P1*P2).
6. The decoder of claim 4, wherein for each element Ar,c
For
\u2062
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
+
1

\u2264
r
\u2264
\u2211

j
=
1

n

\u2062
\u2062

P
j
,
\u2062

A
r

\u2062

,
c

\u2062

=

{
1
,
if
\u2062
\u2062
c
\u2062
\u2062

mod
(

P
n

)
=

r
–
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
0
,
otherwise

\u2062
}
0
\u2264
c
\u2264
C
C
\u2264
P
1

*

P
2
7. The decoder of claim 2, wherein the parity check matrix comprises R rows, wherein
R
=
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062
P
i

.
8. The decoder of claim 7, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
independent rows.
9. The decoder of claim 2, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
parity bits.
10. The decoder of claim 2, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
P
1

\xd7

P
2
–
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
+

(

M
–
1

)
maximum user bits.
11. An encoder for encoding data from a communication channel, comprising:
a parity check matrix comprising:
M tiers,
wherein M\u2267B;

Dmin=B*M for M=1 . . . E or
B*M\u2267Dmin\u2267F for M>E,
wherein Dmin comprises a minimum Hamming distance;
tc=M,
wherein tc comprises a column weight,
wherein the parity check matrix comprises no period-four cycles, and
wherein B, Dmin, E, F and M comprise integers;
a linear block encoder configured to encode the user data in response the parity check matrix; and
a transmitter configured to transmit an output of the linear block encoder to the communication channel.
12. The encoder of claim 11, wherein each of the M tiers comprises an identity matrix having a corresponding rank Pi, wherein 1\u2266i\u2266M.
13. The encoder of claim 12, wherein the rank of the identity matrix of one of the tiers is mutually prime with respect to the rank of the identity matrix of another one of the tiers.
14. The encoder of claim 12, wherein the M tiers are arranged in increasing rank order.
15. The encoder of claim 14, wherein the parity check matrix comprises C columns, wherein C\u2266(P1*P2).
16. The encoder of claim 14, wherein for each element Ar,c
For
\u2062
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
+
1

\u2264
r
\u2264
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1

n

\u2062
\u2062

P
j
,
\u2062
A

r
,
c
=

{
1
,
if
\u2062
\u2062
c
\u2062
\u2062

mod
(

P
n

)
=

r
–
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
\u2062
0
,
otherwise
}
0
\u2264
c
\u2264
C
C
\u2264
P
1

*
P
2

.
17. The encoder of claim 12, wherein the parity check matrix comprises R rows, wherein
R
=
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062
P
i

.
18. The encoder of claim 16, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
independent rows.
19. The encoder of claim 12, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
parity bits.
20. The encoder of claim 12, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
P
1

\xd7

P
2
–
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
+

(

M
–
1

)
maximum user bits.
21. A method for decoding data received from a communication channel, comprising the steps of:
(a) soft channel decoding the data received from the communication channel in accordance with data decoded in step (c);
(b) generating a parity check matrix comprising:
M tiers,
wherein M\u2267B;

Dmin=B*M for M=1 . . . E or
B*M\u2267Dmin\u2267F for M>E,
wherein Dmin comprises a minimum Hamming distance; and
tc=M,
wherein tc comprises a column weight,
wherein the parity check matrix comprises no period-four cycles, and
wherein B, Dmin, E, F and M comprise integers; and
(c) soft linear block code decoding data decoded in step (a) in accordance with the parity check matrix generated in step(b).
22. The method of claim 21, wherein each of the M tiers comprises an identity matrix having a corresponding rank Pi, wherein 1\u2266i\u2266M.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the rank of the identity matrix of one of the tiers is mutually prime with respect to the rank of the identity matrix of another one of the tiers.
24. The method of claim 22, wherein the M tiers are arranged in increasing rank order.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the parity check matrix comprises C columns, wherein C\u2266(P1*P2).
26. The method of claim 24, wherein for each element Ar,c
For
\u2062
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
+
1

\u2264
r
\u2264
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1

n

\u2062
\u2062

P
j
,
\u2062
A

r
,
c
=

{
1
,
if
\u2062
\u2062
c
\u2062
\u2062

mod
(

P
n

)
=

r
–
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
\u2062
0
,
otherwise
}
0
\u2264
c
\u2264
C
C
\u2264
P
1

*
P
2

.
27. The method of claim 22, wherein the parity check matrix comprises R rows, wherein
R
=
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062
P
i

.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
independent rows.
29. The method of claim 22, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
parity bits.
30. The method of claim 22, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
P
1

\xd7

P
2
–
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
+

(

M
–
1

)
maximum user bits.
31. A method for encoding data transmitted to a communication channel, comprising the steps of:
(a) generating a parity check matrix comprising:
M tiers,
wherein M\u2267B,

Dmin=B*M for M=1 . . . E or
B*M\u2267Dmin\u2267F for M>E;
wherein Dmin comprises a minimum Hamming distance;
tc=M,
wherein tc comprises a column weight,
wherein the parity check matrix comprises no period-four cycles, and
wherein B, Dmin, E, F and M comprise integers;
(b) linear block encoding the data in accordance with the parity check matrix generated in step (a); and
(c) transmitting the data encoded in step (b) to the communication channel.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein each of the M tiers comprises an identity matrix having a corresponding rank Pi, wherein 1\u2266i\u2266M.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein the rank of the identity matrix of one of the tiers is mutually prime with respect to the rank of the identity matrix of another one of the tiers.
34. The method of claim 32, wherein the M tiers are arranged in increasing rank order.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the parity check matrix comprises C columns, wherein C\u2266(P1*P2).
36. The method of claim 34, wherein for each element Ar,c
For
\u2062
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
+
1

\u2264
r
\u2264
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1

n

\u2062
\u2062

P
j
,
\u2062
A

r
,
c
=

{
1
,
if
\u2062
\u2062
c
\u2062
\u2062

mod
(

P
n

)
=

r
–
\u2062
\u2211

j
=
1
n
–
1
\u2062
\u2062

P
j
\u2062
0
,
otherwise
}
0
\u2264
c
\u2264
C
C
\u2264
P
1

*
P
2

.
37. The method of claim 32, wherein the parity check matrix comprises R rows, wherein
R
=
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062
P
i

.
38. The method of claim 37, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
independent rows.
39. The method of claim 32, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
–

(

M
–
1

)
parity bits.
40. The method of claim 32, wherein the parity check matrix comprises
P
1

\xd7

P
2
–
\u2211

i
=
1

M

\u2062
\u2062

P
i
+

(

M
–
1

)
maximum user bits.