All The Claims

1. A gas-liquid separation apparatus comprising:
an inlet pipe for transferring liquid with gas dissolved therein;
a separating pipe for separating the gas from the liquid, the separating pipe extending from the inlet pipe, the separating pipe being in alignment and communicating with the inlet pipe;
an outlet pipe for transferring the liquid without gas therein, the outlet pipe extending from a joint of the inlet pipe and the separating pipe and communicating with the separating pipe; and
a gas storage device communicating with the separating pipe for collecting gas coming from the separating pipe;
wherein the separating pipe has a guiding member located therein for impelling the gas to separate from the liquid; and
wherein the guiding member extends spirally along a length of the separating pipe for producing centrifugal motion to the liquid in the separating pipe.
2. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the guiding member extends from the joint of the inlet pipe and the separating pipe to a distal end of the separating pipe.
3. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gas storage device comprises a container and a sleeve extending from the container, the sleeve engaging with the separating pipe.
4. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 3, wherein the separating pipe has a distal end thereof extending into the container of the gas storage device.
5. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 3, wherein the container of the gas storage device extends a drain tap at a circumferential face thereof for discharging the gas in the container.
6. A gas-liquid separation apparatus comprising:
an inlet pipe for transferring liquid with gas dissolved therein;
a separating pipe in communication with the inlet pipe for separating the liquid from the gas therein;
an outlet pipe for transferring the liquid which is from the separating pipe and separated from the gas, the outlet pipe extending from a joint between the inlet pipe and the separating pipe; and
a gas storage device communicating with the separating pipe and outside for collecting the gas from the separating pipe and discharging the gas to the outside;
wherein the separating pipe has a guiding member located therein for producing centrifugal motion to the liquid in the separating pipe; and
wherein the guiding member extends spirally along a length of the separating pipe.
7. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 6, wherein the separating pipe is in alignment with the inlet pipe.
8. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 6, wherein the guiding member extends from the joint of the separating pipe and the outlet pipe to the gas storage device.
9. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 6, wherein the gas storage device comprises a sleeve engaging with the separating pipe and a container accommodating a distal end of the separating pipe therein, the sleeve extending from an end of the container.
10. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 9, wherein the container of the gas storage device has a drain tap extending from a circumferential face thereof for discharging gas in the container.
11. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 10, wherein the container of the gas storage device is cylindrical.
12. A gas-liquid separation apparatus comprising:
an inlet pipe;
a separating pipe located above the inlet pipe;
an outlet pipe extending laterally from a joint between the inlet pipe and the separating pipe; and
a spiral-shaped guiding member located in the separating pipe;
wherein the guiding member extends spirally along a length of the separating pipe for producing centrifugal motion to the liquid in the separating pipe; and
wherein when liquid with air dissolved therein flows upwardly from the inlet pipe toward the separating pipe, the air in the liquid is separated from the liquid by the guiding member, the liquid which has been degassed flowing from the separating pipe to the outlet pipe.
13. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a cylindrical container mounted on a top of the separating pipe.
14. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 13, wherein the cylindrical container has a gas drain tap thereon.
15. The gas-liquid separation apparatus of claim 14, wherein the gas drain tap is formed on a circumferential face of the cylindrical container.

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 lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle, comprising:
a travel state detecting section that detects a travel state of the vehicle;
a divergence tendency determining section that determines whether a tendency of a divergence of the vehicle from a traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling occurs according to the travel state detected by the travel state detecting section;
a driving force controlled variable calculating section that calculates a driving force controlled variable for each road wheel to develop a yaw moment in a direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided in accordance with the travel state detected by the travel state detecting section, the driving force controlled variable calculating section comprising a driving force controlled variable correcting section that corrects the driving force controlled variable of each road wheel in such a manner that the yaw moment developed in the direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided is increased in accordance with a history of a control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane; and
a driving force controlling section that controls a driving force of each road wheel in accordance with the driving force controlled variable calculated by the driving force controlled variable calculating section.
2. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section corrects the driving force controlled variable in such a manner that the yaw moment developed in the direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided is increased in accordance with an elapse of time from a time at which the control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is started.
3. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section corrects the driving force controlled variable of each road wheel of the vehicle in such a manner that the yaw moment developed in the direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided is increased in accordance with a frequency of the control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane.
4. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the driving force controlling section is enabled to control braking forces of at least left and right road wheels of the vehicle individually and separately from each other.
5. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the driving force controlled variable calculating section calculates a target yaw moment from a difference between a future estimated lateral displacement of the vehicle with respect to the traffic lane estimated from the travel state of the vehicle detected by the travel state detecting section and a lateral displacement limit value and calculates the driving force controlled variable of each road wheel on the basis of the calculated target yaw moment.
6. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 5, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section reduces the future estimated lateral displacement limit value when the target yaw moment is calculated in accordance with the elapse of time from a time at which the control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is started.
7. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 5, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section augments a control gain to be multiplied with the difference between the future estimated lateral displacement of the vehicle when the target yaw moment is calculated and the lateral displacement limit value.
8. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein the driving force controlling section is enabled to control at least the driving forces of left and right road wheels individually and separately from each other.
9. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein the driving force controlled variable calculating section calculates a target yaw moment from a difference between a future lateral displacement of the vehicle with respect to the traffic lane estimated from the travel state of the vehicle detected by the travel state detecting section and a lateral displacement limit value and calculates the driving force controlled variable of each road wheel on the basis of the target yaw moment.
10. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section reduces the lateral displacement limit value when the target yaw moment is calculated in accordance with a frequency of execution of the control to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane.
11. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 9, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section increases a control gain to be multiplied with a difference between the future lateral displacement of the vehicle when the target yaw moment is calculated and the lateral displacement limit value in accordance with a frequency of execution of the control to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane.
12. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein the divergence determining section modifies a timing of the determination of the tendency of the vehicle from the traffic lane in accordance with a frequency of execution of the control to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane.
13. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 12, wherein the divergence determining section determines that the tendency of the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane occurs when the future lateral displacement with respect to the traffic lane estimated from the travel state of the vehicle detected by the travel state detecting section is equal to or larger than the lateral displacement limit value.
14. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 13, wherein the divergence determining section reduces the lateral displacement limit value in accordance with the frequency of execution of the control to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane to make earlier a timing at which the divergence determining section determines whether the tendency of the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane occurs.
15. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lane keep control apparatus further comprises: an in-vehicle information producing section that produces the information to a vehicular occupant in a vocal form or in a display form and a warning section that produces the information from the in-vehicle information producing section to a vehicular occupant when the divergence determining section determines that the tendency of the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane occurs, the warning section modifying the content of the information to the vehicular occupant in accordance with a frequency of execution of the control to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane
16. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lane keep control apparatus further comprises: an external vehicle information producing section that produces the information to an external to the vehicle; and a warning section that produces the information from the external vehicle information producing section to the external to the vehicle when the divergence determining section determines that the tendency of the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane occurs, the warning section modifying the content of the information production to the external to the vehicle in accordance with a frequency of execution of the control to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane.
17. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 5, wherein the driving force controlled variable calculating section comprises: a future estimated lateral displacement value calculating section that calculates the future estimated lateral displacement value (XS) as follows: XSTtV(TtV)X, wherein Tt denotes a headway time for calculating a forward gazing distance (TtV), V denotes a traveling velocity of the vehicle, denotes a yaw angle of the vehicle to the traffic lane, denotes a radius of curvature of the traffic lane, and X denotes a lateral displacement of the vehicle from a center of the traffic lane; and lateral displacement limit value calculating section that calculates a lateral displacement limit value Xc from a lateral displacement limit value initial value Xc0 which is a subtraction result of a half of a width L of the traffic lane from a half of a width L0 of the vehicle and a proportional coefficient Kt which is decreased as a continuation time Tcc of the control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is increased and wherein the divergence determining section determines that the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane occurs when an absolute value of the future estimated lateral displacement value XS is equal to or larger than the lateral displacement limit value Xc.
18. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle as claimed in claim 17, wherein the driving force controlled variable correcting section further comprises: a target yaw moment calculating section that calculates a target yaw moment Ms as follows: MsK1K2(XSXc), wherein K1 denotes a first proportional coefficient determined according to a vehicular specification and K2 denotes a second proportional coefficient set in accordance with the travel velocity V of the vehicle, when the divergence determining section determines that the tendency of the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane occurs; and a target brake fluid pressure calculating section that calculates a target brake fluid pressure Psi for each road wheel according to a magnitude Ms of the target yaw moment.
19. A lane keep control method for an automotive vehicle, comprising:
detecting a travel state of the vehicle;
determining whether a tendency of a divergence of the vehicle from a traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling occurs according to the detected travel state;
calculating a driving force controlled variable for each road wheel to develop a yaw moment in a direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided in accordance with the detected travel state;
correcting the driving force controlled variable of each road wheel in such a manner that the yaw moment developed in the direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided is increased in accordance with a history of a control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane; and
controlling a driving force of each road wheel in accordance with the corrected driving force controlled variable.
20. A lane keep control apparatus for an automotive vehicle, comprising:
travel state detecting means for detecting a travel state of the vehicle;
divergence tendency determining means for determining whether a tendency of a divergence of the vehicle from a traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling occurs according to the travel state detected by the travel state detecting means;
driving force controlled variable calculating means for calculating a driving force controlled variable for each road wheel to develop a yaw moment in such a direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided in accordance with the travel state detected by the travel state detecting means, the driving force controlled variable calculating means comprising driving force controlled variable correcting means for correcting the driving force controlled variable of each road wheel in such a manner that the yaw moment developed in the direction in which the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane is avoided is increased in accordance with a history of a control executed to avoid the divergence of the vehicle from the traffic lane; and
driving force controlling means for controlling a driving force of each road wheel in accordance with the driving force controlled variable calculated by the driving force controlled variable calculating means.

1. Equipment for removing bone cement from bone cavities, comprising an elongated body, hollow inside, that can be inserted inside a cement-filled bone cavity, and at least one extraction rod for extracting said elongated body buried in the cement, that can be inserted inside said elongated body, wherein said elongated body comprises a plurality of rigid elements aligned with each other and associated to one another by the interposition of spacer elements, substantially tubular in shape and coaxial to said elongated body, said rigid elements each including removable means for connecting to said extraction rod which are arranged inside said elongated body, and said spacer elements are comprised of one of an acrylic resin and a bone cement,
wherein at least one of said rigid elements comprises at least one protrusion, protruding crossways to an axis of said elongated body, on which an edge of a distal end of one of said spacer elements at least partially rests, wherein said crossways protrusion comprises a discoidal body, substantially coaxial to said elongated body.
2. The equipment of claim 1, wherein said rigid elements are associated with said spacer elements by interposing a temporary fit-in type coupling.
3. The equipment of claim 2, wherein said temporary fit-in type coupling is suitable for connecting said rigid elements and said spacer elements as long as there is no axial separation force exerted between them of an established extent.
4. The equipment of claim 1, wherein at least one of said rigid elements comprises at least one connecting link, substantially tubular in shape, which can be fitted to said spacer elements.
5. The equipment of claim 4, wherein each connecting link can be fitted inside said spacer elements.
6. The equipment of claim 4, wherein at least one of said rigid elements features a pair of said at least one connecting link positioned at opposite axial ends.
7. The equipment of claim 4, wherein the rigid element arranged at a distal end of said elongated body features just one of said at least one connecting link.
8. The equipment of claim 1, wherein the rigid element arranged at a distal end of said elongated body features a closed bottom wall.
9. The equipment of claim 8, wherein an outer surface of said closed bottom wall is substantially pointed.
10. The equipment of claim 8, wherein an outer surface of said closed bottom wall is substantially conical in shape.
11. The equipment of claim 1, wherein said elongated body comprises attaching means to the cement.
12. The equipment of claim 11, wherein said attaching means is of the adhesive type.
13. The equipment of claim 11, wherein said attaching means comprises said spacer elements being made of a material that adheres to said cement.
14. The equipment of claim 13, wherein said material comprises polymethylacrylate.
15. The equipment of claim 1, wherein said means for connecting is of the threaded type.
16. The equipment of claim 15, wherein said means for connecting comprises an internal screw thread which is formed in said rigid elements and able to be engaged by a thread at least formed on at least a distal end of said extraction rod.
17. The equipment of claim 16, wherein said internal screw threads are substantially coaxial to said elongated body.
18. The equipment of claim 16, wherein a length of said thread is substantially less than a distance between at least two consecutive of said internal screw threads.

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 failure resistant method of operating a plurality of computers each with their corresponding independent local memory, each substantially simultaneously operating a corresponding portion of an application program written to execute on only a single computer, and each being connected via a communications network to permit updating of corresponding memory locations, said method comprising the steps of:
(i) categorizing the memory locations of said local memories into a first reachability category in which the local memory locations are replicated in selected ones, or all, of said computers and therefore require updating via said communications network with changes to corresponding memory locations of the other computers to maintain substantial memory coherence, and into a second category in which the local memory locations are present only in the local computer and therefore no updating is required,
(ii) detecting failure of any one of said multiple computers, and
(iii) modifying said first category to remove therefrom, if present, any reference to the failed computer,
whereby no attempt is made to update any first category locations of said failed computer.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 including the further step of,
(iv) maintaining data regarding said memory locations categorization in a reachability table.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2 including the further step of:
(v) maintaining a single said reachability table on a server computer not forming one of said multiple computers and connected thereto via said communications network.
4. The method as claimed in claim 2 including the further step of:
(vi) maintaining a multiplicity of reachability tables, each on a corresponding one of said multiple computers.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 including the further step of,
(vii) detecting failure by at least one of the group of failure detection modes consisting of power supply failure, communication link failure, failure to respond to interrogation, and failure to regularly report as expected.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said memory locations include an asset, structure or resource.
7. A computer program product comprising a set of program instructions stored in a storage medium and operable to permit a plurality of computers to carry out the method claimed in claim 1.
8. A multiplicity of computers interconnected via a communications network and operable to ensure carrying out of the method as claimed in claim 1.
9. A failure resistant multiple computer system in which a plurality of computers each has a corresponding independent local memory, each simultaneously operates a corresponding portion of an application program written to be executed only on a single computer, and each is connected via a communications network to permit updating of corresponding memory locations, said system including a reachability means to categorize memory locations of said local memories into a first category in which the local memory locations are replicated in selected ones, or all, of said computers and therefore require updating via said communications network with changes to corresponding memory locations of other computers, to maintain substantial memory coherence, and into a second category in which the local memory locations are present only in the local computer and therefore no updating is required, and wherein said system further includes a failure detection means connected to each said computer to detect failure of any one of said multiple computers, and a reachability modifier connected to said failure connection means and to said reachability means to modify said reachability means by modifying said first category to remove therefrom, if present, any reference by the failed computer whereby no attempt is made to update any first category memory locations of said failed computer.
10. The system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said reachability means comprises a reachability table in which is maintained data regarding said memory location classification.
11. The system as claimed in claim 10 and including a server computer connected to said communications network, said server computer including a single reachability table.
12. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein each of said multiple computers includes a corresponding reachability table.
13. The system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said failure detection means is selected from the group consisting of power supply failure detectors, communication link failure detectors, interrogation response failure detectors, and regular reporting failure detectors.
14. The system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said memory locations include an asset, structure or resource.
15. A single computer adapted to co-operate with at least one other computer in order to carry out the method as claimed in claim 1 or form the computer system as claimed in claim 9.