A cleaning apparatus (10) for removing foreign matter from a marine seismic cable (1) as it is moved along the cable, the apparatus comprising a means (12), (3) for slidably attaching the apparatus to the cable, a sensor (15, 16) for determining the presence of obstructions, and means (14) for steering the apparatus, whereby the apparatus may be detached from the cable (1) when an obstruction (3) is encountered, be steered past the obstruction, and be re- attached to the cable (1). There is also a method of removing foreign matter from a marine seismic cable (1).
A seismic data acquisition system comprising a composite marine seismic cable and a winch, the composite marine seismic cable comprising a sensor cable and a lead-in cable for providing electrical connections to the sensor cable, and the winch comprising a first cable compartment for the lead-in cable and a second cable compartment for the sensor cable, wherein the lead-in cable and the sensor cable may be deployed or recovered independently of each other. There is also a method of deploying a composite seismic cable comprising a lead-in cable and a sensor cable.
G01V 1/38 - SeismologySeismic or acoustic prospecting or detecting specially adapted for water-covered areas
B66D 1/30 - Rope, cable, or chain drums or barrels
B65H 75/42 - Cores, formers, supports, or holders for coiled, wound, or folded material, e.g. reels, spindles, bobbins, cop tubes, cans specially adapted or mounted for storing and repeatedly paying-out and re-storing lengths of material provided for particular purposes, e.g. anchored hoses, power cables involving the use of a core or former internal to, and supporting, a stored package of material mobile or transportable attached to, or forming part of, mobile tools or machines
A percutaneous ostomy implant for implantation into the abdominal wall of a patient comprises: a connecting member for mounting an external detachable device thereto; a first tubular ingrowth member depending from the connecting member; and a second tubular ingrowth member depending from the connecting member and being radially outwardly spaced from the first tubular ingrowth member. The first tubular ingrowth member is adapted to receive a bowel segment within it to form a stoma and serosal tissue of that bowel segment may infiltrate the first tubular ingrowth member. The second tubular member is adapted to abut dermal tissue such that the dermal tissue may infiltrate the second tubular ingrowth member, thereby securing and sealing the ostomy implant to the dermis.
An implantable device (1) consists of the following main components: a hollow, tubular body penetrating structure (2), a rigid porous tubular mesh (3), a base portion (4) in the form of a flange, and a sealing ring (5). The hollow, tubular body penetrating structure (2) has an axial main body (6) with a free end (7) provided with a collar (8) and an opposite end (9) connected to the base portion (4). The tubular body penetrating structure (2) has an internal passageway (10) for allowing introduction and passage of an object, which is to be put in communication with another object or organ inside the body. The sealing ring (5) fits into the internal passageway (10) of the axial main body (6) to provide sealing against the inserted object when required. The rigid porous tubular mesh (3) has a pattern (11) composed of a plurality of hexagonal mesh apertures (12) evenly distributed between a first coupling end (13) and a second coupling end (14), which coupling ends in the present embodiment terminate in respective solid coupling rings (16, 17).
A device for removing spilled oil, oily substances or other liquids from a surface has a main body (2) with a pair of handles (3) towards its upper end and a cleaning head (4) at the lower end. The cleaning head is fitted with rotary brushes (5) and also contains a motor and drive gear. At the upper end of the main body (2) a flexible pipe (6) is connected to a hollow passage formed by and extending through the main body (2) via a short flexible pipe (6') to the cleaning head (4). In the opposite direction the flexible pipe (6) extends to remote air pressure, vacuum and sorbent material sources. The device (1) has three main modes of operation which are used in sequence to clean up spilled oil etc. It is used to supply absorbent material (e.g. chipped bark) to the contaminated ground; then the absorbent material is massaged into the surface of the ground; and finally the absorbent material together with the liquid is removed.
B08B 1/04 - Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools, brushes, or analogous members using rotary operative members
A47L 7/00 - Suction cleaners adapted for additional purposesTables with suction openings for cleaning purposesContainers for cleaning articles by suctionSuction cleaners adapted to cleaning of brushesSuction cleaners adapted to taking-up liquids
A47L 7/02 - Suction cleaners adapted for additional purposesTables with suction openings for cleaning purposesContainers for cleaning articles by suctionSuction cleaners adapted to cleaning of brushesSuction cleaners adapted to taking-up liquids with driven tools for special purposes
A hydraulic transmission system (1) for use in a wind turbine installation comprises a hydraulic pump (4a) connected via a transmission line (5,6) to a plurality of fixed displacement hydraulic motors (4b). The hydraulic motors (4b) are arranged such that they can be coupled to and drive a common load (2). The hydraulic motors (4b) can each be selectively coupled in and out of operation to drive the load (2).
F16H 61/444 - Control of exclusively fluid gearing hydrostatic with more than one pump or motor unit in operation by changing the number of pump or motor units in operation
F03D 11/02 - Transmission of power, e.g. using hollow exhausting blades
F03B 13/16 - Adaptations of machines or engines for special useCombinations of machines or engines with driving or driven apparatusPower stations or aggregates characterised by using wave or tide energy using wave energy using the relative movement between a wave-operated member and another member
A percutaneous ostomy implant for implantation into the abdominal wall of a patient which comprises a cylindrical part for mounting an external detachable device thereto, an ingrowth mesh and a circular flange for anchoring the implant. The cylindrical part and circular flange are attached to opposite ends of the ingrowth mesh. The ingrowth mesh is arranged such that when the implant is implanted in the abdominal wall of a patient, the epidermis meets the ingrowth mesh and is able to attach therethrough directly to serosal tissue of a bowel segment inside the implant.
A controller for a floating wind turbine is adapted to cause the wind turbine to extract energy from wave-induced motion of the turbine. The controller controls the rotor speed of the turbine by controlling the torque of the load presented to the rotor such that the rotor speed varies in response to wave-induced motion.
A wafer bonded CMUT array comprising a plurality of CMUT elements distributed across a substrates, each element comprising a cavity and a signal electrode formed in the substrate, and a conductive membrane closing the cavity and forming a ground electrode, wherein the membranes of the individual elements form an unbroken ground plane across the surface of the array and wherein electrical connection to the signal electrodes is provided by means of a conductive vias depending therefrom through the substrate from the signal electrode to the rear of the substrate.
An analogue to digital converter ("ADC") has a plurality of electrically interconnected semiconductor layers (3, 7, 9, 11) arranged in a stack. Each layer has an input for an analogue signal on one layer and an output for a digital signal on another layer. The conversion of the input signal to the output signal is performed in a plurality of steps which are divided between the respective layers. Each layer comprises a silicon wafer with CMOS circuitry formed thereon and conductive via (16, 17, 18) are provided through the semiconductor layers. The ADC is of pipeline configuration; at least one bit is extracted from the analogue input signal in each of the plurality of layers.
H03M 1/44 - Sequential comparisons in series-connected stages with change in value of analogue signal
H01L 27/06 - Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including integrated passive circuit elements with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a non-repetitive configuration
An apparatus for use in analysing the motion of a human subject comprises a platform (1) upon which the subject stands. The platform comprises force sensors (11, 12, 13) arranged to measure forces exerted on the platform by the subject in three dimensions (along X, Y and Z axes) and a pressure sensitive mat (4) arranged to collect pressure data relating to the position of each foot of the subject on the platform. The apparatus outputs the force and pressure data to a computer (22) which comprises software for determining information relating to the motion of the subject, such as torque and angular momentum around different axes, using both the force and pressure data. In a golfing scenario, the apparatus can be used to analyse the motion of a subject whilst making a golf swing.
A method of moving a floating wind turbine (1) relative to a body of water, the floating wind turbine (1) having a buoyant body with a nacelle at the upper end thereof, comprises floating the floating wind turbine (1) in the body of water, and towing the floating wind turbine (1) whilst holding the buoyant body in an inclined position, whereby the nacelle is held clear of the water. As the wind turbine (1) is held in an inclined position, it can be towed through regions of shallower water than if it were in a vertical position.
A switching power amplifier comprising an electronic switch in parallel with a resonant network, wherein the electronic switch is DC-connected to a first node of the resonant network, and a power supply is DC-connected to a second node of the resonant network.
A method of natural gas liquefaction comprising first and second nitrogen refrigerant streams, each stream undergoing a cycle of compression, cooling, expansion and heating, during which the first nitrogen stream is expanded to a first, intermediate pressure and the second nitrogen stream is expanded to a second, lower pressure, and the heating occurs in one or more heat exchangers in which at least one of the expanded nitrogen streams is in heat exchanging relationship with natural gas, wherein, in at least one of said one or more heat exchangers, the first and second expanded nitrogen streams are in a heat exchanging relationship with the natural gas and both the first and second compressed nitrogen streams. The liquefaction can occur in three stages: in an initial stage the heated, expanded first nitrogen stream and the heated, expanded second nitrogen stream are used to cool the natural gas; in an intermediate stage the compressed first nitrogen stream is expanded to an intermediate pressure and used to cool the natural gas; and in a final stage the compressed, second nitrogen stream is expanded to a low pressure and used to cool the natural gas.
F25J 1/02 - Processes or apparatus for liquefying or solidifying gases or gaseous mixtures requiring the use of refrigeration, e.g. of helium or hydrogen
F25J 1/00 - Processes or apparatus for liquefying or solidifying gases or gaseous mixtures
A method of monitoring an electricity distribution network comprising an electricity network connection for supplying power to nodes N1to NN, the electricity network connection S being connected to node N1 and the nodes being connected in series, comprises: starting at the final node NN and progressing along the nodes toward the electricity network connection S, calculating a value representing the amount of electricity supplied to each node from the preceding node based on power consumption for the node and losses in the components between the node and the preceding node; and calculating a value representing the amount of electricity supplied from the electricity network connection to the first node N1 based on power consumption for the node and losses in the components between the electricity network connection and the first node N1.
A method of and apparatus for transmitting data in systems such as computer networks, for example in client-server or peer-to-peer arrangements. Access to transmitted data received by a destination apparatus is limited by the provision of software code at the destination apparatus. The software code is arranged to produce a result which is a function of the state of the destination apparatus, and this result is used to access the data. The software code may be either transmitted to the destination apparatus, for example along with the data it is used to access or from a separate server, or may be generated at the destination apparatus. The method and apparatus is particularly applicable in the field of on-line gaming, wherein the transmitted data is encrypted gaming data and the result of the software code provides the access key to the encrypted data.
patents