In the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, a method and apparatus are disclosed for optimizing the controlled positive pressure to minimize the flow of air from a flow generator while still ensuring that flow limitation in the patient's airway does not occur. In particular, the invention relates to a breathing device and method of use to adjust a controlled positive pressure to the airway of a patient by detecting flow limitation from analysis of an inspiratory flow waveform. Once the presence of flow limitation has been analyzed, the system determines an action to take for adjustment of the controlled positive pressure. The pressure setting is raised, lowered or maintained depending on whether flow limitation has been detected and on the previous actions taken by the system. The preferred breathing apparatus consists of a flow generator, a flow sensor, an analog to digital converter, a microprocessor, and a pressure controller, a patient supply hose, a nasal fitting, and, optionally, a pressure transducer. Using the method of the present invention, the microprocessor adjusts the air pressure in the patient supply hose when flow limitation is detected in the airway of the patient.

Method and apparatus for optimizing the continuous positive airway pressure for treating obstructive sleep apnea

There is disclosed a spot-type disc brake having a brake carrier protruding over the brake disc and brake shoes on each side of the disc, one shoe being directly actuated by a hydraulically actuated piston and the other shoe being actuated by a brake caliper embracing the disc. A sliding guide is provided to connect the caliper to the carrier so that the caliper is movable relative to the carrier towards and away from the disc. The sliding guide includes guide portions having grooves in the caliper and projections in the carrier to engage the grooves. An opening is provided in the caliper so that the brake shoe adjacent the actuating device can be removed without disassembling the caliper from the carrier. The guide portions have a limited length so that when the caliper is shifted into the space left by the removed brake shoe, the guide portions can be disengaged. This arrangement provides a positive arrangement to prevent the caliper and carrier from separating during operation without additional components in the guide portions as is present in similar prior art disc brakes.

Spot-type disc brake

A brake monitoring system generally includes a plurality of brake monitors mounted on each of a plurality of brake actuators. Each brake monitor generally comprises a sleeve mounted to a push rod which moves relative to a stone shield on the brake actuator. The displacement of the sleeve relative to the stone shield is measured to determine the stroke of the brake actuator. This information is sent via an RF transmitter to a controller which determines the condition of each of the brakes.

Brake monitoring system

Designs for cognitive memory systems storing input data, images, or patterns, and retrieving it without knowledge of where stored when cognitive memory is prompted by query pattern that is related to sought stored pattern Retrieval system of cognitive memory uses autoassociative neural networks and techniques for pre-processing query pattern to establish relationship between query pattern and sought stored pattern, to locate sought pattern, and to retrieve it and ancillary data Cognitive memory, when connected to computer or information appliance introduces computational architecture that applies to systems and methods for navigation, location and recognition of objects in images, character recognition, facial recognition, medical analysis and diagnosis, video image analysis, and to photographic search engines that when prompted with a query photograph containing faces and objects will retrieve related photographs stored in computer or other information appliance, and will identify URL's of related photographs and documents stored on the World Wide Web

System and method for cognitive memory and auto-associative neural network based pattern recognition

The system and method for monitoring wear of one or more aircraft parts, such as an aircraft brake, an aircraft tire, a standby system, and landing gear. One or more sensors are provided for sensing a parameter of usage, and an estimate of usage of the part can be determined based upon the signal indicating the sensed value of the parameter of usage of the aircraft part. A plurality of sensors can be provided for sensing usage of a plurality of parts of the aircraft, and the estimate of usage of the part can be stored for access of the estimate by ground personnel. As applied to monitoring wear of an aircraft brake, a linear brake wear indicator attached to the brake moves a discrete distance when the brake is actuated, and a linear position encoder measures the distance travelled by the linear brake wear indicator as an indication of brake usage. A wheel speed monitor may also be provided for measuring the aircraft wheel speed, for distinguishing between static brake applications and moving brake applications, based upon the wheel speed signal.

System and method for aircraft braking system usage monitoring

The invention relates to a hydraulic parking brake equipped with a parking brake device, in particular for motor vehicles and comprising a brake housing, in which a hydraulic service pressure chamber is delimited by a brake piston. According to the invention, the parking brake device acts on the brake piston and can be locked by means of a locking device once the brake is applied and comprises an energy accumulator that has at least one integrated spring element and co-operates with the brake piston. The aim of the invention is to provide a simple, cost-effective parking brake function that complies with legal requirements. To achieve this, the parking brake device can be actuated by a pressure that is regulated in the service pressure chamber (7) and that can be used to charge the energy accumulator (10).

Hydraulic vehicle brake

The present device relates to an electromechanically operated parking brake for motor vehicles that is designed as a drum brake of the ‘Duo-Servo’ type, including a floatingly supported expanding lock which is operable by an electromechanical actuator arranged on a wheel support member and which acts on two brake shoes. To ensure the floating support of the expanding lock that is formed of a threaded-nut/spindle assembly and to always provide a desired application force, the invention discloses that the threaded nut on its outside circumference has a spur toothing which forms a spiral-toothed gear wheel system along with a spiral-toothed gear wheel driven by the electromechanical actuator.

Electromechanically-operated parking brake

The present invention is concerned with a disc brake and in particular to a floating caliper spot-type disc brake. In the practice of the invention, a holding member in the area of a bore in the brake housing has a smaller diameter than the bore diameter.

Floating caliper spot-type disc brake

A brake shoe for disc brakes of the invention has a retaining spring (6, 7, 8) on its back-plate (1) designed to engage in a hollow brake piston. The back-plate (1) is coated with insulating paint (3) to reduce noise. According to the invention, a securing section (9) of the retaining-spring (6, 7, 8) has a shoulder (14) bearing on a region (13) of the back-plate (1) with no insulating paint (3). In said region (13) there are one or more projecting studs (4, 5, 17, 19, 20) on the back-plate (1) on which the retaining spring (6, 7, 8) is secured against rotation. The invention facilitates the securing of the retaining spring (6, 7, 8) on studs (4, 5, 17, 19, 20) on the back-plate (1) while permitting the use of insulating paint (3). The reliability of the retaining spring (6, 7, 8) advantageously always remains independent of the thickness of the insulating paint (3).

Brake shoe with retaining spring

In a brake pad for disc brakes, a noise-damping sheet (3, 30, 42) is secured to the back of the pad bearer plate (1, 34, 35). The damping sheet (3, 30, 42) is secured to projections (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 35, 36, 37, 46, 47) formed on the bearer plate (1, 34, 45) and extending into appropriate holes (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 31, 32, 33, 43, 44) in the damping sheet (3, 30, 42). The outer ends of the projections (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 35, 36, 37, 46, 47) are broadened so that the damping sheet (3, 30, 42) is pressed against the back of the pad bearer plate (1, 34, 45). In a first embodiment of the invention, a clearance (s) is provided which permits relative movement between the damping sheet (3) and the projections (4, 5, 6, 7, 8). This ensures that the damping sheet (3) always bears evenly on the pad bearer plate (1) even at extremely high temperatures and performs its function of damping vibrations and noise in the best possible way. In a furthr embodiment, there is at least one long aperture (31, 32, 44) through which manufacturing dimensional tolerances can be compensated and the completely even contact of the damping sheet (30, 42) with the pad bearer plate (34, 35) is ensured.

Rolf Weiler

Papers

Hydraulic vehicle brake

Electromechanically-operated parking brake

Floating caliper spot-type disc brake

Brake shoe with retaining spring

Brake pad for disc brakes