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A heat exchanger system suitable for facilitating the economical cooling of hot fluids in the vicinity of a body of water. The preferred embodiment of the present invention contemplates a vertical, or combination vertical and horizontal thermosyphonic, passive, heat exchanger column situated in a body of water and enveloped by a caisson or the like, and configured to facilitate, through percolation, enhanced circulation of seawater therethrough and effecting significant cooling of a hot, hydrocarbon well stream, or other hot fluid in the vicinity of a body of water. A vertically situated bundle of tubes forms the heat exchanger, which may include a system of staggered baffles to direct the flow of cooling seawater to effect even temperature distribution throughout the tube bundle. The present system further teaches a system for cooling high pressure, hot fluids as may be found in a deep hydrocarbon reserve offshore, utilizing a the vertical heat exchange column of the present invention. Upon passing through the system, a gaseous fluid stream, significantly cooled, should experience a commensurate pressure reduction and allow the use of conventional pipeline materials. The present system dispenses with the necessity of providing expensive, pro-active cooling, generally expending significant fuel, or the necessity of constructing an expensive, high pressure, non-corrosive pipeline of, for example, titanium or the like.

Process for producing a copper-containing aqueous solution, in which a copper mass is dissolved in the presence of air in an aqueous leach liquor containing monoethanolamine and an acid, wherein the amount of acid equivalents is between 0.05 and about 0.7 times the equivalents of monoethanolamine, and wherein the rate of copper dissolution into the aqueous leach liquor is greater than about 4.3 grams of copper per liter of leach liquor per hour until a product having at least about 80 grams per liter is obtained.

In one example, a system for a vehicle travelling on a surface is described. The system includes an engine with a cylinder. The cylinder includes a fuel injector that is supplied with gaseous fuel and liquid fuel by a fuel delivery system. The fuel injector is mounted in the vehicle such that the fuel injector inlet faces at least partially toward the road surface. The orientation of the fuel injector enables a quick transition from liquid fuel to gaseous fuel because the gaseous fuel can rise to the injectors and be preferentially injected. Further, various approaches are described from transitioning operation between gaseous and liquid fuel injection.

Systems and methods for controlling traffic on a communications network include dynamic and flexible control plans that enable service providers to control or influence customer access to communications facilities. Communications facilities are monitored to identify network elements, such as cell sites, that are overloaded. When the traffic intensity on a particular facility exceeds a predetermined level, either active or passive control is imposed on subscribers that are in the geographic area of the facility. Active control involves blocking, delaying or disrupting subscriber calls during the critical time period. Passive control involves providing cost incentives or disincentives during low or peak periods of traffic intensity. Customers are notified of the commencement and/or termination of active or passive control preferably via SMS. When implemented with stationary cellular service, the systems and methods aid in traffic engineering and provide opportunities for customers to reduce the cost and increase the accessibility of telephone service.

A method and apparatus for processing waste water generated during oilfield drilling operations with a mobile processing unit utilizing heat energy sourced from burning hydrocarbon fuel directly and/or capturing and using the exhaust heat energy generated by burning hydrocarbons in engines such as diesel engines in order to vaporize a dominant mass of the aqueous phase of the waste water while clarifying the heat source combustion gasses. The water vapor generated by the vaporization process may be discharged directly to the atmosphere or alternately condensed and captured for use as portable water. The residual waste water is thereby concentrated and the cost to dispose of the waste water is greatly reduced.

A memory cell comprises a storage element including a transistor and an inverter. The inverter has an input coupled to a first source/drain of the transistor at a first node and has an output coupled to a gate of the transistor at a second node. The transistor has a second source/drain coupled to a voltage supply of the memory circuit. The memory cell further includes a switching element coupled to the storage element at the first node and being operative to selectively access the storage element as a function of a control signal supplied to a control input of the switching element. The storage element is operative to store at least first and second data states. The first data state is retained in the storage element by maintaining the first node at a first voltage level by leakage current and by maintaining the second node at a second voltage level by active current. The second data state is retained in the storage element by maintaining the first node at the second voltage level and the second node at the first voltage level by respective active currents.

According to various embodiments of the invention, systems and methods for attaching a solar panel to a roof are provided. A solar panel generally comprises a solar cell and a frame enclosing the solar cell. The frame may be configured to interface with a conventional roof shingle in an overlapping fashion. In some embodiments, the frame includes an integrated rain-rail configured to provide a conduit for rainwater and mate with a rain-rail on another solar panel providing a mechanical interconnection between the panels. The solar cell may also include a tack-down strip configured to connect the solar panel to a roof. This tack-down strip may be configured to overlap a shingle on a roof.

A guidance system for a robot includes a main monitoring station and an unmanned movable base station, which is in communication with the main monitoring station. A robot is provided which is adapted to operate within a predetermined radius of the base station. Either an umbilical cord connection or a wireless communication link can be provided for dynamically determining the distance and orbital positioning of the robot relative to the base station.

The invention is directed a rotary molding machine having a wheel mounted for rotation on a pair of shafts positioned along the rotational axis of the wheel. A first shaft cooperates with a first turntable of the wheel and a second shaft cooperates with a second turntable. The first and second turntables extend transversely to the rotational axis. A plurality of modular mold clamp assemblies are positioned on the wheel, with each modular mold clamp assembly being moveable between an open and a closed position. Each modular mold clamp assembly has mounting areas which are mounted with respective mounting locations each turntable. The modular mold clamp assemblies provide the structure and rigidity between the turntables to help maintain the turntables in position relative to each other.

A dispenser for a soft-serve food product includes a housing having a dispensing chute and a piston having a head positioned therewithin. A lateral wall, the piston head, and a front door define an enclosed hollow space. The head is slidable within the lateral wall for squeezing a deformable container to dispense product through the chute. A system for preparing and dispensing a soft-serve food product includes a tempering freezer for raising a temperature of the food product from hard-frozen to a condition for soft-serve dispensing. An apparatus for packaging a soft-serve confection into a multiple-serving-size container for transport includes a blender for blending ingredients together to form a blended product and a device for transferring the blended product into a deformable container. The deformable container filled with the blended product is transferred into a substantially rigid mold and frozen to a hardened state for transport and retention.

A cold forging apparatus for forming complex shapes at a single station includes a pair of confronting multiple function punch assemblies disposed on a common axis. Each of the multiple function punch assemblies includes an inner or a center punch and an outer or ring-shaped punch surrounding and in sliding contact with the inner punch. The apparatus also includes a die holder for positioning a mass or slug of metal between the punches. A computer system controls movement of the punches and is programmable to form parts of different shapes at a single station.