Other

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

David S Dennis

Gerald T Fattic

Ronald G Davis

William J Ricketts

William J Linch

James S Hickman

A solenoid valve assembly has a slidable valve member which responds to a selectively energizable solenoid coil and a spring to control the opening and closing of pressure and exhaust ports through movement of the valve member. When the pressure port is fully opened, the valve member is seated against a solenoid stop and port member. The solenoid stop and port member includes a central flow passage which serves as the exhaust passage for the valve assembly. The flow passage is surrounded by a valve seat area which includes a frusto-conical surface having a recess or groove formed therein. The frusto-conical surface and the groove therein reduces the flow forces imposed on the valve member which generally operate to assist seating of the valve member. By reducing the flow forces, the unseating force necessary to open the exhaust port is reduced resulting in lower spring and magnetic forces.

Solenoid valve assembly

A releasable binding system for the sport of snowboarding includes releasable toe and heel binding clip means secured to forward and rear ends, respectively, of the ski board and simulated toe and heel members for releasable engagement with the releasable toe and heel binding clips along an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ski board. The simulated toe and heel members are secured, releasably or permanently to the booted feet of a rider. In one preferred embodiment, the release of one ski boot binding is sensed and causes the substantially simultaneous release of the other ski boot binding. In a further embodiment, an attachment is provided for converting a boot to snowboarding has a sole plate adaptor releasably secured to the sole of the boot with a releasable binding plate member having simulated toe and heel members which is adjustably coupled to the releasable binding plate member so that the simulated toe and heel members project laterally relative to the sole of the boot. Flexible and resilient elements, such as elastomeric washers, permit or allow lateral movement of the user's leg to shift his weight and the direction of the force vector of the user's weight upon the ski board to provide a high degree of control.

Releasable binding system for snowboarding

Apparatus for sensing the timing of peak combustion pressure in an internal combustion engine includes a capacitive piezoelectric element adapted for flexure in response to variations in combustion chamber pressure and connected in parallel with a first resistance, a constant current generator connected to establish a predetermined voltage across the first resistance and thereby across the piezoelectric element when the capacitance of the latter remains constant, a second resistance, a source of the predetermined voltage, and an operational amplifier effective to compare the voltage across the piezoelectric element with the predetermined voltage and source or sink current through the second resistance to maintain the predetermined voltage across the piezoelectric element. The output voltage of the operational amplifier is an analog of the current through the second resistance and thus of the rate of change of capacitance of the piezoelectric element. The crankshaft angle after ignition at which this voltage crosses the predetermined reference corresponds to the timing of peak combustion pressure. In order to reduce noise in the 6 to 9 kilohertz range, the first and second resistances may be reduced, the second resistance bypassed at high frequencies and the output voltage amplified with low pass filtering.

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Anderson, IN, United States of America

David S Dennis