Patent Application
20140299517
Plastic is a relatively inexpensive, lightweight and durable material that has become an integral and useful part of our daily lives. Countless different types of products now contain plastic, and virtually every industry uses plastic in some form. However, because plastic is durable, it essentially does not degrade, or degrades very slowly, and therefore accumulates in landfills.
Re-use of resources by collecting and recycling plastics is one of the activities that is being practiced to address global environmental issues. Even though waste discarded from individual households or businesses is separated from other waste so as to collect plastic separately, in practice it is difficult to separate plastic by type at disposal sites. As a result, in order to re-use discarded plastic collected at waste stations, etc., it is necessary to reliably separate a few types of plastic, particularly those having high added value, at a specialized facility, such as a collecting plant. While this has already been practiced for some specific types of plastic, existing methods can be expensive and not appropriate for separation of large quantities of plastics.
There remains a need for separation methods that are capable of separating a large quantity of plastics with high precision and low cost to provide a separation which is acceptable for reuse of the plastics.
Presently disclosed are systems and methods for sorting of plastic components based on electrostatic charging differences between plastic types. Different plastic types carrying different amounts of electrostatic charge can be separated by electrostatic attraction.
In an embodiment, a system for sorting plastic components includes a charging device for giving each plastic component an electrostatic charge to produce charged components, where each plastic component comprises one of at least three different plastic types, and each plastic type obtains a different charge density than each other plastic type. The system also includes a collection area for collecting charged components of a first plastic type having a lowest charge density, a conveying system for conveying the charged components along a conveyance path extending from the charging device to the collection area, and a plurality of electrostatic collectors disposed in series along the conveyance path, where the number of electrostatic collectors is greater than or equal to one less than the number of plastic types, with each electrostatic collector being charged with an electrostatic charge opposite to the charge given the charged components to attract and adhere the charged components thereto and remove the adhered components from the conveyance path. A first electrostatic collector has an amount of charge configured for attracting charged components of a second plastic type having a highest charge density, and each subsequent electrostatic collector has an amount of charge greater than the charge of a previous electrostatic collector and configured for attracting charged components of an additional plastic type having a next highest charge density.
In an additional embodiment, a method for sorting plastic components includes determining the number and kinds of plastic types of the plastic components, where each plastic component comprises one of at least three different plastic types, and charging each plastic component with an electrostatic charge to produce charged components, where each plastic type charges to a different charge density than each other plastic type. The method also includes conveying the charged components along a conveyance path extending from the charging device to a first collection area, disposing a plurality of electrostatic collectors in series along the conveyance path, the number of electrostatic collectors being greater than or equal to one less than the number of plastic types, and charging each of the plurality of electrostatic collectors with an electrostatic charge opposite to the electrostatic charge given to the charged components and configured as a function of the plastic type to attract the charged components to the electrostatic collectors and adhere the charged components to the electrostatic collectors to remove the adhered components from the conveying device. A first electrostatic collector is charged with an amount of charge configured for attracting charged components of a first plastic type having a highest charge density, and each subsequent electrostatic collector is charged with an amount of charge greater than the charge of a previous electrostatic collector and configured for attracting charged components of an additional plastic type having a next highest charge. The method also includes removing the charged components of the first plastic type from the conveyance path with the first electrostatic collector, removing the charged components of the additional plastic type from the conveyance path with each subsequent electrostatic collector, and collecting components of a second plastic type having the lowest charge density in the first collection area.
One way to reduce plastic waste is by recycling, or recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into useful products, sometimes completely different in form from their original state. Making new plastic products from recycled materials uses two-thirds less energy than making products from raw (virgin) materials, and each ton of plastic recycled may save about 5.5 cubic meters of landfill space.
However, in comparison to other materials like glass and metal, the recycling of plastic polymers requires greater processing in the form of processes such as, heat treating, thermal depolymerization and monomer recycling. Due to the high molecular weight of the large polymer chains, plastics typically have a low entropy of mixing. A macromolecule interacts with its environment along its entire length, so the total energy involved in mixing may be large compared to that of other organic molecules with a similar structure. Heating alone may generally not be sufficient to dissolve such large plastics molecules, so plastics must often be of nearly identical composition to mix efficiently for re-use. When different types of plastics are melted together, they tend to phase-separate, like oil and water, and set in these layers. The phase boundaries cause structural weakness in any resulting material. Polymer blends may therefore only be useful in certain applications.
Sorting of recycled plastics into individual plastic types, or at least types which are miscible with one another, may therefore provide for better quality products from recycled plastics. Because of the differences in polymeric make-up of plastics, different types of plastics will be charged to different degrees when exposed to electrifying conditions.
Systems and methods capable of continuously separating and collecting a large quantity of plastic products may selectively separate many different types of collected plastic according to the different electrostatic charging properties of the different types of collected plastics. After applying a charge to the plastic products, various types of plastics will charge to different degrees, and separation of the plastic products may be done by making use of the electrostatic attraction force which will then vary for the various types of collected plastics. Separation of plastics may then be done by charging an electrostatic body in a collecting unit with a pre-determined amount of static electricity and moving the charged plastics past the electrostatic body. Plastic components having an amount of charge sufficient to electrostatically attract the component to the electrostatic body may selectively adhere to the electrostatic body by electrostatic attraction and be carried to an alternate location where they may be deposited into a storage area.
Separation and collection methods and systems which take advantage of this difference in charging may be usable for multiple types of plastics that have been discarded and collected. One illustrative example of such a system 10 is depicted in
As an example, the plastic components may be cut into pieces which may have a substantially rectangular shape having a width of from about 0.5 cm to about 10 cm and a length of from about 0.5 cm to about 20 cm, so that an area of the plastic pieces may be from about 0.25 cm2 to about 200 cm2. In a further example, it may be desirable that the plastic be cut into pieces having a width of from about 1 cm to about 4 cm and a length of from about 1 cm to about 4 cm, so that an area of the plastic pieces may be from about 1 cm2 to about 16 cm2. In alternate embodiments, the plastic pieces may have any combination of lengths and widths of about 1 mm, about 5 mm, about 1 cm, about 2 cm, about 3 cm, about 4 cm, about 5 cm, about 6 cm, about 7 cm, about 8 cm, about 9 cm, about 10 cm, about 11 cm, about 12 cm, about 13 cm, about 14 cm, about 15 cm, about 16 cm, about 17 cm, about 18 cm, about 19 cm, about 20 cm a value between any two of the listed values, a range of values defined by any two of the listed numbers, or a range of values defined by any number between any two of the listed values and another number between any two other of the listed values.
In a further embodiment, the pieces may be of alternate shapes, such as circular or irregular shapes, and may have an area of from about 0.01 cm2 to about 400 cm2. In embodiments, the pieces may be comminuted to sizes having an area of about 0.01 cm2, 0.03 cm2, about 0.5 cm 2, about 1 cm2, about 2 cm2, about 4 cm2, about 7 cm2, about 10 cm2, about 15 cm2, about 20 cm2, about 30 cm2, about 50 cm2, about 75 cm2, about 100 cm2, about 133 cm2, about 166 cm2, about 200 cm2, about 250 cm2, about 300 cm2, about 350 cm2, about 400 cm2, a value between any two of the listed values, a range of values defined by any two of the listed numbers, or a range of values defined by any two of the listed values or numbers between any of the listed values.
In an embodiment (not shown) the plastic components may not be further reduced in size, and the plastic components 1, 2, 3 may be charged in a charging system 20. Alternatively, as shown, the plastic pieces 1A, 2A, 3A may be charged with any variety of charging device or system 20 that is capable of electrifying the pieces to give the pieces a charge density. One type of charging system 20 may be a frictional charging device in which the pieces 1A, 2A, 3A may be charged by moving and agitating the pieces through a drum 25 with an agitator 27 that includes radially extending arms 29 to cause the pieces to forcibly rub against each other and the components of the drum to acquire an electrical charge. Additional electrical charging inputs 30 may be included to provide an additional charge to the pieces 1A, 2A, 3A if necessary to charge the pieces to an appropriate amount needed for subsequent separation.
Alternative embodiments of charging systems may include contact electrification or discharge electrification. A contact electrification system may be realized by simple mechanical contact, which may be provided by agitation, air blow, circulation and also contact with charging materials such as charged electrodes. As an example, brushing over the plastics with a brush made from polyethylene filament may induce electrification. An example of discharge electrification may be realized by a corona discharge method, such as that used in copy machines or laser printers to charge toner, where a high voltage charge may be applied close to the particles and the corona discharge provides a charge to the particles.
Since the amount of charge per size of the material may affect the ability to separate the plastics based on charge, an embodiment of the separation system 10 may also include a device 40 which allows only pieces of substantially uniform size to move on to the charging system 20. The device 40 may be a screening or sieving system which allows pieces of only predetermined sizes to move on to the charging system 20. Plastic pieces that are too large may be returned to the shredder 12 for a further reduction in size. In an embodiment, size reduction and sorting may be done as processes substantially separate from the separation. For example, plastic components may be shredded and sized upon arrival at a collection site, and then stored in corresponding locations for subsequent sorting at a later time.
Plastic pieces of relative uniformity of size, for example, up to about +/−50% of diameter, may be processed together to provide for an improved separation. For better separation efficiency, separations may be performed with size uniformity variances in diameter of up to about +/−47%, about +/−44%, about +/−41%, about +/−38%, about +/−35%, about +/−32%, about +/−29%, about +/−26%, about +/−23%, about +/−20%, about +/−17%, about +/−14%, about +/−10, or any value between any two of the listed values.
Charged pieces 1C, 2C, 3C may be deposited from the charging system 20 onto a transport system, depicted in
The separation units 50-1, 50-2 . . . 50-N may include systems and arrangements (discussed further below) that selectively attract and collect the plastic components from the transport unit so as to selectively separate and collect the separated plastic by making use of an electrostatic attraction force that varies for each type of the plastic. As an example, separation unit 50-1 may remove components 1C of the first plastic type and deposit those components in a collection area 52. Separation unit 50-2 may remove components 2C of the second plastic type and deposit those components in a collection area 54. In the depiction of
A single control system 60 may be provided for operation of the components of the separation system 10. Alternatively, single control units or various combinations of control units may be provided. The control system 60 may control operation of one or more of the following: the shredding unit 12, the sorting unit 40, the charging unit 20, the speed of the conveying system 45, the amount of additional charge applied by electrodes 30, and the amount of charging applied to the separation units 50-N.
Since different plastic types have different chargeability with respect to one another, the separation units 50-N may be configured to electrostatically attract individual plastic types from a mixture of plastic types.
As will be discussed in greater detail further below with reference to various embodiments, the separation units 50-N may include a mechanism with an electrostatic body that takes a charge by charging with a pre-set amount of static electricity from an external source so as to be able to selectively cause a specific type of plastic to adhere to the charged portion according to various charging properties of the plastics. The electrostatic body may be charged with an opposite charge to that of the plastic pieces to thereby provide an electrostatic attraction between the pieces and the body. The plastics may be conveyed past the charged electrostatic body for selective separation of the plastic components and transport to a storage unit. The mechanism that selectively collects the separated plastic by type may be disposed above, below, or adjacent a pre-set position in the transport system and may have a configuration which crosses the movement direction of the transport unit.
When multiple separation units are used to selectively collect the separated plastic by type, in accordance with a desired need, such as the number of different types of plastics being sorted, at least the amount of charge on the charged portion in each separation unit may be set to be equal to, or to increase sequentially from the upstream side toward the downstream side in subsequent units along the transport system.
The mechanism that selectively collects the separated plastic by type may be disposed with a pre-set gap in relation to the plastic components, such that the mechanism in an overhead configuration is slightly above or barely makes contact with the surface of a plastic item that is being transported on the transport system. The mechanism may be charged with a pre-determined amount of static electricity so as to selectively cause a specific type of plastic to adhere to the charged portion according to the various charging properties of the multiple types of plastics passing by the electrostatic body. Thereafter, the selectively separated plastic may be transported to a collection area, or storage unit.
The mechanism that selectively collects the separated plastic by type may be a structure having a metallic surface, which may be iron, for example, and which may be coated with an electrically insulating material, such as ceramic. The charging conditions may be selectively set according to the plastics being separated. Further, as was previously discussed, the form (size) and charging of the plastics may also be selectively adjusted for the requirements of the system.
As shown in
With a configuration as described, a plastic having greater chargeability, such as polycarbonate, or those towards the top of the diagram in
In an embodiment wherein three types of plastics 1C, 2C, 3C are to be separated, such as is depicted in
A second separation unit 50-2, and any additional units 50-N, may be configured similarly to the first unit 50-1 so as to remove at least one additional plastic type from the conveyor system 45. In the configuration as shown in
As shown in
The level of charge applied to transporters 51 of the separation units 50-N, and the operating conditions, such as the size of the gap between the main transport system 45 and the charged transporter, may be appropriately decided on the basis of the combinations of the types, forms and treatment statuses of the plastic items to be separated and the transport speed, etc. of the transport system.
In an embodiment of a separation system 10, more than one separation unit 50-N may be needed for one type of plastic component. As an example, the plastics to be separated may have a significantly greater amount of one type of plastic component than a single separation unit 50-N may be able to handle at its optimum operating speed. In such a scenario, some of the plastic components may not adhere to the transporter 51 if the transporter is already covered with adhering plastic components, and thus pass through the collecting unit. A second, or possibly more, subsequent unit 50-(N+1) may then be needed that has the same charge as the previous unit instead of an increased charge as previously described.
Alternatively, a collection system 10 may be designed to have two or more similarly charged separation units for each type of plastic component to increase separation efficiency. In such an embodiment, for a particular type of plastic, any plastic components that are not picked up by the first unit may be picked up by the next unit, thereby providing a higher efficiency of separation.
In an embodiment as depicted in
The conveying system 45 may have spaced apart openings disposed along its length and width to allow the passage of air from the blowers 65 to reach the plastic pieces on the conveying system. The conveying system 45 may include a chain-link or mesh conveyor to provide air openings. The blower 65 may have a plurality of outlet nozzles 66 for dispersing the air upwardly though the plastic components, and may be fed by a blower source 67 which may be a fan, for example. The installation position of the blower 65, the number of blowing outlets 66, the air flow rate, and number of rows of outlets may be appropriately configured in accordance with the usage needs.
In an embodiment as depicted by
At least a portion of the belt 51a may be disposed in a spaced apart relationship above the conveyance path of conveying system 45 at a distance sufficient to permit attraction between the charged components and the oppositely charged belt to lift the charged components from the conveyance path to the surface of the belt. The lower portion of the carrier conveyor 51a that is disposed along the main conveying system 45 may be configured to move in a direction opposite to the direction of the main conveying system. With such a configuration, the plastic components 1C, 2C, 3C may be exposed to the charged carrier for a longer period of time to possibly provide a better opportunity for the appropriately charged plastic components to be attracted to and adhere to the carrier 51a. The carrier 51a may be a chargeable metallic belt or may be formed of other chargeable materials.
In an embodiment, the conveyor 51a may also be configured and disposed so that the lower portion thereof moves in the same direction as the movement direction of the transport system 45. With either direction of rotation, the carrier conveyor 51a may separate and remove at least one of the plastic components from others of the plastic components and transport the removed component to a collection area 52a. Additionally, one or more blowers 65 as previously discussed may also be provided, if desired, to introduce lift to the plastic components to move them to contact the carrier 51a.
In an embodiment as depicted by
Similarly, as with previous embodiments, one or more blowers 65 may also be provided, if desired, to introduce lift to the plastic components to move the components towards, and/or into contact with the carrier drum 51b. Any plastic components adhered to the drum 51b may be carried by the rotating drum and deposited in a collection area 52b.
Another embodiment of the separation units 50-N and transport system 45 is depicted in
The unseparated plastic mixture of components 1C, 2C, 3C may be transported to the first separation unit 50-1 by a transport portion 45a. The drum 80 of unit 50-1 may be charged to a first extent sufficient to attract and retain plastic components 1C thereto. Rotation of the drum 80 will carry the plastic components between the conveying portions 45a and 45b, at which point further rotation may carry the retained components 1C downwardly into a collection area 52c, while pushing the unattached components 2C and 3C along onto the conveyer portion 45b, which may transport the components 2C and 3C to the next separation unit 50-2. The rotating drum 80 of unit 50-2 may be charged to an extent sufficient to attract and retain the plastic components 2C thereto to thereby separate the components 2C from components 3C. The components 3C may be passed along to the next conveyor section 45c while the components 2C retained on the drum are deposited in a collection area 54c.
Drums 80 may have a surface of metal, such as iron, and a covering of insulating material, such as ceramic. The combination of composition materials for the drums 80 may be any combination of conductive materials for the metal inner surface layer of the drum, and insulating materials for the outer surface layer, respectively. In an embodiment, the drums 80 may be set so that the outer circumference portions of the rotating drum are placed at the same level as the conveying portions 45a, 45b, 45c or possibly slightly above the conveying portions, with a substantial portion of the drums being disposed lower than the conveying portions.
As shown in
When plastic components 1C, 2C, 3C pass through between the compression drum 85 and the electrically charged rotating drum 80, the plastic components may be compressed on the electrically charged rotating drum by the compression drum, become selectively attached to the surface of the electrically charged rotating drum depending on their charging characteristics, as previously described, and be delivered to a collecting area 52c. As with the embodiment of
Various components of each embodiment described herein, may be used in combination with components from others of the embodiments described herein. For example, the separation units 50-N may all be of the same type. Alternatively, various ones of the separation units 50-N may be of a first type and others may be of a different type. Each of the separation unit embodiments may include a blower or a compression/compacting mechanism, and a location of the compression and compacting system may vary, and may be provided, for example, after shredding and before sorting, or after shredding and sorting and before charging, etc.
A separation system 10, such as the system depicted in
A frictional charging unit 20 will be used to agitate the pieces 1A, 2A, 3A and forcibly rub the pieces against each other to give the pieces an electrical charge. The drum 25 of the charging unit will be configured to output the charged pieces 1C, 2C, 3C directly onto a single conveyer 45. The conveyor 45 will be formed from an insulating material so as not to discharge the plastic pieces, and will be configured to carry the charged plastic pieces through two collecting units 50-1 and 50-2 disposed serially, one after the other along the conveyance path. Each of the collecting units 50-1 and 50-2 will have a chargeable transporter 51, and each transporter may be charged to an appropriate degree to attract different ones of the charged plastic pieces. The transporters 51 will be formed from a plurality of suspended metallic carriers having a coating of ceramic on the bottom surfaces thereof, and which will move along a track or rail 49 that runs perpendicular to the conveyor 45. The transporter 51 of each unit 50-1 and 50-2 will be configured in conjunction with a collection area 52, 54, respectively, to carry and deposit any separated plastic pieces into a corresponding collection area. An additional collection area 56 will be provided at the end of the conveyor 45 for receiving any plastic components which are not removed by the units 50-1 and 50-2.
The separation system of Example 1 will be used to separate recycled plastic components which include components formed from polycarbonate 1, polyethylene 2, or polyvinyl chloride 3. The plastic components 1, 2, 3 will be fed into the shredding unit 12 which will be configured to shred the plastic components 1, 2, 3 to pieces having a size of about 100 cm2 (approximately 10 cm by 10 cm). The pieces will be sorted in the sorting unit 40 to ensure that the size of the pieces 1A, 2A, 3A will be within +/−30% of the desired size.
Appropriately sized plastic pieces 1A, 2A, 3A will then be fed into and through the frictional charging unit 20 where they will be agitated to forcibly rub the pieces against each other to give the pieces an electrical charge. The charged pieces 1C, 2C, 3C will be directly discharged onto the conveyer 45 and will be transported to the first separation unit 50-1 of the two separation units.
Of the three plastic types, polycarbonate 1, polyethylene 2, and polyvinyl chloride 3, the polycarbonate will be charged to a greater degree than the other two upon emerging from the charging drum 25, and therefore, the chargeable transporter 51 in the first separation unit 50-1 will be charged to a degree sufficient to attract only the polycarbonate components 1C thereto. The charged plastic pieces 1C, 2C, 3C will pass under the charged moving transporter 51 of the first unit 50-1, and the polycarbonate pieces 1C will be the only pieces that have sufficient charge to be attracted to and adhere to the transporter. The pieces 1C will therefore lift off of the conveyor 45 and adhere to the transporter 51 while the remaining pieces 2C and 3C remain on the conveyor for transport those pieces to the next separation unit 50-2. The transporter 51 of the unit 50-1 will carry the separated polycarbonate pieces 1C to a designated collection area 52.
Of the remaining two plastic types, polyethylene 2C and polyvinyl chloride 3C, the polyethylene will charge to a greater degree than the polyvinyl chloride, and therefore, the chargeable transporter 51 in the second separation unit 50-2 will be charged to a degree sufficient to attract only the polyethylene components 2C thereto. The charged plastic pieces 2C, 3C will move under the charged moving transporter 51 of the unit 50-2, and the polyethylene pieces 2C will be the only pieces that have sufficient charge to be attracted to and adhere to the transporter. The pieces 2C will therefore lift off of the conveyor 45 and adhere to the transporter 51 while the remaining pieces 3C will remain on the conveyor and be transported to a collection area 56. The transporter 51 of the unit 50-1 will carry the polycarbonate pieces 1C to a designated collection area 52.
This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, devices and methods described, as these may vary. The terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.
In the above detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be used, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein.
The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods, reagents, compounds, compositions or biological systems, which can, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting.
As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Nothing in this disclosure is to be construed as an admission that the embodiments described in this disclosure are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention. As used in this document, the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.”
While various compositions, methods, and devices are described in terms of “comprising” various components or steps (interpreted as meaning “including, but not limited to”), the compositions, methods, and devices can also “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the various components and steps, and such terminology should be interpreted as defining essentially closed-member groups.
With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.
It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or an (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.
As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as “up to,” “at least,” and the like include the number recited and refer to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.
Various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is also intended to be encompassed by the disclosed embodiments.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US12/51017 | 8/16/2012 | WO | 00 | 2/28/2013 |
