阅读说明：本技术 一种植绒设备 (Flocking equipment ) 是由 张萌 严飞飞 张靖 于 2021-08-13 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明属于机械设备制造技术领域,具体公开了一种植绒设备,包括：封闭的植绒箱,在所述植绒箱的侧壁设有供待植绒的工件进出所述植绒箱的进料口,所述植绒箱还包括与所述侧壁成90°设置的底板；绒毛板,与所述底板平行设置并且贴近所述底板,用于承载植绒用的绒毛；网板,与所述绒毛板平行设置,用于接入高压电,以在所述植绒箱内形成静电场。本发明的优点在于通过旋转工件的方式来接受绒毛的植入,植绒的过程是连续的,不会出现现有技术中由于需要翻面而造成的接缝处绒毛过于集中或绒毛过少的情况而使得植绒效果更均匀。(The invention belongs to the technical field of mechanical equipment manufacturing, and particularly discloses flocking equipment, which comprises: the flocking device comprises a closed flocking box, wherein a feed inlet for feeding a workpiece to be flocked into and out of the flocking box is formed in the side wall of the flocking box, and the flocking box further comprises a bottom plate which is arranged at an angle of 90 degrees with the side wall; the fluff plate is arranged in parallel with the bottom plate and is close to the bottom plate and used for bearing fluff for flocking; and the screen plate is arranged in parallel with the fluff plate and is used for connecting high-voltage electricity so as to form an electrostatic field in the flocking box. The flocking machine has the advantages that the flocking machine receives the implantation of the fluff by rotating the workpiece, the flocking process is continuous, and the situation that the fluff at the joint is too concentrated or too little due to the need of turning over in the prior art can not occur, so that the flocking effect is more uniform.)

1. A flocking apparatus comprising:

the flocking device comprises a closed flocking box, wherein a feed inlet for feeding a workpiece to be flocked into and out of the flocking box is formed in the side wall of the flocking box, and the flocking box further comprises a bottom plate which is arranged at an angle of 90 degrees with the side wall;

the fluff plate is arranged in parallel with the bottom plate and is close to the bottom plate and used for bearing fluff for flocking;

and the screen plate is arranged in parallel with the fluff plate and is used for connecting high-voltage electricity so as to form an electrostatic field in the flocking box.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least two annular bearings are provided on the side wall surrounding either side of the feed port.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the feed port is coaxially disposed with the two annular bearings, and a fixed sleeve is sequentially embedded in the feed port and the inner rings of the two annular bearings.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising;

a drive device;

and the mechanical arm is driven by the driving device to perform reciprocating rotation motion.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said robot arm is for holding the workpiece to be flocked, said robot arm having a first state and a second state;

in the first state, the mechanical arm is taken out through the feeding hole, the workpiece to be flocked is mounted on the mechanical arm, and/or the flocked workpiece is taken down from the mechanical arm;

in the second state, the mechanical arm is fixedly connected with the driving device, and the mechanical arm is driven by the driving device to perform reciprocating rotary motion.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the rotational movement is at least 360 °.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the drive means comprises a drive motor, a drive pulley, a driven pulley, and a timing belt;

the flocking equipment still includes the support, driving motor set up in on the support, driving motor drive driving pulley reciprocating rotary motion.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the fixed sleeve is fixedly connected with the mechanical arm, and the driven pulley is sleeved on an outer ring of the fixed sleeve;

the fixed sleeve and the mechanical arm which are fixedly connected rotate under the driving of the driven belt wheel.

9. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein a pair of fastening pins are provided at opposite sides of the fixing sleeve, the robot arm is withdrawable from the tendon sleeve when the fastening pins are loosened, and the robot arm is fixedly coupled to the fastening sleeve when the fastening pins are fastened.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the fastening pin is an elastic pin, the mechanical arm is fixedly connected with the fastening sleeve when a latch tongue of the elastic pin is ejected, and the mechanical arm can be withdrawn from the fastening sleeve when the elastic pin is retracted under the push of the air cylinder.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of mechanical equipment manufacturing, in particular to flocking equipment.

Background

The flocking equipment is a large-scale equipment which utilizes an electrostatic field to push fluff to vertically impact a workpiece to be flocked so as to achieve the adhesion effect. Generally, the flock is first placed in an electrostatic field, which is charged with a negative charge, and the workpiece to be flocked (e.g. a cloth) is then placed at zero potential of the electrostatic field (which is equivalent to charging it with a positive charge). The fuzz with negative charges is attracted by positive charges and flies to the workpiece to be flocked vertically, the surface of the workpiece is coated with an adhesive in advance, and the fuzz is fixed by the adhesive after being impacted with the workpiece, so that the purpose of flocking is achieved.

The existing box-type flocking equipment generally sets the size of a flocking box according to the size and the shape of a workpiece to be flocked, then, fluff is placed in the flocking box in advance, a high-voltage electrostatic field is formed in the flocking box after the power is switched on, the workpiece to be flocked enters the box from one end of the flocking box through a conveyor belt to receive the implantation of the fluff, after the workpiece to be flocked stays for 3-5 seconds, the conveyor belt moves the flocked workpiece out from the other end of the flocking box, and after the subsequent steps such as drying are carried out, a finished product is obtained.

This flocking device has the drawback of allowing easy escape of the fluff, on the one hand, and is less friendly to products with a certain three-dimensional shape, such as gloves, on the other hand. When products with certain three-dimensional shapes, such as gloves, are flocked by using the flocking equipment, the products are always unevenly coated. Taking the dipped gloves used in housework as an example, because all flocking is needed on the inner surface of the gloves, one glove needs to be flocked twice to finish all flocking on the inner surface. However, since the glove is three-dimensional, on one hand, the arc-shaped side surface which cannot directly face the flying direction of the fluff exists, so that the flocking is not uniform, and on the other hand, due to the fact that the flocking process is required to be carried out twice on the palm and the back of the hand, the situation that the fluff at the joint of the two flocking processes is too concentrated or too little is likely to occur.

Therefore, there is a need to design a flocking device that is friendly to workpieces to be flocked in a solid shape.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above-mentioned defects and improve flocking effect, the present invention provides a flocking device, comprising:

the flocking device comprises a closed flocking box, wherein a feed inlet for feeding a workpiece to be flocked into and out of the flocking box is formed in the side wall of the flocking box, and the flocking box further comprises a bottom plate which is arranged at an angle of 90 degrees with the side wall;

the fluff plate is arranged in parallel with the bottom plate and is close to the bottom plate and used for bearing fluff for flocking;

and the screen plate is arranged in parallel with the fluff plate and is used for connecting high-voltage electricity so as to form an electrostatic field in the flocking box.

The flocking device is characterized in that at least two annular bearings are arranged on the side wall on either side of the feeding hole in a surrounding mode.

The flocking device is characterized in that the feed inlet is coaxial with the two annular bearings, and the fixed sleeve is sequentially embedded in the feed inlet and the inner rings of the two annular bearings.

The flocking device also comprises;

a drive device;

and the mechanical arm is driven by the driving device to perform reciprocating rotation motion.

The flocking device is characterized in that the mechanical arm is used for fixing the workpiece to be flocked, and the mechanical arm has a first state and a second state; in the first state, the mechanical arm is taken out through the feeding hole, the workpiece to be flocked is mounted on the mechanical arm, and/or the flocked workpiece is taken down from the mechanical arm;

in the second state, the mechanical arm is fixedly connected with the driving device, and the mechanical arm is driven by the driving device to perform reciprocating rotary motion.

The flocking device as described above, wherein the rotational movement is at least 360 °.

The flocking device, wherein the driving device comprises a driving motor, a driving pulley, a driven pulley and a synchronous belt; the flocking equipment still includes the support, driving motor set up in on the support, driving motor drive driving pulley reciprocating rotary motion.

In the flocking device, the fixed sleeve is fixedly connected with the mechanical arm, and the driven pulley is sleeved on the outer ring of the fixed sleeve; the fixed sleeve and the mechanical arm which are fixedly connected rotate under the driving of the driven belt wheel.

In the flocking device, a pair of fastening pins are arranged on two opposite sides of the fixing sleeve, when the fastening pins are loosened, the mechanical arm can be drawn out from the tendon sleeve, and when the fastening pins are fastened, the mechanical arm is fixedly connected with the fastening sleeve.

In the flocking device, the fastening pin is an elastic pin, when the latch tongue of the elastic pin is popped out, the mechanical arm is fixedly connected with the fastening sleeve, and when the elastic pin retracts under the pushing of the cylinder, the mechanical arm can be pulled out from the fastening sleeve.

In the prior art, electrostatic flocking mainly comprises 3 preparation processes: flocking upwards, flocking downwards and parallel flocking. The first two methods are similar and are suitable for single-side flocking of planar workpieces. The workpiece is moved in a translational manner (for example, a conveyor belt passes through the electrostatic field), and the fluff is arranged below (flocking upwards) or above (flocking downwards) the workpiece. The flocking product that makes like this is single, the thickness of flocking is single thin and flocking efficiency is also not high, is difficult to satisfy the demand in market. The third flocking method can realize double-sided flocking, but the method has higher precision requirement on static voltage, when the static voltage is too low, the electric field intensity is small, and the fluff flying effect is poor; when the electrostatic voltage is relatively high, the electric field pole plate is easy to have a breakdown discharge phenomenon, so that the process is unstable, and the requirement on equipment conditions is relatively high.

Compared with the prior art, the flocking box adopts a closed structure, so that material waste and environmental pollution caused by the escape of fluff in the processing process can be effectively prevented. Secondly, set up in the flocking case can 360 reciprocating rotation's arm, this arm is used for installing the work piece of treating processing, the mode through rotatory work piece accepts the implantation of fine hair, the process of flocking is continuous on the one hand, can not appear among the prior art because the seam department fine hair that causes needs turn-over is too concentrated or the fine hair condition too little and make the flocking effect more even, on the other hand, if some part on the work piece of treating processing needs encryption/thickening can focus on processing this part, promptly, make this part longer time towards the fine hair that flies to rise. Therefore, compared with the existing equipment suitable for flocking the planar workpiece, the technical scheme provided by the invention is particularly suitable for flocking the three-dimensional workpiece, and the flocking effect is obviously due to the existing flocking equipment.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic exterior view of a flocking device according to some embodiments of the invention;

fig. 2 is a side view of a flocking tank of the flocking device shown in fig. 1;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of a drive arrangement of the flocking device shown in fig. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a dual bearing of the drive arrangement of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the manner in which the pulley is secured in the drive of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the drive assembly of FIG. 3 in fixed connection with a robotic arm;

figures 7a and 7b are front and rear views of the robot arm mounted to the flocking tank.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it is not intended that features of the invention be limited to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is described in connection with the embodiments for the purpose of covering alternatives or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The invention may be practiced without these particulars. Moreover, some of the specific details have been left out of the description in order to avoid obscuring or obscuring the focus of the present invention. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

It should be noted that in this specification, like reference numerals and letters refer to like items in the following drawings, and thus, once an item is defined in one drawing, it is not necessary to further define and explain it in the following drawings, and the same definition is defaulted.

It should be further noted that, in the present invention, the numbering of the method and the flow is for the convenience of reference, and the sequence is not limited, and if there is a sequence between the steps, the text is used as the standard.

The invention is characterized in that the workpiece to be flocked is rotated, so that the three-dimensional workpiece to be flocked can be continuously flocked, and the workpiece can be prevented from entering the flocking box for multiple times. And the rotating speed and the rotating angle are controllable, so that the flocking on the three-dimensional workpiece can be more uniform, or the flocking can be strengthened at a certain position of the workpiece.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic exterior view of a flocking device according to some embodiments of the invention. The flocking device comprises a flocking box 1, a bracket 2 and a driving device.

The flocking box 1 is a closed box body to prevent fluff from flying out in the flocking process, thereby causing material waste and environmental pollution. A side wall of the flocking box 1 is provided with a feed inlet of the flocking box 1 for feeding and discharging a workpiece to be flocked. A mechanical arm 6 for fixing/supporting the workpiece to be flocked can enter and exit the flocking box 1 through the feeding port and is fixed on the flocking box 1. A fluff plate 8, arranged at 90 ° to the side walls, is arranged next to the base plate of the flocking box 1, and can be used to place fluff (directly or indirectly). The mesh panel 7 is arranged parallel to the bottom panel and further away from the bottom panel than the fluff panel 8. Meanwhile, the mechanical arm 6 is vertically fixed on the side wall of the flocking box 1, so that the mechanical arm 6, the mesh plate 7 and the fluff plate 8 are sequentially arranged in parallel. The material of the screen plate 7 can be selected from conductive materials, and the screen plate 7 is electrified, so that stable electrostatic fields are generated on two sides of the screen plate. To obtain a large electric field force, a high voltage is usually applied. Under the condition of selecting proper voltage intensity and voltage polarity, the fluff on the fluff plate 8 flies to the workpiece to be flocked fixed on the mechanical arm 6, thereby realizing the purpose of flocking.

The main body part of the mechanical arm 6 is used for fixedly mounting a workpiece to be flocked (for example, a glove mold for opening a dipped glove), one end of the mechanical arm 6 is provided with a clamp part, and the clamp part is provided with structures such as fastening holes and positioning holes and used for being matched with various matched structures arranged on the periphery of a feed port to fasten the mechanical arm 6 and ensure that the mechanical arm 6 is perpendicular to the side wall.

The driving device is used for finally driving the workpiece to be flocked to rotate, so that the three-dimensional workpiece to be flocked can complete the flocking process in one step, continuously and 360 degrees. In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the driving means is a belt transmission, and in other embodiments, the driving means may be another transmission such as a gear transmission. Specifically, the driving device in the present embodiment includes a driving motor (not shown), a driving pulley 4, a driven pulley 3, and a timing belt 5. Wherein, motor and driving pulley 4 are installed on support 2, and driven pulley 3 is installed in the feed inlet department on flocking case 1. When the motor works, the driving pulley 4 is driven to rotate, the driving pulley 4 drives the driven pulley 3 to rotate through the synchronous belt 5, and the driven pulley 3 can finally drive the workpiece to be flocked to rotate (the specific structure can be referred to the description of fig. 3-7 b later). In this embodiment, the thickness (density) and uniformity of flocking can be adjusted by adjusting the rotation speed and/or rotation angle of the motor. The specific regulation and control process can be determined according to the actual situation.

Fig. 2 shows a side view of the flocking tank 1 of the flocking device shown in fig. 1. The right part of the figure shows the mounting relationship between the driven pulley 3 at the feed inlet, the stationary sleeve 11, the annular bearing 12 and the robot arm 6, as will be described in detail later with reference to fig. 3-7 b. The left part of the figure shows the positional relationship among the robot arm 6, the mesh plate 7, and the nap plate 8 inside the flocking box 1. One end of the mechanical arm 6 is fixed in the fixed sleeve 11 and at least 2 annular bearings 12, and can rotate under the drive of the driven belt wheel 3, and the total length of the fixed sleeve 11 and at least 2 annular bearings 12 is longer, so that the state that the mechanical arm 6 is parallel to the screen plate 7 and the fluff plate 8 can be stably maintained, and the defect that the other end of the strip-shaped article fixed at one end is easy to fall is overcome. The pile plate 8 may be the sole plate of the flock box 1, in which case if it is desired to increase the initial velocity of the pile movement, a device such as a rasp, roller brush or the like may be used to agitate the pile resting on the pile plate 8 to encourage it to fly. The fluff plate 8 can also be a vibratile flat plate, a vibrating device for driving the vibratile flat plate can be arranged between the bottom plate of the flocking box 1 and the fluff plate 8, and when the fluff deposition is too much and the flying effect is influenced, the vibrating device can be started to promote the fluff flying. Under the condition that the screen plate 7 is connected with a high-voltage power supply, electrostatic fields are generated on two sides of the screen plate 7, and fluff can be finally and vertically adsorbed on a workpiece to be flocked, which is fixed on the mechanical arm 6, under the driving of the electric field force of the electrostatic fields. Wherein, in order to ensure that the fluff flies up towards the robot arm 6 instead of flying back onto the fluff plate 8, a first distance a between the fluff plate 8 and the screen plate 7 may be defined to be larger than a second distance b between the robot arm 6 and the screen plate 7. Since the electric field force is in inverse relation to the distance, when the first distance a is greater than the second distance b, the naps adsorbed on the screen plate 7 tend to move toward the robot arm 6 instead of toward the nap plate 8, so that the purpose of flocking the workpiece to be flocked can be achieved.

A detailed procedure for fluff fly-up is as follows: the mesh plate 7 is connected to the positive electrode of the high voltage electricity, so that a large amount of positive charges are accumulated on the mesh plate 7, and at this time, it is preferable that the robot arm 6 and the nap plate 8 are connected to the negative electrode of the high voltage electricity, so that negative charges are accumulated on the robot arm 6 and the nap plate 8, and thus naps placed on the nap plate 8 are propelled by the electric field force to fly up toward the mesh plate 7 and adsorbed on the mesh plate 7. Further, the fluff gains positive charges from the mesh plate 7 due to charge exchange. At this time, the fluff having positive charges on the screen plate 7 is attracted by the negative charges and continuously ascends toward the robot arm 6, and since the second distance b between the robot arm 6 and the screen plate 7 is smaller than the first distance a between the fluff plate 8 and the screen plate 7, the attraction force of the robot arm 6 to the fluff is larger than the attraction force of the fluff plate 8 to the fluff on the screen plate 7, and the fluff having positive charges on the screen plate 7 is preferentially adsorbed to the robot arm 6 instead of the fluff plate 8.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a driving device of the flocking device shown in fig. 1. The driving motor 9 and the driving pulley 4 are fixed on the bracket 2 through a flange plate, and power is transmitted between the driving pulley 4 and the driven pulley 3 through the synchronous belt 5. The driven pulley 3 is an annular wheel, which is sleeved on the fixed sleeve 11 and used for driving the fixed sleeve 11 to rotate. In order to further fix the driven pulley 3 and the fixed sleeve 11 relative to each other without relative rotational movement therebetween, as shown in fig. 5, the driven pulley 3 and the fixed sleeve 11 may be further fixed by a plurality of (4 in fig. 5) jackscrews. Of course, other means such as adhesion, interference fit, etc. may be employed by those skilled in the art to further secure the driven pulley 3 and the stationary sleeve 11. A pair of fastening pins 15 are provided on opposite sides of the fixed sleeve 11, and the fastening pins 15 are used to fix the sleeve 11 and the robot arm 6, so as to prevent the robot arm 6 from coming out of the feed port, or to prevent the robot arm 6 from moving back and forth (axially fixed) in the direction of its own central axis. Preferably, the fastening pin 15 is a plunger type index pin. In the case of an index pin, a pair of short stroke cylinders 10 may also be fitted for extracting the index pin. Specifically, when the short stroke cylinder 10 is extended, the limit of the index pin is released, and the index pin can be inserted into a corresponding set of fastening holes on the fixing sleeve 11 and the mechanical arm 6, so that the fixing sleeve 11 and the mechanical arm 6 cannot move relative to each other in the axial direction, and the mechanical arm 6 is fixed in the axial direction.

Further, in order to stably maintain the state that the robot arm 6 is parallel to the mesh plate 7 and the nap plate 8, the present embodiment further provides 2 annular bearings 12 on the fixing sleeve 11. Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a double bearing (2 ring bearings) of the drive apparatus shown in fig. 3, and is described below with reference to fig. 3 and 4. In the present embodiment, 2 annular bearings 12 are provided at one end of the fixed sleeve 11 remote from the driven pulley 3, and the fixed sleeve 11 is fitted in an inner ring of the annular bearing 12 so as to be circumferentially rotatable with respect to the annular bearing 12. In this embodiment, the 2 annular bearings 12 and the driven pulley 3 are separated from each other by the sidewall of the flocking case 1, but in other embodiments, the 2 annular bearings 12 may be disposed together with the driven pulley 3 on the same side of the sidewall of the flocking case 1, or the 2 annular bearings 12 may be disposed on both sides of the sidewall of the flocking case 1, respectively.

Figure 6 shows a schematic view of the robot arm 6 attached to the throat and coupled to the drive mechanism of figure 3. As described earlier, the clamp portion at one end of the robot arm 6 is inserted into the fixed sleeve 11, and the robot arm 6 cannot be removed from the fixed sleeve 11 by fixing the two relative to each other by a pair of fastening pins 15 (for example, plunger type index pins). In addition, in order to prevent the robot arm 6 from moving circumferentially relative to the fixing sleeve 11, a positioning pin 14 is provided in this embodiment. Specifically, after the robot arm 6 is fixed by the fastening pin 15, the positioning holes respectively formed in the robot arm 6 and the fixing sleeve 11 are aligned, and the positioning pin 14 is inserted to prevent circumferential rotation of the robot arm 6, thereby achieving the purpose of positioning (circumferential fixing).

Figures 7a and 7b show a front-to-back map of the mounting of the robot arm 6 to the flocking tank 1. In fig. 7a, the main part of the robot arm 6 (i.e. the other end with respect to the clamp part 6.1) is inserted towards the fixing sleeve 11, so that the main part of the robot arm 6 enters the interior of the flocking box 1. The clamp part 6.1 is provided with fixing holes and positioning holes, and the robot arm 6 is fixed by using fixing pins 15 and positioning pins 14, respectively, and the effect after fixing is shown in fig. 7 b.

In the above embodiment, after the workpiece to be flocked is fixed on the mechanical arm 6, the workpiece is driven to rotate repeatedly by the driving motor 9, so that 360-degree seamless flocking on the workpiece is realized. Wherein, under the condition that the driving motor 9 rotates at a constant speed by 360 degrees, the flocking is more uniform; when the rotating speed of the driving motor 9 is slow, the flocking density is high, otherwise, the flocking density is low; under the condition that the driving motor 9 rotates in a reciprocating mode within a certain angle range, the workpieces within the angle range are flocked in a key mode.

In addition, in order to improve the flocking efficiency, a plurality of feed inlets may be further provided in one flocking tank 1 to install a plurality of robot arms 6, so that a plurality of workpieces to be flocked may be processed simultaneously.

The technical scheme that this application provided realizes the integration flocking to the stereoscopic workpiece to flocking density (thickness), flocking scope etc. are all controllable, generally have made sufficient progress to flocking to planar workpiece among the prior art, can be applied to the scene that multiple needs the flocking. Moreover, the continuous integrated flocking process is controllable, so that not only are seam marks which cannot be avoided by forward and reverse flocking eliminated, but also flocking in a certain range can be selectively enhanced, and a manufacturer can respond to various requirements.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. It is understood, however, that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the invention and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. However, the disclosed method should not be interpreted as reflecting an intention that: that the invention as claimed requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the modules in the device in an embodiment may be adaptively changed and disposed in one or more devices different from the embodiment. The modules or units or components of the embodiments may be combined into one module or unit or component, and furthermore they may be divided into a plurality of sub-modules or sub-units or sub-components. All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and all of the processes or elements of any method or apparatus so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or processes or elements are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, rather than other features, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination.