News

NASA extends life of high-temperature chip

World's fastest pick-and-place robot displayed

Organic sensor market to reach $2.3 billion in sales

Service manuals get way easier to create
In this issue:

Feature Articles

Monitoring weapons wear and tear
U.S. Army soldiers will no longer need to manually track the rounds fired from their tanks or mortar equipment thanks to an integrated RFID and sensor system under development from Augusta Systems. The system consists of an advanced piezoelectric sensor; an RFID data recording, storage, and communications package; and an electronic weapon record data management application. The system will also assist with operations and maintenance by enabling the Army to monitor and manage wear and tear on vehicle gun barrels, mortar systems, and other weapons.
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Material handling: Increasing efficiency with decentralized control
The sheer complexity of large, centralized control systems creates opportunities for communication failures or delays that can disrupt production processes. By positioning control hardware and intelligence closer to the motors that govern machine operation, automation experts like SEW-Eurodrive are using decentralized control to achieve more accurate control of machine processes at lower cost. This article includes an excellent, in-depth Decentralized Control FAQ section.
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Sweaty hands take hold with Santoprene
Perhaps best known for changing the cycling world with the creation of grip shift technology, SRAM Corporation based in Chicago, IL, develops, designs, and manufactures bicycle components including derailleurs, brakes, chains, and gear shifters. SRAM wanted to produce a gear shifter with a comfortable outer surface to hold while also providing enough friction so that riders do not lose their grip. Material choice and design were critical in achieving the desired outcome for the SRAM Double Tap Road shifter, a totally new design that featured Santoprene brand TPVs.
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New microsensor measures water and air pollutants on-site
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a miniature sensor that uses polymer membranes deposited on a tiny silicon disk to measure pollutants present in aqueous or gaseous environments. An array of these sensors with different surface coatings could be used during field testing to rapidly detect many different chemicals. At the heart of the disk-shaped sensor is a microbalance that measures the mass of pollutant molecules.
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Wheels: Nissan to introduce world's first Around View Monitor
Nissan Motor Co. will soon introduce the world's first Around View Monitor, which offers the driver a bird's-eye view of the vehicle and its surroundings in real time. The camera-enabled sensors mounted on all four corners of the vehicle depict the distance to an obstacle in easy-to-understand colored graphics and help warn the driver via a "beeping" alert the closer the vehicle approaches a fixed obstacle.
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5-Star Product: Strike fighter uses Cicoil cables
"If it's good enough for a Joint Strike Fighter, it's good enough for me." That’s what an electrical engineer probably thinks when considering silicone cable assemblies from Cicoil. The company's Flexible Flat Cables are used in subsystems on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Cicoil's cable assemblies are commonly found on military jet aircraft, such as the JSF, in applications that include targeting pods, fuel control systems, and missile gimbal and guidance systems.
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New Products
Electrical/Electronic
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Motion Control
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Guides

Literature, guides, catalogs, and other great free stuff: Always more than 50 new resources

  • Ergonomic checklist for manual production — Bosch Rexroth
  • Web guide for interconnection products —
    • Aries Electronics
  • EMC components for commercial power —
    • Schaffner EMC

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