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What can you do with touchless magnetic angle sensors?

Novotechnik has put together an informative video highlighting real-world applications for their RFC, RFE, and RSA Series touchless magnetic angle sensors. You may be surprised at the variety of off-highway, marine, material handling, and industrial uses. You'll learn how they work (using a Hall effect microprocessor to detect position) and their key advantages, including eliminated wear and tear on these non-mechanical components. We love when manufacturers provide such useful examples.
View the video.

What can the new Autodesk Inventor AI Assistant do for you?

Autodesk Assistant brings industry-specific context to help execute tasks and orchestrate actions across your 3D models -- not just answer questions. Designed to understand your workflows, Assistant appears as a dockable panel alongside your Inventor workspace and includes the ability to perform complex tasks or gather information from your designs without writing a single line of code. Find out what this new AI "colleague" can do for you.
Watch this informative Autodesk video.

Useful! Snap-together LED enclosure lighting

Seifert StripLite SL 4000 Series LED enclosure lighting provides bright illumination to 700 lumens. On/off switch and motion sensor models are available. Easily daisy chain up to 16 light strips. Magnetic or clip mounting. See video/info on website or contact Bristol Instruments for more information.
Learn about snap-together lighting.

Next-gen multi-touch panels

Beckhoff's Next line of multi-touch control panels and panel PCs is engineered for demanding human-machine interface and control tasks. These panels offer convenient operation with advanced multi-touch technology, a high-quality look and feel, anti-glare and anti-ghosting effects, and a wide choice of formats (from 7 to 23.8 in.) and options. A main draw is the line's attractive pricing.
Learn more.

Most powerful handheld 3D laser scanner on the market

Creaform, a business of AMETEK, has launched HandySCAN 3D|EVO Series, the most powerful handheld 3D laser scanning solution on the market. This innovative series features a built-in touchscreen display and an integrated high-res 12-MP photo camera, incorporating augmented reality (AR) and advanced on-scanner visualization. Users can streamline repetitive inspections and enhance quality control processes using the new auto-alignment feature. Powered by 46 blue laser lines with accuracy of 0.020 mm. The Creaform Metrology Suite includes four application software modules: Scan-to-CAD, Inspection, Automation, and Dynamic Tracking. So many more features.
Learn more.

Continental develops first sensor to measure heat in EV motors

Global automotive supplier Continental has developed a new sensor technology that measures the temperature inside permanently excited synchronous motors in electric vehicles directly on the rotor for the first time.
Read the full article.

LEDs with highest output power available

The new OCI-460 SWIR LED series from EPIGAP OSA Photonics features markedly improved output power compared to the company's previous OCI-480 package and all competitive SMD SWIR LED devices. For example, model OCI-460 ID1550-XS operates at 1,550 nm and features drive current up to 1.5A to deliver approximately 13% higher output efficiency over EPIGAP's OCI-480 package. This impressive advancement features 96% higher output power compared to any other SWIR SMD LED currently on the market. Ideal for use in sensing, machine vision, and more.
Learn more.

AI and collaboration in SOLIDWORKS

Discover AURA, the new AI assistant built into SOLID-WORKS, in this informative video from TriMech Group. What can AURA do for you? It can streamline workflows and make collaborating on and tracking projects even easier, for starters. Other top features of SOLIDWORKS Design 2026 are also covered. Some good tips here.
View the TriMech Group video.

Solutions for weighing and force measurement

Automation-Direct now offers Sensy 2172L series single point, 5510 series shear beam, and 2782 series tension/compression load cells that deliver flexible solutions for weighing and force measurement. They are ideal for applications ranging from small packaging scales to rugged industrial tanks and conveyor systems. Built from aircraft-grade aluminum or stainless steel, these models feature built-in overload protection, accuracies down to 0.03% of full scale, protection ratings up to IP67, and capacities up to 2,000 kg.
Learn more.

Top Product: Future-proof enclosure cooling

Seifert's new SLIMLINE NEO ushers in next-generation industrial cooling with natural refrigerant R290 (GWP 0.02) and high-efficiency inverter technology. It cuts energy costs with EER up to 3.6, reduces refrigerant charge by 75%, and extends electronics life. A fully redesigned, lighter, smaller enclosure delivers lower vibration, better component protection, and easier handling. Available in two elegant surfaces: stainless steel and mild steel, powder coated.
Learn more.

Coin cell supercapacitors: High capacity, quick release

Coin cell supercapa-citors are compact, high-capacity energy storage devices that rapidly charge and discharge and endure far more cycles than rechargeable batteries. They're ideal for high switching loads such as real-time clock and battery back-up power, battery-swap ride-through, and LED or audible alarms. SCHURTER's latest versions support up to 5.5 V and 100 to 1,500 mF.
Learn more.

Tech Tip: Mastering sheet metal bend calculations in Onshape

Mastering bend calculations in sheet metal design is a key skill that can impact the accuracy and manufactur-ability of your designs significantly. Explore the various options available to become a pro in this Onshape Tech Tip: K Factor, bend allowance, and bend deduction, with guidance on when each should be used. You will probably learn something even if you don't use this software.
Read the Onshape blog.

Digital Engineering: How a private jet gets a high-end refurb

Ever wonder how private jets get overhauled from standard OEM layouts to exotic, artful interiors? It takes engineering expertise, specialty design skills, and true craftspeople. Increasingly, it also takes automation provided by middleware to weave a digital thread through CAD, BOM, ERP, and PDM software.
Read the full article.

How AI is quietly transforming simulation

Is AI really useful, or is it just a passing trend? Balavignesh Vemparala, an R&D Engineer II at ANSYS, lays out a compelling case for how artificial intelligence is already hard at work in the simulation world with real results for users. From faster solves to accelerated workflows, improved quality and traceability, generative models, and more, discover what you might be overlooking when it comes to real-world AI application. Worth the read.
Read this informative ANSYS blog.

All about photoelectric sensors

From counting boxes on a conveyor and ensuring precise packaging and labeling to the automatic doors you walk through daily, learn all about photoelectric sensors and the options available from AutomationDirect. Did you know there are four main types? Familiarize yourself with their constructions, capabilities, and their main pros and cons. A good basic primer or refresh.
View the AutomationDirect video.

Argonne National Lab helping to revitalize U.S. semiconductor industry

Argonne, along with many companies and research organizations, signs pledge to increase energy efficiency of microelectronics substantially over next two decades.

The critical infrastructure in the United States could not function without microelectronics. This includes finance, transportation, the electric grid, defense, healthcare, and more. Most Americans depend on microelectronics every day, in particular, the microchips in computers, cars, and smartphones.

Yet, there is a looming problem. Microelectronic use is growing so rapidly -- doubling every three years -- that it is projected to consume nearly 25% of planetary energy use within the decade. Future energy use by microelectronics must be reduced substantially.

To address this need, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the microelectronics' Energy Efficiency Scaling for 2 Decades (EES2) initiative. As part of the initiative, 21 companies and organizations have pledged to increase the energy efficiency of microelectronics by a thousandfold over the next two decades. Last week, nine more companies pledged to join the initiative at the first working group meeting.

Their goal is to create a technology leadership path for the United States that will provide economic and environmental benefits as well as avoid unsustainable life-cycle energy use. Those benefits include increasing the competitiveness of U.S. semiconductor manufacturers that produce microelectronics, and reducing the environmental impact of microelectronics use.

Inaugural signing partners include DOE's Argonne National Laboratory and five other national laboratories. Companies signing include Intel, Microsoft, Micron, Synopsys, and many others.

As part of the pledge, this private-public alliance will be developing a roadmap for doubling the energy efficiency of microelectronics every two years for 10 generations.

"Argonne enthusiastically supports the semiconductor industry EES2 roadmap," said Argonne Laboratory Director Paul Kearns. "To help meet its goals, we will apply our strong foundational science expertise, dynamic academic and industry partnerships, and state-of-the-art user facilities and tools. With these contributions, we can drive the innovations that will power the next generation of energy-efficient microelectronics."

Microelectronics research at Argonne is focusing on two elements. First is to discover innovative structures and materials to enable energy-efficient computing while reducing use of materials that could cause serious supply chain disruptions. Second is to create new approaches to reducing the impact of microelectronics manufacturing on the environment.

Critical to this research is use of DOE Office of Science user facilities for materials characterization, fabrication, and modeling at Argonne: the Advanced Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials, and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility. Also important is the use of Argonne's Materials Engineering Research Facility for scaling up new technology. Research will also call upon Argonne resources for artificial intelligence and autonomous discovery. The latter involves automating both the laboratory and tasks traditionally performed by the scientist to accelerate the pace of discovery.

"We will also be leveraging our history of strong interactions with our Midwest university partners, who provide a talented workforce to the microelectronics industry," said Amanda Petford-Long, director of Argonne's Materials Science division and lead for Argonne's Microelectronics Initiative. "And we will be working with industry to ensure that our discovery science can be developed and deployed in a timely manner."

Support for the EES2 initiative is provided by the DOE Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office.

Source: Argonne National Laboratory

Published December 2022

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