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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.

Stanford scientists flameproof lithium-ion batteries with salt

A polymer-based electrolyte makes for batteries that keep working -- and don't catch fire -- when heated to over 140 F.

By Chris Patrick, SLAC

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries power phones, laptops, other personal electronics and electric cars, and are even used to store energy generated by solar panels. But if the temperature of these batteries rises too high, they stop working and can catch fire.

That's in part because the electrolyte inside of them, which ferries lithium ions between the two electrodes as the battery charges and discharges, is flammable.

"One of the biggest challenges in the battery industry is this safety issue, so there's a lot of effort going into trying to make a battery electrolyte that is safe," said Rachel Z. Huang, a graduate student at Stanford University and first author of a report published Nov. 30, 2022, in Matter.

Standard battery materials (top) catch fire when exposed to flame, but a new material designed by SLAC and Stanford researchers (bottom) does not. [Credit: Jian-Cheng Lai/Stanford University]

 

 

 

 

Huang developed a non-flammable electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries with 19 other researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University. Their work demonstrated that batteries containing this electrolyte continue to function at high temperatures without starting a fire.

Their secret? More salt.

Salty SAFEty
Conventional lithium-ion battery electrolytes are made of a lithium salt dissolved in a liquid organic solvent, such as ether or carbonate. While this solvent improves battery performance by helping to move lithium ions around, it's also a potential firestarter.

Batteries generate heat as they operate, and if there are punctures or defects in a battery, it will heat up rapidly. At temperatures above 140 F, the small molecules of solvent in the electrolyte start to evaporate, transforming from liquid to gas and inflating the battery like a balloon -- until the gas catches fire and the whole thing goes up in flames.

Over the past 30 years, researchers have developed non-flammable electrolytes, such as polymer electrolytes, which use a polymer matrix instead of the classic salt-solvent solution to move ions around. However, these safer alternatives don't move ions as efficiently as liquid solvents do, so their performance has not measured up to that of conventional electrolytes.

The team wanted to produce a polymer-based electrolyte that could offer both safety and performance. And Huang had an idea.

She decided to add as much as she could of a lithium salt called LiFSI to a polymer-based electrolyte designed and synthesized by Jian-Cheng Lai, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University and co-first author on the paper.

"I just wanted to see how much I could add and test the limit," Huang said. Usually, less than 50% of a polymer-based electrolyte's weight is salt. Huang bumped that number to 63%, creating one of the saltiest polymer-based electrolytes ever.

Unlike other polymer-based electrolytes, this one also contained flammable solvent molecules. However, the overall electrolyte, known as Solvent-Anchored non-Flammable Electrolyte (SAFE), proved non-flammable at high temperatures during tests in a lithium-ion battery.

SAFE works because the solvents and salt work together. The solvent molecules help conduct ions, resulting in performance comparable to that of batteries containing conventional electrolytes. But, instead of failing at high temperatures like most lithium-ion batteries, batteries containing SAFE continue to operate at temperatures between 77 to 212 F.

Meanwhile, the ample added salts act as anchors for the solvent molecules, preventing them from evaporating and catching fire.

Rachel Huang working in the lab. [Credit: Jian-Cheng Lai/Stanford University]

 

 

"This new finding points out a new way of thinking for polymer-based electrolyte design," said Zhenan Bao, a professor at Stanford University and investigator with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) who advises Huang. "This electrolyte is important for developing future batteries that are both high energy density and safe."

Staying gooey
Polymer-based electrolytes can be solid or liquid. Importantly, the solvents and salt in SAFE plasticize its polymer matrix to make it a goo-like liquid, just like conventional electrolytes.

One benefit: A gooey electrolyte can fit into existing, commercially available lithium-ion battery parts, unlike other non-flammable electrolytes that have emerged. Solid-state ceramic electrolytes, for example, must use specially designed electrodes, making them costly to produce.

"With SAFE, there's no need to change any of the manufacturing setup," Huang said. "Of course, if it is ever used for production there are optimizations needed for the electrolyte to fit into the production line, but the work is a lot less than any of the other systems."

Yi Cui, a professor at SLAC and Stanford and a SIMES investigator who also advises Huang, said, "This very exciting new battery electrolyte is compatible with the existing lithium ion-battery cell technology and would make big impacts on consumer electronics and electrical transportation."

One application of SAFE may be in electric cars.

If the multiple lithium-ion batteries in an electric car sit too close together, they can heat each other up, which could eventually lead to overheating and fire. But, if an electric car contains batteries filled with an electrolyte like SAFE that is stable at high temperatures, its batteries can be packed close together without worry of overheating.

In addition to mitigating fire risk, this means less space occupied by cooling systems and more space for batteries. Having more batteries increases the overall energy density, meaning the car could go longer between charging.

"So it's not just a safety benefit," said Huang. "This electrolyte could also allow you to pack in a lot more batteries."

Time will tell what other battery-powered products could get a little SAFE-er.

Published February 2023

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