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High-capacity benchtop video measurement system

Optical Gaging Products has introduced the SmartScope^® E18, a compact, benchtop video measurement system. Featuring a 12" x 12" stage, IntelliCentric™-E fixed-lens optics, and VIRTUAL ZOOM™ technology, it offers fully automatic 3-axis performance without taking up floor space. Standard LED lighting, a rigid fixed-bridge design, optional touch probes, and advanced metrology software ensure accurate, repeatable inspection.
Learn more.

Tech Tip: Fan selection - Why airflow is not just CFM

For many engineers, fan selection starts and ends with a single number: CFM (cubic feet per minute). Higher CFM feels like a clear win. More air moved must mean better cooling. However, in practice, this assumption is one of the most common causes of thermal problems, excess noise, and late-stage redesigns. Find out why.
Read this Orion Fans technical article.

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.

The hidden hardware helping AI's heat problem: PCHEs

Across AI infrastructure, thermal constraints now connect semiconductor design with power and cooling systems. More compact, lighter, and efficient than conventional shell-and-tube models, printed circuit heat exchangers save floor space, reduce energy costs, and improve overall efficiency in dense, hyperscale environments.
Read the full article.

Nearly 1,000 parts: Industrial enclosure range expanded

Altech Corp. has expanded its industrial enclosure lineup to 10 unique series with nearly 1,000 parts! Designed for control, junction, and terminal applications, these plastic and aluminum housings offer up to IP69 protection. They mount directly to walls or panels, resisting chemicals, corrosion, flames, impacts, and severe outdoor conditions without sacrificing aesthetics.
Find your perfect enclosure today.

Cool Tools: MetraSCAN BLACK2 -- Next-gen shop-floor 3D inspection

You'll gain some superhero powers when you brandish FARO CREAFORM's new MetraSCAN BLACK2, a next-gen portable metrology-grade optical 3D scanner engineered to deliver total inspection flexibility on the shop floor. This unit boasts a 3-in-1 architecture that combines C-Track scanning, stand-alone scanning, and probing in a single metrology-grade system.
Read the full article.

Compact, touchless position sensors: Wear-free operation in tight spaces

Novotechnik's TFD-4000 Series of touchless linear position sensors delivers wear-free measurement in tight spaces. Featuring ranges up to 50 mm, IP67 protection, 12-bit resolution, and analog outputs, these reliable sensors operate from -40 C to 125 C across diverse industrial, mobile, and medical applications such as short-stroke linear valve positioning, solenoid valves, off-highway brake actuation, and more.
Learn more.

World's first 10-m safety laser scanner: See farther, protect more

Datasensing, Datalogic's Sensor & Safety and Machine Vision business unit, has launched the SLS10 Safety Laser Scanner, the world's first 10-meter safety laser scanner. Delivering a 275-degree scanning angle, 240-m² of coverage, and an 84-msec response time, the SLS10 protects larger workspaces with fewer devices. It features best-in-class angular resolution for precise AGV navigation, SIL-2/PLd compliance, dust immunity, and the new ONEGUI platform for simplified configuration.
Learn more and see it in action.

Accelerate AI-driven machine vision systems

BitFlow has announced full production of its Claxon CXP-12 frame grabbers, designed for NVIDIA GPU-accelerated machine vision. Across five models, the CoaXPress 2.0 lineup delivers up to 50 Gbps -- five times 10 GigE Vision -- eliminating data bottlenecks. The full CXP-12 specification ensures deterministic, high-bandwidth streaming to unleash modern AI inference models.
Learn more.

Millimeter-wave imaging inspection in real time

With its new quality and inspection R&S IMAGER millimeter-wave scanner, Rohde & Schwarz aims to simplify the industrial inspection of packaged products. The system sees through common packaging materials at production speed without using X-rays, protecting both products and operators. The high-contrast 3D images are used as digital twins and can be automatically integrated into AI-powered fault-detection systems. Sees through plastics, cardboard, and composites. Applications include food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, logistics.
Learn more.

What are single-loop process controllers?

PLCs are powerful, but complex control isn't always necessary. For standalone processes requiring single-variable monitoring -- like temperature, pressure, or flow -- a single-loop controller is ideal. See how single-loop controllers can streamline your next project.
Read the AutomationDirect tech tip.

Great Resources: Flexible circuit design guide

Tech-Etch uses advanced techniques to manufacture flex and rigid-flex circuits to exacting customer specs. Special processes include selective plating a single circuit with two different finishes, contoured circuits with variable metal thickness, semi-additive and subtractive techniques, open window or cantilevered contact leads, plus SMT for component assembly. Tech-Etch specializes in flexible circuits for medical, telecommunications, aerospace, semiconductor, and other high-reliability electronic applications.
Learn about flex circuits and get the guide (no registration required).

EMI Investigations: New immunity development system

Saelig Company announces the Langer E1 Immunity Development System for EMI investigations. This compact, affordable kit simulates burst and ESD interference to pinpoint layout weak spots down to IC pins. By eliminating "black box" guesswork early in development, engineers can efficiently identify coupling mechanisms, test measures, and resolve immunity issues before compliance failure.
Learn more and see it in action.

Battery packs for unmanned aerial vehicles

Re:Build Manufacturing has launched U.S.-assembled, NDAA-compliant lithium-ion battery packs for commercial, public safety, and defense UAV applications. Available in Core, Power, and Performance series, the packs use non-FEOC cells and are produced at Re:Build's advanced facility in New Kensington, PA. Re:Build also offers custom pack and battery management system development.
Learn more.

Easy-to-use precision measurement system

Optical Gaging Products has announced the StarLite S1, a compact, semi-automatic 3-axis video measurement system. It combines fully automatic video measurements with manual stage motion and features an IntelliCentric-S optical system for high-resolution images. Powered by Measure-X software, this system delivers fast, repeatable, high-accuracy results, making it ideal for both shop-floor and quality-control applications.
Learn more.

Microsoft tests underwater data center for more efficient cooling

By Rachel Gordon, Technology Analyst, IDTechEx

Microsoft has tested a prototype of a self-contained data center that can operate hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean in efforts to reduce the need for expensive air conditioning.

Today, data centers contain thousands of computer servers generating lots of heat. When the data centers get too hot, the servers crash. Thermal management is becoming an increasingly important and expensive part of industrial and enterprise computing.

Microsoft's premise is that putting the servers under cold ocean water could cool the data centers without air conditioning. Being heavily reliant on passive cooling means the interfaces must allow excellent thermal conduction away from the heat sources to the environment.

This solution could also address the exponentially growing energy demands of computing, because Microsoft is considering harvesting electricity from the movement of the surrounding seawater. One aspect of the project that has the most obvious potential is including either a turbine or a tidal energy system to generate electricity. For years, the main cloud computing providers have been seeking sites around the world where they can utilize green energy and take advantage of the surrounding environment.

The demand for centralized computing has been growing exponentially. Microsoft manages more than 100 data centers around the globe and is adding more rapidly. The company has spent more than $15 billion on a global data center network. In 2014, engineers in NeXT at Microsoft Research began thinking about a novel approach to accelerate the process of adding new computing power to cloud computing systems.

Microsoft produced a large, white steel tube, 8 ft in diameter, covered with heat exchangers. Its ends are sealed by metal plates and large bolts. Inside is a single data center computing rack that was bathed in pressurized nitrogen to efficiently remove heat from computing chips. This solution might lead to strands of giant steel tubes linked by fiber optic cables placed on the seafloor, or suspended beneath the surface to capture the ocean current with turbines that generate electricity.

The company recently completed a 105-day trial of the steel capsule 30 ft underwater in the Pacific Ocean off the Central California coast. The trial proved more successful than expected, even running commercial data-processing projects from Microsoft's Azure cloud computing service.

The new undersea capsules are designed to be left in place without maintenance for as long as five years. That means the servers, including all the interface materials and adhesives, have to be hardy enough to last five years without needing repairs. That is longer than is currently expected of these materials, and they will have to improve in order to operate for this long in the underwater capsule.

If these data centers do not need maintenance, it becomes possible to redesign their physical alignment. Currently, servers are put in racks so they can be maintained by humans. Without maintenance, it may be possible to reorient them in a more efficient way.

By using these underwater capsules, it may be possible to shorten the deployment time of new data centers from two years to just 90 days, offering a huge cost advantage and much more flexibility.

The underwater server containers could also help make Web services work faster. Much of the world's population now lives in urban centers close to oceans. Data centers are usually built in rural locations where land is cheap. The ability to place computing power nearer to users lowers the latency experienced by users.

Such a radical idea could run into stumbling blocks, including environmental concerns and unforeseen technical issues. The researchers had worried about hardware failures and leaks. The underwater system was outfitted with 100 different sensors to measure pressure, humidity, motion, and other conditions to better understand what it is like to operate in an underwater environment, where on-demand repairs are not possible.

The research group has started designing an underwater system that will be three times as large. It could be built to incorporate an ocean-based alternative-energy system. The Microsoft engineers said they expected a new trial to begin next year, possibly near Florida or in Northern Europe, where there are already extensive ocean energy projects underway.

More information on better thermal interface materials for industrial computing can be found in the IDTechEx Research report, "Thermal Interface Materials 2015-2025: Status, Opportunities, Market Forecasts."

Source: IDTechEx

Published March 2016

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