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What is a Heatric Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger?

According to Parker Hannifin, "A Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger is a robust, corrosion-resistant, high-integrity plate-type heat exchanger manufactured using diffusion bonding." Learn about the technology and why Heatric, a Parker brand, "can manufacture a unit up to 85% smaller and lighter than traditional technologies such as shell and tube heat exchangers."
Read this informative Parker blog.

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 may learn something even if you don't use this software.
Read the Onshape blog.

Seifert thermoelectric enclosure coolers from AutomationDirect beat the heat

Automation-Direct has added new high-quality and efficient stainless steel Seifert 340 BTU/H thermoelectric coolers with 120-V and 230-V power options. Thermoelectric coolers from Seifert use the Peltier Effect to create a temperature difference between the internal and ambient heat sinks, making internal air cooler while dissipating heat into the external environment. Fans assist the convective heat transfer from the heat sinks, which are optimized for maximum flow.
Learn more.

Raspberry Pi Pico 2: Microcontroller board with 2x flash memory

Raspberry Pi's Pico low-cost, high-performance microcontroller board with flexible digital interfaces is now being offered as a full second-generation product, complete with twice the on-board flash memory, higher performance, lower power consumption, and greater security.
Read the full article.

Free-Core vs. Spring-Loaded LVDT position sensors

Linear Variable Differential Transformers are electro-mechanical devices used in many industrial applications to measure the displacement or position of an object. They convert the linear position or motion of a measured object into an electrical output that is displayed on a local readout or input into a programmable logic controller as part of an automated process control system. LVDTs come in two core configurations -- free-core and spring-loaded -- but do you know what the differences are?
Read the full NewTek Sensor Solutions article.

New sensor listens to fuel for optimum marine diesel engine performance

Condition monitoring expert CM Technologies has added a fuel injection acoustic emission sensor to its proprietary PREMET X range of two- and four-stroke diesel engine performance indicators for marine use. The device allows engineers to monitor the acoustic signature of a diesel engine's fuel injection system to detect any problems with fuel injectors, nozzles, and pumps.
Read the full article.

Application Note: Quadcopter propeller torque/thrust testing

The quadcopter's four propellers are designed to work in conjunction with each other to ensure there are no torque imbalances that could send the vehicle spinning out of control. But just how would a professional developer or hobbyist perform accurate propeller torque and thrust testing? Advanced sensor expert FUTEK has the answer.
Read the full article.

New enclosure heat exchanger options

Automation-Direct has added new Saginaw Enviro-Therm^® air-to-air heat exchangers that use an enclosure's ambient air and either heat pipes or aluminum plate to transfer heat from inside the enclosure to the external environment. Since the ambient air is the cooling medium, the need for refrigerant is eliminated. Features include corrosion-resistant internal components, a filterless design for maximum cooling and reduced clogging, simple installation, and a programmable digital controller.
Learn more.

World's smallest-width floating connector simplifies automotive installation

Hirose has developed a space-saving, board-to-board connector that combines floating functionality and miniature size to meet automotive specifications. The BM54 Series boasts the world's smallest-width class for its category, a 0.4-mm pitch, and a stacking height of 3.0 to 4.5 mm. This connector is ideal for PCBs with multiple connector sets and offers a wide floating range of +/- 0.4 mm in the XY direction. By absorbing board misalignment errors, floating simplifies assembly and improves assembly work efficiency. Applications include cameras, displays, millimeter wave radar, and LiDAR systems.
Learn more.

Test equipment advancing to meet rapidly changing market needs

Although the rise of the IoT, 5G, and advanced automotive electronics markets is instigating rapid changes in technology, test equipment is keeping pace, and not just in extensions to bandwidth specifications or signal resolution. Maureen Lipps, Multicomp Pro Private Label Product Segment Leader, Test and Tools, Newark Electronics, runs through important advances in the industry and its tools.
Read the full article.

Smallest rugged AI supercomputer for avionics

Aitech Systems has released the A178-AV, the latest iteration of its smallest rugged GPGPU AI super-computers available with the powerful NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier System-on-Module. With its compact size, the A178-AV is the most advanced solution for artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, and video and signal processing for next-gen avionic platforms.
Learn more.

Touchless angle sensors get CAN SAE J1939 interface

Novotechnik has added the CAN J1939 interface (developed for heavy-duty vehicles) to its RFC4800 Series of touchless angle sensors measuring angular position up to 360°, turn direction, turns, speed, and operational status. It can provide one or two output channels. It has a longer life and robustness than an optical encoder. It can signal if a sensor needs replacing or average a programmable number of values to output to reduce external noise if present. This is wear-free angle measurement made easy.
Learn more.

Radar level sensor monitors liquids and powders

The innovative FR Series non-contact radar level sensor from Keyence has been designed to monitor the level of both liquid and powder in any environment. This sensor features short- and long-range models, as well as chemical and sanitary options to address a wide array of level sensing applications. Works even when obstructions or harsh conditions are present, such as build-up, steam, or turbulence.
Learn more.

Raspberry Pi launches $70 AI Kit

Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage, and the makers of Raspberry Pi have created a way for enthusiasts of the single-board computer systems to take part and do a lot of experimenting along the way.
Read the full article.

3D model sharing at Brother Industries cuts rework

When Brother Industries, maker of printers, computers, and computer-related electronics, deployed Lattice Technology's XVL Player as a viewer for sharing 3D models throughout the processes of product design, parts design, mold design, mold production, and QA of molded parts, they reduced rework significantly -- especially from downstream departments. XVL Studio with its Difference Check Option helped address the rework in mold design, for example, by always keeping everyone informed of design changes.
Read this real-world case study.

Energy-efficient relay network design maximizes 5G communications

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed a wirelessly powered relay network for 5G systems. The proposed battery-free communication addresses the challenges of flexible deployment of relay networks. This design is both economical and energy efficient. Such advances in 5G communications could create tremendous opportunities for a wide range of sectors.

The ever-increasing demand for wireless data bandwidth shows no sign of slowing down in the near future. Millimeter wave, a short-wavelength spectrum, has shown great potential in 5G communications and beyond. To leverage high-capacity millimeter-wave frequencies, phased-array antennas (antenna elements that work together to boost signal strength in a specific direction) are being adapted. However, the current use case is confined to line-of-sight propagation.

Figure 1. Proposed phased-array relay transceiver system for 5G new radio. [Tokyo Tech/2021 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits]

 

 

 

 

As a result, relay nodes are considered for non-line-of-sight communications (Figure 1). While relaying can provide improved bandwidth, coverage, and reliability, the flexible deployment of a relay network poses some challenges. The most significant challenge in relay networks is power supply. A typical relay node has its own power supply unit or is connected to an external power source.

Fortunately, a team of scientists from Tokyo Tech, led by Prof. Kenichi Okada, have proposed a wirelessly powered 28-GHz phased-array relay transceiver for the 5G network. Their work is scheduled for presentation in the 2021 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits, an international conference (June 13-19, 2021) where emerging trends and novel concepts on semiconductor technology and circuits are explored.

Figure 2. Proposed vector-summing backscattering. The vector-summing backscatter up-converts 4-GHz I/Q signal and transmits at 28 GHz. [Tokyo Tech/2021 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits]

 

 

 

 

A vector-summing backscattering technique is used to realize the proposed design. The transmitter works as a backscatter with 24-GHz local oscillator (LO) and 4-GHz intermediate frequency (IF) signals (Figure 2).

"Backscatter communication makes it possible to harvest energy from incident signals and reflects back parts of the same signals while modulating the data," explained Okada. "In this design, backscatter up-converts the 5G New Radio (5G NR) spectrum at 4 GHz and transmits at 28 GHz."

The transmitter also acts as a phase shifter, allowing it to alter the phase of an incoming signal. The backscattering and phase-shifting capabilities of the transmitter facilitate beamforming, wherein an array of antennas can be controlled to transmit signals in a specific direction. As a result, information is transferred more efficiently with less interference.

The receiver and rectifier operation is another critical feature of the transceiver. Passive phase shifters and power combiners (which combine power fed at multiple ports) are used to boost the received signal power for wireless power transfer (WPT). The proposed rectifier acts as a self-heterodyne mixer. In other words, the rectifier splits and recombines an incoming beam with a modulated version of itself. It also works as a full-wave rectifier with the 24-GHz WPT signal.

Figure 3. Chip micrograph of 4x8 phased-array relay module implemented by 65-nm CMOS. The proposed chip is manufactured using a standard 65-nm CMOS technology, and the 4X8 element phased-array relay module is composed of the four chips.[Tokyo Tech/2021 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits]

 

 

 

 

The entire phased-array relay transceiver is configured in an area as small as 1.8 mm² (Figure 3). In the receive mode, the wirelessly powered 4x8 array module produces 3.1-mW of power. In the transmit mode, it produces -2.2 dBm of saturated Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP), which is the output power radiated from an antenna in a single direction. The vector-summing backscatter covers a 360° phase range with 7-bit phase resolution while consuming just 0.03 mW in both transmit and receive mode.

"The proposed battery-free transceiver enhances 5G connectivity by serving as a repeater between indoor and outdoor environments," said Okada. "This, in turn, will improve user experiences and create new opportunities for operational efficiency in internet-of-things, industrial automation, and new communication services."

Source: Tokyo Institute of Technology

Published June 2021

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