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Intro to reed switches, magnets, magnetic fields

This brief introductory video on the DigiKey site offers tips for engineers designing with reed switches. Dr. Stephen Day, Ph.D. from Coto Technology gives a solid overview on reed switches -- complete with real-world application examples -- and a detailed explanation of how they react to magnetic fields.
View the video.

Bi-color LEDs to light up your designs

Created with engineers and OEMs in mind, SpectraBright Series SMD RGB and Bi-Color LEDs from Visual Communi-cations Company (VCC) deliver efficiency, design flexibility, and control for devices in a range of industries, including mil-aero, automated guided vehicles, EV charging stations, industrial, telecom, IoT/smart home, and medical. These 50,000-hr bi-color and RGB options save money and space on the HMI, communicating two or three operating modes in a single component.
Learn more.

All about slip rings: How they work and their uses

Rotary Systems has put together a really nice basic primer on slip rings -- electrical collectors that carry a current from a stationary wire into a rotating device. Common uses are for power, proximity switches, strain gauges, video, and Ethernet signal transmission. This introduction also covers how to specify, assembly types, and interface requirements. Rotary Systems also manufactures rotary unions for fluid applications.
Read the overview.

Seifert thermoelectric coolers from AutomationDirect

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.
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EMI shielding honeycomb air vent panel design

Learn from the engineering experts at Parker how honeycomb air vent panels are used to help cool electronics with airflow while maintaining electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Topics include: design features, cell size and thickness, platings and coatings, and a stacked design called OMNI CELL construction. These vents can be incorporated into enclosures where EMI radiation and susceptibility is a concern or where heat dissipation is necessary. Lots of good info.
Read the Parker blog.

What is 3D-MID? Molded parts with integrated electronics from HARTING

3D-MID (three-dimensional mechatronic integrated devices) technology combines electronic and mechanical functionalities into a single, 3D component. It replaces the traditional printed circuit board and opens up many new opportunities. It takes injection-molded parts and uses laser-direct structuring to etch areas of conductor structures, which are filled with a copper plating process to create very precise electronic circuits. HARTING, the technology's developer, says it's "Like a PCB, but 3D." Tons of possibilities.
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Loss-free conversion of 3D/CAD data

CT CoreTech-nologie has further developed its state-of-the-art CAD converter 3D_Evolution and is now introducing native interfaces for reading Solidedge and writing Nx and Solidworks files. It supports a wide range of formats such as Catia, Nx, Creo, Solidworks, Solidedge, Inventor, Step, and Jt, facilitating smooth interoperability between different systems and collaboration for engineers and designers in development environments with different CAD systems.
Learn more.

Top 5 reasons for solder joint failure

Solder joint reliability is often a pain point in the design of an electronic system. According to Tyler Ferris at ANSYS, a wide variety of factors affect joint reliability, and any one of them can drastically reduce joint lifetime. Properly identifying and mitigating potential causes during the design and manufacturing process can prevent costly and difficult-to-solve problems later in a product lifecycle.
Read this informative ANSYS blog.

Advanced overtemp detection for EV battery packs

Littelfuse has introduced TTape, a ground-breaking over-temperature detection platform designed to transform the management of Li-ion battery systems. TTape helps vehicle systems monitor and manage premature cell aging effectively while reducing the risks associated with thermal runaway incidents. This solution is ideally suited for a wide range of applications, including automotive EV/HEVs, commercial vehicles, and energy storage systems.
Learn more.

Benchtop ionizer for hands-free static elimination

EXAIR's Varistat Benchtop Ionizer is the latest solution for neutralizing static on charged surfaces in industrial settings. Using ionizing technology, the Varistat provides a hands-free solution that requires no compressed air. Easily mounted on benchtops or machines, it is manually adjustable and perfect for processes needing comprehensive coverage such as part assembly, web cleaning, printing, and more.
Learn more.

LED light bars from AutomationDirect

Automation-Direct adds CCEA TRACK-ALPHA-PRO series LED light bars to expand their offering of industrial LED fixtures. Their rugged industrial-grade anodized aluminum construction makes TRACKALPHA-PRO ideal for use with medium to large-size industrial machine tools and for use in wet environments. These 120 VAC-rated, high-power LED lights provide intense, uniform lighting, with up to a 4,600-lumen output (100 lumens per watt). They come with a standard bracket mount that allows for angle adjustments. Optional TACLIP mounts (sold separately) provide for extra sturdy, vibration-resistant installations.
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World's first metalens fisheye camera

2Pi Optics has begun commercial-ization of the first fisheye camera based on the company's proprietary metalens technology -- a breakthrough for electronics design engineers and product managers striving to miniaturize the tiny digital cameras used in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), AR/VR, UAVs, robotics, and other industrial applications. This camera can operate at different wavelengths -- from visible, to near IR, to longer IR -- and is claimed to "outperform conventional refractive, wide-FOV optics in all areas: size, weight, performance, and cost."
Learn more.

Orbex offers two fiber optic rotary joint solutions

Orbex Group announces its 700 Series of fiber optic rotary joint (FORJ) assemblies, supporting either single or multi-mode operation ideal for high-speed digital transmission over long distances. Wavelengths available are 1,310 or 1,550 nm. Applications include marine cable reels, wind turbines, robotics, and high-def video transmission. Both options feature an outer diameter of 7 mm for installation in tight spaces. Construction includes a stainless steel housing.
Learn more.

Mini tunnel magneto-resistance effect sensors

Littelfuse has released its highly anticipated 54100 and 54140 mini Tunnel Magneto-Resistance (TMR) effect sensors, offering unmatched sensitivity and power efficiency. The key differentiator is their remarkable sensitivity and 100x improvement in power efficiency compared to Hall Effect sensors. They are well suited for applications in position and limit sensing, RPM measurement, brushless DC motor commutation, and more in various markets including appliances, home and building automation, and the industrial sectors.
Learn more.

Panasonic solar and EV components available from Newark

Newark has added Panasonic Industry's solar inverters and EV charging system components to their power portfolio. These best-in-class products help designers meet the growing global demand for sustainable and renewable energy mobility systems. Offerings include film capacitors, power inductors, anti-surge thick film chip resistors, graphite thermal interface materials, power relays, capacitors, and wireless modules.
Learn more.

Ultrafast camera captures images at the speed of light

A National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) grantee has developed an ultrafast camera that can acquire two-dimensional images at 100 billion frames per second, a speed capable of revealing light pulses and other phenomena previously too fast to be observed.

"When you turn on a laser pointer, you see an immediate beam of light. That's because light moves so fast, you aren't able to detect its movement with the naked eye. Using this camera, light is revealed as traveling through space from one point to another," says the camera's inventor, Lihong Wang, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

The CUP system configuration. [Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: [Nature] (L Gao et al. Nature 516, 74-77 (2014) doi:10.1038/nature14005), copyright (2014)]

 

 

 

 

While other research groups have achieved higher frame rates (trillion f/s), Wang's camera is the world's fastest 2D camera that doesn't require an external flash or multiple exposures. This distinction makes the camera particularly apt for imaging ultrafast, non-repetitive phenomena such as a single laser pulse or the short-lived, intermediate states of a biochemical reaction.

Wang is currently working to couple the camera to a microscope, which could help researchers gain valuable insights into previously unobservable biological phenomena.

For example, the camera could be used to visualize energy metabolism as it occurs within a cell's mitochondria or the way light passes through tissue, an important consideration for therapies that use lasers to destroy diseased tissue with the goal of leaving healthy tissue unharmed. It could also help researchers determine how fluorescent signals decay over time. Such knowledge could be used to create fluorescent sensors that can detect diseases and cellular environmental conditions like pH or oxygen pressure.

"This camera has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of very fast biological interactions and chemical processes that will allow us to build better models of complex, dynamical systems such as cellular respiration, or to help doctors better deliver and monitor light-based therapies," says Richard Conroy, Ph.D., program director for Optical Imaging at NIBIB.

NIH Pioneer Award enables high-impact research
The novel camera is the fruit of an NIBIB grant supported via the NIH Director's Pioneer award, which Wang won in 2012. The award provides funding to exceptionally creative scientists who propose bold research approaches that are expected to have a transformative impact on biomedical research.

"Most of the time, we have to propose something that's reasonably safe to get funded. With the Pioneer Award, we are emboldened to push in new directions. The unbridled funds have really allowed us to explore some high-risk, high-pay off ideas," says Wang.

Wang and his colleagues recently created several movies of single laser shots racing through different media such as air or resin and being refracted or reflected off various surfaces. They were also able to capture the moment at which a fluorescent material began to fluoresce after being excited by an incoming laser shot. This latter capability is extremely valuable to biomedical research, which relies heavily on fluorescent probes to label and track proteins, nucleic acids, and other cellular components. Wang's camera would enable researchers to visualize these fluorescently labeled components at light speed.

Developing an ultrafast imaging system in 2D
Several years ago, Wang bought a streak camera, a device that measures variations in the intensity of a light pulse over time. Streak cameras are capable of capturing ultrafast events, but are limited to imaging in one dimension. Wang compares this to watching a horse race through a distant slit:

"It's not very intuitive or informative. The camera on our phones can image in two dimensions even though the temporal resolution is poor. So that pushed us to add one more dimension somehow, and the only way to do that is to use the streak camera in an unconventional way."

Wang knew that to capture a 2D event using a streak camera, he would have to widen the camera's narrow slit. Yet doing so would be detrimental to the temporal resolution. To get around this, Wang developed a technique called compressed ultrafast photography (CUP).

The key to CUP is that prior to reaching the streak camera, the object is first encoded by a tiny apparatus called a digital micromirror device. The process is similar to taking a picture of an object through a piece of paper that has tiny, randomly distributed holes cut out of it. The full image of the object is later reconstructed from this encoded data using sophisticated algorithms based on a relatively new technique called compressed sensing.

Wang described his innovative CUP technique in the December 4, 2014, issue of Nature.

Pushing the limit
Wang's ultrafast 2D camera is one of several significant biomedical imaging advances that he has made over the past decade. With additional funding support from NIBIB, Wang recently overcame the optical diffusion limit, which is the depth at which light can be used to take images of tissues in the body by other existing high-resolution imaging technologies. Through the development of a technique called photoacoustic tomography, Wang was able to conquer this limit and advance the imaging depth by nearly two orders of magnitude, from 1 millimeter to several centimeters, an improvement that could enable doctors to acquire high-resolution images through a patient's skin using light.

The technique is currently being tested in a number of clinical applications, including imaging breast tumors, detecting skin cancer, and tracking blood oxygenation in tissues.

For his extraordinary achievements in biophotonic technology, Wang was recently awarded the 2015 Britton Chance Biomedical Optics award from the International Society for Optics and Photonics.

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health grants EB016986 and CA186567.

Reference: Single-shot compressed ultrafast photography at one hundred billion frames per second. Gao L, Liang J, Li C, Wang, LV. Nature. 2014 Dec 04; 576(7259): 74-77.

Source: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Published May 2015

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