Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

Rugged CAN keypad and rotary cursor controller

EAO has just introduced its new Series 09 Rugged CAN Keypad and Rotary Cursor Controller aimed at construction equipment, emergency vehicles, agricultural equipment, and the like. The products offer functional safety compliance and CANbus integration for use in harsh environments. The Rugged CAN Keypads are available in multicolor RGB 4-segment halo-ring illumination. Colors can be set for specific functions, animated with chasing/running or flashing sequences, and are easily programmable. The Rugged CAN Rotary Cursor Controller features full rotary function with 22 maintained positions and a push function. It also features LED symbol illumination on the pushbuttons and LED halo illumination on both pushbuttons and the rotary cursor.
Learn more.

Cool Tools: New Bosch thermal camera for industry

The Bosch GTC400C 12V Max Connected Thermal Camera is easy to use, determining temperatures in seconds and documenting the results with convenience. Featuring a large, illuminated color display, it delivers a 160 x 120 thermal graphic image accurate to +/- 3 C. It features simple operation: Just squeeze the trigger to shoot an image, and use the click wheel for the functions. The thermal graphic image features more than 19,000 measurement points for precision to show hot and cold spots, with the temperature at the center and an adjustable temp scale. The integrated visual camera records actual images, so the user can document the work area visually as well as thermally. This allows side-by-side comparison, picture-in-picture, and overlay of picture and thermal graphic. Nice long battery life.
Learn more.

Self-service fever scanner uses fist or wrist

FeverWarn is a new, non-contact device that determines if a user has a fever instantly -- simply by scanning the wrist or fist. The technology's creators at MachineSense, along with some university studies, say these hand areas are consistently some of the most reliable on the body for accurate temperature scanning. The FDA-compliant FeverWarn unit can be installed in front lobbies, security checkpoints, manufacturing entrances, school entrances, and any other place where the initial entryway is your first line of defense. A red or green light indicates pass or fail. Provides outputs for triggering auxiliary doors or gates.
Learn more about this exciting technology.

Thermally conductive elastomer for electric cars developed

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has developed a material that combines seemingly contradictory properties: It conducts heat well, but it is also electrically insulating. The company is already testing initial applications for charging sockets, control units, and batteries in electric cars.
Read the full article.

Cool Tools: Newly designed electronic digital micrometers

The L.S. Starrett Company has introduced more than 100 Electronic Digital Micrometers with new features for improved ergonomics, functionality, and productivity. They offer upgraded electronics, a longer battery life, an advanced locking mechanism, and a large, easy-to-read LCD display. The micrometers are available in a 0-1" (25-mm) model up to 24" (600 mm), and in 0-6" (152-mm) and 0-12" (304-mm) sets of individual micrometers. Some include IP67 protection. Industry 4.0 ready, these micrometers are equipped with an RS232 output, ideal for use with data-collection systems such as Starrett DataSure.
Learn more.

Why convert a tube-bending machine from hydraulic to electric?

Tube-bending machines have been driven by hydraulics for the past 80 years. Operators know how to get the best out of their machines, so why switch to electric cylinders? There are some disadvantages to going electric, but the fundamental reason to consider making the switch is simple: You can make better parts. By Brian Sondergeld
Read this informative Tolomatic blog.

Mini toggle switch features never-slip grip

Electro-mechanical switch manufacturer C&K has expanded its miniature 7000 Series locking toggle switch to include an optional knurled cap. The textured pattern provides a non-slip surface that enables customers to move from one position to another without the toggle lever slipping from their grip. Offering reliable and long-term operation up to 100K cycles, the 7000 Series locking toggle switch is available with and without the IP67 sealing to meet application requirements.
Learn more.

TDK brings redundancy to its TMR angle sensor portfolio

TDK has announced the expansion of its tunnel-magneto-resistance (TMR) angle sensor portfolio with the new digital TAD4140 sensor, designed for demanding automotive and industrial applications. Compared to TDK's existing digital angle sensor (the TAD2141), the new TAD4140 features full redundancy with two signal processor units and 2x2 TMR bridges in a single TSSOP16 package. Both angle sensors are capable of contactless sensing up to 360 degrees. The new sensor is able to simultaneously measure speed, direction, and motor position, making it suitable for motor-control applications such as Brushless DC (BLDC) motor commutation in electric power-assisted steering (EPAS) systems.
Learn more.

Thermal cameras for elevated skin-temp screening

FLIR Systems has just announced the availability of their modified thermal cameras for fast and safe non-contact elevated skin-temperature screening. The FLIR EST thermal screening solutions provide front-line screening at building entries and in high-traffic areas to improve safety and help curb the spread of COVID-19. The EST series cameras are designed to simplify the screening process, reducing the burden on screening operators and adhering to recommended social distancing guidelines. Handheld, fixed-mounted, and custom integrated solutions available.
Learn more.

BAE Systems delivers radiation-hardened radios

BAE Systems has delivered its first shipment of next-gen radiation-hardened software defined radios (SDR) enabled by its RAD5545 computer to Lockheed Martin Space. The radios provide spacecraft with the on-board signals-processing capacity needed to support future space missions -- from planetary exploration to communications, national security, surveillance, and weather missions. These radios can be easily customized. The system leverages modular and standard building blocks including the RAD5545 single board computer (SBC), a SpaceVPX chassis and backplane electrical connectors, Serial RapidIO and Spacewire interfaces, and a fully supported expansion port for a custom interface card.
Learn more about BAE Systems' radiation-hardened electronics.

Solenoid valves for spaceflight applications

Marotta Controls has introduced four new solenoid valves to its CoRe Flow Controls series -- one of the only valve catalogs available for spaceflight. These new products support the commercial space industry's growing use of more efficient in-vehicle system designs and propellants that deliver better performance and greater ROI. CoRe pneumatic valves operate with 1/4-in. to 3/4-in. lines; handle fluids such as helium, methane, nitrogen, and oxygen; and are qualified to the Air Force Space Command's (AFSC) SMC-S-016 standard. These valves include Marotta's customer Qualification-by-Similarity (Qual-by-Sim) support, designed to get customers into orbit faster and with less upfront investment.
Learn more.

World's lowest-power PDM microphone

TDK has just introduced InvenSense T3902, the world's lowest-power Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) microphone for mobile, IoT, and other consumer devices. The T3902 is an ultra-low-power, low-noise, multi-mode bottom-port MEMS microphone that enhances voice-based services that are now commonplace in many devices. The microphone's AlwaysOn functionality in low-power mode enables immediate accessibility upon wake command. This microphone enables OEM partners to differentiate their product offerings by improving the consumer experience with reduced power consumption.
Learn more.

Image sensor for automotive viewing cameras boasts top LED flicker-mitigation performance

OmniVision Technologies recently announced the OX03C10 ASIL-C automotive image sensor -- the world's first for viewing applications that combines a large 3.0-micron pixel size with a high dynamic range (HDR) of 140dB and the best LED flicker-mitigation (LFM) performance for viewing applications with minimized motion artifacts. This is also the first viewing image sensor with HDR and LFM that can deliver 1920 x 1280p resolution at the highest rate of 60 fps, enabling greater design flexibility and faster camera-view switching for drivers.
Learn more.

Tiniest load cell yet

The LLB130 Miniature Load Button from FUTEK has a capacity range from 1,000 g to 50 lb and is RoHS compliant. This mini load cell features low deflection and fast response time, and it is fully internally temperature compensated. These units achieve great accuracy and stiffness. Can be modified or customized to meet your requirements.
Learn more.

Retrofit legacy devices for wireless, off-premise monitoring and control

Layer N from Omega is a simple, smart, and flexible way to monitor a wide range of industrial equipment such as freezers, ovens, and furnaces without requiring users to be on-premise. Temperature, humidity, light, and barometric pressure readings are captured, stored, processed, and transported in real time to the cloud via wireless smart sensors and gateways, allowing reports to be accessed from anywhere at any time. Using Message Queuing Telemetry Transport, one of the most commonly applied protocols for IoT data transport, Layer N products offer a cost-effective and simple way to retrofit and integrate legacy devices into the digital world.
Learn more.

Bend it, cut it, shape it: Flexible micro LEDs may reshape future of wearable technology

Newly developed flexible micro LEDs can be twisted (left) or folded (right). The LEDs, which can be peeled off and stuck to almost any surface, could help pave the way for the next generation of wearable technology. [Credit: The University of Texas at Dallas]

 

 

 

 

University of Texas at Dallas researchers and their international colleagues have developed a method to create micro LEDs that can be folded, twisted, cut, and stuck to different surfaces.

The research, published online in June in the journal Science Advances, helps pave the way for the next generation of flexible, wearable technology.

Used in products ranging from brake lights to billboards, LEDs are ideal components for backlighting and displays in electronic devices because they are lightweight, thin, energy efficient, and visible in different types of lighting. Micro LEDs, which can be as small as 2 micrometers and bundled to be any size, provide higher resolution than other LEDs. Their size makes them a good fit for small devices such as smart watches, but they can be bundled to work in flat-screen TVs and other larger displays. LEDs of all sizes, however, are brittle and typically can only be used on flat surfaces.

The researchers' new micro LEDs aim to fill a demand for bendable, wearable electronics.

"The biggest benefit of this research is that we have created a detachable LED that can be attached to almost anything," said Dr. Moon Kim, Louis Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering at UT Dallas and a corresponding author of the study. "You can transfer it onto your clothing or even rubber -- that was the main idea. It can survive even if you wrinkle it. If you cut it, you can use half of the LED."

Researchers in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics helped develop the flexible LED through a technique called remote epitaxy, which involves growing a thin layer of LED crystals on the surface of a sapphire crystal wafer, or substrate.

Typically, the LED would remain on the wafer. To make it detachable, researchers added a nonstick layer to the substrate, which acts similarly to the way parchment paper protects a baking sheet and allows for the easy removal of cookies, for instance. The added layer, made of a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon called graphene, prevents the new layer of LED crystals from sticking to the wafer.

"The graphene does not form chemical bonds with the LED material, so it adds a layer that allows us to peel the LEDs from the wafer and stick them to any surface," said Kim, who oversaw the physical analysis of the LEDs using an atomic resolution scanning/transmission electron microscope at UT Dallas' Nano Characterization Facility.

Colleagues in South Korea carried out laboratory tests of LEDs by adhering them to curved surfaces, as well as to materials that were subsequently twisted, bent, and crumpled. In another demonstration, they adhered an LED to the legs of a Lego minifigure with different leg positions.

Bending and cutting do not affect the quality or electronic properties of the LED, Kim said.

The bendy LEDs have a variety of possible uses, including flexible lighting, clothing, and wearable biomedical devices. From a manufacturing perspective, the fabrication technique offers another advantage: Because the LED can be removed without breaking the underlying wafer substrate, the wafer can be used repeatedly.

"You can use one substrate many times, and it will have the same functionality," Kim said.

In ongoing studies, the researchers also are applying the fabrication technique to other types of materials.

"It's very exciting; this method is not limited to one type of material," Kim said. "It's open to all kinds of materials."

Source: University of Texas at Dallas

Published September 2020

Rate this article