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Wide input DC/DC converters serve industry and rail

Thu, Apr 25, 2019

Wide input DC/DC converters serve industry and rail

Designed for the industrial and railway sectors, the PKE-A series of DC/DC power modules have been announced by Flex Power Modules.

They are provided in sealed and encapsulated packaging, to ensure they will work reliably when subjected to dust, moisture, severe vibration and other harsh conditions.

For Industrial applications, the PKE8000A series provides rugged DC/DC solutions in the industry standard 2.0 x 1.0 inch (50 x 25mm) form factor, running from 12, 24 or 48V supply voltages with a wide input range of nine to 75V. Delivering up to 40W of output power at up to 91 per cent efficiency, the series also offers mean time between failures (MTBF) of up to four million hours, and input to output isolation of 2250V DC. The devices meet the latest IEC/EN/UL62368-1 safety standards.

For railways applications, the PKE7000A series is packaged in the same industry standard form factor, but operates from a 43 to 160V input, delivering up to 30W. This makes it suitable for the majority of on-board requirements running from 72V and/or 110V nominal supplies, most commonly found in the rail industry. The devices comply with the EN50155 railway standard and offer MTBF figures of up to five million hours to satisfy the most demanding applications.

Both the PKE8000A and PKE7000A families are available now for sampling and volume production requirements.

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Memory storage aids AI in medical technology

Thu, Apr 25, 2019

Memories for IoT applications from Innodisk can be used in artificial intelligence (AI) for medical applications, says the company.

AI is revolutionising medical technology, says Innodisk, in diagnostics, patient care, and emergency rooms. AI works through enormous data sets to support medical staff but the technology requires sufficient computational powers.

Innodisk offers a portfolio of industrial-grade DRAM modules that have guaranteed long-term supply. It includes DDR4, DDR3 and DDR2 modules available in the same robust form factors. For extreme cases, conformal coating and anti-sulfuration measures are available to further protect the memory module.

For the design of many medical systems, it is necessary to factor in electromagnetic interference (EMI). A special circuit design with purpose-built firmware algorithms is necessary and Innodisk has customised modules with anti-magnetic properties as well as with rigid data security measures for such medical devices. Innodisk can provide solid state drives (SSDs) that offer extensive endurance and the robustness required of IoT devices in a medical setting.

One of the challenges of IoT is monitoring the many devices involved in the system. In one such case, Innodisk modified the cloud-based management tool iCAP to not only monitor the onboard component lifespan and status, but also that of the batteries in the various portable devices used at the hospital. This way, all devices are kept under one umbrella that is easily accessed through any computer, phone or tablet with a compatible browser.

Adding devices means additional ways of communication between those devices. Innodisk’s expansion cards allow medical devices to easily add new ports that offer additional LAN, display, PoE, USB capabilities.

http://www.innodisk.com

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Fujitsu adds gentle resistive touch panels

Thu, Apr 25, 2019

Customisable, flush-surface, resistive touch panels from Fujitsu Components America, have less than half the input force of conventional resistive panels, and are nearly identical to that of projected capacitive panels, says the company.

The FID series offers OEMs a cost-efficient alternative to projected capacitive touch (PCT) panels, with the reliable input and choice of input sources, of resistive technology. Target applications include industrial automation and human-machine interface (HMI) machine control, medical equipment, and vehicle navigation systems.

There are two options, the FID-1300 (four-wire) and FID-1520 (five-wire) series touch panels. Both support a minimum input force of 0.02N (0.45 typical) while maintaining reliable user input and smooth sliding and flicking operations. To activate touch input, the user can use bare skin, gloved fingers, wet fingers, pens, or stylus pens. The FID-1300 is available with two-point input, enlarge/shrink and rotation operations using a dual-touch control board.

The panels consist of a film-glass sensor layer with a flush-surface film overlay, making them dustproof, waterproof, and easy to clean. They feature 80 per cent (typical) transparency and have an input life of one million (FID-1300) and 10 million taps (FID-1520) at 1.96N input force. Standard operating temperature range is -5 to +60 degrees C.

The touch panels can be specified with custom colours, decorative patterns or multi-colour graphics for specific brand, industry or application needs. Customers can submit specific frame colours, logos, icons, and legends, and also request embossed key switches, custom panel shapes, aperture, finishes, coatings, and other customisations.

The panels are available immediately. The FID-1300 four-wire panels are available in sizes up to 19 inches, and the FID-1520 five-wire panels are available in sizes up to 15 inches.

Fujitsu Components America markets and distributes relays, connectors, input and pointing devices, touch panels, thermal printers, and wireless modules throughout North and South America.

http://www.fujitsu.com

 

 

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Microcontrollers replace sensors in industry and the home

Wed, Apr 24, 2019

Materials or liquids can be detected without sensors using the Renesas Electronics Material Detection Solution. Connecting electrodes via Renesas’ RX130 capacitive touch-key microcontrollers, can lower the bill of materials and enable detection at multiple points, using a single chip, points out Renesas.

It can be used by industrial equipment, office automation equipment and home appliance manufacturers in detection systems.

The touchkey microcontrollers’ capacitive touch sensor is sensitive and has a high resistance to noise, explains Renesas. This enables the Material Detection Solution to detect the presence or absence of a powder such as vacuum cleaner dust, a liquid such as refrigerator and coffee maker, or material such as paper by measuring the capacitance between electrodes to the microcontroller. The increase or decrease of the powder, liquid, or material will change the capacitance value between the electrodes.

The development reflects the increased demand for sensor-based technology in industry, the office and the home. These applications require fine-grained sensing for predictive maintenance capabilities. The Material Detection Solution can be used to detect the remaining amounts of consumable materials in, for example vacuum cleaner filters or printers, and inform users in advance when replacements are required.

Although these applications can be implemented by using a mix of pressure sensors for detecting physical objects, photosensors, IR sensors, and CMOS sensors, the use of multiple sensors creates additional cost and heavy development burdens, points out Renesas.

The sensor-less physical object detection connects two thin-film electrodes and measures the capacitance between them using a touchkey microcontroller. Changes in the measured materials are determined by detecting the change in capacitance between the electrodes.

This method eliminates the need for sensor evaluation and operating condition determination, while the initialisation and sensitivity adjustments can be performed using the development support graphical user interface (GUI) tool available for capacitive touch sensor systems. Renesas add that this enables developers to quickly implement a capacitive touch sensor unit in equipment that require a detection function.

The Material Detection Solution is available now for free download.

http://www.renesas.com

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