|
|
|
|
|
DISCOVERED NEW PRODUCTS
|
|
 |
New product announcements are made
nearly every day. I subscribe to many trade journals and each is filled with hundreds of
flashy advertisements. But, only a few of those product ads catch my eye. Since I’m
a circuit designer, I especially like those components that trigger many new application ideas
in my mind. Sometimes it is the smallest products that are the most useful.
Tiny surface mounted components that perform a nice little
function have countless applications. I also like anything that keeps battery power
consumption low. These days you can do many interesting things with a well-designed
circuit powered from just a few tiny button battery cells. |
|
I often discovered new products in surplus electronic catalogs.
The surplus companies often buy up stock that came from companies that went out of business.
Bad marketing or bad management may have killed a perfectly good product idea. Their loss
can be your gain if you can spot the bargain.
David A. Johnson, P.E. |
|
Discovered New Products:
2010
2009 2008
2007 2006
2005 2004
|
|
New Products added May 19, 2007
- Colorado Video’s Observer IV
GPRS, GSM, Remote, Mobile, Wireless, Internet, snapshot camera
- Colorado Video’s Lookout-V
GPRS, GSM, Remote, Mobile, Wireless, Internet, snapshot camera
- 5 Watt Infrared LED
from Cold Fusion
- CeeLite
Electroluminescent Lighting Panels
- Digital Pots from
Micro Bridge Replaces Mechanical Pot
- Full Featured
Digital AC Wattmeter from Electronic Educational Devices
- Linear Magnetic
Hall Effect Rotary Sensor
- Monolithic
Schottky Bridge Rectifiers From Central Semiconductor Corp.
- Tiny Coin Shaped
Thermocouple Thermopile Voltage Generator
- Super Small Memory
Cards From SanDisk
- Tiny
Piezoelectric Motors from New Scale Technologies
- Ultra Low Power
Crystal Oscillator IC from EM Microelectronic
- Ultra Low Voltage
Switching Regulator from TI
- Zero Bias Voltage
FETs from Advanced Linear Devices
|
| |
|
|
 |
Colorado Video’s Observer IV
GPR - S, GSM, Remote, Mobile, Wireless, Internet, snapshot camera
enables you to get pictures from remote sites or locations with maximum ease.
|
| Its simple installation makes it ideal
for monitoring temporary or distant sites or mobile assets. |
| The Observer IV is well suited for
monitoring current pictures from mobile assets such as ferryboats, dredges, busses,
railcars, and trucks. The Observer IV can keep web pages fresh by providing
continuously updated JPG images to your server for your web surfing audience to
view. |
|
|
|
|
|
Colorado Video’s Lookout-V GPRS,
GSM, Remote, Mobile, Wireless, Internet, snapshot camera enables
you to get pictures from remote sites or locations with maximum ease. |
 |
| Its simple installation makes it ideal
for monitoring temporary or distant sites or mobile assets.
The Lookout-V is well suited for monitoring current
pictures from mobile assets such as ferryboats, dredges, busses, railcars, and
trucks. |
| Lookout-V can keep web
pages fresh by providing continuously updated JPG images to your server for your web
surfing audience to view. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ultra Low Voltage Switching Regulator from TI |
Finding any IC that operates at low voltages is rare. Finding a switching regular IC that
runs down to 0.3 volts is therefore really a surprise. The TPS61200 (http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps61200.pdf)
from Texas Instruments was designed to boost the voltage from single NiMH
cells to a
higher voltage. With an operating range that extends down to 0.3v, the device
is perfect for powering something from a single 0.5v solar cell. It has a
maximum average input current of 1.5 Amps, which can translate to an output current
of 500ma at 5 volts. I think I might try using this part to design a 4 cell
4.8v AA NiMH
battery charger, powered by a single large solar cell. |
|
|
|
Zero Bias Voltage FETs from Advanced Linear Devices |
| Advanced Linear Device (http://www.aldinc.com/)
has been able to carefully fabricate some N and P channel enhancement mode FETs so
they conduct current, even when the voltage between the gate and source is zero
volts. This feature comes in handy when designing some low voltage Amplifiers
and oscillators. I have been able to run a square wave oscillator using two of
their FETs with a supply voltage of only 0.16 volts. |
|
|
|
Tiny Coin Shaped Thermocouple Thermopile Voltage
Generator |
| Thermo Life Corporation (http://www.poweredbythermolife.com/corp.htm)
has developed a coin shaped heat to electricity converter. A 5 degree C
temperature difference from front to back will generate an open voltage of 6 volts
and will feed 10 micoamps of current into a 300K load resistance. With a 10
degree C difference, the power generated increases to about 100 microwatts. The
maximum operating temperature is 100C. At such a temperature difference, the device
should crank out about 1000uw of power. These devices might be used in energy
harvesting applications where warm objects exist. At 10ua, the device could
charge up a 100uF capacitor in about a minute. The energy stored in the cap
could then be used to power a wireless sensor link, such as Zigbee. |
 |
| |
|
|
|
Linear Magnetic Hall
Effect Rotary Sensor |
|
|
|
|
Melexis (www.melexis.com)
makes some of the best hall sensors on the planet. Their MLX90316
offers a unique device, which exports a voltage proportional to the angle of
rotation of a nearby magnet, as shown below. This function might come in handy
for some human interfaces where a knob can adjust the volume of an audio signal or
some other variable with no physical contact with the device.
http://www.melexis.com/ProdMain.aspx?nID=566 |
|
|
|
Super Small Memory
Cards From SanDisk |
|
SanDisk (www.sandisk.com)
is now offering a tiny flash memory card with storage up to 4GB. Their “Micro
SD” cards shown below measure just 0.6” x 0.4.” These incredibly small memory
cards will find their way into all kinds of applications, which require a compact
method to store data. A 4GB card can store about 1000 MP3 songs. |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Monolithic Schottky
Bridge Rectifiers From Central Semiconductor Corp. |
 |
Many power supplies take advantage of the lower
voltage drop of a schottky diode to improve overall efficiency. However,
usually four separate diodes have to be used to form a full bridge rectifier
circuit. Central Semiconductor (www.centralsemi.com)
has now made things easier by packing four schottky diode inside a monolithic
surface mounted bridge rectifier. The small 1 Amp rated device saves circuit
board real estate and reduces the total parts count, which can translate into cost
savings.
http://www.centralsemi.com/pdf/CBRHDSH1-40L.pdf
|
|
|
|
Digital Pots from
Micro Bridge Replaces Mechanical Pot |
|
Often a mechanical potentiometer is used to calibrate
a circuit, set the gain of an Amplifier or null a voltage offset. These can
often become contaminated or broken. Micro Bridge Technology (www.microbridgetech.com)
has solved this problem by offering a digital “rejustor” device, which can perform
the same function as a mechanical device. |
|
|
|
Tiny
Piezoelectric Motors from New Scale Technologies |
 |
These incredibly tiny motors are driven by a small
piezoelectric element, which rotates a tiny treaded lead screw. New Scale’s (www.squigglemotors.com)
squiggle motors are being used to move small devices, such as auto focus lenses and
micro fluid pumps, with great precision. |
|
|
|
Ultra Low Power
Crystal Oscillator IC from EM Microelectronic |
|
When trying to squeeze every last joule of energy from
a circuit, even the power required by a crystal oscillator can be important. EM
Microelectronic (www.emmicroelectronic.com)
has solved this problem with their EM7604 crystal oscillator control IC, This
device draws only 0.25 microamps, when used with a standard 32.768KHz watch crystal.
The IC operates from 1.2v to 5.5v and over a temperature range of -40C to 125C.
Internal integrated oscillator capacitors keep the part count to a minimum.
You only have to connect a crystal. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Full Featured
Digital AC Wattmeter from Electronic Educational Devices |
|
 |
Electronic Educational Devices (www.wattsupmeters.com)
has developed a great digital wattmeter. This device is similar to but better
than, the very popular “Watts Out” AC power meter. You simply plug the device into
an AC wall outlet, then plug the AC load you wish to monitor into the device.
This neat device has more features than you can shake a stick at, including the
ability to record the power line data to a computer, through its USB connection.
PC software is included with the device. |
|
|
| |
|
