![](/ProductImages/0309/RD_EL_Signal.jpg") Signal Averaging Cards Go High Speed
Developed by Daniel Abischer an engineer at Acqiris, SA, Geneva, Switzerland, the AP200 is a 2 GS/sec precision real-time signal averaging digitizer card used in time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers. The device is crucial in systems that use a continuous ion source prior to the flight tube, where rapid flight initiation is employed. The AP200 also can be used in MALDI TOF systems.
Previous technology could only sample up to 500 MS/sec, with some products requiring separate triggers to obtain a single event, making the acquisition of the sum take longer.
The AP200 digitizes and averages the signal from the multichannel plate ion detector, which creates a flood of electrons each time it is struck by an ion. The electron flood pulses—all time referenced to the trigger—are then digitized by the AP200. Subsequent events are summed in order to obtain the best signal to noise ratio. The end result is a clear spectra of peaks, where the time of each peak position is known precisely due to the high accuracy of the AP200.
www.acqiris.com |
![](/ProductImages/0309/RD_EL_Maximizing.jpg") Maximizing Sound While Minimizing Size
It's 2 mm thick and weighs in at only 5 g, but deserves the weighty name of the Piezoelectric sound element, Card Speaker Model WM-R57A , created by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Kyoto, Japan. This card speaker features high-sound quality and is used in mobile terminal equipment, such as portable MD/DVD/CD players, PDAs, notebook PCs, flat screen displays, and sound systems.
Magnetic circuits tend to make conventional dynamic speakers heavy and thick. Conventional piezoelectric sound elements contain hard ceramic elements and metal plates, which resonate only at high frequencies. To create their speaker device, researchers at Matsushita synthesized special piezoelectric materials by using a nano-powder grinding process to precisely control grain size.
Three key design features help the product achieve high sound quality: a double-damper structure, which eliminates stress caused by movement of the diaphragm; 4 divided diaphragms, where each region is independently excited by the piezoelectric elements; and a high-polymer edge and coating that eliminate resonance of the overall structure and prevent oxidation and corrosion. As a result, the Model WM-R57A has a flat frequency response which ranges from 150 Hz to 100 kHz, all while fitting into the palm of your, er, Palm.
matsushita.co.jp |
![](/ProductImages/0309/RD_EL_Temperature.jpg") Temperature-Regulated Chips
Managing heat levels in microprocessor systems can be a challenge when the printed circuit board (PCB) is the main source of heat dissipation. Standard SO-8 packages can only be effectively cooled on one side through their connection to the PCB. International Rectifier (IR), El Segundo, Calif., has produced its DirectFET MOSFETS , the first surface-mount devices in an SO-8 footprint designed for efficient top-sided cooling. It facilitates the removal of heat from the device, as well as enabling the use of top-side heatsinks.
In the DirectFET package, the silicon die is put into a copper housing. The bottom of the package can be soldered directly to the PCB with the addition of contact pads. The copper housing provides a heatsink surface, improving junction-to-PCB thermal resistance to less than 1° C/W, and junction-to-case thermal resistance to 3° C/W. The package cuts MOSFET count by up to 60% and shrinks board space by as much as 50%.
The IR HEXFET MOSFETs in the DirectFET power package are designed for DC-DC converters used to power the microprocessors found in high-end notebooks and servers.
www.irf.com |
| ![](/ProductImages/0309/RD_EL_Read.jpg") Read Your Car's Thoughts
Ever wonder what your car is "thinking?" Or, Where is my car? Networkcar, a Reynolds and Reynolds Co., San Diego, Calif., has developed a system to help you with service reminders and stolen vehicle recovery. Networkcar Telematics System collects and organizes automotive information directly from the vehicle. The system consists of a small data collector, GPS, and 2-way wireless transmission device, which connects to a port of the vehicle's computer system. Information is transmitted in packets via a wireless telecommunication network to the Networkcar host server, where it is converted and then displayed on the Internet, accessible to the customer.
This system is the only product of its type that collects and transmits diagnostic data directly from the vehicle. Their competitors do not monitor vehicle performance and therefore cannot email problem alerts or service reminders, nor detect emissions problems or monitor fuel efficiency.
In addition to consumer use, fleet operators can track vehicle performance and manage maintenance easily. Governmental agencies use the Networkcar Telematics System to perform real-time data reports and can review aggregate data reports to check vehicle emissions.
www.networkcar.com |
Blackout Buster
Could the Blackout of 2003 have been avoided using the Fiber-Optic Electrical Current (and temperature) Transducer (FOECT)? Developed by Airak, Inc., Manassas, Va., PPI, Ashburn, Va., and the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, D.C., the FOECT measures the magnetic field surrounding or current flowing through a conductor, simultaneously providing temperature. It was designed to replace existing current transducers in applications ranging from monitoring load currents in electrical power lines to providing feedback information in high-energy power electronic converters.
Developers expanded upon how it is not necessary to completely encircle the conductor that is being monitored. Rather than perform an integration of the magnetic field, the sensor samples a point in the field using an optical crystal at a predetermined location. Through Faraday rotation of the polarized state, developers measured the strength of the magnetic field, extracting the temperature from fluctuations in the rotation angle.
Airak's transducer has a bandwidth that exceeds 30 MHz; by tailoring the Faraday crystal composition this rate can be at least as high as 700 MHz. It can measure a steady-state DC offset in a magnetic field or current while reporting an AC magnetic field or current, and is capable of operating to 19.2 kV with no additional requirements for insulation, isolation, or cooling.
www.airak.com |
![](/ProductImages/0309/RD_EL_This.jpg") This Supercomputer Keeps its Cool
Normally, if you stick a supercomputer in a dusty, 85° room, you are asking for trouble. But that is exactly where Green Destiny has been for the past year. A team led by Wu-chun Feng (pictured) at Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory, has built Green Destiny, a 240-processor cluster that takes up just 0.5 m2 and requires no cooling. The most power that its draws on is only 5.2 kW. It has had no unscheduled failures or downtime due to its less complex building blocks and fewer transistors, which run at lower speeds. Green Destiny boasts up to 10 times higher performance/power ratio than other supercomputing platforms.
Instead of focusing on speed and horsepower, the designers at Los Alamos attended to efficiency and power usage. Green Destiny consists of low-energy components, like "blades," which are used for web hosting and Internet data centers. Since blades are a software-hardware hybrid, designers could modify the software part of the processor to improve performance. Additional components are also energy efficiency, without sacrificing overall computational speed.
www.lanl.gov |
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