Serving the Electronic Design Community Since 1956
Get Your Low-Energy Computing with a Catch
November 27, 2007 11:21 am | Blogs | CommentsEnergy News: Three stories about energy efficiency, focusing on computers, landed in my inbox today -- with a big fat asterisk attached. The stories are: Google Plans Renewable Energy Push -- they want to make one a gigawatt of clean energy cheaper to produce than the same amount of coal; HP Enters Two Renewable-Energy Contracts -- they're using solar and wind power for facilities in San Diego and Ireland; and Climate Savers Computing Initiative Empowers Smarter Computing Choices -- there's an online catalog of green desktops and servers, but it's only for companies that pay to join
Interchangeable Blade Power Supplies meet RoHS, Energy Star and CEC Standards
November 27, 2007 5:46 am | Product Releases | CommentsGlobTek introduced the GT-41xxx series of blade power supplies. The series features the GT-41076 with power up to 6W, GT-41052 up to 15W and GTM41060 up to 25W with constant current option. The regulated outputs voltage range from 5V to 48V DC in 0.1V increments, with up to 25W of continuous output power. The 64 mm × 40.5 mm × 29 mm polycarbonate impact resistant non-vented cases
Gone With the Wind, Part 2: Maglev Tech
November 27, 2007 5:44 am | Blogs | CommentsProductive Product: What if you could eliminate all of the material friction in a windmill? (And why is this our third consecutive Efficiency Zone lead in question form?) No ball bearing is that good, but you could use maglev technology to just suspend the turbine blades in air. Magnetic levitation is more common for high-speed train research
Gone With the Wind, Part 1: The Sailboat
November 27, 2007 5:40 am | Blogs | CommentsProductive Product: It was good enough for Columbus, Magellan, and Ellison, but is wind power -- the sail -- better in some cases than modern engines for oceanic cargo ships? A few companies are voting affirmatively. A blogger for Network World writes, "A kite the size of a football field will provide most of the power for a German
Mini-Power Management Unit Maximizes Design Flexibility
November 27, 2007 3:47 am | Product Releases | CommentsAdvanced Analogic Technologies, Inc. announced the AAT2504, an adjustable 3-channel regulator that combines a step-down converter with two low dropout linear regulators (LDOs). Targeted at mobile devices with rapidly changing feature sets, it allows designers to extend system functionality and still benefit from power management integration. The step-down converter delivers up to 800 mA of output current and supports an input range of 2.7V to 5.5V
Nuclear Bathtub Full of Controversy
November 26, 2007 5:57 am | Blogs | CommentsProductive Product: What if nuclear power were mass-produced in portable battery-like containers? That's the mission of Hyperion Power Generation, a start-up based on the research of Los Alamos National Labs scientist Otis Peterson. The bathtub-sized device with no moving parts could power 25,000 homes for five years, and Hyperion is poised to build 4,000 around
Utilities' Perspectives on Green Biz
November 26, 2007 5:29 am | Blogs | CommentsEnergy News: "Making a Business of Energy Efficiency: Sustainable Business Models for Utilities" is the topic of next month's Edison Electric Institute meeting in Washington. The EEI is an electric company association and the agenda focuses on money -- not customers, the environment, or technology. There is an interesting
30W Universal Input Range AC/DC Power Modules
November 26, 2007 3:56 am | Product Releases | CommentsMinmax's AQF-30 is a 30W series of AC/DC power modules that have universal input range of 85V AC to 265V AC with single, dual and triple output voltages. The modules boast efficiencies up to 80 percent and are EMI Compliant with EN55022 Class B and FCC part 15, level B and EMC Compliant With EN61000 (-2, -3, -4). The series is suitable for a variety of applications
A Call For Green Holiday Tech
November 20, 2007 11:53 am | Blogs | CommentsOp-Ed: Ah, winter: the holidays, the Superbowl, snow sledding and nasty weather, the hassle of decorating, and what to get the engineer who has everything? We here at ECN figure the answer to that last point -- high-tech for the holidays -- is best derived from you, the readers.
Micro-D Pi Filter Connector for Military, Avionics Applications
November 20, 2007 4:00 am | Product Releases | CommentsITT Electronic Components developed a Micro-D connector with desirable attenuation. Designated the TMDMP filter, the connector utilizes an internal filter design, providing the density needed to accommodate the ferrite tubes necessary for Pi filtering in military and aerospace applications. The TMDMP filter connector is suitable for integrated avionics and electronic warfare
Power Relays Give Designers Much to Ponder
November 19, 2007 11:52 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsMy first experience with a relay came about when a friend found a radiosonde -- a small balloon-borne weather instrument -- in the woods behind his house. My friend Ben wanted the parachute, so I got the electronics. As a kid of 11 or 12, the circuitry didn't mean much, but it included a simple relay I experimented with.
Lithium, Ultracaps Merge for Hybrid Power
November 19, 2007 11:13 am | Blogs | CommentsProductive Product: Maxwell Technologies is working with China's Lishen Battery to design hybrid lithium-ultracapacitor products, Maxwell officials said today. Immediately, Lishen will start making lithium cells adjacent to ultracapacitors in the same package, while preparing to merge lithium with ultracapacitors in individual hybrid cells by summer 2009.
High-Frequency Crystal Oscillators Provide Low-Jitter Performance for Communication Applications
November 19, 2007 10:35 am | Product Releases | CommentsMaxim Integrated Products introduced the DS4-XO series of crystal oscillators that support frequency operation from 75 MHz to 622.08 MHz. These miniature crystal oscillators are available in a 5 mm x 3.2 mm package and provide jitter performance of less than 1 psRMS (12 kHz to 20 MHz) over the -40°C to +85°C extended temperature range. Manufactured using fundamental AT-cut crystal technology with no overtone,
VCO for Digital Radio Equipment
November 19, 2007 4:05 am | Product Releases | CommentsCrystek's CVCO55CC-2778-2945 VCO operates from 2778 MHz to 2945 MHz with a control voltage range of 0.1V to 16V. This VCO features a typical phase noise of -110 dBc/Hz @ 10KHz offset and has excellent linearity. It is packaged in the industry standard 0.5" × 0.5" SMD package. Input voltage is 8.0 V, with a max current consumption of 40 mA. Pulling and Pushing are minimized to 5.00 MHz and 2.00 MHz/V
UCLA Puts Twist on Flexible Batteries
November 16, 2007 10:53 am | Blogs | CommentsProductive Product: UCLA researchers are able to print batteries on flexible circuits by using nanotube inks, NewScientist reports. There are similar projects, such as at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and it's not immediately clear how the UCLA project differs. However, NewScientist explains
