Articles
Brainstorm: Holiday wish lists
November 28, 2012 3:56 pm | CommentsLike many engineers, all of my best ideas happen in the shower ... along with bad singing. So, for my Christmas this year, I’m hoping for a waterproof, wireless headset. There appear to be one or two on the market, but I need one coupled with an app that can cancel out background noise (say from a shower head)....
7 things I am thankful for...
November 20, 2012 3:21 pm | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsWhen I was little, at some point during the Thanksgiving season we would write down things we were thankful for. It was usually at school, written on a turkey that I’d made by outlining my hand, and it was usually things like candy, puppies, family, food, and probably whatever else was in my direct line of sight while I was writing.
Top 5 free apps for the holiday season
November 20, 2012 9:22 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsBack in the dog days of summer, we offered up a list of the 6 must-have apps for a stress-free summer. It was all about keeping kids distracted, watching your spending, and utilizing apps that got you to the relaxation phase faster.Now we’ve entered a season that can feel entirely the opposite of relaxing: holiday season
Protecting cables from oil damage
November 19, 2012 4:35 pm | by LAPP | CommentsOf all the chemical exposures that can affect the life and performance of electrical cables, oil is one of the most damaging. Used as a coolant and lubricant in many industrial and infrastructure settings, oil can inflict molecular damage on the polymers used for cable insulation and jacketing.
This watch could save your kid’s life
November 19, 2012 11:35 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsIf you’ve ever felt that heart-in-throat, hyperventilating, out-of-body feeling of not being able to find your kid in a park or after school, only to have her reappear after a few seconds of mind-numbing panic, you can understand why someone would want to invent a Lojack for children.
In defense of the Tesla Model S
November 19, 2012 9:10 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsWhen Motor Trend announced an electric car was their pick for Car of the Year, something tells me you could have heard a pin drop in the car world. An electric car? They must have rigged the vote.Well, my friends, I hate to break it to you, but Consumer Reports just agreed with Motor Trend,
Fundamentals of battery fuel-gauging
November 16, 2012 10:49 am | by Karthik Kadirvel, Texas Instruments, www.ti.com | CommentsThe battery fuel gauging system is the component responsible for determining the energy remaining in the battery. In this article, a battery fuel gauging system used in single-cell applications is described. This is followed by a discussion of the various algorithms used by the fuel-gauging system to determine battery capacity along with the pros and cons of the algorithms.
Chemistry, application requirements help determine long-life battery selection
November 16, 2012 10:20 am | by Sol Jacobs, Tadiran Batteries, www.tadiranbat.com | CommentsLithium chemistry is preferred for long-life applications because its intrinsic negative potential exceeds that of all other metals. Lithium is the lightest non-gaseous metal, offering the highest specific energy (energy per unit weight) and energy density (energy per unit volume) of all available battery chemistries.
How to improve the battery fuel gauge
November 16, 2012 10:04 am | by Isidor Buchmann, CEO & founder of Cadex Electronics, www.BatteryUniversity.com | CommentsMost cottages in the countryside are heated by burning wood in a simple stone hearth. The desired heat is controlled by the feeding of wood. Today computers manage heating systems in large buildings and the boiler has become almost secondary. A similar trend is evolving with batteries.
Greatest advertising technique of all time (Hint: Involves urinals)
November 15, 2012 4:18 pm | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsHere at ECN, we often talk about alternative energy options. Sometimes it’s solar power, other times wind power, and occasionally we dabble in the world of electric cars. But there is one energy option we’ve been sorely remiss in covering: pee-power.
Antenna selection is critical for successful wireless water meter reading applications
November 15, 2012 2:44 pm | by Jeff Shamblin, Ethertronics | CommentsWater utilities worldwide are increasingly migrating to wireless to enable automated meter reading (AMR). By 2016, annual wireless water meter shipments will hit 10 million worldwide, with the majority going to North American utilities, IMS Research predicts. In 2010, North American utilities accounted for 70 percent of the $500 million global wireless water meter market, IMS says.
This “smart” traffic light could cut commutes by 60 percent
November 14, 2012 11:08 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | CommentsWere you aware of the fact that you waste one week per year sitting in traffic? One week per year. That is 7 days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes, stuck in traffic. Not only is it a huge waste of time, breathing in the exhaust fumes while you sit and mentally-fume can actually be dangerous to your health
Roundtable: What must designers of portable devices do to deal with power and performance demands?
November 12, 2012 11:57 am | CommentsExperts in the power industry weight in on the question: What must designers of portable devices do to keep pace with increased power and performance demands? In their responses the industry experts talk about the future of portable devices and the design changes necessary to power them.
ECN’s Veteran’s Day tribute: Remembering those who’ve served
November 9, 2012 2:50 pm | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | CommentsOn the cusp of Veteran’s Day, I’m reminded that a disproportionate number of our friends and colleagues served in the military. And that makes me proud to work in this industry. ECN — and her parent company, Advantage Business Media — is no exception. You can’t swing a dead cat (or give a resounding Hoooah!) without hitting a veteran.
Do you have what it takes to be a Roundtable expert?
November 8, 2012 11:11 am | CommentsIn October, we asked you for your words of wisdom for a brand-new design engineer and boy, did you guys have advice in spades. The responses we received were so good in fact, we’ve decided to open up our December Roundtable to our faithful readers in hopes that you can offer more words of wisdom.
