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| The latest information on Electrical &
Electronic Components
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March 7, 2008
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In this issue of the Electrical & Electronic Newsletter from
Machine Design there are articles on resistive touchscreens,
software that helps build better toys, and the necessity of proper
lighting for machine vision.
The highlighted products are electronic circuit protectors, resolver
based position servos, and pushbutton switches.
Be sure to check out the industry update to watch a video that demonstrates a boxing video game.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
-- Julie Kalista
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Resistive Touchscreens
It's quite common today to find touchscreens on many electronic
devices. Point-of-sale terminals, high-end stereos, and video games are
just a few of the typical applications. The original touchscreen was
patented in 1971, so almost all touchscreens today are patent- free.
While many different technologies have been used to create touchscreens,
the majority fall into one of four classifications: resistive,
capacitive, surface-acoustic wave, and infrared. The most common is the
resistive touchscreen, making up approximately 70% of the touchscreens
currently in use. The original resistive touchscreen used a five-wire
interface that's still employed on high-end touchscreens. Smaller and
less-expensive units make do with four wires with only a slight drop in
resolution accuracy.
Full Article
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Software Helps Build Better Toys
Our company, Funrise Toy Corp., makes toys that entertain kids of
all ages. These include Tonka trucks, Gazillion Bubbles, Shelcore Pre-
School, and ZOOOOS Interactive. To make great products, we need to
connect our design team in Los Angeles with our manufacturing teams in
Hong Kong and China. Because time-zone differences have us awake while
our overseas colleagues are asleep, we needed an effective way to
communicate project status. So we turned to Web-based project-management
software called Project Insight. Our previous project management
software had us e-mailing individual schedules around, a confusing
process at best. And schedules were not centralized. Instead, they were
scattered among numerous file folders, making schedules difficult to
coordinate. Our team usually works on several dozen new toys at a time,
sometimes up to 100.
Full Article
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Lighting the Way for Vision
Proper lighting is the key to useful machine vision. Not long ago,
the cost and complexity of machine vision limited its use to specialty
machines and isolated inspections. Today, however, machine vision has
proven itself as a practical and affordable method to monitor and
control production in factory automation. The basics of vision sensing
have not changed: The camera remains a light collector with the digital
imager as the core data collection device. Each imager consists of
thousands or sometimes millions of microscopic light meters. Thus
lighting is the most significant factor when designing robust vision
inspections. An object or target must have enough optical contrast for a
vision sensor to see it. Put another way, there must be a detectable
change (or delta) in the light received from the target compared to
everything else in the camera's field-of-view (FOV). Controlled lighting
creates this contrast.
Full Article
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Resolver-based servo positioner
Model 941 PositionServo Drive measures the position of a motor shaft
within a revolution. Use of an integrated resolver with a
scalable-emulated encoder output gives tight position control and also
works in basic torque and velocity applications. The output scales the
resolution back into the controller and provides 15 options of
positioning resolution.
More Information:
Lenze-AC Tech
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Voice-Capable Alarms Replace Ambiguous
"Beep"
 New
Announcer™ Series alarms from Floyd Bell play a pre-recorded audio
message up to ten seconds at 90 dB. The same size as a standard piezo
alarm, they provide the ability to replace an ambiguous beep with voice
instructions or warnings. Choose from standard warning message, send us
your own file, or have Floyd Bell provide the production of the message.
Various voltage ranges, quick connect terminals. Also available in a
large bracket-mount loud speaker. Floyd Bell Inc.
1-888-FLOYD-BELL
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Pushbutton Switches
The MDP-15 Series of illuminated pushbutton switches have a modular
design and come in low or high bezel, flush-mount, or fullguard actuator
styles in six colors. Specifications include 6,000-cycle electrical life
(both silver and gold); 50,000-cycle mechanical life; contact rating of
5 A, 250 Vac; 8 A, 125-Vac UL and VDE; 100-mΩ contact resistance
(initial maximum); 50 MΩ insulation resistance (minimum @ 100 V);
and 2,000-Vdc dielectric strength. The switches operate at −25 to
55°C.
More Information:
E-Switch
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Electronic-Circuit Protector
The ESX10-T electronic-circuit protector combines electronic trip
characteristics and active current limitation to selectively disconnect
loads connected to 24-Vdc power supplies. Selective load protection
prevents complete shutdown of the system by quickly disconnecting the
faulty path when an overload or short circuit occurs. The highest
possible current is limited to 1.8 the rated capacity. It can switch
capacitive loads to 20,000 μF with disconnection only in the event of
an overload or short circuit. The device is just 2.76 0.5 in., direct
mounts on a 35-mm DIN rail, has fixed current ratings from 0.5 to 12 A,
and is approved to UL 2367 as a "Solid State Overcurrent Protector."
Class I, Div. 2, Zone 2 hazardous location approval is pending.
More Information:
E-T-A Circuit Breakers
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Sponsored
by:
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UPCOMING IN-PERSON EVENTS
Design-2-Part Shows are America's longest running and most trusted
events for sourcing custom parts and services.
Ten shows covering the country offer OEMs, engineers and purchasing
personnel the opportunity to meet job shops and
contract manufacturers face-to-face.
UPCOMING WEBCASTS
Two-Shot Silicon and Thermoplastic Molding:
The Innovative Cost Saving Solution for Medical OEM's
Sponsored by Saint-Gobain
DATE: April 2nd, 2008
TIME: 2:00pm ET/11am PT
Medical device designers are facing intense pressure to create
innovative designs and maintain the highest quality over a product's
lifecycle while also being forced to design for lower cost
manufacturing. This is a challenge we recognize, but one that can be
overcome by leveraging the cost savings and benefits of two-shot molding
technology. Saint-Gobain's engineering team will present on two-shot
molding, how this process innovation can provide cost savings, increased
design freedom, and provide the quality and performance you demand.
Click here to register!
Gearmotors: Achieving the Perfect Match
Success through optimized motor & gearbox integration
Sponsored by Groschopp
DATE: April 9th, 2008
TIME: 2:00pm ET/11am PT
How do you select a motor and a gearbox (speed reducer) separately, then
perfectly match them for your OEM application? Is it better to specify
a pre-engineered gearmotor? Does it make a difference?
These are the questions that will be answered in Groschopp's upcoming
webcast. Groschopp engineers Matt Decker and Loren Kamstra will share
tips, tricks and techniques for specifying the most efficient and
cost-effective choices given a variety of application considerations.
Review of actual Case Studies will bring their experiences to life and
reinforce your new motor/gearbox/gearmotor knowledge.
Click here to learn more and register!
ARCHIVED WEBCASTS AVAILABLE FOR FREE VIEWING
Click Here for a list of archived Machine Design
webcasts.
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Contact Information
Editorial questions: Julie Kalista
216-931-9458
Advertising/sponsorship opportunities: Virginia Goulding
216-931-9893
Machine Design
1300 E. 9th St.
Cleveland, OH 44114
©2008 Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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