This month Infineon starts volume production of an LED lighting interface IC which allows designers to replace many of the discrete components used in conventional dimming schemes with a single device. Thus, it can reduce the component count and PCB space needed for dimming circuitry in LED lighting applications by up to 70%. Infineon claims …
Sol Voltaics claims solar cell efficiency breakthrough with nanowires
Photovoltaic (PV) module efficiencies of 27% for solar energy generation is the claim of Swedish advanced materials start-up Sol Voltaics using its nanowire technology. Solar power system developers have looked at using nanowires to improve conversion efficiency, but they are notoriously difficult to align due to their high aspect ratios and material characteristics. What Sol …
Sol Voltaics claims solar cell efficiency breakthrough with nanowires
NI offers DMM in PXI Express slot
NI has introduced its first digital multimeter in the PXI Express modular test format. It is a 7½-digit DMM and 1.8MS/s isolated digitiser. The PXIe-4081 has 15ppm accuracy for DC voltage measurements up to two years after calibration. It is capable of voltage measurements from nanovolts to one kilovolt and resistance measurements from microohms to …
Old battery tech gets new life
US researchers have stretched the operating life of aqueous zinc-manganese oxide batteries to over 5,000 cycles. The result is a rechargeable battery that cost only as much as a car battery but store more energy, according to the US Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is grooming the technology for matching renewable energy sources to power …
Infineon’s 0-10V dimming chip
Infineon has created an integrated circuit specifically for adding isolated 0-10V dc control to LED drivers. Called CDM10V, the chip comes in a tiny 6 pin SOT package. It can be used to transmit analogue voltage based signals from a 0-10 V dimmer or potentiometer to the dimming or PWM input of a lighting controller …
TSMC Dwarfs Foundry Rivals
Apple drove the entire foundry sales increase at TSMC in 2015, says IC Insights. Without Apple, TSMC’s 2015 foundry sales would have dropped by 2% as compared to a 6% increase. The top 13 IC foundries (pure-play and IDM) by foundry sales in 2015 were as follows: TSMC, by far, was the leader in foundry …
Updated: Dyson aims motor expertise at hair drying
Dyson has used its considerable motor and air-flow expertise to develop a hair dryer. Instead of the usual arrangement, the high-speed motor and fan are in the handle, and what would normally be the body of the dryer is now am annular nozzle with a hole right through the middle – much like the firm’s …
ams wins US trade secret and patent infringement ruling
Austria-based analogue semiconductor manufacturer, ams has announced that a US District Judge has awarded its US subsidiary, ams-TAOS damages of $77m from Intersil, including $10m in exemplary damages. The decision comes after jurors in the federal Eastern District of Texas found in favour of ams-TAOS on all claims against Intersil for misappropriation of ams-TAOS’ trade …
You can buy FPGA accelerated Arduino board at Mouser
Mouser Electronics has taken on a another Arduino embedded computing board line. A distribution deal with Alorium Technology will see Mouser offering an Arduino-compatible board with a difference, it adds hardware acceleration of an FPGA. The XLR8 development board’s main processor is also different for an Arduino board. The ATmega328-compatible microcontroller core is implemented in the …
Microswitch works under water
Cyntech Components is offering a range of microswitches that are fully dust-tight and water-sealed. Designed to meet more demanding industrial applications, the Microprecision microswitches are available in various configurations to meet IEC/EN 60529 ingress protection levels of IP67 and IP68, and work over -40 to +125°C and more. “Microprecision has it covered with a range of microswitches …