Since their introduction nearly 100 years ago, mechanical grooved piping systems have provided a wide range of performance benefits for system designers, installers and end users, writes Len Swantek, director, global regulatory compliance, Victualic. The application of these components in pressure piping systems ina Pressure Equipment Directive (PED)jurisdiction is supported by a thorough design validation program, combined with material and product testing to demanding norms and standards.
Closer Union
Although the 1957 Treaty of Rome stated its intention “to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe”, it seems that in 2016 a lot of Europeans think that the union has got as close as it should do or has already got too close. The Pew Research Centre Spring …
3D printed heatsink is worse, then better
A simple thermal annealing process could make 3D printed heatsinks better than conventional heatsinks, claims the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 3D printing, a type of additive manufacturing, makes it possible to produce one-piece exchangers with complex internal structures optimised to efficiently dissipate heat, but the printed material does not conduct heat as well as …
LAVA adds bugs to make better programmes
Stumped for a way to evaluate programmes that purport to find bugs in other software, US researchers have created a programme that adds thousands of bugs to other software. LAVA (Large-scale Automated Vulnerability Addition) is the result, a technique of intentionally adding vulnerabilities to a program’s source code, which has revealed that “many popular bug …
Toshiba opto-couplers have integrated ADC
Toshiba has announced two new digital output isolation amplifiers for current and voltage sensing in power converters. The TLP7830 and TLP7930 achieve high accuracy through the inclusion of a delta sigma analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). Accurately monitoring the phase current of motors and BUS voltage fluctuations is essential when providing feedback to the microcontrollers used in …
Miniature oxygen sensors have four-second response time
The Zirconia Miniature series of oxygen sensors from SST Sensing are five-pin devices with a response time of four seconds covering an oxygen range from 0.1% to 100%. According to the company they can operate in oxygen pressures from 2mbar to 3bar with good accuracy and linearity. Target application areas for the devices are combustion control in …
Toshiba opto-couplers have integrated ADC
Toshiba has brought out two digital output isolation amplifiers for current and voltage sensing in power converters. The TLP7830 and TLP7930 achieve high accuracy through the inclusion of a delta sigma ADC. Accurately monitoring the phase current of motors and BUS voltage fluctuations is essential when providing feedback to the microcontrollers used in factory automation …
Fable: The Showman
There was once a founding CEO who had such determination that he is said to have closed two important business deals by staring so hard at the people on the other side of the negotiating table that they broke down and cried. He believed in high living and built a headquarters which resembled a luxury …
2D perovskite offered for solar cell research
US researchers are working on 2D perovskite crystals as a potential material for solar cells. Perovskite-structured materials are causing a stir in the world of solar power conversion, going from just-working to exceeding the efficiency of some conventional materials in only a few years. However, they have some serious drawbacks which are keeping them from …
Educational embedded computer works with Arduino software
Circuit Playground is an Arduino-like education development board from Adafruit, designed around an Atmel ATmega32u4 MPU – as used in the firm’s earlier Flora board. The round 51mm diameter board has 14 croc-clip pads for easy access to power and I/O, with the eight non-power pads doubling-up as capacitive touch sensors. Programming based on the …