Mike Meakin spotted this excellent phrase in the instructions for a Chinese RF module: “When power supply voltage is greater than 4.5 V , you need concatenating 1N4007 diode to avoid module built-in LDO got fever”
IBM puts quantum computer on-line
IBM has made a quantum computer available on the internet for anyone to run algorithms on. Called IBM Quantum Experience, the five qubit machine is on a single cryogenic chip at the TJ Watson Research Center in New York. “This moment represents the birth of quantum cloud computing. By giving hands-on access to IBM’s experimental …
Infineon raises SiC MOSfets to new level
Infineon will sample 1200V CoolSiC MOSFETs in the second half with volume production next year. The devices “raise the benefits available from SiC technology to a new level, which has never before been possible,” says Dr. Helmut Gassel, President of Infineon’s Industrial Power Control Division. Using SiC MOSFETs allows conversion schemes to operate at triple …
Rechargeable lithium air batteries get closer
Rechargeable lithium air batteries could be commercialised by a discovery at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Forschungszentrum Jülich involving highly reactive singlet oxygen, which is released when the batteries are charged. Currently the batteries can only manage a few recharging cycles. “One of the most promising approaches is the lithium air battery in …
In praise of Peak Electronic Design
I needed to measure an inductor today, and got out my trusty Peak Atlas LCR40. This is a terrific little LCR meter, built around a PIC microcontroller, and made in Derbyshire by Peak Electronic Design. I had a look on the company website, and it has even more models of meter than it used to …
650V fast body diode mosfets for soft switching
Vishay has extended its fast body diode n-channel mosfet range from 600V to 650V with the EF Series. “They provide additional voltage headroom for industrial, telecom, and renewable energy applications when desired,” said the firm. Built on E Series super-junction technology, they feature 10x lower reverse recovery charge (Qrr) than standard mosfets, which allows the …
RDS Enhanced Monitoring is now available in South America (Sao Paulo) and China (Beijing)
In December 2015, we released Enhanced Monitoring for Amazon RDS so customers could get deeper visibility into their Amazon RDS instances in real time. Enhanced Monitoring provides a comprehensive set of 56 system metrics and aggregated process information at granularity of up to 1 second. You can visualize the metrics on the RDS console and also integrate them with CloudWatch and third-party applications such as Datadog .
NAWC celebrates Drinking Water Week
The National Association of Water Companies celebraties Drinking Water Week, May 1-7, to recognize the essential role water has in our daily lives.
H2O Innovation opens up European office in Bilbao, Spain
H2O Innovation has opened a European office in Bilbao, Spain, as part of its aim to expand internationally…
Fewer pies for antique lamp post?
I came across this in my travels, a delightful and mysterious lamp post. My guess is that is has/had a transformer in the bottom, but I have no real idea. Maybe it was an electricity sub-station, with added lamps. It has a plaque on it. Anyone know why it is like it is?