GRODIG NEAR SALZBURG, AUSTRIA: Slightly more than one year after the takeover of AlternativeSMT and considerable reorganisation in the spare parts area of their business, AdoptSMT will present its broad product range at Productronica 2009 in Munich, the world-leading event for getting the latest news and viewing the latest product innovations for SMT production and optimisation.
AdoptSMT, a key player in the pre-owned equipment market has completed extensive improvements in the fields of spare part supply. New products have been included in the portfolio and the broadening of their range of suppliers in the US and Asia has increased their range of premium retrofit parts. New experienced staff have been recruited for customer advisory care in the spare part area- one of AdoptSMT’s core businesses.
Heavily enlarged product portfolio
At the show, AdoptSMT will present its latest product availability of Siplace pick-and-place machines, Mydata-Systems and many more fine-pitch mounters, stencil printers, coating machines etc. to its international customers. Of course, AdoptSMT will again place high emphasis on feeders. After all, concerning feeders, AdoptSMT is the undisputed number one in Europe.
FeederMaster to be unveiled
AdoptSMT will present the second generation of the leading multi-platform feeder test jig Feedermaster Digital at the show. The brand-new FeederMaster automatically detects deviations of the feeder pick-position and records the test results. New feeder generations including Fuji NXT are supported.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Atmel launches industry's safest battery management solution
SAN JOSE, USA: Atmel Corp. announced the availability of a new Li-Ion battery management chipset for high-cell-count automotive and industrial applications such as electrical/hybrid vehicles, e-bikes or uninterruptible power supplies. Atmel is currently the only supplier to provide a complete two-chip protection solution including all necessary functionalities with the highest safety level.
The ATA6870/71 chipset requires less external components than comparable solutions because it includes a hot plug-in capability, six integrated AD converters with a cut-off frequency lower than 30 Hz, saving external filters, and a stackable microcontroller power supply. With Atmel's cost-efficient 30-V CMOS technology, these features allow cost savings of up to 60 percent, compared to existing solutions.
The ATA6870 is the industry's first battery management IC to include all functionalities required to control a high-cell-count Li-Ion battery including six precise 12-bit AD converters for voltage monitoring, cell balancing, cell temperature measuring, and unique features such as stackable integrated power supply for a microcontroller or hot plug-in capability.
"Battery safety and efficiency are key for industrial and automotive battery applications," said Claus Mochel, Automotive High-Voltage Marketing Manager for Atmel Corporation. "Atmel's new ATA6870 and ATA6871 address these issues by offering a battery management solution with an unsurpassed safety concept and advanced parallel cell voltage measuring and balancing technique."
Since Li-Ion batteries are very sensitive against overcharging and deep discharge, they may burn or explode. To prevent this, Atmel provides a special safety strategy with its secondary protection device, the ATA6871. This monitors the battery cells' voltage and temperature, and prevents Li-Ion batteries from thermal runaway or exploding.
If either of these were to occur in a battery cell, it can then be switched off by the emergency relays. With its implemented self-test routines, which run without an external microcontroller or software and its hardware-implemented monitoring thresholds, the ATA6871 constitutes the highest available safety level for Li-Ion battery monitoring. Proper operation is ensured even if the primary device is damaged.
Atmel's ATA6870 and ATA6871
Both the ATA6870 and the ATA6871 circuits monitor six-battery cells and can be stacked up to 16 times. For the highest communication robustness between the stacked ICs, the ICs feature level shifters based on current sources. The ATA6870 also includes an 8-bit checksum monitor that helps further increase data communication robustness.
The ATA6870 provides a dedicated AD converter for each battery cell to be monitored. This enables simultaneous measurement voltage of all cells within one battery string for precise state-of-charge determination of Li-Ion battery cells.
The integrated power supply for the microcontroller can be stacked the same way as the IC itself. Therefore, the current required to supply the microcontroller can be taken from the top cell and be fed back into the battery string's bottom cell. As a result, the microcontroller's current consumption will not cause any cell imbalance, helping designers save expensive high-voltage devices.
Samples of the new ATA6870 and ATA6871 ICs are now available in small QFN48/SSO28 packages. Pricing starts at USD $2.95 for the ATA6870 and USD $1.31 for the ATA6871 at 10k-piece quantities.
The evaluation kits are also available now. This enables a quick start with the ICs to allow prototyping and testing of new battery designs immediately. For the ATA6870, Atmel offers additional software for PCs and laptops with a graphical user interface to control and optimize high-cell-count battery stacks.
The ATA6870/71 chipset requires less external components than comparable solutions because it includes a hot plug-in capability, six integrated AD converters with a cut-off frequency lower than 30 Hz, saving external filters, and a stackable microcontroller power supply. With Atmel's cost-efficient 30-V CMOS technology, these features allow cost savings of up to 60 percent, compared to existing solutions.
The ATA6870 is the industry's first battery management IC to include all functionalities required to control a high-cell-count Li-Ion battery including six precise 12-bit AD converters for voltage monitoring, cell balancing, cell temperature measuring, and unique features such as stackable integrated power supply for a microcontroller or hot plug-in capability.
"Battery safety and efficiency are key for industrial and automotive battery applications," said Claus Mochel, Automotive High-Voltage Marketing Manager for Atmel Corporation. "Atmel's new ATA6870 and ATA6871 address these issues by offering a battery management solution with an unsurpassed safety concept and advanced parallel cell voltage measuring and balancing technique."
Since Li-Ion batteries are very sensitive against overcharging and deep discharge, they may burn or explode. To prevent this, Atmel provides a special safety strategy with its secondary protection device, the ATA6871. This monitors the battery cells' voltage and temperature, and prevents Li-Ion batteries from thermal runaway or exploding.
If either of these were to occur in a battery cell, it can then be switched off by the emergency relays. With its implemented self-test routines, which run without an external microcontroller or software and its hardware-implemented monitoring thresholds, the ATA6871 constitutes the highest available safety level for Li-Ion battery monitoring. Proper operation is ensured even if the primary device is damaged.
Atmel's ATA6870 and ATA6871
Both the ATA6870 and the ATA6871 circuits monitor six-battery cells and can be stacked up to 16 times. For the highest communication robustness between the stacked ICs, the ICs feature level shifters based on current sources. The ATA6870 also includes an 8-bit checksum monitor that helps further increase data communication robustness.
The ATA6870 provides a dedicated AD converter for each battery cell to be monitored. This enables simultaneous measurement voltage of all cells within one battery string for precise state-of-charge determination of Li-Ion battery cells.
The integrated power supply for the microcontroller can be stacked the same way as the IC itself. Therefore, the current required to supply the microcontroller can be taken from the top cell and be fed back into the battery string's bottom cell. As a result, the microcontroller's current consumption will not cause any cell imbalance, helping designers save expensive high-voltage devices.
Samples of the new ATA6870 and ATA6871 ICs are now available in small QFN48/SSO28 packages. Pricing starts at USD $2.95 for the ATA6870 and USD $1.31 for the ATA6871 at 10k-piece quantities.
The evaluation kits are also available now. This enables a quick start with the ICs to allow prototyping and testing of new battery designs immediately. For the ATA6870, Atmel offers additional software for PCs and laptops with a graphical user interface to control and optimize high-cell-count battery stacks.
iSuppli applauds Nobel Prize award for image sensor
EL SEGUNDO, USA: In 1969, Bell Laboratories scientists Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful digital imaging sensor technology, the Charge-Coupled Device (CCD).
Forty years later, with image sensors having grown into a 1.3 billion-unit market, these two technology pioneers have been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics in recognition of their contribution to digital imaging.
“The impact of image sensors on the technology world—and society in general—has been monumental,” said Pamela Tufegdzic, analyst with iSuppli. “From enabling the social-media and video-sharing revolutions, to stirring the world with images of civil and political upheaval, image sensors in products ranging from digital still cameras to cell phones have become a fixture of modern culture. Because of this, iSuppli applauds the award of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics to Dr. Boyle and Dr. Smith.”
Image sensors everywhere
The invention of the CCD—and later the CMOS sensor—has resulted in massive adoption of digital imaging technology.
In 2009, 1.3 billion image sensors will be shipped worldwide, iSuppli predicts. In 2012, the market will cross the 2 billion-unit threshold.
The figure presents iSuppli’s forecast of global shipments of image sensors, both CCD and CMOS varieties.
Source: iSuppli, Oct. 2009
While the image sensor obtained its start as a high-volume consumer-oriented device in the digital still camera and camcorder markets, the biggest user of these products now is the cell phone. In 2010, more than 1 billion image sensors will be shipped to the cell-phone market, iSuppli predicts.
Meanwhile, new markets for image sensors are rapidly emerging. For example, shipments of image sensors to the automotive market are expected to more than triple in the coming years, rising to 14.6 million units in 2013. up from 4.2 million in 2009.
“Although relatively small, the automotive market is one of the fastest-growing segments within the image sensor market,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli.
“There are myriad applications for image sensors in cars, including lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection, infrared night vision, driver monitoring, parking and back-up assist, pedestrian detection, 360-degree view and accident measurement. All this has been made possible by the plunging prices for image sensors as they have become high-volume, mass-market devices.”
Other applications for image sensors include videoconferencing systems, webcams, enterprise applications and security cameras.
New dimensions of growth
While image sensors already have made some impressive achievements, new developments are set to expand the capabilities of the technology. Next-generation image sensors not only can measure light through the lenses, they also are capable of determining the distance of objects from the camera, allowing 3-D image-capture and enhanced autofocus capabilities.
“The arrival of 3-D imaging sensors could revitalize the market for digital still cameras, which has experienced stagnant growth in recent years,” Tufegdzic said. “Shipments of image sensors for digital still cameras could double if the use of 3-D devices takes off.”
Forty years later, with image sensors having grown into a 1.3 billion-unit market, these two technology pioneers have been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics in recognition of their contribution to digital imaging.
“The impact of image sensors on the technology world—and society in general—has been monumental,” said Pamela Tufegdzic, analyst with iSuppli. “From enabling the social-media and video-sharing revolutions, to stirring the world with images of civil and political upheaval, image sensors in products ranging from digital still cameras to cell phones have become a fixture of modern culture. Because of this, iSuppli applauds the award of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics to Dr. Boyle and Dr. Smith.”
Image sensors everywhere
The invention of the CCD—and later the CMOS sensor—has resulted in massive adoption of digital imaging technology.
In 2009, 1.3 billion image sensors will be shipped worldwide, iSuppli predicts. In 2012, the market will cross the 2 billion-unit threshold.
The figure presents iSuppli’s forecast of global shipments of image sensors, both CCD and CMOS varieties.
Source: iSuppli, Oct. 2009While the image sensor obtained its start as a high-volume consumer-oriented device in the digital still camera and camcorder markets, the biggest user of these products now is the cell phone. In 2010, more than 1 billion image sensors will be shipped to the cell-phone market, iSuppli predicts.
Meanwhile, new markets for image sensors are rapidly emerging. For example, shipments of image sensors to the automotive market are expected to more than triple in the coming years, rising to 14.6 million units in 2013. up from 4.2 million in 2009.
“Although relatively small, the automotive market is one of the fastest-growing segments within the image sensor market,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli.
“There are myriad applications for image sensors in cars, including lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection, infrared night vision, driver monitoring, parking and back-up assist, pedestrian detection, 360-degree view and accident measurement. All this has been made possible by the plunging prices for image sensors as they have become high-volume, mass-market devices.”
Other applications for image sensors include videoconferencing systems, webcams, enterprise applications and security cameras.
New dimensions of growth
While image sensors already have made some impressive achievements, new developments are set to expand the capabilities of the technology. Next-generation image sensors not only can measure light through the lenses, they also are capable of determining the distance of objects from the camera, allowing 3-D image-capture and enhanced autofocus capabilities.
“The arrival of 3-D imaging sensors could revitalize the market for digital still cameras, which has experienced stagnant growth in recent years,” Tufegdzic said. “Shipments of image sensors for digital still cameras could double if the use of 3-D devices takes off.”
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
China LED traffic light market report, 2008
NEW YORK, USA: Reportlinker.com announced that a new market research report is available in its catalogue, titled: China LED Traffic Light Market Report, 2008.
The traffic lights developed from gas light to incandescent lamp and low-voltage halogen lamp, and then to ultra bright LED, which is the ideal light source for traffic lights considering its features as small power consumption, long life and substantial increasing of brightness.
China started the probation of LED traffic lights since 1999, the replacement of LED traffic lights was basically completed in the large Chinese cities by the end of 2008, and the future installation of LED traffic lights will mainly focus on medium-small sized cities.
Currently, Guangdong Province has started up its large-scaled replacement plan of LED street lamps, and the significant LED street lamp demonstration project has been under the way in the city of Dongguan. This province planned replaces a total of 100,000 street lamps in 10 cities including Dongguan, Foshan, Huizhou, Zhaoqing and Zhongshan in the next two years.
The LED manufacturers such as NICHIA, TOYODO GOSEI, CREE, GELCORE, LUMILEDS and OSRAM are also the main LED technology developers, while the other manufacturers from Taiwan and China like Everlight, Epistar and OPTO-TECH relies on their patents. And in China, the LED industry is mainly distributed in the regions of YRD, PRD and Jiangxi Province, Fujian Province, and Bohai Bay.
On the basis of statistics from the authoritative organizations like China Association of Lighting Industry, China LED Industry Association, Optoelectronic Devices Branch of China Optics and Optoelectronics Manufactures Association, the report provides an overview of China’s LED traffic light market as well as the profile of global LED manufacturers and key traffic light manufacturers in China.
The traffic lights developed from gas light to incandescent lamp and low-voltage halogen lamp, and then to ultra bright LED, which is the ideal light source for traffic lights considering its features as small power consumption, long life and substantial increasing of brightness.
China started the probation of LED traffic lights since 1999, the replacement of LED traffic lights was basically completed in the large Chinese cities by the end of 2008, and the future installation of LED traffic lights will mainly focus on medium-small sized cities.
Currently, Guangdong Province has started up its large-scaled replacement plan of LED street lamps, and the significant LED street lamp demonstration project has been under the way in the city of Dongguan. This province planned replaces a total of 100,000 street lamps in 10 cities including Dongguan, Foshan, Huizhou, Zhaoqing and Zhongshan in the next two years.
The LED manufacturers such as NICHIA, TOYODO GOSEI, CREE, GELCORE, LUMILEDS and OSRAM are also the main LED technology developers, while the other manufacturers from Taiwan and China like Everlight, Epistar and OPTO-TECH relies on their patents. And in China, the LED industry is mainly distributed in the regions of YRD, PRD and Jiangxi Province, Fujian Province, and Bohai Bay.
On the basis of statistics from the authoritative organizations like China Association of Lighting Industry, China LED Industry Association, Optoelectronic Devices Branch of China Optics and Optoelectronics Manufactures Association, the report provides an overview of China’s LED traffic light market as well as the profile of global LED manufacturers and key traffic light manufacturers in China.
Sunstone Circuits intros PCB fab + assembly
MULINO, USA: Sunstone Circuits (Sunstone), the printed circuit board (PCB) solutions provider, now offers 2-in-1 ordering capabilities that enable design engineers to order PCBs from Sunstone Circuits and assembly services from Screaming Circuits, all in one place at www.Sunstone.com.
As a result of Sunstone’'s continued commitment to collaborate with key industry partners to best serve design engineers, customers utilizing Sunstone’s PCBexpress® quick turn or full-feature services can now take advantage of quoting and ordering fully assembled boards for both prototypes or production runs.
The newly added functionality of Sunstone’s online quote and ordering process is an example of further seamless integration across the PCB industry. Consistent with Sunstone'’s mission to be the easiest PCB solutions provider to do business with, the company is continuing to incorporate key partners into various parts of the prototyping process, from concept to delivery.
Allowing designers to quote and order fully assembled PCBs all at once through Sunstone.com is representative of how Sunstone continues to improve the design environment for engineers, 24/7/365.
“With expanded ordering options through PCBexpress, full-feature and other services, Sunstone Circuits can furnish the same fast, reliable service that customers have come to expect while streamlining decisions and saving valuable time waiting for assembled boards,” said Diane Economaki, director of marketing at Sunstone Circuits.
“Incorporating PCB assembly partner Screaming Circuits into our online ordering process is just another example of how Sunstone is collaborating with industry partners in order to deliver what our customers deserve.”
“Sunstone is always our first choice for the PCBs we assemble. Their great customer service and ease of ordering make their pc boards an ideal component of our assembly service,” said Rick McClain, general manager of Screaming Circuits.
“Integrating Screaming Circuits assembly quote and ordering with the PCB order process just makes the process that much easier and more convenient for our engineering customers.”
As a result of Sunstone’'s continued commitment to collaborate with key industry partners to best serve design engineers, customers utilizing Sunstone’s PCBexpress® quick turn or full-feature services can now take advantage of quoting and ordering fully assembled boards for both prototypes or production runs.
The newly added functionality of Sunstone’s online quote and ordering process is an example of further seamless integration across the PCB industry. Consistent with Sunstone'’s mission to be the easiest PCB solutions provider to do business with, the company is continuing to incorporate key partners into various parts of the prototyping process, from concept to delivery.
Allowing designers to quote and order fully assembled PCBs all at once through Sunstone.com is representative of how Sunstone continues to improve the design environment for engineers, 24/7/365.
“With expanded ordering options through PCBexpress, full-feature and other services, Sunstone Circuits can furnish the same fast, reliable service that customers have come to expect while streamlining decisions and saving valuable time waiting for assembled boards,” said Diane Economaki, director of marketing at Sunstone Circuits.
“Incorporating PCB assembly partner Screaming Circuits into our online ordering process is just another example of how Sunstone is collaborating with industry partners in order to deliver what our customers deserve.”
“Sunstone is always our first choice for the PCBs we assemble. Their great customer service and ease of ordering make their pc boards an ideal component of our assembly service,” said Rick McClain, general manager of Screaming Circuits.
“Integrating Screaming Circuits assembly quote and ordering with the PCB order process just makes the process that much easier and more convenient for our engineering customers.”
Ethertronics expands Prestta line; intros penta-band embedded cellular antenna
SAN DIEGO, USA: Ethertronics, a leading provider of standard and customized embedded antenna solutions for wireless devices, announced that the company continues to expand its Prestta line of antennas, this time with an off-the-shelf penta-band embedded cellular antenna.
Ideal for a wide range of M2M applications, the new penta-band antenna leverages Ethertronics' patented Isolated Magnetic Dipole (IMD) technology, which enables high performance and isolation. These characteristics, in turn, allow for maximum design flexibility and a quicker time-to-market through ease of integration for a variety of M2M-oriented applications.
The new metal-on-plastic carrier antenna comes in a compact yet ruggedized form factor with minimal keep-out area. Designed to be surface mounted on a device PCB for ease of manufacturing, the antenna achieves greater than 50 percent efficiency across all bands.
This flexibility and high performance coupled with the antenna's ability to operate across all major cellular bands -- 850, 900, 1800, 1900 and 2100 MHz -- allow developers to easily and effectively integrate the antenna into a variety of M2M products for automotive, automatic meter reading, healthcare, point-of-sale, tracking and other applications.
"As an increasing number of vertical markets -- from automotive to metering -- look at ways to better their operations and services, they need to ensure that their respective M2M solutions provide ubiquitous coverage over a large-scale footprint," said Sahil Bansal, Ethertronics' Vice President of Marketing.
"Our new penta-band embedded cellular antenna provides them with a viable standard solution without the need to wrap up their time and other resources into a custom antenna design. Since our Prestta antennas utilize our IMD technology, M2M manufacturers and other device developers can be assured that these new antennas will provide them with the coverage and reception needed to work in a variety of environments."
The benefits of Ethertronics' new penta-band antenna extend beyond the design process and to end-users, helping to provide improved performance such as longer range, improved battery life, and higher data rates. Ethertronics' Prestta penta-band standard antenna is available for sampling.
Ideal for a wide range of M2M applications, the new penta-band antenna leverages Ethertronics' patented Isolated Magnetic Dipole (IMD) technology, which enables high performance and isolation. These characteristics, in turn, allow for maximum design flexibility and a quicker time-to-market through ease of integration for a variety of M2M-oriented applications.
The new metal-on-plastic carrier antenna comes in a compact yet ruggedized form factor with minimal keep-out area. Designed to be surface mounted on a device PCB for ease of manufacturing, the antenna achieves greater than 50 percent efficiency across all bands.
This flexibility and high performance coupled with the antenna's ability to operate across all major cellular bands -- 850, 900, 1800, 1900 and 2100 MHz -- allow developers to easily and effectively integrate the antenna into a variety of M2M products for automotive, automatic meter reading, healthcare, point-of-sale, tracking and other applications.
"As an increasing number of vertical markets -- from automotive to metering -- look at ways to better their operations and services, they need to ensure that their respective M2M solutions provide ubiquitous coverage over a large-scale footprint," said Sahil Bansal, Ethertronics' Vice President of Marketing.
"Our new penta-band embedded cellular antenna provides them with a viable standard solution without the need to wrap up their time and other resources into a custom antenna design. Since our Prestta antennas utilize our IMD technology, M2M manufacturers and other device developers can be assured that these new antennas will provide them with the coverage and reception needed to work in a variety of environments."
The benefits of Ethertronics' new penta-band antenna extend beyond the design process and to end-users, helping to provide improved performance such as longer range, improved battery life, and higher data rates. Ethertronics' Prestta penta-band standard antenna is available for sampling.
Microsemi announces DSCC qualification on surface mount power Schottky diodes family
IRVINE, USA: Microsemi Corp., a leading manufacturer of high performance analog/mixed signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, announced that DSCC qualification has been granted on a family of five new surface mount power Schottky diode devices.
These center tap and single diode constructions are designed to meet the rugged demands of high reliability applications. The U3 (SMD-0.5) ceramic package has an ultra efficient thermal path to keep the chip cool.
This enables the Schottky diodes, which unlike conventional rectifiers have little-to-no stored charge, to perform with low power losses in high speed switching circuits.
Features include:
* Schottky barrier construction for instantaneous switching speed.
* New lightweight surface mount hermetic package.
* Military temperature ratings: -65*C to +150*C.
* Low reverse leakage current & forward voltage drop ratings.
* Low thermal resistance
These center tap and single diode constructions are designed to meet the rugged demands of high reliability applications. The U3 (SMD-0.5) ceramic package has an ultra efficient thermal path to keep the chip cool.
This enables the Schottky diodes, which unlike conventional rectifiers have little-to-no stored charge, to perform with low power losses in high speed switching circuits.
Features include:
* Schottky barrier construction for instantaneous switching speed.
* New lightweight surface mount hermetic package.
* Military temperature ratings: -65*C to +150*C.
* Low reverse leakage current & forward voltage drop ratings.
* Low thermal resistance
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