November 5, 2009[Engineering Feature] A Bright Future For LED Illumination
Nearly all market forecasts paint a positive picture on LEDs being used for general illumination. Market research firm Databeans Inc. expects the market for LED lighting applications, including white LEDs, to grow an average of 23% over the next several years. Worldwide sales this year alone will total $500 million, and LED revenues will hit $1.8 billion by 2013 (see the figure). The vast majority of such sales will be for...
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Roger Allan
November 5, 2009[Engineering Feature] White LEDs Promise Green Illumination Domination
The lighting is on the wall: Solid state is threatening to dismantle the dominion of incandescent and compact fluorescent light (CFL) sources. Illumination applications based on solid-state lighting are slowly replacing those previously ruled by the older technologies. Though very expensive to use, solid-state lighting has proven more efficient and in sync in a world where government initiatives are calling for a greener environment and less energy consumption. ...
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Roger Allan
October 22, 2009[TechView: Components & Test] Low-Power Actuator Suits In-Vivo Biomedical Apps
Fabricated using silicon-oninsulator micromachining techniques, Imec’s latest actuator operates with ultralow power. It’s also watertight, making it viable for use in in-vivo biomedical devices and other applications that need to combine a long autonomy with small batteries (see the figure). The prototype integrates a micro needle, which is steerable by the actuator, and combines a...
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Mat Dirjish
October 8, 2009
[Editor's Notebook] $10 Million Light Bulb Prize Remains Unfunded
Philips Electronics is the first company to submit a prototype LED replacement for the common 60-W bulb in the U.S. Department of Energy’s $10 million Bright Tomorrow Lighting Contest. However, Congress has yet to appropriate funding for the prize, and questions remain about contest eligibility.
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Don Tuite
October 8, 2009[Ideas For Design] Improved Electronic Birthday Candles Provide Better "Blow Out" Simulation
An earlier Idea for Design described LED “candles” that you could blow out just like normal birthday candles (“Electronic Birthday Candles ‘Blow Out’ One At A Time”). A thermistor and heating resistor combination detected air blown over the thermistor. The control circuit incorporated an 8-bit shift register, a quad op amp, and driver transistors, allowing up to eight ...
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Dhananjay V. Gadre
, et al.
October 1, 2009[Ideas For Design] Two Wires Carry Power And Data: Backstory
This application is as useful today as it was when I described it in the Oct. 1, 1996 issue. The deployment of sensors has increased significantly, resulting in an increased demand for efficient interconnect techniques between sensors and a host system. The use of only two wires often is attractive from both a cost and reliability standpoint. Sensing applications are no different than others—power and size are being driven smaller while faster operation is desirable...
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Robert M. Hanrahan
October 1, 2009[Engineering Essentials] Stubble Trouble—Beating Back Those Tin Whiskers
What is a tenth of the diameter of a human hair and only 1.5 mm long, but can shut down nuclear plants, misguide Patriot missiles, and cause the recall of thousands of quartz watches? The answer is tin whiskers, those tiny singlecrystal filaments that grow from the surface of tin and subsequently occur in electronic circuitry—often with devastating effect. Tin whiskers cause short circuits in the position they grow in or as ...
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Paul Whytock
October 1, 2009[Ideas For Design] High Power-Factor LED Driver Converts AC Input To Power Halogen Replacement
HIGH-BRIGHTNESS LEDS ARE AN inexpensive, robust, and green replacement for halogen light bulbs. LEDs offer a much longer lifetime and eliminate the safety hazards of the inert gas, the expense of the UV filter encasement, and the handling sensitivity of halogens. Since halogen bulbs typically are driven with 12 or 24 V due to their excellent efficacy at those voltages, buildings have been wired with 12- and 24-V ac transformers for halogen...
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Keith Szolusha
October 1, 2009[Ideas For Design] Interface Circuit Allows Users To Control DC Motor's Speed
THE CIRCUIT IN THE figure provides three levels of speed control for a dc motor, using a PC’s parallel port (LPT1). A C++ program performs the control functions by allowing the signals from the PC port to deliver three different voltages to the motor. The system is an interface circuit that connects the motor to the PC using a 4-bit binary counter (a 74LS193), three current- limiting...
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Firas M. Ali Al-Raie
September 24, 2009[Engineering Feature] Military And Avionics Applications Demand Rugged Hardware
Not all military and avionic electronics need to be ruggedized, but unprotected systems would last only minutes in many of these environments. Thus, solutions such as rugged cases, conduction cooling, and highreliability connectors become mandatory design elements. Elma’s air transport rack (ATR) 6U VPX is a good example of the starting point for military rugged designs (Fig. 1). The...
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William Wong
September 24, 2009[Electronic Design Products] The Five Building Blocks Of An Efficient, High-Brightness LED Driver
As high-brightness LEDs (HBLEDs) penetrate all avenues of the lighting market, various semiconductor manufacturers are offering constant-current drivers. Only by choosing a driver IC capable of meeting the flexibility and control required by today’s applications can the true potential of HBLEDs be unleashed. Theatrical lighting, for example, often requires high dimming resolution while dynamically adjusting the current to account for fluctuating power...
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Rakesh Reddy
September 16, 2009
[Web Exclusive] The Devil Is In The Details—Bulkhead Wiring Penetration Considerations
It’s often the little things in life that seem to cause the biggest problems, and it’s no different in design engineering. That small detail, that one piece of the puzzle that was overlooked or underappreciated, can cause the largest project to grind to a halt, resulting in missed deadlines, expensive rush charges and contractual delay fines.
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Ed Douglas
September 9, 2009
[Power Design] LED Illumination Provides Constant (Current) Opportunities
What do ac-dc power supplies, lighting ballasts, and driver ICs have in common? They all represent immediate growth opportunities for new designs based on current regulation, specifically for various applications in LED lighting. If you look toward signs, billboards, and specialty applications for color lighting, you’ll see growing markets for LEDs.
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Jeff Shepard
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