As an EE, you might remember your first encounter with the components needed
to build an electronic circuit or device. For me, it was an AM radio kit my uncle
gave me. I still remember looking at the bag of resistors, capacitors, and other
components such as the case and speaker and thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of parts." But I was used to building plastic
models, which also had lots of parts, so I
was confident that I could make this
move into electronics.
My first try at soldering all the components
together resulted in a non-functioning
radio. My uncle helped me troubleshoot
the problem, and we zeroed in on a
faulty capacitor. I was dismayed when he
replaced the cap from the kit with one that didn't
look exactly like it, but the radio worked and I was happy.
Electronic products still require lots of components, be
they resistors, capacitors, LEDs, switches, or whatever. As
I'm writing this column, I'm sitting at my desk with a notebook
computer in front of me, a smartphone to the side,
and an inexpensive digital clock behind that.
There's a 14-in. display on the notebook, a 2.5-in. display
on the smartphone, and a 1- by 2-in. monochrome display
on the clock. Then there are two keyboards, full-size and
miniature, a bunch of pushbutton switches, a bevy of connectors,
and - you get the picture.
More componets? You got it!
All this is to
introduce a new section called EEPN in Electronic Design. For
many years, EEPN covered all sorts of components and assemblies,
as well as ICs, boards, test equipment, and other products
and services. Electronic Design has been covering components,
but not as extensively as EEPN did.
The section will blend new product coverage with an
introduction by Mat Dirjish, former associate editor at
EEPN, and articles from component manufacturers regarding
trends, new technologies, and other important issues.
Mat will be visiting component companies and attending
trade shows in a quest to find the hottest products and latest
technologies in the components space.
We expect this section to be of high interest to you, the design
engineers who read this publication. Everyone knows that a
design doesn't end with the selection of an advanced semiconductor,
even though sometimes it may seem that way. A design
comes to life after all of its other components are taken into
account. Just take a look at any electronic device teardown, and
you'll see a long list of these components.
The new section will appear in the second
issue of each month. To help you
contact component manufacturers,
we will continue a feature we introduced
at EEPN called EEPN At Your
Service. This Web-based tool provides
links to datasheets, app notes, samples,
and company contacts. You can find its
editorial content at www.eepn.com/service and information about advertisers at
www.eepn.com/adservice.
A 10x power source?
I got a chance to speak with
Peng K. Lim recently about micro fuel cells. Peng is president
and CEO of MTI Micro, a company that develops micro fuel
cells for the purpose of powering portable devices such as cell
phones, MP3 players and PDAs.
The company's Mobion power packs are based on direct
methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) technology. According to Peng, these
power packs are two to 10 times more powerful than lithiumion
batteries. The company uses a proprietary approach to
manage the water flow internal to the fuel cell, which you can
read more about on their web site.
The Mobion chip is at the heart of the fuel cell (see the figure).
But it isn't a silicon chip - it's an electrochemical chip
that converts the methanol to power. It's about the size of a
battery you might find in a smartphone.
Peng made a point of saying that unlike a lithium-ion battery,
which is a storage device, a fuel cell generates energy
as you go. Thus, there's no recharge time. You simply replace
a methanol cartridge, and you're ready to go. It sounds like
you might go well beyond a 10X power boost with a bunch of
cartridges in your briefcase.
Peng assured me that his micro fuel cell would look just
like a battery to the electronic system it powers. Output voltage
is 4.2 or 5 V from a dc-dc converter embedded in the
Mobion chip. The company is partnering with Gilette/Duracell
on the battery side and with Samsung Electronics on the
electronics OEM side, ostensibly to power Samsung's cell
phones in the future.
For more information about MTI Micro, point your browser to
www.mtimicrofuelcells.com.