Monthly Archives: July 2010

Solar & LEDS: Tech company’s new and improved business model

Applied Materials announced this week that it was planning a major restructuring of it’s business. The goal? To place a “primary emphasis” on LEDS and crystalline silicon solar panel technology.

This restructuring would effect the bottom line of the company in many ways including the elimination of 400 – 500 jobs and the closing of their thin-film solar technology lab among other plans.

The future of Applied Material’s solar technology would focus on the crystalline silicon solar product development over the thin-film solar business. Historically, crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been used in many solar cells as a light-absorbing semiconductor although it is considered a relatively inefficient for light absorption. It also requires a considerable thickness (several hundred microns) of material.
Despite this, it has proven to be desirable because it produces stable solar cells with good efficiencies (11-16%, which is half to two-thirds of the theoretical maximum). It uses process technology developed from the huge knowledge base of the microelectronics industry.

How to Jailbreak an iPad

Jailbreaking an iPad

If you have an iPad, you may be intrigued by the thought of jailbreaking it.

Jailbreaking a device permits you to install and use third party applications and utility programs. In the case of a jailbroken iPad, you would be able to then run apps like Adobe Flash which is not available through the Apple OS, or access files like you can on a PC. One app that caught my eye was the multitasking app which would allow you to run multiple programs without having to save/close them. Another great app called Wi-Fi Sync gives you the flexibility to sync your iPad with Wi-Fi – no plugged in USB required.

Of course, jailbreaking the iPad is not without risk (the number one concern would be warranty) but PCWorld.com has put together the definitive guide to jailbreaking your iPad. In fact, PCWorld’s guide is so complete, it even gives you instructions on how to revert back should you get cold feet (or have to go back).

Once you’ve hacked your iPad, be sure to avoid the iPad updates from Apple since your device can be reverted to the non-jailbroken state. Should that happen, you can jailbreak your iPad again after the update is installed.

PCWorld – How to Jailbreak an iPad

Make an inexpensive & simple UV LED Torch

UV LEDFrom our friends at instructables comes an easy project for use with UV LEDS.

To make this simple project, here’s what you’ll need:
2 Ultra Violet LEDS
1 1/4W resistors (the value of the resistor needs to be calculated based on the forward voltage of the LED you use)
1 non-working 9V battery (or a 9V battery clip)
1 new 9V battery
Pliers
Solder
Soldering equipment

The full instructions on the Instructables site will show you how to put everything together. Once assembled, the light snaps on to a working 9V battery to function.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to use UV LEDS for this project – you can use any color. Just adjust the resistor required based on the forward voltage and forward current of the LEDS you choose.

Buying LEDS without specs or you don’t remember the specs of the ones you have sitting around? Assume a max of 2.8V – 3V and 20mA. I would think high intensity white LEDS would work really well for this project.

I haven’t put this one together myself yet, but I think a few of these are coming with me on my next camping trip. Nice way to light up the tent and the ‘facilities’ late at night. Fun project – and you probably already have everything you need right on hand.

More Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors now available!

We’ve updated our resistor inventory and added many more NOS Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors. Between the 1W values and 2W values, we now have over 150 different 1W and 2W carbon comp resistors on hand!

Included in the selection are many Military (MIL-SPEC) Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors. The military resistors typically have a tighter tolerance than the standard resistors.

Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors are valued for their consistency and uniformity. The Allen Bradley corporation reference materials have this to say about their hot molded resistors:

Years of accumulated experience have shown that Allen Bradley hot molded resistors are unequaled for uniformity, predictable for performance, appearance, and freedom from catastrophic failure. Allen Bradley resistors are made by an exclusive hot molding process on automatic machines developed, built, and used only by Allen Bradley. There is such complete uniformity from one resistor to the next, million after million, and long term in-circuit performance can be predicted with usable accuracy. When used according to published ratings and recommendations, Allen Bradley hot molded fixed resistors will not open circuit nor exhibit erratic changes of resistance value. They are probably the most reliable of all electronic components.

We get frequent requests for other values so we were thrilled to get more for our stock! Quantities are limited – especially on the MIL-SPEC resistors.

RoHS: Will the electronic component industry be shaken again?

The RoHS directives may get a some revisions from the European Union principals that have put the directives into place. Some of the expected changes will come in the form of exclusions that were formerly allowed and additional banned substances. The EU’s Environment Committee and the Council of Ministers is expected to decide within the next 12 months what changes are made and the timetable for them to be put into place.

What does this mean to end users of electronic components? For now, not much – but expect to see changes in the way that RoHS compliant products are labeled in the future. One potential change would expand the use of the European mark of conformity (CE) to include RoHS compliant products. This one change would force the entire industry to adjust the markings on all components manufactured after the date required by the EU.

Many wonder why the directives that have been passed in the EU effect all components manufactured across the globe. The key reason is financial. It is easier to comply with the progressive EU requirements than to produce different versions of components for each region. It is also easier to produce one component for world-wide use than more than one for each region. Another reason is that while other regions have not passed their own RoHS initiatives, the consensus is that what is good for the EU is good enough for the rest of the world.

Now we wait for their decision.

Rubber Feet : features and applications

Rubber feet have many different features and applications for the home, the workshop or in the manufacturing process. Here are some common features of the rubber bumpers that West Florida Components has on hand:

  • low abrasion
  • superb skid resistance
  • easy to apply – just peel and stick
  • does not stain or mar
  • can absorb shocks and vibrations
  • crack resistant
  • is recognized by UL

You can use adhesive rubber feet in many different applications. Some of the most common are:

Sound dampening and spacers for cabinet doors, drawers and lids

For those purposes, these are some of the suggested self-adhesive rubber bumpers to use:

Medium clear cylindrical (round) rubber feet

Small clear cylindrical rubber feet

Medium black hemispherical rubber feet

Small black hemispherical rubber feet

Small clear hemispherical rubber feet

As feet on the bottom of household appliances, office equipment, telephones, scales, clocks, speakers, computers, and other devices

Medium black cylindrical (round) rubber feet

Medium clear hemispherical rubber feet

Large black hemispherical rubber feet

Medium clear square rubber feet

For the back of picture frames and hung mirrors

Medium clear square rubber feet

Medium black square rubber feet

Large black square rubber feet

Generating Energy: The future of clothing

We think of clothing as something to keep us warm, or as a way to show our individuality and fashion sense. But have you ever thought about your clothing as a source of energy?

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley are working on a way to embed nanotechnology into clothing to harness energy as we perform our routine daily tasks such as walking and exercising. The nano-electric fibers are so small, they are invisible to the naked eye. One day, researchers believe that clothing embedded with these fibers might generate enough energy to power our mobile devices and keep them fully charged.

That is only one study underway. At Stanford University, researchers there are working on making the actual cloth into conductive material. Their current project involves dipping cotton cloth into conductive ink, baking the coated fabric and then measuring the energy generated and harnessed by the fabric. Researchers believe that future iterations of their work might function as an energy storage device, again probably generating enough energy to power mobile devices.

Are deep water floating wind turbines on the horizon?

Think of the possibilities of having deep water floating wind turbines to generate energy. Are they feasible? According the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, the answer is ‘yes’.

Engineers from the Marine Innovation and Technology have demonstrated that their buoyant, triangular platform which is called the WindFloat, could support a 5-megawatt wind turbine. They have conducted studies to determine whether the platform would stay erect. The platform was anchored to the ocean floor (at 164ft of depth), balanced with horizontal plates and a ballast system to counteract the motion of the ocean. The end result? The prototype did not topple.

That is good news for many. There are other similar projects in the works, but the possibility to see a 150 megawatt floating wind farm based on the WindFloat technology is now a distinct possibility. The projected date of installation is in 2012.

Excellent free app for the iPad: DropBox

One major drawback of the iPad is the inability to easily move files from the iPad to a desktop or notebook computer or other mobile device.

That’s where DropBox steps in. No, it’s not perfect, but it is the best app we’ve found – it’s free and there are no wires or cables necessary!

DropBox uses cloud-based storage to make your files available to another device. The basic, free DropBox service gives you 2GB of storage to manage your files. We think that’s plenty for most users.

Here’s how to use it: on your iPad with DropBox opened, click the ‘+’ sign to upload a file to your DropBox storage. When you are logged in on your desktop PC, notebook computer or other mobile device, log into DropBox to retrieve and download your file. Easy! Another benefit is the integration of the DropBox app with the native iPad productivity apps like Keynote and Pages.

You can find the DropBox app in the iTunes store: DropBox for iPad. There are also versions for the iPod touch and the iPhone which are useful, but this version takes advantage of the larger real estate available with the iPad screen.