Monthly Archives: July 2018

Dimming LEDs with PWM Generator

nlike incandescent bulbs, dimming Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) is not an easy task. Incandescent bulbs operate on alternating voltage supply, whereby using Triacs, one can control the effective RMS voltage applied to the bulb. Moreover, since the incandescent bulbs are resistive elements, a simple reduction is voltage is sufficient to reduce the current through it, thereby reducing its light and heat output.

LED operation is different, as they work on direct voltage. Each LED requires an optimum load current to produce light, while dropping a fixed voltage across its terminals. Therefore, it is impossible to dim the LED light output by decreasing the voltage across it or by limiting its current load.

However, an LED responds much faster, switching on and off at a much higher speed than an incandescent bulb does. This feature allows switching an LED on/off rapidly to change its light output. For instance, if the LED is repeatedly switched on for the same amount of time that it is switched off, the resultant average intensity from the LED is halved. By continuously changing the ratio of the on-to-off period, the LED can be made to traverse from zero output to its maximum light output. Engineers call this technique the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), and this has become the de facto mechanism for dimming LEDs.

Linear Technology makes different types of PWM controllers for LEDs, and they have designed the LT3932 for dimming a string of LEDs efficiently. A monolithic, synchronous, step-down DC/DC converter, the LT3932 utilizes peak current control and fixed-frequency PWM dimming for a number of LEDs connected serially.

The user can program the LED current of the LT3932 using an analog voltage, or control its duty cycle of the pulses from the CTRL pin. A resistor divider on the FB pin of the LT3932 sets its output voltage limit.

One can use an external clock at the SYNC/SPRD pin of the LT3932 to control the switching frequency, which is programmable from 200 KHz to 2 MHz. Alternatively, an external resistor connected to the RT pin can also serve the same purpose. To reduce EMI generated by the switching frequency, the LT3932 features an optional function of frequency modulation involving spread spectrum that varies the frequency from 100 to 125%.

The LT3932 features an external high-side transistor rated for 3.6-36 V, 2 A, and a synchronous step-down PWM LED driver for dimming an LED string. This uses an internal signal generator for controlling the analog PWM dimming in the absence of an external PWM signal. LT3932 regulates the LED current to ±1.5%, while regulating the output voltage to ±1.2%. The IC achieves a 5000:1 PWM dimming at 100 Hz, and the internal PWM achieves a 128:1 dimming ratio with a maximum duty cycle of 99.9%.

The LT3932 protects the LED string from open/shorts while offering fault indication, as it has an accurate LED current sensor with a monitor output. Along with thermal shutdown, the IC features an accurate under voltage lockout threshold and an open-drain fault reporting for open circuit and short-circuit load conditions. With its silent switcher topology, the LE3932 is well suited for several applications including automotive, industrial, and architectural lighting.

Replacement for Flash Memory

Today flash memories or thumb drives are commonly used as devices that store information even without power—nonvolatile memory. However, physicists and researchers are of the opinion that flash memory is nearing the end of its size and performance limits. Therefore, the computer industry is in search of a replacement for flash memory. For instance, the National Institute of Technology (NIST) conducted research is suggesting resistive random access memory (RRAM) as a worthy successor for the next generation of nonvolatile computer memory.

RRAM has several advantages over flash. Potentially faster and less energy hungry than flash, it is also able to pack in far more information within a given space. This is because its switches are tiny enough to store a terabyte within a space the size of a postage stamp. So far, technical hurdles have been preventing RRAM from being broadly commercialized.

One such hurdle physicists and researchers are facing is the RRAM variability. To be a practical memory, a switch needs to have two distinct states—representing a digital one or zero, and a predictable way of flipping from one state to the other. Conventional memory switches behave reliably when they receive an electrical pulse and switch states predictably. However, RRAM switches are still not so reliable, and their behavior is unpredictable.

Inside a RRAM switch, an electrical pulse flips it on or off by moving oxygen atoms around, thereby creating or breaking a conductive path through an insulating oxide. When the pulses are short and energetic, they are more effective in moving ions by the right amount for creating distinct on/off states. This potentially minimizes the longstanding problem of overlapping states largely keeping the RRAM in the R&D stage.

According to a guest researcher at NIST, David Nminibapiel, RRAMs are as yet highly unpredictable. The amount of energy required to flip a switch may not be adequate to do the same the next time around. Applying too much energy may cause it to overshoot, and may worsen the variability problem. In addition, even with a successful flip, the two states could overlap, and that makes it unclear whether the switch is actually storing a zero or a one.

Although this randomness takes away from the advantages of the technology, the researcher team at NIST has discovered a potential solution. They have found the energy delivered to the switch may be controlled with several short pulses rather than using one long pulse.

Typically, conventional memory chips work with relatively strong pulses lasting about a nanosecond. However, the NIST team found less energetic pulses of about 100 picoseconds, which were only a tenth of the conventional pulses, worked better with RRAM.  Sending a few of these gentler signals, the team noticed, was more useful not only for flipping the RRAM switches predictably, but also for exploring the behavior of the switches.

That led the team to conclude these shorter signals reduce the variability. Although the issue does not go away totally, but tapping the switch several times with the lighter pulses makes the switch flip gradually, while allowing checking to verify whether the switch did flip successfully.

Difference between AC, DC, and EC Motors

People have been using different types of motors for ages. Primarily, motors can be broadly classified into AC and DC types, depending on the power source they require to operate. However, the basics of operation remain the same for all types of motors. Current running through a wire generates magnetic fields around it, and if there is another magnetic field present such as from an external magnet, the two interact to generate a mechanical force on the wire capable of moving the wire. This is the basic principle on which all motors operate.

AC and DC Motors

AC induction motors have a number of coils controlled and powered by the AC input voltage. This input voltage also creates the stator field, which then induces the rotor field. Another type of AC motor, a synchronous motor, can operate with precision supply frequency.

An AC motor operates at a specific point on its performance curve, which coincides with the peak efficiency of the motor. If forced to operate beyond this point, the motor runs with a significant reduction in efficiency. As the magnetic field in an AC motor is created by inducing a current in the rotor, AC motors consume extra energy from the input. This makes the AC motors less efficient than DC motors are.

DC motors generate their secondary magnetic field using permanent magnets rather than windings. They rely on commutation rings and carbon brushes to switch the direction of the current and the polarity of the magnetic field in the rotating armature. The interaction between the magnetic field from the fixed permanent magnets and the magnetic field from the internal rotor induces rotation in the rotor.

Although DC motors run at high efficiency, they suffer from specific losses. The initial resistance in the rotor, brush friction, eddy current losses cause the motor to lose efficiency.

EC Motors

To achieve higher energy efficiency and control the energy output, engineers have designed the EC or electronically commuted motors. They combine the best of both AC and DC motors by removing the brush and slip ring system of commutation, and replacing them with solid-state devices. This electronic control allows them to operate with a higher efficiency.

EC motors are also called brushless DC motors, and they are controlled by external electronics, which may be an electronic circuit board or a variable frequency drive. Permanent magnets are on the rotor, while the fixed windings are on the stator.

The circuit board keeps the motor running by switching the phases in the fixed windings as necessary. This supplies the armature with the right amount of current at the right time, resulting in the motor achieving higher accuracy and efficiency.

EC motors offer several benefits. Absence of brushes eliminates sparking and increases the life of the motor. As electronics controls the power to the motor, there is less wastage with better performance and controllability. This allows even small EC motors to equal the performance of larger AC or DC motors. Heat generation in EC motors is also lower than that generated in AC or DC motors.

Robotics and Motion Control

Across the industrial space, automation is a growing trend in factory floors throughout the world. This is essential to improve the efficiency and production rates. When creating the automated factory, engineers may introduce a robotic system or implement a motion control system. Although both can essentially accomplish the same task, they have their own unique setups, motion flexibility, programming options, and economic benefits.

The Basics

A straightforward concept, motion control initiates and controls the movement of a load, thereby performing work. A motion control system is capable of precise control of torque, position, and speed. Motion control systems are typically useful in applications involving rapid start and stop of motion, synchronization of separate elements, or positioning of a product.

Motion control systems involve the prime mover or motor, the drive, and its controller. While the controller plans the trajectory, it sends low-voltage command signals to the drive, which in turn applies the necessary voltage and current to the motor, resulting in the desired motion.

An example of a motion control system is the programmable logic controller (PLC), which is both noise-free and inexpensive. PLCs use the staple form of ladder-logic programming, but the newer models also have human-machine-interface panels. The HMI panels offer visual representations of programming the machine. With PLCs, the industry is able to control logic on machinery along with control of multiple motion-control setups.

Robots are reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulators that can move material, tools, parts, or specialized objects. They can be programmed for variable motion for the benefit of performing a variety of tasks.

Most components making up the motion control system are also a permanent part of robots. For instance, a part of the robot’s makeup includes mechanical links, actuators, and motor speed control. The robot also has a controller, which allows different parts of the robot to operate together with the help of the program code running in the controller. Most modern robots operate on HMI that use operating systems such as Linux. Typical industrial robots take many forms such as parallel picker, SCARA, spherical, cylindrical, Cartesian, or a simple articulated robotic arm.

Robot systems also make use of drives or motors to move links into designated positions. Links form the sections between joints, and robots can use pneumatic, electric, or hydraulic drives to achieve the required movement. A robot receives feedback from the environment from sensors, which collect information and transmit it to the controller.

The Differences

While the robot is an expensive arrangement, a motion control system has components that are modular, and offer greater control over cost. However, motion controller components require individual programming to operate, and that puts a greater knowledge demand on the user.

Motion control systems, being modular, offer the scope to mix and match old hardware with the new. This facilitates multiple setups, with modular configuration ability, and applicable cost constraints.

With hardware differences between products decreasing rapidly, purchasing decisions are now mostly based on the software of the system. For instance, most modern systems are plug-n-play type, and they rely more on their software for compatibility.

Salt Water Makes Li-Ion Batteries Safer

So far, high-energy lithium-ion batteries were always a matter of concern on account of safety. If you wanted to remain safe from exploding batteries, an aqueous battery such as made from nickel/metal hydride would be preferable, but then it would give you lower energy.

Usually, 3-V batteries using aqueous electrolyte technologies are unable to achieve higher voltages because of the cathodic challenge. This happens as the aqueous solution degrades one end of the battery made from either lithium or graphite. One research team solved this problem by covering the graphite or lithium anode with a gel polymer electrolyte coating.

As the coating is hydrophobic, it does not allow water molecules to reach the electrode. However, when the battery charges for the first time, the coating decomposes, forming a stable layer separating the solid anode from the liquid electrolyte. The layer protects the anode from side reactions that could deactivate the anode. This allows the battery to use anode materials that are more effective, such as lithium metal or graphite, and allowing the battery reach higher energy densities and cycling abilities. The gel coating improves the safety of the battery, and is now comparable to the safety standards of non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries.

Organic solvents used in non-aqueous batteries are highly flammable. In comparison, aqueous lithium-ion batteries use water-based electrolytes that are non-flammable. Another advantage of this gel polymer coating is if this layer is damaged, the reaction with the lithiated graphite or lithium anode is very slow, preventing smoking, fire, or explosion that would normally happen if in the damaged battery the metal came into direct contact with the electrolyte.

This aqueous lithium-ion battery with the gel covering the anode has power and energy density matching its counterpart with non-aqueous electrolyte, and is suitable for commercial applications. However, the researchers intend to improve on the number of full-performance cycles the battery can complete. According to the researchers, this will reduce material expenses as far as possible. Although at present the battery is able to complete only 50-100 cycles, the team intends to increase that to 500 or more.

The researchers are also trying to manipulate the electrochemical process to allow the battery achieve 4 V on its terminals. According to the researchers, this is the first time they have been able to stabilize the reactive anodes such as lithium and graphite in aqueous media. They feel this opens a huge field of possibilities into several different topics in electrochemistry. For instance, this could cover not only lithium-ion batteries, but also lithium-sulfur, sodium-ion batteries, and other batteries using multiple ion chemistry technologies such as magnesium and zinc, and electrochemical and electroplating synthesis.

The researchers understand that interphase chemistry requires to be perfected before they can commercialize their product. They also feel that they need to work more towards scaling up the technology so that big cells can be used for testing. However, the researchers are confident they will be able to commercialize their product within the next five years, provided they are able to gather more funding.

Use the Raspberry Pi as a PLC for Automation

If you thought the popular single board computer, the Raspberry Pi (RBPi) is suitable only for children learning to write programs in computer languages, you need to think afresh. Vytas Sinkevicius is using the RBPi as a PLC for applications in automation. Increasingly, others are also using the RBPi as a PLC replacement in automation applications.

Basically, the RBPi replaces the actual PLC, and works as the main controller. The design specifications for the RBPi PLC are:

  • 8 digital Inputs
  • 16 Analog Inputs each supporting 4-20 mA current loops
  • 4 Analog Outputs each supporting 4-20 mA current loops
  • 12 Relay Outputs for control
  • 90-264 VAC Power Supply
  • 24 VDC Power Supply (Field)
  • Real Time Clock
  • Industrial Grade Enclosure

The enclosure has an aluminum back panel with ABS sides and a clear Polycarbonate cover. The cabinet is 14 inches in width, 16 inches in height, and 7 inches in depth. Installation is simple as DIN rail mounting is followed for all modules. While the local wiring employs ribbon cables, for field wiring the center of the panel has been left wide open. The enclosure uses industrial grade terminal blocks with rising clamp screw types.

A Delta Chrome series power supply block powers the unit. The power unit accepts AC voltages from a wide range of 90 to 264 VAC, and supplies an output of 24 VDC, with several safety approvals. While the input 4-20 mA signals are from powered transmitters, all the PI-SPI-DIN modules are supplied by high efficiency switching power supplies.

A PI-SPI-DIN-RTC-RS485 module forms the heart of the system. Apart from supporting the RBPi, the module also supplies power to the RBPi via the GPIO ribbon cable. For external displays and Modbus I/O modules, there is an RS485 interface and a battery backed Real Time Clock. The PI-SPI-DIN modules also have a buffered 16-pin GPIO bus, which also carries power from the 24 VDC to the modules.

The project has software written in the C language. It emulates a gas detection system with 16 points. There are digital inputs for manual control of fans, and analog inputs for controlling fans with variable speed. The software is undergoing testing presently. It will be published after it is found to work without issues.

Although the total number of IO points is substantial, the GPIO loading on the RBPi is not very high. For instance, the SPI bus uses only three GPIO pins, since the SPI routines allow any arbitrary GPIO lines to be used for chip selects. The I2C bus uses 2 GPIO lines, while the two 4-20 mA modules use two GPIO chip selects. While the PI-SPI-DIN-8DI module uses one GPIO for chip select, the relay modules use an MCP23508 GPIO expander with 4 addresses, but uses only one GPIO chip select. Direction control takes up one GPIO pin on the RS485, while it uses GPIO UART Rx and Tx.

The entire setup of enclosure, power supply, all modules, DIN rails, and RBPi3 cost less than $600. This easily rivals any PLC on the market with the same number of IO points.

How Do Piezoelectrics Work?

Piezoelectrics, found almost everywhere in modern life, are materials that are able to change mechanical stress to electricity and back again. One can find them in sonars, medical ultrasound, loud speakers, computer hard drives, and in many more places. However popular piezolectrics may be as a technology, very few people truly understand their way of working. At the Simon Fraser University at Canada, and the National Institute of Standards, researchers are working on understanding one of the main classes of these materials. These are the relaxors, behaving distinctly different from the regular materials, and exhibiting the largest effect among piezoelectrics. Most surprisingly, their discovery comes in the shape of a butterfly.

The team was examining two of the most popular piezoelectric compounds, the relaxor PMN and the ferroelectric PZT. These look very similar when viewed through a microscope, with both exhibiting crystalline structure comprising cube-shaped unit cells. These are the basic building blocks all crystals use, and they contain one lead atom and three oxygen atoms. The team found the essential difference only at the center of the cells. While the PZT had one similarly charged zirconium or titanium atom occupying the center randomly, the PMN had differently charged niobium or manganese atoms in the center. With the differently charged atoms, PMN produced strong electric fields varying from one unit cell to the other. They observed this behavior exclusively in PMN and in other relaxors, but not in PZT.

According to Peter Gehring of the NIST Center for Neutron Research, although ferroelectric PZT and PMN-based relaxors have been around for decades, the difficulty in identifying the origin of their behavioral difference was due to the inability in growing sufficiently large single crystals of PZT. For a long time, the researchers had no fundamental explanation for the reason relaxors exhibited greater piezoelectric effect, which could help guide efforts in optimizing this technologically valuable property.

Then scientists from Simon Fraser University discovered a way to grow crystals of PZT that were large enough to enable a comparison of the PZT and PMN crystals. The scientists used neutron beams and they revealed new details about the location of atoms within the unit cells. The scientists found the atoms in the PMN cells were not in their expected positions, whereas in the PZT cells had them in more or less rightly expected positions. According to Gehring, this accounted for the essentials of relaxor behavior.

Te scientists observed that neutron beams scattering off PMN crystals formed the shape of a butterfly. The characteristic blurred image revealed the nanoscale structure withing the PMN and in all other relaxor materials. However, when they studied PZT materials with the same method, they did not observe the butterfly shape. This led them to conclude relaxors offer a characteristic signature in the shape of this butterfly-shaped scattering.

The team conducted additional tests on both PMN and PZT crystals. These tests revealed for the first time that compared to PZT, PMN-based relaxors were over 100 percent more sensitive to mechanical stimulation. The team hopes these findings will help in better optimization of piezoelectric behavior in general.

Monitoring Sound & Vibration for Process Control

In a production environment, one can always find two common themes for the successful application of acoustical or vibrational monitoring. Usually, workers judge the noise or vibration event as being the start or end of a particular process. Initiated by such an event, an automated control system can easily minimize any loss of production.

On the production floor, control of manufacturing processes have used continuous monitoring of sound and vibration for the past several years. For instance Brüel & Kjær had used their 2505 Multipurpose Monitor in the early 1980s to automatically monitor vibration signals. One could connect an accelerometer, a microphone, or other piezoelectric device to this monitor, and set limits for alerting the user whenever the levels exceeded them. They had filters to limit the signal bands, and detectors to average signals that fluctuated highly. On the output side, relays interfaced with the process control systems or other instrumentation. No other expensive analysis systems were necessary if the process control technician used this device to monitor acoustic or vibration levels automatically. People used these monitors also in the machine condition monitoring field as basic overall vibration detectors to switch off the machine if vibration levels exceeded the set limits.

Discrete analog circuit boards enclosed in weather proof enclosures made up these early monitors. The user had to select the circuit cards necessary for their specific application. Usually, a circuit card was capable of performing a specific function, such as RMS detector, amplifier or attenuator, high and/or low pass filter, and signal conditioner. The circuit cards worked together with the relays, alarm indicators, and the meter module. With very little dynamic range, users had to be very careful in selecting a circuit card for each application. One had to be knowledgeable about the transducer they employed and the particular measurement they were making. If conditions changed, they had to order additional circuit cards.

The above disadvantages of the analog system made Brüel & Kjær develop their digital signal processors replacing the monitors with modern electronics. They now had software controlling the functions of RMS detection, gain/attenuation, and filtering. End users found the application of the new monitors much simpler, as a monitor could be field-programmed for meeting the demands of the present task. The supplied software and its use in setting up and control of the unit allowed users to save time they earlier spent on analyzing the required settings before purchasing the monitor.

The new monitors use a PC interface for setting up and to display the results of their measurements. Users can store programmed data within the unit, so the monitor can operate even without the presence of the PC and retain measurements if the power fails. Digital signal processing within the unit allows the user to set up many low and high pass filters, true RMS, and peak-to-peak measurements. Users can set other built-in voltage references and test functions for set-ups related to new tests, including relays and indicators for system failure. In addition, the presence of electrical outputs for unconditioned and conditioned AC signals makes these new monitors ideal for real-time detection and control of acoustic and vibration events.

Raspberry Pi Shake 4D Detects Earthquakes

Recent years have seen a rise in the interest of home automation and devices for local environmental monitoring. More people are now using solutions related to home science, such as weather stations. Not only does this help in better understanding of the factors that affect local environments, these solutions also offer accurate information in real-time. With the help of these home science devices one can measure what so long one could only feel and sense. Although this includes air temperature and quality, there are other things going on around that no one notices until perhaps it is too late, such as earthquakes.

The current project, the Raspberry Pi Shake or RBPi Shake, allows a deep connection to the environment surrounding you by measuring movements of the earth locally. While some of these movements may be too small to be felt, others could be big enough to set alarm bells ringing.

The RBPi Shake 4D offers all people the ability to observe unseen vibrations happening all around, including those big enough to cause people to sit up and take notice. While these earth movements do affect us somehow or the other, those serious ones often hit the news with increasing frequency. The cause for worry is these movements are not only limited to natural movements such as earthquakes, landslides, and sinkholes. Increasingly, human factors are also to blame with nuclear testing blasts, quarry explosions, fracking, and deep weel waste water injection chipping in impacting several of our loved ones directly. No wonder the Oklahoma Geological Survey acquired a 100 RBPi Shake 4D to monitor movements of the earth.

Offering a clever combination of technologies, the RBPi Shake 4D fits onto an RBPi, the most popular single board personal computer. Sorin Botirla, being a backer of the original RBPi Shake project, is also working on the present project. The objective is to develop a new and complementary web interface for all the models of the RBPi Shake.

The RBPi Shake empowers all citizen and home scientists, including hobbyists. At present, more than 1000 units are stationed worldwide in over 50 countries. This leads to the creation of the biggest citizen scientist earthquake monitoring network in history. Government institutions such as geophysical and earthquake monitoring institutes have also shown interest in the RBPi Shake project, as the RBPi Shake allows watching the effects of nearby constructions, traffic movements with changes during rush hours, and cheering crowds at local concerts or games. Within the home, it allows monitoring of the spin cycles of the washing machine, or the noisy neighborhood kid.

As suggested by its name, the RBPi Shake 4D has four sensors. Together with the geophone, there are three strong motion MEMs accelerometers giving the device a total of four recording channels. The circuit board of the 4D incorporates four 24-bit digitizers, with each sampling the movement of the earth at 100 samples per second. The data transmission rate is four packets per second, and that makes the RBPi Shake 4D compatible to Earthquake Early Warning systems.

An app on the Google play store allows seeing the data from all the Shakes installed around the earth on an Android phone.

Sensing Temperature with NTC Thermistors

Temperature sensors using NTC thermistors are built from sintered semiconducting ceramic material. Such materials contain a mixture comprising several metal oxides. The specialty of these materials is they possess charge particles, which allow current to flow through the thermistor, and display large changes in its resistance value even when the change in temperature is rather small. The manufacturing process allows standard NTC thermistors to operate effectively in the temperature range between 50 and 150°C, with glass-encapsulation type of thermistors going up to 250°C.

Thermistors come in a large variety of sizes and styles. These include glass encapsulated, customizable probe assemblies, surface mount types,, disc types, and chip styles. The large variety is necessary as individual attributes of each style gives them the ability to perform effectively in several different industries, while adapting to various and different application requirements.

For instance, industries using NTC thermistors for measuring temperature include telecommunications, medical, healthcare, military, aerospace, automotive, industrial, HVAC, among many others. On the other hand, applications for NTC thermistors cover time delay, volume control, circuit protection, voltage regulation, temperature control, temperature measurement, temperature compensation, and more.

Now, the availability of precision interchangeable NTC thermistors eliminates the necessity of individual calibration for each thermistor. Capable of accuracies of ±0.05°C, the interchangeable thermistors are now gaining popularity as industry standard. Their standard resistance values usually range from 2.25 kilo-ohm to 100 kilo ohm, with temperature coefficients of -4.4% per °C or -4.7% per °C.

Interchangeable NTC thermistors offer extreme accuracy when sensing temperature. This makes these versatile sensors an excellent choice for use in industries focussing on temperature measurement and control. These industries include, among others, aerospace, HVAC, automotive, industrial, and medical. Applications for interchangeable NTC thermistors include temperature sensing, temperature measurement and control, temperature measurement, and control.

Using interchangeable NTC thermistors in the industry offers several benefits and features. These include beta of 3435 K to 4143 K, RoHS compliance, dissipation constant of 1 mW/°C, fast thermal response times, wide range of ohmic values, a thermal time constant of 7 secs, and fast measurement times. Aging is slow as these NTC thermistors show less than 1% change in resistance even after a span of 10 years. That means, there is no need to recalibrate the system when replacing the thermistor. This certainly reduces operating costs and system downtimes.

Glass encapsulated NTC thermistors are a special breed that are hermetically sealed. This allows the micro-sized sensors to eliminate reading errors from moisture penetration. As they are hermetically sealed, they function effectively in extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, and other severe environmental conditions. The extreme operating conditions allow glass encapsulated NTC thermistors to target markets such as industrial, automotive, medical, and HVAC.

Glass encapsulated NTC thermistors are good for applications involving outdoors such as infrared lighting systems, medical such as those relying on airflow/respirators, industrial such as those including monitoring of terminal temperatures of battery packs while charging, common household appliances such as in coffee makers, ovens, and refrigerators, HVAC such as for temperature measurement and control.

Apart from greater accuracy and faster response times, Glass encapsulated NTC thermistors offer high precision resistance and beta value with a huge operating temperature range.