Tiny Spirals: Spiral antenna elements,
wrapped around a high-dielectric ceramic core (not shown), form "twisted
loops" that create magnetic reversals at the center of the antenna, which
tightly confines the magnetic field and cuts induced noise.
Using a dielectric ceramic with nearly twice the dielectric properties of previous material and a spiral configuration, engineers at Sarantel have come up with a small antenna that improves the performance of hand-held communications devices.
The antenna's spirals surround a ceramic cylinder under an inch long. The arrangement produces an extremely tight antenna "near field." This field is the energy produced by the device that cannot be stored within the antenna itself. For Sarantel's patented design, this field is only slightly larger (on the order of 3-5 mm from the antenna surface) than the antenna itself. Thus, unlike previous antennas, the proximity of the user's body neither absorbs emitted energy nor distorts the field (antenna pattern). Such energy absorption also changes the effective length of the antenna, de-tuning it away from its natural frequency, further cutting efficiency.
Similarly, ensuring that antennas "play well" with the rest of a device—from the active electronics to the materials making up the case—is vital to communications range, clarity, and battery life. "Now designers don't have to 'design in' the antenna; it can be an afterthought," says Brad Hurte, president of Sarantel USA.
Other Fit and Forget™ antenna features include a balun (see figure). This carries an equal and opposite current to the antenna guide current so that no current need flow to a ground plane with its potential for channeling noise into the antenna.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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