HYBRID CIRCUITS ENABLE COMPACT IR CAMERA
Sensors Unlimited SDV Short-Wave Infrared Camera. Engineers mated their recently developed, large, indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) imaging array with a low-cost silicon CMOS readout circuit to enable this compact short-wavelength (1-2.5 microns) infrared camera. They used matching grids of indium bumps on the bottom of each circuit's substrate to connect the detector and multiplexer readout, forming a back-to-back stack. By not having to cool the 640 x 512 pixel InGaAs detector, the engineers eliminated bulky cooling devices necessary with longer-wavelength IR cameras, along with their expensive germanium or silicon lenses. Director of Imaging Products:Martin Ettenberg(info@sensorsinc.com) http://rbi.ims.ca/3852-541
HIGH-WATTAGE MOTOR POWERS BLENDER
L'Equip® Model 228 R.P.M. Blender. To give users the power to beat-up any vegetable or fruit, inventor Jamie Pascotti propels his blender with a 900W LG (http://rbi.ims.ca/3852-542) universal ac motor, more than three times as strong as the usual 250W blender motor. He notes the appliance's tachometer "shows motor speed to the user in real time," allowing for more precise blending control than conventional "vague" pushbutton settings. For most efficient motor operation, the size, shape, and position of the beads (vertical ribs molded into the polycarbonate pitcher sides) relative to the rotating blades are critical for best mixing action, Pascotti adds. President:Jamie Pascotti, (sales@lequip.com) http://rbi.ims.ca/3852-542
PIEZOS, ALGORITHMS PACE PEDOMETER
OMRON Healthcare HJ-112 Premium Pedometer. Twin piezo sensors, mounted 90 degrees to each other, ensure this pedometer generates one or two walking "signals" as long as the device's orientation is not perfectly horizontal. Engineers had to develop waveform-analysis and step-counting algorithms that would run on a low-power, 4-bit microprocessor, but still eliminate noise signals, such as vehicle vibrations or non-periodic body-movement acceleration. To account for the latter, the software determines periodicity of a waveform, then starts recording steps that last longer than four seconds. Director of Technology:Iwao Kojima (iwao_kojima@omron.com) http://rbi.ims.ca/3852-543
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