The electronics industry will mostly be ready for the July 1, 2006 RoHS deadline, but engineers in the exempt defense and aerospace industries still have concerns about the transition to lead-free components. For one, the exempt industries have spent the past two decades shifting away from pricey hi-reliability parts in favor of the less costly off-the-shelf (OTS) commercial components.
Many of those OTS parts are now entirely lead-free, which leaves the exempt industries in a bind, as they may find themselves unable to get leaded versions of the components they need. We checked in with a Lockheed Martin engineer on the difficulties, who reported, "We're seeing problems with suppliers changing the lead finish and not notifying us that they have changed from SnPb to Sn or whatever."
He points to other RoHS-oriented problems. "We're seeing process problems associated with wicking of the solders to the very small package contacts — I believe this may be a surface-tension problem." He is experiencing additional costs due to the need to develop and qualify new processes. He also notes there are problems due to the "higher melting point of the new finishes — we do not know what the proportions of the mix should be." Finally, he says "there is still no data on the long-term performance of the replacement materials."
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
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.
On April 21, NASA launched a novel project, putting into orbit three satellites that employ an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone as the control system.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
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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