August 18, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

This question pulls together the entirely unrelated concepts of smart instruments, and predictive maintenance. The smart instruments (sometimes also called “smart sensors”) concept is a hardware-architecture strategy. Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is a system-level concept.

Smart instruments have been around for a decade or more. The technology falls under the general heading of “embedded systems,” which includes any device containing a microcomputer, but no fully developed user interface. Examples include automotive engine control modules (ECMs); microproce...Read More
Industries: Information Control, Machine Control, Process Control, System Integration

August 11, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The problem is that hydrogen is simply not a fuel. It is so reactive that it is practically unavailable on Earth in its free form (H₂). It appears naturally only in oxidized form — bound with other elements, such as oxygen (water), carbon (hydrocarbons, such as methane), or both (carbohydrates, such as alcohol), as well as a host of other organic and inorganic compounds of no interest as potential fuels.

It takes energy input to reduce naturally occurring hydrogen to free form, which can then be re-oxidized to get the energy back. H₂, therefore, is an energy storage medium, not an energy source. That fact, of course, is most obvious when looking at electrolysis. 

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Industries: Information Control

August 4, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

There are two issues to face when choosing a system integrator for a mechatronics project: how much of the project to keep in house, what to contract out, and how to keep control of the project. If this sounds like Project Management 101, it is.

The minute you decide to do any development involving a third party, you’re playing in the project-management sandbox — and that box is always filled with quicksand. Whether you sink or swim depends on how carefully you approach it.

Before even thinking about looking for a contractor, you need to think about why you need him/her/them. The only reason to look outside your company is to fill a hole in your company’s capabilities.

Every company, of course, has holes in its capabilities. Companies should have internal resources to cover their core competencies, but not be loaded with e...Read More
Industries: Machine Control

July 28, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The Hall effect, is a magnetohydrodynamic phenomenon where an external magnetic field affects the flow of charge carriers in a semiconductor in such a way that an electric field appears directed at right angles to both the magnetic flux lines and the current-flow direction.

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is the study of electrically conducting fluids in motion. In this case, the electrically conducting fluid is the ensemble of majority charge carriers in the semiconductor.

For example, in P-type semiconductor material the majority charge carriers are positively-charged holes. A Hall sensor could be made from a rectangular t...Read More
Industries: Machine Control

July 21, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Analog to digital converters (ADCs) are arguably the most common mixed signal circuit in use today. The successive approximation register (SAR) type is potentially the most accurate ADC circuit, although it is not the fastest.

ADCs accept an analog voltage as input and provide a digital bit pattern as output. The digital bit pattern represents the value of the input after preparation by the measurement system. Preparation steps include signal conditioning, amplification, and quantization (sampling).

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