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Industrial heating technology manufacturer Watlow, which specialises in electric components for complete thermal systems, has reached its 100-year anniversary milestone. The company, which was founded in 1922 in Missouri, USA, is now a global electric heating specialist with over 1,000 patents and 4,200 employees working across locations in North America, Asia and Europe.

Watlow began manufacturing electric heating elements for the shoe industry, before widening its product offering in the 1930s to introduce electric immersion heaters to replace steam pipes and fire-hazardous gas. Then, in the 1980s, Watlow expanded its global reach with the opening of sales offices in Italy, France, the UK and Taiwan.

Since its founding in 1922, the company has developed into a highly regarded industry heating technology manufacturer, holding more than 1,000 patents and employing over 4,000 people working in nine manufacturing facilities and five technology centres across three continents. Additionally, Watlow gains sales coverage in 178 countries.

The 2010s became the most productive and significant period of the company’s journey so far. Within just eight years, Watlow introduced ten new products including the F4T process controller with touch-screen technology, OPTIMAX heat exchanger and the range of FLUENT in-line heaters. Now, the company serves any application that may use industrial process heating such as semiconductor processing, energy generation and medical and food service equipment.

“Marking a century in business is one of the biggest achievements a company can realise,” said Rob Gilmore, CEO of Watlow. “Watlow has grown in product capability and global reach and is well deserving of this achievement. Our purpose of enriching lives through inspired innovation has motivated our team members for generations. While we are excited to celebrate this significant milestone, we are equally excited about our outlook for our next 100 years.

“I have been with the company for 34 years and have seen many positive changes. Watlow has continued to grow, while the commitment remains the same — to provide customers with superior products and services for their individual processing needs.

“I am honoured to lead Watlow as we enter our next century to continue serving customers across the globe, and demonstrating how we can innovate further. To honour the milestone anniversary and jumpstart the next chapter, all Watlow headquarters will host events throughout the summer, kicking off in June 2022 with celebrations at the USA headquarters in Missouri.”

To find out more about Watlow’s products and services, visit watlow.com

Agile Analog, the analogue IP innovators, has designed an IR Drop Sensor for its growing library of analogue IP. This is an important safety feature for designers as it monitors for voltage drops when current flows through a resistor, which is called IR drop and can affect the timing of a chip and could result in functional failures if this happens in a critical part of the design.

“Adding to the complexity of IR drops, they can be influenced by activity on other areas of the chip so including our agileIR DROP into a design provides real time monitoring of any IR drops caused by power supply fluctuations, hot spots, shorts, etc,” explained Barry Paterson, Agile Analog’s CEO. “It is important to know that IR drops can become worse over the lifetime of a chip hence the need for continual in-chip monitoring. This is caused by electromigration, i.e., over time metal molecules can migrate within wires when currents flow, narrowing them in places which increases the resistance in those locations and results in IR drops.”

The agileIR Drop consists of a voltage reference and comparator(s) set at different threshold levels for multi-level detection. The number of trigger outputs can be customised, and each threshold can be adjusted during operation to support DVFS operation. A four-output configuration is shown in the block diagram.

It has been designed for low power consumption so that it can be used in battery operated devices if required which will have power supply changes as the cells discharge. The active current is in the order of 120 uA with a power down current of less than 1 uA. As befits a safety device, it has a fast detection time of typically 25 nanoseconds. The threshold accuracy is 5% and 1% when trimmed with a step size of typically 20 mV.

Composa

Traditionally, analogue IP blocks have to be manually redesigned for each application and process technology but Agile Analog has a unique way to automatically generate analogue IP to exactly meet the customer’s specifications and process technology. Called Composa, it uses tried and tested analogue IP circuits that are in the company’s Composa library. Effectively, the design-once-and-re-use-many-times model of digital IP now applies to analogue IP for the first time. As the analogue IP circuits in the Composa library have been extensively tested and used in previous designs, and are fully validated every time they are generated, this gives a similar level of reassurance to the digital IP world’s ‘silicon-proven’. All the major foundries are supported including TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Samsung Foundry and SMIC as well as other IC foundries and manufacturers.

Cold-forming is a popular low-cost method for joining sheet metal using a punch-riveting press. To ensure reliable and fast bonding, a high-pressure rated Contrinex inductive sensor is trusted to control the press. The inductive sensor is mounted directly in the wall of a small pneumo-hydraulic cylinder where it detects the hydraulic ram’s position to ensure that the operating cycle only starts when the ram is fully retracted.

Customer application

An automotive manufacturer uses punch-riveting in their prototyping area, assembling vehicle bodies using manual punch-riveting tools to join the individual sheet-metal parts. Several thousand joints are required per vehicle, and the tools must be small since space is often limited.

If the technician does not set the tool correctly, the resultant bad joint can be very costly to repair. The tool-head can often be partly hidden from view on some joints and so a sensing system was designed to ensure that the operating ram is fully retracted. It prevents the tool from operating if the ram is not in the correct position.

Whilst the small size of the press tool limits the sensor’s size, embedding it into the pneumo-hydraulic cylinder means that the sensing face is exposed to the high-pressure side of the hydraulic circuit. Fortunately, Contrinex’s high-pressure inductive sensors work for 50 times longer under pressure than the market standard. They can withstand continuous pressures up to 500 bar (7,250 psi) and pressure spikes of 1000 bar (14,500 psi).

Customer solution

The robust inductive sensors from the Contrinex’s High-Pressure range, available from PLUS Automation, easily withstand the high operating pressure of this application, offering world-class reliability. They also benefit from Contrinex’s patented Condist long-distance sensing technology, which allows the use of thick, hermetically sealed ceramic discs on the sensing face, without compromising the sensors’ performance.

These lightweight M5 and M8-diameter embeddable sensors are only 27 mm and 30 mm in length, respectively and therefore their mounting directly into the wall of the cylinder does not interfere with the normal operation of the tool. Their sensing distances of 1mm and 1.5 mm, eliminate the risk of internal mechanical damage through contact with the ram.

The sensors feature an industry-standard PNP normally-open output and a flexible PUR-sheathed cable. Their vacuum-encapsulated electronics ensure excellent resistance to shock and vibration, and no additional electrical or mechanical protection is required. They also feature the industry-standard IO-Link protocol, which ensures their best-in-class performance is coupled with ultimate ease of use, plug-and-play swap-out, and easy Industry 4 implementation, in even the most demanding circumstances.

While camera manufacturers and distributors across Europe are plagued by supply issues, Scorpion Vision has unfettered access to immediate stock, thanks to its relationship with HIKROBOT – part of the world’s largest camera manufacturing company. Logistics operators, manufacturers and systems integrators who choose to work with Scorpion can progress inspection, robotic and other vision-assisted automation projects secure in the knowledge that they won’t encounter hold-ups or delays with sourcing industrial cameras or optics.

The stock issue has reached a critical level in the industrial camera industry, with suppliers of cameras and optics quoting lead times of anywhere from 5 to 20 weeks. The delays are due to a global shortage of components, primarily the semiconductors or chips that are used in imaging sensors and LCD screens.

Fortunately, Scorpion Vision, via its relationship with Chinese machine vision and robotics manufacturer HIKROBOT, is insulated against these shortages. With distribution rights for the HIKROBOT range in the UK and Ireland, Scorpion can source machine vision area scan and linescan cameras, machine vision lenses and embedded control system PCs within 3-4 weeks. It can either supply these as components to OEMs and system integrators or design and build application-specific vision-driven automation solutions to processing, warehousing and logistics problems.

HIKROBOT benefits from the purchasing might that comes from being part of the largest camera manufacturer in the world and a major player in surveillance cameras. The group is a large buyer of imaging sensors – components that are common to both surveillance cameras and industrial applications. In addition, having both its manufacturing and its supply base concentrated in China gives HIKROBOT complete control over its supply chain.This in turn minimises its vulnerability to freight issues, supply chain disruption, political instability and market forces in other parts of the world.

“We’ve been a distributor for HIKROBOT since 2017. At that time, there was some resistance to using cameras and optics manufactured in Asia, due to perceptions of inferior quality and ‘copycat’ design. However, because we are experts in imaging we know exactly what we are looking for when selecting hardware partners, and we knew that we had hit on a gem when we found HIKROBOT,” says Paul Wilson, Managing Director of Scorpion Vision.

He continues: “Since then, HIKROBOT has emerged as an innovation powerhouse on the global stage; 800 of its 1,000 employees are R&D engineers, and the company has product development capabilities that are unrivalled in the field of machine vision. It is no coincidence that it has 487 patents to its name and has won multiple awards for its advancements. I think this has helped to change the market view and businesses are recognising that in these uncertain times, supply chain security is king, whether that means sourcing cameras from Europe or the Far East.”

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced the winning designs of its “Just Encase” Design Challenge, where 55 participants from around the world designed remote monitoring systems utilising Arduino MKR WAN 1300 and Hammond Manufacturing enclosures to determine their success and resilience in hazardous environments.

The Grand Prize winner, Milos Rasic, milosrasic98 from Serbia, created a complex design named the OrbWeaver Rover that can cast a “net” of sensor boxes around a targeted area to monitor various data points including temperature, heat index, humidity and air pressure across multiple locations. The OrbWeaver also boasts active suspension.

The “Just Encase” Runner-Up, Christopher Kettell, christophesky from the United Kingdom, developed a Garden Pond Monitor that measures water temperature at various depths and can determine the total dissolved solids, pH, air temperature, humidity, light levels and air pressure. All aspects functioned properly in a total submersion test.

Other participants created myriad projects to monitor wind, solar, pool water quality/chemical levels, air quality, winter driving conditions, landslides, irrigation, particulate matter and more.

“Our community of makers and engineers continue to impress with projects that solve for important issues around the world where monitoring is essential, even in extreme conditions, said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We’re continually grateful for this ingenuity and thoughtfulness that goes into these challenges.”

The grand prize winner of this design challenge received a Sony PlayStation 5, a luxury earthquake survival kit, survival shelter and vehicle fire extinguisher; a total value of $1,050.

element14 is part of Farnell, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

To learn more about element14 Design Challenges and see the complete list of winners, visit the element14 website.

The FLIR RS8500 high-speed camera has been selected for integration into the NEOS optical tracking system from Nurjana Technologies.

Thanks to the camera’s superior resolution and measurement accuracy, the Italian system integrator can offer test range customers a solution to identify and track targets with the highest accuracy.

Based in Cagliari (Italy), Nurjana Technologies provides mission-critical engineering services and system integration for the aerospace and defense industries. The company has been successful in offering unique electro-optical systems for government test labs and military test range applications.

The latest addition to the company’s product portfolio is the NEOS (Nurjana Electro-Optical System), a complete hardware- and software-based system for realtime optical tracking in long-range, high-precision measurement applications. The system was designed to fuse data from multiple sensors, including optical payload, telemetry, radar, and ranging measurement data. The optical payload is customised and composed of a visible-light tracking camera, a radiometric thermal imaging camera, a visible-light measurement camera, and a high-speed camera. Near-realtime data fusion and computer vision are leveraged for detecting and tracking targets in the most demanding scenarios.

“A high-resolution thermal camera was essential for this type of application,” says Davide Piras, System Engineer at Nurjana Technologies. “A thermal camera does not only allow us to see targets in dark or adverse weather conditions, like cloudy weather or rain, but we were also looking for a high-speed, high-resolution thermal imaging solution that enabled us to see smaller objects at very long range.”

The company was already familiar with Teledyne FLIR thermal imaging cameras and based on the team’s previous experiences on test ranges all over the world, it was a natural decision to involve FLIR in the development of the NEOS product as well. The FLIR RS8500 high-speed MWIR camera proved to be the best solution for the application.

“We looked extensively at different camera types, but the image quality, high-speed features, and many different integration and connection options of the FLIR RS8500 made it the ideal solution to improve target visibility within NEOS,” Piras explains.

Nurjana Technologies demonstrated the NEOS system and FLIR RS8500 at select firing test range facilities and centres of excellence for experimentation in the NATO domain. The demonstrations not only showed the FLIR camera’s impressive clarity and image quality but also its superiority to visual cameras in cloudy conditions.

“Thanks to the FLIR camera, we were able to overcome adverse weather conditions, improve target visibility with a clear identification of the target’s thermal signature, and see the target in almost any weather condition,” says Piras. “We are glad to have the chance to integrate such an extremely powerful camera into our solution.”

Nurjana Technologies also valued the straightforward integration using a GenICam protocol, which makes it easier for integrators and end customers to control the camera system over Linux. The NEOS system with the integrated FLIR camera is customisable and available for a wide range of automatic detection, recognition, identification and tracking applications, including bomb scoring, splash detection, impact point prediction, and accurate missile, projectile and rocket tracking. A downsized version of NEOS is available for civilian applications within the domains of critical infrastructure protection and monitoring.

Since the FLIR RS8500 is a radiometric infrared camera and the continuous metric zoom lens provides instantaneous focal length and position information on every frame, the system can also be used to capture target data, including signature and apparent temperature measurements.

Anritsu Corporation (President Hirokazu Hamada) is pleased to announce that Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has validated Radio Communications Test Station MT8000A which is now supported by the Qualcomm Development Acceleration Resource Toolkit (QDART) for testing 5G NR Sub-6 GHz small cells using the Qualcomm 5G RAN Platform.

Different 5G small cells, such as femtocells, picocells, and microcells, all have different coverage. Small cell BTS are used when requiring high data rates and density in indoor areas and crowded places, such as shopping malls and sport stadiums. The Qualcomm FSM100 5G RAN Platform is a very capable 5G NR small cell solution that is used widely by mobile operators. The platform is designed to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) reuse their software and hardware reference designs across Sub-6 GHz and mmWave products.

The MT8000A test solution supports non-signalling RF tests of 5G NR millimeter wave (mmWave) and Sub-6 GHz base stations (BTS). The 3GPP TS38.141-1 and TS38.141-2 compliant all-in-one MT8000A test solution cuts test times and costs when manufacturing 5G BTS radio units (RU).

OEMs of small cell Sub-6 GHz (FR1) infrastructure can use the QDART and MT8000A to test small cells while taking advantage of unique MT8000A features, such as high-quality parallel testing of multiple DUTs.

By offering this high-efficiency platform for testing Qualcomm Technologies’ small cell modem chipsets, Anritsu is contributing to the development and spread of 5G radio access networks.

Teledyne FLIR has announced the expansion of its Si124 industrial acoustic imaging family of cameras by introducing a new set of sound imaging cameras that feature a wider acoustic detection range, up to 65Khz, and an integrated battery with a quick start power button to make condition monitoring and inspection more efficient and effective.

In the industrial world, vacuum leaks, compressed air system leaks, electrical partial discharge, and mechanical troubleshooting can create troublesome challenges that require specialised tools to detect.

The redesigned Si124, Si124-PD for partial discharge inspection, and the Si124-LD for air leak detection, feature an expanded acoustic imaging range from 2 kHz to 65 kHz. The ability to detect sounds in the expanded 36 kHz to 65Khz frequency range provides condition monitoring professionals the ability to increase the utility of the camera by detecting very small leaks and discharge at short distances.

“With our updated ULTR mode, inspectors can isolate 30 kHz to 65 khz soundwave frequencies to quickly locate the smallest of air leaks, making the Si124 family of acoustic imagers even more effective,” said Rob Milner, Director, Global Business Development, Teledyne FLIR. “At the same time, our new integrated battery design further improves on the one-handed tool operation that is so important for safe use.”

The new hard carrying case included with each new purchase offers slots for up to four integrated batteries for eight full hours of continuous operation. For those who prefer the tethered battery option, which is carried in a shoulder bag or pouch, users can still purchase it as an optional accessory.

FLIR Thermal Studio Integration

New and existing customers can also use the FLIR Si-series plugin for FLIR Thermal Studio, empowering operators to import acoustic images from the camera to the FLIR Thermal Studio suite to easily edit and analyze acoustic imagery alongside their thermal camera imagery to create extensive, advanced reports as part of a comprehensive predictive maintenance or condition monitoring program.

See the Sound Before Failure

The FLIR Si124 industrial acoustic imaging cameras sense, display, and record sound waves by producing a precise acoustic image derived from the 124-microphone array. The acoustic image is overlaid onto a visible camera image within an easy-to-use, ergonomic, one-handed camera solution. Compared to traditional inspection methods including soap-bubble and single microphone acoustic inspection, the Si124 can help locate issues up to 10 times faster for common mechanical, electrical, vacuum, and compressor systems.

The entire Teledyne FLIR Si124 family of devices, including the tethered and cordless battery options of Si124, Si124-PD, and Si124-LD, are available for purchase globally from Teledyne FLIR.

Industrial enclosure manufacturer, Spelsberg UK, has added bespoke printing capabilities to its range of in-house services. Investing in the new printing technology means enclosure specialist can add bespoke printed designs to enclosures within a week. The in-house printer can print images, logos, and text in a variety of colours, and the machine is able to print onto virtually all types of enclosure materials.

While Spelsberg UK already provides a printing service, the new in-house capability enhances the speed of delivery and reduces cost for the customer. The new service also increases customer choice and control over print designs with the ability to deal directly with the enclosure manufacturer.

“For our enclosure customers, the new, in-house printing capability means we’ll be able to quickly add bespoke printing, including text and images, to most enclosure orders,” says Spelsberg UK’s Managing Director, Chris Lloyd. “Carrying a large stock of enclosures at our Telford site, we’ll be able to provide printed boxes within days, alongside our additional services, such as CNC machining.”

The new Mimaki advanced flatbed UV-curable inkjet printer achieves superior printing quality, with a choice of gloss, matt, and embossed prints among the extensive finish library. The printer offers a wide choice of colours and can print images, logos, and text, including numbering, as well as variable data insertion printing within the same print run. The print is also UV resistant, matching Spelsberg’s UV resistant enclosure material.

The printer offers a print size of up to 610mm by 420mm and provides direct printing on substrates up to 153mm thick. This means that the machine can print onto virtually all types of enclosure material, including polycarbonate, polystyrene, and ABS, as well as metal. The printer uses quick drying ink and can handle multiple enclosures in sequence, each with a different print design. With this capability, bespoke print runs in volume are available from Spelsberg UK within days.

The printing capability has so far proved popular with OEMs requesting company names, logos, and contact information to be added to enclosures. In addition to branding, the printing capability is also useful to add safety and instructional information.

Enclosure printing adds to the existing range of in-house services already offered by Spelsberg UK at its Telford, Shropshire facility. This includes bespoke design and CNC machining, enabling the development of specific functionality to meet the needs of OEMs and end users across a wide variety of industries and applications.

Spelsberg UK’s new Mimaki printer was provided by digital print technology and material specialist, CMYK.

The Ellab Group, a global leader in validation, calibration and monitoring solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and food and beverage sectors, is expanding its workforce across the world to meet ambitious growth targets. Over 70 new employees are being recruited by the Group to add to the current roster of 545, with the appointments being made across nearly every department including operations, R&D, sales, marketing, top management, finance, HR, IT and field services.

The Danish company says most of the new posts are being created at its headquarters in Hilleroed, Denmark, but also benefiting significantly are the UK and USA operations. Ellab’s UK manufacturing business is known as Ellab Monitoring Solutions Ltd and serves the pharmaceutical, healthcare and food sectors. As a group Ellab brings significant knowledge and benefits to its pharma clients with a proven reputation in specialist disciplines including biotech, cell and gene therapy and CDMOs.

Despite the challenges of a global pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the Ellab Group says it is continuing to invest in staff so that it can improve its global reach – providing the best quality and services to a wider audience and together building confidence in consumer safety. The ambition of the Group is to continue with double-digit organic and acquisitive annual growth in the coming years.

Among the new senior positions announced are CFO Andreas Morthorst, who brings top level experience in developing business strategies for growth, and Vice-President Operations Steen Eriksen. Andreas also boats crucial knowledge in finance, IT, digitalisation and mergers and acquisitions – particularly in mature organisations – and has 20 years’ experience in leadership and finance alone.

Steen has a valuable background within the operations area, including a great understanding of large businesses alongside management experience in scalability and optimisation of the entire value stream from supplier to customer.

Andreas explains: “Ellab is a burgeoning business with an ambitious growth strategy and this has to be underpinned with more employees on all fronts and in more countries. This raft of appointments is not just in sales but a significant number of technical positions are also being filled, not least validation engineers, calibration technicians and production roles too.

“This is all part of our vision. We aim to continuously strengthen and improve the local experience of customers when dealing with any Ellab company at any location across the world – and building that mutual confidence in consumer safety requires the best colleagues in every role at every level within the Group.”

As well as its world-renowned validation, monitoring and calibration solutions and services, Ellab also provides class-leading GMP consulting and ancillary products to life science and food manufacturing companies globally.

For more information visit https://www.ellab.com/