Brother batteries

There are a lot of ways to charge a regular battery, however, sometimes it is not easy finding the Charging source. Brother technologies has found a great way to recharge batteries without being hooked up to another power source. It is indeed a brilliant concept and it makes use of vibrations. Heres more on these Vibration-Powered Generating Batteries.

Essentially the technology inside these batteries is similar to the flashlights that can be powered by shaking them. Since both the battery and generator are both packed into a AA-sized enclosure, the output is very minimal. Currently they can only produce around 100mW of unsustainable power. While that may not seem like much, it would be perfect for TV remotes, which generally use less than 100mW. How about LED flashlights? they wouldn’t need too much power too,  This could mean having a flashlight or a TV mote that never needs the batteries changed!

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BeBionic

There was a time when we saw James Cameron’s Terminators in movies and imagined what a real Terminator could do in life.  Now there is some realism in the real world. BeBionic’s myo-electric, very realistic bionic hand, is supposedly impressive. The finished product was just unveiled at ISPO World Congress in Leipzig Germany, and it is more than what meets the eyes.

T2

The bionic hand boasts a fully integrated wireless chip, fully customizable functions to control speed, grip force, and grip patterns, plus aesthetic bonuses such as silicone skin overlays in 19 different tones. The BeBionic hand is now due for worldwide distribution in June of this year. The video below can give you an idea of how it can look in real life…

Amazing stuff.

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scada systems

Well firstly what are SCADA systems?

SCADA stands for supervisory control and data acquisition. It generally refers to an industrial control system: a computer system monitoring and controlling a process. The process can be industrial, infrastructure or facility-based as described below:

Industrial processes include those of manufacturing, production, power generation, fabrication, and refining, and may run in continuous, batch, repetitive, or discrete modes.
Infrastructure processes may be public or private, and include water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, oil and gas pipelines, electrical power transmission and distribution, Wind Farms, civil defense siren systems, and large communication systems.
Facility processes occur both in public facilities and private ones, including buildings, airports, ships, and space stations. They monitor and control HVAC, access, and energy consumption.

Now Coming to the new HMI technologies in SCADA Systems:
Driving down the operational cost of process installations across different industries and markets by using more sophisticated automation systems and applications has been an ongoing process for years. An important part of this has become the tendency of unmanning and remote operations of process installations and to investigate for which applications new technological developments allows this to be realised in a safe and cost effective manner. Today’s scada systems are perfectly positioned to facilitate the technology, infrastructure and functionality to achieve these aims.
Modern scada systems rely to a large extent on new IT technologies embedded in their core software architectures. Despite the many advantages of these new technologies, they also present a higher risk as they are often more susceptive to cyber attacks than rigid proprietary software. On the other hand, they do facilitate a cost-effective integration of environmental monitoring and intrusion detection systems.
This means that scada software for automation and integration of geographically dispersed process locations in particular should be adaptive to emerging new IT technologies as well as to the latest ‘best in class’ security solutions that are available. This allows scada system vendors to concentrate their R&D efforts on the functional requirements of user specific automation applications and optimisation needs. To make this possible, today’s scada systems for process automation and remote operations should at least be independent of the hardware platform and communications media used. They also need to have access to a ‘state-of-the-art’ web-based visualisation environment and associated highly secure network infrastructure and web services. This will secure their key role in facilitating the seamless integration of any brand control and monitoring systems.
For these reasons, there is a bright future for any scada system that has a truly web-based visualisation environment and makes optimal use of available IT technologies. Such a system will bring end-users more intuitive and advanced visualisation and rapid deployment of their process mimics, alarm, trend and report overviews. Furthermore, it makes it easier to maintain and integrate information from different information sources in one graphical ‘dashboard’ with role-based key performance indicators (KPIs). In this way, information can be shared with authorised user groups in a secure way across geographically dispersed locations. This enables operators to monitor the operational condition and performance of all their assets from any location with secure Internet access at any time through a single-window web-browser environment.
This article outlines some of the emerging technologies that relate to such scada systems and their applications. It provides a perspective on efficiency improvements that can be achieved through a truly web-based scada infrastructure, as well as describing how the utilisation of a web-based infrastructure can be taken a major step further by the use of dynamic layering and visibility techniques.

Web deployment of scada visualisation

Web-based scada clients accessing platform independent scada Server

The benefits and potential cost savings that can be achieved through a secure web-based scada infrastructure can be significant. A true web-based server and client architecture which is loosely coupled with the operating system provides easy remote access and security enhancements for deploying reliable graphic and application services via the web. For example, to support an organisation’s security policies, scada systems and their applications must be hardened to protect them against unauthorised usage and access. The transparent nature, independency and flexibility of web technology makes it easy to adapt to the most advanced IT security techniques.
Furthermore, platform independence of web-based scada systems is important to make them sufficiently flexible to run on computer devices with different operating systems in order to increase accessibility and maintainability across the system and to secure previously made application investments. This can be achieved by using Java as the core software technology, which makes the scada client environment available as an independent application or as an applet in a web browser or on other devices such as Java phones, PDAs or iMacs. The availability of modern telecommunications technology means that physical barriers can easily be removed, and information can be accessed in a flexible way. Specific user groups (management, finance, operations, logistics, maintenance etc,) can be served with information for their particular interests and needs (Figure 1).

Web-enabled Web-based
It is important to emphasise that ‘web-based’ is not the same as ‘web-enabled’, the latter describing software where often only a limited part of its functionality is made available through a web portal on top. Truly web-based scada systems are designed and built to run completely in a web environment which allows access to all functionality of the scada system with only browser technology at the desktop level. Such systems offer increased responsiveness and interactivity – achieved by exchanging small amounts of data with the server ‘behind the scenes’. The only information exchanged is that associated with the role and specified area of interest of a particular user.
Another cost reduction that can be achieved by utilising web technology is installing and maintaining the scada visualisation environment on remote clients over the system communication infrastructure. This functionality is called zero deployment (Figure 2). Zero deployment is designed to simplify and enhance the distribution of applications to users (clients). Zero deployment means that users do not have to request or download the application, because it is automatically delivered from the scada server at first identification and log-on. The next time a client logs on he receives only the updates and stays continuously current with any application/configuration changes.

Figure 2. Zero deployment concept

Zero deployment concept

The processing power to run the client applications causes a limited amount of additional load on the server as they are executed locally using processing power from the client PC. Many more clients can be easily served in this way through one web server compared to what can be achieved using a terminal server.
Zero deployment means that client applications can be automatically obtained via any web browser by authorised users, with users always getting the most recent version of an application. There is no need to manage licenses and software installations on the client side, no application files to copy over, and no communication configurations to setup. The organisation benefits from better load sharing between server and clients, as well as the ability to use IT approved security and secure network connections.

Conclusion
Web-based scada visualisation will bring changes in the realtime presentation of information intelligence, enabling an evolution to a much more intuitive and advanced approach in process management featuring visualisation and associated dashboard views. It will also make it easier to adapt to and to utilise application security and deployment techniques. These client/host web-based architectures should be able to run on any operating system platform to reduce R&D cost for operating system specific upgrades. Dynamic layers and visibility groups enable multilevel process and KPI monitoring and supervision within one operating environment.
The results of adapting the technologies discussed in this article will reduce operating faults, cut development time, and minimise maintenance costs.

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Its always amazing to see devices that saves lives and even better to know that they can run forever without a source of power. This tiny device made by experts at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg, Germany, might have just stumbled upon a potential lifesaver in the form of an early-warning system for rust. These sensor-transponders will be installed into in the concrete in order to measure the extent of corrosion, where they are capable of providing engineers with a warning should rust start to turn a particular structure into an unworthy one for road users. As mentioned earlier, the transponder that communicates with the rust sensor will be powered by a magnetic field, which basically means it can run forever and ever without the need for any replacement.

That’s what you call Amazing technology! Now can you think of good old places that need these?

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penny sized-nuclear-battery

For all those who work several hours in front of their laptops, or young guns glued to their cell phone and suddenly you realize there is not enough charge left in the device and irritatingly plug the charger to the device, putting an end to all the continuity with work, or your travelling and want to conserve energy of your device using it at real necessity, here is a relief. Would you like the charge of your mobile phone to last a couple of months? Well, the answer to your “prayers” might be the nuclear batteries, which are been developed at the University of Missouri. They are designed especially for providing a lasting source of energy. And some people think these batteries could replace the current ones, including those used by the electrical cars. According to the creators, a nuclear battery has a very enormous capacity to generate electricity when compared to a regular one.

The batteries have always been the black sheep of the mobile devices. Usually, the designers of electronic devices for mass consumption (like laptops or media players) use small displays or screens that are not very bright in order to save the scarce energy resources that are provided from the regular batteries. But the new nuclear battery would bring a solution based on a liquid semiconductor (rather than a solid semiconductor) that will produce a much longer lifetime for the battery. The reason is the solid semiconductors are attacked constantly by some radioactive elements used by other types of batteries, while the liquid semiconductor is quite resistant  to these attacks. Although the term “nuclear” can be a little perturbing, the fact is that these batteries are not very different from those batteries used in, for example, medical pacemakers.

Nuclear battery for new technology gadgets

Nuclear Battery

The new radioisotope battery has the size of a penny and provides much more power than the traditional ones because, according to the researches, its capacity is very superior. Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri, said that the radioisotope battery “can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries”. That is to say, it provides no less than a million times more charge than any “normal” battery.

The research team and Kwon have spent enough time working to solve many problems that they have encountered when developing this type of battery. One important thing is the batteries need to be small and thin in order to be practical and useful; this way, they could be used to power watches and small electronic devices. As mentioned before, the prototype (which you can see in the picture below) has the size and thickness of a penny, but the researchers think they can achieve a thinner battery. In order to do this, Kwon has required the collaboration of another professor: J. David Robertson (chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor). Together, they hope to maximize the power of the nuclear batteries as well as reduce the size and test other materials to make additional improvements. Kwon thinks that the final battery, which would be used in commercial gadgets, could be thinner than a human hair. For the moment, the research team have required a provisional patent in order to protect the exclusive right to use this invention.

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Lead Free Solder

Lead is dangerous, but a really useful product when it comes to Soldering. The heavy metal is a big source of pollution in soil and ground water tables due to electronics being tossed in landfills, and is a toxic substance in e-waste dumps. But there is hope, Yale researchers have come up with a new soldering material that could eliminate lead in this area of electronics as well, using magnets, rather than heat, to bond materials.

Lead has a high strength and a low melting point, it’s a preferred metal for soldering in electronics because it can be melted onto components without damaging them. Non-lead alternatives have so far been weaker or require more heat to melt, which of course means electronics manufacturers aren’t willing to eliminate lead in this area. At least not yet. Cleantechnica reports that a new “liquid magnet” material from Yale could be a solution for getting lead out of soldering in electronics, and it has a revolutionary way of melding with materials:

“The Yale team has come up with a tin-silver alloy that holds micro-particles of iron. Rather than applying heat from an external source, the compound is exposed to a magnetic field. That excites the iron particles, which causes the solder to heat up and melt internally. The result is a highly localized melt that has little or no effect on the components around it. Bourzac explains that the magnetic field also forces the iron particles to line up. The particles hold position when the solder cools, which results in a much stronger bond than possible with conventional non-lead soldering compounds.”

Not only does this process mean a strong, low-heat way of soldering electronic components without the toxic lead, it also means increased energy efficiency in manufacturing. The new soldering method could mean easier and cheaper ways to make chips with more computing power, all without the use of lead.

As stated in a Yale University article , “We took this as an opportunity to improve solder for the environment, but we also took it as an opportunity to reexamine how to enhance solder in general,” said Ainissa Ramirez, associate professor at the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science and lead author of the study. “There is a whole range of possibilities for this new kind of solder. In addition to helping make the fabrication of microelectronics more environmentally responsible, these new solders have the potential to solve technological challenges.”

This could be a huge boon for electronics manufacturers, as they actively looks to reduce or eliminate the toxic materials currently used in gadgets and appliances.

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Twirl battery power

It is a simple principle where you twirl things around your fingers and this creates enough juice to power up your phone batteries. According to these designers, about 120 – 130 twirls would be required for generating two-minutes of talk time. Imagine having to speak for 5 hours!

Power using Electromagnetic Waves.

airnergy wifi battery charger

RCA and their supercool Airnergy power system. A brilliant technology which harvests energy from WiFi signals. The pocket size dongle picks up WiFi signals from the air and manages to charge an internal battery. The technology uses Wireless signal power and this means you only need access to signals around you and not connect to a WiFi hotspot.  Once you are in range, your batteries will automatically charge up.

RCA plans to put this technology into actual cellphone batteries, this way you wont need to remove them out.

What an amazing concept, get set to see a world without mobile phone battery chargers.

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• Wireless Power!

ecoupled-power-12-29-09

Imagine a future with wireless power, no wires required to power your PC, TV or any electrical device. That’s how close a company called Fulton has gotten to in developing wireless power

Fulton Innovation has made some a new mid-range inductive power system. It was able to power a 12 watt lamp at a distance of 35 inches, or light up an LED at various points in between.

The link below has a demonstration of the concept!

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Panasonic Safer Lithium Batteries

Panasonic’s new Lithium Ion batteries will be long lasting and safer than existing Lithium batteries.

No longer a secret, Panasonic is said to have used nickel instead of carbon for the positive terminal in each cell. The previous record at Panasonic for type cells were 2.9 amp hours, and a quick search shows that most are in the 2.2 amp range. Panasonic claims that the new batteries will be nearly 30% better than older batteries and can hold up to 4.0 amps of power.

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bluetooth 4.0

Bluetooth 4.0 has been officially certified for release. The Bluetooth 3.0 technology was all about high energy with the introduction of WiFi transfer, Bluetooth 4.0 takes things down a notch by certifying single-mode low energy devices in addition to dual-mode devices that incorporate both the low energy side of the spec plus either 2.1+EDR or 3.0. What this means is that the technology should bring a number of new categories and form factors of wireless devices into the fold since 1Mbps Bluetooth low energy can operate on coin or button cells. Nokia will probably be the first to implement this technology.

Devices could get smaller

Expect a new generation of Smaller lightweight Bluetooth devices.

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