Smartenergy Renewables AG successfully completed the conversion and upgrade of its fully-automated solar panel manufacturing facility in Luckenwalde, near Berlin, Germany. The factory is certified to DIN ISO 9001, 14001, and 50001 standards. The currently manufactured 295W Utility panels are fully IEC certified. To-date 1.9MW of the ultra-reliable Utility panels have been installed in a solar park in Southern Germany.
Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI) today introduced the industry’s first seven-channel, NMOS low-side driver, replacing standard Darlington transistor arrays with a power-efficient, drop-in compatible IC. The TPL7407L replaces half of the transistor arrays required to drive high current loads, providing a new option for high-voltage systems that previously required a number of transistor arrays or a motor driver. Reducing power by
Why didn’t they make classrooms like this when we were kids? A new off-grid teaching space in the UK is set to inspire the next generation of environmentalists. Treehouse designers Blue Forest have created a unique wooden classroom equipped with an innovative sedum green roof that turns rain into drinking water. The solar-powered system is believed to be the first
A new range of microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics Pty Ltd can help the cloud become significantly more energy-efficient. The digital infrastructure of today demands large quantities of electrical energy – data centres alone are believed to consume around 1.3% of the world’s electricity, equivalent to about 286,000 GWh per year. However, only about 40% of this energy is used productively, according
Microchip Technology Inc. today announced from the Sensors Expo in Rosemont, IL the expansion of its eXtreme Low Power (XLP) PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs) with the PIC24F “GB2” family. This new family features an integrated hardware crypto engine, a Random Number Generator (RNG) and One-Time-Programmable (OTP) key storage for protecting data in embedded applications. The PIC24F “GB2” devices offer up to
Microchip has tuned its eXtreme Low Power (XLP) PIC microcontroller range with increased data protection capabilities. The MCUs integrate a hardware crypto engine, a Random Number Generator (RNG) and One-Time-Programmable (OTP) key storage or protecting data in embedded applications. Several security features are integrated into the PIC24F “GB2” family, to protect embedded data. The fully featured hardware crypto engine, supporting
72 fabs were closed between 2009-2013 and another nine fabs are to close this year, says IC Insights. Since mid-2007, the IC industry has been paring down older capacity (i.e. 200mm and smaller wafers) in order to produce devices more cost-effectively on larger wafers. A few fabs have been refurbished for production using larger wafers or for production of “non-IC”
Rohde & Schwarz has introduced a radio conformance test system for standard-compliant testing of components for vehicle-to-vehicle applications and intelligent transport systems (ITS). The TS-ITS100 automated test system for standard-compliant testing of RF components in line with IEEE 802.11p. These components are used for vehicle-to-vehicle communications and intelligent transport systems (ITS). Using sequencer software developed especially for RF conformance tests,
Renesas Electronics Europe achieved VDE (the German Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies) certification for its IEC60335-compliant self-test software aimed at its RX100 microcontroller (MCU) family. The free-of-charge software is available for download from the company’s Web site. In addition to the on-chip hardware safety features, the self-test CPU software makes it easier for manufacturers of industrial, motor-control, and
Toshiba Corporation has been selected to provide the battery for the United Kingdom’s first 2MW scale lithium-titanate battery based Energy Storage System (ESS) to support grid management. The company’s 1MWh SCiB™ battery will be installed in a primary substation in central England in September. Large-scale ESS are increasingly seen as a versatile solution in managing electricity supply. Installed in wind