Electronics-Lab.com Blog

Working demo of the Soviet Nixie Clock with legendary IN-18 tubes

• PCB from : http://www.shop.nixieuhren.de
• Tubes from : http://www.tubes-store.com

Soviet Nixie Clock IN-18 (HD) - [Link]

Monolithic component DVIULC6-4SC6 for an ESD protection of high speed signals is a guarantee of a high reliability and a long lifetime of devices, especially in an industrial environment.

You may have already had a device, which stopped functioning without an apparent cause, or even worse – it started functioning with unaccountable dropouts. The reason may have be very probably a damage by an electrostatic energy. Consequences of such a damage are always unpleasant and often hard to detect. In the most of cases it would be sufficient, if the device contained components of an ESD protection. Price of these components is a fraction of the price in comparison to potential damages, which an ESD (electrostatic discharge) can cause. For an efficient protection against a static energy it is usually necessary to meet two requirements: to use suitable protective components and also to carefully design a PCB with minimalization of parasitic inductancies.

DVIULC6-4SC6 is a modern component from ST Microelectronics intended for an ESD protection of a wide variety of high-speed lines like DVI, HDMI, IEEE1394, USB, ethernet, video lines and SIM cards in communication devices. In a miniature SOT23-6L SMT package it is able to protect 4 independent signals and also to protect power supply (Vbus/GND) thanks to an integrated transil. With an ultra-low 0.6 pF capacitance and an excellent capacitance matching to gnd, as well as between lines, ensures high level of signal integrity and enables troublefree protection of pair signals without asymmetric distortion up to 1.65 Gbit/sec speeds. DVIULC6-4SC6 represents an integrated monolithic solution with a high reliability, ensuring compliancy with existing ESD standards on the device level, hence greater immunity at a system level.

Detailed description will provide you the DVIULC6-4SC6 datasheet.

DVi, HDMi, USB, ethernet … they all need an ESD protection - [Link]

From loudspeakers intended for industrial use, we naturally expect stable parameters even in more demanding conditions with variable temperature and humidity. FR series loudspeakers from German company Visaton meet stringent criteria, and in a WP version, they are resistant even to seawater.

Series FR contains loudspeakers for universal use in buildings, industry and vehicles. They are made of durable materials and all loudspeakers from this series are usable in a wide temperature range, type FR13 up to +100°C. Inspite of small dimensions, they have a relatively high efficiency and how we are already used to, at the Visaton mark – they feature balanced frequency characteristics. In the FR series we can find FR8, FR10, FR10HM and FR13 types.

FRxx WP is a special variant, suitable for moisty environment and for outdoor use. With an enclosed magnet and silicone-coated leads, they are absolutely corrosion- resistant. Used materials enable their utilization also at very low temperatures down to -40°C. FRxxWP are available in a black or white version.

Industrial loudspeakers Visaton FR resist even to seawater! - [Link]

This page describes hardware and software design for digital USB FM transmitter, called FmStick. This hardware does not contain analogue parts (except RF part). The main idea – is to create transmitter, that looks like usb flash stick. This idea is not new, You can see some of this designs in market, like Griffi RocketFM or Keene USB FM Transmitter, both avaliable on Amazon. But device, described below – is different. It does not have analogue sound parts at all, and it supports RDS, and it is powerful.

The main features of this device are:

• Transmit Frequency: 76 … 108 Mhz
• Transmit Power: -60 … 20 dBm[1]
• Audio Compression: Yes
• Audio Limitation: Yes
• Audio Signal Measurements: Yes
• Pre-Emphasis: 0/50/75 uS
• RDS: Yes
• RDS RadioText: Yes
• RDS Time: Yes
• Drivers Installation Needed: No[2]
• Software Needed: No[3]
• LEDs That shows state: Yes
• External power needed: No

FmStick Digital USB FM Transmitter - [Link]

The ADS-2061M 60MHz bandwidth 2 channel digital storage oscilloscope with a 500MSa/s sample rate and an 8″ color TFT-LCD display with 800×600 resolution offers huge amounts of memory, and USB flash storage support. 

This oscilloscope is very slim and lightweight. It has a large screen and a convenient carrying handle. Try and fall in love with it! This oscilloscope will always give you a hint how to use it. Just press “HELP” and get User Manual on your oscilloscope’s screen! It is ideal for learning and if you forgot any oscilloscope’s function.

• 60MHz with 2 +1 (External) channels
• 500MS/s (250MS/s for dual channel)
• 10M memory depth for each channel
• Large 8″ 800×600 Pixels LCD display
• AutoScale function
• Pass/Fail function
• Smart design with easy workplace
• Interface USB 2.0 Host FAT32 & USB 2.0 Device
• Nominal entrance: 110-220V, 50-60 Hz

FREE CARRY BAG (LIMITED TIME OFFER EXP. JAN 16 2012)

ADS-2061M Oscilloscope 60MHz 500MSa/s Dual Channels - [Link]

Imagine if the next coat of paint you put on the outside of your home generates electricity from light—electricity that can be used to power the appliances and equipment on the inside.

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame has made a major advance toward this vision by creating an inexpensive “solar paint” that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy.

“We want to do something transformative, to move beyond current silicon-based solar technology,” says Prashant Kamat, John A. Zahm Professor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry and an investigator in Notre Dame’s Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano), who leads the research.

“By incorporating power-producing nanoparticles, called quantum dots, into a spreadable compound, we’ve made a one-coat solar paint that can be applied to any conductive surface without special equipment.” [via]

Nanoparticle paint generates electricity - [Link]

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed a new and significantly cheaper method of manufacturing fuel cells. A noble metal nanoparticle catalyst for fuel cells is prepared using atomic layer deposition (ALD). This ALD method for manufacturing fuel cells requires 60 per cent less of the costly catalyst than current methods.

Fuel cells could replace polluting combustion engines that are presently in use. However, in a fuel cell, chemical processes must be sped up by using a catalyst. The high price of catalysts is one of the biggest hurdles to the wide adoption of fuel cells at the moment.

The most commonly used fuel cells cover anode with expensive noble metal powder which reacts well with the fuel. By using the Aalto University researchers’ ALD method, this cover can be much thinner and more even than before which lowers costs and increases quality. [via]

Reducing the production costs of fuel cells - [Link]

circuitvalley.com writes:

The General purpose 16×2 or 16×1 char LCD are very easy to interface with any microcontroller , and these lcd are really very cheap and thoroughly available in the whole world, but the only problem with these lcd is they require 4 or 8 data lines + 2 or 3 control line to at minimum 6 line and maximum 11 lines are required. that not good because many small package microcontroller like PIC10 ,PIC12,PIC16 from microchip ,MSP430 Texas Instrument and Attiny from Atmel there all microcontroller have either 6 to 15 I/O lines. in this condition this technique will save you many I/O line because in this we use only 2 wires to connect the lcd with any microcontroller.

16×2 Serial LCD using PIC12F675 - [Link]

By using optical equipment in a totally unexpected way, MIT researchers have created an imaging system that makes light look slow.

MIT researchers have created a new imaging system that can acquire visual data at a rate of one trillion exposures per second. That’s fast enough to produce a slow-motion video of a burst of light traveling the length of a one-liter bottle, bouncing off the cap and reflecting back to the bottle’s bottom.

Media Lab postdoc Andreas Velten, one of the system’s developers, calls it the “ultimate” in slow motion: “There’s nothing in the universe that looks fast to this camera,” he says.

Trillion-frame-per-second video - [Link]