Electronics-Lab.com Blog

The TPS54160 device is a 60-V, 1.5-A, step down regulator with an integrated high-side MOSFET. Current mode control provides simple external compensation and flexible component selection. A low ripple pulse skip mode reduces the no load, regulated output supply current to 116 µA. Using the enable pin, shutdown supply current is reduced to 1.3 µA.

2.5MHz DC/DC converter protect against 65-V transients - [Link]

The idea behind this post is to bring together some robot designs and transform them in a new device with new hardware and standard software (arduino of course) and so easier to use.  These robots have three things in common: a mechanical structure, the hardware and the software. While the mechanical part is necessarily different, we wanted to understand if there was a hardware board that could be common, with a unique development system. The choice, quite obviously, has the Arduino board, which with its development environment is perfect to create similar projects.

Robot shield for Arduino - [Link]

Researchers at MIT have designed a novel device the size of a U.S. quarter that harvests energy from low-frequency vibrations, such as those that might be felt along a pipeline or bridge. The tiny energy harvester — known technically as a microelectromechanical system, or MEMS — picks up a wider range of vibrations than current designs, and is able to generate 100 times the power of devices of similar size.

To harvest electricity from environmental vibrations, researchers have typically looked to piezoelectric materials, or PZT, such as quartz and other crystals. Various designs are based on a small microchip with layers of PZT glued to the top of a tiny cantilever beam. As the chip is exposed to vibrations, the beam moves up and down like a wobbly diving board, bending and stressing the PZT layers. The stressed material builds up an electric charge, which can be picked up by arrays of tiny electrodes. However, the beam itself has a resonant frequency and outside of this frequency, the beam’s response drops off, along with the amount of power that can be generated. [via]

New MEMS Device Generates More Energy From Small Vibrations - [Link]

Physicists at the University of Utah (USA) have invented a new ‘spintronic’ organic light-emitting diode (OLED) with the potential to be brighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than existing LEDs. They made a prototype of what is called a spin-polarized organic LED, or spin OLED, that emits orange light. In time the new technology could be extended to emit red and blue light, and possibly even white light. It may take a while for the new LEDs to go commercial, because they only operate at cold temperatures (-33 °C), so more work is needed to develop practical devices.

The new OLED is based on spintronic devices, which utilise the spins of electrons in a semiconductor material to store or gate data. The researchers discovered that with key advances in the organic semiconductor material, spin valve devices could also be made to emit light. The first advance is to use deuterium (‘heavy hydrogen’) instead of normal hydrogen in the organic layer, which increases efficiency. The second advance is to deposit an extremely thin layer of lithium fluoride on the cobalt electrode, which allows electrons to be injected on one side of the spin valve while holes are injected on the other side. This makes the spin valve bipolar, unlike older spin valves which only allow hole injection. [via]

New OLED Spins Brighter - [Link]

Don Scansen writes:

Ambient light, thermal gradients, vibration/motion, or electromagnetic radiation can be harvested to power electronic devices. At the same time, all energy-harvesting-based systems need energy storage for times when the energy cannot be harvested (e.g., at night for solar-powered systems). Rechargeable batteries ‒ known as “secondary” cells to differentiate them from “primary” or single-use cells ‒ are usually specified for this task. This article will examine the various secondary cell technologies available to energy harvesting system designers looking for a cost-effective and powerful battery solution.

Primary and secondary batteries contain the same basic structure of a cathode, an anode, an electrolyte for moving charge between the terminals, and a means to separate them. Secondary cells are distinguished by the type of rechargeable chemistry employed, such as nickel-cadmium or lithium-polymer, or solid-state thin film.

Storage Battery Solutions for Energy Harvesting Applications - [Link]

rookieelectronics writes:

This is my favourite project, its too simple and very interesting because it does not require any voltage source it converts RF frequency waves from cell phone (whenever you call or send a text) to little current to flash a LED.

Actually this project is also called as LED power meter, it is used to test RF equipments. It can detect output power of our FM transmitters, by simply connecting voltmeter in the place of the load(LED) of this circuit.

Cell phone RF radiation Detector - [Link]

This article shows you how to create a VHDL module in an FPGA or CPLD that can output a dynamic PWM signal to fade LEDs in and out, creating a cool visual effect. The hardware schematic, source code, parts list and theory are all included in the article.

CPLD LED Fading - [Link]

Randy Sarafan writes:

Plants liven up any space by adding a sense of airiness and life. That is – of course – when you don’t forget to water them, and they shrivel up and die. I am very bad at remembering to water plants. That is why I built this self-watering plant to do it for me. Using a soil sensor, and an Arduino-controlled water pump, I have created a system that will never forget to do it. Instead of remembering to water my plants when the soil goes dry, I only have to remember to once and a while refill the water reservoir. In this way, I have decreased my obligation to these plants and put it off to a much later date. Perhaps further iterations of this device can be connected to a rain barrel so that I won’t even have to worry about refilling my reservoir, and the entire system can be fully automated.

Self-Watering Plant with Arduino - [Link]

Saleae Logic16 is a Logic analyzer to take you to the next level of digital circuits design and debugging. It features 16 Channels with 100Mhz max sampling rate. Priced at $299

• Flexible sample rate: Sample 2 channels at 100MHz, 4 channels at 50MHz, 8 channels at 25MHz, or all 16 channels at 12.5MHz.
• 16 channels: As you might have guessed from the name, Logic16 lets you connect up to 16 of your most troublesome signals
• Enhanced hardware-side buffer: Logic16 has a much larger hardware-side buffer than Logic, considerably enhancing its reliability for extremely long captures at high speeds.
• Billions of samples: Logic16 can save as many as 10B samples, letting you capture even the most elusive events. No more dealing with frustratingly small sample buffers.
• > more tech specs here

Saleae Logic16 – 16 Channels logic analyzer for everyone - [Link]

Scanalogic-2 PRO is a 4 channel Logic Analyzer and Digital Signal Generator priced at 59€. At this cost it’s easy for a hobbyist to get one and make digital circuits debugging a breeze. It’s designed to capture, decode and analyze serial protocols like SPI, I2C, UART, 1-WIRE and CAN in a few clicks. Data is captured on PC using the free and efficient ScanaStudio software.

Features: