EE&T News: October 12, 2010

Pushback from light bulb users

Our Sept.-Oct issue carries an editorial about a controversy in the U.K. involving CFL brightness or lack thereof. The U.S. is not immune to a backlash against mandated lighting. There's now a House Bill aimed at repealing the upcoming ban of incandescent lamps. Read about it here.
And you can catch our commentary on the U.K. in our digital edition if you aren't a print subscriber.
And as always, send us your energy efficiency news at [email protected]

Leland Teschler, Editor Read More

How to make A/C more efficient: Add a CVT

Fallbrook Technologies Inc. says it was able to replace a 330 cc AC compressor with a smaller 210 cc unit by coupling the compressor to its NuVinci Delta Series continuously variable planetary (CVP) transmission. The unit sat inside a bus made by Chengdu, Ltd.in China. READ MORERead More

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Rugged Speed and Temperature Sensor
Electro-Sensor's TT420 Temperature Transmitters and ST420 Shaft Tachometers are pre-calibrated, proven solutions that install fast and perform anywhere, providing rugged and reliable monitoring solutions for your toughest machine environments. The TT420 combines a temperature sensor, signal conditioning, and 2-wire loop-powered 4-20mA transmitter into one compact package. The ST420 detects magnetic pulses from a rotating shaft-mounted magnetic pulser target (disc or wrap) and outputs a smooth, continuous 4-20mA analog signal in direct proportion to the pulse frequency (rotating shaft speed).
www.electro-sensors.com

DoD says: Make fridges more energy efficient

The DoE has devised a new proposed energy efficiency standard for residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. The standard, as proposed, could save consumers as much as $18.6 billion over thirty years, the DoE claims. DoE says that as a result of previous appliance efficiency standards, today's refrigerators use less than one-third of the electricity than they did in the mid-1970s. With the proposed standard, the energy use of most refrigerator-freezers will drop by another 20 % to 25 % by 2014. READ MORERead More

U.S. gearing up to produce advanced battery technology

Here's the good news: At least 50 U.S. firms are involved in making advanced batteries of the kind destined to power coming generations of electric vehicles. Now here's the bad news: U.S. activity is concentrated in Tier 1 (cell/battery pack assembly). There's a big need for more domestic manufacture of cells and cell components. So says a new report from Duke University's Center for Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness. The report indicates that stimulus funds have helped create 119 sites spread out across 27 states that could play relevant roles in the production of advanced car batteries. READ MORERead More

Energy Shorts

Sign me up: Consumers happy to pay for energy monitoring that pays back
Coming: Less mercury in CFLs
A harvester that gathers waste energy from ICs
An energy efficient defroster for the fridge
Making pneumatic thermostats energy efficient

Now LEDs are ag grow lights

It looks as though the next big area in which LEDs will take marketshare away from traditional lighting is in "grow lights," those used to provide artificial lights for agricultural and horticultural uses. So says Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd. in Taiwan. It recently came out with what's called the Everlight GL-Flora LED lighting fixtures for agriculture. READ MORERead More

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Junction Box for PV

The Solarlok slim junction box distributes dc power to a solar panel in a design that minimizes visibility on the back of a panel.
The unit measures 15.5 × 52 mm and requires no potting on the inside. Applications include two-rail crystalline PV modules and two-rail thin-film PV modules, with a 3-A current rating for thin-film applications and a 12-A current rating for crystalline applications.
The junction-box assembly includes a spring clamp for termination of the foil leads, which clamps to the contact rail inside the box, eliminating the need for labor-intensive soldering.
The housing lid uses two latches to secure attachment to the lower part of the box.
Tyco Electronics Corp.Read More

Microcontroller runs multiple apps from single-cell battery

The MSP430L092 MCU operates at 0.9 V so it does not require an onboard boost converter, lowering the entire system's power consumption and reducing the need for external circuitry required by traditional solutions.
Developers can run electric toothbrushes, razors, toys, and security devices from a single-cell battery, ranging from AAA to coin cell. Programmable analog building blocks can be configured as five different peripherals.
Features include three 0.9-V MCU variations — MSP430L092 (RAM), MSP430C091 (ROM), and MSP430C092 (ROM) – with up to 2-kbytes RAM and 2-kbytes ROM; integrated Analog Functions Pool (A-Pool) can serve as an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), system voltage supervisor (SVS), temperature sensor, or comparator, eliminating the need for external components; programmable A-Pool lets various analog peripheral configurations run sequentially without user interaction for increased flexibility; tool kits, including external EEPROM, and ROM-flow process guide are available; and ultralow-power consumption of 45 μA (active) and wake-up time of less than 5 μsec combined with true 0.9-V operation allow for optimized battery usage.
Texas Instruments Inc.Read More

Caliper Disc Brakes for Wind Turbines
Brakes to safely stop wind turbine rotors and control yaw position in various wind conditions. Choose from Hydraulic, Spring Applied Pneumatic or Hydraulic, and Mechanical. Customs too. American made for North America and Beyond.www.windturbinebrakes.comRead More

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