Energy

Researchers to develop energy-harvesting mat

Morgan Technical Ceramics and Glyndwr University are undertaking a project to develop a mat that can harvest energy from people walking across it

40A, three-phase power supply is 'smallest on the market'

Puls UK's new super-compact QT 40 power supply delivers 960W at 95.3 per cent efficiency, meaning that cooling fans are not necessary

Low-loss inductive components for solar power inverters

Core materials made of powder composites with low magnetostriction that have been purpose-designed

Variable speed drives promote wind power in urban areas

Permanent magnet motors are synchronous machines, designed to drive low speed applications directly, without a gearbox

Electronics

Function/arbitrary/pulse generator features broad frequency range

TTI's TG5011 function/arbitrary/pulse generator has a frequency range covering 1uHz to 50MHz and a price that is said to undercut lower-specification alternatives

New USB data acquisition module suits 19-inch or portable applications

Data Translation's new DT 9824USB-powered data acquisition module features four galvanically isolated differential inputs, each with a 24-bit A/D converter

Embedded flash microcontroller is claimed to be the industry's fastest

Renesas Technology Europe's new SH7216 on-chip flash memory microcontrollers are very fast and benefit from built-in peripherals and communications interfaces

Oil & Gas

Global offshore drilling will be 'fully recovered by 2011'

Datamonitor’s projections, contained in a newly-published report, point to a return to overall stability in 2010 within the industry

Plant controlled by automation system with integrated telecoms

Plant will be controlled by ABB Extended Automation System 800xA and integrated with the telecoms systems

Coal bed methane production: success depends on location

While coal bed methane has a promising future in the Far East, things look far less certain in other locations. Sean Ottewell reports

A life aquatic: ensuring marine diversity

Richard Foote investigates the role of marine biologists in offshore energy developments

Design

Magnetostrictive linear transducers are immune to noise

Gefran says its MK4-S and IK4-S magnetostrictive linear position transducers benefit from higher immunity to electromagnetic noise feature and increased performance

Three-axis video measuring microscope features high-accuracy Z-axis

Vision Engineering's compact Falcon three-axis video measuring microscope benefits from higher accuracy and repeatability of the Z-axis results

ISO brochure: international standards and private standards

ISO has published a document that explains the differences between its truly international standards and those created by industry groupings