Wireless charging and machine health monitoring at CeBIT 2017

Over 118 companies and organisations from industry, government and academia will be participating at the Japan Pavilion, organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). ROHM will be exhibiting at the Element Zone in the Japan Pavilion, where it will introduce semiconductor solutions including sensors and wireless communication technologies that achieve IoT along with SiC power devices.

Highlighted products include:

Machine health monitoring demo
A single malfunction of factory equipment can lead to substantial losses. Therefore, it is important to prevent equipment malfunction by monitoring the equipment and environment within factories (machine health). ROHM’s demo detects pump load and measures the water temperature and vibration of the pump using ten different sensor nodes attached to the equipment. Sensor information is continuously acquired and the data transmitted wirelessly from the sensor nodes to a gateway. And uploading the data to the cloud enables monitoring from virtually anywhere, allowing for immediate response upon detection of abnormalities. 

Mounted devices: accelerometer, colour sensor, barometric pressure sensor, wireless communication ICs/modules, MCU board.

Wireless charging
Wireless charging is attracting increased attention since it eliminates the need for a cumbersome power cord (which is expected to make connectors safer and more dust- and water-proof) and enables a single charger to power a variety of devices. The company will showcase a Qi-certified medium power 15W class wireless charger reference board with ROHM IC that facilitates evaluation and prototyping of wireless charging systems.

SiC technology for Formula E inverters
Motor sports Formula E is garnering interest as a platform for further innovation in the electric car sector. ROHM, which became an official technology partner of team Venturi at the start of season three in October of last year, offers SiC power devices for the inverter block that comprises the core of the drive system in electric cars. As an application example of SiC power devices, they will exhibit an inverter and a replica of a Formula E car.

CeBIT 2017 will be taking place from 20^th-24^th March at Hanover International Fairground, Germany. Visit ROHM at the Element Zone in the Japan Pavilion, hall 4, booth A38-3.