Component Management

CPI has welcomed new resident clients to its new facility, just months after opening. The printable electronics centre, based at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has welcomed Silent Sensors, Datatecnics Corporation and HP1 as tenants, along with Wootzano and PST Sensors at its original site on NETPark, in Sedgefield, also County Durham.

New PEM SMTSK unthreaded standoffs from Penn Engineering permanently surface mount on printed circuit boards to enable quick attachment and removal of stacked components without requiring screws or tools. Their barrel design allows for a stacked board or panel to be slipped easily into place and then detached by simply sliding the component sideways and lifting it off.

Printed, flexible and organic electronics is an enabling set of technologies, comprising of many components that are at different stages of commercialisation and maturity. Commercialisation is being tackled very differently. Some are disrupting conventional products, for example by enabling foldable displays for smart phones. 

In this case study, Techsil provided emergency LED lighting manufacturers, Mackwell Electronics, with an automated solution for dispensing a clear, fast curing, 1-part silicone adhesive, to seal a clear plastic lens in an emergency luminaire housing. This provided an accurate, reliable IP65 rated seal, improved productivity, yield and accuracy; and the system installed can be adapted to suit other in-house bonding applications.

Sensors for medical applications, smart textiles and OLEDs for the automotive industry: numerous industries rely on printed and flexible electronics in their innovation process. LOPEC, the International Exhibition and Conference for the Printed Electronics Industry, which took place this week in Munich, Germany, reflects this trend.

Canada Balsam - distilled sap from the balsam tree - was one of the first materials to be used as an optical adhesive. Whilst of high optical quality, its poor thermal and solvent resistance caused it to be superseded during World War II by more robust materials. To meet the production and performance requirements of optics applications, engineers are often turning to UV curing adhesives. Peter Swanson, Managing Director of Intertronics, exp...

For many demanding applications, dielectric optical coatings are specified and manufactured to meet strict reflectivity values, sometimes at multiple wavelengths or over a broad band. In order to achieve such precision, the coating layer thickness must be determined and met. 

Stretchable electronics is emerging as a promising new technology for next-generation wearable devices, according to a review published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. The technology has many possible applications for healthcare, energy and the military. But there are several challenges involved in finding suitable materials and manufacturing methods.

Solution processed light emitting organic materials were demonstrated in 1989 with a tiny 0.1 EQE (external quantum efficiency). Since then there has been tremendous progress on material synthesis/production as well as on display processing. However, thus far, commercialisation has remained elusive.

The essence of a medical device is its relationship to the patient. A growing trend in preventative health is wearable technology, like smart watches and monitors placed on the skin. The engineers of these devices must find solutions to make medical technology flexible and durable enough to work on a person’s wrist or hip for example. Michael Garry, AMADA MIYACHI EUROPE explains.