The Kynix Blog - News Room

An ISA100 Wireless-based field wireless vibration sensor from Yokogawa has the ability to quickly update data as well as a long battery life. ISA100 Wireless is a technology that is based on the ISA100.11a standard. It includes ISA100.11a-2011 communications, an application layer with process control industry standard objects, device descriptions and capabilities, a gateway interface, infrared provisioning, and a backbone router.By providing real-time updates on vibration levels in plant facilities, the new sensor helps users quickly detect equipment anomalies and enables predictive maintenance.With a field wireless system, plant field devices and analysers are able to communicate wirelessly with host-level monitoring and control systems.The rising need to improve productivity and enhance safety by collecting more data on plant operations is driving the demand for field wireless devices, which can be installed even in difficult to access locations.Field wireless devices have the added advantage of reducing installation costs.Vibration sensors are useful for the condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of plant machinery such as compressors, pumps, and motors.Conventional methods for monitoring vibration include the use of vibration sensors that rely on wired communications with a host system, and patrols by maintenance staff to collect vibration data.With the widening use of field wireless systems and the need to reduce installation costs, there is an increasing demand for wireless vibration sensors.Since releasing the world’s first ISA100 Wireless-based field wireless devices and wireless systems, Yokogawa has expanded its lineup of field wireless devices that measure temperature, pressure, flow rate, and the like.This new vibration sensor will meet the company’s customers’ needs for a device that can provide the quick updates on vibration levels needed to detect anomalies at an early stage.The principal components of this field wireless vibration sensor are the FN510 field wireless multifunction module, the LN01 piezoelectric type acceleration sensor, and the FN110 field wireless communication module.Via a gateway device, the FN510 uses the ISA100 Wireless communications protocol to exchange data with a host-level system such as a DCS. The data collected with this vibration sensor enables plant operators and maintenance staff to monitor vibration levels in real time. Both explosion-proof and non-explosion-proof types are available.Reference:D7E-1BU-27135-0001005447-1   

A new line of 1.85-, 2.4- and 2.92-mm waveguide-to-coax adapters offer operating ranges up to 65 GHz. Meeting the requirement for a transition from coax to waveguide, or vice versa, the adapters’ targeted applications include satellite communications, wireless communications, industrial, test and measurement, and defense systems. The new line includes 10 adapters that include millimeter-wave frequency ranges with models in the K-band (18 to 26.5 GHz) up to the V-band (50 to 65 GHz). The adapters offer VSWR as low as 1.29:1, while also providing insertion loss performance as low as 0.3 dB. Waveguide sizes available for these new models include WR-42, WR-28, WR-22, WR-19 and WR-15. The adapters feature a right-angle configuration. Those with 2.92-mm connectors use a UG-style square waveguide flange; 2.4-mm and 1.85-mm connector versions use a UG-style circular waveguide flange. Both male and female connector options are available in each frequency band. Reference:AE-SP28U1MSP-TS430PM64AAC164336  

Even if you can afford a new car this year, you might just enjoy hacking together your own version of the connected car of the future instead of buying the latest $50,000 fully electric car. If you have an iPhone or Android phone and about a hundred bucks, you can add a device to your current car that will sync with an app and provide a few of the Internet of Things features that will become standard as connected cars are made by every automaker.Connecting to the Connected CarThe key to making these devices work is that they all hook into a car’s OBD-II Port. Cars made in the US after 1996 are required to have this port, and the connector must be within 2 feet of the steering wheel or somewhere within reach of the driver. This port accesses the car’s main computer that records mileage, speed, emissions, and other critical data.The device used to connect to the OBD-II port is often called a dongle, and a variety of tech start-ups are making their own versions. These dongles take your car’s data and transmit it to your iPhone or Android device using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or cellular connectivity – meaning the dongle itself will have some kind of transmitter, such as a SIM card if it uses a cellular connection.Connected Car App BenefitsThe last piece is the mobile app on your phone, which analyzes the car data on the go. Typically, the same company that makes the dongle has an app that works with it.Connected car apps have three main categories of features:Automatic crash detection and roadside assistance – If you get into a car accident, the app will send out an alert on your phone to 911 and your predefined emergency contacts.Vehicle health diagnostics – The app tracks conditions such as engine codes, battery drain, fluids, and more, helping with preventative car maintenance.Real-time location monitoring – From finding your car quickly in a parking lot to geo-fencing a teen driver to tracking a stolen vehicle, this app features help you know where your car is.Most connected car apps offer a combination of these main benefits in some fashion. Other possible tools include standalone GPS mapping, remote lock/unlock, trip history, security features, driver awareness monitoring, and pole-position style games.There are plenty of options to choose from now on, it just depends on what interests you and how much you want to spend. Unless you can wait until these features are built into every car available.Reference:BVL120600003NBVL062000003N3202P 

Researchers from the Institute for Biomedical Engineering have succeeded in measuring tiny changes in strong magnetic fields. In their experiments, the scientists magnetised a water droplet inside a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, a device that is used for medical imaging. The researchers were able to detect even the tiniest variations of the magnetic field strength within the droplet.These changes were up to a trillion times smaller than the seven tesla field strength of the MRI scanner used in the experiment. “Until now, it was possible only to measure such small variations in weak magnetic fields,” says Klaas Prüssmann, Professor of Bioimaging at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich.An example of a weak magnetic field is that of the Earth, where the field strength is just a few dozen microtesla. For fields of this kind, highly sensitive measurement methods are already able to detect variations of about a trillionth of the field strength, says Prüssmann.“Now, we have a similarly sensitive method for strong fields of more than one tesla, such as those used, inter alia, in medical imaging.” The scientists based the sensing technique on the principle of nuclear magnetic resonance, which also serves as the basis for magnetic resonance imaging and the spectroscopic methods that biologists use to elucidate the 3D structure of molecules.However, to measure the variations, the scientists had to build a new high-precision sensor, part of which is a highly sensitive digital radio receiver. “This allowed us to reduce background noise to an extremely low level during the measurements,” says Simon Gross. Gross wrote his doctoral thesis on this topic in Prüssmann’s group and is lead author of the paper published in the journal Nature Communications.In the case of nuclear magnetic resonance, radio waves are used to excite atomic nuclei in a magnetic field. This causes the nuclei to emit weak radio waves of their own, which are measured using a radio antenna; their exact frequency indicates the strength of the magnetic field.As the scientists emphasise, it was a challenge to construct the sensor in such a way that the radio antenna did not distort the measurements. The scientists have to position it in the immediate vicinity of the water droplet, but as it is made of copper it becomes magnetised in the strong magnetic field, causing a change in the magnetic field inside the droplet.The researchers therefore came up with a trick: they cast the droplet and antenna in a specially prepared polymer; its magnetisability (magnetic susceptibility) exactly matched that of the copper antenna. In this way, the scientists were able to eliminate the detrimental influence of the antenna on the water sample.This measurement technique for very small changes in magnetic fields allows the scientists to now look into the causes of such changes. They expect their technique to find use in various areas of science, some of them in the field of medicine, although the majority of these applications are still in their infancy.“In an MRI scanner, the molecules in body tissue receive minimal magnetisation – in particular, the water molecules that are also present in blood,” explains doctoral student Gross. “The new sensor is so sensitive that we can use it to measure mechanical processes in the body; for example, the contraction of the heart with the heartbeat.”The scientists carried out an experiment in which they positioned their sensor in front of the chest of a volunteer test subject inside an MRI scanner. They were able to detect periodic changes in the magnetic field, which pulsated in time with the heartbeat.The measurement curve is reminiscent of an electrocardiogram (ECG), but unlike the latter measures a mechanical process (the contraction of the heart) rather than electrical conduction.“We are in the process of analysing and refining our magnetometer measurement technique in collaboration with cardiologists and signal processing experts,” says Prüssmann. “Ultimately, we hope that our sensor will be able to provide information on heart disease – and do so non-invasively and in real time.”The new measurement technique could also be used in the development of new contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging: in MRI, the image contrast is based largely on how quickly a magnetised nuclear spin reverts to its equilibrium state.Experts call this process relaxation. Contrast agents influence the relaxation characteristics of nuclear spins even at low concentrations and are used to highlight certain structures in the body.In strong magnetic fields, sensitivity issues had previously restricted scientists to measurement of just two of the three spatial nuclear spin components and their relaxation.They had to rely on an indirect measurement of relaxation in the important third dimension. For the first time, the new high-precision measurement technique allows the direct measurement of all three dimensions of nuclear spin in strong magnetic fields.Direct measurement of all three nuclear spin components also paves the way for future developments in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for applications in biological and chemical research. 

A capacitive touch sensor display that provides a more intuitive interface to ease and accelerate user interactions has been developed by VCC. The LED-based CTH series capacitive touch sensor display combines graphic interactive control with colour identification to make the interface more user-friendly.Utilising sensitive capacitive touch sensing technology, the CTH series simplifies designs and offers cost savings by eliminating the need for a traditional switch.The LED display produces a high-optical clarity, and is offered with or without a wide variety of standard graphic overlays and colours. VCC can also develop custom icons to meet most any application requirement. Offered in a wide variety of colours including red, yellow, blue, pure green and white, the LED back-lit CTH series. The robust design has no moving parts, improving reliability and increasing the operational life.Featuring a through hole design, the capacitive touch sensor display is available in one standard size 15x15x11.0mm with an industry standard pitch of 0.100"."Featuring translucent icons illuminated with different coloured LEDs, the user friendly CTH series display offers superior device interaction by communicating a singular action to users such as on/off, alarm status, and more," said Sannah Vinding, Director of Product Development and Marketing at VCC. "The integrated functionality of the compact CTH series capacitive touch sensor display eliminates the need for designing-in a traditional switch. Unlike mechanical membrane switches or mechanical push buttons, capacitive touch keypads have no moving parts so there is nothing to wear out."The CTH series is used in a wide range of applications including appliances, consumer equipment, gaming devices, industrial control displays, media players, medical devices, mobile communication devices, PDAs, point of sale terminals, portable instruments, touch screen monitors and more.Reference:T141AM61STMPE1208SQTRQT1101-ISGAT42QT2100-AUR  

Type 1 diabetes patients may one day be able to monitor their blood glucose levels and even control their insulin infusions via a transparent sensor on a contact lens, a new Oregon State University study suggests.The sensor uses a nanostructured transistor – specifically an amorphous indium gallium oxide field effect transistor, or IGZO FET – that can detect subtle glucose changes in physiological buffer solutions, such as the tear fluid in eyes.Type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, can lead to serious health complications unless glucose levels are carefully controlled. Problems can include retinopathy, blindness, neuropathy, kidney and cardiac disease.Researchers in the OSU College of Engineering say sensors they fabricated using the IGZO FET will be able to transmit real-time glucose information to a wearable pump that delivers the hormones needed to regulate blood sugar: insulin and glucagon.The sensor and pump would, in effect, act as an artificial pancreas."We have fully transparent sensors that are working," said Greg Herman, an OSU professor of chemical engineering and corresponding author on this study. "What we want to do next is fully develop the communication aspect, and we want to use the entire contact lens as real estate for sensing and communications electronics."We can integrate an array of sensors into the lens and also test for other things: stress hormones, uric acid, pressure sensing for glaucoma, and things like that. We can monitor many compounds in tears – and since the sensor is transparent, it doesn't obstruct vision; more real estate is available for sensing on the contact lens."The FET's closely packed, hexagonal, nanostructured network resulted from complimentary patterning techniques that have the potential for low-cost fabrication. Those techniques include colloidal nanolithography and electrohydrodynamic printing, or e-jet, which is somewhat like an inkjet printer that creates much finer drop sizes and works with biological materials instead of ink.The findings by postdoctoral scholar Xiaosong Du, visiting scholar Yajuan Li and,Herman were recently published online in the journal Nanoscale. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation provided primary funding for the research.Google has been working on a glucose-monitoring contact lens but its version is not fully transparent."It's an amperometric sensor and you can see the chips—that means it has to be off to the side of the contact lens," Herman said. "Another issue is the signal is dependent on the size of the sensor and you can only make it so small or you won't be able to get a usable signal. With an FET sensor, you can actually make it smaller and enhance the output signal by doing this."This research builds on earlier work by Herman and other OSU engineers that developed a glucose sensor that could be wrapped around a catheter, such as one used to administer insulin from a pump."A lot of type 1 diabetics don't wear a pump," Herman said. "Many are still managing with blood droplets on glucose strips, then using self-injection. Even with the contact lens, someone could still manage their diabetes with self-injection. The sensor could communicate with your phone to warn you if your glucose was high or low."The transparent FET sensors, Herman said, might ultimately be used for cancer detection, by sensing characteristic biomarkers of cancer risk. Their high sensitivity could also measure things such as pulse rate, oxygen levels, and other aspects of health monitoring that require precise control.Reference:OP913SLBPW41NBPW20RFPD204-6C