Elementary, Mr. Watson A Designer's Dilemma—Metric or Imperial Units?
Fresh PCB Concepts: The Critical Nature of Copper Thickness on PCBs
Flexible Thinking: Musings on High Density Interconnections
It All Starts With Sensors
August 30, 2023 | Happy Holden, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Introduction
Sensor technology is at the heart of any manufacturing data collection, especially for the digital stream—it all starts with sensors—but there is so much more. Sensors need connections to instruments, and some actions need predictions; the process is sensing, connection, and predicting. Sensing assumes sensors. Connecting can be any intelligent device that provides a program or signal conditioning and then makes that data available to the rest of the organization. Predicting is the difficult step.
The Smart process needs to be implemented immediately. Time does not favor the procrastinator. Assign or hire an engineer who has the tools and creativity to make digitization work, let them gain the new training that may be required, and just do it.
Sensor Training Options
My background is chemical engineering, and we spent a lot of time learning about sensors, control systems, and chemical unit operations.
In my college days of the mid-1960s, basic industrial sensors included:
- Electrical measurements
- Displacement and area measurements
- Pressure measurements
- Flow measures
- Measurement of temperature
- Thermal and transport properties
- Force, torque, and strain
- Motion and vibration
- Thermal and nuclear radiation measurements
Later, in graduate school, I took a course titled “Instrumental Methods of Chemical Analysis.” This was a DIY course that required us to build 22 analytical devices and their electronics from a LEGO brick-like set of optical and mechanical components that snapped together. This course covered a wide variety of topics, including spectroscopy, chromatography, radiation absorption, and polarimetry, to name a few. I learned that sensor systems can lend themselves to DIY approaches.
Continue reading this article which appears in the August 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine.
Share on:
Suggested Items
TTM’s Grand Opening in Malaysia
11/07/2024 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007When I last spoke with Tom Edman, president and CEO of TTM Technologies (TTM), he provided an update about the company’s new high-tech printed circuit board facility under construction in Syracuse, New York, and how the grand opening of a facility in Malaysia is informing TTM’s overall expansion efforts: a cutting-edge facility spread across 27 acres and providing roughly 1,000 jobs. Now, Tom provides more details about the new automated facility, its regional and global impact, and the importance of having both government and industry support.
One Partial HDI Technique: mSAP
11/05/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineChris Hunrath, vice president of technology at Insulectro, believes that mSAP just might be the trick for designers considering partial HDI. As Chris explains, the materials and equipment required for the mSAP process are easily available, and the process is well established. This could be a great option for designers working with BGAs that have a pitch of 0.5 mm or less.
Nolan's Notes: The Rise (and Risk) of Data
11/05/2024 | Nolan Johnson -- Column: Nolan's NotesLast month, I read about a United Airlines flight that declared an emergency over the middle of Hudson Bay in northern Canada. All the cockpit screens had gone blank and both flight management computers had entered into a “degraded mode with limited capabilities.” The pilots had lost most of their autopilot functionality, but still had enough control systems to manually fly the plane to a safe landing at O’Hare.
Root-cause Analysis and Problem-solving
11/01/2024 | Happy Holden, I-Connect007An essential skill for any process engineer in printed circuit fabrication is the ability to conduct root-cause analysis (RCA) and problem-solving. These are related to TQC and Six Sigma applications and are essential for customer support and continued profitability. All engineers will encounter these methods sooner or later, but it will likely be sooner if you are in product or process engineering in manufacturing.
Unlocking Advanced Circuitry Through Liquid Metal Ink
10/31/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamPCB UHDI technologist John Johnson of American Standard Circuits discusses the evolving landscape of electronics manufacturing and the critical role of innovation, specifically liquid metal ink technology, as an alternate process to traditional metallization in PCB fabrication to achieve ever finer features and tighter tolerances. The discussion highlights the benefits of reliability, efficiency, and yields as a tradeoff to any increased cost to run the process. As this technology becomes better understood and accepted, even sought out by customers and designers, John says there is a move toward mainstream incorporation.