Recent high-profile reports into antibiotic resistance have highlighted the
need for robust infection prevention strategies, helping to eliminate
antibiotic resistant organisms before they can cause infection. Arcolectric
can incorporate BioCote active silver ion technology into any of its ranges
of rocker, push button and double pole switches, as well as dust and splash
resistant covers. This reduces the presence of bacteria by up to 99.9 %,
with no decrease in efficacy for the expected life span of the component,
offering equipment manufacturers a key differentiator for the laboratory,
healthcare and food processing sectors, says the company.

John McVeigh, product manager, Arcolectric, said: “Switches and controls
are often the first contact point for a user when they interact with a
product, making these ‘high traffic’ areas a key target in the fight against
microbial contamination. Integration of BioCote’s innovative antimicrobial
technology into our components represents an important step forward,
providing our customers with a straightforward enhancement that will benefit
end users without impacting on equipment design or manufacture.”

The RACKMUX-V17HR-N (VGA) and RACKMUX-D17HR-N (DVI) rack-mount drawers
combine a rack-mount LCD monitor, keyboard and touchpad mouse in a
space-saving 1RU industrial strength drawer. They come with a forward
folding, ultra-high resolution 1920×1200 WUXGA 17.1-inch Active Matrix TFT
LCD flat panel DVI or VGA monitor. Both units are compatible with USB and
PS/2 computers and are equipped with On Screen Display (OSD). The LCD
screens can be tilted up and back for adjustment to any comfortable viewing
angle up to 120 degrees. Torque-friction hinges prevent the monitors from
wobbling, springing or slamming shut. When in the closed position, the LCD
automatically shuts off.

The rack-mount drawers have a front panel lock for security and a USB port
to connect an external USB device, such as a flash drive. When open, the
drawers latch into place to prevent them from sliding in and out of the
rack. Front quick-release latches enable users to push the drawers back into
the rack. An internal cable arm provides proper cable management when
sliding the drawers open and closed.

With multi-platform support, the KVM drawers are compatible with Windows
2000/XP/Vista/7/8, Windows Server 2000/2003/2008, Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD,
and MAC OS 9/10.. Both units have a horizontal frequency of 30 to 80 KHz and
a vertical frequency of 56 to 75KHz. The monitors have a brightness of
275nits and a contrast ratio of 800:1, with OSD controls for brightness,
contrast, phase, pitch, Horz- and Vert- centre alignment, zoom and colour
adjustment. They also support both DDC1 and DDC2B protocols.

Constructed with rugged steel and a durable powder coat finish, the
rack-mount drawers are designed to be a one-person installation job. The
units come with a compact, heavy-duty tactile 100-key (US) keyboard with
numeric keypad and a three button touchpad mouse. A mounting bracket for
two-post style telco racks is available as an option, says the company.

ATS maxiFLOW heat sinks are available with thermal tape, push pin or its
patented maxiGRIP attachment methodology. ATS maxiGRIP assemblies permit
secure attachment of heat sinks to BGAs, flip chips and other hot components
on a PCB with steady, even pressure and without any need to drill holes in
the board. Both the spring and frame clip in the maxiGRIP assembly can be
easily removed, allowing the heat sink to be detached and re-attached
without damaging the device, surrounding components or PCB. All ATS maxiGRIP
heat sinks are fabricated with high-performance, phase-changing thermal
interface material to further maximize performance. Mouser Electronics
stocks an extensive line-up of the ATS LED heat sinks, including both the
linear style and the round/star shape in a wide variety of sizes; fansinks
using maxiGRIP attachment, and a full line of maxiFLOW heat sinks for brick
DC-DC converters.

“We are very pleased to present to our customers the world-renowned ATS line
of heat sinks,” said Keith Privett, vice president of electromechanical,
power and test, Mouser. “Our broad product offering will provide customers
with cooling solutions for LEDs, BGAs, power supplies, and specific devices
such as flip-chip processors.”

Sharon Koss, VP of operations and business development, ATS, added:
“Amongst many air and liquid high capacity cooling solutions, ATS provides
the widest range of high performance heat sinks for cooling today’s
hot-running electronic devices. We look forward to providing thermal
solutions to Mouser’s customers around the world.”

TI’s MSP430 MCUs are the industry’s best choice for capacitive touch button,
slider, wheel and proximity applications, including portable electronics,
household appliances, and accessories. Developers interested in learning
about the MSP430 capacitive touch ecosystem can access a comprehensive
library of design guides, software tools and MCU support to guide them
throughout the design cycle.

The company’s open source MSP430 Capacitive Touch Software Library now
allows developers to use the recently announced MSP430G2xx5 Value Line
devices and Wolverine MSP430FR58xx/FR59xx devices for button, slider, wheel
and proximity capacitive touch applications. These new devices provide
engineers with more options for cost-conscious and low-power applications
with capacitive touch, says the company.

The expanded capacitive touch ecosystem now includes advanced tools to help
designers throughout the development process.
* The MSP430 Capacitive Touch Pro graphical user interface (GUI) is a new
PC-based tool that enables designers to evaluate, diagnose and tune
capacitive touch button, slider and wheel designs in real time. This tool
charts raw capacitive data from up to ten sensors so developers can visually
pinpoint and perform factor analysis easier, resulting in a faster
debugging, testing and time-to-market. It features user-configurable
ranging, recording and printing options.
* Estimate power consumption for a capacitive touch system even before
implementing hardware with TI’s MSP430 Capacitive Touch Power Designer GUI
and application note. This GUI simulates the estimated average current draw
for capacitive touch systems using select MSP430 MCUs, while users adjust
system parameters such as operating voltage, frequency, and number of button
and gate times.

TI’s capacitive touch experts have created several comprehensive design
guides to help developers learn sensor design techniques, reduce power
consumption, and improve response times for button, sliders and wheel
designs.
* The new Capacitive Touch Sensing, MSP430 Button Gate Time Optimization and
Tuning Guide shows developers how to optimize button performance for reduced
power consumption, improved response times and scalability to include more
buttons.
* TI’s new Capacitive Touch Sensing, MSP430 Slider and Wheel Tuning Guide
helps developers lay out sliders and wheels using multiple electrodes and
optimize software to provide the most linear representation of raw
capacitive data.
* The Capacitive Touch Sensing, Sensor Design Guide exposes developers to
design considerations and best practices for capacitive touch hardware
design including schematics, mechanicals and layout.

In addition, ultra-low power MSP430 MCUs support capacitive touch buttons,
sliders and wheel functionalities on TI’s haptic technology evaluation kits.
The DRV2605 haptic driver evaluation module is a complete demo and
evaluation platform that provides tactile feedback through touch-based
interfaces. The vibrations produced by these devices provide a new, deeply
enhanced user experience and unparalleled value, says the company.

The RX21A meter reference platform comprises a full development support
environment including middleware for power measurement and calibration
tools, enabling developers to easily design ultra-compact smart electricity
meters allowing short time-to-market. Key hardware features include a
modular design supporting both 3-phase 4-wire and single-phase operation,
and configurable sensor types including current transformer. This enables it
to operate at nominal 230V 50Hz~60Hz, with full 100mA to 100A measurement
range. Accuracy is equivalent to IEC62053-22 (and ANSI C12.20), to at least
0.5s, and compliant with IEC6205-23, class 2 reactive.

A full set of metrology libraries is provided, enabling precision
measurement of voltage and current on each phase, active and reactive power
on each phase, and apparent and harmonic power on each phase. Power quality
measurement functions such as voltage sag are also provided. Key software
features include single point calibration for the 24-bit precision A/D
converter (ADC) and analogue front-end (AFE), and temperature compensation
for the AFE including programmable gain amplifier (PGA) and ADC, voltage
reference, and real time clock. Data exchange can be carried out via the
IEC62056-21 (also known as IEC1107) optical port and isolated USB virtual
COM port. A user-friendly, multi-function graphical display and an intuitive
PC graphical user interface allow easy operation.

The RX21A Group of MCUs implements in a single chip functions that
previously required separate devices, such as power measurement, meter
control, calculation of electricity charges, and data encryption. This
reduces the number of external components required and helps to lower the
overall cost. In addition, the RX21A Group includes product versions for a
variety of meter models, allowing common and effective system design.
Renesas will launch the platform at Smart Grids Paris on 4th June 2013, says
the company.

Designed to meet the stringent specifications of the PCIe Generation 1/2/3 standards, the Si52111 and Si52112 clock generator ICs target high-volume consumer, embedded, communications and enterprise applications where board space, power consumption and system cost are critical concerns.

The Si5211x clock generators are especially well-suited for space-constrained, power-sensitive consumer electronics products such as digital still cameras that require industry-standard PCIe connectivity. Addressing the small form factor requirements of these consumer applications, the Si5211x clocks are available in a 3mm x 3mm 10-pin TDFN package – the smallest package available in the PCIe timing market. These ultra-low-power clock generators offer up to eight times lower current consumption (less than 15mA) than competing devices, making it easier for designers to meet green power regulations while enhancing system reliability. The devices also meet PCIe jitter requirements with up to 50 percent margin, enabling a lower bit error rate to further improve reliability.

In addition to offering power savings and improved jitter margin, the Si5211x clock generators use an innovative push-pull output buffer technology. Compared to existing solutions in the market today, the Si5211x PCIe clock generators integrate all termination and reference resistors on chip, eliminating the need for additional external components. These highly integrated devices are designed to help system designers reduce the bill of materials, board space requirements and design complexity. Most competing solutions require up to four resistors per output clock, as well as a current source reference resistor. As an added benefit, on-chip integration of these resistors enables the designer to lay out a clean transmission line from the output of the Si5211x IC to the input of the receiver, simplifying board design and removing discontinuities in the clock transmission lines that can otherwise degrade signal integrity, says the company.

“The adoption of the PCIe interface standard in applications beyond network storage and servers has driven the need for small size, high integration and ultra-low power consumption in PCIe clock solutions,” said Mike Petrowski, vice president and general manager of Silicon Labs’ timing products. “Silicon Labs is addressing these application requirements with the industry’s smallest and lowest power PCIe clock generators available. Despite their tiny size, the Silicon Labs PCIe clock generators pack a lot of integrated features into a single-chip solution that greatly enhances signal integrity.”

The IMD Series Wilkinson power dividers are an attractive space-saving
alternative to soft board solutions. The IMD2613 is contained within a 0.355
x 0.184 inch package with input power rating of 20W at 100C baseplate
temperature.

The purpose of this development board is to simplify the evaluation process
of EPC’s eGaN FETs by including all the critical components on a single
board that can connected to any existing converter, says the company.

The outstanding electrical and mechanical properties of the LA-CUDD contacts
set new standards for high current contact elements. Their ultra-low contact
resistance and high conductance ensure nearly loss-free power transmission
and thus low heat generation at the point of contact, says the company.

In the area of power technology, where very high currents have to be
mastered safely, this can avoid critical temperature increases and excessive
load on the system. The LA-CUDD also meets requirements such as the high
contact frequency or high number of sliding cycles typical of switchgear
and/or industrial contact applications.

High current in a small area and compact Multilam contacts offer additional
decisive advantages. The complete contact solution can be made smaller,
shorter and with a slimmer diameter. With the LA-CUDD, two or more contact
rows can be replaced by a single contact – with the same or even better
electrical values. This saves effort and costs, permitting significantly
smaller and more economical system components.

The new torsion spring contact is suited for plug or sliding contacts, in
vacuum, insulating oils or insulating gases, in the medium- to high-voltage
range as well as for special high current contacts in machines and
installations, says the company.

The USSP1325-LF provides the end user an output power of 3±3dBm into a 50ohm
load while operating over the industrial temperature range of -40C to 85 C.
This robust VCO suppresses the second harmonic to better than -15dBc and
covers the frequency range with a tuning linearity of better than 1.1:1. The
USSP1325-LF comes in Z-Comm’s standard USSP package measuring a mere 0.2 in.
x 0.2 in. x 0.06 inch. It is available in tape and reel packaging for
production requirements making it ideal for automated surface mount assembly
and reflow.

The USSP1325-LF is well suited to portable radio and test equipment
applications that require low power consumption as well as low phase noise,
says the company.