Electronics Automation

TDK and Ansoft Corporation have announced the release of a new library for TDK's capacitor, inductor, common mode filter, and ferrite bead components for use in Ansoft Designer.

TDK and Ansoft Corporation have announced the release of a new library for TDK's capacitor, inductor, common mode filter, and ferrite bead components for use in Ansoft Designer. The component library, free to Ansoft Designer customers, helps engineers to design electronic equipment, such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), car navigation systems, base stations and cellular handsets. Ansoft Designer combines high-frequency circuit, system and 3D planar electromagnetic simulation to take full advantage of the accuracy offered by the TDK library.

TDK teamed with Ansoft to deliver the new device library containing S-parameters with proprietary equivalent simulation models of TDK's discrete capacitor/inductor/ferrite bead/common mode filter products for use in general-purpose high-frequency designs.

These devices are key building blocks in the development of radio frequency (RF) circuits and sub-systems found in many of today's commercial and military applications.

This library improves design accuracy by supplying vendor-authorised device models directly as ready-to-use components.

"Our products play a key role in high-performance electronic products and systems," said Mr Fukunaga, Simulation Special Engineer at TDK.

"We recognise that Ansoft is the emerging leader in high-frequency circuit simulation and know that providing a design kit for Ansoft Designer ensures our current and future customers will have the necessary elements to develop their communication application products using TDK's component library."

The TDK library is available free from TDK's Web site (www.tdk.co.jp/etst) and is easy to download and configure for use with Ansoft Designer.

This site also provides Ansoft Designer users with the ability to search TDK components by size, name, performance data or other specification.

As part of this library effort, TDK will provide and maintain model support and upgrades, while Ansoft will address all customer support for Ansoft Designer.

Europe's first - and much needed - guide to compliance with the EU's complex Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive has been launched today by Farnell InOne.

Europe's first - and much needed - guide to compliance with the EU's complex Restriction of the use of Certain hazardous substances (RoHS) Directive has been launched today by Farnell InOne, in association with consultancy, ERA Technology. Farnell InOne, the award-winning international distributor of electronic and industrial components, has compiled A Step-by-Step Guide to Compliance with the RoHS Directive with ERA, in response to an unprecedented number of requests for help from customers and suppliers. European businesses must conform to the Directive by July 2006.

Gary Nevison, Head of Product Market Strategy at Farnell InOne, comments: "We were one of the first to put up a dedicated area about the Directive on our website, which has received a massive number of hits from people desperately seeking information.

What prompted us to go on to produce this guide was the single most asked question on the site - 'What do I need to do to comply with RoHS?' We believe the launch of this guide will provide the first comprehensive aid for everyone affected by the new legislation."

RS Components will exhibit at Electronica 2006, showcasing new products, a more flexible distribution model and further product diversification.RS Components will exhibit at Electronica 2006, showcasing new products, a more flexible distribution model and further product diversification.

RS Components will exhibit at Electronica 2006, showcasing new products, a more flexible distribution model and further product diversification. On Stand 257, Hall A6, RS will present new services and technologies as well as launching new and immediately available products. Practical demonstrations, aimed at engineers and designers, will illustrate the company's main focus on electronic and electromechanical products.

The company is also in the process of expanding the product ranges.

This diversification takes its portfolio to over 300,000 products, mainly in the electronics sector, and is part of a massive ongoing expansion.

Recognising the significance of wireless machine-to-machine communication (M2M) technology for the future, RS launched a carefully selected a range of solutions in May.

These included modules for the most popular wireless technologies for all applications: RFID, Narrow Band, AM/FM, ZigBee, Bluetooth, W-LAN, GPRS and GPS.

The company also offers a full range of evaluation kits, boards and antennas to get you up-and-running fast.

Enabling RS to provide engineers with a comprehensive range of cutting-edge wireless technology solutions, the company recently added over 400 RF components from some of the leading companies in this field.

The range now covers system-on-chip (SoC), front-end ICs, transceivers, amplifiers, RF discretes, baluns and filters.

The wide range of display solutions that RS launched alongside its wireless portfolio in May will also be on show on the stand.

Comprising TFT and electroluminescent panels, LCD graphics and character modules for unit level design, through to industrial monitors and fully embedded display solutions for system level design, the range provides engineers with a comprehensive choice of display and interface solutions for a wide variety of applications.

RS has local operations in 26 countries around the world, with representation in more than 50 others.

Coupled with centralised purchase and procurement processes, this international presence gives RS significant competitive advantages in sourcing products from hundreds of market-leading suppliers for delivery anywhere in the global market.

Staff will be available to discuss the company's new supply solutions, technical and purchase support and e-commerce competence, all tailored for the R and D sector.

This year's Electronica will also be the start of a new RS distribution model, designed to enable the company to react with more flexibility and greater speed to the increasingly complex needs of customers in areas such as R and D, prototyping and preproduction, and maintenance.

'This is a further step for us to maintain our ambitious performance promise to our existing customers, as well as to develop long-term new customer relationships for RS', commented Graham Johnson, Head of UK Marketing.

'We have lots of things planned for the coming years and are putting money and resources into the innovation of our ability to provide more service and product solutions'.

High-voltage Super Mox resistors meet the precision temperature stability requirements of high-accuracy and high-voltage systems.

High-voltage Super Mox resistors meet the precision temperature stability requirements of high-accuracy and high-voltage systems, combining a proprietary noninductive resistance system and designed to achieve low temperature coefficient, low voltage coefficients, high stability and increased high operating voltages.

With a resistance range from 1kohm to as high as 100Gohm on all models and tolerances of 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10%, the Super Mox low-TC precision high-voltage resistors are designed to meet the demanding requirements of high voltage power supplies, electron microscopes, X-ray systems, high resolution CRT displays and geophysical instruments.

Available with temperature coefficients of 5, 10, 15, 25, 50 and 100ppm/C, the resistors have a silicone conformal coating, gold plated leads and a standard operating temperature of -55 to +225C, although an extended temperature range to 350C is available.

TDK Corporation has announced the availability of its Single Mega Cap 1210 chip.

TDK Corporation has announced the availability of its Single Mega Cap 1210 chip. The chip is smaller in size in comparison to the company's standard Mega Cap, offering the same functionalities. The Single Mega Cap 1210 chip is a single capacitor with special metal frame termination.

This termination allows the chip to be mounted onto a PCB and provides excellent reliability when subjected to high and low temperature changes as well as continuous or temporary movements.

Another benefit of the smaller case size of the Single Mega Cap 1210 chip is a reduction of the mounting area on the PCB.

The chip is ideal in temperature varying applications, as it can match the changes in size of the PCB with terminations that keep it in place.

The design of the Single Mega Cap 1210 chip enables durability by withstanding movement shock.

These features can also assure reliability and endurance to key applications, like in the automotive industry or for telecomms basestations.

This chip also features low ESR, ESL and a high ripple current capability.

The Single Mega Cap 1210 chip is built for excellent performance on metal (AL) substrate and can be used in various applications, including smoothing circuits, power supply, DC/DC convertor, HID and ABS.

Ohmite's new G Series capacitor discharge and symmetry resistor range is destined for tough assignments.

Ohmite's new G Series capacitor discharge and symmetry resistor range is destined for tough assignments. Specially designed to handle the requirements of repetitive pulse loading, the G Series provides high power dissipation up to 13W at 25C. Corrosion resistant terminals provide a long life expectancy and the superior vibration resistance of the G Series makes it ideal for rugged mobile applications.

The resistors have an IEC115-1 reference standard and an operating temperature range of -55 to +200C.

Available in 10 and 13W ratings, the components have ohmic ranges of 1ohm to 82kohm and 1ohm to 120kohm, respectively.

The outstanding terminal strength of the G Series is better than 25N, and derating is linear from 25 to 350C.

Abacus Group has unveiled its integrated component distribution operation based on a Europe-wide network of over 42 local offices and five warehouses.

Abacus Group has unveiled an integrated European component distribution operation focused on delivering exceptional design in and technical support to the full spectrum of customers through a Europe-wide network of over 42 local offices and five warehouses. The Group also announced its strategy for its specialist distribution, own-brand component, and value-add businesses. The announcement marks the completion of the integration process of the Deltron and Axess businesses that Abacus acquired earlier this year, making it Europe's fifth largest electronic component distribution organisation.

The acquisitions also moved the group into the top five in UK, France and Italy and brought it a components distribution operation in Germany, as well as in Austria and Benelux.

Abacus Group Chief Executive Martin Kent said: 'We provide an alternative model to the global distributors, focused on local service and strong technical support'.

'We are fully accessible to customers whatever their size, aiming to become a strategic supplier to each by offering a broad and diversified product range which satisfies their demands'.

'Our goals are to bring something new to each market in which we operate, with a differentiated service, product portfolio and business model'.

'We aim to have a minimum share of 5% in each major market'.

He added: 'In each country we have created an integrated back office and an integrated warehousing operation to improve efficiency and service but maintained the customer and supplier facing technical and sales teams that give continuity to our relationships'.

Acquiring Deltron gave Abacus Group a 13.6% market share in the UK, consolidating its position.

Abacus has transferred Deltron's Scunthorpe warehouse to the Abacus Distribution Centre in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

It has also transferred Deltron's business to the Abacus business system, giving sales and marketing teams across the Group visibility of all products.

Deltron's distribution business has been brought into the Abacus ECD (Electronic Component Distribution) organisation under Graham McBeth.

Axess Technology joins Trident and TDC as a specialist distributor headed up by Patrick JourNo The group's manufacturing businesses all now come under the management of Clifford Frielm, and all own-brand companies are managed by Alan Jermyn.

Lorna Finch has taken charge of marketing across the group Europe-wide.

In Europe, Abacus Group has rationalised its logistics to give one satellite warehouse in each major market: France, Italy, Scandinavia and Germany.

By 2008, Abacus will complete the roll-out of its business system across Europe, linking each warehouse to the central Abacus distribution centre in the UK.

The individual sales offices in each market have been maintained throughout Europe.

Kent explained: 'With the conclusion of the integration process, Abacus Group is in a position to evolve and develop as a business, responding to new customer needs and market trends'.

These trends include the continuing migration of manufacturing within Europe and to the Far East, and changes to the regulatory environment, such as RoHS.

'We see customer migration as an opportunity for the group', says Kent.

'We have opened an office in Hong Kong headed by John Harlow and are developing partnerships with Eastern European distributors such as Soyter in Poland'.

'The goal in both cases is to provide European customers with a reliable and cost-effective supply chain to their manufacturing operation wherever in the world it may be'.

Specifically on RoHS he added: 'Abacus Group has been forward thinking in its attitude to environmental regulation, and our business system fully supports RoHS compliance'.

'As part of our due diligence in the acquisition process, we ensured that the companies we acquired were in a position to be fully compliant by the EU deadline'.

Microwave capacitor claims the lowest available equivalent series resistance in a 0805 case size.

AVX reckons its SQCF microwave capacitor delivers the lowest equivalent series resistance (ESR) in a 0805 case size on the market. SQCF microwave capacitors present an ESR down to 50mohm at 1GHz and a quality factor (Q) greater than 10,000 at 1MHz. Devices deliver high performance and reliability for basestation infrastructure requiring high Q and power handling capability.

Offering operating voltages up to 250V DC and a capacitance range of 0.1 to 240pF, parts operate at temperatures between -55 and +125C.

SQCF capacitors are designed for use in RF power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, filter networks and point-to-point radios.

The SQ series also includes 0603 (SQCS), 0608 (SQCA) and 1210 (SQCB) case sizes.

All are available in 500- and 4000-piece reels, with samples on demand.

Parts are RoHS compliant with 100% tin terminations, although tin/lead terminations are also available.