Hitachi Display Products Group has announced four new widescreen TFT LCD display modules in a 16:9 display format
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With customers increasingly demanding the flexibility to display more information for an improved user experience, Hitachi Display Products Group has announced four new widescreen TFT LCD display modules in a 16:9 display format. Featuring display sizes of 7, 9, 12 and 15.4in, the new modules deliver industrial levels of specification, WVGA and WXGA resolutions and join the 7in, WVGA high brightness TX18D16VM1CAB display launched earlier this year.

‘We see 16:9 wide format modules as the future direction for industrial displays, and the launch of these LCD modules places Hitachi at the forefront of this growth market’.

‘With four display sizes and wide VGA and XGA resolutions our strategy is to continue to offer customers the best quality, choice and value in the market’, comments Mark Stephenson, Product Manager for Hitachi Display Products Group.

‘We see these modules being used in a wide variety of application areas particularly in medical and industrial monitoring where the wide screen enables larger amounts of data to be displayed’.

‘The wide viewing angle of the 9in IPS module also lends itself to gaming and personal media applications’.

Offering an automotive class operating temperature range of -30 to +80C, the TX18D57VM1BAA is a 7in WVGA TFT that delivers top quality optical characteristics with a contrast ratio of 450:1 and a brightness of 600cd/m2 and 130 degrees view angle from any direction.
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Featuring Hitachi’s advanced In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology, the TX23D12VM1CAA is a 9in WVGA module that offers viewing angles of up to 176 degrees in any direction ensuring a bright and clear image in all usage conditions.

Typical performance figures for the 800 x 480 pixel resolution display include a brightness of 300cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 400:1.

With a broad operating temperature from -20 to +70C, the TX31D55VM2BAA is a 12in WVGA display delivers a typical contrast ratio of 350:1 and NTSC colour saturation of 60% together with 450cd/m2 brightness levels with a viewing angle of 130 degrees from any direction.

Also operating over the -20 to +70 Celsius temperature range, the TX39D55VM1BAA is a 15.4in1280 x 800 pixel WXGA industrial class display featuring four-lamp CCFL backlighting and offering high quality optical performance including a contrast ratio of 500:1, brightness of 450cd/m2 and a typical colour saturation for NTSC of 72%.

All four TFT modules operate in transmissive mode, normally white except for the 9in IPS display which is normally black.

Each display features CCFL backlighting and a pallet of 256K colours.

The displays are supplied through Hitachi Display Product Group’s distribution partners and are available to order across Europe immediately.

Hitachi Display Products Group is also able to design and develop customised display modules for specific customer requirements.

Digital Displays has entered into agreement with One Stop Displays (OSD) to offer the OSD line of OLED display modules to the UK market
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PLED display module is bright choice
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OSD OLED display modules provide industry compatible modules in the following configurations: monochrome blue/yellow with grayscale up to 3.12in with 256 x 64 pixel resolution; blue single colour displays from 0.66 to 1.11in diagonal; three/four area colour with resolutions from 96 x 39 to 132 x 64 pixel and full (64/256K) colour up to 1.5in with a resolution of 128 x 128 pixel.

All the modules feature low power consumption, wide viewing angle, high contrast and with their bright emissive displays are suitable for use in applications including, handheld instruments, medical equipment, measuring devices and consumer products.

i-sft has teamed up with manufacturers’ representatives Tritek Solutions and The Tronex Group to better serve its North American customer base
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Tritek Solutions, with its divisions Tritek Northwest and Aztec Enterprises, and offices throughout the western USA has a long history of selling quality products through profound product knowledge and a true understanding of customers’ applications. The Tronex Group serves the southern USA.

Focusing on display products and man machine interface components Tronex builds on a wealth of experience in application based solutions.

‘With their solution focused sales approach both companies perfectly match our project type business’, said Dr Joerg Blechschmidt, Strategical Sales Director, i-sft.

‘A technical understanding that goes well beyond the product itself provides additional value to our cutting-edge displays’.

The new partners will supplement NuAccess Technologies now focusing on southern California.

Pelikon is continuing to evolve its revolutionary pSEL segmented flexible display technology with the introduction of new 50% slimmer and more flexible pSEL Backlites and Animated Backlites
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Pelikon, the Cardiff-based manufacturer of printed segmented electroluminescent (pSEL) displays, is continuing to evolve its revolutionary pSEL segmented flexible display technology with the introduction of new 50% slimmer and more flexible pSEL Backlites and Animated Backlites. With a significantly reduced thickness of 100-130um, the new displays are ideal for applications where space is critical.

The slim and flexible pSEL Animated Backlites also bring a new dimension to existing keypad designs for mobile phones or remote controls, through multi-segment and even multi-colour animations driven by Pelikon proprietary driver electronics products.

Available from Q1 2007, the new slim and flexible pSEL Backlite and Animated Backlite will be available alongside the existing pSEL Intuitive Touch Display product.

The animated feature offers 16 levels of greyscale and multiple colours and segments, which when combined, can deliver complex animation using the Pelikon Mobile Display Controller to drive and optimise the display.
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This innovative feature will allow manufacturers to produce eye-catching products not seen on the market before and even use different EL colours to highlight distinct areas of a product to simplify operation for the user.

At the same time, the new slim and flexible pSEL Backlites will continue to offer a power efficient, durable and reliable solution, courtesy of Pelikon’s high quality manufacture and proprietary driver electronics.

With full engineering support offered to all customers the new pSEL Backlites and Animated Backlites are easy to handle in application construction, providing an-easy-to-implement solution that enhances consumer appeal.

‘Our pSEL displays and drivers are already a great option to bring an exciting and intuitive twist to a number of products including consumer electronic devices’, said Andrew Green, Product Manager, Pelikon.

‘The new thin and flexible pSEL Backlites are perfect for products where space is at a premium, whilst our pSEL Animated Backlites will overhaul future generations of mobile phones and remote controls’.

Zytronic has strengthened its presence in Eastern Europe by signing a distribution agreement with the Electronic Components Division of Elatec
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Zytronic, the leading designer and manufacturer of Projected Capacitive Technology (PCT)-based sensing solutions that optimise the performance of electronic display applications, has strengthened its presence in Eastern Europe by signing a distribution agreement with the Electronic Components Division of Elatec.

The agreement will provide Zytronic and its customers with local support in the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, the Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland and brings the current number of Zytronic distributors and representatives to 28, covering 30 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific, the USA and Canada.

The Electronic Components Division of Elatec specialises in displays and focuses specifically on the kiosk, gaming and industrial markets - all areas in which the demand for touchscreen-based applications is growing very rapidly.

‘The core markets on which we are focused - kiosk, gaming, and industrial - all require touchscreens which are able to withstand everyday wear and tear, and that can continue to operate in the harshest of environments’, says Libor Pavel, Department Director, Electronic Components/Marketing at Elatec.

‘Zytronic’s internationally award-winning projected capacitive technology-based touch sensors offer a combined resistance to grease, dirt, and harsh chemicals and can be operated with gloved and ungloved hands, making it an ideal solution to be able to offer to our customers, locally’.

Zytronic’s PCT comprises an array of embedded micro gauge capacitors within a glass or plastic layered laminated screen.
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The sensitivity of the PCT system can be adjusted to sense touch through a distance of up to 20mm.

The sensing array is positioned behind an inert front-facing medium, making it more advanced than other traditional touch technologies and preventing any susceptibility to the system from accidental or deliberate damage.

This makes PCT ideal for applications that are in the public domain such as information kiosks, gaming machines, or industrial applications which are generally found to be in hazardous environments.

‘As the demand for touchscreen-based applications continues to grow, the appointment of a proven distributor of Elatec’s calibre is an important strategic move that will help ensure our continued growth and expansion of our customer base at an international level’, says Mark Cambridge, Managing Director, Zytronic.

‘Elatec offers a focused sales team with a wealth of experience and a dedicated team of knowledgeable application engineers’.

‘We are confident that Elatec will excel in providing local support for our range of PCT-based products’.

Elatec will also offer Zytronic’s full range of noninteractive products including ballistic visors, and RFI and EMI shielded optical filter and window technologies, which combine the highest levels of shielding with excellent optical performance.

These filter solutions can be tailored for a wide range of environments and applications, such as information displays, secure areas, information displays, navigational and medical equipment and military displays.

TTI Europe is going live with a new website designed to deliver the most technical detail available as quickly as possible
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Developed in ASP.NET 2.0, the latest Microsoft programming language which has been adopted by many large organisations, the new site gives users faster loading times of information and screens. The layout has been designed to be clearer and more visually appealing. The site now includes a new ‘research centre’ which includes research reports from industry insiders and the latest Lead-free resources.

Information is more integrated, pulling together data from different vendors, and there more focus on specific product and market areas.

A specific section detailing RoHS and other relevant legislation is an important and vital new addition.

Explains Geoff Breed, TTI Europe’s Director of Supplier Marketing: ‘We have designed the site specifically so that our customers can access product and technical information from our suppliers - right down to providing individual downloadable datasheets’.
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‘Few if any of our competitors provide the same level of detail’.

‘Also, we have created Microsites for each of our suppliers, which act as a portal for users to learn about new products and services’.

‘As TTI’s focus is on demand creation, new products are key to identifying new opportunities and wining new business, so these areas are very popular’.

‘One of the earliest descriptions of the Internet was ‘information superhighway”, concludes Breed.

‘We believe strongly in ensuring that our site provides exactly what customers need - product information - not mere ‘about us’ platitudes which send users rushing to hit the escape key’.

Designed specifically for high performance and high reliability applications, Murata has introduced the Hi-Q MLC range of multilayer chip capacitors
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The ERB series provides higher power and higher frequency over standard multilayer chip capacitors, and the MA series, primarily targeted at radio applications, extends the power range even further. The highest performing GQM series provides a high frequency, high power solution. With applications in the satellite/cable TV, Bluetooth, automotive GPS, cellphone and basestation markets, the GQM series multilayer chip capacitors are available in a frequency range from 500MHz to 10GHz.

Built with a C0G dielectric and contained in miniature 0603 and 0805 packages, the devices have a voltage rating of 50 or 100V.

These high frequency, high Q components feature low power consumption and ultra low ESR, particularly at microwave, UHF and VHF frequencies.

Capacitance ranges vary from 0.1 to 100pF.
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The ERB series devices are available in 0603, 0805 or 1210 packages, with voltage ratings from 50V to 500V.

Also built using the C0G dielectric, these high frequency (1MHz to 1GHz), High Q capacitors are offered in capacitances ranging from 0.5 to 1000pF.

The low power consumption ERB series is best suited to telecomms applications, but for very high frequency use, the GQM series delivers superior performance.

Described as high power RF capacitors, the MA series is available in both leaded and chip package configurations with a choice of C0G or P90 dielectrics.

Featuring very high self resonant frequencies, the devices provide low capacitance (from 0.1pF) and tight tolerances.

The MA series are particularly suited to nonmagnetic applications such as RF coils and amplifiers incorporated into sensitive equipment such as those designed for medical and military systems.

These parts are also designed to operate in harsh environments.

Murata’s Hi-Q MLC range is priced competitively, providing excellent value for performance.

All parts are RoHS compliant and already in volume production on 8 to 12 week leadtimes.

Samples and designer kits for design-in and evaluation purposes are readily available.

The parts are manufactured in Japan and take advantage of Murata’s advanced materials research, using copper (GQM series) or palladium electrodes, and sophisticated construction techniques.

Syfer has applied its product development and production expertise to delivering higher capacitance values for its 2kV capacitor range
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Advanced process technology has enabled Syfer Technology to increase massively the capacitance range of its 2kV series of surface mount capacitors. With applications in power supplies and modems as well as a broad spectrum of telecomms, military/aerospace and industrial equipment, these extended range devices will prove a boon to designers working to tight space and performance constraints.

Already renowned as a leading manufacturer of high voltage capacitors, Syfer has further pushed the boundaries by applying its product development and production expertise to delivering higher capacitance values for its 2kV capacitor range.

Starting with the smallest device in the range, the 1206 packaged part, with an X7R dielectric, now offers a capacitance range from 10pF to a remarkable 2.2nF, more than doubling the maximum capacitance value previously available.

Similarly, the popular 2225 footprint device has seen a capacitance range increase from 180pF to 33nF, up from a maximum of 15nF previously.

The primary advantages to designers of this significant performance improvement are reduced footprint and/or higher capacitance.

The breakthrough is the consequence of Syfer’s ongoing materials and process improvement activities.
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The company has developed and introduced a new process for the preparation of the ceramic used to manufacture the product.

This has resulted in a doubling of the effective breakdown voltage, allowing for this dramatic increase in the capacitance range of devices in the 2kV range.

John Shreeve, Syfer Technical Director commented: ‘It is rare to achieve such a huge increase in performance from process changes’.

‘In fact, in this case the effect was considerably more favourable than anticipated’.

Syfer’s 2kV range is available with the class Il stable X7R dielectric.

These devices are generally used for by-passing (decoupling), coupling, filtering, frequency discrimination, DC blocking and voltage transient suppression, typically delivering greater volumetric efficiency than Class l units, while maintaining stability within defined limits.

The extensive 2kV series of X7R surface mount capacitors ranges from 1206 to 8060 parts, with capacitance ranges from 1pF to 150nF.

All X7R types are also available with the Syfer FlexiCap flexible termination.

This proprietary flexible epoxy polymer termination material is applied to the device under the usual nickel barrier finish.

FlexiCap will accommodate a greater degree of board bending than conventional capacitors.

The benefit to the user is to facilitate a wider process window giving a greater safety margin and substantially reducing the most common cause of failures in multilayer capacitors - mechanical cracking.

Manufactured in Syfer’s Norwich, UK facility, the devices are already in volume production and available in any quantity.

Lead time is 6 weeks, price depending on volume.

The devices are fully RoHS compliant.

In addition, for high-reliability, RoHS-exempt applications, versions can be produced with tin-lead terminations.

Alcoa AFL Automotive and Maxwell Technologies have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the development of a cold start system for the commercial transportation market
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The companies will incorporate Maxwell’s Boostcap ultracapacitors with AFL’s power management system to develop an efficient engine starting system. ‘This phase will focus on the meshing of Alcoa’s and Maxwell’s technologies to produce the cold start system, with a goal of producing a system ready for testing and evaluation by truck OEMs by the end of the first quarter 2007′, said Allen Zwierzchowski, President, Worldwide Components AFL Automotive.

‘AFL and Maxwell have been interacting technically for some time, and we have identified cold starting for commercial trucks as a significant market opportunity that the companies have agreed to address through a formal collaboration’, said Dr Richard Balanson, Maxwell’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

‘AFL is a highly respected Tier 1 supplier to the automotive and commercial vehicle industries’.

‘Their electronic systems design expertise, manufacturing resources and strong worldwide contacts with auto and truck OEMs complement Maxwell’s capabilities as a leading provider of energy storage and power delivery solutions’, Balanson continued.
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Increasing environmental regulations preclude the ability of operators to allow their trucks to run all night.

More than 20 US states have enacted or are proposing regulations that prohibit running diesel truck engines overnight to power so-called ‘hotel loads’ - heating, cooling, entertainment and other driver comfort feature.

Running those loads on battery power all night can leave the batteries with insufficient power to start the vehicle in the morning, especially in cold weather.

‘With the AFL-Maxwell cold starting system, the ultracapacitor pack would provide what amounts to an onboard jump-start capability’, Zwierzchowski explained.

‘In addition, fleet owners incur significant costs due to vehicle downtime and jump-starting stranded trucks’.

‘Incorporating ultracapacitors to relieve batteries of demanding short-duration, high-current loads, such as cold starting, will improve overall system performance and reliability, extend battery life, and reduce battery maintenance and replacement costs’, Zwierzchowski said.

Farnell InOne reckons it is the first distributor in the industry to gain the British Standards Institute (BSI) RoHS Trusted Kitemark across all its European offices
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The Kitemark is respected across the world as a premier symbol of trust, integrity and quality. Kitemark status across Europe means customers can now purchase RoHS compliant products, endorsed by the Kitemark, from all European locations. Farnell InOne’s robust systems and unique market leading approach of using new part numbers, for all of its RoHS compliant products, ensures a reliable and consistent supply of RoHS compliant products from all of its European offices.

Neil Stanton, Scheme Manager, BSI Product Services commented: ‘By investing in the RoHS Trusted Kitemark across Europe, Farnell InOne is making a public commitment to best practice, which builds trust and confidence throughout the supply chain whilst also demonstrating that it has the capabilities to help its customers meet the requirements of the directive’.

Gary Nevison, Head of Product Market Strategy at Farnell InOne, adds: ‘This is a major step forward in demonstrating to all our customers that Farnell InOne’s market leading approach to RoHS provides a truly reliable service’.

‘Gaining the RoHS Trusted Kitemark for the whole of our European businesses is another industry first that we are proud to offer our customers’.