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Mar/Apr 2013  

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Market-Reports

Top Features

Drilling into the medical market

In the rapidly growing medical device industry, bigger is not necessarily better. In fact, when it comes to machining medical parts, the trend of “going small” is getting bigger.

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Micro scopes

Major R&D projects focus on shrinking endoscopic devices

Once-revolutionary microdevices that allow doctors to examine internal parts of the human body are now commonplace. One of the most commonly used of these devices is the endoscope, and its use is growing.

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Mainstream Monitoring

A growing number of consumers are dialing up health and fitness information via their smartphones and tablets. Sensor-based devices collect health data about individuals and transmit it to their smartphones and tablets, which analyze the data and provide real-time monitoring and advice.

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Taking micro to the next level

Pro football players like to talk about “taking it to the next level.” Whether their goal is to help the team win a division championship, conference championship or the Super Bowl, they realize that, both individually and collectively, they must raise their level of performance to reach that goal. They have to execute plays better, block better and tackle better. They also have to learn new plays their competitors haven’t seen. If they stay at the same level, players and their teams will just be one of many also-rans at the end of the season.

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Lightning strikes a cord

When the iPhone 5 debuted this fall, the “Lightning” connector that ships with the smartphone definitely came with a bit of shock for Apple fans. Based on bleeding-edge technology, the new connector is less than a third the size of its predecessor 30-pin connector and forces anyone with legacy accessories to purchase a bloody adapter.

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'Ultra' power

As the name makes clear, ultracapacitors are a giant leap beyond your average capacitor. Also known as supercapacitors and electrochemical double-layer capacitors, these vastly improved power supplies now assist and even compete with batteries in a variety of military and non-military applications. Though batteries still have advantages, ultracapacitor technology isn’t standing still—it is steadily advancing and closing the technological gap.

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Top Videos

Microscopic mouse hat

mouse hat thumbA miniature fluorescence microscope originally developed at Stanford University and used for neuroscienctific research on mice in 2011, was able to record neurons firing simultaneously in bands of up to 30 neurons while the mice were moving. The neuron pattern—something never before observed because it only appears when mice are actively moving—is shown in the video below.

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Standford researchers develop all-carbon solar cell

Stanford University researchers have developed an all-carbon, thin-film prototype solar cell that they say could reduce the manufacturing costs associated with rigid silicon solar panels.

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Controlling the spark gap

AccuteX EDM Vice President Pete Intihar offers his own take on what's required to control the spark gap when performing wire EDMing operations at the micro scale in this brief video report shot during IMTS 2012.

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T-Ink animation showcases conductive ink technology

T-Ink Inc., New York, offers a "thinking ink" technology that reportedly can replace physical switches, wire and sensors with printed components that create circuits without wires, as the company illustrated in a recent video animation of the process used to make an automobile overhead light.

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Quadrotor UAVs that fly in swarms

In a series of videos, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science demonstrate a swarm of flying robot quadrotors they developed at the school's General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab. The flying quadrotors are completely autonomous, meaning humans are not controlling them; rather they are controlled by a computer programed with instructions.

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Top Products

PI, miCos track progress of Mars rover

PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P.

Among those likely glued to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Web site to follow the progress of NASA's Curiousity Mars rover are the employees at miCos GmbH, Eschbach, Germany, and PI (Physik Instrumente) LP, Auburn, Mass., who had a hand in constructing a portion of the onboard laboratory.

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Wire EDM

Accutex EDM

AccuteX wireEDMAccuteX EDM introduces its SP-300iA 5-axis CNC wire EDM. The machine features the new MST-II function, a new “microsparking” technology that imparts fine surface finishes.

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Induction coils

Metrigraphics LLC

Metrigraphics induction coilsMetrigraphics LLC relies on its core technologies of electroforming, photolithography and thin-film sputtering to provide OEMs with high-precision microcomponents.

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Direct part-marking tool designed for medical devices

Roland DGA Corp.

MPX-90M impact printer thumbRoland DGA Corp., Irvine, Calif., this week unveiled a new compact and affordable direct part-marking tool designed specifically for medical devices. Based on the company's micro-percussion direct part-marking technology, the MPX-90M impact printer marks surgical instruments and tools with permanent GS1 DataMatrix barcodes, enabling manufacturers to readily comply with new, stricter supply chain regulations.

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Micromolding co. serves medical, consumer electronics markets

Matrix Plastic Products

Matrix molding thumbMatrix Plastics Products, Wood Dale, Ill., micromolds plastic parts smaller than a pellet of resin with tolerances of 12.7µm or less for the consumer electronics industry, according to the company's Web site.

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