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Source Code: NVM50
12
June 2007
PHOTO COURTESY OF
BANNER ENGINEERING.
■ The PresencePLUS® vision sensors
detect an infinite number of color variations.
quality control applications. Examples
include inspection of candy and
packages, blister packs, filled bottles,
and so on.
The two-piece PresencePLUS Pro
includes a separate DIN-mountable
controller, whereas the P4 is a one-piece unit. Both are said to detect an
infinite number of color variations
accurately, and the sensor can
combine shape and color data to
detect even minute variations.
Both models come with the
company’s universal software with
three-step point-and-click setup;
Ethernet, serial, and discrete I/O
capabilities; live video display without
the need of a PC; and a selection of
lenses, light sources, mounting brackets, and accessories. The systems run
INDUSTRY AND
THE PROFESSION
100TH ANNIVERSARY
■ Inventor Lee De Forest
(public domain photo).
In case you haven’t
kept up with such
things, 2007 marks the
100th anniversary of
the invention of the three-electrode
version of the Audion vacuum tube
that allowed amplification for radio
reception. It was also called the De
Forest valve until about 1919, since
which time it has been better known as
the triode. Perhaps more interesting
is the inventor, Lee De Forest, who
apparently was a colorful fellow. On
the positive side, he earned a doctorate
off 10 to 30 VDC and are available
with interfaces in nine different languages. Prices start at about $3,500.
LITHIUM BATTERIES
PACK BIG CHARGE
Tadrian Batteries Ltd. (www.tadi
ranbat.com) now offers a line of
lithium cells for applications requiring
high power, long life, and extended
storage, such as defibrillators and
other portable medical devices,
mil/aero systems, telemetry, and
UAVs, and so forth. The newly
introduced AA-size TLM 1550
provides 2 Wh of energy at 4.0V and
the ability to handle pulses of up to
15A and continuous loads of 5A.
It is designed for long life in
extreme environmental conditions
(- 40 to + 85°C) and features a self-discharge rate of only three percent per
year at room temperature. Because the
cells are built with a glass-to-metal
hermetic seal and nontoxic and
nonpressurized solvents, they can be
shipped as nonhazardous. The quantity
price is said to be about $5 each, which
is a bit more than the average Ray-O-Vac, but may be worth the money to
keep your digital camera from fuzzing
out in the middle of your next hike
through the Grand Canyon. NV
from Yale, held more than 300 patents,
and was a charter member of the
Institute of Radio Engineers (a predecessor of today’s IEEE). However,
legend has it that he did not even
understand how his own invention
worked (and, in fact, his prototypes
did not work), and another inventor,
Edwin Armstrong, had to explain its
operating principles to De Forest. He
wrote an autobiography called Father
of Radio, although most of the world
did not recognize him as such. During
his career, he presided over several
companies that failed, was once
indicted (and acquitted) for mail fraud,
and was involved in several patent
lawsuits that nearly bankrupted him. In
1913, he was forced to sell the triode
patent to AT&T at a bargain basement
price. De Forest went to that big
vacuum tube in the sky in 1961.
