Improvised Diagnostic Strategy for High-Side Switch Power Stage

A vehicle electronic control unit consists of various high-side power stages for driving different loads. Common faults that these power stages experience are Short Circuit to...

Dual-Leadframe Transient Liquid Phase Bonded Power Semiconductor Module Assembly and Bonding Process

A high-temperature-capable widebandgap semiconductor power module package, coupled with a new high-temperature- capable bonding process...

Gear Combines Several Principles for Precision Motion Control of Mechatronics Drives

Among the challenges to advanced robotics and other mechatronic applications is the ability to get a range of precision motion with few components in a...

Multi-Vector Electronic Control of an AC Motor Drive Reduces Torque Ripple

By suppressing or controlling harmonic currents and voltages of the motor to overcome torque ripple, this system improves the efficiency and torque performance of an...

High Performance Thermal Management Solutions for LEDs

When it comes to high-power lighting applications in the military and harsh industrial environments, reliability and efficiency are key features to consider. To maximize both of these...

2013 Create the Future Design: Medical Category Winner

Vitalflo James Dieffenderfer, Mike Brown, and Leigh Johnson
North Carolina State University,
Apex, NC

Over 25 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, and of...

2013 Create the Future Design: Transportation & Automotive Category Winner

Swift Tram: High Speed Automated People Mover Carl Lawrence, Becky English,
Graham Hill, John Murino,
Elaine Thorndike, Gaby Aweida,
Carl...

Using CVD Diamond to Cool Hot Devices

Increasing power densities and decreasing transistor dimensions are hallmarks of many of today’s semiconductor devices, including high-voltage power transistors, laser diodes, and RF power amplifiers....

Rugged IP-Based Video Surveillance System Keeps Taipei Trains Moving

Averaging 1.6 million passengers per day, the Taipei Metro, also known as the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, is one of the busiest transportation systems in Asia...

Energy Harvesting Wireless Lighting Control Systems

Energy can be found everywhere — in the movement of doors and windows or machine components, the vibration of motors, changing temperature or variances in luminance level. These energy...

Testing LEDs in a Climate Controlled Environment

Though they are a relative latecomer to the world of lighting technology, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are quickly making up for lost time. Since their invention in 1962, LEDs have been...

Simulation Leads to Better Cooling of Electronic Components in Toyota Hybrid Vehicles

If carmakers could reduce the number, size, and weight of the components in there, better fuel economy would result. A case in point is the design and...

The Engineering of IndyCar Racing

IndyCar racing features some of the most technologically sophisticated automobiles in the world today. Weighing just 1,565 pounds and powered by single- or twin-turbocharged 2.2L V6 engines that produce...

LED Drivers

Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) has introduced the TPS92311, an off-line primary side sensing controller. AC input voltage supports all common line voltages (100V, 120V, 230V, 240V, 277V), and adaptive constant on-time (COT)...

Underwater Autonomous Vehicles Combine Robotics and Vision to Inspect Oil Pipelines

Among the various components of a submarine pipeline, the vertical section known as a riser is critical to managing the pipeline. This section connects the...

Optimized Machine Capability Through Mechatronics: Packaging for the Future

Mechatronics can be defined as the science to optimize the performance and capabilities of machines using a multi-domain synergistic design approach. It is also...

John H. Glenn Research Center

Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center design game-changing spaceflight technologies that advance exploration of our solar system. They have also established themselves as global leaders in aeronautics by...

Multi-Layer Films and Tapes Provide Thermal Protection for NASA Spacecraft

Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) materials
Dunmore Corporation
Bristol, PA
215-781-8895
www.dunmore.com

The final flight of the Space Shuttle...

Light Your World With Solid-State Lighting

Partly due to rising environmental concerns and the increasing cost of energy, the industrialized world is now replacing billions of conventional incandescent light fixtures. While a significant...

Protecting Signal Integrity in Industrial Environments

Data communications in industrial environments can present special problems. Lines must be run over long distances, often ranging from thousands of feet to several miles, indoors and...

NASA Analyzes Toyota Camry Software With Static-Analysis Tool

CodeSonar, Coverity Prevent, and Uno software
GrammaTech
Ithaca, NY
607-273-7340
www.grammatech.com

The results of a ten-month study by 30 NASA engineers of...

Biosensing Technology Offers Advanced Diagnostic Capabilities

Electronic biosensing technology could someday displace the multi-welled microplate, long a standard tool in biomedical research and diagnostic laboratories. Essentially arrays of...

Create the Future Design Contest Winners: Where Are They Now?

The Create the Future Design Contest was launched in 2002 by the publishers of NASA Tech Briefs to help stimulate and reward engineering innovation. The competition has attracted...

Lighting that Lasts: Building Solid-State Lighting Systems that Meet Industry Requirements

Solid-state lighting (SSL) is rapidly emerging as a major segment of the lighting fixture industry. What was once a simple electrical device has now...

Flexible Ceramic Thin Film Nanogenerator

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

Keon Jae Lee, a professor in KAIST's Department of Materials...