Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. Introduces a New MicroPower Hall-Effect Switch with Complementary Push-Pull Outputs Designed to Meet the Demanding Requirements of Battery-Operated Applications 
Allegro has introduced a new ultra sensitive, Hall- effect switch with latched digital outputs and either unipolar or omnipolar actuation. It features operation at low supply currents and voltages, making it well suited for battery-operated electronics. Key features such as: lower minimum Vcc, a small, low-profile package and push-pull complementary outputs, all serve to satisfy present and future trends in battery operated consumer products. This new device is targeted at the consumer and industrial markets.
The low operating supply voltage, 1.65 V to 3.5 V and unique clocking algorithm assist in reducing the average operating power consumption. For example, the power requirements are less than 15 µW with a 2.75 V supply. Unlike some traditional Hall- effect switches, Allegro’s A1171 allows the user to configure how the device is magnetically actuated. Under default conditions the device will activate output switching with either a north or south polarity magnetic field of sufficient strength. In the EW, 6-pin, microleaded package, the polarity specific actuation can be set by the user via an external selection pin to operate in a unipolar mode, switching only on a north or south polarity field. Lastly, the A1171 has two push-pull output structures, which source and sink current to eliminate the need for external pull-up resistors. This polarity-independence, as well as the minimal power requirements, allows the A1171 to easily replace reed switches, providing superior reliability and ease of manufacturing while eliminating the requirement for signal conditioning.
Allegro’s A1171 is currently available in the EW (2 mm by 1.5 mm by 0.4 mm DFN) package. The A1171 is priced at $0.38 in quantities of 1,000 and has a 10 to 12 week typical lead-time to market.
Eriez SafeHold EPL Series Lifting Magnets Make Quick Work of Difficult, Time Consuming Steel Handling 
Eriez’ new SafeHold EPL Series Permanent Lifting Magnets lift and transfer steel and iron without slings, hooks or cables and without marring the surface. They are well suited for a variety of machine shop operations including carrying semi-finished products with flat surfaces such as machine parts, press molds for forming, steel plates and more, according to Eriez.
SafeHold EPL Series Permanent Lifting Magnets require fewer operators and helpers and when properly installed and operated, they provide greater safety than other mechanical material handling devices. This line of Lifting Magnets turns on and off manually to provide smooth operation for hundreds of lifting and positioning applications. Since electricity is not needed, power failures don’t interrupt the operation. There is continuous magnet power until the magnet is turned off. There is no need for a costly DC power supply or batteries to recharge or replace.
Customers can combine several SafeHold lift magnets to conform to the specific shape and weight of complex work pieces.
Samsung Ships High Capacity 2.5” Hard Disk Drive for Mobile and Enterprise Applications Samsung Electronics Ltd., a digital consumer electronics and information technology provider, has released its high capacity 2.5 inch hard disk drive, the new Spinpoint M6 featuring 320 GB of storage capacity. The new Spinpoint M6 HM320JI is a SATA hard drive designed for notebook PCs, as well as slim PCs and blade servers. With its ultra-high 320 GB capacity, the Spinpoint M6 can store the most content of any 2.5 inch drive and is well suited for notebook users who need large storage space for videos, photos, music and multiple multimedia applications.
“As 2.5 inch hard drives move further beyond traditional notebook PCs and into more consumer electronics and enterprise applications, we have the storage solutions and higher capacity drives to meet all the needs of businesses and consumers,” said Andy Higginbotham, director of hard drive sales and marketing, Samsung Semiconductor. “With its 320 GB capacity, the Spinpoint M6 can store 91,000 digital images, 100 hours of DVD movies and 38 hours of HD movies.”
Created to thrive in the toughest environments where notebook PCs are used, the Spinpoint M6 provides improved reliability. It utilizes perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology and the disk drive design has been optimized to allow ultra-precision adjustment of the head parking ramp position for high-density recording. The Spinpoint M6 features an optional Free-Fall Sensor that protects data from accidental drops and includes an optional Rotary Vibration Controller that minimizes the influence of external vibration.
The Spinpoint M6 has been developed to meet the most stringent environmental demands of notebook PC and portable consumer electronics, where minimal noise and low power consumption is critical. Samsung’s Spinpoint M6 hard drives operate between 2.6 Bel and 2.4 Bel in idle mode.
Samsung’s new 320 GB model greatly expands the storage capacity of notebook PCs in line with the surging growth of multimedia content and the rapidly evolving mobile environment. The M6 series features a 5,400 rpm spindle speed, 1.5 Gbps SATA interface and 8 MB cache memory.
The M6 Series is currently available with a $249 MSRP.
Hitachi Commercializes Oasis, the Highest Field Strength Open MRI Hitachi Medical Systems America has commercialized Oasis, its new patient-centered open architecture MRI scanner. This system, with its superconducting 1.2 T vertical field magnet, was cleared for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration in September of last year.
“Oasis has the highest field-strength whole body vertical field magnet available,” said Shawn Etheridge, director, MR Marketing, at Hitachi Medical Systems. “Couple that strength with the sensitive Zenith receiver coils and 1.5 T imaging electronics and you net high-field clinical performance.”
According to Etheridge, the Oasis Zenith RF coils are the culmination of 20 years of vertical field MRI experience, incorporating highly sensitive volume solenoid coil detection and driving up to eight RF channels for large FOV uniformity. The Oasis standard special features include Higher-Order Active Shim Technology (HOAST), ensuring high magnetic field uniformity during scanning to achieve excellent fat saturation over large FOVs. Oasis also includes RAPID parallel imaging, TRAQ time-resolved MRA, Hitachi’s all coil/all plane RADAR patient motion compensating technology and a 33mT/m – 100T/m/sec gradient system.
Oasis is equipped with such patient–centered features as a 270º viewing angle and a 82 cm wide patient table. According to Hitachi, Oasis will change the market perception of open MRI, delivering high-field diagnostic confidence, plus patient comfort and a differentiation opportunity for MRI providers.
Vacuumschmelze has Released Updated Software Tool with More Functions for Selecting DC- and PFC Chokes
Hanau-based Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. KG has released Update 2.3, of its Chokes Quick Selector software tool for DC- and PFC chokes. The tool now features new integrated functions, including an expanded data input area and extended database covering an array of new choke types - both additions that will significantly enhance the program's accuracy.
The upgraded software can now identify suitable choke types rapidly and efficiently from input of only a few operating data. Even under operating conditions, which deviate from nominal data, the program is able to locate the most suitable choke and specify heat-up and inductance. The database is based on both existing VAC standard series and new model families of DC- and PFC chokes.
The software also offers two further design tools, in the form of calculation sheets for chokes for buck- and boost converters. An additional feature enables the size of the smoothing capacitor and voltage ripple to be calculated by entering the internal resistance and voltage drops.
Microsoft Excel is required to run the program. Chokes Quick Selector is available as a free download at the Vacuumschmelze website at www.vacuumschmelze.com.
R&D:Static Field Converter Released - A Machine That Taps A New Source Of Energy 
The Static Field Converter is an invention by The Andrew Abolafia Company that converts the energy in permanent magnets into useable electrical energy. The significance of the innovation is that the energy stored in permanent magnet materials can be tapped. The magnitude of the energy is large enough to make a significant impact in reducing the US addiction to oil as well as mitigate the destruction of the environment. Abundant, cheap electricity generated by the invention can produce abundant, cheap hydrogen. Hydrogen can be used as fuel in most applications that now require fossil fuels. It can also be used to power fuel cells. The exhaust is water vapor.
The Andrew Abolafia Company, after more than four years of research on the Static Field Converter in collaboration with the University at Buffalo, SUNY (State University of New York), produced results that show that the Static Field Converter taps a new source of energy. ANSYS Finite Element Analysis computer simulation yields the data that support that conclusion. It has enabled The Static Field Converter to evolve and be refined along with experimentation at the University at Buffalo.
R&D:BioImage Study Seeks to Identify Individuals at High Risk of Heart Attack or Stroke 2 to 3 Years before Occurrence
Next phase of the High-Risk Plaque Initiative will leverage advances in diagnostic imaging and blood biomarker science to reduce morbidity, mortality and cost associated with cardiovascular disease
BG Medicine, on behalf of the HRP Initiative, has launced the BioImage Study, designed to discover new blood tests and to optimize non-invasive imaging of atherosclerosis in order to identify and characterize individuals that are at high-risk for coronary heart disease or stroke. The BioImage Study is the next phase of the High-Risk Plaque Initiative, an industry-funded joint research and development effort to advance the understanding, recognition and management of high-risk plaque (HRP), the primary underlying cause of heart attacks and the leading cause of death in the Western world.
The current method of reducing cardiovascular disease relies on minimizing risk factors, an effective strategy to some degree, however, insufficient for treating established but asymptomatic disease such as HRP. Although the pharmaceutical industry has discovered promising treatment options to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke associated with HRP, the therapeutic potential of these drugs is compromised by a general inability to identify the people who would benefit most from them. The BioImage Study is designed to identify those individuals with undetected but high-risk atherosclerosis in the months or years before a heart attack or stroke occurs, by taking advantage of the latest technologies in biomedical imaging and molecular medicine. This approach integrates a set of clinical measurements that may reliably and reproducibly predict those who are most at risk of heart attack or stroke associated with HRP, who would benefit from innovative therapies.
“The BioImage Study is expected to answer many important questions that would help us devise strategies to markedly reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease,” said Valentin Fuster, M.D., Ph.D., a leading international cardiologist and chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for the HRP Initiative and principal investigator of the BioImage Study. “The collaboration between academia, diagnostic and therapeutic industry participants and a leading health benefit provider creates an unprecedented opportunity to do a different kind of study to search for these answers in a way that would otherwise not be possible.” In addition to his work with the HRP Initiative, Dr. Fuster serves as director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health and Director of Mount Sinai Heart.
Participants in the BioImage Study will have physical measurements taken (e.g., height, weight, blood pressure and waist/hip circumferences) and blood samples drawn for a number of advanced molecular analyses. Many of these participants will also undergo procedures to capture images of their hearts and cardiovascular systems. Based on this information, the HRP Initiative will work to discover and validate blood biomarkers that correlate with the imaging data and that are predictive of future heart attack and stroke associated with HRP.
The BioImage Study is novel not only in its design, but also in the collection of collaborative partners who have joined the HRP Initiative to address this critical medical need. Together with BG Medicine, these partners include Merck, AstraZeneca, Philips and several distinguished members of academia. This initiative was formed with the shared goal to address atherosclerosis and its associated life-threatening consequences of heart attack and stroke. The current group of HRP Partners is seeking additional companies to collaborate in the HRP Initiative.
Humana, one of the largest publicly traded health benefits companies in the US, will offer to selected members in Illinois, Kentucky and Southern Florida the opportunity to participate in the BioImage Study. The study uses mobile diagnostic imaging units equipped with Philips magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT) systems. These units will be located at the sites in Illinois, Kentucky and Florida and will seek to enroll a total of 7,300 volunteers. The BioImage Study is expected to end in December 2008 in Florida plans to enroll males age 55 to 80 and females age 60 to 80.
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Join our Industry Leading Line-Up of Speakers at the 2008 Magnetics Conference
Limited Speaking Spots in Medical, Instruments and Ferrites Track Still Available
As a speaking company at the 2008 Magnetics Conference, you would join a line-up of leading companies such as:
Advanced Magnet Lab - Crane Aerospace & Electronics - Daido Electronics Co., Ltd. - Dexter Magnetic Technologies - Electron Energy Corp. - Hitachi Metals, Ltd. - Infolytica Corp. - Magnequench International, Inc. - Magnetic Power, Inc. - MAGSYS Magnet Systems - Metrolab Technology - National Institute of Standards and Technology - PolarisREM, LLC - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Vector Fields Ltd. - Walter T. Benecki, LLC
There are currently still several speaking spots still available at the 2008 Magnetics Conference in the Medical, Instruments and Ferrites tracks. Don’t delay - submit your abstract soon to share your expertise with the rest of the magnetics industry!
Visit www.magneticsmagazine.com/mag_conf08_program.htm to see participating companies and their presentation abstracts.
Full-conference registration fees will be waived for all confirmed speakers.
Visit the conference web site at http://www.magneticsmagazine.com/mag_conf08_callforpres.htm for abstract submission requirements and guidelines.
Contact Heather Krier at heatherk@infowebcom.com or 800-803-9488 x129 for more information.
Interested in Sponsoring or Exhibiting?
Contact Joan Nelson for more information at joann@infowebcom.com or 800-803-9488 x113.
Arrow Electronics Expands Distribution Agreement with Delta Electronics to Include DC/DC Converters The North American Components business of Arrow Electronics, Inc. has expanded its distribution agreement with Delta Electronics, Inc., a provider of switching power supplies, to include Delta's Delphi Series of standard DC/DC converters.
Offering up to 700 watts of power in a single unit, the Delphi DC/DC converters provide high efficiency and high-density power for the commercial, industrial and military markets.
"The expanded agreement between Delta, one of the world's largest power manufacturers, and Arrow, one of the largest power-supply distributors, enables customers to access products and services from a world-class team," said Mike Calabria, vice president of marketing for passives, electromechanical and connector products at Arrow. "Delta will compliment Arrow's industry-leading power-supply line card and strong market presence."
"We are pleased to expand our association with Arrow to include DC/DC converters. Our customers will benefit from the support and program expertise Arrow provides," said Graham Hunter, senior vice president of sales at Delta.
Global Market for Nanoparticles in Electronic, Magnetic and Optoelectronic Applications Slated for High Growth Through 2012
According to a new technical market research report, Nanostructured Materials: Electronic/Magnetic/Optoelectronic(NAN017F)from BCC Research, the global market for nanoparticles in electronic, magnetic and optoelectronic applications was worth $521.9 million in 2007. This is expected to increase to over $1.7 billion by 2012, a compound average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.5 percent.
The market is broken down into applications of electronic, magnetic and optoelectronic applications. Of these, electronic applications hold the largest share of the market. Worth an estimated $433.7 million in 2007, this segment is expected to be worth $894.6 million in 2012, a CAGR of 15.6 percent.
The second largest segment in 2007, cosmetic applications are expected to decline at an average rate of almost 19 percent per year and, as a result, their market value is projected to be $25.4 million in 2012. Optoelectronic applications’ share should grow from 3.1 percent to 18 percent between 2006 and 2012 and reach $201.4 million.
Within these three broad application segments, several specific applications stand out; chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) was the largest market for nanoparticles in 2006, followed by magnetic recording media and multi-layer ceramic capacitors. However, consumption of nanoparticles for magnetic recording media is projected to decline, while new applications such as LEDs and quantum optical devices are growing rapidly. As a result, magnetic recording media are expected to drop to sixth place by 2012, behind CMP, quantum optical devices, multilayer ceramic capacitors, LEDs and advanced displays, and fiber optic cable.
Three types of nanoparticles (silica, iron oxide and alumina) together accounted for more than 85 percent of the electronic, magnetic and optoelectronic market in 2006. While alumina consumption is projected to grow faster than the market as a whole, silica and particularly iron oxide are expected to underperform the market and consequently lose market share. Meanwhile ceria and other oxides and quantum dots are expected to increase their market share significantly.
For more information or to order this report visit www.bccresearch.com.
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