Manufacturing

Cambridge Nanotherm is expecting to make a strong start to 2015 with growing sales of its nanoceramic thermal management products, particularly in the LED lighting market. Cambridge Nanotherm installed its first production line last March. “Upgrading our systems was necessary to cope with the demand,” commented Ralph Weir, CEO of Cambridge Nanotherm. “Many electronic and LED manufacturers are starting to ...

To make it tougher for rivals to copy designs, some companies erase component-top part numbers. “The problem is that this is usually done after the PCB assembly otherwise it is difficult to ensure that the board is made correctly, but the usual technique of manually grinding the markings off is time consuming and can damage the component and stress solder ...

TT Electronics has been selected by the Rolls-Royce controls and data services business to supply of hybrid microcircuits. The agreement will see TT supplying engine control modules for the latest Rolls-Royce engines including the Trent XWB and Trent 1000. The exclusive supply agreement is for an initial term of 10 years. Richard Tyson, group chief executive of TT Electronics said, ...

Aspiring electronics designers took part in a 30 hour hackathon at the Fab Lab London last weekend. Fab Lab London is a purpose built digital fabrication and rapid prototyping workspace in the City of London. It was created by business incubators Bathtub2Boardroom and the RSA Great Recovery initiative to provide aspiring designers and small companies access to digital fabrication tools, ...

UK manufacturers will get an introduction to Industry 4.0, the so-called smart factory concept, at the National Space Centre in Leicester next month. “If UK companies are to compete successfully in the global marketplace, it is essential that they take full advantage of Industry 4.0 has to offer,” said Ken Christie, director of electrical CAE software firm EPLAN, organiser of the event which takes place ...

Business secretary Vince Cable today announced the launch of the National College for Advanced Manufacturing, during his visit to the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

Engineers at CERN are washing surface-mount PCBs in a dishwasher. Well, almost. It’s a professional machine mainly used in the pharmaceutical industry, according to CERN, designed to clean everything that can be washed with water-based chemical soap. “This type of treatment increases the lifetime of the electronic boards and therefore the LHC’s reliability by preventing corrosion problems in the severe ...

Du Pont has introduced stretchable inks for electronics in smart clothing and other wearables. “A third party evaluation of fabrics that incorporate these materials to create thin electronic circuits has shown them to be washable, durable, and capable of withstanding up to 100 wash cycles,” said Du Pont. A working model of a biometric shirt that incorporated electronic inks from ...

A pressure controlled 3D printer has raised $65,000 on the Kickstarter crowd-funding website. The Elemental 3D printer is designed to be lower cost by replacing complex mechanical operation with a pressure control system. The printer deploys a new resin-based suspension technology, which simplifies the control of resin levels. It can be used to render projects with a thick or thin ...

UK Ambassador to China, Sir Sebastian Wood highlighted UK Trade and Investment’s support for companies in the region. The Ambassador was speaking after he met with top management at Laird. Ambassador Wood travelled to Laird’s development and manufacturing centre in Shenzhen, China to learn more about the company’s capabilities and objectives. “UK based technology companies are driving growth and competing with the ...