An Overview on Automated Test Equipment

Automated Test Equipment (ATE) is computer controlled equipment that is used for testing the performance and functionality of electronic devices or even help in subassembly of electronic components, PCBs or PCAs.

Furthermore, ATE is used to perform stress testing which involves minimal human interaction. ATE performs tests on a device, known as the Device Under Test (DUT). This device is very efficient in measuring the performance and evaluating the test results. DUT is physically connected to the ATE through a machine called a Handler or Prober and a customized Interface Test Adapter (ITA) that helps in familiarizing the ATE's resources to the DUT.

In this process the steps are repeatable, consistent and faster in comparison to the manual processes. It is a great advantage of technology to mankind which is making the testing process much simpler and faster. Most of the smart manufacturing companies have adopted this methodology which has proved really beneficial to them. Earlier it used to take several hours to perform testing of an electronic device but now with the automated test equipment the same task is done in few minutes. Due to this reason ATE is considered to be cost effective and efficient electronic testing equipment which is ideal for high volume testing.

The automated test equipment process involves hardware control, sensors and software support for collecting and analyzing the test results. In the ATE process, it has range of sensing techniques such as machine vision which are used in the testing of the electronic devices. Apart from the electronic industry, there are many other domains which are making use of this technology for their benefit including medical equipment, automotive industry, airplane and other manufacturing companies where there high volume testing is involved. But if you are thinking that every company uses the same software for testing then get your facts corrected. It goes without saying, if the testing product is different, so must be the software type. So, for the technicians every time they test equipment, they need to write a new test process. This is definitely a tedious task which requires lot of technical knowledge and expertise.

In the semiconductor industry this electronic testing equipment is used for testing various electronic devices and systems. Right from simple components like resistors, capacitors to complex, completely-assembled electronic systems, all are tested with the help of ATE. In the semiconductor ATE architecture there are several components included such as master controller which is designed with the aim of synchronizing the source and capture instruments.

If you need any further information on this electronic testing equipment, search online!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6181274

How to Save Money in Buying Electronic Products

It's believed that many friends have the experience of buying electronic products in digital market. The salesman's endless comments have got many customers dizzy. They do not know which one to buy. We should nationally face on the arrival of promotional boom on the market at the present. How can we choose our gratified, cheap ones?
1. Seek out the bottom price by comparison. As the saying goes: To know your enemy and yourself, you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat. It's important to know the actual price of the product before buying. Most sellers don't mark out the original price when they quote out the promotional price. So we need to be careful. We can make a rough estimate of the price by visiting more counter pries. With this process, we can go on talking about the price. Otherwise we may buy the product expensive.
2. Change promotional gifts into cash. It's a common way of offering gifts to customer during promotion. In seller's side, the price of offering promotional gifts is for not give any opportunity to customers for lowing the price. We must know how to judge on the issue of accepting gifts or continue to bargain. Because the price for promotional gift is usually higher than the product itself. We can talk with the seller the price of the product with the gift, and tell them to add the discount of the gift into your product. Then the price for this product will be much lower.
3. Bulk business. Many customers have no experience of bulk business for electronic products. We can get special offer when buying a lot from the seller. We can talk with him with our friends. This is also a way of saving our money.
4. Online shopping. There are some special websites representing some brand products, the price is usually lower than others. Another one is internet auction site. The sellers can get products at a lower price from some channels we don't know.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5389724

Designer Engagement Ring Designs

There is something magical about even the thought of designer engagement ring designs. The word 'designer' creates images of romance, mystery, outstanding creativity, flair and opulence.
While many of us shy away at the thought of the price tag that must be attached to such creations and do not expect to be gifted one, we are still fascinated by the thought of them and feel the irresistible urge to see just what the fuss is all about.
Whether you are looking at a simple platinum and diamond Tacori ring, an elaborate but elegant Danhov or a truly unique Leon Popov butterfly ring, there are many reasons that we look at designer engagement ring designs.
1 - We want their skill and creativity
Just as we commission someone to paint a picture, we want our ring to be uniquely designed by someone who can gather all our feelings for each other, our hopes and our dreams and turn them into a work of art that can be worn for eternity.
We want to look at our ring and immediately feel this connection with it and with each other through it. This is something that very few 'of the rack' rings can give someone and yet the personal touch of the designer engagement ring designs seems to capture it all perfectly.
2 - Exclusivity
Like anything Haute Couture, a designer engagement ring is unique and exclusive to you. You might get away with buying clothes 'off the rack' - but your engagement ring needs to be something very special.
3 - Inspiration
Nicole Ritchie and Joel Madden did it, so did many other celebrities. Designing your own ring is becoming more and more popular. Because there are so many places now that we can design our own ring online, we might look at designer engagement ring designs to get inspiration for our own special ring.
If you like Kate Middleton's ring, but want a ruby instead of a sapphire, if you love Cartier but just can't quite afford the name-tag, then designing your own version of one of their rings is very simple.
Now if you had just popped into your local jeweler, you would be forgiven for thinking that when it comes to engagement rings there is very little choice available. The usual ring consists of a single diamond set on a gold, white gold or platinum band. The ring itself can have different looks depending on whether you want a traditional looking ring or a modern one and occasionally you will see three stone settings or setting with a couple of side stones.
But on the whole, they all sparkle, they all look lovely and they all look the same, but don't be fooled - the reality is that there are literally hundreds of different settings and tens of thousands of diamonds that can go into those settings to make your ring truly unique to you and your fiancé.
Even a simple solitaire can become an exceptional and treasured gift with the addition of smaller diamonds, elaborate engraving or by adding a contemporary twist to the band, all of which can be found with designer engagement ring designs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5899313

The Real Benefits Of Using A Silent Inverter Generator

The Benefits You Gain Out Of Your Inverter Generator Includes:

• High Quality Power Output: The precision of the Inverter Generator electronic technology ensures its power is closer to normal "line power" in more than any other generator design. Inverter Generators produce power that is as reliable as the power you get from your power outlets at home. 

• Lighter, smaller size: Advanced engineers use inverter technology to integrate parts from the engine and the generator. The mechanical parts to the alternator are now combined with the engine flywheel. This allows inverter generators to be smaller and lighter in weight than most conventional models.

• High Fuel Efficiency: Economy- Throttle allows the generators engine to automatically adjust the engine speed to produce only the power needed for the appliance in use. Traditional generators have to run at 3600 rpm to produce 60 hertz (cycle) electricity. But inverter generators with Economy throttle can run at much slower rpms while maintaining frequency and power for the requested load. Because the engine does not have to run at full speed constantly, Economy throttle reduces fuel consumption by up to 40%. It also helps to reduce exhaust emissions.

• Quiet Operation: Silent inverter generators are substantially quieter than traditional generators. The Economy throttle also reduces the noise level, along with the sponge dampening materials that absorb the engine's sound to help make the inverter generators incredibly quiet.

• Parallel Capability: Inverter Generators can be paired with another identically sized unit to double your power capacity. Parallel capability allows you to use two smaller, lighter generators to do the work of a much larger generator without effecting portability.

Installation of Inverter Battery Charger Plus All Equipped

Installation of Inverter Battery Charger Plus All Equipped

1. Make sure the switch is in OFF position

2. Prepare the battery cable is red or positive that we have provided in inverter package

3. Connect the battery cables or POSITIVE RED color, the other end to the Positive Pole of the inverter and the other end to the positive pole of the battery, the inverter has no positive signs from the terminal and the existing akipun positive sign

4. Once installed the red battery cable then tighten the bolt

5. Prepare the battery cable or NEGATIVE BLACK color that has been provided by us in inverter package

6. . Connect the battery cables or colored BLACK NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE Edge Pole only to the inverter and the other end to the NEGATIVE battery poles, the inverter has no negative signs from the terminal and the existing akipun negative sign

7. Connect the black wire inverter input into the existing socket diinverter
8. Plug the black input cable from the inverter to the electricity socket
9. Turn on the switch to the ON position
10. Plug the electrical appliance like a fan, PC, etc who want to back up into the white inverter OUTPUT

Get the Help of Realty Group for Chicago Foreclosure

Investing in Chicago foreclosure property is the best way of utilizing your hard earned money in the right way. Residents of Chicago and surrounding areas have better opportunity to make the best of their money or investment they make.

Today with an aim to make your dream come true to get the best from Chicago foreclosure property a number of leading Realty Groups have come up with effective solutions and proper information to make the process easy. 

Leading and reliable Realty Groups like Pearson Realty Group has a team of property managers who leave no stone unturned in providing you the right solutions so that you can easily invest in Chicago foreclosure. Pearson Realty Groups is also one such leading Realty Groups that has a team of property managers who have specialties in Chicago Real Estate Owned subdivision to lend a hand position your buying needs in the special bank owned market.

Pearson Group is straight listing brokers for many business entities including the largest vendors in the industry, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Switched-mode power supply

Input rectifier stage

AC, half-wave and full wave rectified signals.

If the SMPS has an AC input, then the first stage is to convert the input to DC. This is called rectification. The rectifier circuit can be configured as a voltage doubler by the addition of a switch operated either manually or automatically. This is a feature of larger supplies to permit operation from nominally 120 volt or 240 volt supplies. The rectifier produces an unregulated DC voltage which is then sent to a large filter capacitor. The current drawn from the mains supply by this rectifier circuit occurs in short pulses around the AC voltage peaks. These pulses have significant high frequency energy which reduces the power factor. Special control techniques can be employed by the following SMPS to force the average input current to follow the sinusoidal shape of the AC input voltage thus the designer should try correcting the power factor. An SMPS with a DC input does not require this stage. An SMPS designed for AC input can often be run from a DC supply (for 230V AC this would be 330V DC), as the DC passes through the rectifier stage unchanged. It's however advisable to consult the manual before trying this, though most supplies are quite capable of such operation even though nothing is mentioned in the documentation. However, this type of use may be harmful to the rectifier stage as it will only utilize half of diodes in the rectifier for the full load. This may result in overheating of these components, and cause them to fail prematurely. [3]
If an input range switch is used, the rectifier stage is usually configured to operate as a voltage doubler when operating on the low voltage (~120 VAC) range and as a straight rectifier when operating on the high voltage (~240 VAC) range. If an input range switch is not used, then a full-wave rectifier is usually used and the downstream inverter stage is simply designed to be flexible enough to accept the wide range of dc voltages that will be produced by the rectifier stage. In higher-power SMPSs, some form of automatic range switching may be used.

Inverter stage

The inverter stage converts DC, whether directly from the input or from the rectifier stage described above, to AC by running it through a power oscillator, whose output transformer is very small with few windings at a frequency of tens or hundreds of kilohertz (kHz). The frequency is usually chosen to be above 20 kHz, to make it inaudible to humans. The output voltage is optically coupled to the input and thus very tightly controlled. The switching is implemented as a multistage (to achieve high gain) MOSFET amplifier. MOSFETs are a type of transistor with a low on-resistance and a high current-handling capacity. Since only the last stage has a large duty cycle, previous stages can be implemented by bipolar transistors leading to roughly the same efficiency. The second last stage needs to be of a complementary design, where one transistor charges the last MOSFET and another one discharges the MOSFET. A design using a resistor would run idle most of the time and reduce efficiency. All earlier stages do not weight into efficiency because power decreases by a factor of 10 for every stage (going backwards) and thus the earlier stages are responsible for at most 1% of the efficiency. This section refers to the block marked Chopper in the block diagram.

Voltage converter and output rectifier

If the output is required to be isolated from the input, as is usually the case in mains power supplies, the inverted AC is used to drive the primary winding of a high-frequency transformer. This converts the voltage up or down to the required output level on its secondary winding. The output transformer in the block diagram serves this purpose.
If a DC output is required, the AC output from the transformer is rectified. For output voltages above ten volts or so, ordinary silicon diodes are commonly used. For lower voltages, Schottky diodes are commonly used as the rectifier elements; they have the advantages of faster recovery times than silicon diodes (allowing low-loss operation at higher frequencies) and a lower voltage drop when conducting. For even lower output voltages, MOSFETs may be used as synchronous rectifiers; compared to Schottky diodes, these have even lower conducting state voltage drops.
The rectified output is then smoothed by a filter consisting of inductors and capacitors. For higher switching frequencies, components with lower capacitance and inductance are needed.
Simpler, non-isolated power supplies contain an inductor instead of a transformer. This type includes boost converters, buck converters, and the so called buck-boost converters. These belong to the simplest class of single input, single output converters which utilize one inductor and one active switch. The buck converter reduces the input voltage in direct proportion to the ratio of conductive time to the total switching period, called the duty cycle. For example an ideal buck converter with a 10 V input operating at a 50% duty cycle will produce an average output voltage of 5 V. A feedback control loop is employed to regulate the output voltage by varying the duty cycle to compensate for variations in input voltage. The output voltage of a boost converter is always greater than the input voltage and the buck-boost output voltage is inverted but can be greater than, equal to, or less than the magnitude of its input voltage. There are many variations and extensions to this class of converters but these three form the basis of almost all isolated and non-isolated DC to DC converters. By adding a second inductor the Ćuk and SEPIC converters can be implemented, or, by adding additional active switches, various bridge converters can be realised.
Other types of SMPSs use a capacitor-diode voltage multiplier instead of inductors and transformers. These are mostly used for generating high voltages at low currents (Cockcroft-Walton generator). The low voltage variant is called charge pump.

Regulation

A feedback circuit monitors the output voltage and compares it with a reference voltage, which is set manually or electronically to the desired output. If there is an error in the output voltage, the feedback circuit compensates by adjusting the timing with which the MOSFETs are switched on and off. This part of the power supply is called the switching regulator. The Chopper controller shown in the block diagram serves this purpose. Depending on design/safety requirements, the controller may or may not contain an isolation mechanism (such as opto-couplers) to isolate it from the DC output. Switching supplies in computers, TVs and VCRs have these opto-couplers to tightly control the output voltage.
Open-loop regulators do not have a feedback circuit. Instead, they rely on feeding a constant voltage to the input of the transformer or inductor, and assume that the output will be correct. Regulated designs compensate for the parasitic capacitance of the transformer or coil. Monopolar designs also compensate for the magnetic hysteresis of the core.
The feedback circuit needs power to run before it can generate power, so an additional non-switching power-supply for stand-by is added.

Transformer design
 

SMPS transformers run at high frequency. Most of the cost savings (and space savings) in off-line power supplies come from the fact that a high frequency transformer is much smaller than the 50/60 Hz transformers formerly used.
There are several differences in the design of transformers for 50 Hz vs 500 kHz. Firstly a low frequency transformer usually transfers energy through its core (soft iron), while the (usually ferrite) core of a high frequency transformer limits leakage. Since the waveforms in a SMPS are generally high speed (PWM square waves), the wiring must be capable of supporting high harmonics of the base frequency due to the skin effect, which is a major source of power loss.

Power factor

Simple off-line switched mode power supplies incorporate a simple full wave rectifier connected to a large energy storing capacitor. Such SMPSs draw current from the AC line in short pulses when the mains instantaneous voltage exceeds the voltage across this capacitor. During the remaining portion of the AC cycle the capacitor provides energy to the power supply.
As a result, the input current of such basic switched mode power supplies has high harmonic content and relatively low power factor. This creates extra load on utility lines, increases heating of the utility transformers and standard AC electric motors, and may cause stability problems in some applications such as in emergency generator systems or aircraft generators. Harmonics can be removed through the use of filter banks but the filtering is expensive, and the power utility may require a business with a very low power factor to purchase and install the filtering onsite.
In 2001 the European Union put into effect the standard IEC/EN61000-3-2 to set limits on the harmonics of the AC input current up to the 40th harmonic for equipment above 75 W. The standard defines four classes of equipment depending on its type and current waveform. The most rigorous limits (class D) are established for personal computers, computer monitors, and TV receivers. In order to comply with these requirements modern switched-mode power supplies normally include an additional power factor correction (PFC) stage.
Putting a current regulated boost chopper stage after the off-line rectifier (to charge the storage capacitor) can help correct the power factor, but increases the complexity (and cost).