Flexible Electronics Concepts

Demonstrators at the Printed Electronics USA 2011 tradeshow

Three weeks remain until the IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2011 conference and tradeshow, the biggest event in the world on the topic. This year's tradeshow will be the largest Printed Electronics exhibition to date, with 105 exhibiting companies already confirmed to exhibit on the 46,000 sq.ft. tradeshow floor of the Santa Clara Convention Centre.

DoE awards $156 million for groundbreaking energy research projects

The Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), announced 60 cutting-edge research projects aimed at dramatically improving how the U.S. produces and uses energy.

Much Bigger e-mobility picture revealed

Electric vehicle parts are not evolving: they are changing completely. Sometimes, the traction battery will be replaced by a supercapacitor or supercabattery and the dumb skin of the vehicle by smart skin. Energy harvesting and range extenders are new key enabling technologies and AC motors are often replacing DC motors. This is an industry in ferment.

Electric vehicles become electronic

About 80% of the value of a military jet aircraft lies in the circuitry, up from almost nothing a century ago. Civil airliners are about 50% electric and electronic, whereas the family car is around 30% so far, all these percentages steadily rising. The point is that an aircraft has far more than the radar, communications and other instruments accessed by the pilot: it is a sea of sensors, fuel controls and servo systems in the engines, wings and elsewhere. Even the family car adds much more than the satnav, phone, proximity sensors and other electronics directly assisting the driver, the MEMS accelerometer controlling the air bags being just one of an increasingly huge number of out-of-sight safety and other measures controlled by circuitry.

Intense interest in energy harvesting for electric vehicles

Two forthcoming events in Germany reflect the intense interest in energy harvesting for electric vehicles. Energy Harvesting Europe 21-22 June covers many forms of harvesting for other applications as well and drills into the technology, investment and other aspects of harvesting in general. On the other hand Electric Vehicles Land Sea Air in Stuttgart 28-29 June is entirely vehicle oriented.

Energy harvesting for electric vehicles

Energy harvesting is the production of electricity from ambient energy. Usually the objective in electric vehicles is to increase range and safety. Range is increased in two ways. Either a very powerful form of energy harvesting such as shock absorbers or regenerative braking adds significant amounts of energy to the traction battery or wireless sensors and actuators improving safety also save many kilograms of wiring this also increasing range significantly.

Electric Vehicles - But Not As We Know Them

Today's electric family cars are useless in telling us anything about the future. The design and adoption of electric vehicles is subject to sudden change driven by surprising factors. The unique event "Electric Vehicles - Land Sea Air" in Stuttgart, Germany is alone in looking at the big picture in order to clarify what is really going on.

New military supercapacitor funding

ADA Technologies, Inc. has been awarded a $70,000 contract from the U.S. Army to begin Phase 1 of the development of an electrochemical supercapacitor (ultracapacitor) for use in hybrid military vehicles.

Intense interest in energy harvesting for electric vehicles

Two forthcoming events in Germany reflect the intense interest in energy harvesting for electric vehicles.

GE achieves highest publicly reported efficiency for Thin Film Solar

Plans to Build US Manufacturing Plant Highest-Ever Reported Efficiency of Nearly 13 Percent on a Full-Size CdTe Thin Film Solar Panel More than 100 Megawatts of New Orders for Thin Film Solar Products GE to Build 400-Megawatt Manufacturing Facility, will be Larger than Any Existing US Solar Panel Plant Today Solar Strategy Complemented by Announced Acquisition of Power Conversion Technology Company Converteam GE Completes Acquisition of PrimeStar Solar, Inc.

Some impressions from Printed Electronics Europe

Printed Electronics Europe in Düsseldorf grew again, remaining Europe's largest event on the subject.

Printechnologics recognized with 2 printed electronics industry awards

Printechnologics - a leading technology developer in field of printed electronics - was awarded with the Printed Electronics Award 2011 for the best product development and the best in show award at the Printed Electronics conference

XsunX signs CIGSolar purchase

XsunX signs CIGSolar purchase and license commitment with energy company

Soligie's new sheet fed, flat bed screen printing line

Soligie enhances printed electronics manufacturing capabilities with sheet fed, flat bed screen printing line

Auria & MHI enter discussions in production & sales of thin-film PV

Auria Solar Co. Ltd. (Auria) of Taiwan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, LTD. (MHI) of Japan have entered a MOU for business cooperation in Auria's new expansion project.

Conductive Logic - Smaller, Faster, Cleaner, Cheaper

Conductive Logic, a privately held company, located in California, in partnership with Institut fur Neue Materialien (INM) located in Saarbrucken, Germany, have announced a breakthrough, in the field of printed electronics

DOE awards 3M $4.4 million to reduce cost of PV energy systems

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded 3M $4.4 million as part of DOE's SunShot Initiative. SunShot aims to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent, so that they are cost-competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies.

Printed electronics - Europe is different

Printed electronics is one of the most important new enabling technologies.