Manufacturer News

New solderless RF connector slash mating time/cost.
A new range of RF connectors from Wearnes Cambion, designed principally to be used in conjunction with semi rigid cable, uses a solderless mating process, saving time and cutting costs. During assembly, prepared semi rigid cable is plugged into the RF connector and an integral locking cap is screwed down, closing the teeth of an inner insert, providing a strain-relieved, solderless joint. No special tooling is required to effect a quick, pluggable termination.

These low insertion force RF connectors are available in standard SMA, SMB, MMCX and N footprints. Alternatively, Wearnes Cambion has invested in state of the art fabrication tooling, so RF connectors and converters can be customised to suit a specific application.

Charcroft Electronics a specialist passive, emech and interconnect distributor and passives manufacturer - has signed a pan-European agreement to build and manage the European sales operation for fan manufacturer, Comair Rotron. The agreement is believed to be the first of its kind in the industry and follows the customer acquisition of Comair Rotron from administrators, by W.E.T. Automotive Systems in October 2008.

Material Change Notification.
New plastic material for contact carriers. Signal connectors for the RC, UC, TU and HC series.

Oxley wins lighting contract for Foxhound
OXLEY Developments has been selected to supply its innovative, dual-mode LED lighting to illuminate the crew quarters in Foxhound, the new British Armed Forces patrol vehicle.

Foxhound is the British Army name for Ocelot, the Light Protected Patrol Vehicle (LPPV) designed and developed by survivability specialists Force Protection Europe. Force Protection Europe has won a contract to supply 200 of the British-designed vehicles to the Ministry of Defence LPPV Programme.

Oxley supplied LED DC Combi Lights for the first phase of vehicles to be manufactured, and has now been awarded the contract for all 200 Foxhounds. These unique lights operate in normal and blackout/emergency modes and are a far superior alternative to traditional filament lighting. They are low profile (16mm), lightweight (300g), resist shock and vibration, use a third of the power requirement for equivalent incandescent lights and have a mean time between failure of 50,000 hours. The requirement for surplus space to store new and used bulbs is eliminated whilst the absence of mercury satisfies the environmental issue, providing a non-hazardous solution. The DC Combi is available with or without dimming control and the blackout mode is available in red, green or blue.

Oxley Business Development Manager Marcus Goad said: “It’s great to be working with Force Protection Europe, supplying the lighting solution for such a unique and innovative military vehicle.

"The DC Combi is a robust, reliable high specification light, making it the perfect fit for the Foxhound."

Notes for Editors: Designed and developed for military vehicles at Oxley Developments Priory Park Headquarters in Cumbria, the DC Combi is also suitable for hard and soft walled shelters and naval compartments.

Oxley Prototype Shop Open For Business
Oxley Developments has opened a new, state-of-the-art Prototype and Development Department at its Priory Park, Ulverston headquarters.

The new department enables quick turnaround on prototype machined parts and means that product samples will get to the customer quicker. Mike Fellowes, who is heading up the new department, said: "The new workshop means that our production machines will no longer be interrupted to manufacture prototypes.

"There will be two mechanical and two electrical staff, providing a link between mechanical and electronic assembly as well as critical feedback to our Design and Development Department. We will also train production staff on the assembly of any new products when required.

"Parts that are produced in the new workshop will be representative of production parts rather than rapid prototypes, enabling us to put new designs through a full test program earlier in the design stage. We can identify any special jigs, fixtures or assembly aids before the new designs go into full production."

The new Department has been designed to meet the highest standards in electronic assembly using Electro Static Discharge (ESD) flooring, benches and chairs.

The very latest metal cutting machine tools have been installed including a Haas VF2YT CNC Machining Centre fitted with a Haas TR160 Trunnion Table, giving full five axis machining capability, a Haas TL1 CNC Toolroom Lathe and an XYZ 2000 Turret Mill.

A significant investment has also been made in the latest Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) software from Delcam. This will enable 3D surface milling, 5 axis simultaneous machining and machine simulation.

Oxley Developments has been awarded a contract by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) to provide detailed engineering of LED navigation and signal lights for the two new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers currently under construction for the Royal Navy.

Under the contract, awarded by Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, Oxley will provide engineering services for the ships’ navigation and signaling lights, including sidelights, stern light, anchor light, manoeuvring lights and warning signals. The scope of work encompasses 11 different light specifications. LED technology will be implemented throughout, ensuring high reliability, low maintenance and reduced electrical load power requirements resulting in low through-life costs. The lights will meet COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea), and will be Oxley NVG Friendly™, which means they will be suitable for night operations with Night Vision Goggles.

With decades of experience in LED innovation, Oxley is a world-renowned designer and manufacturer of rugged, reliable LED solutions. Oxley has extensive in-house design, test and manufacturing capabilities, and their experienced engineering team will adapt existing lights and technology to meet the specifications set out by Northrop Grumman.

Sales and Marketing Director for Oxley, Andy Bednarek, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded the contract by Northrop Grumman. Several years ago Oxley worked with the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) War Ship Support Agency to supply an NVG Friendly LED-based upgrade for the existing navigation lighting system on the Invincible class carriers. On that project, we replaced the incandescent filaments used in the statutory lights with LED modules. This time we are engineering a state of the art set of LED NVG Friendly navigation and special operations lights suitable not only for the Queen Elizabeth class, but any other vessel greater than 50 metres in length."

The ships, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are being built across six ship yards in the UK with the first ship due to enter service in 2016. They will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy. The ships, which are over three times the size of the current Invincible class aircraft carriers, will be delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, which is made up of BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales UK and the MoD. The main manufacturing contractor is BAE Systems, who began work on the project in July 2009 at its Govan yard on the Clyde in Glasgow.

Northrop Grumman is under contract from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance to supply the integrated bridge and navigation systems for the new ships. The work is being performed at the company’s UK facility in New Malden.

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier contract comes hot on the heels of a recent Oxley £270k deal with Australian firm ASC Pty Ltd to supply a fully qualified LED lighting system for the Royal Australian Navy Collins-class submarine.

Oxley to Supply LEDs for ASC Collins Class Sub
Oxley has been awarded a contract by Australian submarine manufacturer ASC Pty Ltd to provide a fully qualified LED lighting system for the Royal Australian Navy Collins Class submarine.

Valued at over £270K the contract is to design, develop and supply high-spec LED lighting for compartments in the submarine including living accommodation and weapons area.

This new suite of 12 lights will replace the existing fluorescent technology lamps presently onboard the submarine. The robust, reliable LEDs will not only enhance lighting within the submarine, but will reduce through life maintenance costs and the need for onboard holding of spare fluorescent tubes providing a ´fit and forget´ solution. In some instances, the lights will include extra features such an explosion proof rating, dimming controls and integral battery back-up. Delivery of the fully tested and qualified lighting suite is planned for the first quarter of 2011.

Sales and Marketing Director Andy Bednarek said: "We are delighted that ASC has awarded us the contract to provide an LED Lighting System for the Collins Class Submarine. Growing our LED based lighting business in the Marine environment is a key part of our strategy. We have already won contracts for surface vessels but this is our first major submarine project. We are very excited by the challenge and look forward to delivering a reliable and cost effective system for the Royal Australian Navy." Pioneers in the field of LED lighting, Oxley provides high quality LED lighting systems for air, land and naval platforms across the world. Ref: OX-PR 117/1

Oxley Launch new BA9 and E10 Bulb Replacements Oxley has introduced a new series of bipolar LEDs to its extensive range of LED incandescent bulb replacements.
Designed to replace standard BA9 and E10 incandescent bulbs in push button switches and panel instrumentation the ELEDs are suitable for use in rail, power and oil and gas applications.

The new ELEDS have a unique multi-voltage operating range from 12 vdc/vac to 60 vdc/vac ensuring bipolarity, thermal management and increased mean time between failure of 100,000 hours.

They utilise the latest in LED technology to achieve the required levels of illumination. The LED is machined to create a flat top that ensures ‘true and even’ behind bezel illumination and eliminates the hot spot often associated with earlier, more directional LEDs.

Oxley LED Business Manager David Howell says: "The benefit of using an Oxley warm white ELED is that the colour mimics that of an incandescent bulb and successfully filters through all colours of push button switches including the more problematic yellows and reds.

"Fully tested and qualified the ELEDs are available now in white and warm white with green, blue, yellow and AlGaAs red variants to follow shortly. Oxley drawing CP39948 refers."

Edge-mounted test points save board space

Discontinuation of Dual-In-Line Thick Film Resistor Networks

BI Technologies develops automotive power inductor rated for 180°C operation

Product Change Notification (PCN)

Product Change Notification (PCN)

VPG’s New CSM3637P Ultra High Precision Metal Strip Current Sensing Resistor
Features TCR of ±15 ppm/°C Max at Power Ratings to 5 W and 40 A Current, and Resistance Range from 3 mΩ to 100 mΩ

FRSM Chip Resistors
VPG’s New Foil and Z-Foil 2-, 3-, and 4-Resistor Voltage Dividers and Resistor Networks Feature TCR Tracking to ±0.1 ppm/°C and Matching Tolerance to ±0.005%. Vishay Precision Group, Inc. today announced that its Vishay Foil Resistors division has released new 2-, 3-, and 4-resistor voltage dividers and resistor networks in both Bulk Metal® Foil and Z-Foil versions.

Foil & Z-Foil Voltage Dividers and Resistor Networks
VPG Releases New Ultra-High-Precision Z-Foil Surface-Mount Current Sensing Chip Resistor With High Power Rating of 1 W, Low TCR to ±0.05 ppm/°C, Power TCR of 5 ppm at Rated Power, and Tolerances to ±0.2%

Ultra High Precision Z-Foil SMT Current Sensing Chip - VCS1625ZP
VPG Releases New Ultra-High-Precision Z-Foil Surface-Mount Current Sensing Chip Resistor With High Power Rating of 1 W, Low TCR to ±0.05 ppm/°C, Power TCR of 5 ppm at Rated Power, and Tolerances to ±0.2%

QPL RNC90Y and Non-QPL S555
Vishay’s QPL RNC90Y and Non-QPL S555 Bulk Metal® Foil, Established Reliability Resistors Combine Load Life Stability of ±0.005 %, Tolerance Down to ±0.005 %, and ESD Immunity up to 25 kV.

New Product: VSA101
Vishay’s New VSA101 Ultra-High-Precision Axial Z-Foil Resistor Combines Absolute TCR of ±0.05 ppm/°C, PCR of 5 ppm at Rated Power, Tolerance of ±0.005 %, and Load-Life Stability of ±0.005 % (50 ppm)

Vishay Foil Resistors division has released two new ultra-high-precision Bulk Metal ® Foil power current sensing resistors with very low TCR of ±0.05 ppm/°C from 0°C to +60°C and ±0.2 ppm/°C from -55°C to +125°C, +25°C ref., and resistance tolerance to ±0.01. For high-power applications, the VPR5Z offers a power rating of 5 W at +25°C, while the VPR7Z offers a power rating of 7 W and load life stability of ±0.01% at 70 °C for 2000 hours at rated power.

Vishay Foil Resistors (VFR) division has released a new ultra-high-precision Bulk Metal® Foil surface-mount Power Metal Strip® current-sensing resistor with a load-life stability of ±0.2% at +70 °C for 2,000 hours at rated power—a significant improvement over the load-life stability of ≥1% offered by typical current sensing products. The new CSM3637Z also features an absolute TCR of ±5 ppm/°C maximum from -55 °C to +125 °C, +25 °C ref., and a tolerance of ±0.1%.