Dear Reader,
 2011 keeps rolling along. At the end of this month, the first third of the year will have passed us by. Spring is everywhere and the sense of motion and momentum in the marketplace is slowly but surely moving our industry ahead - though not as fast as we'd all like. BEI Sensors is moving ahead as well. It was just a little over a year ago that we announced the joining of the former BEI Industrial Encoder Division, BEI Duncan Division and the BEI Ideacod Division into the new entity called BEI Sensors. The successful merging of these entities means that we have more products in more places and a wider reach to help serve your needs globally. No matter where you work or what your motion control needs might be - BEI Sensors is there to help you with your moves.
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| eCatalog Now Available |
 We're always looking for ways to make your life easier and we've recently made a change to our web site that I think you'll enjoy. Our potentiometer and hall-effect based product line is now available in a database selection format. Now you can find product by part number or by specific features such as electrical travel, type of termination or even mounting type.
Once you have narrowed your selection down to a few part numbers you can even do a side-by-side specification comparison to help you select the closest match to your needs. Now you can quickly and easily find a product based on performance requirements. And, if you need a customized version, you can detail your needs and we'll let you know what it takes to deliver a custom product. Working with BEI just got a whole lot easier.
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| A Storied Life |
 "Where words fail, music speaks."
"Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale."
"To travel is to live."
"Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up."
"To be of use to the world is the only way to be happy. "
Most everyone is familiar with The Emperor's New Clothes. Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid. All sprung from the fertile imagination and creative storytelling of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.
Born in 1805 in Odense, to very humble beginnings, this son of a cobbler and a washerwoman had a difficult and sketchy youth. It wasn't until he was taken under the wing of one Jonas Collins who arranged for a more proper education for the young Hans that he was able to successfully pursue a writing career. By the time he died in 1875 he had penned over 150 stories and won the hearts of children and adults throughout the world. To read more about the life of this remarkable man, just click his picture at the top of this article. |
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| Can You Solve It? |
 Listening to customers is a good thing and if we listen right, we learn a few things. One item that we've learned lately is that there is some confusion about how we mark products for operating voltage and output. So this month's column aims to take the mystery out of that portion of the model number.
Many years ago we moved to a model numbering system where we specify the input voltage along with the output driver type in a sort of shorthand. Using this scheme the three most common designations that you will find for our encoder products are 28V/V, 28V/5 and 28V/OC. Here's how they translate:
28V/V indicates that the product will accept an input voltage in the range of 5 VDC up to 28VDC with a tolerance of +/- 5%. The output voltage logic level will match the input voltage. This is often referred to as a "multi-voltage line driver". Of course if you supply it with 5 volts, it will return a logic level of 5 volts which is compatible with TTL level receivers. This is the most universal input/output combination and so is the most commonly specified.
28V/5 as you might suspect, is also capable of accepting a voltage between 5 to 28 VDC +/- 5% and will return a 5 volt regulated logic level output signal. This is sometimes referred to as a "5 volt regulated line driver." This is a useful output type when you must have TTL level outputs and you cannot guarantee a specific supply voltage.
28V/OC as you know by now accepts 5-28 VDC +/- 5% input, however now we have an open collector style of output. This requires some sort of external pull-up resistor in order to source current. That resistor is often included on the input side of the receiving electronics, but not always. Without the pull-up resistor, no voltage will appear on the output data lines. This is fast becoming an obsolete output type as most newer systems will use either of the first two types. However in retrofit situations sometimes there is no choice and it's nice to know that an OC style output is available.
So there you have the short primer on output specifications. Thanks for your comments and we'll keep listening! |
| Eggs-tra Special |
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Easter was especially late this year. For those of you who are wondering, this holiday happens on the first Sunday after the full moon, after the vernal equinox. So it can be as early as March 22nd or as late as April 25th. That means that this year's Easter was one of the latest that most of us will experience.
 One of the more universal Easter traditions around the world is the decoration and display of eggs. One German couple has created a spectacular egg tree display with nearly 10,000 eggs that they assemble each year. Click on the picture to learn more about this amazing egg tree and the family who shares it with the world each year at Easter. |
THANK YOU
We're glad to be able to visit with you monthly and appreciate your thoughts and comments. Feel free to contact us any time and we'll do our best to help you with your motion control needs.
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| We have a winner! |
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Last month we asked our readers to participate in a survey regarding social media use and offered a free Kindle eReader in a drawing as an incentive for participation.
I'm pleased to announce that C. Aguilar from Delta Brands, Inc in Texas was the winner of the Kindle giveaway.
Click the image above to visit his company's web site. Congratulations! | |
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