Electronics 360

On March 31, Richard Dinan, the CEO of British start-up Pulsar Fusion, took to the stage at the Mars Conference organized by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in Ojai, California, to pitch his company’s tech to a crowd of space exploration enthusiasts. Dinan, now 40, is a one-time contestant on a reality show about rich young Londoners, but has lately gained attention with his pet project — a venture developing nuclear fusion propulsion systems for spaceships bound for Mars and beyond.

An artificial intelligence (AI)-driven marine welding system capable of handling heavy welding scenarios for offshore oil and gas platforms has been developed by Offshore Oil Engineering Co. According to its developers, the robot is capable of handling specialized offshore components, like module nodes, buckle rings and deepwater jacket strengthening rings.

Metal fabrication co-bot solutions provider Hirebotics has introduced an explosion-proof collaborative robot (cobot) painting solution built on its no-code Beacon platform and the Fanuc CRX-10iA/L Paint hardware. The company's Cobot Painter is designed for metal fabricators and manufacturers seeking a flexible, high-mix, low-volume alternative to manual spray painting and traditional automated finishing systems.

Siemens AG is expanding its support for electrical switchgear technologies used in data centers by expanding its global capacity in Germany with a $341 million investment. The investment comes after the company already expanded its U.S. footprint with a $165 million investment. The German investment will include a step to secure the global supply of electrical switchgear used in data centers.

FPT, the Iveco Group brand dedicated to the design, production and sale of low-environmental impact powertrains, has obtained certification in accordance with European Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Batteries Regulation) as manufacturer of high-voltage (HV) batteries. In Europe, only three HV battery manufacturers, including FPT, boast this certification.

Looking to secure its automotive semiconductor supply chain, GM has signed an agreement with memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. that will supply the automotive giant with a secure, long-term supply of memory and storage products for its current and future vehicles. Additionally, Micron and GM will collaborate on future memory and storage technology requirements for future vehicles that support GM’s future vehicle architectures and roadmaps.

Intel Corp. has broken ground on an expansion of its Santa Clara, California, facility that will include semiconductor manufacturing capabilities for its foundry division. The move, as reported by Wccftech, comes as Intel Foundry has garnered reportedly numerous design wins like Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple and maybe even rival AMD. The expansion in Santa Clara was originally slated for middle of this year, meaning the expansion is on track.

A key to wider adoption and greater efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs) is speedy battery charging. High-capacity silicon and lithium batteries offer this capability, but their capacities are also quick to fade and are prone to degradation and safety risks due to increased heat generation during the charging process.

The new PPTC series PFTA, PFTB, PFTC and PFTL from SCHURTER provide reliable resettable overcurrent and overtemperature protection for modern electronic applications. In the event of a fault, the polymer positive temperature coefficient (PTC) device automatically increases resistance to effectively protect systems against overloads and short circuits — without replacing fuses. Source: SCHURTER, Inc.

Flir, a Teledyne Technologies brand, has announced the launch of the Flir Si2a PD, a fixed-mount acoustic imaging camera designed to deliver continuous, always-on monitoring of partial discharge (PD) in medium to high-voltage utility and industrial environments.