What"s Japan Talking About?

Monday, May 05, 2014: 

If you want to spot technology trends in the world of electronics, you should look at Japan–that’s what a thought-leader told us, few months ago. So, we decided to do just that, and not only look at products coming out of Japan, but also those that are making waves there even if they are manufactured outside the country.

The foundation of this story was laid by our visit to NEPCON Japan, through discussions with exhibitors and visitors there. But, the final story took shape based on the discussions we had with many of them after the show.

Rapid Prototyping Products

Being the ‘in thing’, it was natural to find firms promoting 3D Printers and related services. One brand that stood out was Stratasys–makers of industry-grade 3D Printers. Many partners of the brand were demonstrating the abilities of different Stratasys 3D Printers.

A glimpse into the future business models was provided by a Japanese firm–KOIWAI, which specialises in “Rapid Proto Casting”. KOIWAI was promoting its 3D Printing services and showcasing their acquisition of EOSINT-S Series of 3D Printers (EOS is a US based 3D Printer manufacturer). So if you do not have the budget to buy a commercial-grade 3D Printer–you can go to KOIWAI who will print a 3D prototype for you at a nominal fee–just like your neighbourhood photocopy vendor!

Germany’s LPKF had a booth filled with prototyping equipment that RD professionals would love to get their hands on. The product that was the highlight was the LPKF PhotoLaser U3, which is positioned as “the multi-purpose tool for electronics lab”. It’s essentially a compact system that uses UV Laser to machine almost all materials, for applications such as cutting individual boards out of large boards, drill holes and microvias, cut through solder masks, and even structure laminated substrates. Another product that caught our fancy was the cute looking LPKF Protomat S63, which as per LPKF team is an “all rounder for rapid PCB prototyping”.

NEPCON Japan

Cited as Asia’s “largest exhibition for electronics design, RD and manufacturing”, NEPCON Japan along with its concurrent event form such a large event that you cannot see the whole of it in the 3 days that it’s held. NEPCON Japan is held at Japan’s largest exhibition venue–Tokyo Big Sight, along with Automotive World and Lighting Japan. In 2014, these events were held between 15-17 January.

AUTOMOTIVE WORLD 2014 is positioned as “Asia’s leading exhibition for advanced automotive technologies, while LIGHTING JAPAN 2014 is Japan’s “key show for LED/OLED Lighting.

EDA Tools

It was pretty clear that ‘cloud’ was making an entry into the world of EDA (electronics design automation) software too. Quite a few vendors showcased their cloud-based options. Japan’s Quadcept was the first we came across that was promoting the concept. They provide a Circuit Designer and a PCB Designer on a software-as-a-service basis–so that you don’t have to buy the software, but only rent it on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, their software supports only Japanese for now, but English editions are expected to be rolled out before the end of 2014.

Japan’s Cloud Testing Service Inc (CTS), which is part of the Advantest Group, was promoting a new phenomenon called cloud based testing. Aimed at providing testing solutions to designers and manufacturers of semiconductors and components such as MCUs, SoCs, Discrete Devices, Sensors, etc, CTS provides its CouldTesting Station to you which connects to its servers over the Internet and allows you to connect to a library of testing IPs, thus allowing you to create your own testing environment.

VLAB Works offered a pretty interesting range of design solutions– semiconductor and IC design, embedded software design, system design, et al. Altair HyperWorks was another leading vendor offering a range of CAE (computer aided engineering) solutions for the electronics sector with specific tools for modeling automation, design optimisation, impact simulation, structural analysis, and mechanism design.

Future Facilities Inc. provides a unique tool named 6SigmaET that uses “advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques” to create accurate thermal models of electronics equipment. The tool has found application amongst designers and manufacturers of components, LED Lighting, IT Equipment, Consumer Electronics, Power Electronics, etc.

Automotive Electronics

Thanks to the concurrent AUTOMOTIVE WORLD show, we saw a range of innovative electronics solutions. Two key trends were clear — first, increasing role of electronics in automobiles resulting in launch of innovative components, products and platforms; and second, thanks to electric vehicles and hybrids, emergence of new categories of products.

For example, a range of charging connectors for EVs was demonstrated by Japan’s Yazaki Group. They even demonstrated a connector that could not only chare but even discharge an EV. China’s VAPEL showcased a 1.4KW charging power supply, a 500W DC converter and electric vehicles charging stations ranging from 10.8KW to 126 KW. Korea’s Signet showcased special battery packs for any machine or vehicle operated by electric power.

There’s a lot of exciting stuff on the components side too. For example Microchip’s MGC3130 was demonstrated as the “world’s first E-Field based 3D gesture controller”. And, going by the Microchip team, they expect automotive firms to use such sensors in future to facilitate gesture-based instructions to their vehicles. ROHM demonstrated a range of solutions based on their large range of offerings including Bondy Control Module, Smart key System, Camera System, LED Headlamp System, Electronic Fuel Injection and Electric Power Steering. AMS (earlier Austria Micro Systems) not only showcased their IC solutions for automotive but also highlighted their ability to create customised ASICs based on customer demand.

The highlight of Renesas demonstration was their range of devices (MCUs and MOSFET/IGBTs) and their R-Car Series platform. Special emphasis was on their power-saving MCUs (RL78 and RH850) designed especially for automotive applications like body control systems where an MCU needs to periodically monitor sensors even when the engine is turned off.

Manufacturing Equipment Consumables

The first machine to catch our fancy was Samsung’s SLM100 Series, which was show-cased as the “world’s first LED mounter”–that as the team explained has the capability to do simultaneous pickups with one feeder.

Did Fuji have something similar? I had that question in mind since Fuji is typically associated with very high speed applications. Thanks to a very patient team, I got introduced to their AIMEX IIS platform, which is a range of machines known for their flexibility to handle different applications. A key highlight of this series is their DynaHead (HX)–a head that can produce while automatically changing between the 12 nozzle, 4 nozzle and single nozzle tools–something that could benefit a high-mix low-volume production system.

On similar lines, Japan’s Alpha Design showcased their Board-Packer AMI, touted as an “Odd Shape Parts Insertion Machine”. The machine has a multi-type insertion through a rotary head, and has been claimed to automate the typical process where odd-shaped parts are inserted manually.

Talking hi-tech, a reflow simulator for production (SMT) engineers was demonstrated by Cores Corporation, Japan. It’s Microview(BETA) is a heating observation and measurement system. Essentially, it’s a combination of hardware and software that allows production engineers to recreate reflow conditions, observe and record, analyse issues and develop reports with ease.

Test Equipment For Manufacturing Setups

PARMI’s Sigmax clearly stood out here. It’s a laser-based 3D solder paste Inspection (SPI) system with its team claiming that their smart looking machines were atleast two-times faster than their competitors. HIOKI’s showcased two new products: (1) FA1240 series of Flying Probe Testers, and (2) UA1780, their fit-line inspection data creation system. TRI demonstrated their TR7700 SIII series of automated optical inspection systems. Jutze, a chinese firm staked their claim into the optical inspection systems by demonstrating a range of AOI machines.

SHIMADZU unveiled their SMX-1000 and 1000L Plus inspection systems. SHIMADZU’s team claimed that since these systems were built using microfocus X-ray technology, their systems can be used for inspecting a larger range of products and applications.

They are into electronics too!

Here’s a list of brands that we typically associate with consumer electronics, but recently discovered that they are into industrial electronics too…

Konica Minolta: Known for their cameras and lenses, Konica has used its strength in optics to produce Light Meters including Illuminance Meter, Luminance Meter and Chroma Meter through Konica Minolta Optics Inc. Plus, they have acquired a German firm named Instrument Systems and are selling products like spectrometers too. More details at http://konicaminolta.com/instruments/.

Canon: A consumer electronics and IT giant that has a group company named Canon Components Inc., which is into production of PCBs, image sensors, medical equipment and even production of flexible PCBs. More details at http://www.canon-compo.co.jp.

Sony: Its Device Solutions Business Group is promoting GVIF technology–a high speed video interface that allows high quality digital transmission over a single shielded pair cable. Key advantages of this technology include high tolerance for noise, low noise radiation, etc. More details at: http://jp.sony.com.

More To Come

While we have managed to effectively shed light on some rare trend-setting products, there are many more that we could not cover. Expect more in the near future.

Rahul Chopra, Director – Editorial, EFY Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

Article source: http://thefusejoplin.com/2014/04/nikon-1-j4-mirrorless-interchangeable-lens-camera-announced-features-specifications/

What"s Japan Talking About?