NEWTON, MA /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- At its Newton, MA, headquarters, IPTRADE announced the completion of the development phase of the first commercially available product based on IPTRADE's Smart Composite technology, first released at Semicon West 2007. The product in question is the IntelliVibe S1 elastic vibration sensor. The S1 achieves better than state-of-the-art performance while requiring no external power or signal conditioning with zero cost of ownership. The S1 is the first in a series of planned vibration sensors in the IntelliVibe Smart Composites family.
The S1 elastic vibration sensor is a high-resolution, high-accuracy sensor capable of measuring structural strain down to one thousandth of a micro-strain. It relies on the direct piezoelectric effect to generate an electrical charge proportional to the sum of all extensional strains in the area of the test structure directly under it. The S1 achieves sensitivity in the 150–300 milli-volt per micro-strain range, "1.5 to 3 times higher than any currently available piezoelectric strain sensor." The sensor signal is transmitted directly from the sensor to any data acquisition device, with no need for any signal conditioning or power supply. This allows the S1 to have "best-in-class acquisition range from as low as one nano-strain to as high as 500 micro-strain." Additionally this guarantees that the SNR and signal phase are independent of EMI environment, available power, and other environmental variables. The S1 is intended as a maintenance-free, zero-cost-of-ownership industrial sensor. The S1 is designed to have a wide range of applications in precision manufacturing, nano and micro-fabrication, semiconductor capital equipment, civil engineering, and aerospace. The sensor is mechanically robust and waterproof, and has unlimited shelf life. It will not require servicing and will carry a limited lifetime-replacement warranty.
Quoting Dr. Baruch Pletner, President and COO of IPTRADE Inc., "I am very excited that, after perhaps too few innovations in the piezoelectric strain measurement area in the past 10 years, we have the privilege of bringing to market a truly innovative product. With a competitive price and zero cost of ownership due to its limited lifetime warranty, I believe that the S1 is going to be an excellent choice for anyone wishing to monitor or manage elastic vibrations in their critical structural components."
Public Pre-Release at Semicon Japan 2007
The IntelliVibe S1 will be featured for the first time at the Semicon Japan exhibition (Booth 9B-304, Back End Equipment) in Makuhari, Chiba, Japan, on December 5–7, 2007. The demonstration will include a comparison of the S1 to current state-of-the-art sensors and the use of the S1 technology for structural-damage detection and precision vibration control.
Further Development
IPTRADE plans the official release of the IntelliVibe S1 for the Pacific Rim at the Japan Techno-Frontier Show on April 16–18, 2008. The U.S. and European release will follow at the Semicon West show (Moscone West Convention Center, 2nd Level Test, Assembly & Packaging Extreme Electronics Booth # 8404) on July 15–17, 2008.
IPTRADE and IntelliVibe are registered trademarks of IPTRADE Inc., a privately held