Oil industry spectroscopy: The ABB (Zurich, Switzerland) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyzer is at the heart of a new blend-property control system that was commissioned at the 250,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery of Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO). BAPCO produces a broad range of petroleum products at the refinery including low-sulphur diesel, aviation fuel, and other high-value refinery products. The ABB solution enables BAPCO to make uniquely fast and accurate predictions of 13 critical gasoline properties within three minutes using only one analyzer. Conventional methods of analyzing blending components take as long as 45 minutes and require one analyzer for each property analyzed.
South Korean optics growth: Optical components provider Edmund Optics (EO; Barrington, NJ) continues to increase sales in South Korea despite challenging global trade conditions. EO has achieved this through expanding the Korean sales team by 25% as well as launching a Korean language website at www.edmundoptics.co.kr, which features an entire EO online product catalog translated into Korean with Won pricing. The addition of this website brings the company’s total to 10 global websites in six different languages. It also offers its new 2009 Korean Master Source Book Catalog with more than 16,900 optical components.
Monocrystalline PV distributors wanted: Advanced Solar Photonics (ASP; Lake Mary, FL) is starting production on its monocrystalline factory that will reach 500 MW capacity on an annual basis for the next two and half years. With the first line nearly complete, ASP has been signing on distributors and actively seeking new strategically located distributors to increase market share. “We are very excited for our new distributors. They will play a large role in ASP’s future and help us secure the business and penetrate the market nationwide. Our distributors will work on residential and commercial projects,” said Edgardo Rodriguez, VP of ASP. For more information on becoming a distributor, contact Richard Whitenack at (407) 804–1000 x518.
Optical fiber preform license: OFS (Atlanta, GA) and Shin-Etsu Chemical (Tokyo, Japan) announced that OFS has agreed to license its U.S. Patent No. 6,131,415 and its foreign counterparts to Shin- Etsu. This patent relates to the method of manufacture of preforms with a soot-based core rod, such as vapor axial deposition (VAD) and synthetic overclad cylinder glass, to provide low-water-peak-fiber performance. This patented preform process is used to manufacture OFS’ AllWave ZWP fibers that exceed the industry’s most stringent specifications for standard single-mode fiber, ITU-T G.652.D. OFS, through its Lucent-AT&T-Bell Labs heritage, was the pioneer in this technology and was first to introduce this fiber and associated preform technology.
Telecom components partnership: Fujitsu Optical Components and Furukawa Electric (both in Tokyo, Japan) announced a joint development in 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps integrated receivers for optical fiber networks. Furukawa Electric is responsible for developing planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology that reduces the size of integrated receivers. Fujitsu Optical Components is responsible for developing and commercializing the receiver utilizing integrated module technologies for PLC, high-speed photodiodes, and amplifiers. By speeding up its product development process, Fujitsu Optical Components will deliver compact, energy-efficient and low-price integrated receivers for ultra-high-speed optical networks.
Aspheric optics funding: LightPath Technologies (Orlando, FL), a manufacturer and integrator of families of precision-molded aspheric optics, GRADIUM glass products, and fiber-optic collimators and isolators, raised gross proceeds of approximately $1.64 million through the sale of 1,298,827 shares of common stock to certain institutional and private investors at $1.26 per share. If all of the warrants are ultimately exercised, LightPath will receive additional proceeds in the amount of $1.12 million. LightPath will use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital to promote continued growth of the business with new product development and equipment acquisition and development, including proprietary lens press equipment.
LED production systems order: Veeco Instruments (Plainview, NY) announced that LED manufacturer Philips Lumileds Lighting Company (San Jose, CA) selected Veeco’s TurboDisc K465 gallium nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) Systems to support its LUXEON LED production ramp. Veeco received a multi-system order for tools to be shipped to Philips Lumileds over the next two to three quarters. Mike Pugh, chief procurement officer at Philips Lumileds, said, “Veeco’s K465 ultimately provides a high level of automation, helps us reduce manufacturing costs, and provides a flexible platform as we look to the future.”
Silicon photomultiplier license: Medical technology provider PerkinElmer (Waltham, MA) has taken a license to use the solid-state photomultiplier technology developed by the Max Planck Institute for Physics (Munich, Germany). The silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technology can be used to improve nuclear diagnostic processes and design highly sensitive laboratory equipment with very high speed and low signal crosstalk, combined with very low power consumption. In comparison with conventional technology based on avalanche photodiodes, SiPM sports extremely short reaction time and its ability to count single photons makes it ideal for Low Light Level (LLL) medical and measurement applications.
Earthquake disrupts LCD glass manufacture: Production at Corning Incorporated’s (Corning, NY) LCD glass manufacturing facility in Shizuoka, Japan was disrupted by a Honshu earthquake on August 10. “We are relieved that initial reports indicate no Corning employees were injured,” said James B. Flaws, vice chairman and CFO. “However, our glass-making operations at the facility are currently suspended and we believe they will remain so for some time. We are assessing options to meet customer demand and accelerating the restart of idled glass melting tanks at other facilities. Our adjusted estimate now places sequential volume at our wholly owned business to be down between 5% and 10% in the third quarter, versus our original expectation of flat to up slightly, following a particularly strong second-quarter performance,” he added.
ABL fires in flight: The Boeing Company, industry teammates, and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency on August 18 successfully fired the high-energy laser aboard the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft in flight for the first time, moving closer toward ABL’s upcoming missile shoot-down demonstration. During the test, the modified Boeing 747–400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base and fired its high-energy laser while flying over the California High Desert. The laser was fired into an onboard calorimeter, which captured the beam and measured its power.
ePaper displays forecast: In its recently released E-Paper Displays Report, DisplaySearch (Austin, TX) forecasts that the total e-paper display market will grow to 1.8 billion units and $9.6 billion in revenues in 2018, from 22 million units and $431 million in revenues in 2009, for a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 41% for revenues and 64% for units. “E-paper displays are taking off with consumers due to their low power consumption and ease of reading, especially in sunlight,” said Jennifer Colegrove, director of Display Technologies at DisplaySearch.“In addition, e-paper displays are ‘green’ because they reduce paper consumption, and electronic shelf labels can save time and labor costs by enabling dynamic pricing in stores.”
Observatory grand opening: The 58-inch plasma screen will come alive September 4th, featuring images from the new observatory telescope at the grand opening of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center’s (Concord, NH) new observatory dome, which houses two telescopes for viewing day and nighttime skies. The primary telescope, a Celestron 14” Schmidt-Cassegrain, uses a Celestron PRO mount, computerized for tracking planets, nebulae, galaxies and other nighttime objects. The second telescope is a 100 mm Lunt, designed especially for solar viewing of sunspots and other activity. Either telescope can be hooked up to the plasma screen, located by the observatory’s entrance, making images from the telescopes accessible to all.