Ceramic Remote Control

You know how frustrating it is to lose your remote control. I know I do it at least once a day, always when I need it most. Designer Yuta Watanabe has found a "form over function" solution to this annoying problem. Watanabe has designed a ceramic remote based on the thinking that when something is delicate we place a higher value upon it. You'll obviously be a little bit more careful about where you place this remote as to not end up finding it in a million pieces on your next remote search. The "form over function" design has another benefit in that the remote actually looks good sitting on top of the coffee table when not in use.

How LEDS work

Light emitting diodes, commonly called LEDs, are real unsung heroes in the electronics world. They do dozens of different jobs and are found in all kinds of devices. Among other things, they form the numbers on digital clocks, transmit information from remote controls, light up watches and tell you when your appliances are turned on. Collected together, they can form images on a jumbo television screen or illuminate a traffic light.
Basically, LEDs are just tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an electrical circuit. But unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs, they don't have a filament that will burn out, and they don't get especially hot. They are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they last just as long as a standard transistor.

LED info

Light emitting diodes, commonly known as LEDs, have been in existence since the 1960's. Early versions could be found in flashlights, Christmas lighting, as well as toys and electronics. The technology continues to evolve, and as it does LEDs are becoming a replacement option in many different situations.
At first glance, the primary drawback to LED lighting is the price, which is substantially higher than traditional incandescent or mini-fluorescent lighting. According to Jode Himann, CEO of Calgary LED manufacturer Nemalux LED Lighting, when comparing costs, it's important to consider what you are comparing.When it comes to cost in residential applications, it depends on the individual application, but it also depends on what you are comparing it to. Mr. Himann noted "You could compare it to a Home Depot solution and it's not going to be cost competitive. If you go to a lighting designer or someplace locally that just sells lights, then you are getting closer."
Mr. Himann gave the example of a recessed light that Nemalux sells for about $200. It has a brightness of about a 60-watt incandescent. Replacing a recessed light in your kitchen wouldn't be cost competitive since you could just replace the bulb for far less than $10.
The cost becomes more competitive in new home building because you include the fixture and the light, the maintenance over time and lower electricity costs. "If you hire a contractor to build a new home for you, they are going to charge between $100 and $150 for each light, and then you add in the beauty plate, and for a recessed light the beauty plate can be up to $90. In my opinion the benefit you get out of LEDs versus the initial cost makes it a worthwhile decision." said Mr. Himann.
In addition to the appeal of low energy usage and longevity, LEDs have the benefit of providing a "warm" light versus "cool" light, along with the availability of using different colour temperatures in different settings. There are also health benefits to be enjoyed, as LEDs are beneficial in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder by helping to balance the production of serotonin and melatonin within the body.
Besides, there is also the benefit to the environment, not only through reduced energy usage, but also because LEDs do not contain Mercury.
"There are many other things you can do with LEDs both inside the house and out. You can have a single LED that provides enough illumination to really light up an area, or you can focus the light and do a bunch of different architectural things to really bring out the character of the house. They are also very popular in home theatres and entertainment rooms." said Mr. Himann
As with any new technology, there are problems the consumer needs to be aware of. Mr Himann indicated that some LED fixture manufacturers currently on the market have built an Edison bulb with LEDs that doesn't function as expected. If you have a home wine cellar, using LEDs will ensure there is no UV damage to your collection.
"As soon as you plug it in, it's very, very bright, but then 1,000 hours later it dims significantly," said Mr. Himann. "Others, when you turn them on will dim after thirty seconds and you can lose up to 25 per cent of the brightness. The lifetime of the LED is adversely affected as well. Those products, in my opinion, taint the market negatively because the consumer will spend $100 to $200 on a bulb and not get what they expected."
Mr. Himann, and many others in the industry, is confident that LEDs are a technology that will only become more popular. As demand increases, prices will continue to drop, meaning that the future of LED lighting in the home will be bright indeed.

Moritz Waldemeyer

Moritz Waldemeyer is a designer who incorporates LCD technology into his work. He "makes invention and art collide". This video discusses some of his latest work, featuring his LCD embedded chairs which infuses the colour of the users clothing fabric into the environment around the chair, providing a personal touch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPsmrEmQ_lk

To produce the Sponge Vase, Marcel Wanders invented a new technique free of molds. Dipping a natural sponge in fluid porcelain clay, the sponge is then burnt away in a kiln and a perfect porcelain replica of the sponge remains. 

PIezo Ceramics

Ceramic Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain ceramics to generate an electric potential in response to applied mechanical stress. This may take the form of a separation of electric charge across the crystal lattice. If the material is not short-circuited, the applied charge induces a voltage across the material.

The piezoelectric effect is reversible in that materials exhibiting the direct piezoelectric effect (the production of electricity when stress is applied) also exhibit the converse piezoelectric effect (the production of stress and/or strain when an electric field is applied). For example, lead zirconate titanate crystals will exhibit a maximum shape change of about 0.1% of the original dimension.

The effect finds useful applications such as the production and detection of sound, generation of high voltages, electronic frequency generation, microbalances, and ultra fine focusing of optical assemblies. It is also the basis of a number of scientific instrumental techniques with atomic resolution, the scanning probe microscopies such as STM, AFM, MTA, SNOM etc, as well as more mundane uses including acting as the ignition source for cigarette lighters.

Megasonic cleaning uses the piezoelectric effect to enable removal of submicrometre particles from substrates. A ceramic piezoelectric crystal is excited by high-frequency AC voltage, causing it to vibrate. This vibration generates an acoustic wave that is transmitted through a cleaning fluid, producing controlled cavitation. As the wave passes across the surface of an object, it causes particles to be removed from the materials being cleaned. The technology was originally developed by the U.S. Navy as an element in anti-submarine warfare.

Piezo Actuator Introduction
A Piezoelectric translator (linear actuator) is a solid-state ceramic actuator which converts electrical energy directly into linear motion (mechanical energy) with virtually unlimited resolution. 

PI piezo actuators are designed to combine ultra-high performance with long lifetime in industrial and scientific applications. PI's piezo ceramic design and manufacturing division-PI Ceramic-provides the capability and flexibility to offer highly engineered custom sub-assemblies.

New ceramic technology contributes to advances in medical implants

Ceramic material, with its biocompatibility and resistance to wear, is ideally suited for a wide variety of medical implant applications, from artificial joints to implantable electronic sensors, stimulators and drug delivery devices. For well over a decade, alumina, zirconia and other ceramics have successfully proven their ability to withstand the harsh environment of the human body.

Now, driven by the industry's need for longer-lasting and ever smaller--yet more complex--components, materials scientists are extending the benefits of ceramics for new medical implant applications with innovative techniques, including injection molding, engineered coatings and ceramic-metal assemblies. This article discusses how these developments in ceramic material and processing are contributing to the evolution of medical implant applications.

Ceramics for artificial joints

Advances in the use of ceramics for artificial joints have received a great deal of attention, especially since golf legend Jack Nicklaus received a ceramic-on-ceramic total hip replacement in 1999 in an experimental procedure at New England Baptist Hospital. Ceramic-on-ceramic hip joints received FDA approval in 2003.

Ceramic materials have been used for artificial joints since the 1970s when the first generation of alumina products demonstrated superior resistance to wear, compared to the traditional metal and polyethylene materials. Advances in material quality and processing techniques and a better understanding of ceramic design led to the introduction of second generation alumina components in the 1980s that offered even better wear performance.

Traditional metal-polyethylene hip system wear generates polyethylene particulate debris, inducing osteolysis, weakening of surrounding bone and results in loosening of the implant, a primary cause of costly revision operations. Ceramic materials generate significantly less polyethylene debris when used in conjunction with polyethylene acetabular components in bearing couples. Indeed, state-of-the-art ceramic-on-ceramic technology, where an alumina femoral head is mated with an alumina acetabular cup, totally eliminates polyethylene debris and reduces wear significantly. A study from Morgan Technical Ceramics (MTC), comprised of Morgan Advanced Ceramics (MAC) and Morgan Electro Ceramics (MEC) of MAC's HIP Vitox[R] ceramic -on-ceramic hip joints demonstrated a wear rate of just 0.032[mm.sup.3]/million cycles. In addition to resolving the problems caused by polyethylene debris, the use of ceramic-on -ceramic hip systems alleviates any concerns over metal ion release into the body if a metal on metal hip system were used.

This superior wear performance extends the life of artificial joints, giving ceramic-on-ceramic joints a predicted life of well over 20 years. Serving the needs of the increasing numbers of younger patients for whom such surgery is now a viable operation, these ceramic-on-ceramic joints allow them to continue leading active lifestyles.

Ceramics for implantable electronic devices

New developments in ceramic technology are playing an equally important role in the evolution of implantable electronic devices. In the forty-five years since the first cardiac pacemaker was successfully implanted in the U.S., researchers and doctors have created a wide array of implantable electronic devices, including pacemakers, defibrillators, cochlear implants, hearing devices, drag delivery and neurostimulators.

For example, medical device companies are testing neurostimulators that pulse various nerves to treat particular medical conditions: the hypoglossal nerve [in the neck] to treat sleep apnea; the sacral nerve to treat bowel disorders; the stomach to treat obesity, the thalamus to treat epilepsy, the vagus-nerve to treat chronic depression, and other regions of the deep brain to treat migraines and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

These devices increasingly rely on ceramic components, such as the feed-thrus that provide the functional interface between the device and body tissue. A feed-thru is a ceramic to metal seal assembly that contains metal pins or small tubes that pass through a ceramic component.

These pins allow electricity to pass in or out of the implanted device in order to sense what is going on in the body and/or to administer an electrical charge when needed. A feed-thru can also be used to administer drugs to the patient. The ceramic substrate of the feed-thru acts as an electrical insulator, isolating the pins from each other. MTC can also make ceramic housing assemblies to enclose the electronics for the device, which can attach to a feed-thru.

Feed-thrus for implanted devices must be hermetic, with a leak tight seal around each pin. This ensures' that bodily fluids do not work their way into the device and destroy the internal electronics and that chemicals do not inadvertently escape from drug delivery devices. A braze material, typically 99.99% gold, is used to join each metal pin to the ceramic insulator. Developers of new and improved implantable medical devices continually demand smaller and more complex components. For example, MTC has created a one-inch diameter ceramic feed-thru for drug delivery applications that houses 104 separate pins. Voltage passes through each pin activating different combinations of switches allowing a greater number, or more complex combinations, of drugs administered at any given time.

The application of powder injection molding (PIM) has furthered the pursuit of component miniaturization. This method enables the production of intricate features and unusual geometries, most notably for hearing-assist devices, bone screws and implantable heart pumps. Testing of ceramic injection molded objects has shown that net-shape as-molded parts exhibit significantly less variation in flexural strength than green machined parts of the same formulation. MAC also offers Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology, which provides a low-cost alternative to machining, investment casting, and stamping. A MIM machine can typically mold parts in about 10 seconds compared to minutes or even hours through conventional techniques. MIM applications are ideally suited for high-volume production of intricate components, ranging from laparoscopic instruments to biopsy jaws and dental brackets.

An additional area of ceramic technical development important to medical implant applications is ceramic-based coatings, such as diamond-like carbon (DLC), that provide a biocompatible, sterilization-compatible, non-leaching, and wear resistant surface for key pivot points and wear surfaces. Such coatings are used to reduce friction, increase surface hardness and prevent ion transfer from metal implant components.

Driven by the rapidly expanding and evolving market for medical implants, material scientists and ceramic component manufacturers continue to develop new materials and new processes for the smaller, more sophisticated, and longer-lasting implant applications of the future.