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POWER HACK: TEAM MAXWELL

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Follow Team Maxwell in our POWER HACK! This wonderful team is filled with the greatest of engineering minds:

Adrian Bowyer (RepRapPro)
Andrew Back
Daniel Tinsley (Schneider Electric)
Subhash Mungarwadi (TE Connectivity)

The brief is to create an domestic electricity generator which is affordable and easy-to-produce in the 3rd world. Will their design be the best? Follow their progress on Tuesday 9th & Wednesday 10th December.


Toolbox App V2.0

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Toolbox App: the ultimate engineering app for design calculations and electronics reference.

Engineers all over the world enjoy this practical gadget from RS Components and Allied Electronics. Try it out now!

Toolbox App upgrades from V1.1 to V2.0 in December 2014!

     As part of our committment to supporting engineers in concept generation through Rapid Prototyping environment we continually develop the functionality of the Toolbox App. We saw a huge uptake from the engineering community with the iOS version, we now extend the availability to Windows plaftorm.

     Toolbox App is now downloadable for all Windows 8.1 devices with touch screen technology. This is primarily aimed at Windows powered tablets to support engineers on the move but will also work on laptops. The app is not ported, it's designed from grounds up for Windows and so uses a native GUI, while consisting of the same beautifully presented and highly functional set of calculators and design information as it's iOS cousin.

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Get electronics reference at your fingertips. Download and try the Toolbox App today!

RS Toolbox App iPhone iOS Electronics Calculations for EngineersAt RS Components and Allied Electronics we believe that engineers should be able to access design reference any time and anywhere. Whether you're working on your next design idea in a Rapid Prototyping environment, work on a shop floor troubleshooting hardware or maintaining a machine, or simply travel and want to capture that next idea - Toolbox App is the right tool for you.

We created the Toolbox App – so you can have the handy tools you need, right in your pocket.

We have started with a set of useful ‘minitools’ in the app and will be regularly adding more tools based on your feedback. The possibilities are endless so try RS Toolbox and let us know what you think!

 

Quick links:

The Toolbox App provides a set of electronics reference material and calculation tools.

  • Greater reliability with all the design lookup tables and calculation tools you need in one place
  • Calculation tools: include filter circuits, OpAmp,Ohm’s Law, voltage regulator and unit conversion formulae 
  • Lookup tables: include batteries, cable colours, conductor properties, IP ratings, SI units and more
  • Group into projects: pull in group designs and calculations from multiple tools into one project
  • Colour codes: include resistor, capacitor and inductor codes
  • Design anytime and anywhere: access your calculations, references and documents on the move
  • News: get all thelatest updatesand promotions from RS Components & Allied Electronics
  • Available on iOS devices
  • Available in 16 languages


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NEW in V1.1: Delta Star Calculator 

Three branches in an electrical network can be connected in numbers of forms but most common among them is either star or delta form. For simplifying complex network, it is often required delta to star or star to delta transformation which is what this tool is about

...read more about Delta Star minitool

 

 

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NEW in V1.1: Constant Current Calculator 

Constant current sources are often used to drive power LEDs. One advantage of a constant current source is that it avoids violating the maximum Current rating of an LED. This new minitool helps to design a constant current power supply based on the LM317chips

...read more about Constant Current minitool




 

Toolbox App on Apple devices - example screenshots

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Download the Toolbox App today

 

Toolbox App Changes History

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     Toolbox App is designed by Marcus Roskosch, an award winning app designer, in collaboration with RS Components and Allied Electronics. See Marcus' website to see other apps he had written. Toolbox App is based on the popular Electronic Toolbox Pro, it's functionality is tailored to the specific needs of RS and Allied customers. In 2013 we started Toolbox with a set of minitools selected by power users from our DesignSpark community, the evolution of the app is now in your hands.

     We built in an interface allowing to get in contact with us directly from the app and we are looking forward to receiving your suggestions, requests and feedback. Below is a log of enhancements to the App, this list will be updated with the subsequent releases.

2nd December 2014 - Toolbox App version 2.0

Toolbox ap enters a new era: now avialble for Windows 8.1. Plus there is a bonus: two new minitools added to the growing collection of calculation and reference materials.

1. NEW: Windows Version release

  • Will run on any Device such as Tablet, Laptop or Desktop PC that runs Windows 8.1 and had a touch screen (except Windows Phone which is not WIndows 8.1 compatible)
  • Same wealth of minittols as the iOS Version with the following exceptions: a) No Project/News Functionality and b) No dedicated Allied version however when switching location to US, the App turns to Allied-branded
  • To view Windows 8.1 Toolbox App screenshot gallery click here
  • To download the Windows version click here

2. NEW: Raspbery Pi miniool added with the following contents:

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  •     Model Overview
  •     Board Schematics
  •     Board Pinouts for Board, GPIO and P5 header
  •     Code Snippets
  •     Linux command reference by Command and Meaning
  •     Raspberry Pi specific Commands for Information gathering
  •     All of the above (Overview, Schematics, Pinouts) includes the new Model B+

3. NEW: NTC/PTC miniool added with the following functionality:

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  • NTC and PTC components are being used to measure temperature. They have a different resistance at a certain temperature. This minitool calculates either the resistance for a given temperature of a certain NTC or PTC or the other way around. It Supports popular pre-defined NTC/PTC types such as the PT100,PT500,PT100 or NTC5K or NTC10K but also allows to calculate for any individual NTC/PTC by entering their base Resistance and Beta values.

4. User interafce improvements

The UI had been brought in line with the latest branding guidelines from RS and DesignSpark to ensure consistency with other RS and DesignSpark branded tools & resources for engineers

21st July 2014 - Toolbox App version 1.1

To let RS and Allied Toolbox take full advantage of iOS 7 and even to make it compatible to the recently announced iOS 8, we had to rewrite about 70% of the app. This has provided us with a great opportunity to incorporate many other suggestions from our users and freshen up the app's design.

■ Two new minitools

The Delta Star tool can be used to convert resistor circuit values between star and delta connections. The new Constant Current Source tool can be used to calculate and build a constant current power supply which needs to be used for high power LEDs.

■ User interface improvements

The user interface has been freshened up and supports now additional iOS 7 features such as special animations, list swiping, popover selections, the new iOS 7 keyboard and some more.

The new iOS 7 animations are used for instance, when starting and closing tools. The tool screen is now zoomed in and from its icon.

In list, like they are used in the tables tool, sub-lists can now be closed not just by pressing the back or "<" button. Instead, they can also be closed by swiping the finger from the left edge of the screen like flipping back a page of a book.

For selections, like for unit selections or for the action menu at the top, so called popup menus have been introduced. These will now no longer cover the whole screen so they are much easier to use and even look nicer.

Users will notice the lack of the so called picker in the new app version, for instance in the resistor tool. This picker did look quite nice and even gave this tool a unique design. However, the picker had some disadvantages. Most of the time, it took several taps to select a certain value e.g. when the rolls did spin past the value that should be selected. Another major disadvantage was that this picker was quite huge and covered a third of the whole screen on iPhones which means that the screen often needed to be scrolled in order to see the result values.  The picker is part of iOS and iOS 7 provides the new picker which derives all of the aforementioned disadvantages but adds some more so we tested it with power users and following their positive recommendation decided to replace the picker by space and tap-saving popover selections.

To implement all those features, we had to drop IOS 5 support but the app still supports iOS 6.

However, don't worry if you don't want or can't update to iOS 6 or 7, you can still use previous version of the app as it will still be available on the AppStore for downloading and best of all, it will still get improvements via Data updates.

■ Improved action button

The action button now has a new unique icon and will now act as a real action button. Now, it always opens a popover selection with several options based on the current situation.

■ Improved "add ... to project" and printing

Instead of taking a screen-shot, now, the real values and images will be copied to the selected project or printed.

■ New unit oz/ft2

Users asked for the possibility to enter e.g. trace thickness in the PCB Trace width tool in units of oz/ft2 , which is now possible.

10th December 2013 - Toolbox App version 1.0

This is the first version of the Toolbox App, the engineering reference App from RS Components and Allied Electronics. To suit our two brands there are two separate Apps: 'RS Toolbox' and 'Allied Toolbox', the apps are identical in functionality and the only difference is branding and target market. We hope you enjoy this useful resource!

Now live

December's newest products

Raspberry PiでMinecraft! プログラミング基礎編

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Raspberry PiでMinecraft!の続きとなります。

前回の記事では導入について説明させていただきました。今回の記事では「Minecraft Pi Edition」の特徴とも言えるプログラミングでの操作を説明していきます。使用可能言語はいくつかあるのですが、この記事では"Python"を使用します。

Minecraftを起動した状態で下のコードを入力してください。(ファイルの場所を変更している場合はご注意ください)
cd mcpi/api/python/mcpi
python

これでpythonの入力画面になります。まずはじめにすることは、Minecraftのライブラリをインポートすることです。以下のコードを入力してください。
import minecraft

続いて、pythonとMinecraftを接続し、pythonからMinecraftを操作できるようにします。以下のコードを入力してください。
mc=minecraft.Minecraft.create()

これでpythonからMinecraftを操作できるようになりました。試しに"Hello World"を行ってみましょう。以下のコードを入力してください。
mc.postToChat("Hello Minecraft World!")
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他のメッセージも当然表示させることができますので、色々試してみてください。

さて、Minecraftの本題とも言える"ブロック"を置く作業をpythonから実行してみましょう。まず、原点付近にワープしてください。以下のコードの()の中の数字を弄ることでどんな場所にもワープできます。
mc.player.setTilePos(0,0,0)

blockデータをimportし試しにひとつ置いてみます。
import block
mc.setBlock(0, 10, 0, block.STONE)

如何でしょうか?原点付近に石ブロックが現れたはずです。簡単にブロック設置のコードの説明をしますと、mc.setblock("X座標"、"Y座標"、"Z座標",block."ブロック名")となっております。もし原点付近が山などの場合は、場所を移動し、画面左上に表示されている座標を参考にしながら()の中の座標を変更してください。ブロックの種類についてはこちらのwiki(英語)を参考にしてください。

正直一つ置くだけであれば普通に置いたほうがはやいです。pythonから操作する上での利点は複雑な構造体をプログラミングを書くことで簡単に作成できる点です。まずは横に並べてみましょう。
for x in xrange(0, 10):
 mc.setBlock(x, 10, 0, block.STONE)

所謂繰り返し構文と呼ばれるものです。繰り返し構文を使う際の注意として、インテンドの挿入を忘れないようにしてください。エラーがでます。xの値を0~10へ一つずつ増やしていき、そのたびにブロックを配置していくというものです。10個程度ならば手動のほうがはやいかもしれませんが、100個200個でも数値を変えるだけで簡単に配置することができます。

次は壁をつくってみましょう。以下のコードを入力してください。
for x in xrange(0, 10):
 for y in xrange(0, 10):
  mc.setBlock(x, y, 0, block.STONE)

単純に先ほどの横に並べるプログラムに縦の概念を加えただけです。所謂2重ループと呼ばれるものです。簡単にどういった操作をするか説明すると以下のようになります。
xの値に0をセットする→yの値に0をセットする→0,0,0の座標に石ブロックを配置する→yの値に1を加え1をセットする→(0,1,0)の座標に石ブロックを配置する~~→(0,10,0)の座標ひ石ブロックを配置する→xの値に1を加え1をセットする→yの値に0をセットする→(1,0,0)に~
という具合にまず2行目のループを実行し、yの値が10になったらxの値に1を加え再び2行目のループを実行するという動作をxの値が10になるまで繰り返します。

続いてキューブを作成してみましょう。以下のコードを入力してください。
for x in xrange(0, 10):
 for y in xrange(0, 10):
  for z in xrange(0, 10):
   mc.setBlock(x, y, z, block.STONE)

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もう説明しなくてもおわかりいただけるかと思います。壁作成プログラムにz座標の概念を追加しただけです。3重ループというやつですね。ここまで来ると手動でやるのは少しばかり手間がかかります。次に穴のあいたキューブを配置してみましょう。
for x in xrange(0, 10):
 for y in xrange(0, 10):
  for z in xrange(0, 10):
   if(x==0 or x==9 or y==0 or y==9 or z==0 or z==9):
    mc.setBlock(x, y, z, block.STONE)

if構文と呼ばれるものを使用しています。もしも、xの値が0か9、yの値が0か9、zの値が0か9の場合、ブロックを配置するというものです。

最後に球体を作成してみましょう。以下のコードを入力してください。
for x in range(-10, 10):
 for y in xrange(-10,10):
  for z in xrange(-10, 10):
   if(x**2 + y**2 + z**2 < 10**2):
    mc.setBlock(x,y,z,block.STONE)

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ここまで理解できた方であれば、このプログラムも簡単に理解できるかと思います。xの2乗+yの2乗+zの2乗が10の2乗以下であればブロックを配置するというプログラムです。

以上です。今回ご紹介したコードを組み合わせたり変更することで、複雑な建造物を簡単に作成することができます。ぜひ色々と試し、もし面白いものが出来た場合は投稿していただければと思います。

Raspberry PiでMinecraft! プログラミング応用編

20ドルのPC 「Raspberry Pi A+」

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Raspberry Piシリーズの新製品、Raspberry Pi A+がついに登場しました。既存のモデルAよりもさらに小型・低消費電力でありながら値段はたった20$と歴代最安値となります。 Raspberry Piはより電子・情報教育を促進し、明日のソフトウェア/ハードウェアエンジニアやコンピュータ科学者を育成するためのツールとして進化し続けています。

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Raspberry Pi A+をより詳しく見てみましょう

上の写真の左からB+、IOボード、A+となります。A+のハードウェア構成としてはモデルAと同様、BroadcomのARMプロセッサと256MBのメモリを搭載しています。それでいながら従来よりもエネルギー効率が良くなっており、さらに上位モデルのB+に採用された改善点が反映されています。

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サイズ - 55mm × 65mm、23g。これはモデルAよりも8g軽く、42gであるモデルB+よりも19g軽くなっています。
GPIO - 新型上位モデルであるB+と同様に40本のGPIOヘッダーを搭載しています。また、A+上のGPIOと取り付け穴の配置はB+と同じ位置にあるため、B+用のHATSと互換性があります。
MicroSD - B+と同様にMicroSDカードスロットを搭載しています。
消費電力 - USBポートが1つ、イーサネットなしではあるものの、スイッチングレギュレータ回りの回路設計の強化により、元々低消費電力であったモデルAよりも20%~25%低減されています。
オーディオ - 専用の低ノイズ回路により、オーディオ品質が向上されています。

モデルA+のフォームファクタと機能は、ポータブルバッテリー駆動アプリケーションに最適です。プロジェクトや製品に接合するための、よりコンパクトなソリューションを必要とする方はぜひ一度ご検討ください。

Raspberry Pi A+ is now on Sale at RS Components and Allied Electronics

Red Pitayaでギターエフェクトペダル

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こちら(英文)の記事の翻訳です。

Red Pitayaは非常に有用なデバイスです。研究室の機器として扱うこともできるのではないでしょうか。しかし、Red Pitayaは研究目的だけではなく、それ以外にも用いることができます。私はRed Pitayaで動作するギターエフェクトペダルを作成しました。このツールはRed Pitaya バザーのLTI DSPワークベンチを使用しています。ディストーションエフェクトのみ検証を行ったので、これ以上のエフェクトは他の音楽・Red Pitaya愛好家の検証が必要です。

下記にデモビデオを用意しました。

もしも試しに作成したいという場合は、下記のパラメーター値を使用してください。

b0:   40
b1:   12
b2:   5
b3:   3
b4:   3
b5:   2
a1:   -0.75
a2:   0.22
a3:   0.23
a4:   -0.05
a5:   -0.05


DSMを使ってRaspberry Pi Model B+のケース作成 (1)

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こちら(中文)のページの翻訳です。

RSの提供する3DCAD、DesignSpark Mechanicalを使用して最新のRaspberry Pi Model B+のケースを作成します。最終的には実際にプリントし、使用しました。合計2つのパーツと4本の取り付けネジで構成されています。

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準備

1 Raspberry Pi Model B+本体

2 正確に寸法を測定できる工具(ノギスなど)

3  DesignSpark Mechanical

①Raspberry Pi Model B+の寸法測定

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4つの穴の位置、ボードのサイズ、厚さや各パーツの高さ、間隔などケースを作成する上で必要な寸法を測定してください。もちろん、RSのホームページからRaspberry Pi Model B+の3Dモデルをダウンロードしてその数値を使用しても構いませんが、実際に測定することをおすすめします。僅かなズレなどで印刷したはいいものの、取り付けることができなくなる可能性があります。

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第二部分:投影機能を用いて設計基準位置を決める

設計基準位置を定めます。以下の画像をご覧ください。

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投影面を選択し、投影を実効。適切な場所に投影してください。

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B+の裏面を投影

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投影面の縁と穴の位置を残してください。

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立体化させ、試しにRaspberry Piに取り付け、穴の位置や寸法が正しいかを確認してください。

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角を丸め、穴の周辺を画像のようにしてください。

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これで下部は完成です。

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支柱と側面を作成します。

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投影機能を用いてUSB端子など各パーツ部分に穴をあけます。

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他の面も同様にして穴をあけてください。

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完成したら上部と下部を分離してください。

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最後に上パーツに蓋をして外形は完成です。

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DSMを使用してRaspberry Pi Model B+のケース作成(2)

DesignSpark Mechanicalの設計例-シンプルな取っ手付きコップ-

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このページではDesignSpark Mechanicalでシンプルな取っ手付きコップをつくる方法をご紹介しています。

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まず、コップの外形をつくります。画像のようにスケッチしていってください。

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コップに窪みをつけるため、曲線を使います。ここの長さはお好みで構いませんが、あまり深くしすぎないように注意してください。

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作成した面を選択し、プルモードに切り替え、回転をクリックし、左辺を選択してください。

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360°回転させてください。title

完成形は以下のようになります。

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次に取っ手をつくります。モデルの中心軸を選択し、スケッチモードをクリックしてください。

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スケッチタブ内のスプラインを選択してください。

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取っ手をつけます。形は自由ですが、始点と終点をできるだけコップの端にしておいてください。

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次に3Dビューモードにし、ツールバー左上のプレーンをクリックしてください。

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取っ手の始点か終点を選択してください。画面左のストラクチャビューでsolidのチェックを外し、プレーンとカーブだけを表示させます。

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プレートを選択した状態でスケッチモードに移行し、先ほどプレートを挿入する際に選択した始点か終点を中心に円をスケッチしてください。

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3Dモードに移行し、ストラクチャービュー内のSurfaceを選択し、プルモードに移行、スイープをクリックし、曲線を選択してください。そのまま終点まで引っ張れば取っ手の完成です。

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选中样条曲线,拉动提示箭头进行扫掠。

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非表示にしていたカップ本体を表示させましょう。プレーンは消してしまってかまいません。

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コップ本体を選択し、組み合わせモードに移行、「マージするボディの選択」をクリックし、取っ手を選択してください。これで取っ手とコップが一つになります。

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コップ上面を選択し、スケッチモードに移行、画像のように円をスケッチしてください。

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プルモードに移行し、先ほど作成した面を100mmほどおろしてください。

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後は角を丸めれば完成です。

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最後に表示タブ内のエッジで正接とソリッドを消すときれいに表示することができます。

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これで完成です。

DS Mechanical v2

DS Mechanical v2

DS Mechanical v2

DS Mechanical v2

DesignSpark Mechanical Change Log

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DesignSpark Mechanical changes, features & enhancements are a direct result of your feedback, suggestions and requests. Please contribute to the discussions to help us make DSM even better!

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>>> Below you can also download previous versions of DesignSpark Mechanical software (for compatibility reasons), as requested by the community  <<<

To view DesignSpark Mechanical system requirements click here

Version 2.0 - 15th December 2014

(full details to follow soon)

Version 1.0 - First release (September 2013)

Download DesignSpark Mechanical v1.0 (32-bit)

Download DesignSpark Mechanical v1.0 (64-bit)

Building on the spectacular success of DesignSpark PCB, wolrd's first fully featured FREE electronics design software, RS Components and Allied Electronics patnered with SpaceClaim Corporation to bring the 3D Concept Modeling capability to the hands of EVERY engineer.

RS Components and Allied Electronics are committed to fully support future development of DesignSpark Mechanical. We will be gathering feedback from user community and respond to your needs/suggestions/feedback with enhancements and new features which will continue reinforcing DesignSpark Mechanical as an important part of your rapid prototyping and design toolchain.


Issues with DesignSpark Mechanical 2.0

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Thank you for installing DesignSpark Mechanical 2.0 !

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We are aware of certain issues users are facing after the version 2.0 update. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

This knowledge item describes the bugs and their current solution status / workarounds.

Bug 1: Software registration / activation

Solution status:

We believe that there was a synchronisation issue between the software user database and your account in the DesignSpark user database.

This is being fixed and most users should now be able to activate it.

Do keep a look at the Forums for the most updated news.

Bug 2: Missing panels or, incorrect software layout

Workaround:

We recommend a complete uninstall of older versions of DesignSpark Mechanical, before going for Version 2 on the same computer.

After uninstallation of the previous DSM version, there may remain some configuration files which conflict with new installations.

To remove them, follow these steps:

1. Makes sure all hidden folders are visible on your computer. Toggle it via 'Folder Options'.

2. Navigate to C:\Users\"Your Username"\AppData\Local\SpaceClaim via Windows Explorer.

3. Delete the "SpaceClaim" folder here.

4. Start DesignSpark Mechanical 2.0.

You should now see the normal UI layout (like below screenshot).

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In case of below isolated issues, take the following relevant steps:

1. Make sure there are no pending Windows Updates requiring a computer re-start. Pending updates may give rise to some error dialogs (similar to below snipshot) on starting DesignSpark Mechanical 2.0 after the first install.

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To solve it, just re-start your computer and then launch DesignSpark Mechanical 2.0.

2. In case you get a 'RSRegistration.exe' error, follow the solution recommended by a helpful forum user:

"RSRegistration error ! any idea ?"

For other uncommon and critical software errors, e-mail the recent log files (found at C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\SpaceClaim\Log Files) with a brief description to DSM support at DesignSparkMechanical@designspark.com .

At DesignSpark, we encourage our users to search and post on the Forums for actively updated information.

リファレンスデザイン-ローム 降圧DC/DCコンバータ BD9E300EFJ-

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7.0V~36V入力、2.5A MOSFET 内蔵 1ch同期整流降圧DC/DCコンバータ「BD9E300EFJ」(ローム)Designspark PCB形式のリファレンスデザイン(回路図・PCBパターン)を無償で提供致します。そのままのデザインをご利用いただくこともできますし、デザインを追加・変更して独自の基板を作成していただくことも可能です。

[ファイルのダウンロードは記事の一番下にあるDownloads欄のリンクから可能です]

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プリント基板レイアウト

BD9E300EFJについて

本製品は産業機器市場へ向けた、長期の供給を保証するランクの製品です。これらのアプリケーションとして、ご使用される場合に最適な商品です。BD9E300EFJ-LB は低ON 抵抗のパワーMOSFET を内蔵した同期整流降圧型スイッチングレギュレータです。広い入力電圧範囲 (7V~36V)をもち、5.0V などの低電圧を作る電源です。発振周波数が1MHz と高速なため、小型インダクタンスの使用が可能です。電流モード制御DC/DC コンバータのため高速な過渡応答性能を持ち、位相補償についても容易に設定することが可能です。

その他のリファレンスデザイン

本リファレンスデザインについて

回路図の設計ファイル(.sch)、プリント基板設計ファイル(.pcb)、部品ライブラリから構成されます。部品ライブラリには、RS品番や部品サイズのデータが含まれており、部品を直接発注したり、Designspark Mechanicalに出力し、筐体を設計したりすることができるようになっています。もちろん、ライブラリを他の回路基板の設計に利用していただくこともできます。

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回路図

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部品ライブラリ

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Designspark PCBの基板設計データをDesignspark Mechanicalに取り込むことも可能

DesignSpark PCBをダウンロード

Designspark PCBはフル機能を商用利用を含め、完全無料でご利用いただける基板設計ソフトウェアです。多数のチュートリアル等を公開しております→Designspark PCBの使い方一覧

 

リファレンスデザインカタログでは他にも多数のリファレンスデザインをご用意しております。


免責:本リファレンスデザインの各種設計データ(本設計データ)のご使用は自己責任でお願いいたします。

Reference Design-Renesas GR-KURUMI Board-

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One of the GR (Gadget Renesas) project's reference boards called GR-KURUMI board was converted into Designspark PCB format. 

[You may download design files from the Downloads section at the very bottom of the article]

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PCB layout

What is GR-KURUMI board?

The GR-KURUMI board incorporates the RL78G14, Renesas 16-bit low-power consumption MCU. Compatible with Arduino Pro Mini, this new board can use existing sample codes, ensuring easy use with Arduino language and standard libraries from both hardware and software aspects.

The following special features, unavailable in Arduino Pro Mini, are perfect for designing  small and low-power gadgets.

  • Runs on a single-battery.  Incorporates a voltage booster from 0.9V to 3.3 (or 5V).
  • Includes a real-time clock with alarm function, facilitating a high-precision real-time counter (RTC).
  • Low-power mode: Arduino-like library allows easy setup of the RL78 standby mode (STOP/SNOOZE).
  • KURUMI's LED hair accessories: unique KURUMI features are illustrated in LEDs with glowing full-color hair accessories.

Gadget Renesas user forum

Specification

  • On-board MCU: RL78/G13 (R5F100GJAFB, 48-pin QFP)
  • ROM/RAM: 256KB/20KB
  • Data Flash: 8KB
  • Main Clock: 32MHz (on-chip)
  • Sub Clock: 32.768KHz
  • Operating Voltage: 2.7V to 5.5V (Note) MCU operates from 1.6V. To ensure Pro Mini compatibility, the board offers a minimum 2.7V operation.

What are included in the reference design file?

A Schematics design file (.sch), a PCB layout design file(.pcb), and parts library files for the design are provided. A RS part number and size information of parts are already linked to each part in the library. So you can directly order parts to RS by using the BOM quote feature, or can convert PCB files into 3D CAD data to design and simulate cases of boards. Of course, parts in the library would be used in another board's design. 

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Schematic of GR-KURUMI

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Parts library

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Possible to convert Designspark PCB designs into Designspark Mechanical 3D models

What is DesignSpark PCB format?

DesignSpark PCB is an award-winning software package for schematic capture and PCB layout, available for FREE from RS Components. Our software is easy to learn and use yet surprisingly powerful. DesignSpark PCB is now widely adopted in the industry as a standard format for design file sharing and collaboration. This is especially useful in the prototyping phase where most of the innovation takes place. Not yet a DesignSpark PCB user? 

Download DesignSpark PCB NOW

Developing Applications for the Intel Edison

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A walk through some of the different ways you can program the feature packed platform.

In a previous post I covered in brief how the Intel Edison can be programmed via the Arduino IDE, with other options including writing JavaScript and native C/C++ applications. This post explores those options in a little more detail and takes a look at the Intel strategy for peripheral device support.

Intel IoT Developer Kit

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The Intel IoT Developer Kit is based upon the popular open source Eclipse IDE, and is bundled with C and C++ examples for the classic hello world, and LED blink — the hardware hello world.

C and C++ examples are also included for sending data to the Intel IoT Analytics cloud via the IoT Kit Agent, software which also runs locally on the Edison. This service allows for the collection, storage and analysis of sensor data, with the ability to configure alerts. Intel state this as being provided free for “limited non-commercial use”, so it may not be suitable for all applications.

There are also C++ examples for reading an analogue input, and driving an I2C LCD and a buzzer.

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The IDE provides a Remote System Explorer view where the IP address and login details for a connected board are entered. Once configured this allows for remote execution and debugging of programs from within the IDE, with both Edison and Galileo boards being supported.

Application portability is provided courtesy of the MRAA library, which offers a consistent API across different hardware for GPIO, UARTs and buses such as I2C and SPI, performing board detection at runtime. In addition to Edison and Galileo, the library also includes support for the Minnowboard and Raspberry Pi Model B.

The UPM libraries then build upon MRAA to provide APIs for sensors and actuators. At the time of writing this includes numerous temperature, pressure, gas, light and magnetometer sensors, along with various displays, LED controllers and servos. A guide to writing new modules is also provided, along with an Arduino library porting example, and Intel invite third party contributions to UPM.

Arduino compatibility

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The Intel variant of the Arduino IDE has the same familiar look and feel as the classic version, and all the basic example sketches are there along with a healthy selection of libraries. However, it's important to note that sketches compile down to a binary that then executes on Edison as a Linux process. There is no microcontroller. This is not a real-time system.

What does this mean? Well, sketches that use AVR-specific features will obviously need to be modified, and some may not even work at all. A good example of where issues may be encountered is sketches that toggle pins to drive wireless and infrared etc. links and bit-banged I/O. These typically disable processor interrupts by calling cli() or nointerrupts() before doing the timing critical toggling of pins, and then re-enable them immediately afterwards with sei() or interrupts().

In testing, Arduino AVR code that used cli() and sei() would compile after these function calls were removed. However, as one might predict, it was then found that the timing of data being sent over a wireless link was out and the receiver simply discarded it. Which is hardly surprising when you consider that Linux probably serviced plenty of interrupts during the transmission period.

That said, it may be that a trick was missed and that there is some soft real-time capability that can be used. Failing which, an update to the Edison software is planned which will enable the onboard independent Intel Quark core, and one can only hope that when this happens it will become possible to target Arduino applications to it, instead of a Linux process on the main Atom processor.

Bridging two worlds

Reusing existing Arduino code and then integrating it with applications running under the Linux system — where there are greater resources and many more tools available — seemed like an obvious thing to want to do. As such, I had hoped that there would be a simple facility whereby data could be exchanged between a sketch and some other Linux application.

However, it turns out that while this is possible, it requires a fair amount of setup, with memory mapped interprocess communication (IPC) and mutexes for synchronisation. Although this situation may easily change and it presumably wouldn't take a competent programmer very long at all to come up with Arduino and Linux (C, C++ and/or Python etc.) libraries that greatly simplify this.

Intel XDK IoT Edition

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The Intel XDK IoT Edition allows applications to be developed in JavaScript, via the increasingly popular node.js runtime environment, and provides templates for things such as digital read/write, analogue read and — of course — LED blink!

The XDK also provides support for creating mobile applications that are built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, via the Apache Cordova set of device APIs.

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The two sides to XDK development neatly complementing each other, enabling both IoT device behaviour and companion mobile app logic to be defined using the same language and IDE.

As with the IoT Developer Kit, the MRAA and UPM libraries are used for compatibility across IoT devices.

Conclusion

With three official SDKs — four if you count building native applications via Yocto! — it can be a little confusing when you first start exploring the available options for developing for Edison. A matter that is not helped by the similar naming of the Intel IoT Developer Kit and Intel XDK IoT Edition. However, once you familiarise yourself with the differences and understand what each of these development environments brings, it all makes perfect sense and there should be options to suit most tastes and needs.

Despite the present limitations of Arduino development on Edison, it's still an incredibly useful tool, if for no other reason than in providing a gentle on-ramp for the platform. Which is not to say that it won't also be improved upon in due course.

Andrew Back

Intel Edison Module - is availible from RS Components

Intel Edison Development Kit - is availible from RS Components

Intel Edison Breakout Kit - is availible from RS Components

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