'Power Assist' set to stimulate new generations of tools and appliances
19 November 2003
News
A novel technology from Cambridge Consultants is being developed to allow power assistance to be applied in highly sensitive ways to everyday consumer and trade equipment from work tools to kitchen appliances.
Dubbed Power Assist, the technology provides a way of interacting with powered products that replaces 'crude on/off' functionality with a natural and responsive control that is directly related to a user's hand movement.
"Motorised power can be a very blunt instrument," says Craig Webster, head of power products at CCL. "This new concept creates an opportunity to produce a range of high-value, interactive products, at relatively low cost. This is particularly important in markets like power tools, where many products are mature and gravitating towards commodity pricing."
Power Assist is a low-cost control and feedback technique for applying the power of an electric motor based on a hand-wheel user interface. CCL is demonstrating the concept with a power drill, where the normal trigger control is replaced by the kind of hand-wheel used on a manual drill. Motor power is applied according to the wheel's speed of rotation, and a novel torque feedback technique also applies varying degrees of reverse pressure to the wheel, to give the user the sensation of the load and the force being applied.
CCL says that this control scheme gives the tool a much more natural feel, directly translating a user's turning hand movement into powered drilling. Power Assist can be added to most kinds of motor-powered appliances using just a handful of low cost components, which in essence are a slightly more sophisticated version of the motor control circuitry that is currently used. According to the company its applications potential is wide ranging. It includes power tools for the garden, workshop and trades - as well as specialist professions such as surgery - and kitchen appliances such as food mixers.
For more information contact Cambridge Consultants, 0944 1223 420024, [email protected]
Further reading:
From the editor's desk: The art of measuring the truth
Technews Publishing
Editor's Choice News
All electronic measurements are a lie. The trick is making the lie as small as possible.
Read more...
TSE has relocated
News
The Technology Station in Electronics (TSE) has entered a new chapter with its relocation from the CSIR campus to TUT-owned building at Ditsela Place in Hatfield.
Read more...
Innovative MyLegrand app
RS South Africa
News
Legrand SA is set to launch the MyLegrand mobile application, a digital platform designed to strengthen engagement across its professional network.
Read more...
Kulani Energy acquires critical assets from Optipower
News
Kulani Energy preserves engineering, procurement, and construction capability and positions a wholly women-owned firm at the forefront of South Africa’s grid expansion.
Read more...
From Cape Town to Johannesburg
News
Würth Elektronik South Africa has taken a significant step forward with its recent relocation from Cape Town to Johannesburg, marking a new phase of growth and ambition for the company.
Read more...
Lesley Havenga: Building partnerships for Africa’s electronics future
Editor's Choice News
As Würth Electronik expands its footprint across South Africa and the broader sub-Saharan region, Havenga’s blend of manufacturing expertise, supply chain knowledge, and people-centred leadership appears well suited to the task.
Read more...
Tackling e-waste with help from international partners
News
Every year millions of electrical and electronic devices and appliances, including mobile phones and computers, are thrown away and these items are now the fastest growing waste stream in the world.
Read more...
From the editor's desk: Pricing surge reshapes engineering reality
Technews Publishing
News
The recent and continuing surge in memory prices has become more than a supply-chain story confined to global semiconductor markets. We have watched in disbelief as the ASP of memory has risen by over
...
Read more...
Siemens democratises EDA software access
News
This collaboration will provide streamlined access to advanced electronic design automation software for European semiconductor innovation.
Read more...
Components distribution: A promising trend
News
The European electronic components market returned to solid growth in Q1, gaining 16,9%, with broad, but uneven, momentum across the region.
Read more...
printer friendly version