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	<title> &#187; EDN Innovation Awards</title>
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		<title>EDN Innovation Awards 2009 &#8211; 2 trophies</title>
		<link>http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/09/18/edn-innovation-awards-2009-2-trophies/</link>
		<comments>http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/09/18/edn-innovation-awards-2009-2-trophies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:41:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ray Keefe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analogue Electronics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Manufacture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Made in Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analogue Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analogue Design Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Electronics industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borgtech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borgtech CPL2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borgtech Pty Ltd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDN Innovation Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDN Innovation Awards 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.successful.com.au/blog/?p=435</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Analogue Design Awards You might recall we were finalists in the EDN Innovation Awards 2009 .  Yesterday, we were in Sydney for the EDN Innovation Awards dinner held at Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf. We came away with 2 trophies.  The awards were: Best Application of Analogue Design &#8211; Highly Commended Best Application of Design Software [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1>Analogue Design Awards</h1>
<p>You might recall we were finalists in the <a title="EDN Innovation Awards" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/08/17/2009-edn-innovation-awards-finalist/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">EDN Innovation Awards 2009</span></em></strong></a> .  Yesterday, we were in Sydney for the <a title="EDN Innovation Awards" href="http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/Awards.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: #005e20;"><em><strong>EDN Innovation Awards</strong></em></span></a> dinner held at Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf.</p>
<p>We came away with 2 trophies.  The awards were:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em>Best Application of Analogue Design &#8211; Highly Commended</em></strong></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em>Best Application of Design Software &#8211; Highly Commended</em></strong></span></li>
</ul>
<p><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
<div id="attachment_457" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><img class="size-full wp-image-457 " title="EDN Innovation Awards 2009" src="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/trophies.jpg" alt="EDN Innovation Awards 2009" width="500" height="413" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Successful Endeavours - EDN Innovation Awards 2009</p></div>
<div id="attachment_454" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><img class="size-full wp-image-454 " title="Ray Keefe receives the EDN Innovation Award for the Best Application of Analogue Design" src="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/RayAward1.jpg" alt="Ray Keefe receives the EDN Innovation Award for Best Application of Analogue Design" width="500" height="333" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Ray Keefe receives the EDN Innovation Award for Best Application of Analogue Design</p></div>
<p>We are very pleased to have had <strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Australian Electronics Industry</span></em></strong> leaders recognise our work as being of the highest standard.</p>
<p>And thanks again to <span style="color: #005e20;"><em><strong>Pablo Varjabedian</strong></em></span> of <a title="Borgtech" href="http://www.borgtech.com.au" target="_blank"><span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em>Borgtech Pty Ltd</em></strong></span></a> for his support and encouragement and for having a vision as we do that products like the <span style="color: #005e20;"><em><strong><a title="Borgtech CPL2" href="http://www.borgtech.com.au/" target="_blank">Borgtech CPL2</a></strong></em></span> can and should be <strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Made in Australia</span></em></strong>.</p>
<p><em></em>There have also been several newspaper articles focusing on the role of local businesses in the <strong><em>Australian Electronics Manufacturing Industry</em></strong>.</p>
<p>Casey Weekly Berwick 31 August 2009 <a title="Successful Endeavours - Electronics Whiz Wired For Success" href="http://www.caseyweeklyberwick.com.au/news/local/news/general/electronics-whiz-wired-for-success/1609941.aspx" target="_blank">Electronics Whiz Wired For Success</a></p>
<p>Wyndham Weekly 30 September 2009 <a title="Borgtech - It's a pipe dream" href="http://www.wyndhamweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/its-a-pipe-dream/1636287.aspx" target="_blank">It&#8217;s A Pipe Dream</a><em> </em></p>
<p>Casey Weekly Berwick 5 October 2009  <a title="Successful Endeavours - Electroncis Firm Delivers The Goods" href="http://www.caseyweeklyberwick.com.au/news/local/news/general/electronics-firm-delivers-the-goods/1640635.aspx" target="_blank">Electronics Firm Delivers The Goods</a></p>
<p><em>Ray Keefe has been developing high quality and market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years.  For more information go to his </em><a title="Ray Keefe at Linked In" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.linkedin.com');" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/raykeefe" target="_blank"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em> profile. This post is Copyright © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.</em></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Electronics Manufacture Shines in Melbourne</title>
		<link>http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/09/01/electronics-manufacture-shines-in-melbourne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/09/01/electronics-manufacture-shines-in-melbourne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ray Keefe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Electronics Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Manufacture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Embedded Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Project Priorities Perspective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Electronics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Electronics Manufacture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Electronics Manufacturing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDN Innovation Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[electronics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics and Embedded Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Manufacturers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[electronics manufacturing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Products Made In Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[low cost electronics manufacture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Made in Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Product Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Product Development Costs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Successful Endeavours]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Successful Product Development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.successful.com.au/blog/?p=407</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[National recognition for local Casey Business OK, I couldn&#8217;t resist that blog title or this headline.  It isn&#8217;t often you get a chance to say something like that.  If you hadn&#8217;t heard yet, we are finalists in two categories in the EDN Innovation Awards for 2009.  Melbourne is the Electronics Manufacturing capital of Australia and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1>National recognition for local Casey Business</h1>
<p>OK, I couldn&#8217;t resist that blog title or this headline.  It isn&#8217;t often you get a chance to say something like that.  If you hadn&#8217;t heard yet, we are <strong>finalists in two categories</strong> in the <strong>EDN Innovation Awards</strong> for 2009.  <a title="Melbourne" href="http://melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=23&amp;pg=966" target="_blank"><strong>Melbourne</strong></a> is the <strong>Electronics Manufacturing</strong> capital of <strong>Australia </strong>and we are based in <strong>Berwick</strong> which is administered by the <a title="City of Casey" href="http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/" target="_blank"><strong>City of Casey</strong></a> .  And we are also members of the <a title="Berwick Chamber Of Commerce" href="http://www.berwick-village.com.au/" target="_blank"><strong>Berwick Chamber Of Commerce</strong></a>.</p>
<h1>Successful Endeavours in the NEWS</h1>
<p>The <a title="Casey Weekly Berwick" href="http://www.caseyweeklyberwick.com.au/" target="_blank">Casey Weekly Berwick</a> has just done an article on <a title="Successful Endeavours" href="http://www.successful.com.au/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Successful Endeavours</span></em></strong></a> that also covers the <strong><span style="color: #005e20;">EDN Innovation Awards</span></strong> we are finalists for.  You can check it out here <a title="Electronics Whiz Wired For Success" href="http://www.caseyweeklyberwick.com.au/news/local/news/general/electronics-whiz-wired-for-success/1609941.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em>Electronics Whiz Wired For Success</em></strong></span></a>.  And as a bonus, you get to see what we look like.</p>
<h1>Electronics Manufacturing</h1>
<p>Our aim is to turn <strong><span style="color: #005e20;">Australian Electronics Manufacture</span></strong> into <strong><span style="color: #005e20;">Low Cost Electronics Manufacture</span></strong> through improving the total cost of a product throughout its life cycle.  This is not a quality reduction process.  Quite the opposite.  Getting the product right so it doesn&#8217;t fail and does do what it is meant to do is one of the things necessary to reducing cost.</p>
<p>Located on the outskirts of Melbourne we primarily serve <strong>Melbourne</strong> based <span style="color: #005e20;"><strong>Electronics Manufacturers</strong></span> by providing them with <strong>Electronics </strong>and <strong>Embedded Software Development</strong> services that save them up to 70% compared to traditional linear <strong>Product Development.</strong></p>
<p>So how do we do that?</p>
<p>Firstly, there are a few blog posts you can refer back to that will fill in some of the details.</p>
<h1>Successful Product Development</h1>
<ul>
<li><a title="Performance and Cost versus Time" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/05/15/project-priorities-perspective-performance-and-cost-versus-time/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Performance and Cost versus Time</span></em></strong></a></li>
<li><a title="Time and Cost versus Performance" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/05/07/project-priorities-perspective-time-and-cost-versus-performance/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Time and Cost versus Performance</span></em></strong></a></li>
<li><a title="Time and Performance versus Cost" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/05/05/project-priorities-perspective-time-and-performance-vs-cost/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Time and Performance versus Cost</span></em></strong></a></li>
<li><a title="Project Priorities Perspective" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/04/17/project-priorities-perspective/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Project Priorities Perspective</span></em></strong></a></li>
<li><a title="Reducing Electronics Manufacturing Parts Cost" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/05/21/reducing-electronics-manufacturing-parts-cost/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Reducing Electronics Manufacturing Parts Cost</span></em></strong></a></li>
<li><a title="Reducing Electronics and Embedded Software Product Development Costs" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/07/27/reducing-electronics-and-embedded-software-product-development-costs/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Reducing Electronics and Embedded Software Product Development Costs</span></em></strong></a></li>
<li><a title="Electronics Products Made In Australia Strategies to be more Profitable" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/04/13/electronics-products-in-australia-strategies-to-be-more-profitable/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Electronics Products Made In Australia &#8211; Strategies to be more Profitable</span></em></strong></a></li>
</ul>
<h1>Australian Electronics Manufacturing</h1>
<p><span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em>Low Cost Electronics Manufacture</em></strong></span> in Australia that competes favourable with China is feasible.  Ignoring the trade offs discussed in the links above, the steps to take are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><span style="color: #005e20;"><em>Identify the primary priority &#8211; is it time, cost, performance?</em></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #005e20;"><em>Reviews costs &#8211; all the costs &#8211; see the last link above if you are sure what they all are</em></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #005e20;"><em>Reduce Cost through redesign to remove unnecessary labour and to streamline manufacture</em></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #005e20;"><em>Implement</em></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #005e20;"><em>Deploy</em></span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #005e20;"><em>Monitor and correct as required</em></span></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Written like this it sound simple, and conceptually it is.  Where it gets lost is in the assumption that it can&#8217;t be that simple.  But there aren&#8217;t any hidden traps in this process.</p>
<p>We have had a few queries about how we came up with our company name, <strong><span style="color: #005e20;">Successful Endeavours.</span></strong> Next post I will reveal all.</p>
<p><em>Ray Keefe has been developing high quality and market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years.  For more information go to his </em><a title="Ray Keefe at Linked In" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/raykeefe" target="_blank"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em> profile. This post is Copyright © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">________________________________________________</span></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>2009 EDN Innovation Awards Finalist</title>
		<link>http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/08/17/2009-edn-innovation-awards-finalist/</link>
		<comments>http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/08/17/2009-edn-innovation-awards-finalist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:40:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ray Keefe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analogue Electronics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Manufacture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Project Priorities Perspective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[802.15.4]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abuse Voltage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abuse Voltages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analogue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analogue Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Electronics Manufacturer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australian Electronics Manufacturers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borgtech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Borgtech CPL2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Requirements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDN Innovation Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electronics Design Requirements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Embedded Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hazardous voltages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intellectual Property]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IP68]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lightning strike transients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[low cost electronics manufacture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Low Power Electronics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mains leakage voltages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NDA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Non-Disclosure Agreement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[non-disclosure agreements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power consumption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Power Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Real Time Monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RF Telemetry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RF Telemetry Link]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transient voltages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Voltage Abuse Protection]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.successful.com.au/blog/?p=389</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[EDN Innovation Awards Finalist EDN Innovation Awards This is a bit of a different post.  I&#8217;m pretty stoked that we are finalists in the 2009 EDN Innovation Awards in 2 separate categories.  The award categories are: Best Application Of Analogue Design Best Application Of Design Software Here is a list of the EDN Innovation Awards [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1>EDN Innovation Awards Finalist</h1>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-396 alignleft" title="EDN Innovation Awards Finalist" src="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/finalist.png" alt="EDN Innovation Awards" width="169" height="164" /></p>
<dl id="attachment_393" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 520px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/Awards.aspx"><img class="size-full wp-image-393" title="EDN Innovation Awards" src="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/awards-hdr.jpg" alt="EDN Innovation Awards" width="510" height="108" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">EDN Innovation Awards</dd>
</dl>
<p>This is a bit of a different post.  I&#8217;m pretty stoked that we are finalists in the <strong><span style="color: #005e20;">2009 EDN Innovation Awards</span></strong> in 2 separate categories.  The award categories are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Best Application Of Analogue Design</span></em></strong></li>
<li><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Best Application Of Design Software</span></em></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Here is a list of the <a title="EDN Innovation Awards Finalists" href="http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/Pages/2009-winners.aspx" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: #005e20;">EDN Innovation Awards Finalists</span></strong></a> and we are in the 2 categories at the bottom of the page dealing with <span style="color: #005e20;"><em><strong>Analogue Design</strong></em></span> and <span style="color: #005e20;"><em><strong>Design Software</strong></em></span>.</p>
<p>So I thought I might let you know a bit more about the project, and also give a public thanks to <em><span style="color: #005e20;">Pablo Varjabedian</span></em> of <a title="Borgtech" href="http://www.borgtech.com.au/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Borgtech</span></em></strong></a> for allowing us to put the project forward. We design <strong>Electronics</strong> and <strong>Embedded Software</strong> products primarily for <strong>Australian Electronics Manufacturers</strong>.  Our focus is outstanding <strong>Electronics Design</strong> that will propel them into a world class competitive position while delivering improved profit margins.  <strong><span style="color: #005e20;">Low Cost Electronics Manufacture</span></strong> but with outstanding performance and reliability.</p>
<p>We routinely use non-disclosure agreements, NDAs, with our clients and so don&#8217;t usually get the chance to put our design work forward for awards because we will never disclose a client&#8217;s <strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;"><a title="Intellectual Property" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property" target="_blank">Intellectual Property</a>, <a title="IP" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property" target="_self">IP</a>, </span></em></strong>without their express permission.  In this case <a title="Borgtech" href="http://www.borgtech.com.au/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Borgtech</span></em></strong></a> gave us permission and so we were able.  As you can probably see, there is a real benefit to the client in allowing the award application because they also get recognition for the product.</p>
<p>This is also not an unusual project for us. We have done a lot of outstanding work over the 12 years we have been in operation.  So it is good to have some of it recognised by the Industry we are so passionate about.</p>
<h1>Electronics Design Details</h1>
<p>This project was an example of our <a title="Project Priorities Perspective" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/04/17/project-priorities-perspective/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em>Project Priorities Perspective</em></strong></span></a> in action.  In this case <span style="color: #005e20;"><a title="Performance" href="http://www.successful.com.au/blog/2009/05/15/project-priorities-perspective-performance-and-cost-versus-time/" target="_blank"><strong><em>Performance</em></strong></a></span> was the primary concern with cost coming second and time coming last.  We spent the time to get the performance up and the cost down.  There was an earlier post on one aspect of this project where we looked at <a title="Analogue Electronics" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogue_electronics" target="_blank"><strong><em>Analogue Electronics</em></strong></a> as a way to improve battery life in a <strong>Low Powered Electronics Data Logger</strong>.</p>
<p>The <strong>Electronics Design</strong> trade offs were:</p>
<ul>
<li>OH&amp;S or Operational Health and Safety &#8211; must protect users from hazardous voltages</li>
<li><strong>Low Power Electronics</strong> &#8211; operates from 3 AA cells for up to 6 months</li>
<li>Convenience &#8211; <strong>Analogue</strong> front end completely <strong>Software Controlled</strong></li>
<li>High Reading Accuracy &#8211; millivolt resolution over +/-10V range with 60dB <strong>Mains Rejection</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>There were many other <strong>Design Requirements</strong> but the above list are the core <strong>Electronics Design Requirements</strong> addressed as part of the award nomination.  Below I will look at each of these in turn.</p>
<h2>Protection From Hazardous Voltages</h2>
<p>Now lets look at the hazardous voltage issue in a little bit more detail.  The voltages in questions were:</p>
<ul>
<li>5000V, 5KV, for 2 seconds</li>
<li>250VAC continuously</li>
</ul>
<p>These come about due to the conduction of <strong>Lightning Strike Transients</strong> or <strong>Mains Leakage Voltages</strong> onto the <strong>Pipelines</strong> and <strong>Storage Tanks</strong> monitored for <strong>Corrosion Protection</strong> status.  The <strong>Analogue Electronics</strong> front end had to provide protection against these cases while meeting all the other <strong>Design Requirements</strong>.  And of course quickly settle so that only the readings during the disturbance were affected.</p>
<p>It also led to the use of an <strong>802.15.4</strong> <strong>RF Telemetry Link</strong> because this meant the monitoring PC could do <strong>Real Time Monitoring</strong> without hazard.  Many other products in this industry use <strong>RS232</strong>, <strong>RS485</strong> or even <strong>I2C</strong> connections for monitoring, configuration and upload of the <strong>Data Logger Records</strong>.  In the case of the <strong><em><span style="color: #005e20;">Borgtech CPL2</span></em></strong> you can put it in place and then configure it and start the logging with no danger to the operator apart from the moment of electrical connection.  And the initial part of the run can be monitored to ensure everything is correctly set up.  Otherwise you could get a months worth of data that was useless.</p>
<p>And finally, because of the power budget and the possibility of the batteries going flat, the <strong>Analogue Electronics</strong> had to survive the above <strong>Abuse Voltages</strong> unpowered!</p>
<h2>Low Power Electronics</h2>
<p>The <strong><em>Borgtech CPL2</em></strong> is a <strong>Battery Operated</strong> device.  There are several reasons for this but the 3 most relevant are that it is:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>IP68</strong> sealed against water ingress &#8211; it is often installed in a pit that can flood</li>
<li>Must operate remotely from a convenient power source</li>
<li>Protects the operator and PC from <strong>Transient Voltages</strong> since there isn&#8217;t a direct electrical connection</li>
</ul>
<p>But this is also part of the challenge.   For convenience it used off the shelf batteries you can buy at any service station.  But to get 6 months life required a strong <strong>Power Management</strong> approach including powering down anything not in use including the <strong>Analogue</strong> front end.  If you are taking a reading every minute over six months then most of the device is off most of the time.  In this mode the average <strong>Power Consumption</strong> is 37uA.</p>
<h2>Analogue Electronics &#8211; Software Controlled</h2>
<p>The <span style="color: #005e20;"><strong><em><a title="Borgtech" href="http://www.borgtech.com.au/" target="_blank">Borgtech</a> CPL2</em></strong></span> handles both <strong>Current Shunt</strong> and voltage mode readings. The <strong>Analogue Electronics</strong> were designed to have a software selectable full scale range of +/-10VDC and +/-150mVDC so that is could do either mode of operation from the same input. The previous model required a different connection for each of these modes and most other models on the market are the same.</p>
<p>And all of this while maintaining accuracy, abuse voltage protection and low power operation.</p>
<h2>High Reading Accuracy</h2>
<p>By the standards of an <a title="Agilent Multimeter" href="http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/product.jspx?nid=-536902435.0.00&amp;lc=eng&amp;cc=US" target="_blank"><strong>Agilent</strong></a> (I still want to call them Hewlett Packard) 6.5 digit laboratory multimeter our millivolt, mV, resolution at +/-10VDC isn&#8217;t rocket science.  But for a device with the <strong>Voltage Abuse Protection</strong> and <strong>Low Power Electronics</strong> requirements we had to meet, it is pretty good. Another small twist you might not recognise is that it is +/-10VDC.  This means you can monitor it with the polarity inverted and fix it up later on by inverting all the readings. The previous model was unipolar and so you couldn&#8217;t do this meaning you could have just wasted a month.  And then there is the live monitoring so you can see what the readings look like before leavign the unit to log away in the background.</p>
<h1>EDN Innovation Awards</h1>
<p>On 17 September 2009 we know the final outcome but either way I am pretty happy to have the recognition this project has already received.</p>
<p><em>Ray Keefe has been developing high quality and market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years.  For more information go to his </em><a title="Ray Keefe at Linked In" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.linkedin.com');" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/raykeefe" target="_blank"><em><span style="color: #b85b5a;">LinkedIn</span></em></a><em> profile.This post is Copyright © Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.</em></p>
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