New Product Discoveries - Kennedy Labs' Graphene and Nidec Copal's TF Series Micro Blowers

When working on a new design it is important to keep in mind the latest and greatest technology you have at your disposal. At DigiKey and on New Product Discoveries we want to introduce you to the latest and most advanced technologies available on the market. Whether your design cycle is a month, six months, or even a year DigiKey is able to support the most modern products, giving your design a leading edge.

Today there are two new products I want to showcase – the first being one of the most unique items we have presented on New Product Discoveries. Kennedy Labs has developed many forms of Graphene that our customers are now able to purchase and incorporate in to their projects. Graphene, for those unfamiliar, is a substance with remarkable properties particularly in the thermal and electrical arenas. Graphene is available in a powder, paste, or oil form for custom applications. Additionally, Kennedy Labs has developed a film version of Graphene on a copper foil substrate that is so thin its thickness is theoretically 0.345 nm (nanometers). Graphene’s properties include an incredibly high conductivity of 1 µΩ/cm of resistivity, amazing thermal conductivity, and mechanically it is the strongest material ever tested. Kennedy Labs has packaged this material targeting designers who are curious to experiment with Graphene and assimilate it in to their design. Cullen, a product manager with DigiKey, has a great blog post on Graphene from Kennedy Labs.

Graphene may work as a thermal solution for your application, however many times a fan or blower is required to move hot air out of your product. Nidec Copal has developed the TF series of micro blowers with aero-dynamic bearings. With the integration of contactless air bearings Nidec is able to achieve speeds of 34,000 rpm. Applications for this type of blower include inflatables and CPAP machines, to name a few. You can develop your own driver board, however, Nidec does offer a driver kit (TF037-1001-D) for a plug-and-play solution. One of our Applications Engineering Technicians, Lindsay, provides a deeper look at the micro blowers from Nidec in her latest blog.

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