Sandia Develops Power Supply

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, have designed a miniature power supply device with potential applications in drug delivery systems, medicine, portable detection and analysis, and a host of electronic devices. Sandia is actively soliciting industry partners to license, manufacture, and sell the new technology, which researchers say offers a turn-key solution to high-voltage power supply needs.

The device, including the circuit board assembly, measures 0.6 (width) by 1.45 (length) by 0.8 (height) in overall size. It serves as a miniature modular high voltage power supply system and features voltage regulation, current sinking, current monitoring, and electronic float – a combination unavailable on any existing supply. It was designed specifically for powering Sandia National Laboratories’ µChemLab™ device at high voltages and low currents with low power consumption. µChemLab™ is a portable, handheld chemical and biological detection system with homeland security, defense, environmental, and medical applications.

Jill Micheau, a business development associate at Sandia, said companies with the technical capability and manufacturing capacity to produce these devices for government and commercial applications are encouraged to contact Sandia by October 31 for information on licensing. Email Sandia at CAPartnerships@sandia.gov.

ITEM Publications Relocates Offices

Robar Industries Inc., a.k.a. ITEM Publications, will be moving to new modern offices on September 29. They will retain the same phone numbers and email addresses, but their mailing address will be changed to 100 Germantown Pike, Unit F-2, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462.

“Robar started in Plymouth Meeting in 1970,” says founder Bob Goldblum. “In a way, we are going back home again. I, on the other hand, will be leaving for Florida on October 7.”