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Remember those great summer nights dining outdoors, or on your balcony staring at the night sky? Those good times don't have to end, with fall or into winter. An outdoor heater could reinvigorate your business or add more nights on your patio throughout the off seasons. There is one problem. What kind of outdoor heater should you but buy? Electric or Propane? Which is more effective? Do they both offer the same kind of heat? Which one is more economical? Luckily our product staff has taken the time to thoroughly research and test both sorts of heaters and are only to happy to give you the breakdown on electric or propane. We tested two comparable models to help you the consumer what choice might be best. Please note that results may very on different models.

Range

What's the point of buying an outdoor heating lamp if it will not heat the surrounding area effectively? Purchase a heater that will thoroughly warm the area and be space efficient at the same time. It would be a shame to exclude any guest or family member from heat because of poor planning. Most propane heaters have a slightly wider range then an electric heater. They are able to spread out warmth more but also tend to be less focused.

Advantage: Propane

Cost

Cost is an important factor when purchasing an outdoor heater. You are not just paying for the heater itself but for its power or propane gas tanks. Now prices will very on where you live. Some areas propane is cheaper then electricity while in others electricity might be cheaper. Generally speaking electricity has found to be cheaper then propane.

Advantage: Electricity (Depending on location)

Heat Type

Not all heat is the same. Believe it or not some is more natural then others and even safer. Electricity wins this battle. It is actually much more reminiscent of the type of heat that comes from the sun. It's more natural heat that won't leave you burned or dry.

Advantage Electricity

Safety

Safety is very important to consider. Everyone has heard about potential problems with space heaters. An electric outdoor heater easily wins this battle. Operation is easy. You do not have to worry about lighting an ignition light or leaving the gas on. If careless propane tanks can be very dangerous as they do house a volatile substance within.

Advantage: Electricity

While electric out door heaters overpowered propane with our comparison here are too recommendations that will leave you warm on a cold night.

The APH-1100P NewAir Patio Heater Propane Heater

Lightweight and easily portable at only 15 pounds the APH-1100P NewAir Patio Heater Propane Heater offers 11,000 BTU's. Less than two feet tall this small patio heater can easily fit on your outdoor patio table providing immediate heat. Don't worry about it getting to hot though, it has adjustable heat control for your comfort.

It is built to be safe and durable. It is both CE and CSA certified. A safety tilt switch and piezoelectric gas line are designed to keep you safe. Designed to be weather and rust proof, you can let it remain outside for extended periods of time. It runs on both butane and gas, and gas hook up is easy.

The EWTR890SP Vacation Day 1200 Watt Electric Table Heater

The EWTR890SP is another lightweight table heating lamp. Its rustic design and 38 inch height will fit perfectly on any outdoor table. It provides a 12 foot warming circle with its 1200 Watt Halogen bulb that produces 4,095 BTUs of heat.

Very safe it contains a simple plug in design, automatic shut-off tilt feature and is CSA certified. It is weather and rust resistant allowing you to leave in outside without worrying about it. It's easy to assemble and you will never have to worry about it rusting.

Brad is a product specialist with Air & Water, Inc. http://www.air-n-water.com and has extensive knowledge of heaters

Bosch Opts for Vitronic’s Inspection Technology!

Bosch is using six VINSPEC automated inspection units from Vitronic to ensure the flawless production of its new piezoelectric actuators. Piezoelectric actuators work in car engine fuel injection systems to reduce fuel consumption, noise, and carbon emissions. They make for clean, efficient running vehicles.

What is piezoelectricity?

Piezoelectricity is the ability of some materials to generate an electric field in response to applied mechanical stress. This effect is reversible – such materials produce mechanical stress in response to an applied electric field.

How do piezoelectric actuators work?

A vehicle’s fuel injection system injects pressurised fuel into the engine cylinder through a valve in precise quantities at precise intervals. Traditional injection systems open and close this valve using electromagnets. Bosch’s new actuators use piezoelectricity to control the valve quicker and more accurately than traditional systems, which makes for an efficient engine.

Foil printing

Bosch’s new actuators consist of stacks of special piezoelectric ceramic foils printed with strip electrodes, and guide marks to ensure accurate stacking. After printing, a robotic gripper deposits foils on a conveyor. Fast line-scan cameras from Vitronic capture high-resolution images of each as they travel along.

The first VINSPEC system inspects these images to identify flaws on foils, such as holes, missing print, and bleeding. It also checks the position of the strip electrodes and guide marks. If the foils pass all inspections, they are dried and sent for stacking. Faulty foils are unusable, so VINSPEC immediately discards them.

Precise automated stacking

Robotic grippers then stack several foils into a block on a positioning table. Accurate stacking is essential to ensure actuators function correctly. By analysing images acquired by its cameras, the second VINSPEC system identifies a foil’s guide marks and calculates its position, before instructing the robotic grippers to stack the foils precisely. Completed stacks are laminated. This causes the foils to harden and form solid blocks. Without using the machine vision system VINSPEC it wouldn’t be possible to produce functional actuators.

Raw actuator processing

Next, a specially coated saw automatically divides the hardened blocks into bars and then into so-called ‘raw actuators’. Cutting bars into raw actuators is a delicate process. An incorrect cut can interrupt the strip electrodes and render actuators unusable. The third VINSPEC system captures photographic images of foil blocks, measures each bar to the nearest micrometer, and coordinates the saw to product precise cuts.

The fourth VINSPEC system inspects the function and quality of the raw actuators before sending them for further processing. Checks include actuator dimensions and electrode position. Only flawless actuators pass to the next production stage.

Final production stages

Bosch applies a layer of insulation finish and electrical strip contacts to actuators before installing them into the fuel injectors. Finish must be evenly applied and bubble free. Strip contacts require careful soldering and must be clear of finish. Defects lead to short circuits, which render actuators unusable. The fifth and sixth VINSPEC units monitor these processes, and immediately discard faulty actuators.

Complete control

Operators can observe the inspections on monitors at each VINSPEC station. Graphical user interfaces mean results, live photographic images, and system status reports are all easily accessible, allowing operators to intervene if they detect production discrepancies. All inspection results are stored, allowing Bosch to produce statistical evaluations and optimise its manufacturing processes.

For more information visit http://www.vitronic.de

About the Author

Malcolm Smith is the UK Sales Manager at Vitronic. Vitronic is a leading supplier of machine vision systems. A global company, it provides advanced technological solutions to a broad range of markets, such as logistics, traffic control, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and industrial robotics.

For more information visit: http://www.vitronic.com

Do Nintendo Wii remotes use piezoresistive or piezoelectric accelerometers?

I was thinking they are piezoresistive since the Wii can detect when the controller is upside down, but perhaps they do this some other way?

I don't know for sure but your reasoning is sound. Piezoresistive would use a constant source of electricity and would wear down the batteries really fast, so I don't think it's that...

It's possible it has two infrared emitters and when it it turned upside down the detectors can sense this because the signals come from opposite sides as they are supposed to.

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