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Exxelia Ohmcraft Custom Resistors Enable Metabolic Analyses of Live Cell Cultures in Pharmaceutical Research

ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 9, 2020 — In the development of new pharmaceutical therapies, researchers conduct metabolic analyses of live cell cultures to understand the critical role of metabolism in a wide variety of diseases and conditions.

To do so, they must rely on life science research and diagnostic instruments with complex high gain amplifier circuits. Leading manufacturers of this type of equipment have partnered with Exxelia Ohmcraft to design custom, high-resistance surface mount resistors that are essential to the function of these circuits.

Specifically, oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) are two key indicators of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis that provide a systems-level view of cellular metabolic function in cultured cells. The analyzer equipment conducts these measurements automatically.

“The accuracy and reliability of these tools are crucial to the researchers’ ability to make progress in their studies, which have the potential to change—and save—lives,” said Eric Van Wormer, Vice President of Exxelia Ohmcraft. “To meet the design needs of this particular application, we developed a custom resistor solution with a unique form factor and used special terminations to facilitate the manufacturability of the end product.”

Exxelia Ohmcraft’s technology utilizes the proprietary Micropen electronic printing system to “print” precise, narrow, serpentine lines with resistive ink on a ceramic substrate, producing higher performance resistors over a wider range of values on a smaller surface area than is possible with conventional film resistor technology.

Published on 15 Apr 2020 by Rebecca Charles

Participation in the "Industry of the future" program by GIFAS

"Industry of the Future" Program Launched in 2019, for four years, financed by the government, as well as the Regions, OPCO2i, companies and GIFAS: the "Industry of the Future" program aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector through the introduction of new 4.0 technologies. This program, which is the result of close collaboration between the Industrial Committee, the GEAD and the AERO-PME Committee, is a continuation of the "Industrial Performance" program. Its objective is to use new digital and production technologies in all phases of a product's life. In this respect, the Exxelia sites of Illange and Marmoutier are concerned. Frédéric BOIS, in his capacity as Director of the Exxelia site of Illange, was able to actively participate in the exchanges. The objectives were numerous, namely :  Inventory of the industrial maturity of our site of Illange. Analysis. Recommendation and deployment of Industry 4.0 tools best suited to the situation of each company.   Thanks to the Grand Est region which contributes to the financing of the program, to the partners: Cetim - Technical center of mechanical industries, BoostAeroSpace SAS, UIMM, DREETS, OPCO 2i, and of course to AERIADES as a facilitator of the aeronautical sector in the region. Did you know that? At Exxelia, we use AI: Artificial Intelligence (click to discover the article - FR version).

What is a capacitor ?

▲ WHAT IS A CAPACITOR ?   Definition from the dictionnary: « Capacitor »: Device able to accumulate charges and to relaunch them in a very short time.    > See our capacitors in catalog    What it really is: It's an electrical component made of 2 conductive armatures (called electrodes) separated by an isolating layer. Its main property is to store electrical charges on its armatures. There is a direct link between the voltage put on the capacitor and the value of the charge at the armatures This coefficient C, the capacitance, is the value caracterizing mathematically the capacitors. As we can identifie a direct link between U and I in the capacitor we can caracterize it as a dipole this way: 3 main dipoles : In the physical reality:   Contacts with the PCB (terminations) + Other internal contact suh as the metallic contacts, or the physical internal resistivity of the used materials. → Resistance in the circuit   Other losses due mainly to the leads → inductive effect in the circuit. Example of possible caracterization: That’s why the Esr is always written « at a certain frequency »  which should be the resonnance frequency. This is also why the capacitors have frequency optimal ranges. The higher the resonance frequency is, the higher the frequencies are withstanded by the capacitor.   In terms of energy Efficient energy is Ec.   In reality E= Ec+Er+Ei with: Ec = Energy due to the ideal capacitor Er = Energy to the ESR Ei = Energy due to the leakage.   So Er and Ei are caracterized by heating (Joule effect). So even if that’s not always a key paramter, the lower the esr the better it is for the circuit.                                                                                                                                                                               If the capacitor is polarized : If the capacitor is not polarized : > See our capacitors in catalog   ▲ MAIN CARACTERISTICS 1) Voltages (V) 2) Capacitance of Capacitor   3) Capacitance / volume 4) Tan Delta / ESR   5) Price of the function Whatever the function, the price of capacitors is important ! A cheap function does not mean a cheap product: 10 caps at 10€ is less expensive than 1 cap at 50€ …    > See our capacitors in catalog   ▲ FINAL OVERVIEW   Technology                                         Benefits of capacitors                          Constrains  Aluminum The least expensive The highest energy density Polarized Difficulties in storage High ESR and tan Delta Lowest temperature range  Ceramic   Ideal for high frequencies The biggest range of values (CAPA voltage)   Highest Price of the functions Low energy density Low values of capacitance  Film Highest ripple curents Highest voltages Lowest ESR and tan Delta Most expensive Lowest energy density High price of the function  Tantalum Lower ESR than aluminum, Good energy density and price of the function Polarized Solid can burn High ESR and tan Delta       > See our capacitors in catalog
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