On November 16, 2011, the 13th ELEXCON (ELEXCON2011) officially commenced in the Hall 2 Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Centre. This ELEXCON was themed on “With ELEXCON to seek China’s next hot market!” which covered an exhibition area of 15,000 square meters and had brought together around 300 top companies at home and abroad. The Fair displayed a variety of new components, materials, equipment and the latest technology and programs. According to Creative Era, the Fair organizer and coordinator, in addition to traditional technologies and products, this year saw the emergence of more products and solutions targeting at hot markets such as intelligent terminals, Internet of Things, cloud computing, and energy saving and environmental protection. Held in conjunction with the Fair, ELEXCON market Congress also invited important guests including Wu Jiandong, Smart Energy Research Team Leader for the China Center for International Economic and Exchange (CCIEE), Henry King, research director of Goldman Sachs Asian technology industry, Guo Xin, president of IDC Greater China, and Wang Yang, research director of IHS iSuppli China. They had analyzed the prospects of hot markets such as smart energy, intelligent terminals, cloud computing and Internet of Things.

　　Component manufacturing giants line up -- new intelligent terminal technologies get the limelight

　　One of the biggest things to see in the ELEXCON is a great lineup of electronic components manufacturers. In the exhibition, besides domestic and international electronic components giants such as Roma, Murata, TDK, Taiyo Yuden, Panasonic, Kemet, Omron, Toko, EYang and Sunlord who continue their high-profile appearance, the ELEXCON has also ushered in manufacturers such as Nichicon and TA-I for the first time. Their debut has brought even more lines of new products and advanced technologies.

　　As electronic products become ever more portable, the demand on battery efficiency and performance grows more sophisticated. The small, thin and low resistance (a few mΩ) Electric Double-Layer Capacitors (EDLCs) exhibited by Murata can meet the diverse needs of electronic equipment on the battery. According to the staff present in the exhibition, “through optimizing the design of the electrochemical system (i.e. the electrode structure), the newly developed EDLCs can work in a wide operating temperature range, charging and discharging flexibly from low power to high power depending on the power supply requirement. In addition, EDLCs can also be used as auxiliary power sources.” The product is suitable for smart phones, tablet PCs, digital cameras and other portable electronic devices. In addition, Murata Boy and “girlfriend” Murata Girl (two robots) who drew crowds at previous fairs reappeared, bringing even more surprises of advanced eye-catching technology. They not only performed balance beam walking, unicycling and other stunts, but also added new movements of moving up and down the ramp.

　　EOMIN developed by Taiyo Yuden overcomes the old problem of being impossible to have a built-in GaAs antenna switch to install high-frequency circuits in mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet PCs, thus realizing high-quality calls and high-speed wireless communications for mobile devices with communication capabilities. Holes and copper interconnection in EOMIN are micronized to about half of the original size so that component installation is of high precision copper plated joints are of high-reliability. Consequently, the module becomes smaller and thinner and with higher density.

In addition, hot-swappable micro SIM card holder presented by OTAX has also received much favor by many visitors. This product enables the insertion and removal of a SIM card while the terminal equipment is still switched on. Machine operators can customize the appearance of a card holder to keep consistent with the complete machine, which thus helps reduce the high cost of making a compatible card.

　　Internet of Things era is just around the corner: Smart Home promises to transform human lifestyles

　　In addition to the new consumer electronic products mentioned above, there are other products displayed which are designed for Smart Home. For example, infrared array sensor Grid-EYE presented by Matsushita Electric Works. The product is intended to replace the linear infrared sensor which requires a wider scope of measurement space that can only be obtained through physical movement. Grid-EYE sensor is two-dimensional and viewing angle reaches 60 degrees, therefore within a certain range no physical movement is required for the sensor.

　　While touch screen technology has transformed the interaction between humans and terminal equipment, motion-based gesture recognition will bring another revolution to human-computer interaction (HCI). In the “MCU! MCU! 2011” forum held at the same time as ELEXCON, Mr. Zhu Changchang, vice chief engineer of Industrial Research Institute of TCL Group, expressed his views on Smart Home, and described the technology and development characteristics of smart TV. He believed that smart TV should not only have the function of a network TV, but also can be scalable in the function through application store, while at the time trying to implement new business models. In respect of HCI, the operation of smart TV may be in the future operated through voice or gesture.

　　In the Fair, many companies exhibited motion-based gesture recognition solutions, and Golden Leader (Shenzhen) was one of them. In Golden Leader’s exhibition booth, many fair attendees got the chance to experience using gestures to command a computer and TV on such actions as play, pause, energy-saving (www.gesep.com) and channel switching. According to the staff present there, the technology embedded in the multi-functional control program is based on composite MEMS sensor operating at 2.4GHz radio frequency (RF). Terminal products adopting this technology are allowed to be operated freely in a position at 360 degrees in the space within 10 meters range. The technology is a simple, easy-to-use motion-based (through free movement of gestures) positioning and control system. The program can be widely used in the presentation controller, digital TV / set-top box remote controller, living room PC remote controller, air mouse and somatosensory game controllers and other fields.

　　Automotive electronics technology is greatly favored and the electric car industry is still under the focus

　　As global warming becomes the focus of public attention, the whole world is making every effort to protect the Earth by building a low carbon environment. In particular, in the automotive field, the development of the electric car industry has contributed to relieving some environmental problems. The “ultra-compact quick charger for Electric Vehicles” displayed by Nichicon requires only half of installation space, and its weight is also reduced to about 1/3, as compared with previous products. According to the staff, the product is identified as the world’s smallest and lightest ultra-compact quick charger based on the CHAdeMO specification.

　　Relating with automotive electronics, Roma displayed its vehicle event data recorder (a.k.a. the “car’s black box”) as well as other product solutions for car navigation, car monitor, digital TV tuner, and rear seat entertainment system etc. It is informed that, based on existing Hall-effect sensing technology as well as temperature sensing and optical sensing technologies, Roma is trying to reinforce the chance to build motion-based sensor through the combination of Kionix’s acceleration sensor technology in the solutions.

　　LED technology gradually reaches its maturity, and opens up to more applications

　　In recent years, the LED technology has not only attracted much attention from the industry, but also received various incentives and support from the Chinese central government so that the LED industry is gradually growing up. As the gap between the cost of LED and that of energy-saving fluorescent lights draws closer, LED is viewed as the best candidate in place of traditional lighting, and have begun to be seen applied more widely in automotive, commercial and industrial areas, among others.

　　In the ELEXCON this year, a trend can also be seen that LED has been applied to a wider range of fields. Companies at all levels of the LED industry chain including TA-I, Orient-Chip, Cansheng, Surong and Qiankun etc. presented applications of LED in special capacitors, driver IC and packaging materials and technology in different areas. In particular, many local manufacturers debuted on the same stage with international big brands, which not only reflects the Chinese LED market has become a battleground, but also suffices to testify the development momentum of local manufacturers in the LED industry. On top of the LED showcase, Creative Era had also invited a special guest, Professor Li Shiwei from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to give a speech on high power LED packaging technology in the ELEXCON Master Class. This speech provided help to develop domestic LED to a higher level of energy saving and environmental protection.

　　Digital plant solution heralds the onset of a new industrial revolution

　　In the process of technological development, electronic components have been going hand in hand with materials and equipment technologies. With better materials and equipment support, manufacturers are possible to use electronic components of the latest technology, and ultimately enhance overall productivity. In the ELEXCON, in addition to powerful components, electronic materials and assembly equipment is also the highlight of the showcase. Nitto Denko, Maxim, S&K POLYTEC, Darbond, Rockbond (Shanghai) and other material suppliers displayed special materials in electronics fields covering consumer, automotive, industrial and communications equipment, for products including inkjet, thermal tape, adhesives, anti-static coatings and cooling accessories, among others. For example, Nitto Denko exhibited transparent double-sided adhesive tape/sheet with no substrate. The product, micron thick and with over 92% light transmittance, can help terminal enterprises enhance their screen brightness in a much easier way.

　　The equipment on display, including industrial robots, machine hands, IPC, dispensing equipment, SMT, wire processing,instruments and others, has revealed the trend of even more automatic and intelligent production in the future. With increasingly fierce competition in the electronics industry, how to shorten the time taken from development to production has become a top priority for electronics manufacturers. In order to deal with this problem, many companies have started to adopt the digital plant solution. In the ELEXCON, many equipment exhibitors displayed advanced and comprehensive digital production solutions to help manufacturing enterprises to achieve digital production, thereby enhancing production efficiency.

　　The ELEXCON has not only provided a platform for products showcasing and trading, but also offered practitioners in the electronics industry various learning and exchange channels through such forums as “International Passive Components Technology and Market Development Forum”, “China’s Mobile Phone Manufacturing Technology Forum”, “MCU! MCU! 2011”, “ELEXCON Market Convention” and “ELEXCON Master Class”. As a result, not only industry executives but also electronic engineers have greatly benefited from this exhibition.

　　About the ELEXCON

　　China Hi-Tech Fair Elexcon (referred to as ELEXCON) is an important part of China Hi-Tech Fair - China’s first Sci-Tech exhibition organized by Creative Era. ELEXCON, being professional and international, is a unique exhibition of China Hi-Tech Fair, and is known as the most popular “electronic components, materials and assembly exhibition”. The exhibited items in the 13th ELEXCON include electronic components, electronic materials, circuit boards, manufacturing equipment, testing and certification services, etc. Meanwhile, a series of activities will be launched covering MCU, mobile phone manufacturing, passive components, Market Convention, Master Class and other popular themes.

(Source: China Industrial Network www.gongkong.com)