Reed relays have never been known for high power switching, in fact, high carry currents can seriously affect switch life and reliability due to the very use of reed switches. On the other hand, reed switches allow for very
efficient spatial distribution, taking up minuscule amounts of surface area on your board.

One of the first impressions we’ve had upon opening the samples that Pickering sent us is the extremely neat and tidy packing. Each set of relays came in its own tiny plastic box with clear windows, complete with a
protective layer of sponge and a satisfying “click” when opened and closed. Nothing important for the tests, but a nice touch nevertheless. Pickering has also thrown in a really nice set of literature, including an 80-page product catalog, along with a handy relay look-up chart and a brief relay theory overview booklet.

Pickering’s new 120 Series relays have an exceptionally small footprint, with 20 watts of switching power and 3, 5 or 12 Volt coils are the smallest relays of such performance on the market. With a 4mm by 4mm base, they
are almost four times smaller than Pickering’s own 110 series.

The 110 Series have already offered an extremely compact relay solution with great performance. We also loved the fact that it is breadboard friendly and operable directly from TTL logic. This means that it can be
directly incorporated in many existing prototypes without much preparation. The 110 Series and the 120 Series relays have very similar specifications in their datasheets, so we took them to the testing bench to see if any hidden differences lurk beneath.

On our test bench, we’ve assembled a bare bones circuit for bench marking these, mostly looking at their bounce times and operating voltages. We’re quite impressed by their overall performance, in both cases conforming to the listed specs completely. Nevertheless, we found that the 120 series relays have a much more noticeable bounce upon making contact. Where the 110 series relays’ bounce is so subtle that it can easily be mistaken for ringing, the 120 series relays offer an almost textbook example of relay bounce, with unmistakable voltage dips lasting a few hundred microseconds. Another curiosity in this series is the tendency to bounce a lot more on certain frequencies, namely around 314Hz, and in the 610-670Hz range, while at certain other frequencies, the bounce almost completely disappears. This trait is much less noticeable on the 110 Series. As with all reed relays, these are almost completely silent, with a high-pitched, quiet hum emanating at frequencies above 50Hz, raising in pitch with the frequency.

Pickering’s 120 Series is quite susceptible to external magnetic interference, starting with slowing down relay operation to completely jamming it open, but have no trouble being tightly packed and operating next to each other. Pickering’s 110 Series is a little less prone to external magnetism, but with a strong magnetic source closer than 5cm from the device, the relay tends to lock up.

We’ve certainly liked these relays, as they offer great speed and miniscule bounce times with an extremely
small footprint, for uses where this precision matters and the carry currents and voltages are low.
More at: www.pickeringrelay.com

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Pickering Electronics, the reed relay company which has pioneered miniaturization and high performance for over 50 years, has launched industry’s smallest high voltage relay. Housed in the miniature SIL/SIP package, new Series 131 reed relays have a footprint of just 12.5mm x 3.7mm and a height of 6.6mm and deliver a minimum stand-off of 1500V.

Featuring a  choice of 3, 5 or 12 volt coils, with optional internal diode, Series 131 reed relays are available in the 1 Form A (energize to make) SPST N.O. configuration, and can  switch up to 0.7 amps, 10 watts. Devices are ideal for cable testers, mixed signal/semiconductor testers, backplane testers, high voltage instrumentation, in-circuit test equipment or other HV applications.

Commented Keith Moore, CEO, Pickering Electronics: “Pickering Series 131 miniature SIL reed relays utilise vacuumed, sputtered ruthenium reed switches which have a superb low level performance, making them an excellent choice where a wide range of signals are involved. The range is based on our long-established Series 113 style of plastic package that incorporates an internal mu-metal magnetic screen to enable high packing density, and Pickering’s SoftCenter® construction which protects the reed switch.”

About Pickering Electronics

Pickering Electronics was formed over 50 years ago to design and manufacture high quality reed relays, intended principally for use in Instrumentation and Test equipment. Today, Pickering’s Single-in-Line (SIL/SIP) range is by far the most developed in the relay industry with devices 25% the size of many competitors. These small SIL/SIP reed relays are sold in high volumes to large ATE and Semiconductor companies throughout the world.

Pickering Electronics is part of the privately-owned Pickering Group of companies; made up of three electronics manufacturers, including Pickering Interfaces who design and manufacture modular signal switching and simulation products, and Pickering Connect who design and manufacture cables and connectors.

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日本のATE業界での高品質リードリレーの製品不足に対応

リードリレーの小型化と高い性能で、パイオニアとして50年超にわたり業界をリードしているピカリング エレクトロニクス（本社：英国、クラクトン・オン・シー）は、株式会社コムクラフト（本社：東京都杉並区）と日本での代理店契約を締結したと発表しました。これにより、ATE（自動試験装置）、航空宇宙、車載、半導体製造やその他のハイレル（高信頼性）製品業界のお客様にとって、ピカリング エレクトロニクスの1,000種類を超える豊富な高品質リードリレー製品へのアクセスが大幅に向上します。

コムクラフトは代理店として、パッケージ・サイズが4mm角と業界最小の4mm2™（フォーミリスクエアー）製品ファミリなどのピカリングの革新的なリードリレー製品の販売を行います。この4mm2™ファミリの中で、120シリーズ製品はスイッチ定格が最大1A/20Wで高さ15.5mm、122シリーズ製品は高さ12.5mmでスイッチング電流定格が0.5A/10W、124シリーズ製品 は高さが業界最小の9.5mmで定格が0.5A/5Wです。

ピカリングは複雑で技術的課題の大きいアプリケーションの問題を解決するソリューションとして、フレキシブルな製造プロセスにより、カスタム設計リードリレーも提供しています。一般的なリレーのカスタム化では標準部品のマイナーな変更が行われ、例えば試験仕様やピン構成が変更されています。一方、他のカスタム・リードリレーについては特定の要件を満たすように設計された完全な専用品となっています。

ピカリング エレクトロニクスのCEOのキース・ムーアは「コムクラフトは1976年以来、日本市場で航空宇宙、半導体製品、試験/計測などの主要分野に革新的な製品を提供することによってビジネスを構築しており、同社が日本で私たちのパートナーになることは当然の帰結でした。コムクラフトは高度な技術を持つプロフェッショナル・スタッフを多数擁しており、包括的な技術情報やサポートも提供しています」と述べました。

コムクラフトの市坪 大介代表取締役は「ピカリングはリレーの高密度実装を実現するためのスクリーニングや、進行中の小型化プログラムなどの製品の技術革新で頻繁に実績を挙げており、リレー技術のリーダー企業として高い評価を受けています。今回の新たな契約締結によって、ATEなどの特定の分野に問題をもたらす可能性のある製品不足の問題を軽減することも可能になります」と語りました。

ピカリング エレクトロニクスについて
ピカリング エレクトロニクスは50年以上前に、主として計装/試験装置向けの高品質リードリレーの設計と製造のために設立されました。現在、ピカリングのシングルインライン（SIL/SIP）製品はデバイス・サイズが多くの競合製品の25%と小さく、リレー業界で極めて高い先進性を実現しています。この小型SIL/SIPリードリレーは世界の大手ATE/半導体企業向けに大量に販売されています。

ピカリング エレクトロニクスは同社のほか、モジュラー型シグナル・スイッチング/シミュレーション製品の設計と製造を行うピカリング インターフェース、ケーブルとコネクタの設計と製造を行うピカリング コネクトの電子機器メーカー3社で構成される非公開企業ピカリング・グループの1社です。

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Pickering Electronics has extended its 4mm product family with the Series 122 reed relay.

Used in high speed test systems, occupying a PCB footprint of 4x4mm, Pickering claims the relay provides the highest packing density currently available. The relay measures 12.5m

m in height and can operate from 3V or 5V. Its contacts are rated with a switching current of 0.5A at 10W.

Featuring instrumentation-grade sputtered-ruthenium switches, the 1 form A (SPST) normally open energize-to-make devices have plastic packages with internal mu-metal magnetic screening to avoid cross-interference and ‘false’ switching in densely packed applications.

Devices are tested for dynamic contact resistance and have an insulation resistance of greater than 10¹²Ω.

The relays may be socketed using SMD or through-hole sockets. However, care must be taken to mitigate the risk of affecting contact resistance integrity.

The Series 122 reed relay is suitable for test systems such as A.T.E. switching matrices or multiplexers, Pickering says.

Keith Moore, CEO at Pickering Electronics says “We launched our first 4mm2TM product, the Series 120, with a switching rating of up to 1A at 20W and a height of 15.5mm. Last year, the Series 124 reduced this profile to 9.5mm but with a slightly lower rating of 0.5A at 5W. We can now provide customers with the new Series 122 device which fills the gap in our product range and offers the flexibility required to design in a product that exactly matches their requirements.”

Pickering will be showing the Series 122 relays at Productronica in Munich, 12-15 November.

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