▲Introducing the Little Hughes product line


Smart Factory Advanced Technologies Introduced at Mouser Industrial Automation Seminar
Launch of UPS (uninterruptible power supply), camera, and smart metering product line

Experts have suggested that when building a smart factory, a total solution for circuit safety should be considered from equipment to protection, control, and sensing.

Littlefuse Manager Jin-gu Lee, who participated in the 'Mouser Industrial Automation Seminar 2022' held for two days from April 27th (Wed) to 28th (Thu) hosted by Mouser Electronics, a global distributor of semiconductors and electronic components, gave a presentation on the topic of 'Utilization of SMPS, cameras, 5G, robots, sensors, and LEDs in smart factories.'

Little Hughes' Manager Lee Jin-gu explored the characteristics of smart factories and discussed Little Hughes' power and IoT application solutions that comprehensively address the protection, control, and sensing needs critical to smart factories.

Founded in 1927, Little Hughes is a manufacturer of overvoltage and overcurrent circuit protection products, enabling designers to create systems that improve the safety, reliability, convenience, and energy efficiency of smart buildings, factories, and commercial structures.

Before the lecture, this manager introduced Little Hughes' product line including overcurrent protection fuses, regenerative overvoltage protection devices, gas discharge tubes, control devices for efficient power conversion, temperature sensing, and detection devices, as well as industrial fuses. Introduced the actual appearance.

▲ 1500V 1000A high-power industrial fuse

This manager said that a smart factory refers to a factory where all manufacturing, production, and shipping processes are organically connected through the integration of automation technologies such as IoT and 5G. In smart factories, automation technology can freely create organic connections between equipment processes, and this is achieved by using wireless communication-based solutions such as 5G communication.

The manager emphasized the importance of hardware-based power supplies, dividing them into three main categories: uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), cameras, and smart metering products.

UPS, along with SMPS that converts AC to DC, is a component necessary to keep process line equipment running without stopping, and can be applied not only to various industrial sites but also to applications such as renewable energy and electric vehicle charging.

This manager introduced the UPS market trend, saying that UPS is currently widely used in general medium and large-sized hospitals because it directly affects human life and safety, and that it has been applied to data centers for information protection and is continuing to grow.

Since overcurrent itself can cause a lot of heat generation, destroy the internal circuit, and even cause a fire, circuit protection is very important for UPS. When introducing a UPS, both quality level and reliability must be considered along with an appropriate quality level.

A fuse is a security device that operates on electricity. It is important to select an appropriate fuse considering its advantages, such as its ability to physically block the passage when a certain excessive voltage is applied.

Additionally, solutions applicable to wired and wireless camera systems, such as battery-applicable fuses, communication technology for high-speed video signals, and internal controls, were explained.

Camera-related market trends for home, security, and industrial use are all showing annual growth rates of over 10%, and metering is also showing a global penetration rate of around 14% and is expected to grow by over 7% annually.

Manager Lee Jin-gu said, "Little Hughes has the strength of possessing passive components such as fuses and passive components along with semiconductor-based components such as power conversion solutions. He emphasized, “We will provide a complete total solution for circuit safety.”

Meanwhile, the Mouser Industrial Automation Seminar was held over two days on the 27th and 28th, and various prizes were given out to participants, including mini beam projectors, folding stands, cell phone tripods, and tumblers.