These clever standard MENTOR products are available in a number of variations and share the common feature of providing an innovative and cost-effective solution for illuminated switch applications. Given that you are unlikely to ever search for “illuminated switch caps”, please let us brief you on how you can exploit the concept!
MENTOR’s miniature light guides feature radiating surfaces of 2mm diameter and a grid dimension of 2.54mm. Compared with conventional 5.08mm grid light guides, these miniaturised versions allow twice the number of display elements within the same physical width. This offers design engineers a whole new range of possibilities, particularly when space is restricted.
MENTOR have completely updated and redesigned their Plastic and Metal Knobs catalogue, adding in all of their latest knob introductions. The catalogue has an all-new design, and is available for immediate PDF download – why not Download the Plastic and Metal Knobs Catalogue now!
BMW’s M-Class saloon cars are well known for their performance and technical excellence in the premium sector of the sports saloon market (I can confirm this from personal experience!) The “M” is short for BMW’s Motorsports Division and in addition to technology and performance, their sports saloons display design flair with classy interior design touches and eye-catching exterior design features.
7-segment displays are nothing new but these innovative MENTOR ones are – they lack LEDs! Instead, the customer provides its own SMD LEDs (even RGB) and mounts them on the PCB using a cost-effective manufacturing process. The MENTOR light guide based 7-segment displays are push-fitted to the board at the end of production.
It’s becoming very hard these days to differentiate a company’s new products from the competitors. In a bid to create individuality, products have become more multifunctional, more intelligent and more complex. Examples can be found in the fields of smart home, automotive, IoT, eMobility etc.
Siemens is a leading manufacturer of PLC control systems for a wide variety of applications. A recent product is the new Sirius ET200 motor starter, which offers high functionality within a very compact case. In this Case Study, Siemens used a modified version of the miniaturised square Light Guide 1296 from MENTOR.
MENTOR have completely revised and redesigned their OPTO Electronics PDF catalogue, adding all of their latest product introductions. This 84-page catalogue has a new design, and is immediately available as a Downloadable PDF.
Square Light Guides / Light Pipes are an innovative product range from MENTOR. I like them because they not only look great but allow you to visibly differentiate your product designs from the more mundane. It is worth noting that whilst the 10-column array versions have multiple tiny light elements closely spaced together, MENTOR’s clever integrated diaphragm prevents light bleed even when different colours are used adjacent.
MENTOR’s M-CUT 2-D Custom Light Guide / Light Pipe system opens up a whole new world to electronic design engineers who do not have the tooling budgets or volumes to justify custom light guide solutions.
