Portable GPS – Moving Beyond Location, Navigation and Information
Will We Ever Be Lost Again?
Men won’t admit to many things. They rarely acknowledge that they’re going bald, gained a few pounds, caught a cold or are ever wrong.
One thing you almost never hear a man say is that he’s lost, especially when he’s behind the wheel. What’s worse (as many women will attest) is that men typically refuse to pull over and ask for directions—even if it means driving in circles for hours.
But thanks to modern technology, men no longer need to ‘fess up to their shortcomings on the road, or wander aimlessly hoping to stumble across a familiar street or the correct exit to get them back on track.
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) have made life on the highway easier to navigate, improved time management and made traveling less stressful for road warriors today.
A key component of these and many other electronic devices is highly refined, ultrapure copper. Although individual GPS units do not contain a large amount of copper, they would not be able to perform critical functions without it.
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The Driving Force of Hybrid Vehicles
Copper continues to play an important role in new automotive technology
It started as an engineering concept at the turn of the 21st century – gas-electric “hybrid” dream cars displayed at auto shows to gauge public reaction and market potential. But within just a few years (a wink of time in vehicle development terms), hybrids have evolved into one of today’s most important automotive trends.
Numerous components have come into play in the advancement of this technology, but one element in particular – copper – has been indispensible in helping to propel the growth of hybrid vehicles.
According to General Motors Chief Engineer Tim Grewe, “Copper has two important roles in hybrids: It runs the electricity, so you have large amounts of copper in the motor and battery, and, more importantly, the copper technology is making hybrids viable commercially.”
Vehicles, along with their electronic components, must be made robust enough to take years and miles of often hard driving, unlike electronic products that remain stationary throughout their lifetimes. Grewe pointed out that for many hybrid automotive components, including electric motors and the electronics and circuit boards that regulate them, manufacturers like GM turn to “high ounce,” or heavy weight, copper laminates.
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