-tron, -tronic, -tronics +
(Greek: a suffix referring to a device, tool, or instrument; more generally, used in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments)
A possible allusion to the Greek instrumental suffix, as in árotron, "plow" as spelled in the U.S. or "plough", as spelled by the British; from the Greek stem aroun, "to plow".
The suffix -tron is the result of the combining form extracted from electron, used with nouns or combining forms, principally in the names of electron tubes (ignitron; klystron; magnetron) and of devices for accelerating subatomic particles (cosmotron; cyclotron); also, more generally, in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments (biotron).
2. A device for detecting and measuring the mass distribution of ions orbiting in an applied magnetic field, either by applying a constant radio-frequency signal and varying the magnetic field to bring ion frequencies equal to the applied radio frequency sequentially into resonance, or by rapidly varying the radio frequency and applying Fourier transform techniques (an operation that transforms one complex-valued function of a real variable into another one).
Fourier transform techniques as used in electronics, control systems engineering, and statistics, is a term used to describe the analysis of mathematical functions or signals with respect to frequency, rather than time.
2. A type of antenna that is physically short as compared to a dipole (separation of positive and negative charges) for a given frequency.
2. An electron tube that uses an electric field to generate and amplify microwaves.
The microwave radiation produced is either pulsed, for use in radar applications, or continuous, as required for microwave cooking.
2. A diode vacuum tube in which the flow of electrons is controlled by an externally applied magnetic field to generate power at microwave frequencies.The word was first coined by a senior engineer of a Japanese company; Yaskawa, in 1969, as a combination of mecha of "mechanisms" and tronics of "electronics" and the company was granted the trademark rights to the word in 1971.
The word soon received broad acceptance in industry and, in order to allow its free use, Yaskawa elected to abandon its rights to the word in 1982.
Mechatronics has taken a wider meaning since then and is now being widely used as a technical jargon to describe a philosophy in engineering technology, more than the technology itself.
For this wider concept of mechatronics, a number of definitions has been proposed, differing in the particular characteristics that the definition is intended to emphasize.
The most commonly used term emphasizes synergy: "Mechatronics is the synergistic integration of mechanical engineering with electronics and intelligent computer control in the design and manufacture of products and processes."
2. A unit of energy commonly used in nuclear and particle physics, equal to the energy acquired by an electron in falling through a potential of 106 volts.
Research in this area is done with the purpose of surpassing the power and the capacity of the silicon-based technology used in current computers.
2. A neutral hadron that is stable in the atomic nucleus but decays into a protron, an electron and an antineutrino with a mean life of 12 minutes outside the nucleus. Neutronics exist in all atomic nuclei except normal hydrogen. Reported in 1932 by James Chadwick.
A cross reference of word units that are related, directly and/or indirectly, with "electricity": electro-; galvano-; hodo-; ion-; piezo-; volt; biomechatronics, info; mechatronics, info.
Related topics about "technology": Biometrics: Index; Biomimetics: Index; Biopiracy; Emerging Technologies; Geographic Information System (GIS): Index; Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS); Global Positioning System (GPS); Information Tech; Mechatronics; Nanotechnology; RFID; Robotics; Technological Breakthroughs; Technological Innovations; WAAS; Wireless Communications.