Company Info > Customer Success Stories

	With the Z-World BL1700 single-board computer and our patent-pending design, a whole new class of packaging has evolved. Jesse Drake, project manager

A burgeoning group of inventors who specialize in developing and licensing patent-protected technology is releasing a product that will send peanuts back to the ball park. Sperry Product Innovation, Inc. (SPI), a Boston-based product development company, in conjunction with packaging industry giant, Sealed Air Corporation, will be releasing their latest packaging revolution early next year.

With the worldwide trend toward air-based packaging material, SPI has married technology and good old-fashioned ingenuity to create the next leader in the void-fill packaging industry. The details are yet to be announced while patents are pending, but SPI has told Z-World that by harnessing the functions of the BL1700 control board, they have created a packaging system that surpasses everything else in its class.

"We've really created smart packaging. With the Z-World BL1700 single-board computer and our patent-pending design, a whole new class of packaging has evolved," says Jesse Drake, project manager at SPI. "We chose the BL1700 because of the flexibility of the board's I/O and its architecture. It allowed us to create a custom, piggyback board that uses multiplexed dip switches and connector headers to make upgrades in the field easy while retaining unique field settings."

SPI has designed this new system around the Z-World BL1700 single-board computer. Its controller uses three of the BL1700s analog inputs and most of the thirty-two digital I/O's. Programmed with Z-World's proprietary software, Dynamic C®, the BL1700 controls all equipment functions, interfaces with surrounding machines, and reports all systems alerts in real time.

Z-World's BL1700 offers multiple features in a C-programmable single-board computer. Modular digital, analog and serial I/O sections allow custom manufacturing possibilities making it ideal for the solutions offered by SPI.

This SBC comes standard with 16 protected inputs and 16 high-current outputs. The 32 digital I/O lines can be configured at the factory as either inputs or outputs, in groups of eight lines, allowing non-standard digital I/O configurations by custom order. The inputs may be pulled up or down. Ten analog inputs feed into a 2543 A/D converter. Eight of the analog inputs have op-amps for signal conditioning. A 2.5 V precision reference supports the A/D chip and the op-amps.

And finally, the BL1700 has connections for up to three FWT (field wiring terminal) modules. These allow SPI to provide solutions that make rugged connections to a single-board computer, have quick-release mass termination, or have optically isolated inputs.

SPI was started in 1992 with the mission of creating solution-based intellectual property that translates elegantly into useful products. They have worked with companies that include Sealed Air Corporation, Hewlett Packard, Logitech, The First Years, Corex Technologies, and HandsOnToys, among others. Its talented team of inventors, engineers, and designers have generated new markets and revenues in the hundreds of millions with their ground breaking technologies.

For more information about Sperry Product Innovation's services, you can contact them toll-free at 888-608-2345 or by email at info@sperryinc.com.

For more information on Z-World's 1700 Series of SBCs, please visit http://www.zworld.com.

Read more Customer Success Stories