Healthy Business

Welcome to this special issue of PSD in which we carry a feature on health & medical. Power considerations in these applications are becoming a key factor in the success of many medical-related designs. With an ageing population and the need to reduce medical expenditure, many administrations and authorities are looking at distributed portable equipments to save on hospital admissions for routine tests and monitoring. Power of course is a vital consideration with the vast majority of products developed for these applications being dependent on battery power. Again, creative power engineers come to the rescue. Although widely regarded in Europe as a growth area and one with great potential for portable and battery-powered electronics, it is reported that many US venture capitalists are holding back on the healthcare field as the level of venture capital decreases and regulatory hurdles increase. Even some entrepreneurs in the US are said to be getting nervous about funding major projects in healthcare due to an increasingly conservative and slow-moving US Food and Drug Administration. Some are now looking to Europe, and many companies are holding back on a US market entry. The German government, however, is providing matching funds for healthcare projects, Ireland recently launched a €3.75 billion investment program and China had more health care companies go public than the US last year, even though the largest market is still the US. But whatever the short term political ineptitudes and hurdles, this remains an important growth market and one where power engineering in Europe can, and I'm certain will, make a huge contribution. But it's already very encouraging news elsewhere. The power discrete & module market is set to regain much of its previous years' losses and will be worth $13.7 billion in 2010, increasing by 24.3% from 2009 according to IMS Research's latest report on the market. The strength and speed of the power semiconductor market's recovery has surprised many in the industry, following the market's decline of 21.5% in 2009. IMS forecasts discrete power semiconductors will account for almost 80% of the total market in 2010. Discrete IGBTs, power MOSFETs and power rectifiers are predicted to register the highest growth rates. These levels could have been even higher, but limited available production capacity has resulted in the majority of power semiconductor suppliers supplying ‘on allocation' only and shipping less than real demand would suggest. The power module market is predicted to grow almost 30% in 2010 with standard IGBT modules and IPMs accounting for the major share of the expansion, especially in industrial motor drives, renewable energy inverters and hybrid and electric vehicles. I hope you enjoy this special issue. Please keep the feedback coming in, it gives us the opportunity to continuously fine-tune and deliver what you need. Don't forget to check out our regular fun-site, Dilbert, at the back of the magazine.

All the best, Cliff Keys Editor-in-Chief Power Systems Design Cliff.Keys@powersystemsdesign.com