Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD
Welcome to the March edition of Power Systems Design Europe. This is the month when new product launches go into full swing. Manufacturers often wait until important exhibitions before they release their most exciting products, hoping that coverage will increase visitor numbers to their stands. There are two exhibitions of interest to power engineers this month. Firstly, there is APEC, the largest show in North America dedicated to power electronics. The exhibition will cover the whole range of power devices from individual components to complete power supplies, and the conference that accompanies the show will be even more interesting, as engineers are invited from around the world to reveal their latest innovations. APEC will be held in the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Centre in San Antonio Texas, from the 22nd to the 26th of March.
The second show of the month is a bit more niche. Embedded World will be held, as always, in Nuremberg Messe. Predominantly a show that focusses on embedded processors and software, more and more power companies are deciding that it is a good platform to highlight their solutions for powering embedded hardware. Today’s processors need much more complex power architectures. They can need power supplied to multiple voltage rails, sequenced start-ups, highly controlled slew rates, and many other demands. Many processors, especially those needed for AI processing, also need very high levels of power. Of course, all that is required in as small a package as possible. In the last few years, power companies have valued the opportunity to get in directly in front of embedded designers, and Embedded World will continue to grow in relevance for power manufacturers. Personally, I won’t be able to make either of those two events this year, however, the rest of the PSD team will be in San Antonio to bring you the latest news from APEC.
In the issue, our Special Report this month focusses on Power Supplies, the bread and butter of the industry. We have two articles in this month's featured section. The first was submitted by Analog Devices. In the article, the authors look at incorporating functional safety into power supplies. More and more applications are demanding that power supplies are robust, have a long lifetime in the field and are safe when they do fail. The article covers several techniques that can assist designers making power supplies safe.
The second article in this month’s Special Report looks at specialist power supplies. The piece, contributed by XP Power, concentrates on the difficulties of designing high voltage, high power supplies, and how they can be solved by intelligent digital control
As well as the featured articles in this month’s Special Report, the issue contains general articles of interest to the power industry in our Tech Focus sections, as well as the latest news and views from the industry.
Ally Winning
European Editor, PSD
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