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Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD

Welcome to the August issue! And a most insincere salutations to this endless heatwave which may or may not be connected to global warming but is definitely unwanted, unwelcome, and unbearable! As I write this, we’re less than a month into summer, and I’m already begging for fall! In any case, we’ve got a

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Date:

08/01/2025

Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

The EV Industry Feels the Heat

Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

Welcome to the August edition of Power Systems Design Europe. August is at the centre of the summer holiday period in Europe. If you are reading this on vacation, I hope you have a great break and come back fully refreshed for the remainder of the year. For myself, I will wait until September when the temperatu

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: Sine Amplitude Converter (SAC) power modules, like the BCM6135, can be used in place of regulated DC-DC converters to reduce size and for higher efficiency. BCM6135 bench measurement efficiency at 25°C shows a peak efficiency around 97.5% at half load

8 EV Challenges of Converting High Voltage to SELV

Patrick Kowalyk, Automotive Principal Field Applications Engineer, Vicor Corporation

The shift to 800V electric vehicle (EV) battery architectures is inspired by the need to increase charging rates, reduce resistive losses (I2R), and improve drivetrain efficiency. In parallel, zonal electrical architectures are emerging, using 48V local buses to reduce harness weight. Converting 800V high-voltage (H

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: Modular firmware design including a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)

The Role of Chip Pivoting in Ensuring Supply Chain Resilience

: Bianca Schmidt, Technical Writer at SEGGER Microcontroller

Events like chip shortages, climate-based disruptions, geopolitical shifts, and supply bottlenecks have revealed a harsh truth: Traditional, rigid models of supply chain management can no longer keep up. To stay competitive, companies must adapt to these challenges quickly. This has brought concepts like modular de

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: The test procedure undertaken by the white paper

Why Accurate Cell Data Matters in Battery SoC and SoH Determination

Gavin McVeigh – Senior Director System Architecture at Dukosi

As SoC and SoH cannot be directly measured, various methods of computational complexity are used to determine their values. The accuracy of quantifiable metrics—temperature, voltage, and current—and the synchronization of data captured for all cells are critical inputs for the algorithms used to determine ov

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: BBU shelf configuration in an OCP ORV3 architecture

Smart Battery Backup for Uninterrupted Energy

Christian Cruz, and Marvin Neil Cabuenas, Analog Devices

Backup battery shelves play a key role by serving as the foundation of these systems, acting as the basis hub for the efficient storage of battery backup units (BBU) and creating a link that increases the readiness of critical power reserves. Their primary goal is to accommodate and manage up to six BBU mo

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Enhancing Fleet Performance: The Critical Role of Tire Monitoring in Next-Gen Heavy Trucks

Ivan Zagan, Marketing Manager, Melexis

Automotive trucks and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are key to nearly all critical markets and supply chains, facilitating the worldwide distribution of everything from food and medicine to fuels and electronic components. Given that 77% of inland freight in the European Union is transported by trucks, maximizing th

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: EV parked outside residential home

The Daily Use of EV Chargers: Human Interface Technology

Wayne Liang, senior segment manager of Microchip Technology’s E-Mobility business

Automotive manufacturers are increasingly offering a wider selection of EVs to their fleet, which requires a larger quantity of easy-to-use chargers for customers. There are several types of chargers that are currently in use including Level 1, Level 2 and DC fast chargers depending upon their size and capacit

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: OBC Block Diagram

The Challenges of On-Board Charging

Milan Marjanovic, Microchip and Isaac Aboelsaad, Würth Elektronik eiSos

With its exceptional efficiency and capacity for bi-directional power transfer, the Totem-Pole topology offers a solution for integrating Power Factor Correction (PFC) and inverter functionality effectively. DC-DC topologies like the Dual Active Bridge (DAB) are well suited for battery chargers because of th

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1: An advanced battery measurement solution with software that creates a dynamic discharge current data collection

Outdated Battery Measurements Can Impact Vehicle Performance

Andrew Herrera, Keysight Technologies

In recent years, low-power e-mobility vehicles have become extremely popular as sustainable and efficient modes of transportation. Electric bicycles and scooters offer numerous benefits, including reduced carbon emissions and lower operating costs. However, to fully maximize their potential, it is crucial to

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Date:

08/01/2025

Kevin Parmenter, Director, Applications Engineering. TSC, America

The Road to EV Ubiquity

Kevin Parmenter, Director, Applications Engineering. TSC, America

The electric vehicle (EV) landscape reflects both exciting advances and persistent hurdles. While EV and hybrid adoption accelerates, a persistent lag in infrastructure, policy, and grid limitations creates uncertainty. Beneath the confident predictions of growth by financial analysts lies a murkier reality. In

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Date:

08/01/2025

Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD

China Requires EV Charging Stations to Accommodate all Brands, Offer Consistent Pricing

Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD

The nation that leads the world in batteries, EVs, and charging stations is trying to extend its infrastructure even further by opening it up to everyone, without distinction or discrimination. China sports a broad variety of high-powered charging (HPC) hubs, including networks built and operated by EV sta

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Date:

08/01/2025

Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

Reshoring the Rare Earth Supply Chain

Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD

As we continue the process of decarbonisation, our dependence on rare earth minerals is growing at a tremendous rate. These minerals, which include neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, make a huge contribution to the high performance and efficiency of green technologies. For example, Neodymium (N

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Date:

08/01/2025

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Figure 1. The concept of Burst Mode in a switch-mode power supply.

When Pulses Are Omitted in Switch-Mode Power Supplies

Frederik Dostal, Field Applications Engineer, Analog Devices

Even switch-mode power supplies with a fixed switching frequency do notalways show a continuing pattern of pulses. In some conditions, pulses areomitted for various reasons. This is important to consider for output ripplevoltageand EMI effects. A switching regulator for voltage conversion normally operates

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Date:

08/01/2025