Automotive & Transportation

July 2015
Electric buses: a crucible of change

Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx

Buses are the demons of the piece when killing thousands of Londoners and making Oxford Street the most NOx polluted road on Earth as they belch nose to tail. Over broader areas, China is even worse but there the government is making the bus into a savior. It banned the very polluting two stroke engines on two wh
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Date:
07/29/2015
Wuerth Elektronik intensifies its Formula E sponsoring activities

Audi Sport ABT Formula E

The car race in London marked the end of the first season of the 2014/2015 FIA Formula E racing series for electric-powered racing cars. The “Audi Sport ABT Formula E” team proudly sponsored by Wuerth Elektronik eiSos took a phenomenal third place in the overall team ranking. Pilot Lucas di Grassi had been lea
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Date:
07/29/2015
Bosch recognized Infineon's radar chips with 77-gigahertz technology by presenting Infineon Technologies with an award for innovation in recognition of the RASIC product family. “The Bosch Global Supplier Award honors our top suppliers, who play such a key role in Bosch’s success,” said Dr. Volkmar Denner, Cha
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Date:
07/20/2015
IGBTs boosted by booming electrified vehicle market

IGBT market forecast

Vehicle electrification is heavily impacting the IGBT market, with huge volumes and significant added value because of the power modules used. Vehicle volume will be critical by 2018, and the IGBT market for electrified vehicles will more than triple over the next six years. By 2020, we expect electrified vehicles to
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Date:
07/20/2015
Micrel, an industry leader in high-performance linear and power solutions, LAN and timing and communications solutions, announced a new automotive AEC-Q100 qualified high-performance low-dropout voltage regulator (LDO) featuring an ultralow dropout of only 100mV at 300mA. The MAQ5300 comes in a tiny 2mm x 2mm DF
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Date:
07/20/2015
BESSTECH, a developer of innovative components that improve lithium-ion battery performance with reduced cost, announced that Doug Grose, former CEO of GLOBALFOUNDRIES and a leading semiconductor industry executive for more than three decades, has joined the company as its Chief Technology Officer. Grose will lead
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Date:
07/13/2015
Excelsys Technologies Reactive Load powerMod series of plug-in DC output modules is optimised for driving reactive loads, such as DC motors. These new powerMods offer complete protection in systems where loads can generate high levels of reverse energy offering system builders increased system robustness and re
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Date:
07/13/2015
IDTechEx is the only market analyst tracking the development of 45 electric vehicle categories and not just electric cars. Based on our research we see that there are now lithium-ion battery options for everything from forklifts and mobility vehicles for the disabled to e-bikes. Indeed, almost all the e-bikes in
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Date:
07/13/2015
Mouser Electronics, Inc. today announced the introduction of their updated Internet of Things Applications site. Mouser's updated and enhanced Applications site brings together the two evolving technologies critical for IoT: wireless connectivity for interconnecting embedded systems, and smart sensors. Combined wit
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Date:
07/08/2015
TI half-bridge gate driver improves power system performance in hybrid vehicles

The UCC27201A-Q1 high-side/low-side gate driver

Texas Instruments introduced the industry’s fastest 120-V automotive grade half-bridge gate driver with robust handling features. This driver provides a propagation delay at 15ns with short rise and fall times and the tightest delay matching of 1ns for 12-V to 48-V DC/DC power supplies. The UCC27201A-Q1 high-side/low-side gate
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Date:
07/08/2015
Vishay's AEC-Q101-qualified FRED Pt ultrafast-recovery rectifiers suit automotive and telecom apps

FRED Pt rectifiers

Vishay Intertechnology introduced four new 1 A and 2 A FRED Pt Ultrafast recovery rectifiers in the compact low-profile SMF (DO-219AB) eSMP series package. Combining extremely fast and soft recovery characteristics with low leakage current and low forward voltage drop, the AEC-Q101-qualified devices reduce switching lo
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Date:
07/07/2015
As automobiles continue to add an ever increasing number of electronic systems to enhance safety, comfort, efficiency and performance while minimizing harmful exhaust emissions, it comes as no surprise that they require physically smaller power solutions with dramatically higher power levels. Additionally, with th
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Date:
07/03/2015
The automotive industry is under significant societal pressure to address global warming. Electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are expected to lead the way in CO2 reduction, relying on their internal inverter systems to control high electric power in the limited space available. Due to these sp
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Date:
07/03/2015
For many years, engineers have used calculation tools to optimize a switch mode power supply design. In the early years, power supply engineers would program their own tools or use spreadsheets they generated themselves with the required formulas underlying a certain power supply topology. While this helped tr
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Date:
07/03/2015
Tantalum surface mount capacitors with a solid electrolyte have been the favorite capacitor technology choice in many electronic devices for more than five decades, thanks to their stability, high reliability, and superior volumetric efficiency. The traditional manganese dioxide (MnO2) cathode material provides go
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Date:
07/03/2015
Today’s power supply designers must strive to meet increasingly tough environmental legislation governing standby power and average efficiency. On the other hand, they must also ensure designs comply with relevant technical requirements. Wall adapters for charging smartphones, for example, must meet revi
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Date:
07/03/2015
Automotive manufacturers are increasingly incorporating higher-power, higher-inrush current applications – including anti-lock braking system (ABS) modules, glow plugs and engine cooling fans – into their latest-generation cars. A popular trend is to integrate multiple functionalities into one module, which in
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Date:
07/03/2015
There’s a large element of irony in the design of today’s cars. They are increasingly energy efficient, yet they also have many more electrical demands being placed on them. These demands range from an array of safety-related functions to numerous in-cabin convenience, connectivity, and entertainment features, su
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Date:
07/03/2015
The automotive powertrain semiconductor market grew 8.3 percent in 2014, with increasing volumes of new vehicles and the need for fuel-efficient vehicle technologies the main drivers contributing to it. IHS forecasts that revenues related to powertrain semiconductors will increase with a compound annual growth ra
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Date:
07/03/2015
Acceleration exhilaration

Alix Paultre, Editorial Director, PSD

The e-vehicle industry is speeding up, and if you have anything to do with cars it’s time to get moving. We are in a very exhilarating time, as electronics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing almost every aspect of cars and how the public relates to them. Automotive design has always been at the cu
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Date:
07/02/2015
Microturbine tech empowers electric vehicles

Fulcrum gas turbine on-board range extender

Over eight million hybrid cars will be made in 2025, each with a range extender, the additional power source that distinguishes them from pure electric cars. Add to that significant money spent on the same devices in buses, military vehicles, boats and so on and a major new market emerges. We are in the de
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Date:
07/02/2015
Proper design of magnetics components is at the heart of any power converter. In this article, the flaws of some production magnetics are shown, clearly showing why it is essential that designers of power supplies should be intimately involved in magnetics design and characterization. Teaching power magnetics d
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Date:
07/02/2015
Piquet is e-racing’s first world champion

Nelson Piquet Jr. captured the first-ever FIA Formula-E championship

Nelson Piquet Jr. captured the first-ever FIA Formula-E championship following a thrilling final battle in the London ePrix on Sunday. The Mouser-sponsored Piquet went into London’s races ranked No. 1 among the Formula-E series drivers after a commanding victory earlier this month at the Moscow ePrix. Piquet, who drive
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Date:
07/01/2015
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