Motor Drives, Robotics & Controls

January 2014
HEITEC offers high-performance process-control solution

HEITEC process-control solution

HEITEC recently presented its latest solutions for efficient production at SPS IPC Drives 2013 in Nuremberg, using their latest complex, highly available system solution for an industrial controlling unit. The demonstration emphasized the implementation, which includes the conceptual design, development of individual co
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Date:
01/31/2014
Digi-Key to carry TRINAMIC motion-control ICs worldwide

TRINAMIC integrated circuits

Digi-Key, an industry leader in electronic component selection, availability and delivery, announced a global distribution agreement with TRINAMIC, a world-class supplier of motor control solutions. Based in Hamburg, Germany, TRINAMIC provides integrated circuits and modules for motor and motion control to customers al
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Date:
01/28/2014
Tail-less 600V IGBTs challenge power design constraints

STMicro 600V trench-gate field-stop IGBT V

STMicroelectronics’ advanced 600V trench-gate field-stop IGBT V series have a smooth and tail-less turn-off characteristic, saturation voltage as low as 1.8V, and maximum operating junction temperature of 175°C, allowing increased system energy efficiency, higher switching frequencies, and simplified thermal an
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Date:
01/24/2014
STMicro microcontroller powers miniature artificial-intelligence race cars from Anki Drive

STM32 microcontroller in AnkiDrive

STMicroelectronics, a semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, announced that its STM32 microcontroller was selected by Anki, a robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) startup, for use in their first product – Anki Drive™, in which consumers can download an ap
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Date:
01/22/2014
Allegro releases eval kit for their 3-phase brushless DC motor driver IC

A4915 3-phase MOSFET controller IC kit

Now available from Allegro MicroSystems Europe is a new product evaluation kit for helping customers during the design process for the company’s A4915 3-phase MOSFET controller IC. The evaluation kit consists of a printed-circuit board containing everything required to spin and control a brushless DC (BLDC)
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Date:
01/21/2014
Next-generation power factor correction controller from TI improves energy efficiency

The UCC28180EVM-573 360-W PFC evaluation module

Texas Instruments introduced a power factor correction (PFC) controller that claims to have the industry’s widest range programmable frequency operating in continuous conduction mode. The UCC28180 8-pin PFC controller cuts power consumption in half and delivers power factor correction greater than 0.95, compared to
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Date:
01/17/2014
Microchip's dsPIC digital signal controllers enable dual motor control and CAN communication with advanced sensor interfaces

Microchip dsPIC33 Digital Signal Controllers

Microchip recently released a family of dsPIC33 Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs): the dsPIC33EP512GM710 family. This is an expansion of Microchip’s dsPIC® DSC portfolio that adds higher levels of integration for motor-control applications. The  DSCs enable efficient dual motor control with 12 motor-control PW
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Date:
01/13/2014
Today’s integrated circuits are operating faster than ever, and the increased operating speed can lead to highly dynamic power demand from the power supply, posing a challenge during testing using programmable power supplies. The high-speed current waveforms can lead to voltage drops at the integrated circuit. If
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Date:
01/13/2014
Industrial and instrumentation applications (I&I) require transmission of data between multiple systems often over very long distances. The RS-485 bus standard is one of the most widely used physical layer bus designs in I&I applications.  Applications for RS-485 include process control networks, in
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Date:
01/12/2014
Infineon's compact single-channel gate driver serves applications with isolation voltages of up to 1200 volts.

Infineon 1EDI EiceDRIVER Compact Single Channel Gate Driver

Infineon Technologies recently released the 1EDI EiceDRIVER™ Compact Single Channel Gate Driver for applications with isolation voltages of up to 1200 volts. The galvanically isolated driver components are based on the Coreless Transformer Technology developed by Infineon, which enables output currents of up
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Date:
01/10/2014
Microchip's three-phase BLDC motor gate driver includes power module

Microchip MCP8024 three-phase BLDC motor gate driver

Microchip recently released the MCP8024 three-phase BLDC motor gate driver with power module. This novel device includes functions that power dsPIC® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) and PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs) with capabilities to drive six N-channel MOSFETs. Customers can implement improved performance an
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Date:
01/10/2014
In this article we will examine effective ways to use IEC (International Electrical Commission) safety standards to explore the limits of a design by figuring out what standards may apply to a problem amongst the hundreds available. The standards and supporting documents from the IEC are perceived as a burden to
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Date:
01/10/2014
Growing Opportunity for Manufacturers of Digital Power

Jonathon Eykyn, IHS

The digital power market is forecast to grow substantially in the next five years with unit shipments of digital power supplies and digital power ICs projected to grow by factors of three and five respectively by 2018 according to IHS. The early adoption of digital power has been dominated by telecommunications, servers a
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Date:
01/10/2014
As soon as a power supply designer needs to comply with military standards, he might need to take into account the transparency or holdup requirement. Transparency requirement is the minimum amount of time during which input power can go away but the equipment is expected to remain operational. This power int
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Date:
01/07/2014
Amantys announced the Amantys Power Insight Adapter, a fully engineered solution to add Insight data monitoring and observability to an IGBT Module-based power assembly The Adapter is designed for use during the development and commissioning of new systems, allowing engineers to observe and analyse critical pa
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Date:
01/07/2014
When researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) went looking for a material from which to make a custom-made plasma cavity for a new gas plasma space engine, they were directed to Morgan Advanced Materials, a world leader in high purity Alumina custom-made, high precision ceramic components. After providing
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Date:
01/02/2014
Stadium Power offer wide range of EMC filters online

Stadium Power TNS series

Stadium Power, the leading UK based provider of power supply solutions, has increased the range of products available for customers to purchase from stock online to include a wide range of EMC Filters. Rated from 6A to 60A and including 3 Phase and DIN Rail types. Two models are available for 3-phase applicati
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Date:
01/02/2014
3-phase non-contact, true rms current transducer from PEM touts convenience

The RCTrms 3-phase current transducer

The RCTrms 3-phase current transducer from Power Electronic Measurements (PEM) delivers a convenient, safe and accurate solution for measuring current in three phases. It features a thin, clip-around, flexible sensor coil and provides accurate true rms measurement with 4-20mA or 0-5V output, enabling simple in
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Date:
01/02/2014
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