Motor Drives, Robotics & Controls

September 2018
The Power and Evolution of GaN - Part 1

Figure 3: LiDAR car

Gallium nitride(GaN)-on-silicon low voltage power devices have enabled many new applications since commercial availability began in 2010. New markets, such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR), envelope tracking, and wireless power, emerged due to the superior switching speed of GaN. These new applications ha
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Date:
09/29/2018
Wide Trim Modules Deliver up to 300W
FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Excelsys Technologies Ltd., an Advanced Energy company, announces the upcoming release of four new modules which further expands the CoolMod offering. The CmM, CmN, CmP & CmQ are the latest modules, offering wide trim solutions in the CoolX series of convection cooled modular configurable po
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Date:
09/27/2018
Nanomachine Swarms Could Improve Efficiency of any Machine

Density plot of the power output of an energy-converting network that consists of interacting nano-machines illustrated by the spheres. The power increases from red to blue color, thus in the synchronization phase corresponding to the area enclosed by the white dashed lines, the output of the network is maximized.

All machines convert one form of energy into another form - for example a car engine turns the energy stored in fuel into motion energy. Those processes of energy conversion, described by the theory called thermodynamics, don't only take place on the macro-level of big machines, but also at the micro-level of mol
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Date:
09/27/2018
Low-side gate driver ICs prevent false triggering of MOSFETs
Infineon’s 1EDN7550/1EDN8550 EiceDRIVER™, 1-channel low-side gate driver ICs with truly differential inputs, prevent false triggering of MOSFETs as control signal inputs are largely independent from ground potential. Infineon Technology
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Date:
09/25/2018
Mouser Electronics and What's Next Sign Global Agreement
Mouser Electronics, Inc. announces a distribution agreement with What’s Next. Through the agreement, Mouser now stocks eight unique, Arduino-compatible What’s Next microcontroller boards — including the Yellow, Red, Green, and Orange boards — ideal for a wide range of applications, such as electronics instruction, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT) projects, and robot
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Date:
09/25/2018
Digital Signal Controller Accelerates DSP Performance
CHANDLER, Ariz.— System designers looking for digital signal processing power with the design simplicity of a microcontroller (MCU) can now utilize a new family of 16-bit Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) from Microchip Technology Inc.. Designed to deliver faster deterministic performance in time-critical co
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Date:
09/25/2018
Encapsulated 15 & 30 Watt Power Supplies with JST Connectors
TRACO POWER has announced the release of their TPP 15-J and TPP 30-J series of 15 and 30 watt fully encapsulated, chassis mount power supplies with JST connectors for simplified plug & play cable assemblies as compared with traditional screw terminals. The footprint has been reduced to 2.82 x 1.14 x 0.82” (1
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Date:
09/25/2018
TVS Diode Array for Automated Factory Sensor Circuit Protection
TEMPE, Ariz. – ProTek Devices has introduced a TVS diode array designed for circuit protection of proximity sensors in automated factory sensory applications. The new device features a double diode array for switch protection and reverse blocking protection. The PDFN3-32 is designed to protect 24-volt proximity
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Date:
09/24/2018
Remote Control System Simplifies Industrial Rail Operations
WARREN, OHIO - Laird Controls has developed a portable remote control system that allows one rail operator to easily and efficiently move locomotives throughout the rail operation. By enabling a single worker to pilot a locomotive, as opposed to three people in a work crew, the Transport QC quick connect remote
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Date:
09/18/2018
Network Fuse Enhances Safety of Electronic Equipment
CHICAGO —Littelfuse, Inc. introduced the 40mA PICO 242 Series Hazardous Area Barrier Network Fuse, which supports designing barrier circuits for intrinsic safety products to prevent fires and explosions in dangerous atmospheres. The fuse prevents electronic equipment used in hazardous locations from overheating or
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Date:
09/17/2018
A Serial Gas Turbine Engine With a 3D-Printed Combustion Chamber

Tested combustion chambers as a component of a serial SGTE is one of the starting stages of the project on creation of a series of new gas turbine drives for energy units with capacity of 400 kW working on biofuel.

Samara University scholars tested one of the key details of aviation gas turbine engine, i.e. combustion chamber "grown" with the help of 3D-printing. It was set and tested on a production model of a small gas turbine engine TA-8 (SGTE) used as an auxiliary power unit of aircraft TU-134. "We were the
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Date:
09/14/2018
 Maintenance-free Supercap energy storage for modular DC UPS
The two new DC UPS modules Bicker UPSI-1208 (12VDC) and Bicker UPSI-2406 (24VDC) are available in combination with the maintenance-free Supercap energy storage units Bicker BP-SUC (up to 3.6 kJ). The supplied DC consumers are reliably protected against power failures, flicker or voltage fluctuations in unstable su
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Date:
09/11/2018
The device contains all the necessary components that would otherwise have take up extra space on the circuit board - and all in the same size socket as before. Integral transformers in IP20 protected RJ45 sockets have been in industrial use for some time, but the HARTING M12 Magnetics offers customers the addition
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Date:
09/11/2018
TIs’ LMG1020 low-side GaN driver now shipping from Mouser

TIs’ LMG1020 low-side GaN driver now shipping from Mouser

The single, low-side driver enables efficient, high-performance designs in speed-critical applications such as LiDAR, time-of-flight laser drivers, facial recognition, augmented reality, and class E wireless chargers. The Texas Instruments LMG1020 low-side GAN driver, available from Mouser Electronics, drives Ga
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Date:
09/11/2018
TRACO POWER Group opens TRACO POWER France

TRACO POWER Group opens TRACO POWER France

Having worked for 30 years in the power supply industry in strategic positions of engineering and sales positions, he aims to make TRACO POWER the undisputed leader of DC/DC and AC/DC power conversion products in the region. A promising market. TRACO POWER Group decided to establish the new office in France (
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Date:
09/11/2018
Desktop medical & ITE 36-65-Watt power supplies

XP Power is launching its cost-effective AKM36/AKM45/AKM65 series of desktop AC-DC power supplies rated at 36W, 45W and 65W.

The supplies are aimed at the healthcare, ITE and industrial markets. All versions meet the latest U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Level VI and EU CoC Tier 2 energy efficiency requirements while offering 2 x MOPP medical-grade isolation and very low no-load power consumption. AC input for all versions is 90 -26
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Date:
09/11/2018
 Chassis Mount Ac-Dc Power Supplies in Low Profile Metal Case

CUI’s Power Group today announced a new line of compact, chassis mount ac-dc power supplies housed in an enclosed metal case.

The VGS‑B series offers power ratings from 35 to 350 W with low 30 mm profiles and compact packages as small as 99 x 82 x 30 mm (3.89 x 3.22 x 1.18 in). Delivering no-load power consumption as low as 0.3 W and an operating temperature range of -20 to +70°C, these rugged, metal enclosed power modules are ideal fo
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Date:
09/11/2018
Robot Can Pick Up Any Object After Inspecting It

Manuelli uses the DON system and Kuka robot to grasp a cup.

Humans have long been masters of dexterity, a skill that can largely be credited to the help of our eyes. Robots, meanwhile, are still catching up. Certainly there's been some progress: for decades robots in controlled environments like assembly lines have been able to pick up the same object over and over again. More recently,
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Date:
09/10/2018
Testing Times
Welcome to the September edition of Power System Design. I hope you managed to have a nice summer break and are ready for a busy backend to the year. Since this year is an electronica year, it is destined to be a lot busier than normal. Myself, I managed to get away for a couple of weeks to Tenerife. It was re
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Date:
09/04/2018
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