Motor Drives, Robotics & Controls

March 2019
When Grounds are Separated

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How should you proceed with a switching regulator with an analog ground (AGND) and a power ground (PGND)? This is a question asked by many developers designing a switching power supply. Some developers are accustomed to dealing with a digital GND and an analog GND; however, their experience frequently fails th
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Date:
03/31/2019
Are you SiC of Silicon? - Part 1

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Anup Bhalla, Ph.D., Vice President Engineering, UnitedSiC

SiC applications began in the 2000s with the adoption of SiC JBS diodes into PFC applications. This was followed by the use of SiC diodes and FETs in the PV industry. But the recent surge in applications relating to EV On-board chargers and DC-DC converters is driving SiC growth. The nascent adoption in the EV
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Date:
03/31/2019
EMC Filters Minimize Earth Leakage Currents
TDK Corporation announces that it has reengineered and improved the EPCOS LeaXield active leakage current filter, a unique solution that is able to minimize earth leakage currents in converter-based drive systems. LeaXield is designed for applications in variable-speed drives such as those in machine tools, pu
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Date:
03/28/2019
New Suite of High-Performance GaN Power Transistors
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada – GaN Systems announced the availability of the GS-065 low current (3.5A to 11A) transistor line. The product suite, developed for sub-1kW power applications, is targeted for consumer level power supply products such as AC adapters for gaming and workstation laptops, TV power, LED lighting, wi
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Date:
03/27/2019
The Industry's Highest-Current GaN Power Transistors

The GaN Systems GS-065-150-1-D.

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada – GaN Systems announced the industry’s highest current  650 V GaN E-HEMTs with the addition of the 150 A, 650 V (GS-065-150-1-D) and the  80 A, 650 V (GS-065-080-1-D) to its line of GaN power transistors. In particular, the 150 A, 650 V transistor is unmatched on both current (8
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Date:
03/27/2019
Researchers get Humans to Think Like Computers
Computers, like those that power self-driving cars, can be tricked into mistaking random scribbles for trains, fences and even school busses. People aren't supposed to be able to see how those images trip up computers but in a new study, Johns Hopkins University researchers show most people actually can. The findings s
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Date:
03/22/2019
Hirose Boosts Current Capacity of Low-Profile WTB Connector
DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS — Hirose has expanded the current carrying capacity of it EnerBee power connector family. The DF60 Series wire-to-board connector now supports applications requiring current ratings up to 65A. Featuring a compact space-saving design, the DF60 Series power connector has a pitch of only 1
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Date:
03/22/2019
UnitedSiC announces SiC JFET family for low power  AC-DC Flyback converters

SiC JFETs for Low Power AC/DC Flyback Converters

March 19, 2019, Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) Anaheim CA, and Princeton,New Jersey: UnitedSiC, a manufacturer of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, today announced it has released a range of SiC JFET die suitable for co-packaging with a controller IC with built in low voltage MOSFET to fa
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Date:
03/20/2019
UnitedSiC announces strategic investment by Analog Devices

Chris Dries, President and CEO at UnitedSiC

March 18, 2019, Princeton, New Jersey and Norwood, Massachusetts: UnitedSiC, a manufacturer of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, today announced a strategic investment and long-term supply agreement from Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI).  Terms of the investment and supply agreement were not announced.
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Date:
03/18/2019
Wide Bandgap Semiconductors and Packaging - it’s happening

Kevin Parmenter, Field Applications Manger, Taiwan Semiconductor

The promise of wide bandgap semiconductors (WBG) are higher switching frequency and higher operating temperatures perhaps smaller sizes, greater efficiencies and perhaps higher reliability, less size, less cooling – no fans for example, smaller heatsinks, smaller capacitors, less weight and overall better pe
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Date:
03/08/2019
Two Steps to High Voltages

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Figure 1. Boost topology for generating a high voltage from a low voltage

If a high voltage needs to be generated from a low voltage, a boost converter can be used. This represents one of the three elementary switching regulator topologies and requires only two switches, an inductor, and input and output capacitors. Besides the boost converter, the other basic topologies are the buck co
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Date:
03/08/2019
Beat Obsolescence with PULS DIN-Rail Power Supplies
PULS Power has undertaken not to discontinue standard products while enough demand is present to make them viable for manufacture. This provides their customers with the reassurance that they will not be forced into costly changes to their system components and performance in regular short intervals and to have
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Date:
03/06/2019
Han ES Press HMC connector range allows fast installation
The new Han ES Press HMC (High Mating Cycles) connector series from HARTING combines the facility to be installed quickly without tools with extremely robust construction that allows the devices to handle at least 10,000 mating cycles. The quick connect technology used in the Han ES Press HMC involves the con
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Date:
03/06/2019
Industry’s smallest logic parts approved for automotive
Nexperia announced that over twenty logic types in the company’s space-saving leadless MicroPak packages are now AEC-Q100 qualified. These logic solutions are the smallest devices of their type suitable for automotive applications and Nexperia’s Q100 portfolio exceeds the Automotive Electronics Council’
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Date:
03/06/2019
Industry’s first automotive USB 3.1 SmartHub supports Type-C
Microchip announces an automotive-qualified USB 3.1 Gen1 SmartHub IC, offering up to 10 times faster data rates over existing USB 2.0 solutions and reducing indexing times to improve the user experience in vehicles. To support the rising adoption of USB Type-C in the smartphone market and enable universal conne
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Date:
03/06/2019
Power solution for high speed e-commerce hub conveyers
Powerbox announces the introduction of its ENI250A series designed to deliver peak power to motor start or/and high capacitive loads in factory automation applications. The three-phase ENI250A series is housed in an IP54 case, delivers a constant 250W and up to 480W peak power with an efficiency up to 94%. The ENI2
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Date:
03/06/2019
24 - 44 GHz Wideband Integrated Microwave 5G Transceiver
These ICs operate over a very wide frequency range with 50 Ω-match from 24 GHz up to 44 GHz, facilitating ease of design and reducing the costs of building a single platform that can cover all 5G mm Wave frequency bands including 28 GHz and 39 GHz. Additionally, the chipset is capable of flat 1 GHz RF instanta
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Date:
03/06/2019
Ultra-Low Power Technology applied to Energy Harvesting
e-peas has announced the introduction of a new power management IC specifically optimized for energy harvesting from thermal sources in wireless sensors application. Supplied in a space-saving 28-pin QFN package, the AEM20940 is a highly advanced device based on proprietary technology that is capable of extractin
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Date:
03/06/2019
BLE Wireless Multi-core MCUs set new standards
Dialog Semiconductor unveiled the SmartBond DA1469x family of Bluetooth low energy SoCs, its most advanced, feature-rich range of multi-core microcontroller units (MCUs) for wireless connectivity. The new product family which includes four variants, builds on the successes of Dialog’s SmartBond products addin
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Date:
03/06/2019
RS Components adds Rexroth industrial frequency converters
RS Components has introduced an innovative frequency converter from Rexroth that delivers potential energy savings of up to 80% across industrial and automation applications. The EFC 5610 intelligent variable-frequency drive enables manufacturers and other industrial businesses to tackle rising energy costs and inc
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Date:
03/06/2019
New SCALE-iDriver SiC-MOSFET Gate Driver
Power Integrations announced the SIC1182K SCALE-iDriver, a high-efficiency, single-channel SiC MOSFET gate driver that delivers the highest peak output gate current available without an external boost stage. Devices can be configured to support different gate-drive voltage requirements matching the range of requi
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Date:
03/06/2019
Low-power, smallest-form-factor FPGA for 4K video
Microchip announces the new PolarFire FPGA imaging and video solution to address the challenges of developing complex computer algorithms which enable systems to capture and display information and high-resolution images. The PolarFire FPGA imaging and video solution delivers capabilities superior to alternative te
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Date:
03/06/2019
50-Watt, High Current Density, Non-isolated Digital DC-DC Modules
Artesyn Embedded Technologies today announced the LGA50D dc-dc module, which offers one of the highest current density ratings in the industry. With a footprint of just 1 x 0.5 inches or 25.4 x 12.5mm, this innovative non-isolated unit offers two independent and configurable 25 amp, 50 watt outputs, which can
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Date:
03/06/2019
 Reenvision Inductor Operation to Optimize New Applications

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Figure 1: Core material performance curves

What do new applications need in order to take advantage of new devices like wide band-gap semiconductors? They need the best inductors. And what is the best inductor for your application?   Answering that requires proper characterization of the inductors, which is more than can be conveniently obtained fr
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Date:
03/01/2019
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