Motor Drives, Robotics & Controls

August 2019
The Road to Success for Power Semiconductors

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Figure 1: Comparison of Superjunction transistor, SiC MOSFET, and GaN HEMT

The commercial availability of Superjunction transistors 20 years ago, challenged and finally proved wrong the limitations of conventional silicon-based transistors with respect to on-state resistance. What was regarded as revolutionary at that time is standard today. Today there is not a single transistor from 25
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Date:
08/31/2019
Mouser Electronics Stocking TI Nanopower Voltage Supervisors
Mouser Electronics, Inc., is now stocking the TPS3840 family of nanopower high-input voltage supervisors from Texas Instruments (TI). The TPS3840 devices are reset ICs that can operate at up to 10 V while maintaining very low quiescent current across all operating conditions. The devices provide a combination of minimal power consumption, high acc
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Date:
08/28/2019
TTI Stocks Abracon's Automotive, Industrial Power Inductors
Fort Worth, Texas – TTI, Inc., a leading specialty distributor of electronic components, is now stocking the Abracon ASPIAIG family of power inductors. These Automotive and Industrial Grade (AIG) power inductors are manufactured on TS 16949 certified production lines, AEC-Q200 certified and PPAP ready u
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Date:
08/28/2019
PSDcast - A Big Win at The Hyperloop Pod Competition

The winning team from the Technical University of Munich

In this episode of the PSDcast, we're talking about The Hyperloop Pod Competition and the future of transportation! For the fourth year in a row, the Technical University of Munich took home the top prize (in no small part due to 420 chips from Infineon), and we've got Mathias Kiele-Dunsche, Senior Manager Application Engi
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Date:
08/27/2019
Teaching Robots how to Trek Through Unknown Terrains
A team of Australian researchers has designed a reliable strategy for testing physical abilities of humanoid robots - robots that resemble the human body shape in their build and design. Using a blend of machine learning methods and algorithms, the research team succeeded in enabling test robots to effectively re
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Date:
08/23/2019
Are you SiC of Silicon? – Part 5

Anup Bhalla, Vice President Engineering, UnitedSiC

Ultra-High Voltage SiC and Supercascodes New applications are emerging that require high voltage switch technology which is significantly lower in balance-of-system costs and operating losses than silicon IGBT and IGCT technology. This spans a wide range from solid state transformers, MW motor drives, to smart
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Date:
08/20/2019
A Miniature Stretchable Pump for Next Gen of Soft Robots
Soft robots have a distinct advantage over their rigid forebears: they can adapt to complex environments, handle fragile objects and interact safely with humans. Made from silicone, rubber or other stretchable polymers, they are ideal for use in rehabilitation exoskeletons and robotic clothing. Soft bio-inspired ro
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Date:
08/14/2019
Current Sense Chip Resistors Include a 0.3 Milliohm Value
RALEIGH, NC – The popular CSSH Series ultra-high precision current sense chip resistor series from Stackpole has recently been expanded to include a 0.3 milliohm value in the 2512 size. The CSSH2512 0.3 milliohm part is available in tolerances as low as 1% and TCR is 150 ppm, with a 3W power rating. This low resi
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Date:
08/13/2019
High isolation, regulated DC/DC converters in compact package
The core characteristic of the TRI line is a sophisticated reinforced isolation system which is able to withstand high test voltages (9000 VDC for 1s and 5000 VAC for 60s) and working voltages (1000 VACrms). Complementing this isolation characteristic is a high Common Mode Transient Immunity of 15 kV/µs. The
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Date:
08/09/2019
Employees Less Upset at Being Replaced by Robots Than People
Generally speaking, most people find the idea of workers being replaced by robots or software worse than if the jobs are taken over by other workers. But when their own jobs are at stake, people would rather prefer to be replaced by robots than by another employee. That is the conclusion of a study by the Technical Un
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Date:
08/09/2019
Enhancing AI Quality by Moving Beyond the Quantitative
Artificial Intelligence engineers should enlist ideas and expertise from a broad range of social science disciplines, including those embracing qualitative methods, in order to reduce the potential harm of their creations and to better serve society as a whole, a pair of researchers has concluded in an analysis th
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Date:
08/09/2019
Seeing How Computers 'Think' Helps Humans Stump Machines
One of the ultimate goals of artificial intelligence is a machine that truly understands human language and interprets meaning from complex, nuanced passages. When IBM's Watson computer beat famed "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings in 2011, it seemed as if that milestone had been met. However, anyone who
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Date:
08/06/2019
Heat Pipes Provide Adaptable Methods to Cool Hot Components
Norwood, MA – Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc., ATS, has expanded its line of flat and round copper heat pipes for electronics thermal management. More than 350 standard ATS heat pipes provide low cost cooling solutions for cloud and edge computing, electric vehicles, aerospace, agtech, robotics, me
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Date:
08/06/2019
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