Lighting & Illumination

July 2015

Synopsys’ LightTools speeds design of luminaires

Synopsys, a leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, announced the availability of enhancements to its LightTools illumination design and analysis software. LightTools version 7.1 delivers new analytical capabilities that speed the development of luminaires, particularly fo

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Date:

07/08/2015

Techsil thermally conductive tapes

Techsil’s heat transfer tapes address thermal management in systems

Heat is often the enemy of performance in today’s intricate electronic systems, Techsil’s new thermally conductive, pressure sensitive adhesive tapes provide a cooling solution by efficiently transmitting heat away from sensitive components. These double-sided tapes are designed for bonding heat sinks on PC

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Date:

07/08/2015

Design tools for DC/DC converters

Frederik Dostal, Analog Devices

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

Choosing the right capacitors for high-power & high-rel apps

M.Weaver, J. Petrzilek, and M. Biler, AVX

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

Digital control improves performance and efficiency

Scott Brown, Dialog Semiconductor

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

Real-world magnetics design

Dr. Ray Ridley, Ridley Engineering

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