Sales of hybrid cars in the USA collapsed from 3.2% of car sales in 2013 to under 2% in 2015 as Americans responded to the sharply reduced oil price. However the oil price will recover eventually so commentary that it heralds the death of hybrid vehicles is wide of the mark. Indeed hybrid car sales outside the US
Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discovered single-walled carbon nanotube semiconductors could be favorable for photovoltaic systems because they can potentially convert sunlight to electricity or fuels without losing much energy.
The research builds on the Nob
Many interests have been raised within the battery business in 2015 through a number of activities: the launch of Tesla's Powerwall with low prices supported by the capability of Gigafactory, Apple's patent relating to charging and managing power in a device with solid-state batteries, LG Chem's opening of a mega
In multiple presentations at the Year Of The Monkey digital festival in Munich on Thursday, the figure "87%" was prominent. This is - according to a number of research papers - the number of German companies currently feeling that a change to digitalisation over the next five years is a priority. At le
IBC SOLAR AG, a leading system service-provider for photovoltaics (PV) and energy storage systems, will once again be showcasing its products at this year's Intersolar Europe, Europe's most important trade fair for solar technology. The company from Bad Staffelstein will be presenting its entire product range in h
Transformers can often provide an inexpensive solution for a variety of applications. The purpose of the transformer is to isolate the secondary side of the circuit from the primary power source, transfer power efficiently from the electrical source to the target load and protect users from hazards like electric sh
LED technology has developed over recent years, and is now the obvious choice for many applications from energy-efficiency architectural lighting to outdoor displays. These applications tend to vary considerably, each requiring a different number, type, color and configuration of the LEDs, which means that driver ci
An effective method for filtering high-frequency power supply noise and cleanly sharing similar voltage supply rails (i.e. analog and digital rails for mixed-signal ICs) while preserving high-frequency isolation between the shared rails is the use of ferrite beads. A ferrite bead is a passive device that fi
The phone Martin Cooper used was the prototype Motorola DynaTAC, and it could only be used for 20 minutes before the battery died. Battery life has continued to cause concern for manufacturers. Bluetooth introduced its low-energy feature in 2010 with Bluetooth 4.0 with energy efficiency as the prime goal, achieved in
In the third part of this series, we’ll see how Dr. Fred Lee’s analysis of current-mode control resulted in a high modulator gain, and also look at the consequences of this gain on current-loop predictions.
Current-Mode Control Circuit
Figure 1 shows a buck converter with peak current-mode control. T
The large “IDTechEx Show!” in Berlin April 27-28 with over 2500 paying delegates once again invests in startups. Chief Executive Raghu Das says, “It is one way we are different from other events because they are run for cash. We believe in this industry and we invest in it, not directly in the company sh
On March 29, 2016, Utah signed into law the Sustainable Transportation and Energy Plan Act (SB 115), which establishes utility investments in battery storage, electric vehicle infrastructure, and several clean energy programs. The new law seeks to boost energy storage solutions to improve the reliability and co
RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), a leading distributor for engineers, has announced new additions to its extensive battery portfolio with the RS Pro range of rechargeable batteries, three new variants from the Energizer family and a range of Storacell battery-storage so
Wolfspeed, A Cree Company, announced that Gruppo PBM, a leader in industrial battery chargers, is using Wolfspeed SiC MOSFETs in its new HF9 battery charger family to enable higher efficiency and power density at a lower overall system cost. Demand for safe, efficient, and fast-charging industrial batteries ha
A finely tuned carbon nanotube thin film has the potential to act as a thermoelectric power generator that captures and uses waste heat, according to researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The research could help guide the manufacture of thermoelectric devices based on
