Renewable Energy

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
Bacteria Could Become a Future Source of Electricity
In recent years, researchers have tried to capture the electrical current that bacteria generate through their own metabolism. So far, however, the transfer of the current from the bacteria to a receiving electrode has not been efficient at all. Now, researchers from institutions including Lund University have ac
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Date:
03/27/2019
PSDcast - The Future of Energy Storage
In this episode of the PSDcast, we're chatting with one of the leading voices on lead battery innovation about the future of energy storage. Energy storage has become vitally important in recent years, and for more than 25 years, the Consortium for Battery Innovation has helped develop advanced lead battery tec
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Date:
03/26/2019
Bi-Directional Regenerative Supply Packs 30KW in 4U Chassis
San Diego, CA — Elektro-Automatik announces the EA-PSB 10000 30KW Programmable Bi-directional Power Supply. The 4U rack-mounted PSB 10000, engineered with advanced SiC power conversion devices switching at 150 kHz, boasts the industry’s best power density—requiring as little as half the rack space for the
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Date:
03/21/2019
Frequency-Optimized Planar Transformers Rated up to 250W
Lake Forest, CA—Premier Magnetics announces its PM-PTxxx Series of frequency-optimized planar transformers. The new line, offering models with ratings to 250W, are designed for forward converter, full/half bridge and active clamp applications utilizing switching frequencies between 200 KHz and 700 KHz.  Proprietary lay
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Date:
03/21/2019
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
DOE Extends University PPPL Contract

On March 15, representatives of the US Department of Energy, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University gathered in Nassau Hall on the University campus to sign contracts extending the lease and the primary contract. David McComas, second from right, vice president of PPPL and professor of astrophysical sciences, signed for the University, while Kim Tafe, far right, contracting officer for the DOE-Princeton business management office, signed for the Department of Energy. Also shown, from left: Curt Emmich with the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce; Lou Sadler, assistant chief counsel with DOE; Mike McCann, assistant chief counsel with DOE; Debbie Prentice, Princeton's provost; Kristin Muenzen, Office of the General Counsel, Princeton; Pete Johnson, DOE site office manager at PPPL; Chelle Reno, assistant vice president for operations at PPPL; Laura Troche with the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information; Brian Bozarth, a financial specialist with DOE-Princeton; Marla Larson Williams, a realty specialist with the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced March 15 that Princeton University will continue to manage and operate the DOE's#pl Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, New Jersey. The extended contract, which runs through March 31, 2022, also highlights coll
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Date:
03/18/2019
> 16% Efficiency for Single-Junction Organic Solar Cells

The J-V characteristics for OSCs based on P2F-EHp:BTPT-4F and P2F-EHp:BTPTT-4F; the chemical structures of active layer components.

As a promising technology for renewable energy, organic solar cells (OSCs) have attracted particular interest from both industrial and academic communities. One of the main challenges to promote practical applications of OSCs is their less competitive power conversion efficiency than that of the counterpart ph
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Date:
03/18/2019
My Battery is Getting Low and it is Getting Dark
These were supposedly the last words sent back from Mars by the Opportunity rover. As we all know, machines don’t really communicate with such clarity and emotion, but it seemed a fitting farewell, and actually pretty well-deserved after seeing out its original mission objective of 90 days operation by over 14
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Date:
03/11/2019
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
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
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
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
Discovering the Next Generation of Catalysts
The use of solar and wind energy must be doubled to meet the world's demand for clean energy over the next 30 years. Catalysts that can ensure the storage of solar and wind energy in fuels and chemicals will therefore play an increasingly important role. The catalysts that are used today are, however, often bot
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Date:
03/05/2019
 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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