Technical Features

December 2013

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Figure 1: Fast, consistent switching—under 110ns across temps—enables multi-MHz operation with minimal derating and reduced switching losses

Advancing EV Charging Infrastructure with 1700V SiC MOSFET Technology

Urfa Ajmal, Product Development Engineer, Central Semiconductor

With accelerating adoption of electric vehicles, the performance and scalability of charging infrastructure have become critical engineering priorities. Onboard chargers and off-board fast charging systems require components that deliver high efficiency, reliability, and thermal stability under demanding conditi

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Date:

07/31/2025

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Dr. Robert Brand, VACUUMSCHMELZE

Cars have feelings too

Dr. Robert Brand, VACUUMSCHMELZE

Advances in automobile development have meant that modern vehicles are now much safer and more comfortable than their predecessors. Every new generation of automobile features a proliferation of active solutions developed to complement and enhance passive safety features such as increased chassis rigidity. Longer-established sa

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Date:

12/31/2013

Moving towards 3kW boards

Patrick Le Fèvre, Ericsson Power Modules

Since the introduction in the early eighties of distributed power architectures within the telecom and datacom industries (recently called Information and Communication Technology), the power demand per board in the data-server segment has increased from 300W to 1200W and is foreseen to grow exponentially reaching 30

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Date:

12/23/2013

Italian project delivers zero-emission power from biomass

Ing. Alessio Vaccari, CPL Concordia

CPL has recently inaugurated the largest agricultural biomass biogas power plant in Italy. Nine hectors of ground area, Four 1 MWe power stations, for a total of 4 MWe generated electricity for 10,000 households a year at zero emissions. The largest agricultural biomass for biogas power production plant in

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Date:

12/15/2013

Nanopower energy harvesting dramatically extends battery life

Jeff Gruetter, Linear Technology

Historically, remote wireless sensors have depended on batteries to provide power to measure data and transmit it wirelessly. This has worked reliably, but the usable life of these sensor networks is solely dependent that of the battery. In some applications, the wireless sensor nodes are accessible so the batteries ca

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Date:

12/15/2013

SiC poised to revolutionize solar power inverters

Jeffrey Casady & Paul Kierstead, Cree

Silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor technology has now reached a point in its evolution where SiC power devices can serve as the catalyst for a new generation of ultra-efficient power electronics systems, especially in the emerging market for small- to medium-sized solar power inverters. Several co

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Date:

12/14/2013

Predicting the Grid

Edward H. Kennedy, Tollgrade Communications

From the North East blackout of 2003 to last year’s Super Storm Sandy, we’ve learned the hard way that our 100-year-old-plus electricity grid is lacking the intelligence to effectively respond to power outages and disturbances. Here are a couple of key points to consider that call out for the need for a pa

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Date:

12/13/2013

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Figure 1. The reference design board, MAXREFDES14.

Energy Measurement Fulfills Promises of the Smart Grid

Gordon Lee, Maxim Integrated

Measuring electrical power consumption—dynamic current and voltage—is a fundamental requirement of many high-precision applications like electric vehicle charging stations, industrial control and automation systems, data centers, smart home appliances, solar inverters, street lighting, distribution automation, sm

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Date:

12/12/2013