Technical Features

December 2014

Figure 1: Power schematic circuit for the bi-directional three-level, two-phase converter

Optimizing Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters for GaN Technology

Alejandro Pozo Arribas, Senior Applications Engineer, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC)

Introduction Modern power systems demand higher efficiency, increased power density, and reduced electromagnetic interference (EMI)—all while adhering to shrinking size constraints. Among the converter topologies addressing these challenges, the Flying Capacitor Multilevel (FCML) converter stands out for it

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Date:

05/30/2025

Effectively powering smart wearable devices

Steve Knoth, Linear Technology

From products such as Google Glass, advanced fitness activity trackers, heads-up imaging displays, and blood pressure monitors, it is obvious that wearable devices have entered the military, industrial and high-end consumer markets. These devices are rapidly improving and becoming even “smarter”. A “wearable” de

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Date:

12/30/2014

Robust Touch Controls Replace Mechanical Switches

Pauli Laitinen, Aito

Touch control is about more than just providing an interface to a display-oriented device such as a smartphone, tablet or computer. Certainly we have become very familiar with these applications in recent years and improvements in touch technology have ensured widespread adoption to the point where mobile phones wi

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Date:

12/30/2014

Multirail power solutions for RF agile radio applications

Maurice O’Brien, Analog Devices

As the overall size of communications, medical, and other cloud-enabled equipment continues to decrease, power management becomes an increasingly important design consideration. The latest highly-integrated power management solutions provide advantages in powering RF systems, FPGAs, and processors, and powerful de

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Date:

12/30/2014

Advanced ICs drive demand for “perfect” power

Fariborz Musavi, Director of Engineering, CUI Inc

The battle raging to raise power supply density with ever more efficiency By The battle raging to raise power supply density with ever more efficiency Considering practical design limitations, some smart developments are shifting the focus over the next few years from ‘just’ power c

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Date:

12/30/2014

Combating counterfeits

Tom Grace, Eaton

The counterfeiting of well-known brands and products is a growing problem, estimated to be five to seven percent of world trade. Among those well-known brands are consumer safety and critical electrical products, which can have threatening implications for workers and facilities. The cost of counterfeiting

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Date:

12/30/2014

Capacitor innovations address emerging opportunities

James C. Lewis, KEMET

There is no Moore’s Law for passive components like capacitors, but relentless development is delivering the kinds of devices engineers need to deliver cutting-edge new products for modern living. Capacitors have for many years enabled electronic designers to manage energy within circuits and fulfill basic fu

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Date:

12/30/2014

Case study - 5V output capacitor benchmark

Ivo Kopecký & Tomáš Zedníček, AVX Czech Republic

Here are the results of an output capacitor benchmark study used in a step-down DC/DC converter design, based on a well-used control IC (Maxim’s MAX 1537 [1]) with a 6-24V input voltage range and two separate voltage outputs of 3.3 and 5V. “Some 99 percent of so-called ‘design’ problems associated with linea

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Date:

12/30/2014

Reducing the environmental footprint of data centers

Patrick Le Fèvre, Ericsson Power Modules

A pilot scheme launched by the European Commission in 2013 is likely to lead to a set of guidelines that will help reduce the environmental footprint of data centers. The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) pilots will harmonize industry regulations across the European Union and include projects that look at

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Date:

12/30/2014

Duty-ratio feedforward control of digitally controlled PFC

Bosheng Sun, System Engineer, Texas Instruments

PFC (power-factor correction) circuit designers have used average current-mode control for decades (figure 1). Various analog PFC-control chips based on this control algorithm are available in the commercial market. Clcik image to enlarge Figure 1: Average-current-mode control for PFC The

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Date:

12/03/2014