Technical Features

June 2016

Figure 1a here

Figure 1a: Saturation current (Isat) comparison between a hard saturation ferrite power inductor (orange color) and soft saturation powdered alloy power inductor (blue color) at different ambient temperatures displayed by REDEXPERT. Saturation at an ambient temperature of 20ºC

Molded Power Inductors

By: Carlos Farnos, Dr.-Ing. Efrain Bernal / Editor: Gerhard Stelzer, Würth Elektronik eiSos GmbH & Co. KG

Higher power requirements and miniaturization expose passives to rising temperatures, increasing the probability of thermal aging. This article explores how to select molded high-current power inductors, which are exposed to high temperatures for an extended time. The constant market demand to increase power density

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Date:

09/28/2024

Is your smart grid secured?

Patrick Le Fevre, Powerbox

From early days working on projects to add communication and intelligence to power supplies, which eventually became the Digital Power industry known today, the question of safety and security and how the power supply industry was prepared to address such issues continues to grow in importance. While there is ve

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Date:

06/13/2016

Digital advantages in an analog world

Martin Hägerdal, Ericsson Power Modules

Expectations for digital power have run high, especially when one considers the explosive growth created by digital logic in many other markets. However, overall, acceptance of the technology has arguably been firm rather than explosive, despite even the early digital power solutions being at least equal and ty

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Date:

06/13/2016

Protecting control systems in the field

Emmanuel Adrados and Paul Blanchard, Analog Devices, Inc.

Harsh environments are a reality for many electrical systems used in motor control or solenoid control applications. The electronics that control motors and solenoids are by necessity in close proximity to the high currents and voltages used to create the physical movement required by the end application. In addition

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Date:

06/13/2016

Achieving high power density in digital systems

Tony Armstrong, Linear Technology

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the continuing adoption of Digital Power System Management (DPSM) within the communications and computer industries continues to be driven, in large part, to the high current levels demanded by the sub-20nm ASICs and/or FPGAs that are at the core of their system architecture. By

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Date:

06/13/2016

EVs race to adopt SiC power

Dr. Thomas Barbieri, Dr. Jeffrey Casady, Edgar Ayerbe, Dr. Ty McNutt, & Lauren Kegley, Wolfspeed

As the market demand for electric vehicles continues to increase — driven in part by government regulations on fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions, social awareness, and the overall trend toward greener transportation options — a growing number of automotive manufacturers are incorporating the latest power electro

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Date:

06/13/2016

Specifying a Schottky diode for LED displays

Steven Shackell, ON Semiconductor

Portable electronics devices (such as smartphones) are having more and more functionality squeezed into them all the time. Simultaneously, there are exacting pressures being placed upon engineers to lengthen the period these devices can last between battery recharges and bring device models to market with sleeker fo

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Date:

06/13/2016

Efficient gas turbine operation

Francis Mashintonio, TE Connectivity

Gas turbines incorporate a variety of control valves, each performing a different function such as regulating or preventing gas flow. The precise monitoring and controlling of flow from these valves enables turbines to operate efficiently with minimal wasted energy. Though actuators move the valve

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Date:

06/13/2016

eGaN vs. Silicon

Dr. John Glaser & Dr. David Reusch, Efficient Power Conversion

There have been several comparisons of eGaN FETs with silicon MOSFETs in a variety of applications, including hard-switched, soft-switched, and high-frequency power conversion. These studies have shown that eGaN FETs have large efficiency and power density advantages over silicon MOSFETs. Here we’ll focus on

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Date:

06/13/2016

Sensing-first design is key to advanced wearables

Ambiq Micro

Now that the first generation of mass-market consumer wearables are on the shelves, we can take a step back and analyze the issues that they have encountered and begin to architect a new generation that improves on their design. Key issues that are apparent are the need for greater battery autonomy – consumers wa

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Date:

06/13/2016

Automating cleaning processes

Ed Sullivan, JST Manufacturing

The consistent purity of materials used to fabricate components of electronic devices can have a critical impact on their performance. For example, producing semiconductor-grade silicon used for electronic chips involves upstream cleaning of polysilicon chunks to a purity of has high as 11N, which translates to

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Date:

06/13/2016