Technical Features

November 2021
QSPICE: A Mission to Get SPICE Right

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Figure 1: MOSFET channel punch-through showing outputs from previous SPICE simulators vs. QSPICE

Qorvo’s QSPICE™ simulator for analog and mixed-signal simulation provides power designers with the tools to confidently evaluate their designs. Free to use, QSPICE improves SPICE basics, supports large amounts of digital logic without performance penalties, and delivers the speed and accuracy needed for rel
Date:
11/29/2024
The Race to Automotive Electrification: What it Takes to Win

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Figure 1: By 2030, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) will account for 45% of all xEVs

For years, automakers have been continuously challenged with the need for more power. In the early days, cars were powered with a six-volt battery right up to the mid 1950s when automotive systems evolved to a 12V power source to meet the perpetual need for more power. Not only did automakers have to anticipate ne
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Date:
11/22/2021
Power Supply Requirements for High Power Medical Applications

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Figure 1: MEAN WELL High Power Medical Grade Power Supplies

As of 2020, data compiled by Statista indicates that the market size of the global medical technology industry is about half a trillion in US dollars. With a market that size comes a high demand for effective power solutions, including those classified as high power. However, not just any high-power solution wi
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Date:
11/12/2021
Key Factors in Selecting a DIN Rail Power Solution

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Figure 1: DIN Rail Power Supply

According to data compiled by Statista, the factory automation and industrial controls market amounted to approximately $164 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow to $262 billion by 2023. This increasing need for industrial automation has been driven by several circumstances, including the growing popularity of
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Date:
11/12/2021
Trapezoidal Commutation for Brushless DC Motors

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Figure 1: Key Functional Blocks of BLDC Power Tool

Introduction Brushless DC Motors (BLDC) have been increasingly used in industry, due to demand for improved functionality, precision, and better utilization of primary energy sources. BLDC features include large torque-to-volume ratio, high reliability, small size, and low cost. There are two major commutation
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Date:
11/09/2021
Don't Sacrifice Performance for Environmental Concerns

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Figure 1: Block Diagram of Subway/Light rail Traction and Auxiliary Unit

High performance and higher efficiency are common trends in most technologies, but particularly in transportation applications where the potential for significant environmental impact on a global scale is high. Greener, cleaner ideals are taking the lead in defining new goals for how technology must balance pe
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Date:
11/01/2021
MCU Power Architecture Takes Battery Life to the Limit

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Figure 1: Power consumption model

The spectacular growth of the IoT is driving the need to develop new, battery powered sensing devices, that are smarter, faster and can last for longer on smaller, cheaper batteries. To satisfy the demand for higher performance, we must steal time from many of the other system components, reallocating the time -
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Date:
11/01/2021
Best Practices to Enhance Industrial Cybersecurity – Energy Storage System

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Figure 1. Typical scenario of an energy storage system.

In this article, we will share the best practices to safeguard critical infrastructure: the energy storage system for the renewable energy sector. When it comes to renewable energy, we often think of solar or wind farms that bring cleaner electricity to global citizens. It is a great initiative that keeps dri
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Date:
11/01/2021
Breaking the Mold – SiC FETs as Circuit Breakers

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Figure 1: A JFET (left), SiC FET cascode (middle) and a dual gate SiC FET cascode (right)

Mechanical circuit breakers provide a secure means to make an almost lossless connection when on, and provide complete isolation when off, but they have their drawbacks. They are relatively slow to make and break and they arc across their contacts, particularly with DC, resulting in a limited operating life. Ne
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Date:
11/01/2021
TLVR High Voltage Considerations

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Figure 1: TLVR schematic

Since TLVR is a relatively new development, particular details and properties are still being studied. This article focuses on the transient behavior of TLVR, which affects isolation requirements for the magnetics, as well as isolation and safety considerations for the whole motherboard. TLVR and Transient
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Date:
11/01/2021
Reducing Resources in EMC Compliant Applications

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Figure 1: EMI immunity of op amps affects system operation

There are growing requirements in many industries for sensing technologies for measuring and control instruments, or for managing small signals. Op amps connect the sensor to the rest of the system. However, today’s systems have much higher component densities, leading to increased noise levels. Installi
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Date:
11/01/2021
Fast Reacting, Optical Encoder Feedback System

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Figure 1. Closed-loop motor control feedback system

Motor rotation information such as position, speed, and direction must be accurate in order to produce precise drivers and controllers across a wide variety of emerging applications—for example, in pick-and-place machines that mount microscopic components in the limited PCB area. Recently, motor controls have be
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Date:
11/01/2021
GaN Devices for Smaller, Lighter, Smoother Motor Drives

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Figure 1: Voltage modulation and phase current at 20 kHz with 500 ns dead time

So far, silicon-based power devices have been dominant in the inverter electronics, but today their performance is nearing their theoretical limits. There is an increasing need for higher power density. Gallium nitride (GaN) transistors and ICs have the best attributes to satisfy these needs. The superior
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Date:
11/01/2021
Factory Calibrated Configurable IO-Module Brings the Wiring Cabinet to You

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Figure 1: Technician adjusting connections at wiring closet

Connecting sensors and actuators to a process controller at the wiring cabinet is still a manually intensive and sometimes frustrating task. For example, if a process modification means a valve being driven by a Digital Output (DO) voltage must be changed to one using a 4-20mA Analog Output (AO) current, a technician mu
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Date:
11/01/2021
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