Technical Features

April 2023
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
Empowering Your Charging Needs with Efficient and Scalable Multi-Port Chargers and Adapters

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Figure 1: High-level block diagram of a multi-port adapter

Introduction As portable electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops have become an integral part of our lives, the need for faster charging has grown tremendously. The Power Delivery (PD) technology is designed to provide the fastest charging possible through a USB Type-C (USB-C) cable. T
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Date:
04/29/2023
DC-DC Converters for NewSpace Applications

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Figure 1: FPATM vs. traditional, intermediate architecture

­Smaller satellites harvest less energy and with operators increasingly using faster and more on-board processing, as much of the possible power budget should be available for the payload. Traditional power-distribution architectures comprising an isolated DC-DC to step-down the external bus input, followed by
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Date:
04/01/2023
Simple and Rapid Development of Brushless Motors

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Figure 1: The Clicker 4 evaluation board for TMPM4K

­Electrical motors in general are becoming more prevalent and have advanced significantly, especially regarding magnetics and design. This, along with size reduction and technology advances, have resulted in enhanced efficiency, faster speeds, reduced audible noise, and improved dynamic response. Especially the contr
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Date:
04/01/2023
Power is Vital to Long-Term Space Exploration

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Figure 1: Solid State Lighting to grow vegetables in indoor farming (source PRBX / asharkyu-Shutterstock)

­Visiting the moon, Mars and who knows where next, is far from being an easy job as sustaining life in such hostile environments is much more than just ‘a challenge’. How would we feed the space explorers when they are so far from Earth? In the case of Mars, it would take 210 days for a re-supply rocket to
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Date:
04/01/2023
Finding the Right Interconnects for eVTOL Aircraft Applications

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Figure 1: Harwin’s Gecko-SL connectors

­Business is returning to normal for the aerospace industry, and manufacturers can start investing in future aircraft development. One area attracting both start-ups and established aerospace brands is electrically powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. In 2020, the global eVTOL aircraft
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Date:
04/01/2023
Effective Protection Techniques for Industrial Communications

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Figure 1: The graph shows AC voltage on a RS-485 line caused by a nearby AC power line

­Industrial control communications that use a variety of data bus and control line protocols are susceptible to damaging transients from ESD, load switching, coupled AC energy and induced surges from nearby lightning strikes that can impede the monitoring of sensors and switches as well as the control of industrial mo
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Date:
04/01/2023
Accuracy and Precision in High-Voltage Power Supplies

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Figure 1: The difference between accuracy and precision

­Power rails for high-voltage applications often require tight load and line regulation with low noise. This article discusses how ‘precision’ and ‘accuracy’ are separate considerations and how they are typically achieved in a power converter design. The terms ‘accurate’ and ‘precise’ are, well
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Date:
04/01/2023
Considerations in Choosing a Medical AC-DC Power Supply

Considerations in Choosing a Medical AC-DC Power Supply

­Choosing a power supply for medical equipment applications can be challenging, to ensure that the correct qualified power supply is chosen. The following article is intended to dispel some of the uncertainty and provide a brief overview of some of the terminology and some of the areas to be considered in the fi
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Date:
04/01/2023
Designing Dual-Role, USB Type-C Integrated Battery Management Solution for Single-Cell Batteries

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Figure 1: Traditional Architecture of a USB Type-C Port

­The European Commission (EC) recently approved a mandate in June 2022 requiring the next generation of portable devices to be compatible with USB Type-C charging connectors in efforts to reduce e-waste. Compared with older micro-USB and USB Type-A ports, the USB Type-C port offers several advantages for
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Date:
04/01/2023
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