Technical Features

October 2023

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Figure 1: Some battery chemistries compared

An Integrated Solution to Li-ion Battery Management

John Carpenter, Product Development Manager, Qorvo

This article discusses the issue and describes cost-effective integrated solutions that can also add extra user benefits, including state-of-charge and state-of-health monitoring. Going back in history, perhaps hundreds of chemistries have been proposed for batteries. These have ranged from the original copper,

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Date:

11/30/2023

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Figure 1: Conversion to 48V system reduces vehicle total current draw from over 250A to under 75A without impacting the electrical content of the vehicle

BEVs Have a Weight Problem That Can’t Be Solved with Traditional Approaches

Noa Margolin, R&D Engineer, Vicor Corporation

Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) have a serious weight problem and not the type Weight Watchers® can fix. Many BEVs are as much as 33% heavier than their internal combustion engine vehicle (ICE) counterparts. The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board noted “The Ford F-150 Lightning is between 2,000

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Date:

10/31/2023

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Figure 1: Examples of 3φ4W (left) and 3φ3W (right) Δ and Y configurations for AC power delivery. (Image: MEAN WELL)

High Wattage HVDC Power Supplies Operate with Single- and Three-Phase Inputs to Support Application Flexibility

MEAN WELL Product Manager, Kai Li, Sager Electronics Technical Support Manager for Power, Don Baldwin

Highly flexible, high-wattage AC/DC power supplies that can operate with a choice of three-wire or four-wire three-phase and single-phase input power provide a selection of direct high-voltage current (HVDC) outputs like 115, 230, and 380 volts DC (Vdc) that are variable from 1 to 120 percent of rated voltage, s

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Date:

10/03/2023

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Figure 1: These 10-kW digital HVDC power supplies are available with CANBus, MODBus, and PMBus communications making them suited for a wide range of high-power applications. (Image: MEAN WELL)

Digital High DC Voltage Power Supplies Provide Efficient and Reliable Industrial Power

MEAN WELL Product Manager, Kai Li, and Sager Electronics Technical Support Manager for Power, Don Baldwin

A growing number of industrial systems require direct current (dc) voltages greater than 60 volts (V) and use power supplies with outputs of 115, 230, and even 380 Vdc to support applications like charging green energy storage systems and electric vehicles, powering communications and computing systems, UV curi

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Date:

10/03/2023

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Figure 1: A T1L-enabled building controller

Enabling Sustainable Building Management Systems

Salem Gharbi, Systems Applications Engineer, Analog Devices

With its 10Mbps data rate, support for various topologies, and power over a single-twisted pair cable, 10BASE-T1L provides seamless Ethernet connectivity to DDC controllers and edge nodes in point-to-point, ring, and line network configurations. It offers real-time control and overcomes the limitations of pr

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Avoid Energy Challenges Through Partial Discharge Monitoring

Matthew Sands, Power Systems Marketing Manager, Schneider Electric UK & Ireland

It has never been so tough to run a business in the UK. The first quarter of 2023 saw the largest net decrease in business numbers, with over 105,000 closing and just 79,000 opening. At a time where all sectors are feeling the squeeze of rising running costs and high energy bills due to months of inflation an

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Figure 1: Current IIoT Edge to Cloud Infrastructure

How a Unified IOT Controller Can Simplify Smart Factory Installations

Mikko Saarnivala, Technical Director, Silicon Labs

The technologies underlying IoT devices could also benefit the industrial sector. This resulted in the proliferation of ‘The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)’ edge devices (sensors and actuators) using various wireless communications protocols. In theory, this flexibility should be a welcome development, bu

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Figure 1a. Heat pump in cooling mode

Building Efficient, Safe, and Reliable Smart Cities Begins with Robust Heat Pump Design

Ryan Sheahen, Littelfuse, Inc.

The biggest megatrend for smart cities is improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. Developing smart electronics designs for heat pumps, water heaters, metering, and thermostats is mission-critical to achieving success. This article will help electronics design engineers improve their new he

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Figure 1: The application of safety capacitors in an electric vehicle's onboard charging circuit

High-Voltage Capacitors for Next-Generation EVs

Moaz Elghazali, Ph.D. Product Engineer – Murata

The automotive industry is currently undergoing one of the most significant changes it has seen. Whereas development within the sector has been more evolutionary for the past few decades, the transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) to hybrid and battery electric vehicles (EVs) is far more revolutionary.Besides th

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Figure 1: Reading MOSFET RDS(on) from a standard datasheet

Multi-Dimensional MOSFET Modeling With Interactive Datasheets

Stein Nesbakk, Nexperia

Datasheets are often long and cumbersome, meaning locating and interpreting the required information is not always trivial. Furthermore, the meaning of the listed parameters is rarely explained in the datasheets, and even the slight differences in how they are interpreted can be critical for how a device behaves in

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Figure 1: Field Trench Stop IGBT Structure

All You Need to Know About Using IGBTs

Jinchang Zhou, Product Line Manager, onsemi

The medium-to-high power applications that used IGBTs still exist, as do the devices themselves. In this article we will take a detailed look at IGBTs and then consider existing and emerging topologies that they are suitable for. IGBTs: Physical Structure An IGBT is a semiconductor transistor, or semi

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Date:

10/01/2023

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Figure 1: Installers can encourage battery uptake by educating homeowners on value stacking. Time of use savings, load shifting, oversizing and smart product selection are all key to increasing the profitability of energy storage

Keeping California Golden

Amir Cohen, General Manager, SolarEdge

For several years, driven by lucrative financial incentives, California saw a massive increase in solar installations. However, with the changes to net metering incentives introduced in April, homeowners and installers alike are faced with the unknown. California is appropriately named the Golden State, no

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Date:

10/01/2023