Technical Features

May 2016

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Figure 1: Power stage of the flyback converter (simplified)

Eleazar Falco, FAE, Würth Elektronik eiSos / Editor, Gerhard Stelzer

Isolated flyback converters often use optocouplers in the feedback loop to regulate the output voltage. As part of the compensation circuit, its parameters such as CTR influence the control loop and must be taken into account in the flyback converter design. The flyback converter is an isolated switching power

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Date:

04/01/2024

Quiescent current in power supply designs

Meng He, Maxim Integrated

Now more than ever, the blooming of the Internet of Things (IoT) has been putting emphasis on the longevity of battery life. Every IoT node demands a battery to operate. A household of two people can have anywhere from 20 to 60 batteries in use at any time, and consumers can’t be burdened with the need to ch

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Date:

05/07/2016

Fast switching just got safer

Ashish Gokhale, Isolation Products Manager, Silicon Labs

Isolated power supply systems are prevalent in server systems, industrial applications, and telecommunication and networking equipment. In this bandwidth-hungry age of the Internet of Things (IoT), a growing number of these systems need to be efficiently powered, driving up the need for power-efficient, cost-effective so

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Date:

05/07/2016

Powering the IoT future

Rob Morris, Country Manager for Powervar UK

In the age of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) economy, smartphones are replacing hotel keys, and facilities managers (FM) are beginning to notice the reward in using big data to monitor customer behavior in hotels, shops and restaurants, as well as monitoring employee engagement and wellbeing in offices. By

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Date:

05/07/2016

High isolation voltage flyback transformer - Part 2

Edgar C. Taculog, TT Electronics

Part 1 of this article provided an overview of TT Electronics’ AEC Q200 qualified and certified transformers, which are optimized for use with a gate drive optocoupler to improve and simplify the design of isolated power supplies. This introduction looked at the theory of operation and how this impacts on ke

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Date:

05/07/2016

Advanced overvoltage protection

Carlos Augusto Schlabitz Filho, EPCOS

Overvoltages and the associated high surge currents can damage, or even destroy electrical and electronic devices. Reliable overvoltage protection is therefore essential. On the basis of a new ceramic material, TDK has now developed a high-surge series of multilayer varistors that combine compact dimensions wi

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Date:

05/07/2016

From toys to tools

By Siegfried Krainer and Michael Thomas, Infineon Technologies and Ronald Staerz, MCI Innsbruck

Initially regarded as toys, multicopters are now serious business. From simple surveying to future delivery solutions, entire businesses are emerging around the design, supply and use of multicopters. With increased adoption comes increased regulation and the multicopter itself needs to be capable of being piloted in

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Date:

05/04/2016

Precision counts in motion

Grainne Murphy and Colm Prendergast, Analog Devices

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is simply the concept of connecting any device with a sensor or controller to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cell phones, appliances, cars machines, components of machines, wearable devices and anything else you can think of. But the principle of

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Date:

05/04/2016

Accurate current measurement and reporting

Lemuel Thompson and Roy Alan Hastings, Texas Instruments

The term “hot swap” refers to the practice of inserting or removing modules from a powered system. Hot-swap controllers are sometimes categorized together with power distribution switches; however, there are key differences that must be understood for proper system design. A hot-swap controller uses an external se

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Date:

05/04/2016

Do You Have a Plan B?

Tony Armstrong, Linear Technology

Being a Sci-Fi geek, I am a fan of the late 1950’s Hollywood “cheesy” low budget Ed Wood movies typical of this genre. One of my favorite films is “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” in which aliens come to Earth to stop humanity from building a doomsday weapon that could destroy the entire universe. However, th

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Date:

05/04/2016