The quest for energy efficiency has focused attention on those components of the power electronics that can connect hundreds of volts and amps in inverters with exceptional efficiency. We are talking about modern power switches – IGBTs and SIC-FETs – and how the voltage supplied to the respective gate drivers is
The trend in consumer electronics has always been to make them faster, smarter, and with ever-expanding capabilities. But waterproofing has become the new focus of global electronics manufacturers and most brands are rushing to include this benefit to ensure they are not left behind in this ultra-competitive ma
Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) in chipscale surface-mount packages are widely used in electronics for consumer, medical, industrial, automotive, and other applications. Their combination of affordability, compatibility with high-volume assembly, high capacitance values within small dimensions, and high re
High-voltage IGBT-modules usually consist of two types of IC, an IGBT for the transistor and a diode for the freewheeling functionality. A device that combines both functions in a single die is known as a reverse conducting IGBT (RC-IGBT). These modules exhibit a lower thermal resistance when compared to an IG
People don’t think about engineers much, and in general engineers are looked upon in a positive light. Unless something goes wrong with something. In the marketplace, engineering is usually the first direction people point fingers when problems occur in a product.
Unsafe and/or malfunctioning products are proble
Here we’ll look at how a rugged and flexible control can be rapidly implemented using an 8-bit microcontroller with analog blocks. For many custom power supplies, this provides an optimum combination of noise immunity, high performance, short development time, and digital flexibility.
Analog PWM control circu
Equipment designs increasingly utilize advanced MCU, DSP and FPGA devices to deliver the functionality and performance demanded of them. With this sophistication comes the challenge of providing the multiple power rails these devices require. The use of carefully chosen power modules can significantly ease this ta
AVX, a leading manufacturer and supplier of passive components and interconnect solutions, has released a new series of low profile, low pass filters with best-in-class performance. Based on AVX’s patented and proven multilayer organic (MLO®) high density interconnect technology, the new LP Series MLO low pa
Wolfspeed, A Cree Company, and a leading global supplier of GaN-on-SiC high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) with best-in-class reliability, is exhibiting at the 35th annual MILCOM 2016, which will take place November 1 – 3 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Widely recognize
The 600kg flight model of the ExoMars Schiaparelli demonstrator module pictured prior to the start of thermal tests in the ESP70 Thermal Vacuum Chamber at the Thales Alenia Space premises in Cannes, France.
Cheers were heard at Infineon’s headquarters when the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli module touched down on the Red Planet. For the first time in history, a European “ambassador” landed on Mars. And for the second time already, semiconductors from Infineon Technologies are helping in the search fo
Oftentimes, designers of digital cameras, mobile devices and other consumer electronics choose to power their device from two, series-stacked, Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries, yet still desire the capability to charge from a 5-V universal serial bus (USB) port. Boosting a 5-V USB input to charge two series-stacked Li
A key consideration for wireless sensor nodes that will populate the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is battery lifetime. The sensor nodes, in many applications, will need to be installed in locations that are difficult to reach and, consequently, service. Because it is too costly and difficult to run power li
Continuing the old story-telling tone which began the issue, I would like to point your attention to the centuries-old proverb “For want of a nail” which describes a chain of events and their consequences from a small error snowballing into catastrophe. There are many lessons to draw from this, from the im
LGA package technology can deliver important advantages for the high-performance Point-Of-Load converters needed to feed power-hungry, fast-reacting data centers and network infrastructure. As the power demands of high-performance Cloud and telecom computing systems continue to increase, converter modules that of
Howard Peat, Microlease, & Giacomo Tuveri, Keysight Technologies
Having a good grasp of how measurement tools actually operate can provide valuable insight into how test methods can be improved. Setups can subsequently be made simpler and more effective, plus test performance parameters can be significantly raised. This is true for any sphere of technology that requires the ca
Dr. Ray Ridley and Dr. Vatché Vorpérian, for Ridley Engineering
Here we’ll explore the analytical transfer function for the tightly-coupled Sepic converter. It is shown that the control-to-output function is just second-order, not fourth-order like the conventional Sepic converter [1]. The coupling capacitor of the converter has no effect on the control, and it can be ma
Nazzareno (Reno) Rossetti and Tony Partow. Maxim Integrated
Automated factories employ sensors and I/O modules to control their industrial processes. As they increase in sophistication and shrink in size, they are enabling the fourth industrial revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0. A single module (see Figure 1) can have up to 64 channels, and a typical factory floor may uti
EMC problems in frequency converters occur not only at the input, but also at the output. To ensure reliable elimination of any kind of interference at the output as well, companies like TDK, for example, offer a wide range of EPCOS filters and reactors.
Frequency converters are used for regulating the speed
The role of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is simple in concept: provide a temporary power bridge to support the load between the loss of the utility and the transfer to diesel generators. Even though the task is easy to define, the best way to achieve the goal is often clouded in obscurity as the benefits be
A master supply agreement between e2v, a leader in the high reliability (hi-rel) semiconductor market, and GaN Systems, a leading manufacturer of gallium nitride power transistors, establishes e2v as an international supplier of GaN Systems’ 100V and 650V hi-rel GaN transistor products and customer care for th
Industry 4.0, the latest industrial revolution, is changing the way manufacturing organizations think about production. The aim of Industry 4.0 is to make manufacturing more flexible and responsive to customer needs, providing the ability to make small batches that are tailored to individual customers.
The quantity
