Technical Features

October 2019

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Figure 1: The new Vicor BCM6135 enables the size and weight of an active suspension system to be reduced by half and provide symmetrical bidirectional power for highly efficiency energy recuperation.

Active Suspension Comes of Age Bolstered by High Density Power Modules

Chris Levasseur, Automotive Research Assistant, Vicor

Picture this. You are taking a trip to the city with some friends in your economy car, and you encounter an atrocious stretch of road. As you endure the bumpiest ride you have ever faced, you are passed by a sleek sedan, easily going twice your speed. ‘That can’t be comfortable’ you think to yourself, bu

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Date:

12/31/2024

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Figure 1: Contact wear in an electromechanical relay

Moving from Electromechanical to Solid-State in Relays and Circuit Breakers

By Giovanbattista Mattiussi, Product Marketing Manager, Infineon Technologies

As a mature technology, electromechanical relays and circuit breakers are well established, however they continue to suffer from some inherent weaknesses. Moving to solid-state technology can address these but introduces its own challenges. So, what is the right solution? In the movies, whenever the lights go

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Date:

10/31/2019

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Figure 1. Electrical schematic of the two terminal, bipolar, adjustable power supply.

Bipolar Power Supplies Based on the Common Buck Converter

Victor Khasiev, Senior Applications Engineer, Analog Devices

A bench-top power supply (PS) tends to have an even number of terminals (ignoring the chassis port)—with one positive terminal and one negative terminal. Using a bench-top supply to produce a positive polarity output is easy: set the minus output to GND and the positive output voltage at the plus output. It is

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Date:

10/29/2019

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Figure 1. Solar panels deployed on a satellite (Image courtesy of NASA)

GaN in Space

Steve Taranovich, Eta Kappa Nu Member and an IEEE Life Senior Member

The commercial space sector led by Space X and Blue Origin, plus companies like Northrop Grumman and Boeing, have given new life and accelerated NASA’s plans for the journey to Mars. The addition of the Artemis program, to establish a Moon base for the first leg of exploration and mining in the mid-2020s, will

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Date:

10/29/2019