Use of a negative gate drive can lead to a larger voltage drop during deadtime and severe losses. Andrea Gorgerino, EPC GaN devices have gone from initial R&D to mainstream designs over the last 15 years. Unfortunately there are many misunderstandings left-over from those early-stage developments or dead-end technology branches. One of the most pernicious […]
Improving battery power efficiency for IoT devices
Nanopower ship mode and sleep mode can be optimized to reduce power consumption. Suryash Rai • Analog Devices Inc. In the connected world of the internet, power management is an important way to boost the efficiency of IoT applications. In most situations, the sensor node (data acquisition element) sits in a remote area and is […]
How input high-Z technology keeps down ADC power and size
Muxed SAR ADCs equipped with high-impedance technology can substantially reduce circuit footprint and energy use without compromising performance and accuracy. Sanjay Rajasekhar, Arvind Shankar • Analog Devices Inc. Muxed successive approximation register analog-to-digital converters (SAR ADCs) find use in applications that must constantly monitor multiple critical variables. In optical communications, laser biasing could be monitored […]
Book review: Dead Simple Python
Dead Simple Python, by Jason C. McDonald Readers may initially see the title of this book and think it entails a “for dummies” type presentation of Python. Not at all. McDonald, a software engineer, has written a +700-page treatise on Python that is aimed at people who already are familiar with some other software language […]
Advanced capacitors enable high-efficiency energy scavenging
Modern tantalum capacitors and supercapacitors make it possible for compact energy harvesting systems to power IoT MCU applications. Ron Demcko, Daniel West, Ashley Stanziola • Kyocera AVX Advanced tantalum capacitors and supercapacitors are enabling advanced ICs to be powered by compact and low-cost energy harvesting and scavenging sources. These developments make possible maintenance-free control systems […]
Where depletion-mode power MOSFETs excel
Depletion-mode MOSFETs have qualities that let them work well in several kinds of power-handling circuits. Aalok Bhatt, José Padilla, Raymon Zhou • Littelfuse, Inc. Most MOSFETs are enhancement-mode (EM) devices: When their gate-source voltage is zero, they don’t conduct. When the need is for a switch that is normally on when there is no power […]
Selecting and applying programmable power supplies
A system-level view of testing is helpful when specifying power requirements. Jeff Brakley • Ametek Programmable Power Inc. There are numerous options available for programmable dc power supplies. Users can select from a wide range of voltage, current, and power ratings. Other specifications include input voltage, output voltage regulation, output ripple and noise, and transient […]
Interconnections for EV powertrain systems
Space constraints that characterize electric vehicle systems put special demands on connectors that must handle high power and rising data rates. Giorgio Potenza • Harwin There are six main systems directly associated with an electric vehicle (EV) powertrain. They consist of the onboard charger (OBC), the battery pack, the battery management system (BMS) that monitors […]
Calculations reveal the value of efficiency
A few back-of-the-envelope estimates show why it pays to maximize power supply efficiency. Chris Harman • Puls l.p. Engineers are becoming more sensitive to efficiency when selecting a power supply. Energy flows through the supply, and something less than 100% of that energy can be used because of inefficiencies of power supply components. The difference […]
Vertical power delivery enables cutting-edge processing
New architectures deliver more efficient power for today’s unprecedented high-performance computing demands. Ajith Jain • Vicor Corp. High-performance artificial intelligence (AI) processor power levels continue to rise and core voltages are declining with advanced process nodes. These developments are challenging power system designers with managing ever-rising power delivery network (PDN) impedance voltage drops, voltage gradients […]
