Now appearing in the January 4th issue of EETimes Technical Paper Highlights....
A solar cell's typical voltage is 0.7 V. Many panels have eight cells in series and are capable of producing 5.6 V at most. This paper identifies key concerns in implementing such a modification and provides a design example using TI's bq24650 solar battery charger. Click here to read....
The MSP430 Energy Watchdog Tool is a smart plug reference design from Texas Instruments that can be used to measure energy consumption of electrical appliances. I recently recorded a video of the Energy Watchdog measuring energy consumption of common household electrical appliances like laptops and table lamps. I also wanted to see how much energy is consumed in an office environment and decided to use the Energy Watchdog…
Myths about DSP versus ASIC have been around for a long time. And, we don’t talk much about ASIP’s. TI has sold application-specific instruction set processors (ASIP’s) for a long time; but we haven’t actually called them that nor have we articulated the benefits of these. Over time, the perception has been that DSP’s are more expensive and power hungry compared to ASIC devices…
Texas Instruments is demonstrating Smart Energy Profile 2.0 featuring Stellaris micro controller and TI ZigBee Transceiver!
In the smart grid space, Smart Energy 2.0 is bringing IP connectivity to end point devices and is a key piece for the future of Smart Homes and Smart Buildings. For instance consumer will be able to remotely monitor their energy usage and control their appliances via a smart phone.
The combination…
The recent heat wave in Texas has been accompanied by warnings from ERCOT (Electricity Reliability Council Of Texas) about rolling blackouts - intentional and temporary interruptions in the electrical supply to different areas of the grid on a rolling basis. As the mercury rises, air conditioning systems have to work extra hard to keep homes and businesses at comfortable temperatures. This greatly increases electricity…
Just five years ago, we started to hear about the electronic electricity meter, or eMeter. Why the interest in this technology? Well, an eMeter can report electricity usage faster, cheaper and more reliably than its traditional mechanical counterparts. The long-term cost savings for utility companies using an eMeter balances out the high cost of a system-wide infrastructure upgrade. Throw in some government assistance…
Soaring and fluctuating fossil fuel prices have become a reality reflecting our strong dependence on fossil fuels. Furthermore, the forecasted demand in energy is expected to double through 2030 and could outstrip supply, resulting in an anticipated increase in energy prices. This paves the way for opportunities to advance and implement clean (alternative) energy technologies such as solar and wind. Solar …
Excellent fundamentals course on EETimes by Jon Donovan, Editor/Publisher of Low-Power Design and Low-Power Wireless at http://www.eetimes.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/courses/4210397/Fundamentals-of-Solar--Grid-Connected?isredirect=true. Good overview with solid technical depth. In interest of transparency, it is TI-sponsored but it is not about TI.
Halloween has come and gone and my son’s vampire costume is back in its storage box. Three years running – the kid only wants to be a vampire. The energy geek in me can’t see his costume without thinking of the common “vampire power” terminology that’s been around the last few years. If you’re not familiar with the term, check this out: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets…
C2000 helps to beat world record!
This year the a car developed by the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg http://www.fh-offenburg.de with the help of Evomotiv http://www.evomotiv.de/ is participating South African Solar Challenge with the goal to beat the world record in driving an electric car as far as possible without recharging the batteries. This means to drive more than 1200km without recharging.
The car is…
I mentioned in my last post (about 4,000 gallons of gas) that this time I would discuss the real reason carmakers are rushing to get EVs on the streets. The short answer is that it's not about us, it's about them.
Generally, companies make products to solve a problem or fill a need, and in return, that get paid for that product - hopefully enough to make a profit. Many times the equation gets more complicated…
Last month, Olivier Monnier described the challenges of power line communications technology and the need for robustness. The issue of the main line varying grid by grid, region by region and even the grid topology changing country by country. For example, in certain Asian countries one transformer can lead to hundreds or even thousands of meters versus some places in the United States where one transformer is only connected…
Before I get to the 4,000 gallons, I want to quickly mention something I thought was entertaining. In my last post I talked about the impact of the word "Electric" and to my surprise, I saw a quote last week from a carmaker saying "... we’re going to position this as a car first and 'electric' second …" - probably pure coincidence ... or maybe my audience is larger than I thought…
The first decade of the 21st century saw the birth of the hybrid vehicle thanks to the jump in gas prices during 2008 and the resulting rush to buy every hybrid in stock – it was a lot like the excitement that occurs every time a new smart phone is introduced.
With over a million hybrid cars sold during the last decade, I’m not sure we’re going to see the same level of interest with electric vehicles and part…
Register today for EDN's Smart Energy Editorial Webcast featuring Texas Instruments Fellow and Engineering Manager, Dave Freeman. Please find more information below!
Smart Energy: How to Measure It, How to Manage It
Date: August 24, 2010
Time: 12:00 PM ET | 9 AM PT
Duration: 1 Hour + Q&A
Smart
energy meters for the smart grid are just one example of how important
it will be to measure power usage at the application…
Eighteen months ago, if someone would have asked me about Power Line
Communication (PLC) modem the discussion would have been about Europe
and the smart electrical meters deployment.
Today
the picture has evolved: new regions, new customers, new applications
are now looking toward Power Line Communication Solutions.
As an important aspect of smart grid communication technology, there is no doubt that PLC modem is…
The LED lighting industry continues to evolve and define itself. Replacing filament technologies like incandescent, halogen and gas technology like CFL with LED based Lighting sources in residential and commercial lamps and luminaires have a clear energy consumption advantage. LED lamps and luminaires, in theory, have a much longer life than the aforementioned technologies. Therefore…
It is no surprise that the birth of the semiconductor chip (IC) industry has boosted technology and manufacturing to a large extent in the photovoltaic (PV) industry. Both of them use single crystal silicon wafers (to a large extent for now in the PV industry) and fabrication techniques and tools that bear a lot of similarity. In spite of these commonalities, they have diverged away from each other as they matured.
Increase…
Last week TI announced that the U.S. Green Building Council® (USGBC) has awarded its new assembly/test facility in the Clark Zone, Philippines a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, distinguishing the site as the first Gold-certified facility in the Philippines.
The newly constructed 780,000 square foot facility is located on the former USA Clark airbase in the Pampanga province…
The LED Reference Design Cookbook has been updated with 13 new reference designs. The Cookbook contains 30 designs to provide engineers with a valuable tool to help solve their lighting design needs. Customers seeking the latest in innovative and affordable LED lighting solutions can benefit from TI’s broad product portfolio of AC/DC, DC/DC, LED drivers, power management devices, wireless and wired interface control and…
Thomas Friedman plans new Chapter 18 for "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" (#4 on NYT Best Seller list). http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/
Check out page 281 where Friedman explores how "designing green was how [TI] saved green."
Migrated from tinergy.net and posted by TI communicators who follow the ever evolving world of power and energy. The team maintained tinergy.net and blogged about TI’s new innovation announcements…
There is an interesting emerging angle to the green movement known as the cradle to cradle concept. The concept is that all products exist in a never ending cycle -- "birth to rebirth" not "birth to death" -- and waste is minimized or eliminated at every step. Our own Debbie Greenstreet, marketing manager for TI's wireless infrastructure business, recently learned how TI is participating in this cycle. On the "birth,…
Today, TI announced a solution that combines its ultra-low power technology with the ability to send information wirelessly with a low power TI radio frequency (RF) transceiver - all on one tiny chip. The new CC430 technology platform will bring intelligence to a range of applications in which low power, small size and wireless connectivity are crucial.
Texas Instruments is stepping up its involvement with the Solar Decathlon by sponsoring the University of Illinois team for the 2009 competition.
As a bit of background, the Solar Decathlon is a DOE-sponsored, bi-annual contest to design, build and operate the most attractive, energy efficient homes, which will be on display on the Mall in Washington D.C. In 2009, the event will be held from October 9 -18. The University…
There are many museums lining the mall in Washington D.C. These museums focus on history. For the past two weeks a museum of the future was placed on the mall as the Solar Decathlon competition took place. It was a village like no other – twenty student designed and built solar homes all striving to drive further development and acceptance of energy and resource efficiency and solar power.
Two years ago I attended…
