Automotive on-board chargers and server power supplies are highly constrained system environments where power density is a primary metric. It’s important to reduce the volume of the electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter components so that the solution can fit into demanding form factors.
Common-mode (CM) filters for these and other high-density applications…
For more than a decade, TI’s Power Stage Designer tool has been a great design aid for electrical engineers when calculating the currents and voltages of different power-supply topologies. I believe it is an easy tool to start a new power-supply design, because it executes all calculations in real time, and you get direct feedback.
Our latest version of Power Stage Designer includes a new topology and two new design…
With energy storage systems prices becoming more affordable and electricity prices going up, the demand for renewable energy sources is increasing. Many residences now use a combined solar energy generation and battery energy storage system to make energy available when solar power is not sufficient to support demand. Figure 1 illustrates a residential use case and…
Satellite power design has a complex set of trade-offs given that the design has more variables, and the number of semiconductor options are significantly smaller than those in commercial applications. A satellite’s primary power supply is especially important, since if it fails…
Almost all modern-day industrial systems involve an AC/DC power supply, which takes energy from the AC grid and delivers it to electrical equipment as a well-regulated DC voltage. With power consumption increasing around the globe, the associated energy loss in the AC/DC power-conversion process becomes a significant component of the overall energy cost equation for power-supply designers, especially those working on…
The number of semiconductors in nearly every application is multiplying, and many of the design challenges facing electronics engineers all tie back to the need for greater power density. A few example applications come to mind:
As demand for data increases, so does demand for servers and data centers, and thus higher demand for power. Industry trends suggest that power per rack, which was 4 kW in 2020, will be as high as 20 kW in 2025.
Given limited physical real estate available for data centers and servers, the delivery of more power in less area is known as a high power density requirement…
High-voltage industrial and automotive systems such as factory automation equipment, grid infrastructure applications, motor drives and electric vehicles (EVs) can generate several hundred to thousands of volts, which poses a significant safety risk to humans and can reduce equipment lifetimes. This article explains how to keep these HV systems safe by utilizing the…
Relays have been used as switches since before the transistor was invented. The ability to safely control high-voltage systems from lower-voltage signals, as is the case in isolation resistance monitoring, is necessary for the development of many automotive systems. While the technology of electromechanical relays and contactors has improved over the years, it is…
The adoption of gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistor (FET) is rapidly increasing, given its ability to improve efficiency and shrink the size of power supplies. But before investing in the technology, you may still be asking yourself whether GaN is reliable. It strikes me that no one asks whether silicon is reliable. After all, there are still new silicon products coming out all the time, and power-supply designers…
It’s a challenge to create highly efficient and compact designs while also adhering to strict electromagnetic interference (EMI) requirements imposed by groups such as Comité International Spécial des Perturbations Radioélectriques (CISPR). Therefore, component selection becomes a critical part of the design process. As with most design decisions, choosing between…
Gallium nitride (GaN) is a popular topic in the power electronics industry, as it enables designs such as 80 Plus titanium power supplies, 3.8-kW/L electric vehicle (EV) onboard chargers and EV charging stations. In many applications, GaN replaces traditional silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) given its…
From smartphones to cars, consumers are demanding more features packed into increasingly smaller products. To help with this trend, TI has optimized its packaging technology for our semiconductor devices, including the load switches used for subsystem control and power sequencing. Packaging innovation enables greater power density, making it possible…
The world is a noisy place – and power supplies are no exception. In the pursuit of higher efficiency, power converters switching at faster and faster speeds create unintended issues, including increasing the system’s susceptibility to transients and noise. It’s important to consider this susceptibility when choosing how to design your power supplies, and what…
The increasing number of electronic circuits in vehicles is placing greater demand on the amount of power consumed from the battery. The battery supply remains on even when the car is parked or turned off, in order to support such features as remote key entry and security.
Since all vehicles run on a finite battery supply, it’s important to find a way to…
A common definition of quiescent current (IQ) is the current drawn by an integrated circuit (IC) in a no-load and nonswitching but enabled condition. A broader and more useful way to think about it is that quiescent current is the input current consumed by an IC in any number of its ultra-low-power states.
For battery-powered applications, this…
(Co-authored by Alex Pakosta)
Lithium thionyl chloride (LiSOCI2) batteries are popular in smart flow meters because they provide higher energy density and a better cost-per-wattage ratio than battery chemistries such as lithium manganese dioxide (LiMnO2). One disadvantage of LiSOCl2 batteries is poor response to peak loads, which can result in a decrease of the usable battery capacity…
(Co-authored by Wenhao Wu)
Effective ways to implement backup power from supercapacitors
Many modern, smart Internet-of-things (IoT) devices that run from line power need backup power to safely power down or to perform last-gasp communication in the event of an unexpected power outage. For example, an electricity meter could share details about the time, location…
Electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid EVs (HEVs) are changing, as are the electronics inside them. The increasing amount of electronics plays a significant role in the overall form and function of these vehicles. Drivers, however, haven’t changed; they still expect their EVs and HEVs to drive further without stopping, become more affordable, charge faster, and keep them safe. But…
In part 1 of this series, I reviewed power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) data sheets and explained what’s in the data sheet and more importantly, what’s not, while specifically looking at the temperature dependence of some key MOSFET parameters. In part 2, I’ll focus on voltage-dependent leakage currents – the drain-to-source leakage (I…
The features of a modern buck converter are simply tools to get a job done – and much like the utility belt of a certain Gotham City resident, the configuration and layout of these features were designed with space and flexibility in mind. Whether you wear a cape or not, having quick and easy access to these features means more than just solving design…
Within the last decade, manufacturers of wearable technologies such as smartwatches have made significant advancements in enabling users to track their personal health and fitness in real time. It’s now possible to leverage a wealth of statistics, such as step count, heart rate, oxygen saturation, workout duration and more, and track progress toward fitness goals in a variety of ways…
The constant push for more component integration and greater power density, on top of demanding project schedules, can leave engineers in difficult situations when designing a system power architecture. Looking specifically at test and measurement or optical module applications, the problem statement is no longer limited to the area (x-axis and y-axis) of the design; rather, it…
If you’re designing with controllers for industrial equipment, you’ve likely asked yourself such questions as:
Some of…
For athletes to perform at their highest level – to run a mile in less than five minutes or leap into the air and dunk a basketball – they need strong muscles. The heart supplies blood through the veins to the muscles to enable movements such as gripping an object with your hand or moving a finger when your brain instructs it to. But without muscles, these spectacular…
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