Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced the industry’s first power device analyzer for circuit design. The Agilent B1506A is a single-box solution that automatically characterizes all power device parameters across a wide range of operating conditions and temperatures (-50 °C to +250 °C, at up to 1500 amps and 3 kV. Circuit designers employ power devices in a wide range of products,
Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will introduce today the highest performing III-V metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistors (FETs) at the 2014 Symposium on VLSI Technology. The UCSB research promises to help deliver higher semiconductor performance at lower power consumption levels for next-generation, high-performance servers. The research is supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world’s
The global market for AC-DC and DC-DC power supplies rose by a modest 2.4 percent last year, but much of this growth was limited to specific markets, leading to some substantial shifts in the rankings of major players, according to a new report from IHS Technology. The top 10 in 2013 together accounted for 53 percent, or more than half,
The Alstom-Saft consortium has signed a frame contract with the EDF Group to supply an initial energy storage system using a container of Lithium-ion batteries, demonstrating the system’s ability to regulate the frequency of the grid. Alstom’s MaxSine™ eStorage solution, connected to Saft’s Intensium® Max 20M storage system, will be installed on EDF R&D’s experimental “Concept Grid”, dedicated to the
Maxwell Technologies, Inc. announced the latest addition to its K2 series of ultracapacitor cells. The new 2.85-V, 3400-Farad ultracapacitor cell increases the range of available specific power and stored energy in the industry-standard 60 mm cylindrical “K2” form factor, and introduces DuraBlue Shock and Vibration Technology, the newest innovation in ultracapacitor reliability and performance. DuraBlue Technology is tested to some
Why do lithium batteries degrade over time? US Researchers have collaborated to discover more about the mechanisms behind this degradation, with promises of improved battery life. Lithium batteries are used today to power many portable electronics devices. But lithium-ion batteries suffer nano-scale structural damage with each charge and discharge cycle. In two recent Nature Communications papers, scientists from several U.S.
Dialog has launched a MediaTek Pump Express Plus-compatible iW1788 AC/DC controller. Pump Express Plus is MediaTeks’s proprietary fast charge protocol that supports high power chargers with an output of 15W or more and reduces typical mobile device recharge times by up to 50%. The iW1788 quickly follows Dialog’s recent introduction of its iW1680 Pump Express-compatible, 5W / 7.5W AC/DC controller
Texas Instruments today announced a new power line communication (PLC) modem platform that supports the G3, PRIME and IEEE-1901.2 standards across both CENELEC and ARIB frequency bands. The new optimized TMDSPLCKITV4 kits provide developers with a smaller low-cost design to evaluate any narrowband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) PLC technology standard for use in a variety of industrial systems such as
Not everyone is an expert power supply designer, but those who are not may need to create a power supply design for your product in spite of the fact that you are not a power supply guru. Well, I really like it when a supplier creates another great tool for designers to get their product to market quicker so they
STMicroelectronics NV has added a new family of Field-Effect Rectifier diodes (FERD) that offers a unique trade-off between low forward voltage drop (VF) and low leakage current (IR) that allows designers of equipment such as battery chargers and notebook adaptors to meet the most stringent energy-efficiency standard requirements without the expense of using synchronous rectification techniques. Standards such as Energy