Application Posts

No risk of contact welding or wear out of device

Though the attributes that make silicon carbide (SiC) have undoubted value to the future of power system design, it is not just about what goes on within the semiconductor substrate itself.

Whether they are silicon-based or use silicon carbide (SiC) technology, MOSFETs will experience switching losses that are caused by their body diodes.

The on-resistance (RDS(ON)) of a MOSFET is an intrinsic property that causes static power losses and depends upon the inner structure of the MOSFET.

The voltage applied between the gate and source of a MOSFET during operation is denoted ‘VGS’ and the highest possible value of VGS that can be applied without damage is VGSS. This is important as it simplifies design of the control circuit.

Silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs are able to deliver much more impressive switching characteristics than their silicon-based equivalents.

Over recent years, there has been a lot of talk throughout the power electronics industry about the exciting performance attributes offered by silicon carbide (SiC). Though there is plenty of information available on this subject, finding a way of translating it into what this actually means for engineers’ designs has still proved difficult. Consequently, many engineers are still reluctant to migrate from the conventional silicon (Si) technology that they are already very familiar with. Unfortunately that means that they are missing out.

Smaller size, greater reliability and no risk of contact shorting

The factory automation sector has seen massive changes due to rapid digitalization and increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, technologies that require the exchange of significant amounts of real-time data.

Modern automobiles have been called ‘computers on wheels’, reflecting just how technology-laden they have become.

A key focus within the automotive sector is implementation of more effective in-vehicle networking infrastructure with elevated data rates being needed.

Supporting mechanical relays – reduce risk of contact stick and weld together

The conventional networking arrangement used in vehicles has been for the constituent electronic control units (ECUs) to be assigned specific individual functions.

Mechanical relays are often a good choice for EV applications as they are able to deal with the high voltages that are found in many use cases. However, one significant concern is if the contacts weld themselves together, risking a permanently ‘on’ condition that could clearly be extremely dangerous.

At a first glance it seems reasonable to want to replace brushed motors with brushless DC (BLDC) motors that offer greater performance and extend battery life

There is significant effort being made to develop next-generation charging infrastructure to support electric vehicles (EVs).

For decades automotive networking was dependent on protocols like CAN and LIN. Unprecedented demand for elevated data rates has led to the widespread adoption by automobile manufacturers of Ethernet interconnection technology. This offers orders of magnitude increases in the bandwidth that can be supported. It is not just a matter of raising speeds though. Other aspects now need to be addressed.

Brushed DC motors have many vital roles to play in modern vehicles. In fact, the 6.5% CAGR predicted by Data Bridge Market Research for these devices will be predominantly driven by automotive applications.

With hundreds of millions of electric vehicles (EVs) being deployed in the next two decades, providing a comprehensive charging infrastructure is critical. Equally critical is the efficiency of these charging points.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are now a major focus for power electronics endeavour, with a large proportion of engineers involved in finding ways to improve their performance and extend their range.

Automotive Ethernet has the capacity needed to support data transfer rates that are orders of magnitude higher than legacy CAN/LIN-based in-vehicle networking protocols.

Brushed DC motors have a vital role to play in modern automobile design, being used in relation to a broad range of different functions.

The number of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads is set to increase dramatically in the years ahead, with 323 million of them being in use by 2040 (according to a study compiled by analyst firm Wood Mackenzie).

While in the past there have been a variety of different data transport technologies that cars have relied upon, there is growing impetus for in-vehicle network infrastructure to be consolidated

Though the pervasiveness of brushless DC (BLDC) motors is increasing all the time within a wide variety of different sectors, in an automobile context the value of brushed motors still remains clear.

Technology is being introduced to vehicles at a pace that has never been seen before and, while the latest vehicles have impressive and extensive features, they run the risk of becoming ‘behind the times’ very rapidly. One area that has changed significantly recently is the provision of fully configurable screens in vehicles. While many vehicles have had a single screen for the satellite navigation and infotainment for some time, it is becoming increasingly common that the instrument cluster is now a fully configurable display. In high-end vehicles there is often a third screen that replaces all (or most) of the buttons, knobs and switches.

Audio in the vehicle is almost as old the automobile itself. Chrylser offered a Westinghouse radio for their vehicles back in the 1920s but at the time the radio would have been as rare as the car itself, bearing in mind it was priced at about half of the vehicle’s cost.

If the person on the street was asked to list the three heaviest components of a conventional car, it is likely that the engine and chassis will come to mind immediately. In today’s world of electric and hybrid vehicles, chances are that the battery may also be proffered as an option. But it unlikely that they would consider the bundles of wires and connectors to be included on such a top-three list. As anyone involved in the automotive industry knows, not only is the cable loom one of the heaviest parts of a vehicle, it is also one of the three most expensive too.

Climbing into the most recent models of vehicle, the internal surfaces seem to spring to life with color and light. It becomes immediately clear that video cameras and displays are an essential part of the new in-vehicle experience. And we’re not just talking about multimedia here. Navigation systems and deep integration with smartphones is a starting point, but it extends to side mirrors implemented with cameras, or a full 360° view around the vehicle, that go beyond the traditional reverse-parking camera.

Generic multimedia automotive head units are built around large, capable system-on-chip (SoC) processors. Over time, with the move to CDs and the introduction of DAB+ radio, together with mobile connectivity and smartphones, these systems have grown to be large and complex products. However, located centrally in the dashboard of most vehicles and wired to speakers and microphones around the vehicle, the topology has largely stayed the same. This inevitably limits the room to improve the in-vehicle multimedia experience.

In-car audio has been around for just about as long as the car itself. It was back in the 1920’s that a radio receiver from Westinghouse was offered as an upgrade for Chrysler vehicles. Costing around half the price of the car itself, it was certainly a luxury. Since then, entertainment in the vehicle has developed beyond recognition, essentially turning it into a smartphone on wheels. USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity allow almost any device to be used as an input to the audio system and deliver more music than can be played during an entire journey.

Today the average vehicle will have in the region of 60-70 (electronic control units) ECUs and high-end luxury models can easily possess 150 or more. The increased quantity of electronics content has, in itself, a variety of serious implications for engineering teams, while external forces are also influencing certain key aspects of automobile design.

The prevalence of electric motors in automotive designs is increasing considerably, as a substantial proportion of modern vehicles’ functionality is migrated away from traditional mechanical implementations towards modern streamlined electronic implementations - in order to reduce weight and thereby improve fuel economy. Among the areas where electric motors are now seeing widespread deployment are in fuel/oil/water pumps, exhaust gas recirculation systems and electric power steering systems.

The role of the car is changing. Until now, it has been a means of getting from A to B in style, safety or speed – depending on the car you select. Increasingly, intelligent infotainment systems are making the car an extension of their owner’s digital lifestyle – keeping them connected to social media and email while on the move as well as facilitating easier, smoother and more efficient journeys by being connected to traffic reports and weather information.

Getting into the latest vehicles, especially premium offerings, it is striking to see the number of displays being used. Not only has the center console made way to a large display for general interface needs and infotainment, the dials of the dashboard and even wing mirror functionality are moving to color displays too. Features such as reverse parking, camera-based wing mirrors, and 360° surround vehicle view depend on camera feeds that can handle the wide dynamic range of both daytime and nighttime driving conditions.

The typical cable harness in an average automobile is the third heaviest item as well as being the third most expensive to manufacture. Only the chassis and engine, for internal combustion engine-based vehicles, weigh and cost more. With vehicles moving to hybrid and all-electric drivetrains, weight reduction remains high on the list of required improvements. However, this cannot be achieved with innovation in conductor material weight alone: it requires a fundamental change in the E/E architecture to reduce the number of networking topologies in use.

Toshiba Electronics Europe desired to answer this question recently through testing the function, performance, acoustics, and power consumptions of the PROMISE VTrack J5960 60-bay toploader JBOD

Toshiba Electronics Europe desired to answer this question recently through testing the function, performance, acoustics, and power consumptions of the PROMISE VTrack J5960 60-bay toploader JBOD

When building storage solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMB), the ultimate system performance cannot be judged by the storage rack specification alone as the selected hard disk drives (HDDs) can have a material impact.

It’s been about 40 years since PCs were first equipped with hard disk drives (HDDs).

Toshiba looks at the future of HDDs for data centers, surveillance systems and more.

Toshiba Electronics Europe desired to answer this question recently through testing the function, performance, acoustics, and power consumptions of the PROMISE VTrack J5960 60-bay toploader JBOD

More than one PB capacity at just around 500W - Toshiba tested power consumption PROMISE VTrack J5960 JBOD with 60 18TB Toshiba Enterprise Hard Disk Drives and a total capacity of 1080TB

The Technology Experience Lab at NTT Global Data Centers provides data center managers and their teams with the space and infrastructure to explore innovative approaches for architecting their servers and storage.

It is commonly believed that to achieve a stable and reliable storage system that ongoing maintenance including firmware updates, software updates and even replacement of failed hardware components are things that cannot be avoided.

According to IDC projections, by 2025 the quantity of data that our society generates each year will come to a staggering 175ZBytes.

Thanks to the advent of IP technology and the development of multi-megapixel high-definition (HD) cameras, the proliferation of surveillance systems and their performance capabilities have increased dramatically over recent years.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) now find themselves having to deal with far greater amounts of data than they would have ever imagined in the past.

Since 2014, Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has been a key storage partner of CERN who have 3,200 JBODs carrying 100,000 hard disk drives (HDD) providing 350 PB of storage, 10 PB of which is consumed each month from new data requiring analysis. The original system in 2014 made use of the MG03 4 TB capacity drives, server-grade storage designed for high reliability and optimized for highest capacity at the time.

We are generating more and more data which needs to be stored safely and effectively. Hard disk drives (HDDs) continue to be central to solving this challenge, requiring them to be available with increased storage capacities. In order to provide the necessary technical solutions, engineers are now looking to incorporate microwave-based technologies into HDDs. As cloud services, video streaming and social media continue to increase in popularity data volumes are growing rapidly, challenging data centers to grow their storage capacities to cope with demand. As a result, many large IT companies are planning to add additional data centres to drive capacity higher.

There is still no way around HDDs for the cost-effective provision of storage capacity. Different applications require the use of different HDDs. The decisive selection criteria are reliability and operating conditions.

One of the hottest topics within technology circles is when to move from established technology to the newer version, taking into account the costs and any possible risks. IT professionals are engaged in making this decision, determining whether (and when) SSDs offer better performance than the older, but lower cost, HDD technology. As one of the leading drive manufacturers with significant experience in both HDD and SSD technology, Toshiba Electronics Europe set out to investigate the question as to whether an array of 10krpm HDDs can offer a better performance solution than Enterprise SSDs and, if so, under what conditions?

Data has always been a valuable commodity but, in today’s world, it is rapidly growing in value as we base so many of our day-to-day decisions on it – often indirectly as the machine-to-machine communications of the Internet of Things are taking care of us.

The world of data storage is moving on quickly. We are creating more data than ever before, which has to be stored securely and should be easy to retrieve. A couple of decades ago tape was the preferred storage method and these days it is in fact still in use, but limited to very centralised archiving applications. The invention of disc drives based upon high-density spinning magnetic platters – now known as Hard Disc Drives (HDDs) brought higher storage densities and much greater user convenience, especially in terms of data accessibility.

“Data, data everywhere – as far as the eye can see.” That pretty much sums up the reality for IT professionals these days for whom terabytes, petabytes and even exabytes and zettabytes have become part of the daily business language.

Hard disc drives are becoming more reliable, often achieving a Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) of up to 2.5 million hours and carrying a warranty of up to five years. In practice, this means that a storage system comprising 1000 identical hard drives should only expect two or three drives to fail during one year within the warranty period.

Modern hard drives, and especially enterprise hard drives, are inherently very reliable. Manufacturers such as Toshiba offer warranties of up to five years, which indicates their confidence in the products. Popular models such as Toshiba’s MG06 offer Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) figures of 2.5 million hours – a figure that has been increased from 2 million hours. In the real world, this means that in an installation of 1000 enterprise hard drives, users should expect only two or three drives to fail per year during the warranty period.

Heat pumps are seen by many as a way forward to net-zero. However, approaching this goal requires greater adoption of the technology, which relies on cost savings in manufacture.

There is little doubt that heat pumps are going to make a significant contribution in the push for net-zero.

An essential aspect of managing a supply chain is reducing exposure to risk so that supply remains uninterrupted.

There are many boards to simplify the integration of sensors, memories, and input controls available, such as the Clicker 4 from MikroElektronika.

Access to highly integrated MCU-less motor control solutions allows that permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) operation can be achieved without requiring rotor sensors.

Implementing a sensor-less brushless DC (BLDC) motor arrangement has several key advantages.

Controlling motors is probably one of the first more advanced output-type applications, once they’ve mastered controlling LEDs, that most engineers tackle when learning to program microcontrollers.

Brushless DC (BLDC) motors offer many advantages over brushed DC motors including their ability to deliver more torque in the same form factor, generate less electrical and audible noise, and demand significantly less maintenance.

The latest brushless DC (BLDC) motors are more efficient, quieter and, with far less mechanical wear, the lifetime is as much as six times higher.

Implementing an H-bridge switch requires the use of four switches, which can each be turned on and off independently of one another.

At a first glance it seems reasonable to want to replace brushed motors with brushless DC (BLDC) motors that offer greater performance and extend battery life

Servos are what enable robot movement to be initiated - with six of them usually incorporated into modern robot arms, and even more being needed for mobile AGV units and suchlike.

The H-bridge driver has been around for a long time. It presents engineers with a relatively simple way of delivering bidirectional motor control, with the direction of the motor’s rotation being changed by just swapping the polarity of the supply applied to it.

So as to keep down the overall component count and lower the costs involved, as well as saving valuable space, sensor-less control of BLDC motors is proving to be increasingly appealing to today’s design engineers.

Brushed DC motors have many vital roles to play in modern vehicles. In fact, the 6.5% CAGR predicted by Data Bridge Market Research for these devices will be predominantly driven by automotive applications.

BLDC motors have significantly better torque to weight ratios, higher efficiency levels and greater reliability than brushed motors, with there being increased use of them in contemporary electronic designs.

Greater reliance on robots seems to be a certainty in the years ahead.

We are moving into an age where far greater degrees of automation will be witnessed.

The H-bridge is a fundamental part of electronics engineering, allowing electric motors to be driven in either direction as required, using a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal to set the speed.

Systems driven by some form of electric motor represent the biggest single consumer of electricity resources.

Brushed DC motors have a vital role to play in modern automobile design, being used in relation to a broad range of different functions.

With all of us currently still living in what is a socially-distanced post-COVID world, the need for an automated approach to things remains very much apparent.

Though the pervasiveness of brushless DC (BLDC) motors is increasing all the time within a wide variety of different sectors, in an automobile context the value of brushed motors still remains clear.

When there are heavy loads (such as motors) incorporated into a circuit, it is not possible for them to be powered directly from the pins of a standard system microcontroller. Instead the microcontroller will be used to control appropriate driver circuitry.

Though the pervasiveness of brushless DC (BLDC) motors is increasing all the time within a wide variety of different sectors, in an automobile context the value of brushed motors still remains clear.

Last year the robotics technology market, which deals with all the hardware and software components needed for building robots, was estimated to have a total worth of over $60 billion.

Incredibly, one of our DC motor control devices has been in production for more than 40 years, coming to market on the wave of the emerging home video market and VHS recorders. Since then, motor technology and the semiconductors used to control them has changed significantly. A push for higher efficiency coupled with deeply integrated system-on-chip (SoC) solutions means that brushless DC motors (BLDC) can deliver more performance in a smaller package.

Reading through on-line forums, it seems that many students and hobbyists struggle to get to grips with bi-directional motor control. When combined with a microcontroller, the first stage of implementing a transistor- or FET-based driver to deliver enough current to a motor seems simple enough. The next step is making use of or creating through bit-banging, a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal to control motor rotational speed also comes with relative simplicity. However, the leap to implementing what experienced engineers would know as an H-bridge seems to require some time to absorb.

Going back many generations, our society seems to find the subject of robotics unusually enthralling. Rudimentary automatons have been around since before the Renaissance, becoming increasingly popular during the 18th and 19th centuries and also more complex in their design.

During their studies, engineers are confronted with much mathematics that forms the basis of electronics and electronic systems. However, once embedded in our selected industry segment, many of us never really have to contend with convolution, Laplace transforms, or the details of Fourier since we end up developing applications that use this mathematics, rather creating the algorithms themselves.

Controlling motors is probably one of the first more advanced output-type applications, once they’ve mastered controlling LEDs, that most engineers tackle when learning to program microcontrollers.

On the journey to become an electronics engineer there are a handful of legacy silicon devices that we have all come into contact with. If you were building some sort of timing circuit or astable multivibrator, the NE555 would have been the device of choice. Need to amplify a signal or compare voltages? Then the µA741 operational amplifier would have been grabbed from the nearest drawer of components. And, to breadboard your design, what better choice that a 7805 5 V regulator from which to power it all!

During their studies, engineers are confronted with much mathematics that forms the basis of electronics and electronic systems. However, once embedded in our selected industry segment, many of us never really have to contend with convolution, Laplace transforms, or the details of Fourier since we end up developing applications that use this mathematics, rather creating the algorithms themselves.

The move from mechanical to electronically controlled commutation of motors, coupled with new battery technologies, has opened up a wide range of new applications. Microcontrollers are often the best choice for implementing the motor control since their features are also required to implement other features of the end application. This is made especially challenging when considering the hard-real-time demands of electronically commutating a motor.

Hardware accelerators have been an essential feature of microprocessors for decades, providing performance for features that the processor is unable to execute efficiently itself. Many times, this circuitry has been dedicated to performing floating point calculations or complex mathematics to bridge a performance gap of the processor’s instruction set. The advantage they often bring is determinism to calculations that, without them, would complete in varying time periods. In the world of control systems, such as motor control, this reliable determinism is highly beneficial.

With the continual push toward ever more efficient household appliances, engineers have benefited from the energy savings that brushless motors provide. This has, however, added an extra layer of complexity. Implementation of sinusoidal commutation for Field-Oriented Control (FOC) often demands the use of a microcontroller that can implement both the motor control as well as executing other elements of the application with a single device.

Magnetic latching relays are key components in today’s smart power meters, where they are used to facilitate the remote disconnection and reconnection of power to the consumer premises. A key benefit of such relays is their low power consumption as they maintain last contact position after the control power has been removed. Turning the relay on and off simply requires a momentary application of a trigger pulse current to the relay coil. A pulse in one direction will set the relay to the first position, and a pulse in the other direction to the second position.

In order to respond to growing pressures to curb energy consumption, greater prevalence of variable-speed motors is being witnessed. Such motors are being incorporated into heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, domestic appliances (dish washers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), light industrial drives and suchlike. These motors, in turn, call for inverter drives to propel them. A key concern, however, when specifying inverter drives for these types of applications is the associated cost.

Consumer attitudes are changing and the energy ratings of domestic appliances are becoming an increasingly important aspect of modern purchasing decisions - whereas previously it would have come a long way down the list (somewhere below, features, price, aesthetics, etc.). For such items to attain high scores in relation to their energy rating, variable speed operation is necessary (in contrast to the less sophisticated ‘all or nothing’ approach of the past). This allows great efficiency levels to be realised, with a number of different benefits subsequently being derived.

To meet the pressing need for elevated levels of energy efficiency, the conventional direct current (DC) motors incorporated into electric fans, domestic appliances, air conditioning systems, office equipment and such like, have over time been replaced by more sophisticated three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motors. This has enabled compliance with the stringent international environmental guidelines that have now emerged, as well as helping to reduce the size of utility bills.

The prevalence of electric motors in automotive designs is increasing considerably, as a substantial proportion of modern vehicles’ functionality is migrated away from traditional mechanical implementations towards modern streamlined electronic implementations - in order to reduce weight and thereby improve fuel economy. Among the areas where electric motors are now seeing widespread deployment are in fuel/oil/water pumps, exhaust gas recirculation systems and electric power steering systems.

Many industrial applications require some form of galvanic isolation due to the range of voltages present as well as the electrical noise and spikes that can interfere with system operation.

Technologies such as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) where the battery in an electric vehicle (EV) returns power to the grid at times of high demand, or simply powers a home in an emergency are bringing challenges to designers of vehicle chargers

Due to a combination of consumer demand and governmental policy to halt sales of new internal combustion engines (including in hybrid vehicles), all-electric battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are the future of personal mobility

Galvanic isolation is required in an increasing number of systems and products, especially those that contain high and low voltages and those that operate in electrically noisy environments.

Though the attributes that make silicon carbide (SiC) have undoubted value to the future of power system design, it is not just about what goes on within the semiconductor substrate itself.

Whether they are silicon-based or use silicon carbide (SiC) technology, MOSFETs will experience switching losses that are caused by their body diodes.

The on-resistance (RDS(ON)) of a MOSFET is an intrinsic property that causes static power losses and depends upon the inner structure of the MOSFET.

The voltage applied between the gate and source of a MOSFET during operation is denoted ‘VGS’ and the highest possible value of VGS that can be applied without damage is VGSS. This is important as it simplifies design of the control circuit.

Silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs are able to deliver much more impressive switching characteristics than their silicon-based equivalents.

Over recent years, there has been a lot of talk throughout the power electronics industry about the exciting performance attributes offered by silicon carbide (SiC). Though there is plenty of information available on this subject, finding a way of translating it into what this actually means for engineers’ designs has still proved difficult. Consequently, many engineers are still reluctant to migrate from the conventional silicon (Si) technology that they are already very familiar with. Unfortunately that means that they are missing out.

The importance of switching devices is growing as many applications (such as EVs and renewable energy) rely on attaining previously unachievable levels of efficiency.

I2C was only designed and intended for low-latency board-level communication, meaning that latencies between isolated circuits must be carefully considered.

When it was devised four decades ago, the inter-integrated Circuit (I2C) interface was designed as a serial bus system for short-distance communication between microcontrollers and on-board peripherals.

While it is possible to design a fully featured gate driver with discrete components, it is rarely the best approach in terms of parts cost, design effort, assembly time, and board area required.

There is significant effort being made to develop next-generation charging infrastructure to support electric vehicles (EVs).

With electric vehicle (EV) chargers delivering up to 22 kW in AC and up to 350 kW in fast DC chargers, several hundred Watts of energy can easily be dissipated as heat.

Servos are what enable robot movement to be initiated - with six of them usually incorporated into modern robot arms, and even more being needed for mobile AGV units and suchlike.

Induction cookers are gaining ever greater commercial traction.

With hundreds of millions of electric vehicles (EVs) being deployed in the next two decades, providing a comprehensive charging infrastructure is critical. Equally critical is the efficiency of these charging points.

Synchronizing renewable energy generation to peak demand times is proving challenging and raising concerns for future renewable grids.

Greater reliance on robots seems to be a certainty in the years ahead.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are now a major focus for power electronics endeavour, with a large proportion of engineers involved in finding ways to improve their performance and extend their range.

Since it was brought in over 25 years ago, through EU Directive 92/75/EC, Europe’s colour-coded energy efficiency labelling scheme has helped people to become more energy conscious.

We are moving into an age where far greater degrees of automation will be witnessed.

With pressure to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and other polluting energy sources, electrical energy becomes the preferred choice.

The number of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads is set to increase dramatically in the years ahead, with 323 million of them being in use by 2040 (according to a study compiled by analyst firm Wood Mackenzie).

With all of us currently still living in what is a socially-distanced post-COVID world, the need for an automated approach to things remains very much apparent.

Induction cooking offers greater convenience and safety to users, as well as being markedly more energy efficient.

Last year the robotics technology market, which deals with all the hardware and software components needed for building robots, was estimated to have a total worth of over $60 billion.

Circuit protection is an essential part of modern electronics, not least as batteries with low internal resistance (and the ability to deliver huge and potentially damaging currents) are increasingly used in applications from portable devices through to vehicles of the future.

It is now a quarter of a century since universal serial bus (USB) first arrived on the scene. With several billion ports currently in operation globally, and many more being added each year, its market traction is unmatched by any other interface technology.

Clean and energy-efficient cooking is essential as the dynamic of our society changes around the world. With both parents in more and more families working, cooking is often something that is prepared in advance and then left to cook during the day using a rice cooker or slow cooker. This ensures a warm meal is ready when everyone gets home.

When excessive current flows, either in a wire or a PCB trace, the conductor can melt if the current is sufficiently high. While this eventually becomes self-limiting, the worst-case scenario is a current just below the melting point of the conductor that causes excessive heating over a long period.

Going back many generations, our society seems to find the subject of robotics unusually enthralling. Rudimentary automatons have been around since before the Renaissance, becoming increasingly popular during the 18th and 19th centuries and also more complex in their design.

Farads, Ohms, Henrys. Venerable unit definitions for common components recognizing the work of the famous scientists that contributed so much to the world of electronics that we rely upon today. But what of fuses? Unfortunately, it would seem that the science and importance of fuses was not deemed important enough to honor it in the same way. However...

E-bikes are steadily gaining in market share, with growth predicted to lie between 6 and 8% until 2025. Unlike the automobile market, range is less of an issue. Instead consumers are more focused on reliability and convenience. This means longer intervals between charging and higher integration into daily life. Many e-bikes are already fitted with some sort of display, providing information on charge, speed and estimated range. But with the trend toward wearables, and with smartphones positioned at the center of such data collection, connectivity is on the list of options for e-bike users to consider.

Since the 1990s, e-bikes have been steadily growing in popularity across the globe, with the market expecting to grow to around 7 million units by 2025. Although the range concerns surrounding automobiles are not as predominant in the e-bike market, it is still essential that consumers can enjoy the advantages of their electrically supported bicycle without the need to charge it up after every journey.

To meet the demand for increasing energy efficiency in switching power conversion systems, superjunction MOSFETs have become preferred devices for energy-conscious designers. Superjunction technologies allow reduced die sizes enabling designers to reduce space and increase current density. However, new demands are coming to the fore, such as improved noise performance.

Since the specification for USB Type-C was published by the USB Implementers Forum (USB IF) in 2014, the new bi-directional standard with flippable connectors has been appearing on more and more devices, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. While still in the early phase of its rollout, market research firm IHS predicts that around 500 million devices will be shipped with USB Type-C this year. And this figure is expected to quadruple to 2 billion devices in 2019.

In order to respond to growing pressures to curb energy consumption, greater prevalence of variable-speed motors is being witnessed. Such motors are being incorporated into heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, domestic appliances (dish washers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.), light industrial drives and suchlike. These motors, in turn, call for inverter drives to propel them. A key concern, however, when specifying inverter drives for these types of applications is the associated cost.

Low-voltage power MOSFETs are used as main switching devices in power supply systems. The power density of these systems is increasing continuously. In order to reduce the system volume and power loss, a significant improvement of the package heat radiation of the MOSFETs is necessary. To meet this demand, a new MOSFET package called DSOP Advance (Dual Side Cooling SOP 5x6mm) has been developed. Details of the new package were presented in a paper during PCIM 2014 in Nuremburg in May.

A world without USB is barely imaginable. Since its introduction in 1996 it has not only successfully ousted a plethora of outdated parallel and serial data transfer technologies in the world of PCs and laptops, it has established itself as a de facto charging interface for smartphone and tablets, and has even been integrated into automobiles.

Cordless power tool designers face multiple challenges, many of which interact and, in some cases, compete with each other making component selection critical to producing a winning design. The battery itself is one of the most obvious trade-offs. Selecting a battery with the most energy per unit weight is key; more important is to ensure that all aspects of the design are as efficient as possible so as not to waste energy.

USB Type-C has fundamentally changed the way that devices, especially computers and peripherals, will connect in the future. Although it is part of the USB 3.1 specification, USB Type-C is truly a game-changer in that it incorporates the USB Power Delivery (USB PD) specification that allows up to 100W of power to be delivered alongside data at up to 10Gbps.

With an estimated 9-10 billion ports in operation, Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become the most commonly used interface technology in modern electronics/computing designs. Though the standard continues to evolve, it needs to do so in such a way that delivers extra functionality while maximising compatibility with widely proliferated previous generations. Elevated power levels and accelerated data rates present a variety of new challenges, not least in terms of long-term reliability and signal integrity.

According to market analysis conducted by IHS, by the end of this year the world’s total installed photovoltaic capacity with be over 310GWatts - that is 8 times what it was at the start of the decade. GlobalData predicts by 2025 this capacity will have more than doubled again, reaching 652GWatts. With demand for solar technology continuing to grow, and the conversion efficiencies of photovoltaics still relatively low (though gradually increasing), there is an ongoing need to minimise the power losses of the supporting electronics (and thereby make full use of the converted energy).

The heat energy that is present in power ICs, such as MOSFETs, not only impacts on these devices’ operational performance, it also has the potential to impinge heavily on system reliability, increasing the risk of failure and shortening operational lifespan. It has a detrimental effect on the running costs involved too - as power adaptors that exhibit poor conversion efficiency characteristics will need to draw more current from the main supply, thus adding to the size of the user’s utility bills. Engineers simply cannot afford to ignore the heat dissipation issue.

Solar power is big business. As demand for solar panels grows, there is an increasing need for more compact and energy efficient electronics so that every possible milliWatt of energy harvested from the sun is captured and made available to use. Photovoltaic inverters convert the DC current produced by an array of photovoltaic cells to AC at local line voltage and frequency, ready to be fed into the grid or used to power an off-grid network. Micro-inverters that connect to just one panel each are also available – ensuring that reduced output from any panel (perhaps because of shade or snow) doesn’t disproportionately affect the output of the total array.

Power MOSFETs are popular switching elements in many modern power devices. As engineers try to squeeze ever more performance and efficiency from each design, then MOSFETs are pushed to their limit. However, there is obviously a limit to each device's capability, yet there is no single means to define this limitation as it depends on a number of factors that interact.

Today the average vehicle will have in the region of 60-70 (electronic control units) ECUs and high-end luxury models can easily possess 150 or more. The increased quantity of electronics content has, in itself, a variety of serious implications for engineering teams, while external forces are also influencing certain key aspects of automobile design.

Power MOSFETs are probably the most popular switching device in modern power solutions. They are generally easy to use and semiconductor manufacturers ensure that performance increases with each successive generation. Even so, on occasion, designers find the need to operate two MOSFETs in a parallel configuration.