Power
Billions of low power electronics operating without batteries
IDTechEx Research's most recent report, Battery Elimination in Electronics and Electrical Engineering 2018-2028, notes that billions of wireless electronic and electrical products consuming microwatts to milliwatts or more operate without batteries or even capacitors to store energy. Among the most successful are the piezoelectric gas lighter, the bicycle light with dynamo and the EnOcean wireless building controls such as sensors, ligh...
Class I and II medical 500W power supplies meet curve B EMI
A configurable XMS500 series of AC/DC power supplies has been announced by TDK, offering both Class I and Class II (double insulated) construction. All models are compliant to curve B radiated and conducted EMI, with more than 6dB margin, yet maintain a leakage current of less than 150µA. Due to the mechanical design and high operating efficiency of the series, only 1m/s airflow is required for full load operation at 500W.
Open frame power supplies approved for medical applications
Five new open frame series, ranging from 180-550W, have been added to CUI Power Group's line of internal AC/DC medical power supplies. Certified to the medical 60601‑1 edition 3.1 safety standards for 2 x MOPP applications and 4th edition EMC requirements, the VMS‑180, VMS‑225, VMS‑275, VMS‑350, and VMS‑550 series feature high efficiency up to 94% and high power densities up to 30W/in3.
Module provides BLE connectivity between tablets and cloud services
A Nordic-based BLE module has been released by Murata. The latest MBN52832 device consists of Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52832 IC, a 32MHz crystal for timing, and an on-board antenna. Additionally, it contains pins for an off-board omni-directional antenna and a NFC antenna. The module provides a Serial Port Interface (SPI) and UART interface to Nordic’s nRF52832 ARM Cortex M4 processor.
Electronic steering system improves manoeuvrability
Available from JOST UK, the TriDec EF-S electro-hydraulic/electronic kingpin steering system can be fitted onto trailers requiring a low trailer neck, such as milk tankers, bulk trailers, low loaders and trailers of monocoq construction. Unlike mechanical and hydraulic steering systems, the EF-S system does not require a fifth wheel unit.
Power MOSFET offers industry-low on-resistance
A 25V n-channel TrenchFET Gen IV power MOSFET that features the industry's lowest maximum on-resistance for such a device - 0.58mΩ at 10V has been released by Vishay Intertechnology. Delivering increased efficiency and power density for a wide range of applications, the Vishay Siliconix SiRA20DP offers low gate charge and gate charge times on-resistance figure of merit (FOM) for devices with on-resistance below 0.6mΩ.
Motor drivers improve motion accuracy and motor efficiency
Two new stepping motor drivers that detect excessive load on a motor and automatically adjust power to the motor to accommodate this load have been introduced by Toshiba Electronics Europe. The new TB67S249FTG and TB67S279FTG enable motors to move with precision at rapid speeds under various loads while minimising power consumption, heat generation, and system costs. These drivers are suitable for use in robotics, precision ma...
It's electrifying! Demand for EVs keeps on rising
The car manufacturing industry is booming, with the demand for electric vehicles rising rapidly. This has had a knock-on effect on battery producers, as batteries – alongside the electric motor – are the heart of E-cars. The battery accounts for between roughly 30 and 40% of the value added in purely electric vehicles. Around the world, new factories are being built and vehicle manufacturers as well as battery producers are looki...
The way things should be done
In the defence sector, high reliability is demanded of both electronic equipment and its supplier. Richard Warrilow examines a point in case
Maximising quasi-resonant flyback topology
. A wide input voltage range flyback work in quasi-resonant (QR) mode, is one of the cheapest isolated offline topologies and brings benefits for efficiency. By Florian Mueller, Texas Instruments