Educational tool equips engineers with real-world power expertise

TI is addressing this demand with a series of lab kits that provides a hands-on power management learning experience with system-level reasoning.

The TI-PMLK is comprehensive, easy to use and versatile, facilitating a learning environment that results in students applying the practical learning achieved through the lab experience toward designing their power supply solution. Each lab kit includes an evaluation board and an experiment lab book covering key power converter topologies, theory, case studies and a set of unique experiments to jumpstart understanding of power supplies that are required for real-life applications. The TI-PMLK series includes the most common power solutions found in the industry: buck, linear regulator (LDO), boost and coming soon, buck-boost.

"Everything around us, including products we've used for years, from thermostats to automobiles, is becoming smarter and more connected with a requirement to consume less power. The industry needs engineers who understand and are able to design efficient power systems," said Peter Balyta, Ph.D., president of TI Education Technology. "The TI-PMLK is designed to provide hands-on learning, solidifying the power theories taught in undergraduate engineering courses and bringing power design learning to life."

The series of boards and experiments can be used to reinforce foundational theories taught in a variety of electrical engineering courses, as well as to train industry professionals on how to make informed power supply decisions for their designs. The TI-PMLK can be holistically taught in modular parts to accommodate curriculum or coursework needs or to facilitate engineering training in the industry to address particular application challenges.

"The TI-PMLK allows users to customise their learning experience in a way that makes the most impact on their overall understanding of power supply design," said Nicola Femia, author and co-creator of the TI-PMLK, and faculty member at the University of Salerno in Italy.