PowerGuru – Power Electronics Information Portal

      Wireless charging has been in the wilderness, hidden in a chasm until standardisation, strategic partnerships and technology integration recently gathered pace. The market is predicted to become worth billions of dollars in the next few years - yet it has been the domain of a few Tier-1 companies as the resources and [...]

      Wireless power transmission has been known for many years, with inductive near field proximity coupling being the most commonly used technology. By Markus Rehm, Ingenieurbuero Rehm, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany The demand for wireless power supplies is huge: Mobile devices, charged without wire or contact, are robust, splash proof, reliable, simple to protect against [...]

      Using new Fluxlink safety-isolated communication technology, InnoSwitch ICs combine primary- and secondary-switcher circuitry to reduce component count, eliminate slow and unreliable optocouplers, outperform primary-side controllers and slash manufacturing costs of power supply designs. By Mike Matthews, VP Product Development, Power Integrations Inc Manufacturers of smart mobile devices, set-top boxes, networking equipment and [...]

      The popularity of wireless energy transfer has increased over the last few years and in particular for applications targeting portable device charging. In this article, the focus will be on loosely coupled coils, highly-resonant wireless solutions suitable for the A4WP [1] standard operating at either 6.78 MHz or 13.56 MHz unlicensed Industrial, [...]

      Mobile device functionality has evolved dramatically over the past decade and continues to expand with applications such as social media, music and video streaming, gaming, cloud storage, and connectivity with other devices. By Juha Pennanen, John Hoversten and Sasa Radovanovic, Texas Instruments The redefined user experience requires high data rates offered by [...]

      By Louis Tang, Fairchild Semiconductor Background With the vigorous development of wireless charger technology, and as more smartphone users are plagued by various charging cables, the convenience of a wireless charger will be widely accepted and adopted. Currently there are three different wireless charger standards – WPC (Qi), PMA and A4WP. The [...]

      To preserve efficiency, the MCU needs to support multiple operating modes The rise of ultra low power applications has changed how developers must approach power optimization. Devices must support single-cell battery operation, charge/discharge closer to battery thresholds, and be able to control motors and/or high brightness LEDs, all while reducing device form [...]

      The Push for USB OTG The beauty is to charge a battery per the latest USB Battery Charging Specs, using a high efficiency buck topology converter that utilizes a chip inductor for minimized space and cost, but can then run the buck controller in reverse as an effective boost controller requiring no [...]

      Power-management topology has a direct impact to portables Portable electronics has forced system designers to focus on the design of their power-management circuitry. Today’s designer must find ways to extend battery life whilst maintaining performance. In addition, many portable applications are becoming even more compact, forcing circuit designs into smaller and smaller [...]

      A Holistic Approach With each generation of processor, memory, DSP and ASIC, the trend to lower voltages at higher currents continues to challenge the infrastructure needed to support contemporary “loads” with the requisite currents. By Paul Yeaman, Principal PLE Strategic Accounts, Vicor Corporation   Nevertheless, the fundamental functions of any power conversion [...]