Power

GaN Systems has got its GS61008P 100V enhancement mode GaN-on-silicon power transistor designed into a 48V – 12V bidirectional dc-dc converter for mild hybrid vehicles and electric motorcycles. The example design, from Renesas, takes up 46% less PCB area than an earlier all-silicon version, said GaN Systems, due  in part to switching at 500kHz which allowed a move to smaller ...

The University of Nottingham has creates a business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems, claiming that it is the first UK institution to create an independent business unit for the industrialisation of electrical motors and drive systems. Nottingham Drive Specialist Services (NDSS) will provide “bespoke development, manufacturing and testing of electrical motors and drives to support ...

CorPower Ocean and Maersk have installed the 6.2km sub-sea export cable needed at the HiWave-5 wave-power test site 5.5km off the northern coast of Portugal. The site will initially accommodate the prototype of CorPower’s huge C4 wave energy converter (below) which is scheduled to be joined by three more. The 7.2kV cable was fed into the beach from a ship, ...

Onsemi has announced three silicon carbide power modules for 800V 11 – 22kW on-board charging and high-voltage dc-dc converiosn in electric vehicles  – all in transfer moulded packaging, claimed to be a first. “Our modules employ the latest SiC technology to minimise losses and overall system volume, allowing designers to meet charging efficiency and space goals,”, claimed Onsemi general manager ...

Cambridge-based start-up Pulsiv is aiming to replace LLC front-ends in ac-dc power supplies with a proprietary design which “can be combined with commodity fly-back DC-DC converters to displace higher-cost LLC solutions”, it claims. According to the company, it has demonstrated a universal input single-switch 150W fly-back power supply design that delivers 97.5% average (99.5% peak, graph below) front-end efficiency while ...

Researchers at Stanford University have modelled over-night home charging of electric vehicles and predict that it is not the correct strategy, for the Western US at least. Simulation is based on a model, revealed in March, for charging demand that can be applied to different human populations under different conditions. In a demonstration, they have now applied it to the ...

The first anchor has been installed for CorPower’s 9m diameter 300kW C4 wave power converter. The custom anchor, dubbed Umack, has been installed 4km off the coast of northern Portugal at Aguçadoura, where the giant buoy will be part of the HiWave-5 wave power demonstration project. C4 generates power by bobbing up and down along the axis of its single ...

Infineon has introduced an ac-dc controller IC for battery charging up to 130W. Called ICC80QSG, it is a single-stage PWM controller for fly-back converters, intended to be used with one of the company’s P7 super-junction mosfets as a power switch. As is common amongst similar controllers, multiple modes are used to balance efficiency and EMI performance as loads vary – ...

Halo Microelectronics is aiming at portable systems with dynamic voltage scaling with a pair of 3A synchronous buck converter that can be programmed on-the-fly over I2C for output voltage and output slew rate. Both run from 2.5 to 5.5V, and are available in multiple variants that affect output characteristics. HL7593 can produce 0.600 to 1.394V in 6.25mV steps HL7594 can ...

Reliable, Convenient Fast Charging Will Drive the Future of EV Adoption For consumers in developed nations, lifestyle convenience is ingrained. We don’t know what it’s like not to have access to necessities – food, water, clothing, housing and transportation – not to mention luxuries. When it comes to dependency on automotive transportation that, too, is built on confidence around readily-available ...