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Industry News
January 11, 2013
Energy-Harvesting-Powered Systems to Reach Tipping Point in 2013
2013 New Year's Power Celebration
At the end of last October, Cymbet Corporation announced that it is now shipping EnerChip™ Smart Solid State Batteries from their second high-volume fabrication facility built in partnership with X-FAB Texas Inc. Shipping EnerChips from this production facility significantly increases Cymbet's manufacturing capacity to supply the growing global demand for Cymbet's solid-state batteries. In anticipation of identified high-volume customer requirements, additional floor space has been set aside for future expansion of the EnerChip production lines.
Recommended: Altera Acquires Enpirion for $140 Million, Forms Power Business Unit
As if to highlight these trends, just last week Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) introduced the industry's lowest-power dc-dc step-down converter, which increases the amount of harvested energy an end application can use as much as 70 percent over alternative devices. This is the latest in a string of energy-harvesting-related product announcements from TI. The ultra-low power circuit enables battery-free power to applications, such as wireless sensor networks, monitoring systems, smoke detectors, wearable medical devices and mobile accessories.
TI's TPS62736 dc-dc converter mobile accessories and wireless sensors to manage microwatts generated from solar, thermoelectric, magnetic and vibration energy. It delivers high power conversion efficiency from 10 uA to 50 mA output currents, and consumes only 350 nA of active current and 20 nA during standby. The converter achieves greater than 90-percent efficiency across output currents higher than 15 uA. The TPS62736 regulator steps down the voltage from a power source, such as a thin-film or regular battery or a super capacitor and features a programmable output voltage.
Related: Amorphous and Tape-Wound Cores, SMD Capacitors and Rugged Connectors at PCIM
Last month, in direct support of the ZigBee Green Power announcement, GreenPeak Technologies announced its new GP410 chip offering the new PRO Green Power feature for low-cost energy harvesting and ultra-long battery life ZigBee applications for the Smart Home. The GP410 IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee PRO Green Power controller is a fully integrated system-on-chip solution for power harvesting end nodes for light switches, smart home devices, or for applications designed to run on a single battery for many years. The Green Power feature gives battery-free, energy-harvesting devices the ability to join any Green Power enabled ZigBee PRO 2012 network.
These are only a few examples of the growing number of companies announcing devices intended to support EH-powered controls and sensors. The demand is there. Recent standards announcements from ZigBee and the IEC provide the enabling framework. This year will be a "break-out" year for battery-less, wireless systems.
Opinion: Maximising Synergies between Power Electronics and ICT for improving Energy Efficiency
Energy harvesting and related M2M and IoT technologies will be major topics at the first-annual Darnell's Energy Summit to be hosted in Dallas, Texas, September 9-13, 2013.
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White Papers
March 11, 2013
Power Modules for Charger Applications
Sponsored by Vincotech
February 27, 2013
The Adaptive Cell Converter Topology Enables Constant Efficiency Over Universal Input AC Line in Front-End, High-Density Power Factor Correction Applications
Sponsored by Vicor Corp.
February 27, 2013
From 48 V direct to Intel VR12.0: Saving "Big Data" $500,000 per datacenter, per year
Sponsored by Vicor Corp.
More White Papers
- Altera Acquires Enpirion for $140 Million, Forms Power Business Unit
- Ericsson Saves Board Space with Surface-Mount Digital Bus Converter
- SiC Modules, IGBTs and Super-Junction MOSFETs Introduced on Day One of PCIM
- SiC and GaN Again a Major Focus at PCIM Europe
- PowerbyProxi Joins Wireless Power Consortium
- Vincotech and Infineon Introduce New Packaging Options at PCIM Europe
- Bosch Claims First Sub-$450 240V EV Charging Station
- Eaton and CA Technologies Join to Deliver Infrastructure Management for Data Centers
- DOE Selects Consortium to Develop Next-Generation Batteries for Automobiles
- Dana Receives Grant from NRCan to Improve Thermal Management for EV Battery Packs
- Power-One Gets $1 Billion – ABB Gets Inverters
- Renesas Adds IGBT Drivers with Micro-Isolator for Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Inverters
- Bosch Claims First Sub-$450 240V EV Charging Station
- European Project Reports Achievements in Drive to Shape the Future of Power Microelectronics
- Power-One Q1 2013 Results include 4 Cents-per-Share Loss due to Synqor Litigation
- SL Packs 60 Watts of Industrial-Grade AC-DC Power in Small and Robust Package
- ROHM Claims New Hybrid MOS Combines the Best Characteristics of MOSFETs and IGBTs
- Microchip Expands 8-bit PIC Microcontroller Family with Intelligent Analog Integration
- GE Opens $1.5 Million New Product Introduction Accelerator Lab
- 500W Full-Brick DC-DC Converter Optimized for Fuel Cell Applications
- Green Building Power Forum 2010: Fujitsu Components America
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: CUI Incorporated
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- Green Building Power Forum 2010: Anderson Power Products
- Green Building Power Forum 2009: Independence Station
- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: Coilcraft
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- Darnell's Digital Power Forum 2009: PMBus
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Design Features
October 22, 2012
Energy Efficiency with Class D Amplifier Modules
Class-D switching amplifiers are helping audio designers create personal multimedia devices and home audio/visual systems that demonstrate how compact and stylish equipment can also deliver high sound quality and high audio output power. The key to this breakthrough, providing freedom from the large and bulky boxes housing traditional audio products, lies in the class-D amplifier’s high energy efficiency, which is typically around 90%. This allows designers to reduce or eliminate heatsinks as well as using smaller-sized PCBs and smaller components such as transformers, connectors and power supplies.
Design Features
October 8, 2012
The Role of Hall Effect Sensors in Power Distribution Infrastructure
Power distribution units (PDUs) form an essential part of modern computing and data communications hardware. They provide multiple outputs for transferring electrical power with maximum efficiency, controlling the power capacity and safeguarding against the possible causes of supply interruption. With an ever increasing need from tech savvy consumers for higher data throughput and greater quantities of data storage capacity, as well as tough international legislation now governing CO&sub2; emissions, the demands being placed on these units are proving challenging for engineering teams to satisfy.
Product Focus
August 13, 2012
The Year in AC-DC Power Supply Technology
The past year witnessed significant new product releases, technological developments, and industry news related to the field of AC-DC Power Supply technology.