Mouser Electronics, Inc. is teaming up with celebrity engineer Grant Imahara along with scientists, visionaries and educators to announce an exciting new series on Power and the Future Supercapacitor to kick off the 2016 Empowering Innovation Together program. This new series captures insights from some of the most influential people in power management and storage, […]
Industry Experts
Keeping Cool
Preventing electronic circuits from getting too hot is not just about cooling but also trying to minimize the excess heat being generated in the first place. For a digital circuit that can be a case of reducing the voltage or clock speed, or dynamically altering the clock speed to suit what is required at the […]
New Class of Non-Isolated, Bidirectional Bus Converter Modules (NBMs)
Vicor Corporation (NASDAQ: VICR) announced the introduction of a new family of non-isolated, fixed conversion ratio, bidirectional bus converter modules (NBMs). Utilizing Vicor’s Converter housed in Package™ (ChiP) packaging technology, and exploiting technical improvements in magnetic and semiconductor technologies, these NBM™ modules feature improved efficiency and power density when compared to contemporary best-in-class isolated bus […]
Light detection and amplification
A common sensor requirement is to measure light. This may be for adjusting the brightness of a display or for instrumentation where accuracy is of importance and light levels could be very low. The light could be relatively constant or slowly changing, or it could be modulated at high speed. There are a number of […]
Ultra low power switching regulators
For micropower applications there are some interesting new devices around for helping power the circuitry. I am not thinking here about energy harvesting applications but low power battery operated devices where you don’t want the battery to go flat quickly when in standby but still need some regulated power to wake up a microcontroller, for […]
New Wide Input Voltage, Synchronous Buck Regulator ICs for USB Charging
Allegro MicroSystems, LLC expands its automotive regulator portfolio by adding two devices targeted specifically at USB power applications. Allegro’s A8652 and A8653 devices are high output current synchronous buck regulator ICs that provide tight load regulation over a wiring harness without the need for remote sense lines. This remote load regulation is achieved with an […]
Battery Types and Operation
I came across an interesting new product recently which made me realize that I take batteries for granted without actually thinking much about how they work. I know they work and the specifications enable me to select them and design them into a product but how do they work? The product that caused my intrigue […]
Choosing Ceramic Capacitors
It may seem a bit mundane but choosing ceramic capacitors can cause some problems and confusion. Ceramic capacitors have taken over from aluminum electrolytic capacitors and tantalum electrolytics in a lot of cases and even film capacitors but there are pitfalls. For example, the very low ESR (equivalent series resistance) of ceramic capacitors can cause […]
Instrumentation amplifiers
What is an instrumentation amplifier and why do we need them? On the face of it they just look like a differential amplifier using more parts than necessary. For example, this is the “classic” three opamp instrumentation amplifier: So why not use a differential amplifier and cut out the first stage? An instrumentation amplifier is […]
DC Power source switching methods
A common situation is when you may have more than one possible power source to power some electronics. For example a mains AC-DC adaptor or a battery may be used to power an electronic device. In the past the simple solution was to use a DC power connector with a built in physical switch such […]