Solid-tantalum capacitors have evolved with better design, construction, and testing methods to handle emerging requirements for harsh, high-temperature applications that put a premium on reliability. Chris Reynolds, AVX Corp. Wet tantalum capacitors are a proven, mature technology. They’ve long been employed in demanding, high-temperature applications because they have a variety of useful qualities. These include […]
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Hiring hint: Look for soft skills in young engineers
Do schools teach young engineers the right skills? It is easy to find a lot of opinions on that subject from academics. It is more difficult to find assessments from experienced engineers who actually work with new grads. That’s why the comments of Richard Lukaszewski are worth hearing. As a holder of over 30 patents […]
Driving LED arrays, Part 2: power
Part 1 of this FAQ looked at the basics of using LEDs in series, parallel, and series/parallel arrays, the implications on the power-sourcing requirements, and the impact of an LED failure. Part 2 looks at other practical issues associated with powering the array. Q: Given the various configurations, what sort of drive is “best” for […]
Work progresses toward super-fast EV charging
Lengthy waits at the local charging station may be a thing of the past for electric vehicle owners thanks to efforts aimed at fast charging at 350 kW, handling full EV recharges in as little as 10 minutes. Today, owners of electric vehicles have three options for recharging at public stations. Level 1 (about 1 […]
Linear equation said to optimize LED positioning for energy efficiency
Open up a typical low-cost LED bulb and you may find LEDs positioned willy nilly around a metal heat-sinking plate. It turns out that not a lot of thought goes into LED positioning on many bulbs aimed at consumers. Often the result is a bulb that consumes far less power than an equivalent incandescent device but […]
Driving LED arrays, Part 1: topologies
Light-emitting diodes – often referred to simply as LEDs – have become the preferred light source in many applications, whether for area illumination, spotlighting, signage, or backlighting. While there are some applications which prefer to use a smaller number of very high-power LEDs, many applications benefit from, or must use, a larger number of lower-to-moderate-power […]
Exotic magnetics could cut transformer weights from 35 tons to 450 lb.
Novel magnetic materials now under investigation could boost power density, lower losses, increase efficiency, and reduce size and cost in power electronics. One example of what might be possible from such research comes from Southpole Magnetics in Pittsburgh, a company formed by magnetics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. The firm envisions large-scale, 35-ton transformers redesigned […]
Power Electronics Top Talks in January on EDABoard.com forums
Peer-to-peer, engineer-to-engineer questions and answers from the EDABoard.com engineering community around power electronics. Click the “Read more” link and follow the entire conversation and maybe add your two cents by logging in to EDAboard.com Extremely simple overnight AAA Ni-MH charger – I want to build an ultra simple charger, to charge a 750mAh 1.2V AAA Ni-MH […]
Power-supply noise, Part 2
Part 1 looked at the basics of noise, especially concerning power supplies. There are two noise sources which are not as obvious to many engineers as noise that results from the switching action of the power supply: differential mode noise and common-mode noise. These two noise modes have different causes and thus different solutions Q: […]
Power-supply noise, Part 1
“Noise”—perhaps nothing worries design engineers as much as the implications of this single five-letter word. There are good reasons for this worry. Noise is often unpredictable; may come from internal and somewhat controllable sources, or external impossible-to-control sources; it can affect performance accuracy and consistency; it can cause products to not meet their target design […]