At the recent LEAP Awards dinner gala in Costa Mesa, Calif., finalists in the power electronics category were honored, and judges revealed the overall winner in the power electronics category.

This year’s inaugural LEAP Awards competition honored ground-breaking new products that set a new standard for innovation. Judges rated candidates on categories that included societal impact, industry impact, technical sophistication, creativity, and value to customers.

Four judges chose the winners of the power electronics category: Bonnie Baker of ATW, Plamen Doynov of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Robert Kollman of Kollman Power Engineering, and Bill Schweber of Jaffa Engineering.

The finalists, in no particular order, were CUI with its high-performance Peltier modules incorporating an arcTEC structure; Mentor, a Siemens Co, with its MicReD power tester; Maxim Integrated for its uSLIC power modules; and Power Integrations with its InnoSwitch3-Pro IC family.

And the winner is:

Maxim Integrated
Himalaya uSLIC Solution

The micro system-level IC (uSLIC) modules from Maxim Integrated Products — MAXM17532 and MAXM15462 ultrasmall — are integrated dc-dc power modules give the benefits of industry-

best switching regulators with the size and simplicity of a linear regulator (LDO). The uSLIC power modules shrink the size of the power supply by 2.25x with an ultra-small package size. The size reduction comes from integrating a synchronous wide-input buck regulator with built-in FETs, compensation, and other functions with an integrated inductor. The modules fit into almost the same space as a tiny LDO. The uSLIC dc-dc buck regulator modules operate with inputs as low as 4 V and as high as 42 V, and they support multiple applications across nominal input voltages of 5 V, 12 V, 24 V, and 36 V with reliable headroom.

The judges commented: “Amazing amount of performance and features in an incredibly small package. … Very high power density, low profile and good efficiency.”