Power Management Applications Center

A SemiApps.com Applications Center

High Voltage Power Management :: One Small Step for Engineers (don't tell Marketing)

By Doug Bailey, Power Integrations, Inc. Lately, the press has been full of stories concerning the GM bailout, a proposed $25 billion payment intended to keep the last vestiges of the U.S. automotive industry from following the well-trodden path of decline – a trail littered with the empty shells of shipbuilding, textile, steel, semiconductor and other 20th century factories. Ignoring...  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Smart Power Needs to be Smarter Than Ever

By David Bourner, Micrel Corp. Real limits in power technology occur in systems that are supporting optical fiber applications. In the optical realm, data rates and available bandwidth go up...  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Is it Time to Regulate Power Management Semiconductor Efficiency?

By George Hall, Summit Microelectronics, Inc. Makers of semiconductors have often operated in a self-governing, self-regulating manner when it came to key design goal parameters which affect system and overall efficiencies; including the power consumed by the IC itself.  >>  

Power Conversion :: Why is PFC Important?

By Michael O’Loughlin, Texas Instruments A majority of electronic product consumers are unaware of what power factor correction (PFC) is or how it can conserve energy by reducing power transmission line losses. But, environmental agencies are aware of the benefits of PFC in offline power converters. It started with the European Union (EU) EN61000-3-2 input current harmonic content...  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Implementing Digital Power Management for Analog Power Supplies

By Shyam Chandra, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation To meet market pressures, designers employ many of the latest high density ASICs, CPUs, FPGAs and memory ICs to increase the features on their...  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Power Supply Filter Components Continue to Dominate PCB Real Estate

By George Hall, Summit Microelectronics, Inc. Even as electronic components shrink, it is always an easy task to spot the power supply section on small-sized boards given the large amount of space...  >>  

DC/ DC Power Conversion :: Power Stage Integration: Welcome Friend or Elusive Foe?

By Guy Moxey, Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. Considerable focus has been placed on controller enhancements for low voltage DC/DC synchronous buck designs. Ultra-high switching frequency and fast...  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Implementing Digital Power Management for Analog Power Supplies

By Shyam Chandra, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation To meet market pressures, designers employ many of the latest high density ASICs, CPUs, FPGAs and memory ICs to increase the features on their circuit boards. Each of these ICs need multiple power supplies. The net result is an increase in the number of power supplies per board, and a corresponding increase in the complexity of...  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Power Supply Filter Components Continue to Dominate PCB Real Estate

By George Hall, Summit Microelectronics, Inc. Even as electronic components shrink, it is always an easy task to spot the power supply section on small-sized boards given the large amount of space the inductive and capacitive filter components take up. The power controller is dwarfed by these components leaving one to wonder when these technologies will join the semiconductor field in...  >>  

Battery Management :: Meeting the Changing Power Needs of Evolving Portable Systems

By Bill Weiss, Advanced Analogic Technologies Inc. (AnalogicTech) Over the last several years portable system designers have increasingly used large, highly integrated Power Management Units...  >>  

Power Conversion :: Power Stage Integration: Welcome Friend or Elusive Foe?

By Guy Moxey, Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. Considerable focus has been placed on controller enhancements for low voltage DC/DC synchronous buck designs. Ultra-high switching frequency and fast transient response are two key design considerations that can be achieved through digital or mixed signal control implementation.  >>  

Digital Power Management :: Digital control continues its takeover of power management

By George A. Hall, Summit Microelectronics The complexity of an ever-swelling sea of innovative system designs has introduced new requirements for power management in consumer and virtually all application market places. Simple analog power conversion is inadequate to address issues related to performance, efficiency and functionality.  >>  

High Voltage Power Management :: Tightening Power Regs Demand Careful Power IC Selection

By Doug Bailey, Power Integrations Over the last decade, the rising cost of energy and the relentlessly escalating demand for power has driven government and industry organizations to establish new standards for power efficiency in electronics devices.  >>