HOW2POWER TODAY

ISSUE: September 2009

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IN THIS ISSUE:

From the Editor’s Desk

Switching-Regulator Insights: Achieving Longer
    Battery Life in DSP Systems

A Simpler Way to Dim Fluorescent Lamps

Frequency Dithering: A Tool for Overcoming
    Last-Minute EMC Hurdles

New Power Products

Power Supply Jobs & Technology

Kudos2

  

Welcome to the very first issue of How2Power Today, an e-mail newsletter that addresses design challenges in power conversion and power management. When you open your copy of this newsletter each month, expect to find practical power design articles on timely topics. Many of these articles have an application focus, presenting design techniques and solutions that can be immediately applied in the real world. Also, expect to find probing stories about new power products. Going beyond the press release, these stories provide facts, graphics, and perspective you won’t find in other publications. And discrete components that get minimal attention elsewhere—passives, magnetics, thermal management devices, interconnects, and semiconductors—will get their due here. Finally, you’ll find news and commentary on the power electronics jobs scene to help you stay current with changes in the profession that could affect you. Not your run-of-the-mill newsletter, but one I hope you’ll look forward to reading.

HOW2POWER EXCLUSIVE DESIGN ARTICLES

Switching-Regulator Insights: Achieving Longer Battery
Life in DSP Systems

by Sridhar Gurram, Oliver Brennan,
and Tim Wilkerson, Analog Devices

Battery-powered systems such as MP3 players typically employ an embedded digital signal processor (DSP) to achieve maximum processing power when handling multimedia applications. Battery life is of prime importance in these products, so the efficiency of the power system is critical. But so are good voltage regulation and fast transient response. In this feature, the authors discuss a switching regulator architecture designed to meet all three objectives. Read the full story...

The ADP2102 synchronous stepdown converter employs
constant on–time, valley-current-mode control.

A four-level switch-dimming ballast based on the
IRS2530D dimming control IC.

A Simpler Way to Dim Fluorescent Lamps

by Tom Ribarich, International Rectifier

Electronic ballasts require a control interface for the user to set the desired brightness level of fluorescent lamps. Existing interface circuits require additional wiring to each ballast during installation, a special lamp socket or wall dimmer, or an additional signal processing unit. In this feature, the author describes the operation and application of a new dimming ballast control chip that eliminates the need for any additional components by sensing the on/off switching of the ac mains voltage and cycling through the dimming range in 4 steps, allowing a lamp to be dimmed with any standard on/off switch. Read the full story...

Frequency Dithering: A Tool for Overcoming Last-Minute EMC Hurdles

by Bob Bell and Ajay Hari, National Semiconductor

When designing a power converter to meet electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements there is no substitute for good layout, design and filtering practices. But, often the emissions of the power converter are not measured until late in the development process when the power converter is integrated into the final assembly. Usually, at that time there is limited space to add filtering components and no time for re-design. As the authors discuss in this feature, one relatively simple but controversial way to reduce a converter’s peak emissions and possibly pass the EMC requirements is to enable a clock-dithering circuit, which dithers the converter’s switching frequency. Read the full story...

Frequency dithering suppresses
a power converter’s peak emissions.

  — POWER PRODUCTS IN 3 IMAGES OR LESS

POWER SUPPLY JOBS & TECHNOLOGY

Weathering the Economic Storm: How are Power Electronics Engineers Doing?

Unemployment in the U.S. has been rising steadily rising since the spring of 2008. According to a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics, despite some moderation in job losses in recent months, the ranks of unemployed in the U.S. has continued to rise. In August, the national unemployment rate hit 9.7% (Figure). Naturally, that number doesn’t bode well for electrical engineers, but are EEs faring better or worse than the rest of the workforce? And what about EEs specializing in power electronics? Read the full story...

  — RECOGNIZING TODAY'S POWER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 The founders of Ioxus. Not only is this start up disproving the myth that passive components such as capacitors are simply mature technologies, they’re demonstrating it’s still possible to manufacture such components in the U.S. Ioxus website

 Recent CPES graduates: Chuanyun Wang, Yan Dong, Yi Sun, Zheng Luo, Michele Lim, Yan Jiang, Honggang Sheng, Arthur Ball, Jian Li, Julu Sun, Jing Xu, and Yan Liang. Read more about their accomplishments at the CPES website.

 Electronic Products magazine for publishing a video of the plenary address by Dr. Jon Cohn of IBM, at the IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference 2009, in which he discussed “getting young people into engineering.” Read HOW2POWER thoughts on Dr. Cohn’s inspiring talk.