Design Talk
Application-Specific MOSFETs
January 18, 2012 11:16 am | by Sampat Shekhawat, Bob Brockway, and BongJoo Choi, Fairchild Semiconductor | Articles | CommentsThyristor and Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT) were the only power switches until the MOSFET was introduced in the late 1970s. The BJT is a current-controlled device; whereas the MOSFET is a voltage-controlled device. In the 1980s, the IGBT was introduced...
Simplify AISG Control Systems by Integrating the Hardware Discrete Transceiver
January 18, 2012 7:48 am | by Maurizio Gavardoni, Applications Manager, Maxim Integrated Products | Articles | CommentsThe latest generations of wireless networks have been developed to provide the high-speed data services required by data-intensive smartphone applications. Yet, deployment of this infrastructure has been costly, and coverage has been notably inadequate in some areas.
Charging without Wires
January 18, 2012 6:31 am | by Isidor Buchmann, CEO & founder of Cadex Electronics Inc., www.BatteryUniversity.com; answers@cadex.com | Articles | CommentsWireless charging may one day replace plugs and wires similar to how Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have modernized personal communication. Wireless charging with inductive coupling uses an electromagnetic field that transfers energy from the transmitter to the receiver.
Portable Power at the Heart of Defibrillators
January 16, 2012 9:15 am | by Joe Carcone, VP Sales & Marketing, Contour Energy Systems | Articles | CommentsImplantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) save thousands of lives annually for patients with weak or damaged hearts who are at heightened risk of sudden cardiac arrest. The ICD is battery-powered, and when the battery’s charge depletes, it must be replaced.
Deadline for 3rd Edition of EN 60601-1 Looms
December 14, 2011 6:32 am | by Jeffrey VanZwol, Micro Power Electronics, jvanzwol@micro-power.com, www.micro-power.com | Articles | CommentsIEC 60601-1 applies to all electrical and electronic medical devices and its accessories. The 3rd edition is in the process of being adopted by global regulatory authorities. But on a national level, regulatory affectivity dates are not harmonized across global jurisdictions.
Power Efficiency Is Key Factor in Device Miniaturization
December 9, 2011 7:52 am | by Stephen J. Swift, Sr. Vice President/General Manager, Microsemi Corporation, Communications and Medical Products Group | Articles | CommentsReducing the size of electronic products has become an increasingly important system design objective, especially in applications such as medical implantable devices that are used for a variety of new and emerging therapies and diagnostics.
UPS technologies enhance efficiency
December 6, 2011 5:28 am | by David Sonner, Senior Director Product Marketing, Liebert AC Power, Emerson Network Power | Articles | CommentsToday’s data centers are expected to deliver more computing capacity while operating more efficiently, eliminating downtime and adapting to constant change. Infrastructure technologies are rising to the challenge by evolving to support higher density equipment...
What type of LED driver or power supply do I need?
December 5, 2011 5:16 am | by Mel Berman, TDK-Lambda Americas | Articles | CommentsConventional AC-DC power supplies and DC-DC converters provide an output that is regulated to provide a “constant-voltage.” However, LEDs work most efficiently and safest with a “constant-current” drive. As a result, many new devices have been developed to provide this type of LED drive.
Accelerating PCB Power Delivery Network Design and Analysis
December 1, 2011 8:54 am | by Dennis Nagle, Staff Product Engineer & Dingru Xiao, Staff Product Engineer, Cadence Design Systems | Articles | CommentsCurrent design trends have made the power delivery network (PDN) of a printed circuit board (PCB) as critical as multi-gigabit data channels. Continuous increases in clock frequencies have coupled with large increases in power, while voltage levels have trended lower and lower.
Resistors Answer Design Challenges for Harsh Environments
November 14, 2011 6:18 am | by Kory Schroeder, Stackpole Electronics Inc., www.seielect.com | Articles | CommentsMany engineers are surprised to learn that commodity thick film chips, the most commonly specified resistor today, perform well in high moisture environments, but have some long-term reliability concerns in high-sulfur environments. In addition, certain SMD and thru-hole metal film resistors are susceptible to corrosion due to moisture. Fortunately, there are answers to both of these design challenges.
Design Considerations for a Harsh Industrial Environment
November 11, 2011 5:43 am | by Robert Gee, Business Manager, Maxim Integrated Products & Shasta Thomas, Strategic Applications Engineer, Maxim Integrated Products | Articles | CommentsSemiconductor (IC) robustness—what is the operating temperature range? How is high electrical noise handled? What about ESD and fault protection? These issues are not necessarily the first things that a design engineer thinks about when selecting an IC.
Control LED Temperature Rise with Thermal Feedback
November 10, 2011 5:52 am | by John Betten, Application Engineer, Texas Instruments | Articles | CommentsIlluminating an LED at high brightness requires driving it with as high a current as allowed by the manufacturer, but the life expectancy of LEDs is heavily dependent on operating temperature. An increase of only 10°C can cut its useful life in half.
Harsh Environment Connector Selection
November 8, 2011 7:11 am | by Steven Cooper, Vice President of Engineering, Switchcraft | Articles | CommentsIs it a Harsh Environment or a “Harsh Harsh” Environment? Most connectors designed for conditions such as water spray and intermittent water submission (IP67) are considered Harsh Environment Connectors. “Harsh Harsh” environment connectors...
Designing Data Recorders for Harsh Environments
November 8, 2011 6:18 am | by Justin Graves, Electrical Engineer, Advanced Electronic Systems, Excelitas | Articles | CommentsIn many applications, data recorders collect information while being exposed to mechanical and thermal shock, vibration, high humidity, and high Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) environments. Designing data recorders for reliable operation...
Make Sense of Software of Unknown Pedigree (SOUP)
October 27, 2011 11:58 am | by Mark Pitchford, LDRA, www.LDRA.com | Articles | CommentsLegacy software—software of unknown pedigree (SOUP)—forms the basis of new developments which must meet modern coding standards either due to client demands or simply a policy of continuous improvement within the developer organization. The need to leverage the value of SOUP while meeting new standards and further developing functionality presents its own set of unique challenges.
MICE, IP and harsh environments
October 17, 2011 10:08 am | by Tom Williams RCDD, Director New Business Development, METZ CONNECT | Articles | CommentsWhen today’s communications professionals are faced with designing a system infrastructure that will be placed in a environment that is not suitable for standard cable and connectors difficult decisions must be made. Designers must look to connectors and cable that are specifically designed for harsh environments.
I-O Connectors For Harsh Environments
October 17, 2011 8:31 am | by Fred Kozlof, Tech Support, CONEC | Articles | CommentsDespite all the warnings to avoid use of electrical devices in wet areas, it seems that designers are working at a fast pace to create devices that play well with water. Traditionally, most electronic boxes have been located in a sheltered, controlled environment.
Reference Circuits Address Practical Circuit Design Challenges
October 5, 2011 1:21 pm | Articles | CommentsWith the industrial and instrumentation market becoming more competitive, circuit designers continually face new challenges to design products faster, with fewer iterations, and incorporating a wider range of mixed-signal technologies including analog, digital, power, and RF. In addressing these challenges, reference circuits provide
Controllers Drive Gesture Recognition on Resistive Touch Screens
October 4, 2011 4:58 am | by Javier Calpe, Italo Medina, Alberto Carbajo, and Maria Jose Martinez of Analog Devices, Inc., www.analog.com | Articles | CommentsAlthough resistive technologies have conventionally been used to detect the position of a single touch on the screen, this article examines a new dual-touch concept that uses a resistive touch-screen controller to detect the most common two-finger gestures (zoom, pinch and rotation) using inexpensive resistive touch screens.
Multicore DSPs, the key to military applications
September 29, 2011 6:18 am | by Hector Rivera, Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments | Articles | CommentsAs signal processing requirements continue to climb in waveform-intensive applications including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), sonar, radar, signals intelligence (SIGINT) and software defined radio (SDR), the use of multiple digital signal processors (DSP) cores is a key enabler.
Ensuring Continuous Availability for Electronic Health and Medical Records
September 26, 2011 10:12 am | by Noel Moss, Senior Professional Services Consultant, Stratus Technologies | Articles | CommentsElectronic Health Records (EHRs) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are rapidly becoming common-place in the healthcare industry. Organizations such as the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT)...
New Possibilities for P-Cap Touch Sensing in Small Format Industrial Displays
September 23, 2011 11:09 am | by Ian Crosby, Sales and Marketing Director, Zytronic | Articles | CommentsProjected capacitive (p-cap) touchscreens have witnessed overwhelming success in the consumer portable space over the last few years, being specified into highly popular products such as Apple’s iPad and iPod Touch, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy and Blackberry’s Torch smartphones.
To Swipe or Not to Swipe
September 15, 2011 2:52 pm | by Ahsan Javed, Silicon Laboratories, www.silabs.com | Articles | CommentsUnlike human-to-human gesturing, human-machine gesturing does not have a foundation of thousands of years of history to use as a context. This poses a challenge for human interface system designers. If a user performs a gesture, how does the machine know how to react in a manner that is commensurate with the user’s intentions?
Stacked capacitors enable the shrinking of electronics
September 14, 2011 7:33 am | by Ron Demcko, AVX Fellow | Articles | CommentsSize, performance, reliability and cost are the common standards to judge any electronic device. As consumers, we expect smaller, cheaper and more powerful devices that are of high quality and reliability. Within any given system, we can take semiconductors' improved performance, size and cost as a certainty.
The Parts Make the Whole: Aircraft Systems Components
August 17, 2011 7:30 am | by Ken Smith, Product Manager, Meldin, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics | Articles | CommentsAccording to the Air Transport Association’s 2010 economic report “When America Flies it Works,” operating revenues for U.S. airlines fell by approximately 17 percent in the wake of the 2009 global recession – considered the worst since the 1930s.
