EarthShift Says: EarthShift is pleased to announce they are offering substantial discounts on their SimaPro software tool which collects, analyzes and monitors the environmental performance of products and services. Similar discounts are available for our tools-training-consulting packages which will help you master every aspect of the SimaPro suite.  

TechBites Says: Between their new Ecospeed family of DC-DC-converters and the smart lighting wireless transceivers they recently introduced, it’s apparent that Semtech has decided to turn its formidable analog design talents towards the green power market in a big way. The SC173/174 Eco-Speed controllers announced here feature high efficiency and integrated FETs that supply up to 4 A for point-of-load applications. The SC 493 which was also recently released, has high voltage capability (up to 28V) for so-called digital power applications. All these devices feature a so-called Adaptive On-Time (AOT) Architecture that delivers high efficiency across a very wide load...

TechBites Says: It looks like Linear has a real winner here. By combining peak load tracking and battery management functions in a single device, they’ve simplified design and manufacturing issues related to many off-grid solar applications. I especially like the fact that it can handle most emerging battery chemistries and a variety of battery pack configurations, including 1 to 4 Li-Ion / Polymer cells in series, 1 to 5 LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) cells in series and sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries up to 18V.   In fact, it may be just the thing I need for the small solar...

TechBites Says: National’s SolarMagic is a very promising technology for helping PV arrays run at peak efficiency under real-world conditions where manufacturing variations, aging, and real-world conditions could otherwise drag down a system’s overall performance. Unfortunately, National has been very tight-lipped about the deails of how the technology works so I’ve been unable to verify or deny their impressive claims. While neither of the partner firms are really industry leaders, these two announcements about panel manufacturers actually integrating SolarMagic into their products does provide some validation of National’s intent to become a major player in the solar power space. Two...

TechBites Says: The CS1500 and CS1600 are digitally controlled, discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), active power factor correction ICs intended for use in power supplies rated up to 300 watts. The CS1500 is designed to address power supplies such as laptop adapters, digital TVs and PC power, while the CS1600 targets electronic lighting ballasts. The two devices announced here are variants of Cirrus’s EXL Core technology, a so-called “digital power factor correction” technique which has been tweaked to support these specific applications. Cirrus’s metal-programmable digital architecture allowed them to quickly spin off these variants of the original product and, as we’ll...

TechBites Says Sometimes un-sexy is a very good thing. Take for example Infineon’s improved packaging system that they just introduced for their IGBTs, IGBT modules and SiC diodes. These new packaging and die-attach techniques all address a power device’s biggest lifetime limiters – the mechanical degradation that occurs during repeated thermal cycling and extended operation at high temperatures. While not a glamorous or exotic technology breakthrough, it still offers important improvements in reliability, simplified designs and cost savings in electric vehicles, power converters for wind and solar applications, as well as energy efficient designs in many more conventional applications.

Photovoltaic Glass Units (PVGUs), are compatible with standard glazing systems, combine energy efficiency, high density solar power generation and transparency Tech Bites Says: By producing see-through photovoltaic modules that can be integrated with nearly any curtain wall-type glazing system, Pythagoras Solar hopes to make it easy and economical to add solar-electric capabilities to the large expanses of glass found in office, industrial, and commercial buildings. Known as Photovoltaic Glass Units (PVGUs), the modules employ a prism system that steers most of the so-called direct sunlight striking its surface to an integrated silicon solar cell while allowing the indirect light that...

In the book Microwave and RF Design, A Systems Approach, author Michael Steer puts his 10 years of teaching the subject to good use. Unlike some other treatments of topics in RF and microwave design, this one from SciTech Publishing relates all design decisions up to the system level. And, it also indicates how system-level decisions impact microwave component and subsystem designs. Fortunately, our EDA tools have also begun to also address  this important aspect of RF/microwave design. So, between a good comprehensive understanding of RF and microwave design, like this book offers, and the latest integrated design tools, engineers...

When I reviewed TI's new LED controller/driver development kit earlier this week (click here to see the review), the folks who usually brief me were unavailable so I was forced to publish my report with a few open questions that I promised to answer as soon as I could. After my conversation with Charlie Ice, product marketing manager for the C2000 series, I have some answers for you – and some interesting news about a chance to win one of these slick little kits.

The TI Piccolo processor’s excellent price/performance ratio has already won it quite a few sockets in green power applications ranging from solar micro-inverters to energy-efficient motor controllers, so it was not very surprising to see that their latest development kit is aimed squarely at the solid-state lighting market. With 32 bits of processing power, a wide range of memory options, and some of the most innovative analog I/O on the market, I’ve always had a soft spot for TI’s Piccolo digital signal controller (DSC) – even if they now insist on calling it an MCU. Their well-provisioned, dev kit is...