Every business day, PowerPulse provides readers comprehensive coverage of important Industry News announcements, spanning the globe from Asia to Europe and North America. PowePulse is the most-read power electronics publication in the world because we deliver the most information to the most readers. In 2016, PowerPulse published over 2500 news stories and delivered over 12 million email updates to subscribers of PowerPulseDaily, no other publication comes close.
The following is a listing (with links for the full story) of the most-read Industry News stories on PowerPulse.Net for 2016, thus providing a window into the "pulse" of the trends and interests in the Global Power Electronics Industry. This is the first article in the series, which will run this entire week.
#50: Torex Introducing Automotive Power Converters at electronica
During electronica, Torex will be introducing a new range of high temperature products, qualified to AECQ100 for the automotive market. The new XD-Q range includes; High performance dc-dc converters, low power consumption voltage regulators, voltage supervisors and load switches for automotive applications. Torex is already a significant supplier to automotive customers in Japan, but this will be the company's first time entering the European automotive market. More.
#49: ROHM Introduces SiC Technology into Formula E
Last week ROHM Semiconductor presented its cutting-edge silicon carbide (SiC) technology at the first race of the new 2016/2017 Formula E season in Hong Kong. At the start of season three, the leading Japanese semiconductor manufacturer started sponsoring and officially partnering with the Venturi Formula E team. The exciting collaboration between ROHM and Venturi in Formula E highlights the key to success in the all-electric racing series – power management. The challenge of Formula E is to find the most efficient way of using the energy provided by the battery and applying it on the road. More.
#48: EV Wireless Charging Interoperability with TMN Technology
WiTricity announced its Tunable Matching Network (TMN) technology to drive global interoperability and adoption of wireless charging for electric and autonomous vehicles. TMN technology allows the wireless charging system to automatically optimize energy transfer between the ground and vehicle in a wide range of real world operating conditions including parking misalignment, differing vehicle ground clearance and varying battery voltage conditions. More.
#47: Software-Defined Power Increases Grid Efficiency
The technologies and infrastructure that make up the electricity grid are entirely analog. The result of this inefficient distribution is loss of nearly 70% of the electricity that is generated. The losses occur throughout the entire grid, at generation, through transmission and distribution, at the grid edge, in the last mile of transmission after the final substations and in our homes and businesses. More.
#46: TDK and Toshiba form EV JV to Make Inverters
TDK Corporation and Toshiba Corporation have agreed to establish TDK Automotive Technologies Corporation, a joint-venture that will engage in the development, manufacture and sales of automotive inverters for hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles. The new JV will be located within the TDK Technical Center in Chiba, Japan. TDK will own 75% of the new company and Toshiba will own 25%. More.
#45: SiC Reduces Size of Railroad Battery Charger by 10X
At the upcoming trade show InnoTrans in Berlin, Germany, September 20 to 23, ABB will launch a next-generation battery charger based on silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconÂductors for use in all rail applications. Train batteries provide power for critical systems such as control and lighting. The new compact battery charger of the series, BORDÂLINE® BC, complements ABB's large stand-alone auxiliary converter product family and is compatible with all standard train battery voltages. More.
#44: Non-Isolated Digital 60A PoL Standard set by AMP
The Architects of Modern Power® (AMP Group) consortium today announced an additional standard aimed at establishing common mechanical and electrical specifications for the development of advanced power conversion technology for distributed power systems. The 'gigaAMP™' standard, introduced to provide a higher current option in a land-grid array (LGA) footprint, builds on the previously-released 'picoAMP™' standard, published in September 2015, which defined standards for a lower range of non-isolated platforms ranging from 6A to 18A. The 60A 'gigaAMP' standard defines a compact footprint of 25.1 x 14.1 mm in an LGA format. More.
#43: GaN Transistor Evaluation Platforms
GaN Systems has launched a daughterboard style evaluation kit to help power design engineers easily evaluate the GaN E-HEMT performance in any system design, along with a universal motherboard (GS665MB-EVB). The family of four daughterboards ranging from 750W to 2,500W consists of two GaN Systems 650V GaN Enhancement-mode HEMTs (E-HEMTs) and all necessary circuits, including half-bridge gate drivers, isolated power supplies and an optional heatsink to form a high performance half bridge power stage. More.
#42: Powerbox acquires Eplax, Strengthening Custom Power Offering
Powerbox announced today that it has acquired the privately-held German power supply manufacturer Eplax. The acquisition strengthens Powerbox custom-power capabilities, addressing its four major markets – industrial, medical, railway/transportation, and defense – for which the company designs and distributes premium power conversion solutions for systems requiring high reliability. More.
#41: Software Self-Diagnoses Server Power Supply Replacement
Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has developed a self-diagnostic technology to determine when a power supply unit needs to be replaced. This is software that can run on board the microcontroller of a digitally-controlled power supply, such as those used in servers and other information and communication technology (ICT) devices. Details of this technology were presented at this week's Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition 2016 (APEC2016). Fujitsu is aiming for a commercial launch of the technology in 2018. More.
