This Week's Focus: Analog & Power
Get more with Circuit Cellar magazine!
PREVIEW MAGAZINE ○ SUBSCRIBE  
Circuit Cellar's ongoing mission is to provide important information to help you make smart choices with your engineering projects, from prototype to production.

Your feedback is always welcome. - Jeff Child (JChild@circuitcellar.com)



4 mA Integrated Sensor Transmitter Boasts Small Footprint  
 
Maxim Integrated Products has announced the MAX12900, an ultra-low power, highly integrated 4 mA to  20 mA sensor transmitter. Embedded system developers can use it to create small, low power and highly accurate designs for industrial automation system. Ideal applications include industrial automation and process control, loop-powered 4 mA to 20 mA current transmitters, remote instrumentation and smart sensors.

Today's system designers must develop enhanced 4 mA to 20 mA sensor transmitters with several considerations in mind. These include improved measurement accuracy over a wide temperature range and reduced size to fit in a small enclosure. In addition, they are required to meet a tight current budget of their overall sensor transmitter system as low as 4 mA.

The MAX12900 increases system accuracy with 10 ppm / degrees C voltage reference for up to 3.5x lower drift compared to traditional solutions. The small footprint (5 mm x 5 mm package size) of the MAX12900 integrates 10 optimized building blocks that results in a significant space savings of 20%-50% vs. traditional 4 mA to 20 mA sensor transmitter implementations.
  
   
 
  650 V SiC FETs Cut Power System Loses

UnitedSiC has announced the UJ3C series of 650 V SiC FETs as drop-in replacements for silicon superjunction MOSFETs. Available in standard TO-220, TO-247 and D2PAK-3L packages, they operate with a standard Si-MOSFET gate drive, eliminating the need to re-design drive circuits, while offering low RDS(ON) and low gate charge to reduce system losses. Used for power factor correction and DC-DC conversion in both hard-switched and ZVS-switched systems, applications include electric vehicle (EV) chargers, power supplies, motor drives and renewable energy inverters.

The maximum drain current (ID) ratings for these SiC transistors ranges from 31 A to 85 A. Low RDS(ON), specified at 27 mohms, is best in class for TO-220 devices. Furthermore, a built-in low Qrr body diode eliminates the need for an anti-parallel diode. With their combination of low RDS(ON), high current rating and excellent thermal performance, the UJ3C series can be used in hard-switched converters and zero-voltage switching applications such as LLC and phase-shifted full bridge converters. The devices also enable switching frequencies of up to 500 kHz, allowing designers to reduce the size and cost of other system components, including bulky inductors, capacitors and thermal management parts.
 
Current Issue
     

 
Learn More

Shop

Advertise 
We can get your message out to the professional engineering community. 

Contact Hugh Heinsohn today at Hugh@circuitcellar.com!

Stay Connected

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedIn






















Power Management ICs Reduce Charge Times
 
Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced several new power management chips that enable designers to boost efficiency and shrink power supply and charger solution sizes for personal electronics and handheld industrial equipment. Operating at up to 1 MHz, TI's new chipset combines the UCC28780 active clamp flyback controller and the UCC24612 synchronous rectifier controller to help cut the size of power supplies in AC/DC adapters and USB Power Delivery chargers in half. For battery-powered electronics that need maximum charging efficiency in a small solution size, TI also offers the bq25910. It is a 6-A three-level buck battery charger enables up to a 60% smaller-solution footprint in smartphones, tablets and electronic point-of-sale devices.

Designed to work with both gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon (Si) FETs, the UCC28780's advanced and adaptive features enable the active clamp flyback topology to meet modern efficiency standards. With multimode control that changes the operation based on input and output conditions, pairing the UCC28780 with the UCC24612 can achieve and maintain high efficiency at full and light loads.
      

 
 Win a Free CD with a Year's Worth of Circuit Cellar Content!
 
This week's newsletter raffle is for a 2017 archive CD of Circuit Cellar magazine. Enter the drawing using the link below. The CD contains PDFs for 12 issues and the associated article code files. $40 value! Drawing ends at midnight this coming Friday.


And congratulations to last week's raffle winner, Leon R., who won a 1 year subscription to Circuit Cellar. Thanks to all who participated! 
Power Switching Regulator Has Boost and 3x Buck Capabilities 

Analog Devices has announced the Power by Linear LT8603, a 42 V input capable, high efficiency quad output monolithic switching regulator. Its flexible design combines a boost controller with two high voltage 2.5 A and 1.5 A synchronous step-down channels and a lower voltage 1.8 A synchronous step-down channel to provide four independent outputs. The LT8603 can be configured with the boost controller to supply the input of the buck converters, enabling it to deliver three precisely regulated outputs. Alternatively, the boost controller can be driven from one of the step-down outputs, providing four precisely regulated outputs with a very compact solution footprint.

The LT8603's triple buck synchronous rectification topology delivers up to 93% efficiency while Burst Mode operation keeps quiescent current under 28 µA (high voltage channels active) in no-load standby conditions, ideal for always-on systems. For noise-sensitive applications, the LT8603's low EMI design meets the CISPR 25, Class 5 EMI requirements even when switching at 2 MHz. The LT8603's switching frequency can be programmed from 250 kHz to 2.2 MHz and is synchronizable throughout this range.


The LT8603's 85 ns (max) minimum on-time and cascading topology enables 16 Vin to 0.8 Vout step-down conversions while switching at 2 MHz, enabling designers to avoid critical noise-sensitive frequency bands such as AM radio, while using a very compact solution footprint. Its 3 V to 42 V input voltage range is ideal for automotive applications that must regulate through cold crank and stop-start scenarios with minimum input voltages as low as 3 V and load dump transients in excess of 40 V. Programmable power-on reset and power good indicators for each channel ensure overall system reliability. The LT8603's 40-lead thermally enhanced 6 mm x 6 mm QFN package and high switching frequency keep external inductors and capacitors small, providing a compact, thermally efficient footprint.

 CONTINUE READING  


DC-DC Converter Family Targets Modern Railway Systems

Vicor has released its next generation of DCMs with a family of wide input range (43 V to 154 V input) 3623 (36 mm x 23mm) ChiPs with power levels up to 240 W and 93% efficiency, targeted at new rail transportation and infrastructure applications. Modern rail infrastructure requires a wide range of DC-DC converters to power a variety of new services for both freight and commuter markets.

Commuter rail systems require mobile office communication capabilities with the infotainment capabilities of home. Freight rail systems require monitoring and control capabilities to assure the safe and timely delivery of all goods onboard. While both commuter and freight systems demand reliable and high-performance power systems for the necessary safety and security measures (onboard and at station.)

The DCM is an isolated, regulated DC-DC converter module that can operate from an unregulated, wide range input to generate an isolated DC output. These new ChiP DCMs simplify power system designs by supporting multiple input voltage ranges in a single ChiP. With efficiencies up to 93% in a ChiP package less than 1.5 inch-squared, these DCMs offer engineers high density and efficiency.

 CONTINUE READING  
Industry News & Recent Posts
 
03-05-2018 21:11:13 PM
Axiomtek has introduced its latest RISC-based, DIN-rail industrial IoT gateway, the IFB125. It is powered by the Freescale i.MX6UL processor with the ARM Cortex-A7 microarchitecture. This compact IoT gateway is designed for versatility of use and quick deployment. ... Continue reading →...»

03-02-2018 16:24:54 PM
Technologic Systems has announced that their latest Computer-on-Module, the TS-4100, has entered into their engineering sampling program. The TS-4100 is the first Technologic Systems Computer-on-Module to with the NXP i.MX 6 UltraLite processor, featuring a single ARM Cortex A7 core, operating at speeds up to 695 MHz. ... Continue reading →...»

03-02-2018 09:17:06 AM
-Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief
In late January every year, I always enjoy attending the Embedded Tech Trends (ETT) event where a selection of 15-give or take-sponsor companies from the embedded board industry get together to confab with the embedded industry's technology journalists. ... Continue reading →...»

03-01-2018 09:02:59 AM
Today Circuit Cellar is announcing a strategic partnership with LinuxGizmos.com to offer an expanded resource of information and know-how on embedded electronics technology for developers, makers, students and educators, early adopters, product strategists, and technical decision makers with a keen interest in emerging embedded and IoT technologies. ... Continue reading →...»

02-28-2018 16:07:53 PM
Diamond Systems has unveiled the EPSM-10GX Gbit Ethernet switch module with managed Layer 2/3 switch capabilities in an ultra-compact COM Express Mini 2.2" x 3.3" (55 mm x 84mm) form factor. Featuring 24 10/100/1000 Mbps copper twisted pair ports and two 10 Gbps SFI ports, the EPSM-10GX is a well suited for use as a building block for creating custom Ethernet switch solutions in a variety of space-critical applications, such as drones, ground and underwater vehicles and robots. ...
Continue reading →...»

02-28-2018 09:12:05 AM
Microchip Technology has unveiled a new System on Module (SOM) featuring the SAMA5D2 microprocessor (MPU). The ATSAMA5D27-SOM1 contains the recently released ATSAMA5D27C-D1G-CU System in Package (SiP). The SOM simplifies IoT design by integrating the power management, non-volatile boot memory, Ethernet PHY and high-speed DDR2 memory onto a small, single-sided printed circuit board (PCB).  ... Continue reading →...» 
More at CircuitCellar.com