HOW2POWER TODAY brings you in-depth reporting on the latest design techniques for power conversion, new components, and the employment outlook for power electronics engineers.
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» Single-Stage PFC Topology Employs Two-Transformer Approach For Improved Efficiency, Reliability, And Cost
» Video: Troubleshooting Distributed Power Systems: Measuring Ripple
» Testing What You Know About Copper Wire
» Focus On Magnetics:
Matrix Transformers May Find New Life In the SiC and GaN Era
» New Power Products
» Spotlight On Education & Research:
NSF Center For Grid-Connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems Accelerates Adoption Of Power Electronics In The Electric Grid
» Other Top Power News
» From the Editor's Desk
The introduction of new SiC and GaN power semiconductors is generating discussion about new design possibilities. For example, there is excitement around the idea of using higher-voltage GaN HEMTs in totem-pole PFC circuits. I even heard one GaN company executive refer to this topology as “the killer app” for these new GaN devices. But along with enabling new topologies, the new wide-bandgap semiconductors may cause us to revisit some older technologies that did not achieve widespread acceptance in the past. This month’s Focus on Magnetics column suggests that SiC and GaN could have that effect on magnetics, specifically on matrix transformers. In his article, Edward Herbert discusses how the characteristics of these transformers make them especially well suited for use in the emerging high-frequency power designs including those employing the new SiC and GaN devices. Perhaps this is one of the aspects of engineering that make it so intriguing—the possibility that an innovation doesn’t have to catch on right away for it to ultimately achieve mainstream success. Sometimes an advancement in one field is just waiting on an advancement in another. This issue also touches on magnetics design in an article on a new single-stage PFC topology that leverages an extra, low-cost transformer to achieve greater performance. Also in this newsletter, a new video by Steve Sandler that describes techniques for making more-accurate ripple measurements, an article discussing the unique research and training that’s being conducted in the GRAPES program, a special feature on dc-dc converters for railway applications, and more.
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