HOW2POWER TODAY

ISSUE: July 2024

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IN THIS ISSUE:

» Resonant Gate Drive Enhances Robustness Of GaN Power Stages

» Using Single-Phase Online Design Calculator To Analyze Stability Of Interleaved Power Stage Designs

» Focus On Magnetics:
Designing An Open-Source Power Inverter (Part 18): Transformer Winding Design For The Battery Converter—Secondary Winding Design

» Book Review

» Power Products

» Industry Events

» Other Top Power News

One of the plenary speakers that year at ECCE was Martin Eberhard, cofounder of TESLA Motors. His talk was titled, “How Electric Vehicles Must Change the Way the Auto Industry Thinks.” In retrospect, we can safely say that the company he started with Marc Tarpenning did indeed alter how car companies viewed EVs. At that same conference, a rap session on “Advanced Transportation Challenges” aimed to “look to a future of advanced hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and all-electric vehicles”. Meanwhile, at APEC that year, Jack Wagner of A123 Systems, discussed “a modular approach to deploying Lithium-ion batteries into automotive applications”. Clearly, the industry was looking ahead to a more-electrified automotive future. There were also sessions at those conferences about wide-bandgap devices—not only papers on SiC MOSFETs, but also SiC JFETs and BJTs. Though one vendor did announce two SiC MOSFET modules later that year, the introduction of a commercially available discrete SiC MOSFET was still about two years away. Meanwhile, GaN power developments were percolating—there had already been some related technology announcements—but the first formal product intros for GaN power devices didn’t arrive until the following year. In case the time references are cryptic, the conference talks and other events referred to took place in 2009—the same year that How2Power.com was launched. Looking back on those EV and battery talks, and the SiC and GaN developments, it’s easy to see now that they were a prelude to many advancements to come. As we celebrate this 15th anniversary of the website, a thank you goes out to the many authors who have shared their ideas in articles, to those who supplied information for our product news and to the vendors who supported How2Power through their advertising. We hope that the resources provided here in the How2Power Today newsletter and across the How2Power.com website have been a source of education and occasionally inspiration as you face the many challenges in your engineering work.

HOW2POWER EXCLUSIVE DESIGN ARTICLES

Resonant Gate Drive Enhances Robustness Of GaN Power Stages

by Ron Vinsant, uPI Semiconductor, Mountain View, Calif.

Resonance driving of silicon-based power devices has been extensively researched. The use of resonance to save power has been a main focus of this research. In this article, we will show an additional use of resonance—to enhance robustness of circuit operation in GaN power stages. We’ll also demonstrate how the uP1964 GaN driver is well suited to such applications. The uP1964 is a single-channel GaN driver with performance aspects that help solve common issues with high-voltage and low-voltage GaN devices. The uP1964 can be used with lossy ferrite beads in a resonant-gate-drive topology to minimize problems with gate oscillations, improve cross-conduction immunity in half-bridge topologies, and make drive circuit PCB layouts less critical. Read the article…

This article demonstrates through simulation
and hardware testing the ease of design
that this GaN driver IC allows.

This model of a single-output two-phase
interleaved power stage can be converted
to an equivalent single-phase circuit
through a series of simple calculations
relating to C_OUT, I_OUT, and R_load.

Using Single-Phase Online Design Calculator To Analyze Stability Of Interleaved Power Stage Designs

by David Baba, Texas Instruments, Chandler, Ariz.

Single-output multiphase converter topologies can achieve higher output currents while managing thermal performance. However, the stability analysis of stacking multiple converter phases presents a more difficult challenge than that of a single-phase converter. That’s because online design calculators such as Texas Instruments’ Power Stage Designer and those associated with specific controllers, which generate Bode plots for assessing converter stability, are typically designed to work with single-phase power stages. Consequently, the power supply designer must run simulations to determine loop response, and these simulations take more time. In this article, the author describes how to take a single-output multiphase design and modify it to a single-output, single-phase equivalent circuit, allowing loop stability to be analyzed using a single-phase online design calculator. Read the article…

FOCUS ON MAGNETICS       
Sponsored by Payton Planar Magnetics
A monthly column presenting information on power magnetics design, products, or related technology

Designing An Open-Source Power Inverter (Part 18): Transformer Winding Design For The Battery Converter—Secondary Winding Design

by Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize

In the most recent installment in the Volksinverter design series, part 17, the previously derived winding design procedure and formulas were used to evaluate various winding configurations for the primary winding in the battery converter’s transformer. In this part, the same basic design procedure is now applied to the design of the secondary winding. Plans W through Y, which are described here, follow the scheme of electrically paralleling multiple layers to maximize window utilization. Plan Z changes the winding configuration to multifilar. Read the full article…

BOOK REVIEW

Power Electronics Text Delivers Insights On Control, Covers Neglected Converter And Circuit Types

Principles of Power Electronics, Second Edition, John G. Kassakian, David J. Perreault, George C. Verghese and Martin F. Schlecht, Cambridge U. Press, 2024, 800 pages.

Reviewed by Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize

This book is a premier MIT contribution to power electronics and covers the subject-matter in four parts titled Form and Function, Dynamic Models and Control, Components and Devices, and Practical Considerations. It follows in the MIT tradition of emphasizing fundamental concepts in some depth and in seeking a larger, more general and comprehensive view of the subject. For instance, it covers all four types of converters whereas most books skip bipolar to bipolar (ac-ac) waveform conversion. Read the full story…

POWER PRODUCTS

INDUSTRY EVENTS

EMC + SIPI Symposium Is Almost Here

As participants get ready for the upcoming EMC+SIPI 2024 Symposium, which will be held August 5-9, 2024 in Phoenix, Ariz., they can plan their schedules with the help of the Advance Program. Among the recent updates to the program are details on the Boeing Technical Tour, the ANSI C63.4 and C63.25 workshop, the Welcome Reception and Evening Gala, and new exhibitors. Another recently announced highlight is the IEEE EMC Society’s Women In Engineering (WIE) event, which will feature a WIE panel discussion on “Artificial Intelligence: What Motivates the Women in Engineering at INTEL?” Read the full story…

EOS/ESD Symposium And Exhibits: A Letter From The General Chair

by Henry Wolf, General Chair, Fraunhofer MFT, Munich, Germany

The general chair of this year’s symposium invites you to join him and other attendees at this year's 46th EOS/ESD Symposium and Exhibits, which will be held September 14-19 in Reno, Nevada. As Henry Wolf explains, this year's symposium will be unique as symposium organizers introduce a new format. Instead of a single keynote speech, they will feature three keynote speakers. Each morning will begin with a keynote addressing critical topics such as memory technology, failure analysis, and living in a connected future. Read the full story…

OTHER TOP POWER NEWS

Infineon and Swoboda are cooperating to develop high-performance current sensors for electromobility.

Hillcrest Energy Technologies has unveiled a prototype to highlight the value of its ZVS technology in power factor correction.

Nexperia plans to invest $200 million to develop the next generation of wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN, and to establish production infrastructure at the Hamburg site.