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Power Around the Web

A wide variety of power electronics resources are available online. This section points to the many relevant websites provided by trade magazines, industry organizations, vendors, and academic and research institutions. At these sites, you’ll find design tips and techniques, product and technology information, industry and research news, job information, bios about technology and business leaders, and technological history—all related to power electronics.

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Startups

Founded in 2017, this company is a “developer of patented, innovative solid-state technologies for the digital control of electricity.” view »

Founded in 2018, this company has developed an “electrically integrated onboard charger and auxiliary power module” for electric vehicles." view »

This developer of electrode materials "was founded in 2017 with the mission to commercialize patented ultra fast charging technology that was developed at UCLA by two professors who are leaders in their fields." view »

Founded in 2017 and led by Robert Erickson, this power electronics startup aims to “has redesigned grid-tied solar string inverters using novel composite architecture optimized for silicon carbide (SiC) components". view »

Spun-out of Cambridge University in 2016, CGD is a fabless semiconductor company whose mission is “to shape the future of power electronics by delivering the most efficient and easy-to-use transistor.” view »

Although founded in 2012, this company made its APEC debut in 2022 with its SmartEgg ac-dc architecture, and it offers power controller ICs implementing proprietary architectures. view »

Founded in 2014, this company produces tiny integrated switching regulators for point of load applications , and also silicon capacitors. view »

“Leveraging its strength in GaN HEMT power device design, controller and driver IC design as well as power electronics system design” this company delivers advanced products such as 900-V and 1200-V GaN FETs and GaN Power ICs. view »

Founded in 2015, this company has developed USB-C PD controllers, load switches with USB protocol, ac-dc and dc-dc controllers and gate drivers. view »

Founded in 2017, this developer of silicon-based power devices uses its SuperQ technology and state-of-the-art CMOS equipment to extend performance of diodes, MOSFETs, IGBTs and ICs. view »

Unlike the many fabless GaN device makers, this company was founded in 2015 with the goal of becoming “the largest manufacturing site and integrated device manufacture (IDM) fully focused on GaN technology”. view »

Founded in 2021, this company is an “analog, mixed-signal and power semiconductor pure-play foundry” with “automotive, medical, ITAR and industrial quality accreditations and certifications.” view »

Founded in 2017, this firm produces motor control units, power modules and customized solutions for electrified drive trains. view »

Founded in 2019, this company produces SiC and IGBT modules using its expertise in “wafer process and device design, module packaging design, product application, marketing and product operation”. view »

Founded in 2022, this company specializes in GaN power management ICs (PMICs). view »

Founded in 2016, this company uses MEMS technology to build “Ideal Switch” components for power and RF applications. view »

Founded in 2022 with the aim of improving the reliability of PV systems, this company is “building a more reliable inverter for utility and large commercial PV installations.” view »

Founded in 2020, this company “develops SiC solutions for leading power electronics groups in applications ranging from electric vehicles to solar PV and beyond”. view »

Founded in 2018, this fabless semiconductor company uses its photovoltaic-output optocouplers to build dc voltage regulators with the efficiency and buck-or-boost functionality of a switching regulator, while retaining the low EMI and small size of an LDO. view »

Founded in 2016, this company “develops embedded AI technology to solve complex timing problems associated with forced resonance soft-switching in power conversion”. view »

Spun out of the University of Plymouth (UK) n 2013, this company has developed a novel method of PFC that improves efficiency of ac-dc power supplies while keeping cost low. view »

Founded in 2019 by, this fabless company offers “leading-edge multiphase controllers, smart power stages, eFuse and point-of-load solutions” with emphasis on “robustness, efficiency, eco-friendliness, and density”. view »

Founded in 2015, this company offers semiconductor and software products for controlling electric motors, battery charging and power conversion systems of electric and hybrid vehicles. view »

Based in France and founded in 2020, this company specializes in the design and development of disruptive power-electronics solutions based on GaN technology. view »

Blogs

In this blog about "all things power supply," application engineers at Acopian (a U.S. manufacturer of power supplies) have posted application-related tips on such topics as connecting power supplies in series, sequencing power supplies, and creating an audible alarm for detection of blown fuses. The first blog entry recalls Acopian's early days (1957), when it supplied not power supplies but a solar powered radio. view »

Alfonso Martinez’s musings on magnetics design issues are technically informative, thought provoking and entertaining. With his background in software engineering he brings new perspectives to power magnetics tackling issues such as modeling of core losses and automating layout of planar magnetics. His postings are available here on his OpenMagnetics website and at https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/alf-s-musings-7026708624966135808/ view »

Dr. Fred A. Engleberry blogs on power supply design issues on Fairchild Semiconductor's website, where you'll find posts on issues such as MOSFETs, gate drives, and dc-dc converters. Fred A. Engleberry, which abbreviates to F.A.E, is actually real-life Fairchild FAE Ken Coffman, whose humorous writing style entertains as it instructs. Ken's blog appears to be part of a larger blog with additional posts on power supply design-related topics. view »

ECOS Consulting and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) built this site "to initiate a global dialogue about energy efficient power supplies." The site provides information on initiatives to study and improve the active mode-efficiency of power supplies, both external and internal. This site discusses opportunities for improving power supply efficiency on a national scale and organized efforts within the U.S. to improve power supply efficiency. The site presents test reports on the performance of specific power supply models, and other power supply-related research, gives information on power supply test protocols in development, and discusses power supply efficiency policies. (For information on standby power consumption see Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's website, http://standby.lbl.gov.) view »

Rick Zarr of Texas Instruments writes this thought-provoking and entertaining blog discussing issues related to energy generation, energy and power conversion, and energy consumption. He explores trends and emerging technologies that affect energy generation and its use in a variety of applications. He makes his points by citing historical facts, data on energy use, and other technical information. view »

Reading the blog's title and subtitle ("from the founder of a renewable energy start up"),it quickly becomes clear that Erik Limpaecher, a co-founder of Princeton Power Systems, will be writing about his experience as an entrepreneur in the renewable energy field. But this blog is also a great source of technical information and opinion on power electronics, particularly as it relates to renewable energy, electric vehicles, LEDs, and other emerging applications. Limpaecher gives who, what, and where info on advanced power semiconductor R&D. A refreshing change from the many anonymous technical blogs, this one provides plenty of background on the author. view »

Described as “a blog dedicated to crushing silicon,” this EPC web page features many technical discussions about designing with GaN power devices and their uses in a range of applications. view »

An impressive resource for those interested in high-voltage design, this site includes information on high-voltage components and power supplies (including a buyers guide), design issues, safety, industry news, books, research facilities, and applications. The contact for the site, Fred Wright, also writes a blog. view »

Wide ranging in energy-related subject matter, this IEEE blog reports on the “ future of energy, climate, and the smart grid.” The blog includes many stories on battery developments, but solar energy, the grid and other topics are also covered. view »

A blog by this provider of variable-speed drives and controls offers general technical information on the application of variable speed drives and motors. Some example blog titles include "Variable Speed Drives and Motor Braking," "Defining Your Variable Speed Drive Requirements," “ A Checklist," "Brake Choppers Demystified," "NEMA Motor Speed/Torque Characteristics," and "Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Variable Speed Drives." view »

MatDirjish.com represents extensive observations in the electronic design, technology, art, and music arenas. Many engineers/designers/EOEMs found their way into technology via art and/or music, so there’s something here to feed those extracurricular interests. Extra focus is on new tech products, designs, and concepts, particularly in the power and alternative energy arenas. Since everything in our existence is an electro-mechanical event, humans, and their tech devices, cannot exist without power: ac & dc. view »

On the Power Integrations website, the mysterious Mr. Green blogs regularly on "Energy Efficiency Standards, Regulations, and Other Green Matters." This is a good source for news on energy-saving initiatives related to consumer products, particularly the Energy Star programs. view »

At the Picotest.com blog, design consultants and authors Steven Sandler and Charles Hymowitz discuss test issues arising in the areas of RF, instrumentation and power electronics. view »

In The Chronic Engineer blog, Lalit Patnaik, a senior fellow at CERN, offers a timely (April 2021) list of power electronics textbooks and online resources. The book list is a nice combination of old and new sources. view »

Published by Aspencore, this site mainly seems to offer the power management and power electronics related news and features from EETimes and their other publications. view »

Along with product information from the company, this blog provides application tips for users of ac-dc power supplies and dc-dc converters. Entries address subjects such as cold-temperature startup, hipot testing, safety standards, series connection of supplies, extending fan life, and more. This blog is written by TDK-Lambda’s mysterious Power Guy. view »

Kollman, a senior applications engineer and distinguished member of the Texas Instruments staff presents tutorial and how to information on many power design topics in his Power Tips! Series for EETimes and their PowerManagementDesign Line. Since starting this blog in 2008, Kolllman has amassed entries on numerous power supply design issues. Blogs seem aimed at a broad audience. In 2011, Kollman began recording a video blog addressing similar technical issues. The link provided here lists the first 50 blog entries/articles in this series. For other blog entries, see http://www.eetimes.com/design/power-management-design and search Power Tips." view »

Using his 20+ years experience in power electronics, Lazar Rozenblat has developed this website., which offers extensive information on power supply design and many links to sites with useful information and design tools. Site includes an interesting blog by Rozenblat and listings for Power Supply Design Jobs. view »

Engineers and marketers at Vicor blog about this company's power products (dc-dc converters, filters, power management devices, and more), power conversion technology, design tools, application issues, relevant technology news, and the company's participation in industry events. view »

The Keysight Technologies Power Blog features more than 180 posts on a variety of topics relating to instrument-type power supplies including dc power supplies, ac sources and dc electronic loads. view »




Charts & References (Energy Related)

In 1999, Intel fellow Fred Pollack gave a talk "New Microarchitecture Challenges in the Coming Generations of CMOS Process Technologies" in which he presented the now classic graph predicting how (if the trend continued) rising power consumption for processors built in successive generations of CMOS would push CPU power density to the level of the sun's surface in another decade. Of course, that didn't happen. Pollack's graph plotted power density versus process geometry with CPU generations identified on the curve (this graph is available on slide 8 of http://research.ac.upc.edu/HPCseminar/SEM9900/Pollack1.pdf). Others took this data and ran with it when discussing power management challenges for power semiconductor and VRM designers. view »

Published by the Electricity Storage Association, this "Competitive Energy Storage Technologies" chart graphs the discharge times and system power levels associated with different energy storage technologies. These include supercaps, flywheels, superconducting magnetic energy storage, compressed air energy storage, hydrogen energy storage, pumped hydro, and various battery chemistries. view »

This student resource from the Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum Support lists typical energy consumption of appliances. Data originally was taken from the US DoE, 2010. view »

On this page, Lazar Rozenblat defines basic concepts such as energy, work, and power, and explains the relationships between these terms, particularly as they relate to electrical energy and power. The page also provides two calculators: one converts between watts and other units of power, the other converts between joules and other units of energy. A nice feature: the calculators show equivalent values for all the different units simultaneously. For example, type in a value in watts and you'll immediately see equivalents in volt-amperes, joules/sec, calories/second, horsepower, etc. view »

Flooded lead acid deep-cycle batteries provide energy storage in golf carts, electric vehicles, boats, RVs, and solar and wind power applications. Ever wondered how these batteries are made? You can watch the whole process in this fascinating 6-minute video on "Deep Cycle Battery Manufacturing 101," which was produced by the U.S. Battery Manufacturing Company. The video takes you step by step through the battery manufacturing process, starting with pallets of raw materials and walking you through all the production steps until pallets of finished battery products are loaded onto outgoing trucks. view »

Color-coded maps show the solar photovoltaics (PV) resource potential and concentrating solar power (CSP) resource potential for the United States. Average annual solar resource data is quantified in terms of kWh/m2/day. view »

This flowchart shows techniques to “reduce standby consumption at the chip, device, or system levels.” view »

This article from CUI in the Digi-Key Electronics Article Library, which spells out the U.S. DoE's Level VI energy efficiency requirements for external power supplies, includes a brief history of the external power supply efficiency regulations, mainly in the form of a timeline graphic that lists the global regulatory milestones from 2004 to the present (August 2015). view »

This World Energy & Climate Statistics – Yearbook 2022 web page shows a map and table of energy consumption by country. There’s also a world energy usage trend chart for 1990-2021. view »

Color-coded map show the average annual wind speeds across the U.S. as projected at various heights view »

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's report "International Energy Outlook" forecasts energy demands and energy generation capacity across different energy sources (fuels and technologies), regions, and economies through the year 2030. Included here in chapter 1 are charts forecasting worldwide (WW) electricity generation by fuel type (renewable, coal, natural gas, nuclear, liquids); WW renewable electricity generation by source (geothermal, wind, hydroelectricity); world nuclear generating capacity by region. See chapter 5 for charts forecasting growth in world electric power generation and total energy consumption and electricity generation broken down by economies (OECD vs. non-OECD countries), regions, fuel types, etc. Also, see projections in "Solar Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal Electric Technologies." view »



Charts & References (Power Electronics)

On the Mouser website, Fig 10 of Kemet’s whitepaper “Introduction to Capacitor Technologies What is a Capacitor?” shows a flow chart of capacitor types. view »

The Interpower Guide to Worldwide Plug/Socket Patterns & Power Mains (Single-Phase) offers a country-by-country listing of line voltages and frequencies, and the ac receptacle and plug styles they use. Includes nice photos. There is a scrollable/searchable version as a well as a printable version of this guide. view »

A company that specializes in high-power power electronics, IDX has created this educational "power electronics tree" that lists the various types of applications for high-power power supplies and semiconductors. Broadly speaking, the tree covers scientific, industrial, and medical applications for these supplies and semiconductors. It features main branches for categories such as particle accelerators, fusion, superconductivity, industrial uses, batteries, power/new energy, semiconductor, and medicine with each of these sprouting smaller branches carrying the names of specific applications. This chart may help engineering students interested in power electronics to envision potential career paths. view »

A company that specializes in high-power power electronics, IDX has created this chart listing categories of high-power power supplies, switches, and oscillators with a breakdown of the various power supply types within these categories. For example, dc power supplies include the thyristor type, transistor series control type, and the switching type. view »

From the Alion System Reliability Center comes this checklist intended to help designers avoid reliability problems with power supplies operating in severe or benign environments. Not only does the list warn of potential power supply design problems, it also offers possible solutions and recommendations. (Per Steve Sandler, note certain out-of-date references to Baker clamps, aluminum capacitors (prohibited in airborne applications) and mica capacitors (all but obsolete.)) view »

A PDF of Texas Instruments™ "Power Supply Topologies" printed poster provides diagrams, equations, waveforms for 12 different SMPS topologies. In addition, titles of TI’s application notes and controller ICs are listed for each topology. The equations give simple equations for ideal transfer function, drain current, drain voltage, diode current, and diode reverse voltage for each topology. Published in 2008. view »

This web-friendly "Switching Mode Power Supply Topologies"chart on Lazar Rozenblat's website provides diagrams and equations for 14 different SMPS topologies, which are divided into nonisolating and isolating categories. The equations give simple expressions for dc transfer function, max switch voltage, peak switch current, max rectifier voltage, average rectifier current, and switch utilization ratio. The chart is followed by a brief topology selection guide. view »

Laurence W. Nagel, who developed SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) while studying under Professor Donald O. Pederson at the University of California, Berkeley, briefly describes the origins of this program, key contributors, the timeline, and factors influencing its development. He recounts the development of SPICE's predecessor, the Computer Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits, Excluding Radiation (CANCER) program, as a class project under Professor Ronald A Rohrer and how it led to development of Spice 1 and the subsequent Spice 2 variations. Other contributors to the development of CANCER and SPICE are named, and the seminal papers associated with the introduction of SPICE are listed. Nagel also lists other articles discussing the history of SPICE, other SPICE-related links, and SPICE versions with source code available. view »

This article from CUI in the Digi-Key Electronics Article Library, which spells out the U.S. DoE's Level VI energy efficiency requirements for external power supplies, includes a brief history of the external power supply efficiency regulations, mainly in the form of a timeline graphic that lists the global regulatory milestones from 2004 to the present (August 2015). view »

Design Notes and Tools

Biricha Digital Power, a UK-based consulting company, offers several digital power design tools on its website. These tools convert an analog type-II or type-III controller to its digital counterpart using analog component values or analog poles and zeros. view »

As Neaves explains, "the purpose of this website is to enhance collaboration between those interested in learning and applying D-OA (Design-Oriented Analysis)" an engineering approach and set of tools developed by Dr. David Middlebrook. It provides an introduction to the D-OA topic, including a basic definition, some history, thoughts on why it's not widely taught in schools, and links to D-OA resources. There's also discussion about Spice simulation of the General Feedback Thereom transfer functions, and how specific Spice simulators such as Intusoft's and LT spice support such simulations. view »

Consulting electronics engineer David A. Johnson has created this impressive site, which links to "28,000+ electronic circuits, cross-referenced into 500+ categories" including many categories relating to power conversion. view »

Power Integrations offers this tool for calculating the efficiency of external power supplies to check their compliance with U.S., E.U. and Chinese requirements. view »

This magazine website features a thermal management buyers guide and thermal management design articles. view »

Randall Kirschman, a consultant on low and high temperature electronics, has created this "web Site for information and activities related to electronic materials, devices, circuits and systems at temperatures below "-55°C/-65°C and above +125°C. Though not specific to power conversion, the content will be relevant to the design of power systems for extreme environments. The site offers a Q&A-style tutorial that addresses issues such as the definition of "extreme temperature," temperature limits for electronic components, motivations for extreme temperature operation, hardware design issues, and various aspects of device operation over temperature. Also has a resources section listing relevant books, papers, and courses plus an events calendar. view »

An impressive resource for those interested in high-voltage design, this site includes information on high-voltage components and power supplies (including a buyers guide), design issues, safety, industry news, books, research facilities, and applications. The contact for the site, Fred Wright, also writes a blog. view »

A distributor for high voltage and power products and applications support, High Voltage Connection offers numerous technical articles on high voltage topics. These include insulation methods, spacing requirements, the Paschen curve, definition of high voltage, electric shock, use of avalanche diodes, corona, voltage coefficient issues, and driving capacitive loads. There's also a glossary of high-voltage related terms. view »

Another fine source of links to high-voltage product information. On the links page, this consultant's website points you to sources of high-voltage power supplies, capacitors, resistors, diodes, cables/connectors, relays, switches, diagnostics and other components. It also links to sources of thermal management HW and SW, universities with high voltage/pulsed power research, and other related information. A technical data page provides numerous equations and data relevant to the HV and pulsed power equipment design. view »

This site's Power Electronics section contains tutorials and technical articles by engineer and author Dennis L. Feucht covering an eclectic mix of topics including (among others) the Tymerski switch model; current-sense resistors; the Cuk, SEPIC, and Zeta transformer; various other magnetics issues; and PFC multipliers. There's also a short course on motor control and articles on field-oriented step-motor control, and maximum motor power and efficiency. view »

From Lazar Rozenblat, founder of the smps.us website, comes this site offering reference and design information on power factor correction (PFC). It includes tutorials, formulas and calculators "intended for newbie engineers, students and hobbyists." There are sections here on designing a CCM PFC boost converter and bridgeless PFC circuits, and one on the basics of PFC capacitors. There's also a section for the technically minded consumer explaining why products developed to correct the power factor of home appliances will have negligible effect on your residential utility bill. view »

This simple tool calculates the annual energy cost of a motor based on its rated horsepower and efficiency and the user's average energy costs. view »

For SMPS and other circuits, Sidelinesoft's NL5 circuit simulator is an easy, very fast alternative to SPICE and other simulators. Although NL5 generally requires purchase of a license, engineers can get a free 30-day trial license while students can obtain a free 1-year student license. Even without a license, NL5 is still fully functional with only a limitation of 20 components max--enough for some small projects. This site also offers free access to idealCircuit, an analog circuit simulator that works with ideal components, and ideal-Z, an impedance calculator with graphical schematic entry. view »

Billed as “the home of all things open-source for power electronics--hardware, software, tutorials and more” this site is an extension of the Opelex project, “which brings the ‘open’ philosophies of open-source, open-hardware and free software to the arena of Power Electronics and allied fields.” view »

Lazar Rozenblat's PCB trace width calculator determines trace widths per the complex IPC-2152 Standard for Determining Current-carrying Capacity in Printed Board Design. This tool also provides results per the legacy IPC-2221 standard for comparison. view »

Daycounter, an engineering services provider, offers a number of free power supply design calculators that simply the task of calculating the parameters and component values for various circuits. On the Electronics Calculators page, scroll down to the Power Supplies section where you'll find calculators for data logger battery life, flyback transformer, flyback SMPS, heatsink temperature, inductor current and maximum power, voltage regulator resistor divider, snubber design, and switching power supply. The last item offers calculators for buck, boost, and inverter designs. view »

Dr. Franki N. K. Poon's website enables users to design power supplies and transformers, and run simulations of those designs for free. It provides "more than 100 circuits and topologies" and "tens of thousands" of real component models. Aimed at the beginner as well as the experienced power supply designer, PowerEsim enables component loss analysis, generation of essential waveforms, transformer winding design, input harmonics analysis, feedback loop analysis, thermal analysis, MTBF prediction, and generation of a design verification test report. view »

Brad Suppanz, an experienced applications engineer in the power supply and power IC industries, has posted his "notes on switched mode power supply design, analysis, and simulation techniques as well as some web calculators specific to power engineering." view »

Christophe Basso, expert on power supply simulation, offers a variety of power supply design resources on his SPICE page. These include a summary of his latest book, information on new application circuits and Spice models, presentations and papers, and component models. Links to vendor and university sites provide access to more downloadable papers, app notes, and seminars. view »

Using his 20+ years experience in power electronics, Lazar Rozenblat has developed this website., which offers extensive information on power supply design and many links to sites with useful information and design tools. Site includes an interesting blog by Rozenblat and listings for Power Supply Design Jobs. view »

From Ed Walker, the author of the Design Analysis Handbook, comes this "practical and easy-to-use advanced worst case analysis software" called Design Master. This tool provides "fully integrated set of analysis tools, including worst case solutions to design equations, probability estimates of any out-of-spec conditions, sensitivities, and optimized values for design centering." While the full-featured version of this software must be purchased, you can order a free version, Design Master Lite software (Cloud version), at the link provided here. This free version of Design Master has a limited feature set (when compared with the purchased version), but it is still useful for small projects and for students. view »

YouSpice is a SPICE simulation community, where designers can download or upload free Spice-simulated designs, they also can choose to exchange or sell the projects they consider most valuable and original. Its members are electrical and electronics engineers, university professors, or simply SPICE enthusiasts. The site offers numerous designs of power supply circuits under "Power And Battery Circuits" in the projects section. view »

Design Tools From Vendors

Tools calculate inductor specifications and identify suitable inductor models for buck, boost, buck-boost, and SEPIC converters; calculate core and winding losses for inductors (standard and coupled inductors); and present Spice models and S-parameters for the vendor's inductors. IC/Inductor matching tool identifies a suitable inductor for specific power ICs from different vendors. view »

This application software from DMEGC and Fericor aids designers of inductive components in the selection of soft magnetic materials and cores, helping designers to find the best performing and cost effective cores for the application. The tool generates accurate winding design information. view »

Leveraging a database of over 20,000 silicon MOSFETs, EPC’s tool cross references competitors’ silicon MOSFETs with the company’s eGaN FETs. view »

This online tool speeds the search for snubber capacitors to protect IGBT modules against voltage peaks. Users enter either the IGBT manufacturer's code number or the voltage, capacity, capacitor type or terminal configuration. The tool then specifies suitable EPCOS capacitors. The search is supported with drawings of the selected terminal configuration, an overview of key technical data, and links to corresponding data sheets. view »

EPC’s tool estimates thermal performance of “PCB-mounted GaN devices subject to both board-side cooling through forced convection, and backside cooling through a thermal solution consisting of a heat spreader and heatsink.” view »

EPC’s product selection tool ”uses estimation and calculation” to gauge performance of eGaN FETs in a hard-switched buck converter. view »

Core supplier Magnetics provides software to aid engineers in the selection of its cores when designing dc output inductors, input chokes, PFC inductors, and high-current inductors; common-mode filter inductors; current transformers; and mag amps. view »

Maxim Integrated's EE-Sim is a free online tool that enables you to design, simulate, analyze, and purchase a variety of analog and power solutions based on the company's parts. The tool generates an interactive schematic based on user requirements and enables users to quickly run simulations including Bode plots. Users can save or print their requirements, schematics, BOMs, and results. Users can also download a free version of EE-Sim for doing design and simulation offline. User registration and login are required. view »

Released in 2023, Qorvo’s free QSPICE simulator is said to provide power and analog designers with improved simulation speed, reliability, and functionality including the ability to simulate complex digital circuits and algorithms. view »

Renesas' tool (formerly Intersil's) locates appropriate power supply controllers and voltage regulators based on user specified requirements and then generates reference design schematics and BOMs. The tool supports the company's nonisolated dc-dc controllers and regulators, including buck, boost and buck-boost configurations as well as positive output linear regulators. An online app version runs in a web browser and there is also an offline Excel version. Note the online version runs faster. One of this tool's strengths is said to be handling user specs for multiple outputs — ”PowerCompass will recommend dual output devices when possible, rather than just suggesting single output devices. It also allows current sharing configurations for power modules and integrated FET parts. view »

For power converter and power system designs based on Texas Instruments' power ICs (including the legacy National Semi parts), WEBENCH tools help engineers evaluate large numbers of design options. Power Architect can be used to quickly design and simulate complete power systems with multiple supply rails and optimize these designs for footprint, efficiency or cost. WEBENCH Visualizer enables engineers to sort through "billions of power supply design alternatives in seconds." view »

This online design center allows users to create dc-dc converters and power supplies based on Vicor products using the company's simulator or by using one of Vicor's hundreds of pre-defined designs. The tools provided here allow you to select a dc-dc converter solution, configure a product, and simulate its electrical and thermal performance. The Whiteboard tool allows you to design a power system (employing multiple power converters) for your application and analyze its efficiency. view »

Tool calculates switching losses and estimated temperature rise for the company's IHLP inductors in buck, boost, and buck-boost converter applications based on user-specified operating conditions. These include input and output voltage, frequency, output current, ambient temperature, and the selected 0.1-µH to 10-µH inductance value. view »

Forums

From Aspen Labs, the EEWeb Electronics Forum includes a power forum where users post questions related to power conversion/power management, which EEWeb engineers and other users then respond to. Judging by recent posts, this looks like a good forum for engineering students. It appears to be edited since it omits the extraneous comments you may see in other forums. Per Elaina Radon, EE Web Forum Technical Editor, this forum supports "threaded comments, ability to upload images and files, LaTex equations, etc." Site also includes a power management section with power-related design articles. view »

Anyone interested in exploring career opportunities in power electronics should take advantage of LinkedIn. It enables members to network with thousands of engineers working in the field as well as the many recruiters who continually post job openings on LinkedIn for power electronics engineers. Two of the biggest and most active groups in the power area are "Power Electronics" and "Power Management Professionals." Within these groups there are also subgroups for various special interests. A great source of information on the people in the power electronics industry--you can read thousands of profiles (essentially resumes or CVs). LinkedIn discussion boards also host a steady stream of discussions on technical issues. You have to register to use LinkedIn. view »

Industry, Academic, and Professional Organizations

Founded in 2009, GRAPES is a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center focused on "design, development, evaluation, control, and standardization of grid-connected power electronic equipment on both the supply and load side of power systems." Its mission is "to accelerate the adoption and insertion of power electronics into the electric grid in order to improve system stability, flexibility, robustness, and economy." On the academic side, its participants include the Universities of Arkansas and South Carolina. Resources here include descriptions of current research projects, facilities, and employment opportunities. view »

ECOS Consulting and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) built this site "to initiate a global dialogue about energy efficient power supplies." The site provides information on initiatives to study and improve the active mode-efficiency of power supplies, both external and internal. This site discusses opportunities for improving power supply efficiency on a national scale and organized efforts within the U.S. to improve power supply efficiency. The site presents test reports on the performance of specific power supply models, and other power supply-related research, gives information on power supply test protocols in development, and discusses power supply efficiency policies. (For information on standby power consumption see Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's website, http://standby.lbl.gov.) view »

This industry-led organization was created to promote "research, innovation, education, publicity and technology transfer in the area of power electronics in Europe." For non-members, the site offers access to industry news; information about conferences, seminars, and workshops; a list of members and contacts; listings for power electronics jobs in Europe, and links to other PE websites. The site also offers a free trial of an online PE training course. view »

The EPE website offers news about the organization and its conferences, abstracts of journal papers, and descriptions of papers, books, and simulation tools related to power electronics education, electric and hybrid vehicles, and wind energy. Links to regional organizations and universities can also be found here. view »

For power electronics professionals interested in European markets, this site offers a number of helpful resources including information on environmental regulations and safety regulations as they relate to power supplies marketed in Europe, design information, new product news, marketing data, and job postings for positions in Europe view »

Site provides basic information about power and energy conversion in satellites, discusses R&D conducted by the ESA's power and energy conversion division, and the missions enabled by this division. It also provides information on its Power Laboratory, which is comprised of three facilities---the Power Systems Laboratory, the European Space Battery Test Centre Laboratory and the Solar Generator Laboratory. Lab facilities and services offered by these labs are described. view »

This global organization sponsors a variety of conferences, workshops, and tutorials relating to power and energy conversion in industrial applications. Among the IAS's conferences are the International Conference on Power Electronics and Drives Systems and the Energy Conversion Congress & Exhibition. The IAS website provides information on all IAS events, standards information, and listings of IAS publications. view »

The PELS site offers details on IEEE standards-related activities, conferences, and workshops related to power electronics. Also found here are contacts for local PELS chapters and recipients of PELS honors. The PELS newsletter is available online at http://ieee-pels.org/publications/newsletter. view »

India's Department of Information Technology launched the National Mission on Power Electronics Technology (NaMPET) program "to provide the country with capability to become a dominant player in Power Electronics Technology at the international level." A variety of organizations participate in this program including academic institutions, research and development institutes, and companies that manufacturer or use power electronics. This site provides information on power electronics research and research facilities in India, PE courses and workshops, and a power electronics discussion forum. view »

Billed as “the home of all things open-source for power electronics--hardware, software, tutorials and more” this site is an extension of the Opelex project, “which brings the ‘open’ philosophies of open-source, open-hardware and free software to the arena of Power Electronics and allied fields.” view »

Also known as the Next Generation Power Electronics National Manufacturing Innovation Institute, Power America is a consortium of companies, universities and research labs working "to make wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technologies cost-competitive with the silicon-based power electronics." This site offers a layman's introduction to wide bandgap semiconductors, describing what they are, how they differ from silicon semiconductors, and which applications stand to benefit from their use. This section might serve as a useful introduction to SiC and GaN semiconductors for investors. view »

The Power Management Bus (PMBus) website offers information about PMBus, which is described as "an open standard power-management protocol with a fully defined command language that facilitates communication with power converters and other devices in a power system." This site is run by the PMBus Implementers Forum (PMBus-IF), which is part of the System Management Interface Forum (SMIF), Inc., a nonprofit industry standards group. The PMBus website offers access to the latest PMBus specification and open IP agreement, articles and other materials about PMBus, names of vendors that are PMBus adopters, news about PMBus compliant products, and information on PMBus-IF membership. view »

This site offers a variety of resources for engineers and other professionals working in power electronics including design information, new product information, technology forecasts, power supply market data, and Job postings. The industry links section contains pages of listings for governmental and industry organizations, standards organizations, and university resources. view »


This trade association consists primarily of North American transformer and inductor manufacturers, industry suppliers, safety and regulatory agencies, and consultants. This site provides information on manufacturers surplus raw materials that are available for sale. These materials include bobbins, cores, enclosures, manufacturing and test equipment, foils and specialty wire, laminations, lead wire, magnet and winding wire, mounting hardware, paper and insulation, varnish, and other materials. A product index lists various categories of magnetic components and materials together with the names of the TTA member companies that supply them. A TTA membership application is available at this site. view »


Jobs

If you specify "power electronics" as your keywords and select "Engineering" as your category, your search will turn up pages of job postings for power supply designers and other positions requiring power electronics expertise. Technician positions are also included in these results. You can narrow your search by company, location, or period of time and other search options. view »

How2Power's Careers in Power Electronics section is intended to help power electronics (PE) engineers and other EEs with experience or interest in power conversion to learn more about career opportunities in various industries. In this section, you'll find articles discussing opportunities, technical requirements, and design challenges for power electronics engineers and related positions in different industries & application areas. Many of these articles contain lists of job openings for PE engineers and related positions in the specific industries being discussed. Though these job listings may not be current, they often provide a barometer of ongoing hiring activity in a particular industry. This section also contains articles discussing general business and technology trends that may affect hiring of power electronics engineers and related positions. view »

This industry-led organization was created to promote "research, innovation, education, publicity and technology transfer in the area of power electronics in Europe." For non-members, the site offers access to industry news; information about conferences, seminars, and workshops; a list of members and contacts; listings for power electronics jobs in Europe, and links to other PE websites. The site also offers a free trial of an online PE training course. view »

For power electronics professionals interested in European markets, this site offers a number of helpful resources including information on environmental regulations and safety regulations as they relate to power supplies marketed in Europe, design information, new product news, marketing data, and job postings for positions in Europe view »

Anyone interested in exploring career opportunities in power electronics should take advantage of LinkedIn. It enables members to network with thousands of engineers working in the field as well as the many recruiters who continually post job openings on LinkedIn for power electronics engineers. Two of the biggest and most active groups in the power area are "Power Electronics" and "Power Management Professionals." Within these groups there are also subgroups for various special interests. A great source of information on the people in the power electronics industry--you can read thousands of profiles (essentially resumes or CVs). LinkedIn discussion boards also host a steady stream of discussions on technical issues. You have to register to use LinkedIn. view »

This site offers a variety of resources for engineers and other professionals working in power electronics including design information, new product information, technology forecasts, power supply market data, and Job postings. The industry links section contains pages of listings for governmental and industry organizations, standards organizations, and university resources. view »

Staffing firm specializes in the placement of professionals in the power electronics industry including positions in design and applications engineering; quality, test, and manufacturing; electronics technicians; sales and marketing, and management. Website allows visitors to search for available positions in these job categories, and then narrow the search using specific technology or application keywords, and by region within the U.S. view »

This firm specializes in the placement of professionals in the semiconductor, analog and power electronics industries including engineering and various management and executive positions. They list a number of power-specific areas as their sub-specialties including power conversion and electronics; uninterrupted power systems; analog & digital ICs; power semiconductors and hybrids; motors, drives and controls; embedded controls; magnetics; solar and alternative energy systems; high-voltage and pulsed power and others. I found no job postings here--the company recommends that you contact them. But the References page is interesting reading as it contains many testimonials from power supply companies. view »

People

Meet the engineers from industry and academia who have contributed design features to the How2Power Today newsletter. These authors are experts on a variety of power electronics topics. view »

In this How2Power.com feature, you can read about the services and skills offered by consultants specializing in power electronics design. As you'll discover from viewing their entries, these consultants have years of experience in power conversion across a wide range of power levels, applications, and technologies. view »

Anyone interested in exploring career opportunities in power electronics should take advantage of LinkedIn. It enables members to network with thousands of engineers working in the field as well as the many recruiters who continually post job openings on LinkedIn for power electronics engineers. Two of the biggest and most active groups in the power area are "Power Electronics" and "Power Management Professionals." Within these groups there are also subgroups for various special interests. A great source of information on the people in the power electronics industry--you can read thousands of profiles (essentially resumes or CVs). LinkedIn discussion boards also host a steady stream of discussions on technical issues. You have to register to use LinkedIn. view »

Since 1977, the IEEE has been presenting this annual award to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of power electronics. Here you will find a partial list of the award winners going back to 2006. See page 23 of 30 of this PDF. view »

This web page lists the Newell Award winners from 1977 to 2011. view »

Power Conference Proceedings (Out of Print)

Robert V. White, a longtime power electronics industry veteran, gives a history (starting in the 70s) of the various major power electronics conferences, from the Power Conditioning Specialist Conference and PESC to POWERCON and HFPC to APEC and PCIM to ECCE and others. He also discusses the recent proliferation of power electronics conferences, and comments on the pros and cons of these events. This article appeared in his White Hot column in the Sept 2019 issue of IEEE Power Electronics magazine. view »

On the occasion of Power Electronics Technology magazine's 30th anniversary in 2005, Myron Miller wrote this commentary looking back on the history of the magazine also know as PCIM. He also discusses the origins of the PowerCon, High Frequency Power Conversion, PCIM, and Power Quality conferences. view »

As far as I know, conference proceedings for the PCIM conference in North America are out of print. I have personal copies of these printed proceedings for 1999 through 2001. In 2002, the name changed to the Power Electronics Technology conference and I have this book as well. Starting in 2003, proceedings for this conference were distributed on CD and I have Power Electronics Technology conference CDs for 2003 through 2007, which was the last year this conference was held. If you have a question about a paper from one of these conferences, email me at david@how2power.com view » view »

Power Magazines (out of print)

The "30 Years of Power Electronics Technology" compilation DVD is an archive of the magazine known first as Solid State Power Conversion, and which subsequently became Power Conversion Intelligent Motion, PCIM/Power Electronic Systems, and Power Electronics Technology. As of January 2023, this DVD does not appear to be available for purchase from the publisher anymore. view »

Product Guides

Battery Power Products and Technology magazine offers this guide to companies that supply batteries, battery packs or related products or services. view »

Along with industry news, this U.K- based publication features technical articles on motors and motion control, a buyers guide for motion control products (searchable by product or company type) and links to other motor and motion control resources. view »

This magazine website features a thermal management buyers guide and thermal management design articles. view »

Launched in 2021, EverythingPE, or just PE, is an extensive power electronics website with an emphasis on product and company information. It offers a unique parametric search tool that enables users to find products across multiple companies based on specifications. It also covers product and industry news, webinars, industry events and more. view »

An impressive resource for those interested in high-voltage design, this site includes information on high-voltage components and power supplies (including a buyers guide), design issues, safety, industry news, books, research facilities, and applications. The contact for the site, Fred Wright, also writes a blog. view »

Another fine source of links to high-voltage product information. On the links page, this consultant's website points you to sources of high-voltage power supplies, capacitors, resistors, diodes, cables/connectors, relays, switches, diagnostics and other components. It also links to sources of thermal management HW and SW, universities with high voltage/pulsed power research, and other related information. A technical data page provides numerous equations and data relevant to the HV and pulsed power equipment design. view »

This magazine website is a rich source of design and test oriented articles and news concerning ESD and EMI/EMC including information on standards and the associated testing requirements. Special attention is devoted to “fundamentals.“ Site also has a searchable products and services directory and a helpful glossary of industry terminology. view »

This magazine's website features articles on design for electromagnetic compliance (EMC) and EMC testing, plus related industry and product news. In addition, a buyers guide lists suppliers of filters, shielding, and specialized EMC test equipment. view »

This Global Sources site features a power products buyers guide. view »

This peer reviewed journal includes articles on power integrity (PI) and EMI/EMC. Edited by signal integrity (SI) expert Eric Bogatin with contributions from authorities in the SI and PI fields. Includes a buyers guide, consultants list and other resources. view »

This trade association consists primarily of North American transformer and inductor manufacturers, industry suppliers, safety and regulatory agencies, and consultants. This site provides information on manufacturers surplus raw materials that are available for sale. These materials include bobbins, cores, enclosures, manufacturing and test equipment, foils and specialty wire, laminations, lead wire, magnet and winding wire, mounting hardware, paper and insulation, varnish, and other materials. A product index lists various categories of magnetic components and materials together with the names of the TTA member companies that supply them. A TTA membership application is available at this site. view »

On ham radio operator Walter Geeraert’s radio-focused site, this extensive list of magnetic core manufacturers includes links to the company websites and in many cases to product catalogs in PDF form. The page also contains links to some older ferrite manufacturers lists for those interested in seeing how the players in the magnetics industry have changed. view »

Publications

Originally launched in 2008 as the "International Journal of Power Management Electronics," this free online journal published peer-reviewed articles on original research and review articles on all aspects of power electronics. This journal has ceased publication but its previously published articles are still available. view »

Battery Power Products and Technology magazine offers this guide to companies that supply batteries, battery packs or related products or services. view »

The online version of Bodo Ault's magazine posts Bodo's thought-provoking editorial on the home page along with a listing of articles from the latest issue, which you can download if you register. view »

Along with industry news, this U.K- based publication features technical articles on motors and motion control, a buyers guide for motion control products (searchable by product or company type) and links to other motor and motion control resources. view »

Now published by AspenCore, this broad-based electronics magazine features product and industry news, and design-oriented features. See the Power Management Design Center linked to here for the power electronics related content. view »

This site is a good source of news about the Indian electronics industry including some business and technology news relating to power semiconductors and power supplies. A small Design Guide section offers some power related articles and circuit ideas. view »

From EETech, this online publication offers technical articles and product and industry news relating to power design. view »

This website publishes product news, technical articles and teardowns on a range of electronics topics. In particular, see the section on Power Electronic Tips which is linked to here. view »

Now published by Endeavor Business Media, this broad-based electronics magazine features product news and design-oriented features. See the Power Management section linked to here for articles relating to power delivery, power protection and power supplies. view »

Now published by AspenCore and only online, this publication continues to offers news about a wide range of electronic components, instruments and related products for EEs. Linked to here is the Power Products section. view »

This magazine website features a thermal management buyers guide and thermal management design articles. view »

This hobbyist-oriented website includes a section titled “1500+ ELECTRONICS PROJECTS FOR YOU,” which presents tested circuit projects including some powers supply functions. That section is linked to here. The website also offers product information and other news. view »

Launched in 2021, EverythingPE, or just PE, is an extensive power electronics website with an emphasis on product and company information. It offers a unique parametric search tool that enables users to find products across multiple companies based on specifications. It also covers product and industry news, webinars, industry events and more. view »

This free monthly e-newsletter presents innovative design techniques and solutions for power conversion, in-depth reporting on power components, news about industry events and more. view »

The PELS site offers details on IEEE standards-related activities, conferences, and workshops related to power electronics. Also found here are contacts for local PELS chapters and recipients of PELS honors. The PELS newsletter is available online at http://ieee-pels.org/publications/newsletter. view »

This magazine website is a rich source of design and test oriented articles and news concerning ESD and EMI/EMC including information on standards and the associated testing requirements. Special attention is devoted to “fundamentals.“ Site also has a searchable products and services directory and a helpful glossary of industry terminology. view »

This magazine's website features articles on design for electromagnetic compliance (EMC) and EMC testing, plus related industry and product news. In addition, a buyers guide lists suppliers of filters, shielding, and specialized EMC test equipment. view »

Now published by Endeavor Business Media, this magazine, which focuses mainly on mechanical issues, contains some information concerning power components for motion control. The section on Mechanical & Motion Systems is linked to here. view »

Magazine website provides information on new magnetic products, industry news, feature articles, and a magnetics buyers guide. view »

MatDirjish.com represents extensive observations in the electronic design, technology, art, and music arenas. Many engineers/designers/EOEMs found their way into technology via art and/or music, so there’s something here to feed those extracurricular interests. Extra focus is on new tech products, designs, and concepts, particularly in the power and alternative energy arenas. Since everything in our existence is an electro-mechanical event, humans, and their tech devices, cannot exist without power: ac & dc. view »

Now published by AspenCore, this analog-design-oriented website offers product news and design features relating to analog electronics including power electronics. The power section is linked to here. view »

This web magazine edited by Point The Gap: Semiconductor Market Intelligence Experts (Alex Avron is the primary analyst) presents industry news and commentary on power semiconductor devices and the companies that make them. A good source for SiC and GaN news. view »

This magazine site provides power design articles and includes a magazine archive. view »

Aspencore’s online news site provides extensive coverage of new power components, power supplies and their applications. It also has contributed technical articles, webinars and tutorials. Editor Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio provides extensive coverage of SiC & GaN developments. view »

Published by Aspencore, this site mainly seems to offer the power management and power electronics related news and features from EETimes and their other publications. view »

The website for this bi-monthly Chinese language design magazine allows downloading of articles from current and past issues. view »

The monthly magazine's website posts power design articles, new product information, industry news, columns and podcasts. One of the columnists here is How2Power.com’s key contributor Kevin Parmenter. view »

Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc., an engineering and manufacturing company publishes.this monthly newsletter devoted to thermal management for electronics. Newsletter offers information on thermal management design and cooling products. view »

Ralf Higgelke’s newsletter on LinkedIn features news about GaN and SiC-related R&D, new products, and industry events, as well as interviews with execuitves, and video lectures. view »

At this magazine site, engineers who design power converters or power systems for renewable energy applications will find interesting news about industry trends and developments that may impact their work. view »

While working as an RF system and circuit design engineer, Kirt Blattenberger began using some AOL web space to assemble formulas and reference materials he needed for work. However, he soon discovered that many others were interested in these same materials. Over time, he continued to add content and created the RF Cafe’ website, which now houses a fascinating smorgasbord of information for RF engineers. However, the site also contains many useful listings on power electronics topics. From the home page, locate the listings for Engineering Resources, and click on Tech Resources. From there check out links such as Power Supply Design, Transformer Design, Inductor Design, Filter Design Resources, Battery Design, and EMC/EMI/RFI Resources. view »

This peer reviewed journal includes articles on power integrity (PI) and EMI/EMC. Edited by signal integrity (SI) expert Eric Bogatin with contributions from authorities in the SI and PI fields. Includes a buyers guide, consultants list and other resources. view »

This website provides news about smart meters, smart grids, energy storage, electric vehicles, energy and grid management and various related topics. view »

Publications (Corporate)

Research

An agency within the US Dept of Energy, ARPA-E was created to spur "transformational energy research." This site provides information on numerous power electronics-related research projects that are being funded by ARPA-E. In particular, use the View Programs link to learn about "ADEPT" for information on research on advanced power semiconductors. Also see the list of technical categories particularly "Electrical Efficiency," "Grid," and "Transportation Vehicles." view »


Learning About Power Electronics

Billed as “the home of all things open-source for power electronics--hardware, software, tutorials and more” this site is an extension of the Opelex project, “which brings the ‘open’ philosophies of open-source, open-hardware and free software to the arena of Power Electronics and allied fields.” view »

In The Chronic Engineer blog, Lalit Patnaik, a senior fellow at CERN, offers a timely (April 2021) list of power electronics textbooks and online resources. The book list is a nice combination of old and new sources. view »

This 4-minute promotional video was likely created to attract new customers for Taiwanese power supply manufacturer Power-Win Technology. However, this video may be instructional for engineering students and others interested in getting a glimpse of how switched-mode power supplies are designed and manufactured commercially. Although there's no dialogue and just a little text to explain what's being shown, the video presents quick clips of the various departments in the company involved with power supply development, manufacturing, and customer support; and highlights different stages of power supply development and manufacturing. The video even calls out various types of test equipment used by the company. Although processes vary from one manufacturer to another, much of what's shown here will be similar to what's done in other power supply companies. view »

For a quick explanation of what power electronics is, how it relates to the energy revolution, and the major growth areas for power electronics, it's hard to beat this one page post by the EPSRC Centre for Power Electronics in the U.K. If you work in power electronics, you might share this with your family and friends when they ask about what you do. view »

Although this is primarily a white paper on GaN power devices, within it you'll find a concise, but clear explanation of what power supplies do and how they work including a good block diagram. See "GaN's place in the power supply chain" on pages 2 and 3. Particularly helpful to managers, engineers or students with some background in electronics, but who are not well versed in power electronics. view »

Just For Fun

One of many versions floating around the web, this humorous story relates the experience of a customer service rep and the customer who believed his smoking power supply was due to a software problem. You can locate other versions of this joke by Googling "Load Nosmoke.com". view »

In this 30-second video, a colleague of Dilbert creates a power supply by sticking a nail in a piece of wood, then leaves it to Dilbert to finish. view »

For comic relief visit the Power Humor page on the Power Stream website. This page contains many power supply- and engineering-related jokes. view »

 
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