Volume 5
March 16, 2006

By Judy Miller
Associate Publisher

249 W. 17th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10011-5300
212.204.4246
Fax 913.514.9245
jmiller2@prismb2b.com

Prism Business Media
9800 Metcalf Avenue
Overland Park, KS 66212
PH: 913-341-1300

Dear Electronics Marketer:

Digital Power Electronics holds huge promise for the design engineer, offering cost reductions and vast improvements in performance over analog techniques. However, the replacement of analog control and power management with advanced digital techniques will require design engineers to employ new approaches to power system design and architectures. These new approaches can introduce additional complexity to the design process. "Going digital," in comparison to using similar bandwidth analog components, will offer many challenges with great rewards to those designers who surmount the hurdles.

Serving this need, Power Electronics Technology has created a special microsite  exclusively devoted to digital power. Starting in May, the microsite, housed within our main Power Electronics Technology Web site, brings together all the design articles and other features related to digital power control and digital power management in our magazine and newsletter. 

Designers visit this site to learn about the new components, new design techniques and new tools that enable the use of digital power conversion and digital power management technologies in their next design. The microsite serves our audience of design engineers and power design professionals who are interested in learning about and contributing to the latest advancements in digital power management in electronic systems and the use of digital control techniques in power converters.

This interactive microsite features:

• Digital Power Q&A: A feature in which multiple industry experts weigh in with their opinions on a key issue in digital power design. This feature provides a forum for readers to present their views on the question at hand. A forum for continuing discussion among component suppliers and power system designers, this feature is updated with new questions, different groups of experts and new opportunities for readers to respond.
• Guest editorial written by a member of the industry. Similar to the Executive Viewpoint that appears in Power Electronics Technology, the guest editorial focuses solely on issues related to digital power design.
• Power Electronics Technology Conference materials relating to digital power appear on this site offering designers access to technical papers not available from any other sources. 

With its unique combination of in-depth design articles, product and technology news, and industry discussion, the Digital Power microsite provides engineers with a one-stop online resource for information on all aspects of digital power design. This content encompasses both the timely (current news and commentary) and the timeless (tried and tested design methods as published in the magazine).

We are accepting only three sponsors for the microsite starting in May. If you are interested in a sponsorship opportunity, please call for details.

Best regards

Judy Miller
Associate Publisher
212-204-4246

Cover Story: Magnetics
Designing Coupled Inductors For Multiphase Power Converters
A new coupled inductor multi-phase (CIMP) topology has been proposed as an effective way to improve transient response times and efficiency for processor computing applications.  However, the success of the CIMP topology relies totally on the design and implementation of the coupled inductor component. John Gallagher, Pulse, describes the circuit model of the coupled inductor used to analyze the CIMP topology, and the magnetic model of the coupled inductor that can be used to design and optimize the actual component. Magnetic design is often considered a ‘black art,’ but by following basic principles, an effective design procedure can be developed and understood.

Power Management:
Notebook Power Adapters – Meeting the Efficiency Challenge
Increasing power requirements for notebook computers have created new challenges for designers of notebook adapters. Regulatory requirements for low standby power, external power supply, efficiency requirements and the IEC1000-3-2 harmonic requirements compound this challenge. Dhaval Dalal, ON Semiconductor, explores the recent trends that have enabled power supply manufacturers to address these challenges and provides alternative solutions.

Power Management: Topology Selection by the Numbers — Part Two
In power supply design, designers often wonder whether they have selected the best topology available. In this three-part article, Ernest Wittenbreder, Technical Witts, introduces a new method called Component Stress Factor, which allows for direct numerical comparison of different power converter topologies. In part two, the author applies the method to nonisolated converter designs.

Battery/Portable Power Management:
Battery Authentication for Portable Power-Supply Designs
Battery authentication in rechargeable, battery-powered systems is becoming increasingly popular. Due to the recent increase in personal injuries related to rechargeable batteries in certain markets, the marketing of reliable, rechargeable battery-powered systems is a growing concern for many government agencies. The challenge-response authentication technique is reliable and cost-effective, implementing both software- and hardware-level battery authentication. Ken Dietz, Microchip Technology, discusses system-level design issues relating to the development of battery authentication circuits.

Sensors/Transducers & Power Semiconductors:
Piezoelectric Actuators – What They are, How They are Applied, How to Design Their Driver Circuit
Piezoelectric actuators are extraordinary fast devices that can produce precise motions in subnanometer increments. Though these actuators consume virtually no power, they can require significant power dissipation in the operational power amplifier circuits employed to drive them. Sam Robinson, Apex Microtechnology, describes three drive circuits that address the needs of different actuators with varying amounts of equivalent capacitance, voltage and current requirements, and slew rates.

Power Design:
Current Monitor and PolySwitch Combination Enhances Overcurrent Protection
Polymeric positive temperature coefficient (PPTC) devices provide resettable overcurrent protection. These thermally activated devices reset automatically and resist nuisance tripping. However, in certain systems, any unexpected shutdown can result in a highly undesirable loss or corruption of data. In such applications, it would be valuable to have the ability to monitor the level of current flowing into the load, or to give an early warning of an impending overload. Khagendra Thapa, Zetex Semiconductors and Chris White, Raychem Circuit Protection, describe how these functions can be achieved by combining the Raychem’s PolySwitch PPTC with a simple current monitor IC.

EDS: May 2-4, Las Vegas

Imagine having 30 years of Power Electronics Technology magazine at your fingertips!

Now you can in one DVD with the History of Power Electronics!

Presenting the first-ever, historical look back at the last thirty years in the power electronics industry. This ground breaking DVD is a searchable database of articles and issue covers dating back to the launch of our magazine in 1975, then called Solid-State Power Conversion. Designed as a research tool for electronics engineers, the DVD offers you the evolution of the industry at your fingertips!

Sponsored by
National Semiconductor

To order online, click here and fill out the online order form, or click here for a pdf.

Using the power of our print content, we’ve redesigned PowerElectronics.com to offer electronics professionals a quick and easy-to-use resource for the latest information on the topics they need to know about. Our new Web site features a database of searchable articles on Discrete Semis, Power Management, Motor Power Management, Passives/Packaging, Thermal Management and Power Systems.

As an advertiser, PowerElectronics.com offers you new sponsorship opportunities to increase your company’s exposure, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your company’s Web site. The new platform offers users and advertisers a superior site experience – greater search capabilities, detailed reporting of site usage and more flexible branding opportunities.

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