Ed Bloom: Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM
By David Morrison, Editor

As Bloom recalls, there were only a small number of technical books on SMPS design available in the early 1970s, and none on power-converter topology character classification. That was despite the prevalence of SMPSs. Severns and Bloom discussed this issue at various conferences and agreed that the lack of literature need to be addressed. The final push to write the book came when the two were approached by a representative of the book publisher Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., who was looking for a book on this very topic.

After its original printing, the book was later reprinted in Russian (see photo above), which Bloom only learned of after the fact. Though Van Nostrand is no longer in business, Bloom continues to reprint the book.

Early Career in Industry

After receiving a BSEE degree from the University of Kentucky in 1963, Bloom was recruited to work at General Dynamics in San Diego. At that time, General Dynamics was producing the Atlas missile for the Mercury space program. Bloom's main assignment there involved the development of the programmer unit for the autopilot system on the Atlas.

General Dynamics also gave Bloom his first taste of SMPS design. Around 1965, Bloom was tasked with the job of converting a linear power supply to a solid-state switcher. He was then confronted with the scarcity of information on switching power supplies.

“I had no way of finding out about what was done in switch-mode power supplies. There were no references in the public domain and no courses to take. My starting point was talking to people in the company who had worked on similar designs.”

After about five years at General Dynamics, Bloom went on to work at several other military and commercial companies in Southern California, including Cubic Corp., Honeywell's Peripheral division, Teledyne-Ryan and Litton Industries. At these companies, he designed power supplies for displays used in countermeasure radar, data-entry systems, the landing radar on the Viking Mars spacecraft and the B2 bomber. He also worked out techniques for creating radiation-hardened power supplies, and subsequently published one of the first papers on this topic at POWERCON4.

While working for Cubic, Bloom also obtained an MSEE degree from San Diego State in 1969. But, like his undergraduate training, the master's program did not expose him to any power electronics instruction.

While at Litton, Bloom began consulting on the side, which led to the formation of his business, e/j Bloom associates, in 1979. The company later became a full-time venture for Bloom and Joy when they decided to move from Southern California to Northern California. This move essentially forced Bloom to go into business for himself full time, because there were no electronics companies for whom he could work in the immediate area. However, from his contacts in industry, Bloom knew there was demand for his consulting services from companies in the South Bay. By then, he also was busy organizing and teaching power electronics courses, and researching and writing about magnetics.

Though he was still teaching magnetics seminars up until a couple years ago, Bloom now considers himself fully retired. However, he admits he may still take on projects for friends. Given his knowledge of magnetics and the many connections Bloom has made throughout the industry, friends may be knocking on his door for years to come.

References

1. Severns, R., and Bloom, G. Modern DC-to-DC Switchmode Power Converter Circuits, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1985.

2. International Power Conversion Society advertisement for membership, “Solid-State Power Conversion,” November/December 1978, pp. 45-48.

3. Bloom, G., and Severns R., “The Generalized Use of Integrated Magnetics and Zero-Ripple Techniques in Switchmode Power Converters,” IEEE PESC 1984, pp. 15-33.

4. Bloom, G., “Integrated Magnetic Power Converter,” U. S. patent 4,864,478, Sept. 5, 1989.

5. Bloom, G. E., “Integrated Magnetic Apparatus,” U.S. patent 5,726,615, March 10, 1998.

6. Bloom, G. E., “Planar Integrated-Magnetic Power Components (Phase One Studies),” NASA SBIR Final Report NAS7-1225, Aug. 13, 1993.

Additional Patents by Ed Bloom:

“Tunnel Diode Protective Circuit for Voltage Regulators,” Patent Applied for 1964 (Convair).

“Noise Generator and Conditioner,” Patent Applied for 1965 (Convair).

“An Economical Low-Voltage DC Regulator,” Patent Applied for 1970 (Honeywell).

“AC Voltage Regulator for Multi-Output Power Supplies,” Patent Applied for 1970, (Honeywell).

“An Optimum Topology Push-Pull Power Converter,” Patent Applied for 1979 (Litton).

“Low-Noise DC-DC Converter,” U.S. Patent #4,262,328, 1981 (Litton)

“DC-to-DC Converter,” by G. Bloom and A. Eris, U. S. Patent 4262328, April 14,
1981

Additional Publications by Ed Bloom:

“High Current Pulse Generator,” Electronics Design, 1964.

“Tunnel Diode Protection for a Simple Series Regulator,” EEE, 1964.

“LED Doubles as Overload Indicator,” Electronics Design, 1975.

“Fundamentals of EMP Susceptibility Programs,” Inteference Technology Master Directory, 1975.

“Improved Foldback Current Limiting,” EDN, 1975.

“Using Ferrite Beads as a EMP Reduction Tool,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 1975.

“The ABCs of Radiation-Hardening Programs,” IRT Corporation brochure, 1975.

“A Magnetic Approach to Upset Protection of Logic Latches,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 1976; Magnetics, 1977.

“Ferrite Beads,” Inteference Technology Master Directory, 1977.

“Saturable Transformers Harden Logic Latches,” Electronics, 1977.

“Designing Power Supplies Against the Effects of Nuclear Radiation,” POWERCON 4, 1977.

“Practical Design Considerations of a Multi-Output Ćuk Converter,” by G. Bloom and A. Eris, IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 1979.

“Modeling, Analysis, and Design of a Multi-Output Ćuk Converter,” POWERCON 7, 1980.

“Unusual DC-DC Power Conversion Systems,” MIDCON Professional Program, 1980.

“Modeling and Analysis of a Multi-Output Ćuk Converter,” by G.E. Bloom, A.Eris, and R.Ruble, IEEE PESC 1980, pp.33-47.

“New Integrated-Magnetic Power Converter Circuits for Telecommunications Systems,” IEEE INTELEC Conference Record, 1984, pp. 359- 366 (IEEE Publication 84CH2073-5).

“Magnetic Integration Methods for Transformer Isolated Buck and Boost Converters,” by G. E. Bloom and R. Severns, POWERCON 11, April 1984.

“Core Selection For and Design Aspects of An Integrated-Magnetic Forward Converter,” IEEE APEC’86, pp. 141-150.

“New Integrated Magnetic DC-DC Power Converter Circuits & Systems,” IEEE APEC’87, pp.57-66.

“Planar Integrated-Magnetic Power Components (Phase One Studies),” NASA SBIR Final Report NAS7-1225, August 13, 1993.

“New Multi-Chambered Power Magnetics Concepts,” IEEE Trans. Magnetics (MMM-INTERMAG Conference Issue), Fall Issue,1998

 “Multi-Chambered Planar Magnetics Design Techniques” IEEE PESC, Vol 1, June 2000, pp.295-301.

 “Planar Power Magnetics, New Low Profile Approaches For Low-Cost Magnetics Design” Magnetics Business & Technology, summer issue and August 2002 issue.

“Analysis and Design of a DC-DC SEPIC Converter with Tapped Secondaries,” by Philip Cooke, Analog Devices and Ed Bloom, E/J Associates, Power Electronics Technology Conference 2002.

 “Multi-Chambered Planar Magnetics Blends Inductors and Transformers,” Power Electronics Technology, April 2003

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