Dear Sir/Madam

This newsletter about power electronics enables us to wish all of you a happy new year and a “powerful” start into the year 2007. Enjoy it!

Wolfgang Patelay
Technical Editor, EPN

At Glance, in this issue

1. Products News 2. Articles 3. Design Tips 4. Book of the Month

1| Product News

Power Amplifier (NXP Semiconductors)
The BGY294E is a quad-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE power amplifier (PA) module for use in mobile handset applications. The highly integrated PA module has a footprint of 6.6x6.6mm, delivers a power efficiency of 55% for GSM and 26% for EDGE, and draws little current.
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Step-Down DC/DC Converter (Linear Technology)
The LT3506 and LT3506A are dual-current-mode PWM step-down DC/DC converters with two 2A power switches, packaged in a 16-lead 5x4mm DFN package. Each channel is capable of delivering up to 1.6A of output current. Their wide input range of 3.6 to 25V makes them suitable for regulating power from a wide variety of sources, including four-cell batteries, 5 and 12V rails, unregulated wall transformers, lead-acid batteries and distributed power supplies.
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Programmable Power Manager (Lattice Semiconductor)
The POWR607 targets cost-sensitive power-management applications in consumer markets by integrating a complete set of power-management functions that typically require multiple ICs. Capable of implementing a CPU reset, power-supply fault interrupts and watchdog timers, the device supports any 16- or 32-bit microprocessor-based system.
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Power-Management Units (National Semiconductor)
Optimised to power mid-range, quad-output applications, such as low-power FPGAs, microprocessors and DSPs, the LP3906 and LP3905 integrated power-management units each feature two high-efficiency buck regulators and two ultra-low-noise, low-dropout regulators.
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2| Articles

Maximising Power Density: Next-Generation Bipolars Offer More Muscle than MOSFET Alternatives
 Most engineers recognise that the combination of low saturation voltages, high gain, and drive-voltage requirements of typically less than 1V make bipolar transistors the technology of choice for low-voltage operation. Less obviously perhaps, are the other useful applications of bipolar transistors described by Mike Townson from Zetex Semiconductors in his article in EPN.
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How Panasonic improves lithium ion safety and energy density at the same time
Matsushita, better known by its brand name Panasonic, recently announced an advancement in lithium ion cells that the company claims will make lithium ion battery packs, commonly used in laptops, cell phones, and other digital products, safer while at the same time slightly increasing energy density, or the capacity of the battery to store power. Technical Editor Margery Conner explains in her article inEDN how the new technology works.
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3| Design Tips

“Brick-wall” lowpass audio filter needs no tuning
When a system’s specifications call for a lowpass filter with a steep frequency-cutoff characteristic, an engineer can opt for a “brick-wall”- filter design that features a sharp transition band. Diego Puyal and Pilar Molina from the University of Zaragoza, in Zaragoza, Spain describe in their Design Idea a detailed an example in an FM stereophonic-broadcast system.
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Ceramic output capacitors enhance internally compensated switchers
Integrating compensation components with a power-supply controller and buck regulator's power switches can minimize pc-board area, improve reliability, and eliminate assembly errors by reducing the number of components and solder joints. However, integration also limits a designer's range of choices in the selection of output-filter components. Robert Kollman from Texas Instruments shows in his Design Idea in EDN how you can avoid this limitation.
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4| Book of The Month

Electric Drives and Electromechanical Systems, Applications and Control, by Richard Crowder
The focus of this book on the selection and application of electrical drives and control systems for electromechanical and mechatronics applications make it useful for engineers in industry working with machines and drives. It also serves as a student text for courses on motors and drives, and engineering design courses, especially within mechanical engineering and mechatronics degree programs.
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