eeDesignIt

A battery pack is only as useful as the individual cells inside it allow. As cells age and move through repeated charge and discharge cycles, differences in their voltage and capacity can limit how much energy the entire pack is able to use. STMicroelectronics is targeting this problem with the L9962, a new battery-management IC for lithium-ion and lithium-polymer packs containing up to 10 series-connected cells.

Renesas Electronics has introduced two 64-bit microprocessors designed to help engineers support different levels of graphics and connectivity without developing a separate hardware platform for each product. The new RZ/G3L and RZ/G3SE are pin-compatible, allowing designers to reuse a common PCB across multiple system configurations. The RZ/G3L targets applications with richer visual interfaces, while the RZ/G3SE addresses connected edge devices with simpler display requirements.

Gallium nitride (GaN) has become an important semiconductor for high-power and high-frequency electronics, in part because engineers are able to take advantage of something that happens where GaN meets another material. At certain interfaces, differences in polarization create an extremely thin layer where electrons become concentrated.

GPS works remarkably well until its signal disappears. Inside a tunnel, underground or in an area where satellite signals are deliberately jammed, a vehicle has to rely on its own sensors to determine how far it has moved and in which direction. Accelerometers and gyroscopes provide those measurements, but small errors accumulate over time. Without an external position reference to correct them, the calculated position gradually drifts away from the vehicle’s actual location.

PEI-Genesis has opened a 50,000-square-foot production facility in Pune, India, giving aerospace, aviation, and defense customers in India and the wider Asia-Pacific region a closer source for value-added circular connector assembly. The site began operating July 1 and has already shipped its first customer order. It is PEI-Genesis’ sixth production facility worldwide and its second in Asia-Pacific, following its Zhuhai, China operation.

Putting more computing power on a drone is getting easier. Integrating that computer with everything else on the aircraft is still another matter. An onboard computer may need to communicate with the flight controller, connect to cameras, handle networking and provide access to peripheral interfaces, all while fitting within the size and weight limits of the aircraft.

Silicon carbide (SiC) gets much of the attention as electric vehicles move toward higher-voltage electrical systems, particularly in traction inverters where efficiency gains can have a direct impact on driving range. But that does not mean every high-voltage switching function in the vehicle needs to make the move to SiC. Lower-power systems such as electric compressors and high-voltage heaters still present a different set of design priorities.

When a lithium-ion battery cell enters thermal runaway, engineers have plenty of ways to observe what happens on the outside. They can measure changes in voltage and temperature. They can monitor pressure and gases leaving the cell. After the test, they can take the battery apart to examine the damage. Simulations help reconstruct what likely happened along the way. What has been much harder to see is what happens inside the cell while it is failing. Those internal events happen quickly.

Nearly all of the electrical energy consumed by a processor eventually ends up as heat. That heat has to go somewhere. As processors become more powerful and more components are packed into smaller spaces, moving heat away from electronics becomes an increasingly important part of system design. Fans, pumps and compressors can do the job, but they require energy of their own. Even some emerging solid-state cooling technologies still need electrically powered components to drive the cooling process.

A car’s 12 V system is only “12 V” in the same way the ocean is “flat.” In reality, it’s constantly being kicked around by motors switching on and off, relays snapping open and closed, and an alternator that’s always chasing whatever load the vehicle throws at it. Any electronics tied into that rail have to ride through those electrical jolts without letting the damage make it past the front door.