As power supplies grow more complex and the number of channels on them rises, designers are looking for better ways to manage the complexity.
That's why Texas Instruments' TMS32OF28044 digital signal controller was named a winner in Design News' Golden Mousetrap Power Management & Control category. The F28044 is said to be the industry's first — and only — single programmable controller that manages up to 16 dc/dc converter channels. TI engineers say its ability to handle large, multi-channel power supplies places it in a position to deal with a wide variety of applications, ranging from telecommunications and networking infrastructure equipment to servers, laptops, high-efficiency motor controls, solar inverters, wind turbine generators and fuel cells.
"We've positioned it to serve the market for all kinds of high energy efficiency systems," says Andrew Soukup, marketing and applications manager for TI's C2000 controller platform.
TI engineers say one of the keys to the F28044's ability to handle voltage and switching frequency requirements on so many channels is the chip's performance. It offers 100 MIPS (millions of instructions per second) of 32-bit DSP (digital signal processor) performance, with each channel achieving 150 pico-sec resolution. It also offers programmability, which enables designers to build intelligence into power supply systems to manage sequencing, margining, phase compensation and transient response of multiple converters.
"It takes a unique combination of technologies and capabilities to do that," Soukup says. "But the main thing is computational horsepower. You need a high performance CPU that allows you to execute up to 16 individual digital control loops."
UK-based Plastic Logic and French company ISORG have created what the pair tout as a first in flexible printed electronics: a large area, conformable, organic image sensor printed on plastic.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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