Power Electronics Design

Power supplies of one sort or another are required in virtually all electronic products. We can provide custom power electronics design solutions for the occasions where existing commercially available solutions are not suitable.

Design

 

Our team’s skills and experience includes the following areas:

Synchronous buck regulators

Many of our PCB designs include these highly efficient converters to provide stable 12, 5 or 3.3 volt rails. Buck regulators generate far less heat than linear regulators. When large changes in voltage are required (such as stepping down from 24V to 5V), Buck regulators are the ideal solution.

 

Boost converters

We have designed a number of board mounted boost converters for various applications. In addition to the standard step up boost converter we also have experience in the design of Buck-Boost and Sepic converters. Buck-Boost topologies are handy when running from battery powered systems (such as providing a tightly regulate 12V rail from an automotive lead acid battery).

 

Wireless power

Some of the most interesting power electronics design work we have been involved with relates to wireless power transfer. The use of resonant switching topologies coupled with custom designed magnetics have enabled us to design contactless slip rings (no longer restricted by brush life), IP rated battery charging systems and even wireless lighting for use on super yachts.

 

Battery chargers

The prevalence of lithium ion batteries in modern designs has resulted in us having to design a wide variety of battery charging solutions. Designs range from simple trickle chargers all the way up to high power synchronous Buck chargers for large multi-cell packs. Getting IEC approval for some of the larger battery packs can be quite a challenge.

 

Fuel gauges

Several of our customers have asked us to add fuel gauges while designing battery charging circuits. Our team has integrated a number of different fuel gauges into our designs. These range from simple Coulomb counters with LED outputs to Impedance tracking systems that integrate into smart battery chargers.