Power

Raytheon’s battery monitoring system (BMS) will be used in military vehicles to help extend the life of batteries, reduce the number of unnecessary battery replacements. Battery power is used to drive engines during so-called ‘Silent Watch’ periods. The system is designed to revert to a hibernation mode when the platform is not in use to minimise the platform power drain to ...

Resin high-voltage insulators with a composite casing can mitigate explosion, fire and leakage in high power transformers, according to Paolo Cardano, transformer expert at power component maker Alstom. Around a quarter of the insulators, known as ‘bushings’, currently sold by Alstom are of the resin type but Cardano anticipates an increase in their popularity in coming years. “Even though the ...

Vegetable oil-based electrical fluids will increase transformer safety and minimise environmental impact compared with traditional mineral transformer oil, according to oil company Repsol. “We have to accept that petroleum reserves are finite,” said Repsol technologist Ernesto Diestre. “Repsol is seeking a guarantee of a secure supply, with lower emissions and long-term sustainability.” For the past 10 years the Spanish multinational ...

Dialog Semiconductor has introduced a 2A charger IC with an integrated ARM-based fuel gauge, aiming it at smartphones for the China market, tablets and wearables. To power USB phone accessories – LTE data dongles or memory sticks – the converter can operate in reverse to supply 5V at up to 1A to USB OTG ports. Called DA9150, the built-in Cortex ...

Microchip has announced a family of power controllers that support ’USB Power Delivery‘ (UPD) – the provision of up to 20V and 5A over a USB cable. “A single USB cable can be used for data and simultaneously deliver up to 100W of power from a single standard USB port which is 40 times the power compared to USB 2.0,” ...

Siemens is to eliminate costly rare-earth materials from its permanent magnet wind generators. “Two rare earths are used in the magnet. one is difficult and costly to source, while the other is not,” said Henrik Stiesdal, CTO of Siemens Wind Power. How this will be done is to be revealed late in June, at a seminar at CWIEME Berlin. Stiesdal ...

Siemens Wind Power, chief technology officer, Henrik Stiesdal will use his seminar at CWIEME Berlin to explain how permanent magnet generators can affordably be used to increase the durability of wind turbines. Turbine manufacturers such as Siemens Wind Power have been working to eliminate the most complicated and, therefore, sensitive element – the gearbox – by replacing it with a direct drive ...

Every automated test system that tests electronic circuit boards, modules or equipment needs one or more DC power supplies. Specifying the right supply involves more than just finding one that can supply the right current and voltage. So, the question is, how do you specify a DC power supply, anyway? To answer this question, let’s first take a look at ...

From a start-up called Avalanche Energy

Last week, an electric-powered light aircraft took to the skies over the vineyards of Bordeaux, France. It was only a small, two-seater plane but the technologies that made the flight possible could lead to a new class of hybrid airliners. One day, the plane you board to go on holiday might be flying using cleaner, greener electric power. Called the E-Fan, ...