Power Technical Articles

Get a primer on the basics of supercapacitors, their functionality, and which applications they're best for.

The Howland current pump, invented by MIT’s Professor Bradford Howland in the early 1960s, consists of an op-amp and a balanced resistor bridge and puts out current in either direction....

This article provides an introduction to the characteristics and requirements of EV battery systems.

This article looks at the technology and the sample kits that Powercast provides users who want to learn more about the technology.

This article examines some subtle details associated with the high-frequency performance of decoupling capacitors.

This article explores the somewhat complicated issue of how exactly to connect a decoupling capacitor to a power pin.

Connecting power with incorrect polarity is an easy mistake to make. Fortunately, protecting your device from reverse polarity is also quite easy....

This article discusses some details—efficiency, noise, etc.—that influence the choice of operational frequencies for switch-mode power supplies....

This article discusses the PCB layout for a power-supply circuit that generates a regulated 3.3 V rail from a small solar cell.

This article discusses a 3.3 V power-supply circuit that is built around an inductorless DC/DC converter and a solar cell.

This article discusses details that will help you choose the right kind of solar cell and successfully incorporate it into your next project....

This article presents the equivalent circuit for a solar cell and discusses some implementation details.

In this article we’ll look at the PCB design for a low-noise ±5 V inductorless power supply.

This article presents and discusses a schematic design for a ±5 V inductorless power supply.

This article discusses charge-pump DC/DC converters and introduces a design for an inductorless bipolar power-supply circuit.

In this article, we will assess and characterize the hardware of two power management IC development boards from Cypress Semiconductor, designed for energy-harvesting applications....

This article helps you understand what PNP transistors are, how they’re used, and why they’re less common than NPN transistors.

This technical brief discusses a widely used military standard for power-supply characteristics.

This article, part of AAC’s Analog Circuit Collection, explains the functionality of a clever circuit that accurately measures supply current....