Latest Power Supplies Technical Articles

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Understanding and Addressing 5 Key Power Supply Issues

This article will take a deeper look at five key power supply problems, how to know when they arise, and the best ways to address or mitigate them.

November 05, 2021 by Ron Stull, CUI

Understanding the Amplifier Offset Voltage and Output Swing in Resistive Current Sensing

How does an amplifier's input offset voltage impact the accuracy of a current sense resistor's measurement? And how does amplifier output swing affect your shunt resistor value? Learn this and more in this technical article.

August 22, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Learn How Integrated Solutions Can Increase the Accuracy of Resistive Current Sensing

In this article, we’ll discuss why a discrete implementation cannot provide a high accuracy in resistive current sensing.

August 15, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Resistive Current Sensing: Low-Side vs. High-Side Sensing

What's the difference between high-side and low-side resistive current sensing? This article explains the basics, as well as when each is the more appropriate design choice.

August 01, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Driving Motors in Battery-powered IoT Systems

Learn motor driver design techniques to help extend battery life in battery-powered motor systems.

July 29, 2021 by James Lockridge, Texas Instruments

How to Protect Low-Speed Interfaces and Power Supply Circuits

In this installation of the "Protect Your Ports! Top Design Tips to Keep Your Communications Connected" series, we'll discuss low-speed interfaces and power supply circuits—including audio/video ports, DC power supplies, and more—as well as various methods of how to protect them.

July 11, 2021 by Todd Phillips, Littelfuse

Optimizing Power Management with NXP’s i.MX RT500 Crossover MCU

This article provides an introduction to microcontroller power management concepts. The NXP i.MX RT500 family of crossover MCUs will be used to provide examples of how these power management concepts can be employed by embedded developers in their applications.

July 08, 2021 by Alejandra Guzman, NXP Semiconductors

Assessing the Effect of Load Capacitance on the Frequency of a Quartz Crystal

Learn how the load capacitance mismatch can “pull” the crystal to oscillate at a different frequency and how we can circumvent this problem.

June 16, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

How Current-Sense Amplifiers Monitor Satellite Health

How do we know how a satellite in space is doing from here on Earth? Learn how current-sense amplifiers or CSAs are a crucial part of several satellite monitoring systems.

June 10, 2021 by Kyle Stone, Texas Instruments

Power Supplies and Harsh Environments

In this article, we will discuss power supplies in harsh environments, the challenges, solutions, and available in-market products.

May 13, 2021 by Aaron Yarnell, CUI Inc.

All About Seeing Your Projects: Optical and Digital Magnification

Smaller electronics call for more powerful inspection equipment. If you're building a collection of at-home lab equipment, these visual tools may help you see where you're going on minuscule boards.

February 14, 2021 by Mark Hughes

How to Use Decoupling Capacitor Placement to Reduce Harmonic Distortion

Learn how to reduce second harmonic distortion by following some guidelines for placing decoupling capacitors in your PCB layout.

February 12, 2021 by Dr. Steve Arar

Minimizing Stepper Motor Noise and Vibration in Precision Motion Control Applications

Stepper motors work well in a wide range of applications but can struggle with torque ripple and current distortion issues. Learn about QuietStep, a proprietary algorithm from Allegro MicroSystems, as a possible solution. 

February 02, 2021 by Dan Jacques, Allegro MicroSystems

Designing Safety and Reliability into Intelligent Power Outlets for Smart Homes

This article provides designers with recommendations for protection and low-power control components for power outlet design that both prevent overloads from damaging sensitive circuitry and maximize device efficiency.

January 26, 2021 by Ryan Sheahen, Littelfuse

Circuit Protection, Control, and Sensing Design Considerations for Smart Home Security Applications

This article explores components that protect and control their circuits in smart home security applications, specifically components for protecting wired and wireless security cameras and wired doorbell cameras.

December 22, 2020 by Ryan Sheahen, Littelfuse

A Low-Cost Method of Powering a Microcontroller

This article proposes a simple microcontroller power-supply circuit that is worth considering when you’re developing a (very) cost-sensitive system.

October 30, 2020 by Robert Keim

LTspice Performance Analysis of a Precision Current Pump

In this article, we will use simulations to assess important aspects of the performance of an op-amp-based current source.

October 20, 2020 by Robert Keim

How to Design a Precision Current Pump with Op-Amps

This article discusses a voltage-controlled current-source circuit that requires only two op-amps and a handful of resistors.

October 16, 2020 by Robert Keim

Enpirion PowerSoC Modules Integrate Nearly all Components Needed to Build a Power Supply

Intel Enpirion PowerSoC modules are DC-DC step-down converters that integrate nearly all the components needed to build a power supply without sacrificing performance or efficiency. These solutions are designed to meet strict FPGA, ASIC, and processor power requirements.

August 25, 2020 by Tamara Lin, Intel

Using a Supervisory Circuit to Turn a Conventional SRAM into Fast Non-Volatile Memory

How can you build a fast non-volatile memory from a conventional SRAM? It turns out, you only need a back-up battery and some control circuitry.

August 21, 2020 by Dr. Steve Arar