Nowi unveil energy harvesting PMIC with a cold start feature

Dutch semiconductor company, Nowi, extends its energy harvesting and power management portfolio with the Diatom chipset. The 4.0 x 4.0mm Diatom (NH16D3045) is an energy harvesting PMIC, which has a wide power input range from micro W to mW and a fast MPPT (maximum power point tracking) for efficient energy harvesting.

It is designed to extract the power output of a wide range of energy harvesters to charge a variety of energy storage elements such as rechargeable batteries or supercapacitors. 

The cold start feature enables batteryless applications, which helps companies reduce maintenance costs, as well as a more sustainable and easier to use option, the company said.

Diatom caters to the need for increased integration in order to lower implementation cost, size and complexity whilst improving performance, added Nowi. It combines integrated energy harvesting and power management into a single product and has regulated output, over-voltage protection and USB charging. 

Diatom enables power autonomy in a variety of low power applications, from the smart home to industry 4.0 and retail applications. It can be used in IoT devices, electronic shelf labels (ESLs), to smart wearables such as smart bands, glasses, and consumer electronics like remote controls, tags. 

According to Nowi, Diatom perpetually powers devices with clean ambient energy, simplifies the design process and lowers the threshold to develop energy autonomous products. 

Simon van der Jagt, CEO at Nowi, said that the inductorless design and integrated power management functionalities will contribute to reduced implementation cost and area  required, and make new designs possible.

Semiconductor company, Nowi was founded in 2016, based in Delft, the Netherlands. It ha regional offices in the US and in Shanghai. 

Nowi has developed energy harvesting power management ICs (PMICs) that combine harvesting performance with small assembly footprint and low bill of materials (BoM) cost. 

http://www.nowi-energy.com 

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RF power transistors extend 5G for urban deployment, says NXP

Discrete RF transistors by NXP Semiconductors enable smaller, lighter weight 5G radios to facilitate  deployment in urban and suburban areas. The 32T32R active antenna systems use proprietary GaN technology and join NXP’s discrete GaN power amplifiers for 64T64R radios, covering all cellular frequency bands from 2.3 to 4.0GHz. According to NXP, it now offers the largest RF GaN portfolio for massive multiple input, multiple output (massive MIMO) 5G radios.

Mobile network operators are adding 32T32R radios to increase massive MIMO coverage beyond dense urban areas. By combining 32 antennas instead of 64, coverage can be maintained more cost effectively, reasoned NXP, while maintaining the high-end 5G experience enabled by massive MIMO.

The latest RF power transistors deliver twice the power in the same package as NXP’s 64T64R devices, for a smaller and lighter overall 5G connectivity solution. The 32T32R devices are pin-compatible with the earlier generation of devices, for rapid scaling of 5G networks.

The GaN discrete devices are designed for 10W average power at the antenna, targeting 320W radio units, with up to 58 per cent of drain efficiency. The design includes driver and final-stage transistors as well as NXP’s RF GaN technology.

“As 5G deployments continue to expand globally, network operators need to extend their coverage while maintaining performance,” noted Jim Norling, vice president and general manager, High Power Solutions, Radio Power, NXP. “By offering twice the power in the same package size, NXP enables RF engineers to create base stations that are smaller, lighter and easier to deploy and conceal in urban and suburban areas.”

NXP offers a 5G portfolio from antenna to processor to accelerate 5G deployments for secure infrastructure, industrial, and automotive applications, including the Airfast RF power family and the Layerscape family of multi-core processors for wireless data links, fixed wireless access, and small cell devices.

http://www.nxp.com

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Kioxia samples universal flash storage for automotive designs

Automotive universal flash storage (UFS) version 3.1 embedded flash memory devices have been introduced by Kioxia Europe. The UFS has a serial interface allowing it to support full duplexing, which enables both concurrent reading and writing between the host processor and UFS device.

The UFS memory devices are based on the company’s BiCS Flash 3D flash memory and are available in a range of capacities from 64 to 512Gbyte. They are, says the company, designed to support the requirements of evolving automotive applications for driver experiences.

Storage requirements for automotive applications continue to increase as infotainment systems and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) become more sophisticated, explained Axel Störmann, vice president Memory Marketing & Engineering, Kioxia Europe.

The latest UFS memories support a wide temperature range of -40 to +105 degrees C and meet AEC-Q100 Grade 2 requirements.

Both the sequential read and sequential write performance of the Automotive UFS Version 3.1 device are improved by approximately 2.2x and 6x, respectively, compared with the previous generation devices. These performance gains contribute to faster system start-up and OTA (over the air) updates, added Kioxia.

Sample shipments of the 256, 128 and 64Gbyte devices will start today, with the 512Gbyte devices to ship in April. 

Read and write speeds are the best values obtained in a specific test environment at Kioxia. Read and write speeds may vary depending on the device used and file size read or written, cautioned the company.

Kioxia Europe (formerly Toshiba Memory Europe) is the European-based subsidiary of Kioxia, a supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). Kioxia can trace its expertise from the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough BiCS Flash. The company’s innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS Flash, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, SSDs, automotive and data centres. 

http://www.kioxia.com 

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50W GaN converter is compact for consumer and industrial applications

Single switch topology, with current sensing and protection circuitry are integrated in the VIPerGaN50 converter. According to STMicroelectronics, it simplifies building single switch flyback converters up to 50W and integrates a 650V GaN power transistor for energy efficiency and miniaturisation.

The VIPerGaN50 is in a compact and low-cost 5.0 x 6.0mm package. The speed of the integrated GaN transistor allows a high switching frequency with a small and lightweight flyback transformer, said ST. Minimal additional external components are needed to design an advanced, high-efficiency switched mode power supply (SMPS), added the company.

Designers can leverage GaN wide-bandgap technology to meet increasingly stringent ecodesign codes that target global energy savings and net-zero carbon emissions. The converters are suitable for consumer and industrial applications such as power adapters, USB-PD chargers, and power supplies for home appliances, air conditioners, LED lighting equipment and smart meters.

The converter operates in multiple modes to maximise efficiency at all line and load conditions. At heavy load, quasi-resonant (QR) operation with zero voltage switching minimises turn-on losses and electromagnetic emissions. At reduced load, valley skipping limits switching losses and leverages ST’s proprietary valley lock to prevent audible noise. Frequency foldback with zero-voltage switching ensures the highest possible efficiency at light load, continued the company, with adaptive burst mode operation to minimise losses at very low load. Power management cuts standby power to below 30mW.

Built-in features include output over-voltage protection, brown-in and brown-out protection and input over-voltage protection. Input-voltage feedforward compensation is also provided, to minimise output peak-power variation, as well as embedded thermal shutdown, and frequency jittering to minimise EMI.

The VIPerGaN50 is in production now and available in a 5.0 x 6.0mm QFN package. It is in a free-sample programme and can be ordered online.

http://www.st.com 

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