Reviewing this year’s program of events for APEC in Tampa, Florida, on March 26-30 provoked a few nostalgic memories. Back in 1994, I attended my first APEC conference at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and was impressed to see so many power electronics experts at one event. I actually had the pleasure to meet Ned Mohan, the author of my undergraduate power electronics textbook. Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought it along for an autograph.
That event, as in the previous years, had many papers and speakers discussing the latest innovations in power-supply design, including soft switching inverters, which helped me with my graduate research. To interact with the authors of the papers I studied and to listen to their presentations was a learning experience that I will never forget.
I also enjoyed the product demonstrations and discussions with other engineers at the exhibitor booths. In graduate school, I had only read about the specifications of “hockey puck” diodes and insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) half bridges. Seeing the products and asking questions was also very beneficial for my research project.
From educational seminars to live in-booth demos, APEC’s tradition of expanding your knowledge of power electronics continues at this year’s show. Stop by TI’s booth, No. 701, to get your questions answered by TI experts; meet Bob Mammano and enter for a chance to win a copy of his new book, “Fundamentals of Power Supply Design” (Figure 1); get to see our newest products; and witness the unveiling of end-to-end power-management system solutions including hardware, software and reference designs that help you get to market quickly.
Figure 1: Bob Mammano’s book, “Fundamentals of Power Supply Design”
If you are a returning attendee or this is your first time at the show, I hope you enjoy the conference as much as I have. Perhaps Bob Mammano will agree to autograph a couple of Power Supply Design Seminar books that I cherish – if I remember to bring them along.
What you’ll find in TI’s booth
At APEC, TI will give designers the power to:
- Innovate:
- See how the industry’s first end-to-end gallium nitride (GaN) solution revolutionizes data center AC-to-processor power density by over 3x, with TI’s GaN technology clocking in at over 6 million device reliability hours.
- Experience the design simplicity that power modules provide as TI takes the wraps off its new high-current PMBus module with telemetry for communications applications (Figure 2).
- Watch two new low quiescent current (IQ) step-down DC/DC converters power the next evolution of automotive USB Type-C™ and industrial heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) applications.
- See the industry’s first multiphase bidirectional current controller efficiently transfer power between 48-V and 12-V automotive dual-battery systems.
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Figure 2: High current PMBus power module with telemetry for communication applications
- Design:
- Analyze and interpret designs with new WEBENCH® Power Design tools. Go beyond the traditional concerns of performance, footprint and cost with tools that mitigate electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise and handle noise-sensitive loads.
- Check out the new TI Power Management Lab Kit (TI-PMLK) buck-boost board (Figure 3) and experiment book to better understand the trade-offs related to common power-supply parameters such as power losses, converter efficiency, stability, load and line regulation, and more.
Figure 3: TI-PMLK buck-boost board
- Learn:
- Attend the APEC plenary “Power Semiconductor Technology – Flexibility for Tomorrow’s Solutions” by Ahmad Bahai, Texas Instruments chief technologist and senior vice president, from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Monday, March 27. Bahai will show how the demand for smart, high-efficiency power management is outpacing the average growth rate of the semiconductor industry.
- Join TI power experts at more than 30 technical sessions covering topics such as renewable energy systems, wireless technology and GaN device reliability validation.
- Meet Bob Mammano daily in the TI booth, author of “Fundamentals of Power Supply Design,” your new indispensable reference book for all things power. Enter for a chance to win an exclusive autographed pre-release copy.
- Grab TI’s new month-to-month power-topology guide in the TI booth while they last.
Stay connected with TI at APEC 2017: see ti.com/apec2017 and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Tune into Facebook Live discussions throughout APEC to watch demonstrations, hear more about TI’s latest news in power innovation, and get your questions answered by TI experts in real time.
Find out more about TI’s power-management portfolio
- Follow TI’s Power House blog for tips and tricks on power-supply design.
- Find the best TI power-management product for your next design.