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Monthly Archives: April 2012

The warehouses of the Amazon

Thursday, April 26, 2012

by Jim Harrison What do you do when the CEO wants you to build a delivery system for pretty much anything that will fit in a box – a really big box? It has to be accurate and deliver in a timely fashion – and you’re going to do next day deliveries to millions of [...]

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GaN process enables system cost and energy savings

Thursday, April 26, 2012

By Christina Nickolas RF Micro Devices announced a new GaN process technology  that enables system cost and energy savings in power conversion applications ranging from 1 to 50 KW. Called rGaN-HV,  this process is claimed to deliver device breakdown voltages up to 900 V, high peak current capability, and ultra-fast switching times for GaN power switches and diodes. [...]

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Some interesting Google server numbers

Monday, April 23, 2012

by Jim Harrison Google has 12 data centers around the world – in Oregon, Iowa, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Finland, Belgium, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. These are so-called “mega data centers” that contain hundreds of thousands of servers. They may also have considerable rented space. Estimates I’ve seen go from 900,000 to [...]

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Simulating Photovoltaic Panels

Friday, April 20, 2012

When designing a device with max power point tracking (MPPT) capability such as a solar inverter or power optimizer you are going to need to simulate the output of a PV panel or panels to test your MPPT design.  This is necessary to verify your design and provide an accurate efficiency spec under different of lighting [...]

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Lots of microcontrollers

Friday, April 13, 2012

by Jim Harrison The Databeans market research firm has 118 microcontroller suppliers on their recently updated list. The top 17 of those companies garner 78% of the overall market. Those companies, in order of market share, are: Renesas Electronics 29% Freescale Semiconductor 10% Atmel 7.4% Microchip Technology 6.7% Infineon Technologies 6.6% Texas Instruments 5.5% Fujitsu [...]

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Understanding Ground Loop Error

Sunday, April 8, 2012

A true ground potential is something that only exists on paper or in simulations. In the real world there is no such thing as a true ground which in test and measurement leads to ground loop errors. Ground loops present problems when measuring low level signals such as thermocouple measurements. When measuring voltages in circuits where [...]

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