Facing the Future: Time for Real Talk, Early and Often, Between Design and Fabrication
Trouble in Your Tank: Can You Drill the Perfect Hole?
It’s Only Common Sense: Your Guide to Better Time Management
Conducting Very High Currents through PCB Substrates at High Ambient Temperatures
December 10, 2015 | Thomas Gottwald and Christian Rößle Schweizer electronic AGEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Introduction
One of the major challenges of our time is climate change and the associated need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The requirement to reduce CO2 emissions has brought about significant changes in the area of power generation, and also in the area of mobility. Supported by a favorable subsidy policy, the solar boom originated in Germany and quickly spread widely across Europe. Government policy has specified a sharp reduction of CO2 emissions for the automotive industry as well, increasing the pressure to come up with new developments within the entire supply chain. The advancing electrification of motor vehicles that currently takes place predominantly in the area of auxiliary units, and the demand for power inverters for renewable energy sources, have triggered a worldwide demand for power electronics components and led to significant development efforts towards efficient, cost-effective and reliable power electronics.
Challenges in Power Electronics
Anyone in the field of power electronics will quickly get involved in discussions about efficiency. On the one hand, the reasons result from technical requirements and, on the other hand, from purely economic considerations. For example, the efficiency of a solar power inverter to be purchased must be carefully considered as differences in efficiency of merely a fraction of one percent can greatly affect the yield of the entire system. The efficiency is also a very important factor for the controllability of power electronics applications as every loss in efficiency also means power dissipation, which is directly converted into heat. The higher the system performance, the higher the effort for removing the generated power dissipation. Higher power dissipation also means higher economic losses caused by the low efficiency of the entire system.
Read the article here.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November 2015 issue of The PCB Magazine.
Share on:
Suggested Items
LITEON Technology Reports Consolidated June Sales of NT$13.6 Billion, Up 16% Y-o-Y
07/08/2025 | LITEON TechnologyLITEON Technology reported its June consolidated revenue of NT$13.6 billion. Thanks to the growth from power management in cloud computing, advanced server, and networking, the revenue is up 2% M-o-M, 16% Y-o-Y. The cumulative sales for January to June totaled NT$76.8 billion, up 24%, Y-o-Y.
Niche Electronics Announces Major Manufacturing Upgrade
07/08/2025 | Niche ElectronicsNiche Electronics, a leading electronics manufacturing services company, announced today that it has completed installation of Yamaha’s newest SMT lineup at its Pennsylvania production facility.
Hon Hai Reports New June Sales High Amid AI Boom
07/07/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamTaiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. reported on July 5 that its sales for June rose 10 percent from the previous year, driven by cloud and networking growth because of the boom in artificial intelligence (AI), the Taipei Times reported.
Electronics Industry Wrestles with Cost Pressures and Weaker Profitability
07/07/2025 | Global Electronics AssociationElectronics manufacturers are facing rising material and labor costs according to the Global Electronics Association’s June Sentiment of the Global Electronics Manufacturing Supply Chain Report.
Naprotek Appoints James Eisenhaure as Chief Financial Officer
07/07/2025 | Naprotek LLCNaprotek, LLC, a leading provider of mission-critical electronics technology solutions, today announced that James Eisenhaure has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective June 30. Eisenhaure has been serving as interim CFO since earlier this year and now formally steps into the role.