Monthly Archive for May, 2009
May 29, 2009
-
By John Whalen
All too often during product design, well intentioned product managers, rightfully scared from prior EMI encounters, especially during the beginning of a new project, schedule large amounts of time for EMI evaluation and prevention. Program managers add in time for the illusively fiendish problems that always seem to delay projects at the very end. As schedules inevitably are delayed, the big gaps are minimized to small gaps, or eliminated. The simulations and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) evaluations and trace routing guidelines are placed in the hands of the PCB Autorouter.
Often, the EMI engineer at the end of a project will carry the new consumer product back from his/her EMI chamber and trusty spectrum analyzer, with a fist full of graphs with large peaks and valleys. “It’s got problems”, he/she says, “but we can fix it. You just need to eliminate this spike from the system clock that is generating harmonics large enough to turn on a light bulb.” Rerouting the clock requires a new Printed Circuit Board layout. That can, in itself, create new problems associated with parasitics. The next PCB revision takes a full eight weeks to design, populate, test and evaluate.
This time, the clock traces have been placed too close to the image sensor system. The result is that when the camera is turned on with this new handset, the video screen has vertical bars from left to right corrupting the screen. Again, the device is put through EMI testing. This time the handset passes with flying colors…. however, due to the close proximity of the image sensor system, the PCB must be redesigned yet again. What has been your experience in solving these challenges?
About the author:
Business Development Manager, Signal Path Analog Tags: EMI, Fairchild Semiconductor, PCB, Printed Circuit Board
May 14, 2009
-
By Gary O'Donnell
Author: Gary O’Donnell, Director of Marketing
PCIM 2009 has been a great show, even in this difficult economic climate. Suppliers are presenting their latest innovations in power saving technology for power supply design, motor, automotive and lighting applications. Traffic through our booth has been steady. We are seeing many of our existing customers and meeting new prospective customers as well.
At Fairchild, we’ve seen good response from the press and from our customers on several of the new products we are highlighting at PCIM this year. The FSEZ1016 primary-side regulated power switch for LED lighting provides +/-5% constant current accuracy for LED lighting up to 12W, without the need for an optocoupler. The FAN9612 interleaved PFC controller interleaves two channels of boundary conduction mode PFC to extend the benefits of interleaved PFC to around 1000W. Both have had a great deal of customer interest. Our commitment to power efficiency remains strong, and our new products continue to focus on this critical issue.
Power saving green design has been a theme promoted throughout the show, and Power Systems Design magazine presented their second annual PSDE (Power Systems Design Europe) GreenPower Leadership Award at their panel discussion Wednesday. We are pleased to congratulate Alfred Hesener, Director of Europe Marketing and Applications at Fairchild, on winning the award for best submitted paper, selected based on the highest click rate on the article by PSDE readers.
Power efficiency will be a key driver to fueling future economic growth, as so many countries are re-evaluating their usage of energy in their infrastructure. There will be no regression towards less efficient power. The future can only lead in one direction; maximizing the efficiency of our energy systems. It’s exciting to see so many customers and suppliers working towards the same goals, and to be a part of redefining the future of worldwide energy efficiency.
I’m interested to hear your reactions to the product developments shown at PCIM Europe 2009 and how they will change your designs in the future. Let me know what you think.
About the author:
Director of Marketing
May 6, 2009
-
By Patti Olson
Hello and welcome to Fairchild Semiconductor’s blog. Please check back often as we post information on ways designers can reduce energy consumption. We’ll also discuss unique application solutions and next generation technology for electronic devices.
Grab our RSS feed to find out when we post new material.
