The exhibition and conference game is heating up and not just with the promise of spring and warmer weather. For EEs the density of calendar events is kicked up a notch between February and June; indeed, as this is being written Embedded World has concluded in Nuremberg, APEC is coming up in Anaheim (March 17-21), the Components for Military & Space Electronics Conference & Exhibition takes place in LA in April (16-18), the Embedded Systems Conference returns to Boston (May 15,16) and the Design Automation Conference (DAC) is scheduled from June 2-6 in Las Vegas.
These events and others give suppliers an opportunity to showcase their newest offerings. They know that launching a new product at or right before a trade show is the best way to maximize exposure and connect directly with customers. Among the many reasons that a product launch can turn out to be a successful venture at a show is the media coverage available to put a product in the limelight. Equally important is the convenience with which potential customers can have their queries addressed on the spot and attend product demos.
So let’s take a look at a few new and notable passive electronics and connectors —listed by supplier in alphabetical order-- that have crossed my desk recently in the run-up to show season.
Amphenol Sine Systems DuraMate AHDM connectors are environmentally-sealed, multi-pin metal circular connectors designed to withstand the challenges and complexities of harsh-environment off-road applications. These IP69K-capable metal circular connectors feature a quick-connect bayonet locking system to ensure proper mating.
The AHDM metal connectors also come with high-current configurations incorporating RADSOK contacts and high-density signal and mixed power insert configurations. By way of review, RADSOK technology is based upon a stamped and formed flat grid, twisted into a hyperbolic geometry to provide high density contact to the mating pin contact. Most pin and socket technologies rely on spring (beam element) properties of the contact elements, which the company points out can weaken over time.
AVX has released a new series of miniature, surface-mount, J-lead tantalum capacitors for high-temperature automotive uses including engine and transmission control units, integrated starter generators, headlamps, and brakes as well as industrial applications. Said to deliver twice the reliability of standard automotive-grade capacitors the F9H Series meets AEC-Q200 requirements, is rated for operating temperatures up to 150oC, and has a 10μF/16V rating that delivers 50% more capacitance than the now next-highest CV/cc 1206 tantalum capacitor, according to AVX.
The new series also offers a failure rate of just 0.5% after 1,000 hours at 105oC and rated voltage with 0.1Ω/V series impedance and a 60% confidence level, again according to AVX.
The F9H Series comes with four ratings: 1206 10μF/16V, 1206 15μF/10V, 1210 22μF/16V, and 2312 47μF/16V with an operating temperature of +105oC at rated voltage and a maximum category temperature of 150oC at 50% of rated voltage. F9H Series capacitors are also lead-free compatible and RoHS compliant. Lead time for the series is currently 8-10 weeks.
KEMET Electronics ALA7D and ALA8D Snap-In Capacitors feature high ripple current, 400V to 500V high voltage range and can withstand vibrations up to 20G. The ALA7D capacitance values cover a range from 240µF to 820µF and the ALA8D capacitance values cover a range from 200µF to 620µF. The ALA7D and ALA8D snap-in capacitors have a PET sleeve which is UL recognized to UL QMTR2 and UL No. E358957.
KEMET’s ALA Snap-In Capacitors are designed for automotive applications meeting the demanding requirements of the Automotive Electronics Council's AEC-Q200 qualification.. Voltages range from 400 to 500 V. Typical applications for KEMET's ALA7D and ALA8D capacitors are mainly in the field of e-mobility, such as on an on-board chargers, inverters or wall boxes.
Offering data rates up to 56 Gbps per differential pair, the footprint-compatible, hermaphroditic (genderless, mating surfaces having simultaneous male and female aspects) Mirror Mezz mezzanine connectors from Molex are said to offer lower application costs with stackable mating and are well-suited for space-constrained networking, 5G communications, and server applications.
The connectors can carry a maximum voltage 30 VAC, with 1A maximum current per contact, and feature dielectric withstanding (hipot) voltage of 500 VDC. Available in five-, 11-, and 15-row versions in a 2.5 mm height, Mirror Mezz connectors work across an operating temperature range of -55°C to 105°C.
Murata Manufacturing has begun mass production of its BLM18DN Series of high-frequency ferrite bead noise filters for power supply use, designed to meet the increasing requirements for filtering in automotive electronics. In the automotive industry Power over Coaxial (PoC) is a technology that supports simultaneous transmission of power and data transmission on a single coaxial cable, to reduce the weight of network and power cables. PoC requires components with high impendence up to high frequencies and capable of carrying large currents. Murata has developed the BLM18DN Series in order to satisfy these requirements.
In today’s automobiles, electronic control units are increasingly being installed to electrify various control functions and to implement in-vehicle information communication, autonomous driving and other functions. The number of automotive ECUs necessary for implementing ADAS and thereby the number of inductors for power circuits used in these units has increased while mounting space has become more limited.
In response TDK has announced its TFM252012ALVA thin-film metal power inductors that can be connected directly to a 12 V car battery with a footprint of just 2.5 mm × 2.0 mm and a height of 1.2 mm. Thanks to the magnetic metal core these newly developed inductors offer a rated current of 1.6 A and an inductance of 4.7 μH. They are able to withstand severe temperature environments with an operating temperature range of -55 °C to +150 °C (including increases via self-heating) and are therefore especially suited for automotive power circuits.
Mass production of the series started last month. According to TDK, to date no other thin-film metal inductors featuring a footprint smaller than 9 mm2 are on the market that can be used coupled to a 12 V car battery.
Vishay Intertechnology has expanded its IHSR series of high saturation commercial inductors with a new device in the compact 4 mm by 4 mm 1616 case size. Designed for multi-phase, high current power supplies and filters in computer, industrial, and telecom applications, the Vishay Dale IHSR-1616AB-01 offers a 50 % reduction in DC Resistance (DCR) over typical power inductors and standard DCR tolerance of 5 %, with 3 % tolerance available for more accurate current sensing.
With a frequency range up to 5 MHz, the device is designed for energy storage in DC/DC converters and high current filtering up to the self-resonant frequency (SRF) of the inductor. Applications include notebooks, desktop PCs, and servers, low profile, high current power supplies and filters and DC/DC converters for distributed power systems.
Vishay notes that the IHSR-1616AB-01's 1.15 mΩ low typical DCR and inductance up to 0.068 uH allow for higher current density than competing technologies, while its low 1.2 mm profile enables slimmer end products. The inductor offers high temperature operation to +125oC, rated current to 62 A, and can handle high transient current spikes without saturation. Samples and production quantities of the new inductor are available now, with lead times of 12 weeks for large orders
For those of you who may be going to the APEC power electronics show take note of an all-day workshop titled, “The Impact of Wideband Technologies on Application of Capacitors–A Deep Dive on Capacitor Technology,” on Saturday, March 16. This workshop will consist of morning and afternoon technical lecture presentations and a lunchtime interactive technology demonstration session. Navitas Semiconductor will open the morning session with a keynote presentation on GaN technologies and its requirements on capacitors. Capacitor suppliers including KEMET, CDE, Panasonic, Faratronic and Wurth Electronics together with preeminent lecturers from universities around the world including UC Berkeley and the University of Nottingham will discuss technical options and alternatives to meet the challenging requirements.
