Scientists at the University of Southern California have developed a water-based, rechargeable, organic battery intended for use in power plants that uses no metals or toxic materials, lasts for about 5,000 recharge cycles, and is claimed to be about one tenth of the cost to manufacture as lithium ion batteries. Similar in design to a fuel cell, the new battery is comprised of two tanks of electroactive materials - in this case inexpensive, naturally occurring quinones -- dissolved in water. For more, see "An Inexpensive Aqueous Flow Battery for Large-Scale Electrical Energy Storage Based on Water-Soluble Organic Redox Couples."
Schematic of aqueous organic redox flow battery (ORBAT). (Yang B et al. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2014;161:A1371-A1380)
German researchers in the three-year Neuland project investigating the effectiveness of wide-bandgap compound semiconductors as power devices have demonstrated that the efficiency of power electronics can be increased by 35% by using SiC and gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) components. According to the researchers, the new semiconductor materials could result in 50% less energy loss in SMPSs in energy consuming consumer electronics and motor drives, as well as offer promise for future solar inverter applications. For more see "German Researchers Cut Energy Loss in Half: Renewable Energy Sources, Telecommunications and Lighting Systems Profit from New Semiconductor Materials."
In product news, STMicroelectronics has announced limited production of a solid-state lithium thin-film battery that is less than 0.25 mm thick. Suited for ultra-low-profile applications, the EFL700A39 EnFilm battery has a 3.9-V nominal voltage and 0.7 mAh capacity.
New PMBus converters from Texas Instruments feature integrated MOSFETs. The QFN-packaged SWIFT TPS544B20 and TPS544C20 operate from up to 18 V and offer 20- and 30-A output capability, respectively.
Linear Technology has introduced a low-dropout linear regulator that features active output discharge. The LT3063 operates from an input voltage of 1.6 to 45 V and delivers up to 200 mA continuous with a 300-mV dropout at full load.
Murata Power Solutions has announced the first in a series of PMBus-compliant isolated digitally controlled DC/DC converters incorporating a 32-bit ARM7 processor. The 420-W, 12-V regulated DBQ0135V2 supports the TNV input voltage range of 36 V to 75 V with a typical efficiency of 95.2%.
A buck controller from Diodes Incorporated is designed to improve performance in notebooks and all-in-one PCs. Operating at a resistor-programmed fixed frequency between 100 and 700 kHz, the 25-A AP3591 single-phase, synchronous step-down controller has input and output voltage ranges of 4.5 to 26 V and 0.75 to 5.5 V, respectively.
Keithley Instruments has introduced a series of programmable DC power supplies for benchtop and manufacturing test applications. The 2260B family includes two 360-W and two 720-W models that can source up to 80 V or 72 A.
CUI has announced AC/DC power supplies featuring built-in battery charging and backup features. The PSF-75, PFS-100, and PFS-155 supplies with 75, 100, and 155 W of output power, respectively, automatically switch to DC power from the battery source to maintain continuous operation of the system in the event of an AC power loss.
Finally, Bourns has introduced a new series of semi-shielded power inductors suited for DC/DC converter applications. The SRN Series offers an inductance range of 0.24 to 220 µH and a rated current Irms up to 4.7 A and Isat up to 8 A.