Welcome to the November Analog Dialogue
This month’s featured article, “Smart Farming Revolution: How Inertial Sensing Is Driving Precision and Productivity,” discusses how the agricultural industry is undergoing a significant transformation with the integration of inertial sensing technology. This innovation is enhancing precision and productivity in various aspects of farming. By leveraging inertial sensing technology, farmers can improve crop yields, reduce costs, and enhance animal welfare. As the agricultural industry continues to adopt these innovations, we can expect to see significant advancements in precision farming and productivity.
The article “Protecting Prototypes with Automotive Overvoltage Protection” discusses a simple circuit modification using the MAX16126 evaluation kit to prevent damage to prototypes from overvoltage or reverse-voltage conditions during testing. The MAX16126 is a load dump protection controller designed for automotive applications, protecting downstream electronics from voltage faults. By modifying the evaluation kit, the circuit provides a low loss protection mechanism suitable for bench testing, capable of handling voltages up to 90 V and currents up to 50 A. The circuit’s trip thresholds can be adjusted using a potentiometer, making it versatile for various power supply voltages. Testing demonstrated the circuit’s effectiveness in blocking inappropriate voltage levels while allowing normal operation within set thresholds.
Our next featured article is “Modern Helpers for Power Supply Designs.” It discusses the various tools available for switch-mode power supply developments, guiding designers from initial power management architecture to final hardware evaluation. These tools include power system designers, power supply calculation tools, digital power supply setting tools, circuit simulation tools, and hardware evaluation tools. By leveraging these tools, designers can simplify the power supply design process, with various steps automated and information presented clearly throughout. Some of these tools, such as the LTpowerPlay® digital power supply tool, can even be used in simulation mode without hardware. Overall, these modern helpers make power supply design more efficient and streamlined.
This month’s RAQ, “Smart GaN Buck Controller Designs—Part 1: Considerations and Measurements,” discusses the design considerations and benefits of using gallium nitride (GaN) FETs in buck converter applications. Unlike traditional silicon-based FETs, GaN FETs lack a body diode structure, which affects their switching behavior. Proper layout, probing, and data collection techniques are crucial for accurately measuring dead time and overshoot waveforms in GaN-based designs. These controllers provide designers with flexibility through pin-selectable smart near-zero, adaptive, and precision resistor-adjustable dead time control. By following the guidelines outlined for implementing these controllers, system designers can ensure the robustness of their GaN-based designs. Stay tuned for Part 2 next month!
Continue exploring the world of Wien bridge oscillators, focusing on the practical implementation and performance measurement of the circuit, with our latest StudentZone article, “Analyzing and Building the Wien Bridge Oscillator—Part 2: Practical Implementations.” The article highlights the limitations of the diode clamp method in achieving low distortion and presents an alternative approach that achieves significantly better results, with the third harmonic being 10 times lower than typically achievable.
And as we have for over 58 years, we invite you to be part of the dialogue in Analog Dialogue. You can get in touch through our blog, Facebook page, or email. Let us know how we’re doing and what you’d like to see from us in the coming months.