Renewables

Texas Instruments' SimpleLink ultra-low power wireless MCU platform helps customers go battery-less with energy harvesting or enjoy always-on, coin cell-powered operation for multiple years. This industry-first technology provides customers with the flexibility needed to develop products that support multiple wireless connectivity standards using a single-chip and identical RF design.

Pholtovoltaic industry shipments grew by 15% from 34.0 in 2013 to 39.3GWp in 2014, according to the IDTechEx/SPV Market Research annual supply report Photovoltaic Manufacturer Shipments: Capacity, Production, Prices and Revenues to 2019. Supply side inventory was 1.1GWp at the end of 2014 and demand side inventory decreased by 400MWp to 2.4GWp. Defective modules removed from service were around 1.6GWp at the end of 2014.

In February 2014, Tim Cook, CEO, Apple, responded to a climate-change heckler at the company's annual shareholder meeting with a rebuttal in which he told investors who care only about profits to “get out of the stock.” Now Cook is putting his prodigious sums of money where his mouth is, proclaiming the “biggest, boldest, most ambitious project ever,” an $850m deal to buy power from First Solar, the biggest U.S. devel...

An IDTechEX report has recently been released, which forecasts the growing market for EVs in 37 categories of land, water and airborne e-vehicle, and predicts that electric buses will replace five million conventional buses in Asia. There are two types of these buses - one set not requiring plugging in, which will be found outside of East Asia, whilst East Asia will pay host to the other types - PHEVs and PEVs.

In contrast to traditional heating elements for conventional 12V onboard power supplies, TDK's recently-released EPCOS PTC heating elements are designed for the considerably higher voltages found in EV batteries. The rated voltages of these heating elements range from 200 to 500V, producing surface temperatures of up to 250°C. Depending on design, these heating elements are suitable for safe operation at up to 1000V.

At Southern Manufacturing 2015, on Stand J115, CHERRY has announced that it will show the receiver module used in its energy harvesting wireless switches. The receiver will be available as an RF stamp in the shape of a mini PCB (22x26x4mm), for integration into an existing control system. The module will also be available as an independently housed receiver with connectivity options and its own power supply.

The HSL S solar module series, developed by Hanwha SolarOne, has successfully passed the Hail Stone Impact Test Level 4 (HW4). Defined by a Swiss insurance group, the HW4 test criteria exceed solar industry standards.

Optimised for 50Hz to 20kHz switching frequencies typically found in PV and welding inverters, Infineon announces a new class of low saturation voltage (V CE(sat)) IGBTs. The L5 family is based on the TRENCHSTOP 5 thin wafer technology with an optimised carrier profile further reducing the intrinsically low conduction losses.

  Providing a combination of high current handling to 101.8A and high inductance to 470µH, Coilcraft has introduced a series of shielded power inductors. The AGP4233 series is suitable for use in high-current power supply and filtering applications such as those used in EV start-stop systems.

Dulas has confirmed plans to acquire a ‘fleet’ of ZephIR 300 and DM lidars, for rental to the UK and wider European market. This expansion adds to the company’s existing remote sensing business, currently comprised of sodar measurement sensors.