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PowerLines by Linnea Brush
September 12, 2011
The End of Power Supplies?
Power Channels: Batteries and Portable Power, Energy Efficiency, Power Components, Renewable Energy, Smart Grid Power, Switch-Mode Power
Are power supplies on the verge of becoming extinct? You’d almost think so, based on various reports coming out of industry. By “power supplies,” I mean modules or standalone power supplies, not ICs. The latter have nothing to fear from extinction – at least, not anytime soon.
This is not the first time power supplies have been put on notice. “On-board” power supplies were identified as a threat years ago, but converter modules are still around today. There is no question that power semiconductors have made significant incursions into the more traditional power supply space, but ac-dc power supplies and dc-dc converter modules have always found ways to remain relevant.
The current threat is based on two main challenges: energy efficiency and size. Dr. Bernd Fischer at Fraunhofer IISB was interviewed about its “Electronics for Sustainable Energy Use” initiative. He was asked where he saw the greatest energy savings potential, from generation and distribution to the consumer. Among the examples he gave was, “improvement in or elimination of power supply units.”
Power supplies aren’t the only devices under fire. Simon Segars, an executive VP at ARM, said that mobile processors run on batteries, and the power required to juice increasingly complex silicon is a challenge at the system level. The reason, he said, is because “batteries are … rubbish, really… What we need is a new battery.”
These concerns have been around for a long time, but they’ve always been balanced by demand. For example, residential demand doesn’t always track economic fluctuations very closely. Even when the economy is stagnant, people still watch TV and keep their ice cream cold. But lately, power demand from US homes has been leveling off, and over the next decade, experts expect residential power use to fall.
Much of this is actually due to the increased efficiency of power supplies. Lighting, for example, is much more efficient than it used to be. Are power supplies (inadvertently) engineering their own demise? The utility industry, for instance, is finding that it’s cheaper to help customers cut back on energy use than to build new power plants.
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We would like to hear your comments on the topics discussed in this column. We welcome the opportunity to publish opposing opinions. Please email Jeff Shepard at jshepard@darnell.com.
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