Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Sunnyvale, CA) announced that their chairman and CEO, Jerry Sanders, will turn over position of CEO to Hector Ruiz, effective April 2002. Sanders, who is 64, will retain the chairmanship through 2003. Currently Ruiz is serving as both president and COO of the company. The coming retirement of Sanders will […]
International Rectifier (IR, El Segundo, CA) has expanded its engineering capabilities and dc/dc power management integrated circuit (IC) product lines with the acquisition of Unisem Inc., completed on January 5, 2001. Among the new products IR acquired with Unisem are switching control ICs and LDO regulators, which the company claims meet or exceed voltage and […]
Honda (Japan) has equipped its latest FCX-V3 fuel cell vehicle with a Honda-designed fuel cell stack, instead of one developed by Ballard Power Systems Inc. (Vancouver, BC). Ballard's fuel cell stacks powered earlier Honda FCX versions, including the FCX-V1 introduced in 1999. The new vehicle has joined the fleet of vehicles participating in the California […]
Lithium Technology Corp. (Plymouth Meething, PA) recently provided an update on the status of its planned merger with Ilion Technology Corp., formerly Pacific Lithium Ltd. (PLL, New Zealand). On October 2, 2000, PLL domesticated into the US as a private Delaware-based corporation. PLL changed its name to Illion Technology Corp. Ilion's anticipated IPO and NASDAQ […]
International Rectifier (IR, El Segundo, CA) and Ideas Electronics (Singapore), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enersave Holdings Ltd., recently collaborated to develop a new line of electronic ballasts (ECGs), the Multi-Lamp ECGs. Available in single, twin and dimming versions, the new ECGs allow one ballast to be deployed on lamps with different wattages. Ideas Electronics claims […]
Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. (TAEC, San Jose, CA) announced the addition of advanced lithium batteries (ALB) to its line-up of rechargeable batteries. Combining the flexibility of lithium polymer technology with the high-energy density of traditional lithium-ion batteries, Toshiba claims that the new ALBs reduce the cell thickness to as low as 1mm. In addition, […]
Valence Technology (Henderson, NV) announced that it received an additional order, valued at approximately $730,000, for their Model 25A batteries for use...
ZeTek plc (UK) recently began operation of a mass-production fuel cell plant in Cologne, Germany. The CEO of the company, Nick Abson, reported that he already had orders worth nearly $3.0 million to the end of June. He declined to name his customers, but they include a major US utility, a logistics company and British […]
International Rectifier (IR, El Segundo, CA) announced the expansion of its fast recovery epitaxial diode (FRED) family to include four new 400V...
Advanced Power Technology Inc. (APT, Bend, OR) has reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2000. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2000 were $12.5 million, up 60 percent over the $7.8 million achieved in the fourth quarter of 1999 and up 3.4 percent sequentially from the $12.1 million recorded […]
di/dt Inc. (Carlsbad, CA), which recently launched the Q Series of quarter-brick dc/dc converters, has already updated the current rating for the devices. The converters are now rated 35A and 25A, depending on the version. Claimed to be the first surface-mount converters in the quarter-brick format, these converters weigh only 27g and measure 2.3" x […]
UQM Technologies Inc. (Golden, CO) reports that it has been selected by Ecostar Electric Powertrain and Power Conversion Systems (Darborn, MI) to supply fuel cell compressor drive motors for use in Ford's and DaimlerChrysler's fuel cell engine vehicles. "Our selection by Ecostar to supply compressor drive systems for Ford's and DaimlerChrysler's next generation of fuel […]
ON Semiconductor (Phoenix, AZ) announced the availability of a dc/dc converter that they claim extends battery usage in portable equipment powered by one or two battery packs. With an efficiency rating of 85 percent, the new NCP1402 micropower Power Factor Modulator (PFM) step-up dc/dc converter has an output voltage of 1.9V. Available in a low […]
The board of directors of Parker Hannifin Corp. (Cleveland, OH) has elected Donald E. Washkewicz to be their CEO, effective July 1, 2001, when Duane E. Collins, their current chairman and CEO retires. Washkewicz, was named president and COO of the company last year. With annual sales of $6 billion, Parker Hannifin is a manufacturer […]
DuPont (Wilmington, DE) announced that it has formed a fuel cell unit to capture a piece of the growing market for clean-energy technology. Dupont stated that it expects this market to be worth $10 billion by the end of the decade. The formation of the DuPont fuel cell division provides a business platform from which […]