Page 36 - PEN eBook July 2022

Power Supplies SEMICONDUCTORS

needs are increasing. Wireless power networks can be particularly effective for retail and industrial
settings, both of which can feature countless internet-connected sensors inside a single building,
each often reliant on replaceable batteries or wires for power.

Consider a large retail store, which may have thousands of electronic shelf labels (ESLs) displaying
prices. A more efficient option than paper labels, ESLs require constant power to function, and
those with batteries do not all need replacing at the same time. Imagine the headaches that come
with having to walk through aisle after aisle testing and replacing thousands of tiny batteries on a
regular basis.

Today’s automated factories and warehouses are also increasingly equipped with IoT sensors for a
wide range of uses, most of them still powered by yesterday’s technology (replaceable batteries and

wires) despite being deployed for 21st century uses. Without a reliable, consistent, and streamlined
power source, these deployments may fail to reach their full scale and potential, an ominous cloud
for the broader IoT ecosystem that often overlooks this fundamental need.

Wireless power networks can also support enhanced data processing for edge IoT devices, providing
these low-power devices with increased abilities to gather, process, and communicate data — such
as their location — via artificial intelligence, providing additional functionality to IoT deployments.
Enabling High Power

Energous has been working to solve this challenge facing the expanding IoT ecosystem. Its WattUp
technology — which is regulatory-certified in the U.S., Canada, the EU, China, and India — is capable Density and Efficient
of charging multiple devices simultaneously at a distance, sending RF-based wireless power to IoT
deployments with thousands of devices at various transmit power levels. This provides unlimited
coverage distance for IoT deployments, creating wireless power networks with reliable, consistent Systems with GaN
power levels that remove the need to rely on wires or manage and change out batteries.
By David Snook, manager of GaN products at Texas Instruments
Wireless power networks can help remove the reliance on charging wires and replaceable batteries

while simultaneously aggregating IoT device data transfer to the cloud. When we free tomorrow’s Gallium nitride is a popular topic in the power electronics industry, as it enables highly efficient designs
IoT in these ways, we open up a world of flexible and mobile deployment with unlimited potential. for applications such as telecom power supplies; electric vehicle charging; heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning; appliances; and consumer power adapters. In industrial applications, GaN replaces
traditional silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), given its ability to
drive higher power density and efficiencies as high as 99% for totem-pole power-factor correction
(PFC). But because of its electrical properties and the performance that it enables, designing with
Reference GaN comes with a different set of challenges than silicon or even other wide-bandgap technologies,

such as silicon carbide.

▶ PowerUP Expo (June 28–30, 2022) GaN VERSUS SiC

While there is some overlap in the power levels that GaN and SiC serve, GaN has fundamental
characteristics that make it a better fit for applications in which high power density is critical In

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