Bob White, founder and Chief Engineer of Embedded Power Labs

Q: Tell us how Embedded Power Labs got started.

A: In 2009 I was working for a startup developing a new lighting technology. It was very interesting work but in September 2009 they ran low on funding. They closed up operations in the United States and moved the work to the Czech Republic. I was tired of getting laid off and watching my job go overseas so I decided to go to work for myself.

Q: How has Embedded Power Labs been able to help its customer succeed?

A: Right out of college I worked designing power supplies at the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). At DEC I was not just given a specification; I had to work with the system designers, from the CPU and memory engineers to the storage system engineers to the mechanical and thermal engineers, to develop a specification and design that met the needs of the entire system. This really taught me how to look at the whole system and find the best solution for that system.

Q: You are a one person operation. What kind of tools and resources do you have to solve your customer’s problems?

A: One of the key advantages I have over other consultants is a well-equipped laboratory. Quite simply, eBay has been very good to me. I have GHz bandwidth oscilloscopes, mixed signal oscilloscopes for doing embedded systems work, all the various probes needed for power electronics work, programmable ac power sources, ac power analyzers, Agilent digital multimeters, electronic loads, milliohmeters, impedance analyzers, and more. There is a fairly complete listing of my lab equipment on the Embedded Power Labs website.

I also have the software tools needed for power electronics and digital design work. For power electronic simulation my first choice is SIMPLIS although I also use SPICE based simulators. For control design I have MATLAB, Simulink, and toolboxes like Control Design and Fixed Point Design. I also use Mathcad extensively for engineering calculations. For automating testing on bigger projects, I use Labview. For embedded designs I can work with most types of microcontrollers although I have the most experience with Microchip Technology’s PIC and dsPIC devices.

Here is the Denver area, I have several other consultants whom I can call upon if needed. One is another power electronics consultant with extensive experience in aerospace. I also work with a mechanical engineer who is expert in thermal design. For PCB designs, I often subcontract with a local designer who has an Altium license. I also have a great relationship with a power supply company in northern Colorado that specializes in low volume, high mix manufacturing of industrial and military power supplies. If a client has a specialized power converter design that can’t be met off the shelf, we can work together to get that converter designed and manufactured.

Q: What can you tell us about recent projects you have worked on?

A: Almost every project I do is under a confidentiality agreement that prevents me from naming the client or discussing the project in any detail. Without breaking those agreements, some of my recent work has been:

• Designing and constructing a 1000 V, 200 A resonant switch to drive a large magnet being used in MRI research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado,
• Consulting on the design of 240 V, 50 Hz to 120 V, 60 Hz power converters that allow appliances, even electric stoves, designed for the US to be used in the rest of the world,
• A design review and consulting on a power supply for industrial applications that has to work with input voltages up to 700 Vac,
• Consulting on the design of an inductive charging system for electric transit buses,
• Consulting with a startup on the applications for a new GaN switching device they are developing,
• Advising another small company working on the design of an inverter for the Google Littlebox project,
• Teaching classes on power conversion to the customers of semiconductor companies, and
• Expert witness work in dc-dc converters and LED lighting.

Bob White at the lab bench

Other work has been designing the power electronics for an inductive charger for electric vehicles, advising a startup with an advanced digital control technology, consulting with wide bad gap power semiconductor startups, architecting a digital control IC for an analog IC company that was considering entering the digital control arena, creating SIMPLIS models of digital control ICs, writing application notes for digital power applications, and doing stress analysis for a NASA project.

Q: You mentioned expert witness work. Tell us what you can about that.

A: My first involvement with expert witness work was when I worked for DEC. I ended up testifying in the Court of International Trade in New York City as a witness for DEC in a lawsuit involving the customs classification of imported power supplies. DEC won that case against the US Customs Service and saved millions of dollars in duties.

Later, when I worked for Artesyn/Emerson, I was very involved in the Power One-Artesyn lawsuit over the PMBus. I found that so interesting that I applied to, and was accepted, law school. Eventually I decided that while I would be a good patent lawyer, I loved being an engineer too much to give that up for law school.
Since then I have worked on several cases both as a testifying and consulting expert. The cases have involved CFL lighting, LED lighting, digital control for power supplies, and dc-dc converters.

Expert witness work really does require a different kind of thinking. There are big differences between an engineer’s view and the law’s view. Learning how to view patents from the legal point of view was a challenge but I have worked with excellent attorneys who taught me well. Even with the need to put on the legal thinking hat, I enjoy expert witness work and look forward to doing more of it in the future.

Q: Are all of your clients in the Unites States?

A: No. I have clients from Europe to China.

Q: Are there any projects that do not interest you?

A: I get requests from time to time to design ac-dc power supplies. I am able to do this but when the potential client sees the estimated cost for my time and prototypes, they generally choke. And that does not even include the cost for product safety and EMI compliance testing. I try to help these clients understand that unless the production is for tens of thousands of units or the requirements are really unique, it does not make sense to design a custom ac-dc power supply. There are so many off-the-shelf and configurable power supplies available in the market that most every need can be met. The unit price might be a bit higher than they initially budgeted but there is much less engineering cost, less development time, and much lower risk. Some of these inquiries become opportunities to use my system and applications engineering experience to help the client specify, procure, and qualify an off-the-shelf solution that gets their end product to market on time.

Q: Tell us about your involvement with the PSMA and other professional organizations.

A: Throughout my career I have found volunteering with the PMSA, IEEE, and other organizations is hugely rewarding. For the PSMA my main contributions have been many years of involvement in the Power Technology Roadmap committee including writing portions of report, editing the report, and co-chairing the committee. I have been involved in the IEEE for many years. I have twice served as General Chair of the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC). Most recently I have been writing a column for the IEEE Power Electronics Society Magazine. I really treasure the professional friends and colleagues I have developed through these volunteer activities.

Q: You seem to have done well as a consultant. Would you ever consider working as regular company employee again?

A: I never say never and am always willing to have a conversation. If the right opportunity with the right company presented itself, yes, I would give up the business and got to work for someone else. There is a lot to be said for a steady paycheck, but so far no one has put a good enough offer on the table.

Q: What would you like to say in conclusion?

A: Thank you for this opportunity to introduce Embedded Power Labs to the readers of the PSMA Update. I think my broad range of experience as well as resources such as my laboratory and software tools have enabled me to help my clients succeed. I invite anyone who thinks that Embedded Power Labs can help them to check the company’s website, www.embeddedpowerlabs.com, for more information and how to contact us.

Provided by Robert V. White, President and Chief Engineer, Embedded Power Labs

tarted in 2000, NetPower has grown into a mid-size power supply company with a global presence in engineering, manufacturing, and support. As a leading high-performance and highly-reliable DC-DC converter manufacturer, NetPower has been serving the telecom and networking as well as other industries since its beginning. “Despite major shake-ups in the telecom power supply sector in the past decade, NetPower has remained reliable, healthy, and business-focused, never letting our customers down,” said CEO Dr. Yimin Jiang.

NetPower’s global operations take place in three locations: the Richardson, Texas operations primarily focusing on product marketing, sales and application support, and quick-turn assembly; the R&D center in Shanghai consisting of top-notch veteran designers who are taking the lead in technology and product development; and the full function team in Zhenjiang, China, being the base for cost-effective expansion assuring NetPower’s lasting competitiveness.

NetPower’s merits stem from its products and service. NetPower products are highly reliable due to the superior thermal performance. CTO Dr. Huai Wei explains: “While the best achievable efficiency is largely determined by the available power semiconductors, the thermal performance is not exactly the same thing. Proper distribution of the heat sources and effective paths for heat removal are advance considerations in both electrical and mechanical designs, and are essential to market leading products.” As for its service, NetPower’s merits come from its strong technical presence and highly flexible in-house production capability in both US and China.

Richardson, Texas

Shanghei, China

Zhenjiang, China

NetPower is among the few leading vendors supporting the IBA architecture widely adopted in the telecom and networking systems. NetPower’s 40-60V narrow input range quarter brick QBE series offers up to 800W power at 97% efficiency, and its narrow input range eighth brick EBE series offers up to 500W power at 96% efficiency. As the company expands its scale of operation, its products now cover a broad range of input voltages and power levels. In addition to the telecom 2:1 input range products, NetPower now has 4:1 and 8:1 input range converters in encapsulated packages suitable for industrial, automobile, and other high reliability applications. NetPower’s non-isolated POL offerings focus on high power density and high current, ranging from its tiny 12A NKS to its 100A NHT converters. Beside standard products, the company has also been expanding its business in custom solutions. Its mature design platforms enable fast development cycles of highly reliable custom products.

As a long time PSMA member, we are very grateful for all the valuable information such as the technology roadmaps that PSMA has produced. Unlike alliances formed to create market barriers for others, which is bad for the power industry and ultimately self-destructive, organizations such as PSMA and CPES are non-profit in nature and their work benefits the industry’s well-being. We take this opportunity to call for PSMA members’ attention that, while we may be competitors, we should do whatever possible to promote our unique and irreplaceable value for our own business health.

Provided by Flora Wu, Director of Marketing, NetPower

TowerJazz offers a broad range of customizable process technologies: integrated power management including BCD and 700V, and its patented Y-Flash, the leading solution for non-volatile memory (NVM), SiGe (RF and High Performance Analog) CMOS image sensor, CMOS, Mixed-Signal CMOS and MEMS capabilities.

For global capacity assurance, TowerJazz currently operates six manufacturing facilities on three continents: Fab 1 and Fab 2 (150mm and 200mm) located in Migdal Haemek, Israel, Fab 3 (200mm) located in Newport Beach, California and three additional fabs (two 200mm and one 300mm) through TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Company, Ltd. (TPSCo) located in the Hokuriku region of Japan.

Newport Beach, CA

Migdal Haemek, Israel

Power technologies available at TowerJazz serve a wide range of markets from mobile, computer and other consumer markets to automotive, industrial and power restricted wearables. TowerJazz offers solutions that enable high integration of the most sophisticated power controls and best in class efficiency for end products to achieve the always needed higher power ratings.

TowerJazz’s industry leading Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process is used in complex power management chips, including driver ICs, battery and portable power management, power control for PCs, Class-D audio amplifiers, and other consumer, communications, computing, automotive and industrial applications. TowerJazz power platforms are designed for maximum flexibility, enabling customers to create cost-effective products at any desired level of integration and achieve first-pass success for fast time-to-market. The technologies cover 1.8V to 700V voltage range from low power to high power applications. The integration of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) and digital libraries provides significant differentiation and cost effectiveness for enhanced power management solutions.

The need for smarter usage of available power in all electronic devices drives innovative technologies for use in power management ICs (PMICs). PMICs are functionality rich analog/power circuits with an ability to perform in high power environments while sustaining the high performance necessary in the application. In all aspects of our lives, power is needed and thus there exists the requirement for more efficient processing and delivery of the same. From portable applications like mobile handsets to high power motor drivers, all necessitate intelligent power management techniques and technologies to achieve high efficiencies, ruggedness and the desired footprint. Many of these applications need to utilize different technologies and different flavors of the technologies that are precisely tweaked to the specific application. TowerJazz is dedicated to enabling achievement of the high standards required in power management through its investment in the customized technologies that serve this highly demanding market.

TowerJazz, with its breadth of power platforms, is serving various markets from low voltage (up to 60V) to high voltage (up to 700V) and continues to develop more flavors and deliver higher performance technologies. To some degree, there is a standardization of the platforms. Yet, serving various applications requires the flexibility to deliver a variety of flavors of the platforms: positive and negative biasing on the same silicon, various isolation techniques for various application needs, and NVM (Y-Flash) flavors (programming voltages, number or programming cycles), etc.

TowerJazz has developed a customer base on all continents with a range of requirements including automotive. Multiple manufacturing sites in Israel, the US and Japan allow for the flexibility of operational management for the highly demanding power management market.

Power Management Know How

TowerJazz offers comprehensive knowledge of the platform design coupled with application expertise important especially in the space of high currents-high power. Device construction is tilted, tested and qualified for many applications like highly integrated PMICs, AMOLED drivers, high power switching regulators, high voltage motor drivers, LED drivers and alike.

Modular technology allows flexibility in the design with respect to the footprint and number of layers used: 5V CMOS, 1.8V CMOS, Y-Flash, high voltage module, thick Al or Cu top metals, and a variety of isolation schemes. Modularity exists in all low voltage (up to 60V) and very high voltage platforms (up to 700V).

What’s next?

TowerJazz is continuously looking to expand its coverage in serving power management customers, and in that effort, it is developing a new SOI platform well-suited for applications requiring high isolation, high integration and robustness ideal for industrial, medical and automotive applications. Integration of extensive digital circuitry, precise analog, and high power output devices will be even more possible through this new technology.

For more information on TowerJazz’s current and upcoming power management activities, please contact Marijana Vukicevic, Marketing Director at marijana.vukicevic@towerjazz.com.

Provided by Mr. Sharon Levin, Director for BCD Processes and Senior Principal Engineer, TowerJazz

Editors Note: We would like to feature your company in a future issue of the Update. Please contact the Association Office for information about how to submit an article for consideration.

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.