The global chip shortage has been an urgent matter for some time now. But what has happend since than and what is the current situation? In this article you will find out what's been going on since the start of 2024. Let’s take a look at some of the main developments of this quarter.

Electrical measurement technology specialist LEM launches the new SMU family. The Single Monitoring Unit brings previously unseen performance levels to all types of EV technologies – Full Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Battery Electric Vehicles.

Join the PCIM After-Work event on 20 November 2024 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This event offers you a valuable networking platform and insights into the world of 3D printing in power electronics. You can look forward to an exclusive tour at the Formnext, the leading trade fair for 3D printing. Following the tour, Jan Schenk from ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing will provide expert insights on "Additive Manufacturing in Power Electronics". Sign up by 6 November to be part of this exciting gathering.

Würth Elektronik Circuit Board Technology, printed circuit board manufacturer headquartered in Niedernhall, Baden-Württemberg, announced the planned closure of its PCB production in Schopfheim. Future orders will be handled at other Würth Elektronik locations in Germany. The primary reason is the current severe crisis in the European PCB industry, marked by a dramatic drop in incoming orders. Over 300 employees in Schopfheim are affected.

The flyback converter is a popular switching structure found in consumer appliances but also in industrial products. Either used as a main converter or as an auxiliary power supply, it can be supplied from a low- or high voltage dc rail. The converter is simple to build with its single switching transistor and lends itself well to producing cost-effective power supplies from a few watts to 100-150 W roughly.

As intelligent mobile devices become ever smaller yet more functional, supplying sufficient, high integrity battery power to their embedded systems becomes increasingly challenging. This article describes some techniques to address these challenges.

Named after German Physicist Leo Graetz, the Graetz bridge is one of the most common rectifiers used in modern electronics. This article explains the Graetz bridge and its use in High-Voltage Direct Current or simply HVDC converters.

The newest edition of the study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE on the electricity generation costs of various power plants shows that photovoltaic systems now produce electricity much cheaper than either coal or gas-fired power plants, even in combination with battery storage. Read the whole analysis in this article.

Perovskia Solar has won more than ten leading companies from the Internet of Things (IoT) industry as customers and received over two million Swiss francs in seed capital. The multi-award-winning Empa spin-off prints customized solar cells for almost any electronic device. These can be produced cost-effectively – and even work indoors.

Airbus UpNext, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus, and Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, Toshiba Group’s energy arm, will cooperate and mutualise experience on superconducting technologies for future hydrogen-powered aircraft.