The need to implement protections and control circuits is a crucial design requirement in datacenter severs, telecoms systems, and networking equipment applications. At the same time, engineers designing power-related schemes are expected to minimize board space while reducing the development time between the initial concept and final product. Solutions with a minimal number of components are imp...

As power electronic switching techniques advance, there is an increased need to accurately measure current for feedback control and system monitoring. There are several methods to achieve this, with each method having advantages and limitations. This article focuses on current measurement methods that require relatively high accuracy and bandwidth, such as those used to measure current on the inpu...

Servers and racks used in datacenters have undergone a considerable increase in power, going from a few hundred watts to multiple kilowatts. The distribution of these higher power levels on multiple servers inevitably generates greater power losses and hinders efficiency. This aspect can be mitigated by transiting from a traditional 12V distribution voltage to 48V. The increase in distribution vo...

In typical hot-swap or electronic fuse (e-fuse) applications, great care must be taken when selecting the MOSFET to ensure that the safe operating area (SOA) of the device is not exceeded during a soft-start (SS) turn-on. Even if multiple MOSFETs are paralleled, the soft-start condition causes large amounts of thermal stress. Generally, when using discrete MOSFETs in hot-swap and e-fuse applicati...

Although there are various power supply types, this article will focus on Power over Ethernet (PoE) power supplies. In particular, PoE power supplies where the power sourcing equipment (PSE) supplies power to the powered device (PD) terminal equipment through the network cable. Figure 1 shows common PoE power supply equipment, including the PoE switch as well as power-receiving equipment (e.g. wir...

Power over Ethernet (PoE) solutions enable Ethernet cables to transmit DC power while simultaneously transmitting data in parallel to IP terminal devices — all without changing the existing wire connections set by the Ethernet standard. Transmitting power and data in one cable simplifies installation, enhances reliability, and reduces cost by eliminating the need for a power and Ethernet line, whi...

Modern devices are increasingly powered by Power over Ethernet (PoE), such as IP phones, wireless APs, and IP cameras. Customer premise equipment (CPE) and small base stations in the 5G era also require PoE power. Figure 1 shows common applications powered by PoE. This article discusses MPS’s comprehensive suite of power management solutions for a wide range of switches, including PSE, boo...

PFC converters are widely used in the industry to provide DC output voltage from the main lines, and to maintain a high power factor (PF) and low current distortion at the same time. In some of these applications, such as telecom, server, workstation power supplies, and plug-in electric vehicles, the active input power needs to be measured in real time in order to monitor energy consumption, as we...