Creating Cooler and Smaller Power Supplies

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工程

Over the last 20 years of working in electronics distribution, I have seen product become smaller and smaller while their abilities have grown larger and larger.  At the same time, I have seen electronics become more reliant on battery power.  Battery power is needed to support not only the processor but also the LCD screen, peripherals, and sensors.

An example is to compare my very first computer, a Tandy 3000, to my current cellphone, a Samsung S8. When the Tandy 3000 came out it was high tech, it contained a state-of-the-art 16-bit processor but was small enough to sit on a desktop. There was a standalone monitor and huge fans to displace the heat that it produced. Both the computer and monitor needed their own power supply and each was larger than a brick.  By today’s standards this computer is a relic.  My S8 has a 64-bit CPU, fits in the palm of my hand, and doesn’t require large fans trying to keep it cool.  The phone has an integrated screen, camera, GPS, wireless capabilities, and can run a word processor faster than the Tandy, while only using a battery the size of a business card as its power source.

This makes me ask three questions:

  1. How does product keep getting smaller?
  2. What happened to the fans?
  3. How does a battery convert all the power needed to run each of the components that is integrated in product?

I came across this blog, entitled Meeting Big Demands for Power in Small Devices, from Maxim Integrated that answers some of my questions and offers a solution for cooler and smaller power designs.

关于此作者

Jason Gums 是 DigiKey 的半导体产品经理,在过去六年里他一直专注于模拟、电源和物联网技术领域。他在 DigiKey 工作已超过 19 年,曾就职于应用工程和客服部门。业余时间,Jason 在指导一个青年机器人竞赛团队,并在努力修完其商业学位。
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