When considering capacitor selection for a given circuit, whether you’re focused on power electronics or deep in the world of RF, it's important to remember that some of a capacitor’s fundamental roles are universal. 

In our review of today’s trends in power electronics, we discussed the growth in the renewable energy market and the resulting increased investment in renewable energy technologies, such as wind. As a result, global demand for wind power is surging. To keep pace, not only are there more wind turbines being installed onshore and offshore, but the generation capacity of each turbine is also growing substantially. This is changing the requirements for the power electronics needed for these systems. In this blog, we review some of the key wind power generation trends fueling the ability to provide increased capacity and driving changes in the power electronics required for these systems.

At Knowles, we closely monitor the trends and market conditions that impact our customers’ design needs. As a specialty components manufacturer with in-house ceramic and thin film manufacturing expertise, we can quickly adapt to these changing needs to make it easier for customers to find exactly what they are looking for. That’s why in 2023 we released numerous new off-the-shelf DLI brand microwave devices.

These components are made with our temperature stable ceramics, are incredibly small compared to other similar parts on the market, and cover a range of frequency bands, from the S band to the V band. Below is a summary of the capabilities of our latest microwave product offerings.

The electrical power systems in most modern technologies, like electric vehicles (EVs), are complex. In EVs specifically, power systems are responsible for performing many tasks such as converting AC to DC and DC to AC as well as managing changing power levels in DC/DC conversion. When performing these tasks, manipulating AC voltages and removing noise from DC voltage requires passive components such as capacitors, to perform many “jobs” inside the power system. But no single capacitor type can perform all these jobs since each one has different requirements for voltage, size, temperature, and reliability. Therefore, a variety of capacitor technologies, such as ceramic, film, and aluminum, are required to meet all these needs.

Sensing technologies facilitate the gathering of detailed and accurate health data that are unique to each individual. The availability of real-time, precise data presents more opportunities for tailored approaches to treatment and care management, aligning medical interventions with specific patient needs. As sensing technologies advance, they enable a more nuanced understanding of individual health patterns, driving innovation in personalized care that aligns with the genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors of each patient. Here are some key areas where sensing technologies are supporting individualized care.

This is the fifth installment in our RF Components for Radar series. In the first installment, we provided an overview of the key functional units in radar, including duplexing, filtering, power amplification, waveform generation, low-noise amplification (LNA), receiving and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). Since then, we’ve covered duplexing, switch filter banks and filters in detail. In this post, we’ll discuss what phase can tell us about filter performance in radar applications.

The market demands and technology trends that impact all aspects of electric vehicle (EV) development are constantly evolving. As trends change, so do the requirements for EV power systems, which impacts the demands placed on the components we supply. Therefore, we feel it is our duty to stay on top of shifting EV trends and share what we are seeing with our customers. This blog looks at three key trends impacting EV development that we are currently monitoring around shifting semiconductor development, in-vehicle system integration as a way to control costs, and the evolution of the EV charging ecosystem.

At Knowles Precision Devices, we have a long history in radio frequency (RF) and custom discrete passive components. Our rich heritage in variable and trimmer capacitors comes from Voltronics and Johanson and our expertise in High-Q multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) is supported by DLI and Syfer. 

The developmental trajectory of many modern power electronics systems is driven by evolving carbon dioxide (CO₂) regulations. By maintaining compliance, green energy production, like photovoltaics (PV) and wind, and high-efficiency distribution systems, like high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), support our transition to a more sustainable future. 

This is the fourth installment in our RF Components for Radar series. In the first installment, we provided an overview of the key functional units in radar, including duplexing, filtering, power amplification, waveform generation, low-noise amplification (LNA), receiving, and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). While in the third installment we talked about filtering in terms of switch filter banks, in this post we will dive more into the jobs filters must perform in radar receivers.