Talema Blog

Designing a line-matching transformer for distributed audio requires striking a balance between multiple factors in order to deliver sufficient quality at a reasonable cost.

Line-matching transformers are a key component of constant voltage speaker systems, which are used to distribute audio signals to multiple loudspeakers and locations.

Following these 12 steps when designing gate drive transformers will ensure a long component life and optimal performance.

Several important factors need to be considered when designing an optimized gate drive transformer (GDT). This article discusses several GDT design considerations, as well as ideal applications for their use.

A gate drive transformer must reproduce the shape of an input pulse as accurately as possible at its secondary terminals.

A gate drive transformer is a transformer that is optimized for transmitting rectangular electrical pulses with fast rise and fall times to activate or deactivate the switching device. Despite various floating channel MOSFET/IGBT driver ICs being available, a transformer-coupled gate drive is still the better option to use for high power applications.

A gate driver is a power amplifier that accepts a low power input from a controller IC and produces the appropriate high current gate drive for a power device. As requirements for power electronics continue to increase, the design and performance of the gate driver circuitry is becoming ever more important. 

The final article in our SMPS series covers 12 steps for designing switching transformers, along with several other important design considerations.

Phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) converters reduce switching loss and increase efficiency by phase-shifting the gate signals between the leading leg and the lagging leg switches without additional circuits. 

Demand for smaller electronics (and thus smaller power supplies) continues to increase. Resonant techniques are used to allow for high-frequency operation in switched-mode power supplies, which in turn allows for smaller components.

The fourth article in our series on switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) covers the main types of symmetrical isolated converter topologies: push-pull, half-bridge, and full-bridge.

Isolated SMPS topologies are split into two main categories depending upon how the transformer is utilized: asymmetrical and symmetrical. In this article, we discuss asymmetrical isolated converter topologies.

Non-isolated converters are less common than isolated converters among typical switched-mode power supply (SMPS) topologies. But they still have several useful applications.

Switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) are fairly complex compared to linear regulated power supplies. But this complexity results in a stable, regulated DC supply that can deliver power more efficiently for a given size, weight and cost.