Session 6: Digital Power Design

Digital Power is revolutionizing the Power Design landscape. Moderator David Morrison talks to Lawrence McGarry of Analog Devices and Dave Freeman of Texas Instruments to find out the latest advances in digital power.

Session Abstract: Demand for increased energy efficiency of the system power chain, over the application load range, is becoming a common industry expectation. Digital power is being credited with providing power system designers with greater flexibility, improved system reporting and faster design time to market. This paper extends concepts of digital power, using a state-of the art digital controller, and demonstrates that digital techniques can be used to enable and improve power converter and overall system efficiency.

Speakers

David Freeman is an engineering manager in Texas Instruments’ Power Management business unit and a core member of TI’s digital power team. David has nearly two decades of experience in power-related areas with a strong focus in portable power management. He has 18 patents related to power and battery management. Currently, his focus is digital power development where he specializes on microcontroller peripherals optimized for power applications. Prior to joining the semiconductor industry, he spent 15 years in petroleum research developing measurement methods and equipment for fluid, electrical and mineralogical properties. David is a TI Fellow.

Laurence McGarry has been involved in the Power Management and semiconductor business for the last 20 years. Roles have included power converter design, technology management and product marketing. He graduated in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Glasgow University, Scotland in 1988 and has worked with a number of leading power electronics companies including Marconi, NMB Mineabea and Astec-Emerson Network Power. He joined Analog Devices, Power Management Products group in early 2006 in the position of Marketing Manager for Digital Power and Intelligent Power Management Systems.