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Switching supply units used today are of light weight and compact design, but also susceptible to errors due to the incorporated electrolyte capacitors. Film capacitors would have much longer service lives. However, they need up to ten times more space. Scientists of KIT's[*] Light Technology Institute (LTI) have now developed a digital control method for use of film capacitors that need slightly more space only.
The control method runs on a microprocessor integrated in the supply unit and detects disturbing environmental impacts, such that e.g. higher voltage fluctuations can be balanced. Hence, storage capacitors of reduced capacity are sufficient. Michael Heidinger, LTI, summarizes the advantages: "Use of these film capacitors eliminates the main cause of failure of power supplies, i.e. electrolyte capacitors. Depending on the design, service life may be increased by a factor of up to three." The result is a much reduced maintenance expenditure.
This one is digital.
[*] Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:44PM (8 children)
It's of German origin, so maybe Google translate is to blame?
The word "error" is twice in the article, and in neither case does the article state or infer that capacitors have errors.
It says:
Certainly the wording is awkward, but I understand what they're trying to say.
I admit I have some issues with the article, but I don't have a problem with tighter (much faster) regulation, and thereby eliminating electrolytic caps. We've been doing microprocessor control of motors and other electromagnetics, sensing and analyzing winding current, phase, "back-emf, etc., so why not power supplies? And I think they understate the service life extension. If the design is conservative enough (over-rate caps, transistors, etc.) the things could last 50 years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:52PM (4 children)
No, they won't.
The code in the microcontroller will suffer bit rot before then.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday May 17 2019, @12:03AM (3 children)
Not necessarily. Not sure what you mean by "bit rot". If you mean FLASH wear, it should run in RAM and RAM disk, with FLASH for IPL and maybe some long-term saved variables only.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @02:26AM (2 children)
Leakage of charge from a floating-gate storage cell, or from the storage cell getting hit by a passing cosmic ray.
All "non-volatile" floating gate semiconductor storage has this problem, and modern microprocessors
are filled with them, including "programmed at the factory" undocumented configuration bits which
WILL discharge over time, bricking the part.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday May 17 2019, @05:09AM
So we make sure they have tin-foil hats.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday May 17 2019, @05:26AM
I’m curious, what evidence brought you to that conclusion?
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday May 17 2019, @12:14AM (2 children)
This seems to be the original German text: (PDF) [kit.edu].
The original of your quote is: "Die Netzteile sind fehleranfällig, was auch die Lebensdauer der Endgeräte verkürzt."
I'm not a native German speaker, but I'd translate that almost the same, although "Lebensdauer" is "lifespan" and I'd translate "Endgeräte" in this case to "consumer products".
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday May 17 2019, @01:42AM (1 child)
Thanks for that pdf. I have several German friends. I won't bore / annoy them by sending it to them, but if I see any of them, I'll print it out and see what they think.
Yeah, and I'm seeing "Endgeräte" come up as end-point, and I'm taking it as "destination". Maybe it was written with an Enigma machine.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Friday May 17 2019, @12:44PM
That's indeed correct. As in "Datenendgerät":"data terminal device". "Endgeräte" in the context is supposed to mean "devices where the power supplies end up", or "End-use devices". The German word use by them is not completely correct and a bit of an anglicism, but there is no german word for expressing it in an easier way, so it's forgivable.