INDUSTRY FOCUS
ommuter and long-distance transportation has been hard-hit by the global pandemic. Automotive sales have declined rapidly, with a slowdown expected well into 2021. Manufacturers have responded by focusing increasingly on electric vehicles. Development is switching from traditional cars to EV technologies delivering competitive advantages, while people feel much safer in their vehicles. We believe this will accelerate the need for cost-effective electric vehicles, so the trend to replace 12V PDNs with 48V PDNs will significantly grow. We will see more 48V battery systems, particularly in mild hybrids, while 48V systems will need to convert down to 12V. Conversion from high-voltage batteries in HEVs and EVs to 48V is more efficient through reduced step-down, while primary battery voltages will commonly increase to 800V. These changes demand a new power component class to create power distribution networks within next year’s automobiles.
High-performance computing Datacenter growth will continue after the Coronavirus has abated: mo re people are working or schooling from home, streaming videos and playing online games. As data centres seek to increase power efficiency, we anticipate they will purchase more renewable energy, and move from Alternating Current (AC) to Direct Current (DC) to better meet high-performance computing’s massively increasing power demands.
As demand outstrips physical expansion possibilities, existing rack space must accommodate more capacity. Delivering power more efficiently, within the same rack footprint, with excellent thermal management is more essential than ever. AI, cloud, and big data are driving demand for much greater processing power resulting in far higher energy consumption and associated electricity losses.
Innovation is also essential for cabinet and rack-level power delivery and efficiency to manage the increased computing power (multiple exa-FLOPS) needed for these applications.
Power can be managed more efficiently by increasing the system voltage and using direct current. Bus converters could convert the high voltage (usually 260 – 410VDC) to 12V or preferably 48V to supply modern computing units. We believe, and also seen by several major high-performance computing (HPC) manufacturers, that
38 JUNE 2021 | ELECTRONICS TODAY
On course for innovation C
The Vicor team explores how COVID has accelerated industry trends
system designers will use more of these innovative architectural solutions, like Factorised Power Architectures (FPAs), and efficient converter modules to supply very high currents to the more and more power demanding chips. It allows them to benefit from shorter powerline distances and minimise power losses in future supercomputing applications.
Military and aerospace
The big three drivers of change for 2021 will be the pandemic, hypersonic missiles, and asymmetric warfare.
Covid 19 costs are forcing governments worldwide to reprioritise economic support to help manage the pandemic’s impact. A recent study by Janes highlighted that defence spending is down among NATO’s top European spenders. This creates incredible fiscal pressure on governments to redirect funds away from traditional budgets, such as defence, to support national economies, social welfare, and other important endeavours. This directly contradicts rising nationalism’s geopolitical pressures. Technology and innovation must resolve these contradictory pressures enabling governments to maintain military readiness more efficiently with new digitally enabled technologies. In the U.S., the Russian/Chinese hypersonic missile threat has stimulated missile defence and offensive programs, so innovation first envisaged as five years away will happen this coming year. Drones, as asymmetric war components, will
continue dominating reconnaissance applications like power supply technology to help missions to go further and longer than before.
Robotics
By 2023, every European will see at least one delivery robot or drone at work. Robotics will also help businesses to safely engage with customers and perform tasks without exposing people to the Coronavirus. Robotics developers need to leverage existing designs to meet demand and perform power scaling for different robot sizes and capabilities. To expand automated delivery services, Vicor enables designers to lighten their drones and manage power to fly further and more reliably than ever before. We predict that denser city populations will see more robots than drones, while in remote areas more drones will help with crisis issues and vital medical supply deliveries. Autonomous trucks will handle heavier deliveries. In Europe, Tesco’s, Amazon, DHL, and UPS are all trialling delivery drones; we expect the recent pandemic to push retail towards a complete digital transformation. After experiencing home delivery convenience, people will not return to shops at pre- pandemic levels.
So the scope for potential is out there once the world has time to get back on it’s feet and for lessons learned from the pandemic to be realised.
Vicor
www.vicorpower.com
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