January 5, 2012

A Year (and a Name) to Remember

Posted by Around the Circuit Blog Team

new-year

2011 was certainly a momentous year for TE Circuit Protection. Here are just some of the highlights:

  • New name-In March, our parent company became TE Connectivity.
  • New website- TE Circuit Protection launched an updated website in May, www.circuitprotection.com, that is dedicated to circuit protection solutions.
  • New products take off- Introduced in late 2010, by 2011 our RTP (reflowable thermal protector) device and the MHP (metal hybrid PPTC) rapidly gained popularity as people learned about their unique benefits. Product of the year win– In December we were notified that the MHP device won a prestigious 2011 “Product of the Year” award from Electronic Products magazine.

Continue reading →

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December 15, 2011

ESD Design Considerations for Mobile Device Applications

Posted by Barry Brents

TE_ESD-Fig1

In the 1970’s, rubbing your feet across the green shag carpet to generate a static charge in order to torture your siblings was fun and would do no damage to the low-tech, large, and robust electronic components of the time. Today, portable devices designed for the increasingly busy, yet very well connected, mobile user has led to the integration of more and more inputs and outputs on our favorite gadgets. Higher current densities, smaller silicon, and limited space available for chip protection all tend to increase the sensitivity of electronic components to transient electrical overstress events such as ESD (electrostatic discharge). Reducing the impact of these transients helps prevent data corruption when devices are talking to each other and improves overall reliability. Continue reading →

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November 29, 2011

PPTC Device, Bimetal Breaker or Both?

Posted by Joe Dinkel

Activation steps of the metal hybrid PPTC (MHP) device

A major advantage of polymeric positive temperature coefficient (PPTC) devices and bimetal breakers is their resettable functionality; where they go either open-circuit with bimetals or into leakage-current mode for PPTCs when activated. Both technologies are applied as a “series” component in the circuit to help provide overcurrent (OC) and/or overtemperature (OT) fault protection. Depending on the particular application, each has distinct benefits. However, combining a PPTC and a bimetal breaker results in a hybrid device with advantages not available in other protection options. Continue reading →

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November 15, 2011

Paul O’Shea Discusses Circuit Protection With Our Own Robert Cid at Smart Grid Forum 2011

Posted by Around the Circuit Blog Team

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Last month Robert Cid our Product and Application Engineering Manager presented at the Smart Grid Electronics Forum in San Jose, CA. He discussed Concepts and Solutions for Protecting the Smart Grid from Transients and Electrical Faults. While attending the show he was invited to join Paul O’Shea from Electronic Products for an interview. You can find the video on their website in the videos section under the circuit protection tab or you can watch it below. Enjoy!

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November 10, 2011

Check Out My Article in EE Times

Posted by Faraz Hasan

LED_circuit_protection

I recently wrote an article for EE Times’ SmartEnergy column titled: “PPTC Devices Help Protect High Brightness LEDs“.

It’s an interesting read for anyone who is looking to design in circuit protection for a HB LED lighting system. For more information on circuit protection you can also visit the TE Circuit Protection Knowledge Center. We have a number of application notes and videos to aid you in designing in circuit protection for your applications. Continue reading →

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October 26, 2011

New Course Available on Circuit Protection University

Posted by Around the Circuit Blog Team

CPU Blog Photo

TE Circuit Protection is proud to announce a new online training course available on Circuit Protection University about the Metal Hybrid PPTC(MHP) device. The training module will teach you everything you need to know about the latest circuit protection technology for high-power battery markets. After completing the course you will better understand the features and benefits of the MHP devices and you will also be able to select what applications the various devices are suitable for. To take the course anytime click here. Continue reading →

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October 18, 2011

Charging Standards Will Help Pave the Way for EVs

Posted by Huw Muncer

electric vehicle charger

In the electronics industry products are constantly evolving and presenting new challenges for design engineers, my customers. For instance, little did I expect when I began my career as a salesman more than 20 years ago that we’d be designing circuit protection devices for electric vehicles (EVs). Continue reading →

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October 13, 2011

Are Home Theater PCs Finally Ready for Prime Time?

Posted by Patrick Hibbs

HTPC-1

Technology aficionados like me have always been drawn to the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos because it gives us something to tinker with – and using a home theater PC, or HTPC, to watch TV from the computer is no exception. HTPCs may satisfy a hobbyist’s desire to experiment, but it mostly remains a niche interest for a few technology buffs. There are some key reasons why HTPCs been slow to enter the mainstream; namely, complexity of setup and maintenance, high power consumption, high cost, and lack of access to the same TV channels available by using a set-top box. Continue reading →

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October 6, 2011

The Black Swans of Circuit Protection

Posted by Genaro Maldonado

black-swan

Reading Nicholas Taleb’s “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” (Random House 2007), the definition of a Black Swan caught my attention.

“…an event with the following three attributes. First it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outliers status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.”
Could this description be relevant to circuit protection designs? I suggest that it can, based on these observations. Continue reading →

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September 29, 2011

TE Circuit Protection at CEATEC 2011

Posted by Around the Circuit Blog Team

CEATEC-2011-globe

CEATEC is one of the largest IT and electronics trade shows in Japan where hundreds of leading innovative companies gather to showcase their latest product and technology offerings. This year TE Connectivity will be showcasing the TE Copter which is a human powered helicopter capable of hovering about 10 feet in the air The TE Copter was built using nearly 100 different TE Connectivity products including some of our own circuit protection devices. By empowering the human body to lift above the melee the TE Copter symbolizes the strength of the Japanese people persevering though the Tsunami disaster. CEATEC 2011 will be held from October 4th – 8th at Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, Japan. You can find us at booth No. 8G86 in hall 8. Continue reading →

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