SystemX Affiliates: login to view related content.
A problem not often considered with mobile device chargers and other appliances that use electrical outlets is reducing the quiescent power loss due to solid-state device leakage when the appliance is not in use. Could micro-electromechanical (MEM) relays be used to aid in eliminating this vampire power because of their extremely high off- resistance? Initial work on the use of a single four-terminal MEM relay in conventional buck and boost converters will be presented. This talk will include an overview of electrostatically actuated MEM relay operation, characterization, including typical challenges encountered during probe station testing, and failure mechanisms. In addition, analytical solutions that account for non-idealities, simulated, and measured results will be presented for buck and boost DC-DC converters in both discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and continuous condition mode (CCM ).
Scott Block received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006 and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech in 2010. Since 2011, he has been pursuing a doctorate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Mr. Block has held internship positions at Chirp Microsystems and Picosense, Inc. His research interests include low-voltage/subthreshold mixed-signal CMOS circuit design, MEMS, milliwatt-to-nanowatt sensor interfaces, energy harvesting, and power electronics. In 2015, Mr. Block received the UC Davis ECE Department Excellence in Teaching Award for his contributions to undergraduate project course development.
