Non-external capacitor LDO regulator for power management applications

This article aims to present the design of a 4.5-V, 450-mA low drop-out (LDO) voltage linear regulator based on a two-stage cascoded operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) as error amplifier. The aforementioned two-stage OTA is designed with cascoded current mirroring technique to boost up the output impedance. The proposed OTA has a DC gain of 101 dB under no load condition. The designed reference voltage included in the LDO regulator is provided by a band gap reference with the temperature coefficient (T¿) of 0.025 mV/ºC. The proposed LDO regulator has a maximum drop-out voltage of 0.5 V @ 450 mA of load current, and has the worst case power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of [54.5 dB, 34.3 dB] @ [100 Hz, 10 kHz] in full load condition. All the proposed circuits are designed using a 0.35 µm CMOS technology. The design is checked in order to corroborate its performance for wide range of input voltage, founding that the circuit design works fine meeting all the initial specification requirements.Postprint (published version

The inclusion of power gyrator topologies as energy processing cells in photovoltaic solar conversion

This paper will provide a classification of high efficiency switching power-gyrator structures and their use as cells for energy processing in photovoltaic solar facilities. Having into account the properties of these topologies presented in the article, their inclusion in solar facilities allows increasing the performance of the whole installation. Therefore, the design, simulation and implementation of a G- type power gyrator are carried out throughout the text. In addition, in order to obtain the maximum power from the photovoltaic solar panel, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is mandatory in the energy processing path. Therefore, the practical implementation carried out includes a control loop of the power gyrator in order to track the aforementioned maximum power point of the photovoltaic solar panel.Postprint (published version

Guided activities in the teaching of analog electronics in the bachelor's degree in Industrial and Automatic Electronics

Within the offer of core courses of the Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), which appeared as a result of the current undergraduate study program, within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), there is a course, Analog Electronics (EAEIA), which allows the Electronic Engineering student to delve into the knowledge of this content. This paper exposes the philosophy of this course, in such a way that it analyzes the orientation that is intended to be given, especially within the new framework of courses offered at the EEBE where, in addition to the hours of lectures and laboratory sessions, there must be room for to the guided activities (GAs) that the current syllabus contemplates.Postprint (published version

Capacitorless low-dropout regulator for power management applications

This article aims to present the design of a 4.5-V, 450-mA low drop-out (LDO) voltage linear regulator based on a two-stage cascoded operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) as error amplifier. The aforementioned two-stage OTA is designed with cascoded current mirroring technique to boost up the output impedance. The proposed OTA has a DC gain of 101 dB under no load condition. The designed reference voltage included in the LDO regulator is provided by a band gap reference with the temperature coefficient (T¿) of 0.025 mV/ºC. The proposed LDO regulator has a maximum drop-out voltage of 0.5 V @ 450 mA of load current, and has the worst case power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of [54.5 dB, 34.3 dB] @ [100 Hz, 10 kHz] in full load condition. All the proposed circuits are designed using a 0.35 µm CMOS technology. The design is checked in order to corroborate its performance for wide range of input voltage, founding that the circuit design works fine meeting all the initial specification requirements.Postprint (published version

On single-input dual-output (SIDO) DC/DC multi-port converters for DC microgrid applications

This paper proposes the use of linear-assisted switching power converters in the context of single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) for microgrids (MG) applications. By combining a DC/DC ripple-controlled switching power converter with the respective voltage linear regulators at each output, improved performance in terms of load and line regulations is obtained. To achieve that aim, a current-steering switching policy is proposed, together with a resource-aware circuit implementation. The ripple-based hysteretic control results in variable switching frequency to guarantee critical conduction mode (boundary of CCM and DCM).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Capacitorless voltage regulator devoted to power management

This article aims to present the design of a 4.5-V, 450-mA low drop-out (LDO) voltage linear regulator based on a two-stage cascoded operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) as error amplifier. The aforementioned two-stage OTA is designed with cascoded current mirroring technique to boost up the output impedance. The proposed OTA has a DC gain of 101 dB under no load condition. The designed reference voltage included in the LDO regulator is provided by a band gap reference with the temperature coefficient (T¿) of 0.025 mV/ºC. The proposed LDO regulator has a maximum drop-out voltage of 0.5 V @ 450 mA of load current, and has the worst case power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of [54.5 dB, 34.3 dB] @ [100 Hz, 10 kHz] in full load condition. All the proposed circuits are designed using a 0.35 µm CMOS technology. The design is checked in order to corroborate its performance for wide range of input voltage, founding that the circuit design works fine meeting all the initial specification requirements.Postprint (published version

A contribution to students’ assessment adjusts of multiple choice questionnaires with fuzzy logic

In University environment, it is common to use multiple-choice objective tests with three or four possible answers, of which only one is correct and the rest are erroneous. In this type of tests, usually the wrong answers are penalized in order to avoid the effect of the random answers. However, there are questions that hardly students answer since their difficulty is high. On the other hand, there are also questions that answer virtually all students since their difficulty is simple. While sometimes the course professor chooses to suppress these questions, it is also common to leave them as part of the calculation of the overall score. This communication proposes a way of, without suppressing any question, making a readjustment of the grades based on fuzzy logic techniques. To do this, it is considered, on the one hand, the initial grade obtained by each student and, on the other, the total difficulty index of the test. With these two variables, an approximation can be made to a system of linguistic variables that allows correcting the final grades of each student based on the objective difficulty of the test and a set of rules established by the professor. This will revert to greater “justice” in students’ mark system, since it will be a function of the difficulty of the test

LDO regulator with no external capacitor for power management applications

This article aims to present the design of a 4.5-V, 450-mA low drop-out (LDO) voltage linear regulator based on a two-stage cascoded operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) as error amplifier. The aforementioned two-stage OTA is designed with cascoded current mirroring technique to boost up the output impedance. The proposed OTA has a DC gain of 101 dB under no load condition. The designed reference voltage included in the LDO regulator is provided by a band gap reference with the temperature coefficient (T¿) of 0.025 mV/ºC. The proposed LDO regulator has a maximum drop-out voltage of 0.5 V @ 450 mA of load current, and has the worst case power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of [54.5 dB, 34.3 dB] @ [100 Hz, 10 kHz] in full load condition. All the proposed circuits are designed using a 0.35 µm CMOS technology. The design is checked in order to corroborate its performance for wide range of input voltage, founding that the circuit design works fine meeting all the initial specification requirements.Postprint (published version

PBL activity as link element in the bachelor’s degree in industrial electronics and automation engineering

This paper describes the experience carried out within the Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering taught at the Eastern Barcelona School of Engineering (EEBE) of the Technical University of Catalonia–BarcelonaTech (UPC). Specifically, the experience is based on the realization of a cross project that is under the framework of the degree intensification named Application Design in Electronics Engineering (ADEE). This intensification, consisting of a block of two courses, taught in the Fall and Spring semesters, and offered for students in their final year, allows the fulfillment, for two semesters, of the aforementioned project. This includes the design, simulation, implementation (assembly), testing and experimental results (corroboration) of an electronic system or equipment within the field of Electronic Engineering

The inclusion of power gyrator topologies as energy processing cells in photovoltaic solar conversion

This paper will provide a classification of high efficiency switching power-gyrator structures and their use as cells for energy processing in photovoltaic solar facilities. Having into account the properties of these topologies presented in the article, their inclusion in solar facilities allows increasing the performance of the whole installation. Therefore, the design, simulation and implementation of a G-type power gyrator are carried out throughout the text. In addition, in order to obtain the maximum power from the photovoltaic solar panel, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is mandatory in the energy processing path. Therefore, the practical implementation carried out includes a control loop of the power gyrator in order to track the aforementioned maximum power point of the photovoltaic solar panel.Postprint (published version