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Tom Curatolo
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 Write for Electronic Design
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Tom Curatolo is the director of applications engineering for Vicor Corp. He joined the company in 1989. He holds a BSEE from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
Email address: tcuratolo@vicorpower.com
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9 results found for Tom Curatolo, displaying items 1 - 9
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October 8, 2009
[Power Design]
Load-Sharing Power Converters Tackle Higher Output Power And Fault Tolerance
Designers parallel their power supplies to increase system power output or to provide fault tolerance. Paralleling also improves system performance. When both power supplies are load sharing, for example, the two supplies share the dissipated heat, improving reliability. Furthermore, if one power supply goes offline, the other one is coming from an already loaded state, so the perturbation on the output is not significant.
August 5, 2009
[Power Design]
DC-DC Converter Architectures: What Are People Talking About?
Applications engineers are in a unique position with respect to dc-dc converter architectures. In the lab, in the field, or on the telephone, they hear a lot. In fact, the centralized control architecture (CCA), which coexists with and adds capability to other power architectures, and the factorized power architecture (FPA) have been getting a lot of press recently.
April 20, 2009
[Power Design]
DC-DC Footprints On The Sands Of Time
The footprint of a dc-dc converter is, to me, an interesting topic. There is a certain amount of history to it that’s kind of fascinating. Also, it really plays heavily into the decisions power designers make about what solution they’re going to use and whether, for example, another vendor is actually a true second source. Over time, the dc-dc converter footprint has, in general, experienced some changes. You might also say it has changed the industry to some degree.
March 12, 2009
[Power Design]
The Many Faces Of Custom Power
Under the pressures of product performance, price, and the need to increasingly reduce their time-to-market, many OEMs don’t have the luxury of spending a lot of time on the power solution. Consequently, they look to power providers that can expeditiously accomplish their power requirements as they need them. However, “as they need them” is the key. Suppliers can make an innovative power product. But in the end, if it isn’t in a form factor or served...
December 11, 2008
[Power Design]
The Industry Migrates To 48-V Input DC-DC Conversion
In my previous column (“Applications Drive Component Power Designs,” Sept. 11, 2008, p. 18, ED Online 19486), I contended that the application drives the selection of a specific power component—or it even forces the creation of a custom component. But, it must be admitted, there is another side of the coin. Many price-sensitive engineers see value in changing their ...
September 11, 2008
[Power Design]
Applications Drive Component Power Designs
Power designers often prefer particular power products or manufacturers. Some designers try to drive these preferences into every application. That’s not surprising. Such choices are usually based on successful relationships with specific manufacturers. The designers already know the products, or they can rely on a level of reliability, on-time delivery, or good prices. Many suppliers of dc-dc converters offer common input and output voltages, power levels, and features....
June 12, 2008
[Power Design]
The Polymorphous Landscape Of Bus Voltages
Voltages are bussed around all the time, but the applications and voltage levels are many and diverse. One of the high-voltage apps du jour, for example, is the data center. Everybody knows about the phenomenal rise of the Internet over the last few years, but few think much about how all of the generated data gets stored and distributed. To enable this capability, the emergence and growth of datacenters or server farms—and the power they increasingly...
March 13, 2008
[Power Design]
Demanding Dynamic Loads: Can Power Devices Keep Up?
With each new generation of processor, the trend is toward lower voltages, higher currents, and faster dynamic loads. As a result, power-system designers are challenged to provide ever-faster transient response. They also have to do it using less board area while providing cost-effective and efficient power-systems solutions that offer the requisite performance. The question is if power devices can keep up. Power designers traditionally responded to the need...
September 1, 2007
[POV: Point Of View]
Examine The Thermal Implications Of Potted Versus Open-Frame Bricks
When I joined Vicor almost 20 years ago, the inventors of the brick told me that the planar surface of a base plate is optimal for removing or transferring heat and that potting provides an outstanding thermal interface around each component. When bricks first came out, in fact, all of them were encapsulated and fitted with attached base plates. Our philosophy at the time, as it is now, was to be as flexible as possible to enable designers to adapt the brick to many different...
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