Passion for Technology

Kersten Heineke has always been fascinated by products and solutions that have a utility value that can be experienced by everyone. He sees mobility solutions as more than “just” technology. In his eyes, mobility is a contribution to improving people’s lives – by making the way from A to B cheaper, more convenient or more environmentally friendly. This would not only help the individual, but society as a whole. As co-leader of the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility, he can play an active role in this. This interview is part of our new issue of our magazine The Quintessence. Order your magazine free of charge now: http://ebv.com/tq

Digitalisation is also conquering more and more market shares in the field of drive technology. The growth rates of smart motors and motors controlled by frequency converters are well over 5 percent annually. What are the reasons for this success? What are the advantages of digital motor control? We talked to Prof Ralph Kennel, retired professor for electrical drive systems and power electronics at Technical University of Munich. If you want to learn more about digital motor control visit: ebv.com/motor-control

Digital drive technology has been in the public consciousness for at least as long as a British domestic-appliance manufacturer has been vaunting its “digital motor” in TV adverts. But what exactly does this refer to? And what advantages does digital motor control offer? We’re talking about this today with three experts from EBV Elektronik: Uros Mali is Director of the Smart Sensing & Connectivity technology segment. Milan Ivkovic is Director of the Analog and Power segment and finally, Ulrich Schmidt leads the High-End Processing segment. Discover more about Digital Motor Control at ebv.com/motor-control

The electrification of the transport sector is gaining momentum. According to Eurelectric's "Power Barometer", in 2021 the electric powertrain already represented 18% of new vehicle sales. In this context, better, faster and more efficient charging processes are crucial to the success of electromobility. But what are the implications for the energy sector? That's exactly what we're talking about in this episode with Bruce Douglas, director of business development and communications at Eurelectric, the association representing the interests of the European electricity industry. This interview is part of a special edition magazine which is available free of charge: https://www.avnet.com/wps/portal/ebv/resources/tq/ Get in touch with Bruce Douglas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucelectric/

“Semiconductors! Semiconductors! A kingdom for semiconductors!” Well, actually Richard III in William Shakespeare’s drama wanted a horse. But the desperation with which the industry is currently demanding microchips is similar. Corona, political conflicts and an enormous increase in demand have led to a shortage of semiconductor products in recent months. In this episode we want to talk to a real expert about how to strengthen the supply chains around semiconductors and make them less sensitive: Yvonne Keil is a member of the board of Silicon Saxony, Europe’s largest microelectronics cluster, and she is also Director Global Indirect Procurement at Globalfoundries, a semiconductor manufacturer with 15,000 employees worldwide. This interview is part of the latest issue of The Quintessence. You can order your magazine as print or pdf here: http://ebv.com/tq

1.8 trillion euros – that’s the sum the EU wants to invest over the next ten years to go net-zero by 2050 as part of its Green Deal. This, in turn, demands an ambitious rethink in the transport sector, which currently accounts for around 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Electric vehicles will be an important part of this action plan – the market for EVs is booming, with 30 million zero-emission vehicles expected to be on Europe’s roads by 2030. Against this backdrop, it’s clear that we need to make preparations for the electric transport of tomorrow and ensure that our charging infrastructure can meet exponentially growing demand. To explore how that can be done, we are talking to Andrej Orel, Director of the City and Infrastructure Segment at EBV Elektronik, Sara Ghaemi, Director Technical Development at Avnet Abacus and Bevan Braude, Business Development Manager, Avnet Embedded. For more information visit: http://www.ev-chargi.ng

Car manufacturers in Europe complain that the expansion of our electric car charging infrastructure is not progressing fast enough. ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, expects demand for 7 million connections in Europe by 2030 – far more than the 3.9 million charging points planned by policymakers. The high demand for charging stations is also accompanied by rapid developments in charging and battery technology. So what can be done to ensure that charging station manufacturers can quickly serve the market with up-to-date technology? In this episode, we’ll be discussing all of the above with Andrej Orel, the director of the city and infrastructure segment at EBV Elektronik. For more information visit: http://www.ev-chargi.ng

The speed at which electric vehicles can be charged is an important point of difference in the rapidly developing electric vehicle market. But the charging infrastructure has to keep up, too – and the developmental leaps in fast-charging technology are just as significant. While 50 kW charging stations were considered state-of-the-art not long ago, we are now increasingly seeing stations installed that can charge EVs’ batteries at 100, 150 or even 300 kW. In this episode, we’ll be discussing what this means for charging station technology with Sara Ghaemi, Director Technical Development at Avnet Abacus. For more information visit: http://www.ev-chargi.ng

The way charging infrastructure solutions are designed is affected by new battery technologies and fast-charging systems, innovative tech and connectivity applications, and an increasing degree of vehicle automation. Plus, other factors such as energy supply, political decisions and global trends will also have an impact on our future charging infrastructure. In this episode, we’re setting out to discuss which trends are the most important for charging station manufacturers with Bevan Braude, Business Development Manager, Avnet Embedded. For more information visit: http://www.ev-chargi.ng

Technologies such as the Internet of Things would be almost inconceivable without continuously shrinking electronics. Today, there are electronic components in the 100-nanometre size range. But these are digital components – the situation with analog ICs is different. In this episode Armin Derpmanns, General Manager Semiconductors at Toshiba Electronics Europe, joins us to explain why. Discover the full potential of analog ICs on ebv.com/getthepower

With the IoT, in Factory 4.0 applications, and especially in self-driving cars, more and more analog ICs are being used. They enable digital systems to process signals from their surroundings for example. That means that they are also being used more and more in safety-related systems, such as radar and lidar. To put it simply: if the signals are ‘translated’ incorrectly, a self-driving car will likely end up in a ditch. In this episode we are talking to Michael Frese, Director of the Automotive System Functional Safety Department at Renesas, and Dr Franck Galtié, Head of Functional Safety at NXP, about how to implement functionally safe systems with analog semiconductor elements, and what the semiconductor industry is doing to help deliver reliable ICs. Dive deeper into the world of analog semiconductors: http://ebv.com/getthepower

The semiconductor industry is struggling to cope with the huge demand for its products. Although expansion of production capacities is being heavily worked on, it will be a few years before this has any effect. That’s why industry experts are calling for supply chains to be optimized and for them to be made more resilient. In this episode we are talking to Thorsten Eyle, who is leading the LogOn Business Unit at EBV Elektronik, where various logistics services for its customers are being aggregated. For more information on LogOn visit the EBV Website

Today’s market expects electrical and electronic systems to deliver constant improvements in energy efficiency. Converters, inverters and power supplies of all kinds have to demonstrate that their energy losses are getting lower all the time, and where possible they need to function without the need for cooling. Not only that, but they are expected to be small and lightweight too. The very promising and commercially already enabled way is to use wide-bandgap materials in power semiconductors, silicon carbide and gallium nitride. Today we are talking to Jan Huijink, Technical Marketing Manager at WeEn, who will give us exactly the right information about the energy-saving potential of power electronics made from those materials.

Digital electronics doesn’t exist in a virtual space, at some time and somewhere it has to interact with the real world – to record data such as temperature or radio waves or to trigger actions, for example starting a motor. This is precisely why what we call mixed signal modules have been developed – they combine analog and digital functions on a single chip. In this episode we’ll be talking to Trent Butcher, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Microchip, and Laurence Berger, Technical Marketing Manager at STMicroelectronics, about the latest trends in mixed signal circuits. If you want to get in touch with Laurence or Trent feel free to contact them via email: Laurence Berger: laurence.berger@st.com Trent Butcher: Trent.Butcher@microchip.com

Energy is one of the biggest issues of our time. Most people tend to think big – wind turbines, photovoltaics and the like. But energy also plays a huge role at a small scale. For example, in chips and electronic circuits. Analog ICs are becoming increasingly important in our today’s world and are a key driver for energy efficiency. In this episode we are talking all about energy with our guests Chris Boyce, Senior Director MOS Discretes at Nexperia, and Dr. Saeed Safari, Principle Field Application Engineer at Broadcom. If you want to get in touch with Chris or Saeed feel free to contact them via email: Chris Boyce: chris.boyce@nexperia.com Dr. Saeed Safari: saeed.safari@broadcom.com

There are two key reasons why the number of analog ICs is continually growing: increased use of sensors and the increasing need for power management solutions. A study by the Wilson Research Group in 2020 on this issue concluded that an increase in returns of analog components in the field can also be observed. This indicates that the design of analog ICs and their integration into solutions are complex and require specialist know-how. We talk about why the design is such a challenge and how the semiconductor industry is supporting electronics designers with our guests Alessandro Zafarana, Power Technologist at onsemi, and Andreas Genser, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Infineon. Discover the full potential of analog ICs on ebv.com/getthepower

Those of us of a certain age might still remember K.I.T.T., the car from the TV series Knight Rider, which was equipped with artificial intelligence and could speak. It might have been complete science fiction back in the 1980s, but it now seems to be slowly becoming reality. Robert Bielby from Micron Technology explains how far we are from K.I.T.T. now, and what are now the most relevant demands when it comes to the automotive industry. I you want to get in contact with Robert, feel free to write him an email via rbielby@micron.com

Everything is going digital. But we also need analog components to digitalize. This episode is all about these analog ICs. What do you need them for? What do they have to do with digitalization? In the first episode of our Analog & Power Series we talk to Tarik Souibes, Technical Marketing Director at STMicroelectronics, and Milan Ivkovic, Director Segment Analog & Power at EBV Elektronik, about these semiconductor components. Discover the full potential of analog ICs on ebv.com/getthepower

This episode is dedicated to edge computing – a technology that works behind the scenes. It refers to local processing of data at the extreme periphery of the Internet, at the edge – or in other words directly where it is produced. Which advantages does this offer, which role does semiconductor technology play and where is the development heading to – these are the questions we discuss with Ulrich Schmidt, Segment Director High-End Processing at EBV Elektronik. If you would like to get in touch about Edge Computing solutions with Ulrich's team write an email to high-end-processing@ebv.com or ai@ebv.com for artificial intelligence and machine learning requests.

The market for UV LEDs is currently facing a real boom. In this podcast episode we talk about the possibilities offered by UVA LEDs and put the spotlight on their use in industrial applications. Our guests are Anton Sonneveld from Broadcom and Dr. Dieter Groß from EBV Elektronik.