º  The US energy saving specialist, Power Efficiency Corporation, has filed two provisional patents covering its digital single-phase motor efficiency controller, aimed at domestic and commercial appliances. It says the patents will allow it to pursue licencing agreements with OEMs.

º  Swedish Government agencies for innovation and energy are supporting a €1.3m three-year collaborative project to develop power modules based on silicon carbide (SiC) power transistors. The project, being led by the SiC specialist TranSIC, aims to achieve higher currents and breakdown voltages from the rugged power semiconductors.

º  The US firm MagneMotion has shown baggage-handling and people-moving technologies based on linear synchronous motors at a recent airport industry exhibition in Spain. The company says that its modular technology, with built-in position sensing, can move baggage at speeds of up to 10m/s, while providing precise tracking.

º  Mitsubishi Electric has announced a fifth generation of intelligent power modules for applications such as motor controls and servo drives. The IPMs, which incorporate gate driver and protection circuitry, are 32% smaller than the previous generation and have higher braking currents. They use a new low-loss IGBT technology called CSTBT (carrier stored trench gate bipolar transistor) and produce outputs from 50–600A, at 600V blocking voltages.

º  Allegro MicroSystems Europe has announced a quad full-bridge chip that can drive up to four DC motors or two stepper motors. Each of the A3988 chip’s outputs is rated at 1.2A, 36V. It can control stepper motors in full, half and quarter steps, and DC motors in forward, reverse and coast modes.