Nextbigfuture interviewed Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC. EPC is a leader in Gallium Nitride electronics and now is leading the charge to a new age of wireless power. In 5 to 10 years, we could begin to see entire houses or office buildings switching from costly wiring of buildings to a complete large area wireless solution.

NextBigFuture
September 9, 2017
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The year is 2022. You sit down at your office desk, back from Ikea with your new lamp. You take it out of the box, place it on the table, and it illuminates the workspace immediately. You then take your MacBook out of your backpack, place it to the right of the lamp, and it starts charging instantly. It sounds unreasonable to think that all this could become reality in just a few years. But behind closed doors, this technology already exists.

“A couple of months ago, we demonstrated an entire table top where everything on it was powered wirelessly,” Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC, tells Inverse. “A lamp, computer monitor, computer, cell phones being charged… all sorts of stuff.”

Inverse Innovation
August, 2017
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EPC’s new EPC9083 development board enables power system designers to easily and quickly evaluate the high efficiency achieved with a high performance 200 V gallium nitride transistor in a class-E amplifier used in wireless power, LiDAR, current-mode class-D, and push-pull converters operating up to 15 MHz.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— August 2017 — Providing an easy-to-use way for power systems designers to evaluate the exceptional performance of gallium nitride transistors and get their products into volume production quickly, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces the EPC9083, a high efficiency, flexible, GaN-based differential mode development board that can operate up to 15 MHz, including 6.78 MHz which is popular for wireless power applications.

Superior characteristics of eGaN^® FETs, such as low output capacitance, low input capacitance, low parasitic inductances, and small size make them ideal for increasing efficiency in highly resonant, AirFuel^™ wireless power transfer systems.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—August 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) today announces the availability of a complete class 4 wireless power charging kit, the EPC9120. The system can transmit up to 33 W while operating at 6.78 MHz (the lowest ISM band).  The purpose of this demonstration kit is to simplify the evaluation process of using eGaN FETs for highly efficient wireless power transfer.  The EPC9120 utilizes the high frequency switching capability of EPC gallium nitride transistors to facilitate wireless power systems with full power efficiency between 80% and 90% under various operating conditions.

Since Nikola Tesla first experimented with wireless power during the early 1900s, there has been a quest to “cut the cord” – and go wireless. Today’s applications for wireless power undoubtedly extend far beyond Tesla’s wildest imagination, as we now have the ability to wirelessly charge cell phones, power tools, and even buses while at their scheduled stops, not to mention airborne drones while flying. However, despite strong consumer and business demand for wireless charging, power cords still reign. What explains the lag in our ability to power all of our electronic devices and appliances wirelessly?

ITProPortal
August 2, 2017
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During our lifetime furniture design has been primarily dictated by style. However, as we become gradually more entangled in the internet of things, function is going to become increasingly important.

Future of Everything
July 20, 2017
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GaN power element technology has found its way into a major application in the industry with the release of the Dell Latitude computer using the AirFuel standard.

Planet Analog
July 19, 2017
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This scientist got his Ph.D 40 years ago who saved the world's 15% energy consumption at one time. He is continuing his journey of innovations now in discovering silicon's replacement material for humankind.

My father always taught me that the true worth of an individual is measured based on their contribution to society. As I entered graduate school in 1975 I knew my passion was in the field of semiconductors, and I felt my best contribution to society would come from finding a successor to silicon. I did my graduate work in Gallium Arsenide, but realized by the time I received my PhD in 1977 that Gallium Arsenide’s prospects were limited as a semiconductor due to the basic materials properties, I went to work applying everything I learned to making better devices in silicon.

Fortune China
June 15, 2017
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — June 21st, 2017 -- Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN^®) power FETs and ICs, enables a lower-cost, single transmit amplifier solution that can wirelessly charge devices, regardless of the standard used in the receiving device.

Meet EPC experts on power management at PCIM Asia Exhibition and Conference on June 28th, 2017 at 11 a.m. at Meeting Room 2, B2 of Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center in China. Dr. Michael de Rooij, Vice President of Application Engineering, EPC, will share with engineers about a choice among topologies to achieve customer-oriented designs for high power, highly resonant wireless charging applications.

Tech-sector veteran Alex Lidow is on a mission to end the reliance on power cords to operate your electronic devices.

Seeker
June 15, 2017
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Mr. Krueger to direct EPC’s European sales organization and assist customers in adopting eGaN^® FETs and Integrated Circuits for leading-edge power conversion systems

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — June 2017 — To support its accelerating growth, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) is proud to announce that Wolfram Krueger has joined the EPC leadership team as Vice President of European sales. Mr. Krueger has over 30 years of sales operation experience within the semiconductor industry. His primary responsibilities at EPC are creating and implementing sales and marketing strategies to achieve the company’s sales objectives throughout Europe. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

With the current maturity of Class-D audio amplifier architectures, amplifier fidelity and efficiency limitations are primarily at the device level. Silicon MOSFETs have been evolving for almost forty years, and their progress towards a perfect switch has slowed dramatically. There are some fundamental characteristics of MOSFETs that degrade sound quality and efficiency. In 2010, the enhancement mode Gallium nitride (GaN) power FET was introduced by Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), providing a large step towards the perfect switch.

Audio Engineering Society
May 11, 2017
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Taking advantage of the high performance of eGaN^® FETs, Rompower Energy Systems has announced a reference design for a tiny, 65 W, 94% efficient AC/DC power adaptor for laptops and other mobile devices.

TUCSON, Az. – June 2017 – Rompower Energy Systems, an internationally recognized research and development company in the field of power conversion, announces the availability of technology for an extremely small, highly efficient AC/DC power adapter. In the quest for higher power density, the efficiency of the adapter is critical in order to decrease the heat dissipation. The reference design is measuring just 3.19 cubic inches in size, this adapter provides 65 W of power at greater than 94% efficiency over the entire input voltage range (90 V_ac – 264 V_ac).  The adapter has a power density of 20 W/in³. This high efficiency means that the device runs cooler than standard AC/DC adapters.

EPC2111 GaN half bridge offers power systems designers a solution that increases efficiency for complete overall point-of-load system applications over 85% at 14 A when switching at 5 MHz and over 80% when switching at 10 MHz and converting from 12 V to 1.8 V.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — June2017 — EPC announces the EPC2111, 30 V enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridge. By integrating two eGaN^® power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated.  This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs to the end user’s power conversion system. The EPC2111 is ideal for high frequency 12 V to point-of-load DC-DC conversion.

During last week's PCIM Europe event in Nuremberg, Germany, direct 48V-to-1V power conversion architectures were a significant topic. “The use of GaN switches in 48V-to-1V direct dc-dc converters can improve system performance by 30%, compared with today’s best silicon-based designs,” commented Alex Lidow, CEO of Efficient Power Conversion.

PowerPulse
May 31, 2017
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Wireless charging promises a cord-free future, one that offers freedom from being tethered to the end of a charging cable. One company might have its finger on the pulse for this wirelessly powered future. Alexander Lidow is the CEO and founder of Efficient Power Conversion, a company looking to expand upon its namesake. EPC most notably displays how it wants to revolutionize wireless charging with a seemingly simple desktop.

Interesting Engineering
May 23, 2017
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EPC2046 GaN power transistor offers power systems designers a 200 V, 25 mΩ power transistor about 12 times smaller than equivalently rated silicon MOSFETs for wireless power, multi-level AC-DC power supplies, robotics, and solar micro inverters.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — May 2017 — EPC announces the EPC2046 power transistor for use in applications including wireless power, multi-level AC-DC power supplies, robotics, solar micro inverters, and low inductance motor drives. The EPC2046 has a voltage rating of 200 V and maximum R_DS(on) of 25 mΩ with a 55 A pulsed output current.

Wireless charging is not a new topic—it has been talked about for quite a while. Unfortunately, it has not seen widespread consumer acceptance. But, with a recently developed innovative approach to the design of transmission coils, wireless power is ready for widespread application.

How2Power
May, 2017
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Gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors designed for efficient power conversion have been in production for seven years. New markets, such as light detection and ranging, envelope tracking, and wireless charging, have emerged due to the superior switching speed of GaN. These markets have enabled GaN products to achieve significant volumes, low production costs, and an enviable reliability reputation. All of this provides adequate incentive for the more conservative design engineers in applications such as dc–dc converters, ac–dc converters, and automotive to start their evaluation process. So what are the remaining barriers to the conversion of the US$12 billion silicon power metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) market? In a word: confidence.

Alex Lidow
March, 2017
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Produced by industry experts, Efficient Power Conversion has posted six videos showing active end-use applications such as a wireless power tabletop, high performance LiDAR, single-stage 48 V – 1.8 V DC-DC conversion, and precision motor drive control using gallium nitride transistors and integrated circuits.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – April 2017 – Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (www.epc-co.com) has created and posted to its website six short videos presenting end-customer applications using eGaN^® FETs and ICs. These videos show how GaN technology is changing the way we live and challenging power systems design engineers to incorporate the high performance of gallium nitride FETs and ICs into their next generation power system designs.