Engineers focus on power technologies, Avnet data shows
Visitor data for Design Hub, Avnet’s self-service design tool, shows power design is a trending topic for the engineering community.
Power management, conversion and control as horizontal technologies touch almost every market in electronics. Semiconductor technology is developing rapidly in this area, with sustained indication that wide bandgap is displacing silicon in high-power applications.
What constitutes high power is relatively broad and arguably a moving target. Five years ago, most of the industry didn’t appreciate how much global electricity generated would be consumed by cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence (AI). By 2026, the figures are expected to be 160 TWh and 90 TWh respectively (Figure 1).
While it would be hard to directly correlate the increase in power consumption in these application areas with the design start activity Avnet sees from customers, our data does show a change in the pattern around 2022, when the number of projects for motor control drops but the number of power applications rises (Figure 2). As a comparison, the graph also describes the project starts for EV development over the same period. Both motor control and EV design require power subsystems.
We can also show the level of interest in power-related reference designs available on Design Hub. This recent snapshot of visitor activity (Figure 3) clearly shows that the block diagrams, reference designs and editable schematic diagrams most popular on Design Hub relate to power applications.
Engineering resources
Design Hub is an engineering resource, part of Avnet’s growing portfolio of self-service tools. The Design Hub library of reference designs is closely integrated with AVAIL, Avnet’s online schematic capture design tool.
Engineers can use Design Hub and AVAIL to accelerate their design cycle, drawing on thousands of block diagrams, reference designs and circuit diagrams. All featured designs are available at no upfront cost or recurring royalty fee.
The tools generate engineering files that can be used in other electronic design automation tools and a bill of materials that can easily be ordered online through Farnell.
Are you part of an engineering team starting a new project? Do you want to find an easy onramp to new technologies, or discover the latest solutions that will differentiate your design?
Take a tour of your local Design Hub to find block diagrams, reference designs and schematic diagrams that could positively impact your design decisions and shorten your time to market. Design Hub is available now in the Americas and Europe, and soon in the APAC region.
What's next for Design Hub?
With hundreds of block diagrams and customizable schematic diagrams, Design Hub already gives engineers an early-stage productivity boost. Design Hub users can now access Avnet’s AI-driven cross-referencing tool to help with later-stage design decisions.
The cross-reference tool uses AI to find alternative or near-equivalent components for a part number. The tool gives each suggestion a score related to how closely it matches the original part and a risk rating based on what Avnet knows about the alternative components’ current and future availability.
This powerful feature is enabled by AI and supported by our suppliers’ cross-referencing data, our engineering knowledge and Avnet’s parametric-level data. Registration to Design Hub is required to use the cross-reference tool, but registration is free and open to anyone, not just existing Avnet customers.