Survey highlights power as major industry design challenge
The boom in artificial intelligence (AI), faster data centres, more efficient electric vehicles (EVs) and the drive to digital unification is creating major power design challenges according to the latest survey from Molex.
Molex commissioned Dimensional Research to survey 824 qualified design engineers and engineering managers globally to gauge their experiences and expertise working with power systems.
According to 94% of those polled, understanding how to work with power is a critical requirement, with 83% asserting power is one of their greatest design challenges. While nearly three-quarters of the participants strive to increase energy efficiency in their power-system designs, more than half report simultaneously addressing efficiency, cost, capacity and performance monitoring requirements.
Cost remains the main barrier as over four in five respondents expect the demand for power expertise to increase in the next five years. Engineers in the UK reported the most value from peer mentoring or coaching, whereas design engineers from Germany led the world in being most likely to incorporate power considerations at the initial concept phase of product development.
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Keeping pace with rapid changes in technologies, trends and regulations has elevated the need for hands-on experience (71%) and vendor product training (58%), as well as greater access to resources, such as software tools (61%), design reference documents (54%) and supplier customer support (52%).
Energy efficiency (73%) and functional safety (66%) were the most frequently reported design considerations, closely followed by signal and power interference (57%), battery requirements (49%), along with system and device miniaturization (47%). Addressing harsh environments (41%) and environmental noise (38%) also were cited as important priorities taken into consideration in system designs and implementations.
The most daunting obstacles are cost effectiveness (56%), safety (51%), thermal management (48%), electromagnetic interference (EMI) (45%), reliability over time (44%), power integrity (40%) and compliance (36%).
An abundance of design priorities and challenges continue to fuel the need for both custom and off-the-shelf solutions, according to 72% of those surveyed, underscoring the need for power expertise among design engineers and power-solution providers. Respondents ranked the most impactful improvements as battery performance (34%), materials advancements (30%), more efficient thermal management (29%), and battery lifetime (27%).
On top of this, 60% of those polled agree that higher efficiency demands will drive power-design innovations, along with advancements in battery technology (51%), higher-power voltage consumption demands (49%), wireless connectivity (42%) and miniaturization (40%). A wide range of macro trends appear to be forcing innovations among those polled, including a shift to renewables (54%), higher functionality demands (53%) and increasing energy costs (52%).
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Engineers from China reported a greater need to understand and comply with power-related regulatory requirements while respondents from the region also were most likely to use hands-on experience to keep pace with power innovations.
“Engineers must grapple with multiple priorities when it comes to designing effective, efficient and sustainable power systems that fuel product innovations of all kinds,” said Brian Hauge, SVP and president, Consumer & Commercial Solutions, Molex. “We continually work with our customers and suppliers across the power ecosystem to clear conductivity and connectivity hurdles, risk-reduce product designs, and ultimately create reliable, durable and capable power interfaces and distribution systems tailored for specific applications and environments.”
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