Interview
We bring in more value to our customers
Analog Devices, a pioneer in electronic energy metering
through early introduction of energy metrology components
has been developing innovative Energy solutions. Their
electronic metering ICs accelerated the transition from
electromechanical to solid-state meters. ADI has a range of
products for variety of applications, fields and enjoys 45-year
tradition of reliability, innovation, performance, and value in
signal processing ICs. Addressing the growing technology
needs in the smart grid and related areas, Ronn Kliger, in an
exclusive interview with Electrical India states, we have been
successful in consolidating our position in the Indian market.
54October 2011Electrical India
Interview_Ronn Kliger_Analog Devices.indd 54
Working closely
with our
customers, third
party developers
and other stake
holders to
provide
solutions
Ronn Kliger,
Energy Group Director
Analog Devices, Inc.
EI The present age belongs to smart grid
technology that needs installation and
upgrading of monitoring equipment along electrical
transmission and distribution systems. What range
of solutions does Analog Devices provide to effect
efficiency measures in energy sector?
T he electricity grid infrastructure has
remained virtually unchanged and
un-measured for over 50 years. In the future,
however, not having real-time data on the
status of the grid at any instant in time is
becoming a problem that can no longer be
ignored. Power delivery management is, based
on the concept of having a known fixed
amount of generated power available to meet
known or expected demand requirements
9/28/2011 11:40:45 AM

based on historical usage profiles.
The grid, however, is now becoming
severely challenged, not least with
respect to the need to reduce power
losses in the lines, transformers and
substation equipment, but in
addition, to allow for the supply onto
the grid of increasingly distributed
generation, including Wind Turbines
and Solar PV. Demand too will
become far less predictable with the
need to enable a charging
infrastructure for electric vehicles.
All these facts and the expectation
that global electricity capacity will
double by 2030, means that our Grid
must be monitored and protected to
a massively greater extent than it is
today. This impending revolution will
drive an ever increased dependence
on micro - electronics and
semiconductors. This is leading ADI
to engineer advanced signal
processing technology to serve the
precision needs of reliably interfacing
to and monitoring the high voltage
electricity grid. Through a network of
advanced sensors, from instrument
transformers to Rogowski Coils
through to Optical sensors, accurate
and fast measurement, conversion,
digital processing & communication
of critical grid parameters will be
fundamental to the control of
protective relays, the monitoring of
voltage and current harmonics and
the metering of the total power and
energy at multiple nodes throughout
the grid infrastructure that will
emerge in 21st century.
EI Analog Devices is a pioneer in
electronic energy metering? Could
you enumerate advances made in this
sector?
M eter technology dates back over
100 years when the first
electromechanical meter
introduced known as a Ferraris
was
meter. This technology is still in use
today particularly for residential meters
because it is inexpensive and maintains
Interview_Ronn Kliger_Analog Devices.indd 55
its performance for a long period of
time. About 20 years ago, both
legislators and utility companies began
talking about improving services to
end-customers by automating
electricity meters and providing more
capabilities. All-electronic energy
meters played a key role in providing
the required functions. This included
sensors that measure current, input
signal conversion, digital signal
processing and communication.
Analog Devices had expertise in all of
What makes
ADIs
approach
somewhat unique is
the implementation
of the digital core in
a state machine -
with all
programming
performed via a very
simple and easy to
use graphic user
interface
these areas so we integrated all of the
important functions within a new
family of ICs. Since the year 2000, we
have introduced over 30 different
energy meter products. Today we
continue to innovate along many
dimensions of product performance
such as offering energy meter ICs that
support greater accuracy, wider
dynamic ranges for larger loads,
stronger protection against tamper and
better long-term field reliability.
Another advance that is occurring in
Interview
electronic energy meter is the new
ability to measure and analyze the
presence of harmonics within
distribution systems that have the
potential to damage transformers,
electric motors, and sensitive industrial
equipment.
EI Would you brief our readers about
Analogs digital power management
and switching power application
products?
A DI has established a technology
leadership in digital power
management products for ACDC and
isolated DCDC converters in industrial
and communication systems. What
makes ADIs approach somewhat
unique is the implementation of the
digital core in a state machine - with all
programming performed via a very
simple and easy to use graphic user
interface (GUI). This gives customers
the flexibility of digital power design
without the pain of complex
programming. ADIs expertise in ADC
high speed converter technology
combines with an innovative power
solution to enable high efficiency
power design and communication of
parametric information over I2C. ADI
has gained significant share, with the
flagship ADP1043/A, in a broad range
of applications and was awarded the
EDN Prize for Innovation in 2009. The
team is very excited by introduction of
the ADP1047/48 digital power factor
correction family with accurate power
metering capability. These devices will
be used in higher power ACDC supplies
and motor control applications. The
digital power factor family combines
with the ADP1043A digital controller
and iCoupler family of products to form
a complete power and signal solution
to improve energy efficient design.
EI What technological innovations
are in process with respect to
electrical industry? Could you detail
about Analogs 14-bit high-speed A/D
converters, recently released, specifically
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9/28/2011 11:40:50 AM
 Interview
for use in test and measurement
applications, besides others?
I n the electrical test industry, many
innovations focus on minimizing the
cost of test. In production environments
the emphasis is on reducing test time
by running more tests simultaneously.
This requires higher speed and more
accurate equipment to generate and
analyze complicated waveforms or
patterns. In a lab environment the
emphasis is often on reducing the cost
of test equipment. Users can purchase
highly integrated, flexible test
equipment capable of several kinds of
measurements or they can go with a
modular approach to customize their
test bench. Systems that need to
perform many kinds of analysis require
higher speed and lower noise
components to cover a wide range of
measurements. In contrast, a modular
system will often optimize specific
aspects of performance while
minimizing power consumption.
Analog Devices has several options for
analog and digital signal processing
ICs used in this equipment. For
instance, we recently released two low
power 14 bit ADC families. The AD9648
can sample up to 125Msps, while the
AD9643 can sample at up to 250Msps.
Both of these dual channel ADCs are
also available in single channel
versions. These parallel output ADCs
combine low power and high
performance in a small package. To
further reduce the ADCs footprint
Analog also offers two 14-bit ADCs
with high speed serialized outputs.
AD9644 and AD9641 are dual and
single-channel ADCs with sample rates
of 80Msps to 155Msps. These ADCs
use a JESD204A high speed serial
interface to reduce the number of
digital outputs, resulting in smaller
packages and simplified board layout.
Using a high speed serial interface in
multi channel systems lowers the pin
count requirements for the receiving
device which conserves board space
and minimizes cost.
56October 2011Electrical India
Interview_Ronn Kliger_Analog Devices.indd 56
EI Would you share information on
converters for wind turbines and
industrial controls?
V ibration analysis is an important
tool in early identification of
developing problems in many industrial
control applications. Bad bearings,
worn gears, loose fittings, and
misaligned equipment, in rotating
machines, including those used in the
larger 1MW + wind turbines, can have a
profound impact on the operational
lifetime, energy harvesting efficiency,
and maintenance costs of such systems.
Detection and measurement of minute
changes in such mechanical
movements demands precision ADC
converters with very high resolution
making wind turbines an ideal
application for ADIs broad range of
24-Bit Sigma-Delta ADCs. To further
enhance this, ADI offers tri-axis, wide-
bandwidth, embedded vibration
sensors, such as the ADIS16228 iSensor
vibration monitor as a complete,
effective, and affordable wind turbine
condition monitoring system
combining ADIs industry-leading
iMEMS technology with our high
resolution Sigma-Delta converters and
data (FFT) processing. Digital precision-
aligned tri-axial vibration monitoring
for wind is ideally suited for the signal
detection and machine health-analytics
in modern wind turbines, and highlights
both Analog Devices leadership in
precision conversion and system
integration for the demands of wind
energy generation.
EI What advances has Analog made
in renewable generation and its
scope in India?
I n the evolving renewable generation
space, the increasing drive toward
Grid-tied Solar Photovoltaic (PV)
systems is placing ever greater
demands on the quality of the electricity
that can be injected onto the grid. This
will require sensors capable of making
more precise measurements of the key
parameters in such PV Inverters, Micro
Inverters and DC Optimizers. ADIs
range of precision amplifiers, and ADCs
directly addresses the challenges that
are posed by this need for greater
accuracy in current and voltage
measurement. In addition, with the
trend away from transformer based
Inverters, the need to reliably isolate,
both between the DC and AC sides as
well as between the power and control
sides is increasing. In fact, guaranteeing
lifetimes of between 6 years and 20
years is emerging as a basic requirement
in the industry and after the Capacitor
(Electroytic), the next must unreliable
component in the system happens to
be the optocoupler. ADIs introduction
of a completely new concept in
isolation, based on magnetic rather
than optical coupling, has
revolutionized this industry. Now, Solar
Inverter manufacturers do not have to
worry about the limited lifetime of
optocouplers as ADIs iCoupler
technology completely removes this
optical wear-out limitation.
Furthermore, this isolation functionality
is directly integrated within our ICs with
functions including gate drivers,
RS-485-Interfaces, CAN transceivers
and indeed, isolated ADCs.
EI How ubiquitous integrated circuit
technology has become with
special attention to its significant role in
developing electrical technology? In
other words, how relevant is the role of
integrated circuit technology in electrical
technology expansion everywhere?
I ntegrated circuit technology has
played a key role in improving the
performance and reliability for many
elements of electrical technology
including generation, transmission and
distribution. The reason, IC technology
has grown so quickly, is because it
offers much higher levels of integration
compared to using individual discrete
components. Very high integration
reduces system cost and improves
overall system reliability. On the
distribution side, IC technology has
9/28/2011 11:40:50 AM
 Interview
enabled more accurate, more reliable electronic energy
meters that can communicate with back-offices via wireless
or PLC. On the transmission side, IC technology has enabled
better and more efficient ways to automate substations.
Lastly, on the generation side, IC technology has enabled
advances in renewable approaches such as inverters which
are used in PV cells for solar generation.

EI How have industrial automation systems evolved in the

past few years? What do you have to say about
programmable logic controllers distributed control systems?

W e see a number of key trends within the industrial

automation application space. From a systems
standpoint, the market trend is for increased input/
output channel density, within the same housing
constraints. This leads to challenges to design smaller
component ICs, and also to make them lower power to
handle the overall power dissipation density in the
confined space. ADI addresses this by using the latest
process technology enabling us to use the smallest
package ICs, higher levels of integration, combined with
the lowest power specifications, while keeping the
industry leading accuracy and performance. The other
key trend is in the requirement for more robust system
designs, which translates into a need for more durable
devices at the IC level. Our family of over voltage
protection amplifiers (e.g. ADA409x) are one example of
how we help our customers solve this problem.

EI Do you have any future plans for the Indian Market in

terms of expansion?

T he Indian Energy market is expanding into areas such

as Smart Grid, AMR and AMI and there is significant
amount of activity going on to define standards
and technologies to serve these emerging markets. We at
Analog Devices are well positioned to play an active role
in these emerging segments. We are working
closely with our customers, third party developers
and other stake holders to provide solutions to serve
these emerging markets.

EI What is your view on the competition and how effectively

you have managed to consolidate your position in the
Indian market?

A t Analog Devices, we particularly believe that we need

to differentiate our products from those of our other
manufacturers in terms of features, performance and
quality, so that we bring in more value to our customers. By
carefully choosing the markets to play in and generating
higher value through performance and differentiated
features in our products, we have been successful in
consolidating our position in the Indian market.

58October 2011Electrical India