Customer Reviews

Switching Power Supplies A to Z

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dear Reader

If you are Power Engineer/ IC Engineer / Applications Engineer entrying the field of Power Electronics, or someone who wants needs to re-educate in the field of power electronics I strongly urge you to keep a copy of this text on your desk.

The author has spent many years gathering precious gems which only exist in the realms of universities or so called experts not willing to share the pitfalls of power design. He and has written the material that anyone who wants a good grasp of power electronics will easily gain.

His chapter on stability is definitely worth its weight in gold. Such topics from the various classic textbooks either suffer the formulae syndrome, or basically the cookbook either leaving the reader, confused or tell me more syndrome. He even explains how the Laplace transform is used without having to go into lengthy math analyis, wow. It took me years to learn this.

This book is written in a straight forward manner you have to go through it chapter by chapter to gain the reap the full benefits.

I wish I had this book many years ago, I could have avoided a lot painful hours of debugging power circuitry.

I have a lot of switching power supply books but this one is by far the best. The author talks to you like a real person not like a computational robot. He speaks as if he really wants you to learn about switching power supplies not just to show you how much he knows. You can tell that he is very fond of this subject and he wants to share it with you. There are plenty of examples and a FAQ section; yes the math is there as well. You can clear you shelves of all the other books because this is the only one you will need.

I own many different books on the topic of power electronics and switching power supplies. Maniktala's "Switching Power Supplies A to Z" ranks at the top of the list for it's accessible style, relevance of information, and timeliness (published in 2006). Maniktala is clearly an experienced engineer with much insight on this subject, and many personal anecdotes to share along the way. His presentation is easily understood by the reader who doesn't have an engineering degree, yet it is also extremely thorough and technically superior. An engineer with years of experience will no doubt find some new information or a new angle of approach to a design parameter. I originally bought this book because of its seven (yes, SEVEN) chapters devoted to EMI -- something which is lacking in almost every other book available on the subject. It also contains two chapters on inductors and magnetics, and a very thorough one on feedback compensation -- two of the most difficult concepts to get a real grasp on. Buy this book before you even look at the others, and you will have a much better foundation from which to build on.

I have been trying to find a book that explains in simple text how a feedback loop control works. There are two books that I find useful. One is this book and the other one is 'Practical Design for power supply.' In this book, the author went through close/open loop analysis, compensation network, current mode control, etc. He used a lot of pictorial explaination, which is great, as I don't like to read words :) Also it has a good chapter on switching power lose.

The only draw back that I found is the language used. Sometime I will get confused and have to go back and read it a few times. But other then that, I think you will find this book pretty helpful. Enjoy.

Despite I have great experience in other fields, I don't have it in power electronics. I found this book very original and didactic. I gess that his author has a big experience in this matter and hi has also the experience to transmit it. Written in a easy way to understant with a lot of tables, figures and equations, all the subjects are treated very deeply. I think is an useful book for any designer that must deal with power electronics.

There are many power supply books on the market and some of them are outstanding; Pressman and Tartar and Lenk come to mind. Speaking for myself, I don't find complex math very illuminating--I don't feel like I understand a circuit until I've conceived a mental model and arrived at an intuitive understanding of the forward and feedback functions. If you want a deep analytical dive into a math-based analysis of a power supply, then perhaps the Erickson/Maksimovic book will earn a treasured place on your cluttered desk. If you want guidance in a practical, intuitive and, let's come out and say it, a fun way delivered by a creative, experienced and iconoclastic thinker, then, by all means, this is the book you want. This is not a dry book...Sanjaya wears his heart on his sleeve and loves taking the battle to the irrational and wrong-headed when he encounters them. This makes the book a pleasure if, like me, you don't mind an off-course excursion on occasion.

The fact that the book is reasonably priced is a welcome bonus. No question about it: Five Stars.

Switching Power Supplies A to Z
I want to take a moment to express my gratefulness for the author of the book "Switching Power Supplies A to Z". It's very great book. I guess engineers working in power electronics definitely appreciate this book. I personally learnt so much from this book. I couldn't even think "Power" without this book. It's very neatly and wonderfully written book. I read many power electronic books and application notes but this book quenches the thirst for "Switching Power Supplies". In my company many people use this book. I highly recommend this book to engineers starting to work in the field of Switching Power Supply; even it is a very good reference for currently working engineers. I give five stars to this book.

There are lots of good things about this book - EMI chapters, chapter on practical issues and good reference equations all in one place. So from that perspective this is definitely a A-Z book. Also there are some good intution aspects well explained here.

Unfortunately i also felt the author talked too much about ripple etc. and made some of the simpler concepts more arcane (for example the introductory chapters on inductors and capacitors and energy sloshing back and forth)

So I am split in my review. I believe each reader should try to borrow it/read it in library first to see if the writting style etc. suits them.

This is by far one of the best power E books out there. The only beef I may have is that there aren't enough pictures/illustrations (in my opinion). "10 out of 5 stars" for me though...

The book goes over the major areas needed to understand the subject. As with all the books on this subject, there is no way he can cover everything. He adds his take on the subjects he presents. The book is approachable and an easy read. Something he presents here that most others don't is some of the 'rule of thumb' approaches to the subject that get you to a design quicker.