Permanent long term design or applications positions in the Power Electronics field.
Robert Louis Watson
17617 N 9th Street #3011
Phoenix, AZ 85022
602-708-2220 cell / message
602-923-1851 home
rlwarizona[at]hotmail.com
Summary
My career in the electronics industry has been entirely dedicated in the design, to the component and transistor level, of high performance power supply and analog circuitry. Specifically I have focused on power supplies, digital audio, signal conditioning, and acquisition and control applications.
The power supplies I have designed or participated in the design of were at the cutting edge of technological achievement in terms of efficiency, > 90%, performance over temperature, operation to 150 °C, power density, > 100/in3, output voltage, > 1MV and or current, > 100A. I was responsible for the majority of the power analysis necessary to complete the power, filter, feedback, and control systems needed to complete their designs.
The signal conditioning, acquisition, and control end equipment and applications also demanded the paramount in performance given the tiny signals of interest, < 10 nV, the electrical environment they existed in, high levels of both noise and common mode voltage, and the requisite high resolution control, up to 24 bits, demanded. Designing circuitry for, providing applications support, and eventually providing extensive technical support for customer designs have constituted the bulk of my twenty-seven years in my career to date as an electrical engineer.
My designs were all done to the component level employing analog devices such as operational amplifiers, power MOSFET’s, IGBTs’, analog circuit function ICs’, data converters’, and pulse width modulators’. In addition I was responsible for the design of custom magnetic transformers and inductors.
Employment Objective
Become employed in a very technically demanding position, which will at once allow me to utilize as much of my design proficiency as a high performance analog and power supply designer and advance the technological position of my employer. I am both willing and capable to take ownership for the electrical conceptualization, simulation, breadboarding, troubleshooting, and final hand off to manufacturing of high performance end equipment.
Power Supply Tool Knowledge
Expert user of PSPICE, MathCad, Mathematica, and the entire suite of Microsoft Office including Project and Access. Intermediate user of Mentor Graphics and Power 456. Also I am very proficient in the use of the Ridley power supply loop analyzer. In addition I have designed and built various pieces of custom power supply test equipment.
Work Experience
Power Electronics Engineer
Private Contract Consulting
Phoenix, AZ February 2009 - Present
I have been involved in contract consulting for three Power Supply and DC/DC converter companies. I redesigned and originated original designs. The end products have been for use in the aerospace and space based applications.
Senior Applications Engineer
International Rectifier
Santa Clara CA. November 2008 – February 2009
I supported the companies’ line of HiRel Hybrid DC/DC converters. The majority of the applications for these devices were for Space based applications in manned spaced vehicles, satellites, and other Aerospace uses. My responsibilities included assisting customers in product selection, participating in new product design, writing product proposals for custom devices, and overseeing the Radiation testing of new converters. In addition I also troubleshot field failures to the component level and completed numerous analysis of customer requirements.
Power Systems Engineer
Honeywell Space Systems through Manpower
Glendale Az. April 2008 – October 2008
I created power supply system specifications necessary to support five subsystems for the Orion spacecraft. In addition I supplied technical support for the MDM module used in multiple locations for the International Space Station. Significant analytical skills were necessary in order to complete the preparation of these specifications.
In this role I also had responsibility for the programming of Altera FPGA devices that were used to control the system level operations of the entire power systems. I used both C++ and HDL programming approaches for these devices.
I also had the direct responsibility for the design of several power and monitoring systems for these programs as well. In addition I have evaluated the performance of both my designs and those done by others in a laboratory environment.
Power Supply Design Engineer
Consulting
Tucson, Az. June 2007 – April 2008
I was involved in the design of a multiple output high voltage power supply for an aerospace client. The design goals of this project are to derive four output voltages, -4000Vdc, +1000Vdc, +200Vdc (adjustable), and +15Vdc from a single Lithium Ion source. In addition to the electrical design I am also involved in the reliability assessment and design for manufacturing for this power supply. Due to space requirements the design by necessity has to employ multiple “stacks†of high voltage rectifiers and power MOSFETs. These “stacks†have had to be designed to “share†the total supply voltages during transients and reverse blocking.
Power Electronics Design Engineer
North Star Power Engineering
Tucson, Az. October 2006 – June 2007
Duties involved high voltage power, analysis, design, technical marketing, and product engineering.
I designed wide input voltage range, high voltage, and low drop out regulators. Designed high voltage galvantically isolated feedback control systems for very high output voltage power supplies, < 10 MV.
I prepared technical analysis for introduction of high voltage power supplies into the commercial market place. Investigated customer requests for new power supplies and determined technical viability, proposed topologies, estimated costs, and made final proposals to management to determine final decisions.
I evaluated, designed, and planned the implementation of seven common power supply subsystems. Goal was to make these systems “common†across a number of pieces of our end equipment.
Product Marketing Engineer
Texas Instruments Incorporated
Tucson, Az. June 2001 – September 2006
I designed technical sales tools, conceptualized, produced and provided copy for advertisements, and authored and produced two worldwide technical seminars. Responsible for the supervision of four junior engineers; wrote annual reviews, made recommendations for pay adjustments, and awards.
Technical sales tool included the design of a web based “Analog Signal Conditioning†component search engine. This tool took as its “input†the type of signal to be conditioned, e.g. temperature, the type of signal source, e.g. “K†type thermocouple, the span or operating range of the signal, e.g. -55 °C to +125°C, the desired resolution and or accuracy of the system, e.g. 12 bits or 0.5%, and the available power sources for the system and produced a list of devices, op-amps, references, data converters etc., best able to fit the design requirements. The system searched through over 10,000 individual devices and due to the search algorithms employed accommodated new product introductions without the need for new programming.
The technical seminars used as their backdrop a typical signal conditioning chain with either a CT scanner or weigh scale as the end equipment. The entire signal conditioning chain was covered from sensor, amplification, filtering, data conversion, processing, and power management over an entire day. My team and I presented this seminar in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Japan over a 4 month period to over 4000 design engineers and their associates.
Product Line Manager – Analog and Linear Products
Burr-Brown Corporation
Tucson, Az. June 1996 – June 2001
Successful product line management required the use of my combined technical skills that I had gained from design and application engineering, together with some of those from my days as an electronic technician. This position could be dissected into two major areas of responsibility.
Making pivotal technical decisions in the direction that customer’s signal conditioning systems took by working directly with very senior analog design engineers and their management. The engagement that I had with said designers was on a first hand basis either at their place of business or at the Burr-Brown facility. Except for extremely basic designs, a number of meetings etc. would be necessary in order to achieve the goal of achieving the performance desired, considering resolution, power consumption, size etc. If the technical fit between the customer’s requirements and the economics of the particular piece of business made sense then a new device would be designed either specifically for that customer or for general release.
A brief summary for the markets, end equipment, and applications that I directly influenced the designs of follows:
Market End Equipment Application
Aerospace Explosive Detection Multi-Channel Transimpedance Amplifier
Commercial Cell Phone Averaging RF Power Monitor / Control
Communication Optical Power Amplifier Wide Bandwidth Logarithmic Amplifier
Industrial Automatic Test Equipment PIN Driver
Medical Defibrillator Isolated Patient Monitoring
In concert with selecting the optimum devices an understanding of the internal operation of the devices recommended for the designs was requisite. For instance the tradeoffs between a conventional op-amp and a purpose built instrumentation amplifier for signal conditioning a small signal in terms of accuracy, input impedance and common mode rejection. Or the differences between a buried zener and bandgap voltage reference with regards to noise, power consumption, and behavior over temperature.
Having an in depth understanding of the foundry characteristics, of not only Burr-Brown but our competitors as well, added substantial value to the end design that was proposed to the customer. This knowledge was very important for selecting devices for their overall accuracy, power requirements, and cost.
My other responsibilities were financial in nature. I directed the sales force towards accounts that would provide long term, high margin, and proprietary value to the company based on devices that the linear group had already introduced. I then provided in depth market, application, and end equipment analysis and trends to the design group such that devices were already in design or introduced when the needs arose.
Application Engineer
Burr-Brown Corporation
Tucson, Az. October 1994 – June 1996
I provided technical design in support to customers for companies “audio†and “analog / linear†product lines. Position required a significant amount of laboratory time dedicated to duplicating customers “design in†issues and then proposing changes to those designs.
Authored application notes. Wrote, produced, and delivered two one half day technical seminars.
Power Electronics Design Engineer
Apex Microtechnology
Tucson, Az. February 1987 – June 1994
I designed power, magnetic, feedback, control, and isolation systems for sub 50 watt isolated DC-DC converters. These designs employed either the push-pull or an innovative forward topology, which I invented. I also developed the engineering design equations to make this new topology, which eliminated the typical need for a reset winding, universal in nature.
Semiconductor design was done to the device and transistor level. As most commercially available devices were not well characterized for their performance over temperature, spice and other mathematical modeling had to be prepared by data that I either collected or directed the collection of.
The end equipment and applications for these converters being, aerospace, military or high reliability in nature, necessitated that the final designs meet a variety of military specifications including “Military Specification 461.†Meeting this objective required designing all of the sub-systems in a manner so that they would operate at very high temperatures, < 150 °C.
In addition to designing power supplies I was also responsible for the design and release to manufacturing of three separate power operational amplifier (op-amp) designs. Two of these employed the “Hybrid†construction technique with the final making use of an outside foundry licensed from ATT.
Finally, on a continuous basis, I supported the 883 certification of Apex Microtechnology.
Electronic Technician
Various
Tucson, Az. June 1967 – February 1987
Electronic technician: Troubleshot to the component level, repaired and maintained wide variety of consumer, research, and communications equipment.
Able to perform all the typical technician functions and am very much a hands on engineer.
Very proficient at the use of all the common test equipment, together with network analyzers, parametric extraction, power device characterization, and spice modeling.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Bachelors of Science Electrical Engineer Analog and Mixed Signal Design GPA: 2.78 December 1987
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