As an electrical engineer who spends his life talking to other
engineers about technical problems, Maher thinks he has a handle
on some of the technical challenges they face. Here are his
views on two challenges: the distinction between energy and
power, and the impact on innovation of shorter design times.
What are the major technical issues power engineers have? With
all the new electronics products and power-delivery systems, the
major issue is differentiating energy and power. It used to be
the case that you could choose a battery to store energy and
deliver power, but now you need other options. Okay, then what
is the difference between energy and power? Simply put, energy
is what you deliver and power is the rate at which you deliver
it. You store energy. You can't store power. Why is it so
important to make that distinction? The distinction is essential
for efficient design. That makes it a big deal. For example, you
may need short-duration high power, which would require a big
battery. Digital cameras