Audio and Electronics for Vehicles during Transition Periods 2002-01-0124

Battery voltage for automobile is going to transition from 12-volt to 24-volt to 42-volt. Audio equipment and other vehicular electronics will have to adapt to that transition while minimizing the cost of changeover. The innovative class-N switching amplifiers and servo control systems offer a virtually painless transition while offering higher performance, lower cost, and smaller size. Class-N amplifier and servo system combine the functions of a switch-mode power supply and a high power amplifier into a single irreducible mixed-signal circuit that can be used with virtually any supply voltage by changing two components: a MOSFET and a transformer of fixed footprints. The overall efficiency of class-N amplifiers and servos is over 90%.