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| 4 | | 9 | Improving Energy Efficiency in Industrial Applications with Silicon Carbide Wolfspeed, A Cree Company Industrial applications such as server power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and motor drives consume a significant portion of the world's power. Thus, any increase in efficiency in industrial power supplies will substantially reduce a company's operating costs. Combined with greater power density and better thermal performance, the demand for high- efficiency power supplies is increasing exponentially. Several factors are driving this growth. The first is rising global energy awareness and increased urgency to use energy more wisely and efficiently. The second is the Internet of Things (IoT), which has resulted in the introduction of new technologies and services of all kinds into industrial applications. With Smart Industry initiatives such as Industry 4.0, machines, factories, and workplaces are becoming more intelligent and aware through the connection of devices to achieve greater autonomy, efficiency, reliability, and safety. However, industrial automation, such as robotic and motorized production lines, comes with escalating use and cost of electricity to power these systems. To stay competitive, manufacturers need to be able to develop new operational practices that keep factory costs down. They also need to make the most of every square meter of floor space as equipment footprint directly impacts operational costs. The impact of energy consumption also extends into the data center, which houses the servers that support industrial applications. Increasing data traffic through automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, in turn, increases the processing resources required to keep equipment operational. Thermal performance is also essential, given that up to 20 percent of the power consumed in a data center gets employed to keep the data centers cool. The Demand for Greater Efficiency, Lower Cost As industrial equipment often runs 24/7, any improvement in efficiency quickly translates to real savings in terms of significantly reduced energy consumption. The most immediate way to address energy issues is to increase the energy efficiency of the systems that power these industrial systems. As John Palmour, one of the founders of Cree | Wolfspeed says, "The least expensive power is the power you don't use." For this reason, there is tremendous pressure from industry, government, and manufacturers to develop more efficient power supplies. For example, standards such as Energy Star and 80 Plus promote efficient energy use in power supply units (PSU). By meeting these standards, PSU original equipment

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