 Email this Article
 Printer-Friendly
 Reader Comments
[Web Exclusive]
Power innovations aim to become designer-friendly
Paul Whytock
ED Online ID #13867
October 11, 2006
Mid-power modules from Vicor, quad-output power-management units from NSC, and a new all-in-one power-management IC from Lattice all give designers more flexibility.
London's oldest restaurant, Rules, was the spot Vicor chose to launch its latest range of mid-power modules. A total of eight mid-power Maxi dc-dc converters were added to the 24Vdc input family: a 3.3Vout, 200W model and 300W models at 5, 12, 15, 24, 28, 36, and 48Vout.
The modules use the company's low-noise, zero-current and zero-voltage switching (ZCS/ZVS) topology (see Fig. 1) and are appropriate for industrial or process control, distributed power, medical, ATE, communications, defence, and aerospace applications. With switching frequencies up to 1MHz, the 24Vdc family also provides rapid transient response that's well-suited for RF applications.
What's particularly useful about the new range is that designers who don't need the full-power capability of a 24V Maxi module now have a mid-power option—with the functionality and configurability of the high power models. In addition, low-noise ZCS/ZVS reduces the design effort and filtering costs required for power converters to meet emissions requirements.
The modules, which come in RoHS-compliant models, measure 117 × 56 × 12.7mm and have a height above board of 10.9mm.
With these new models, the 24Vin Maxi family now totals 16 models in all, with output voltages from 3.3 to 48Vdc and power levels from 200 to 400W. The converters operate from 24V nominal input, with an input range of 18 to 36V. Efficiencies, says Vicor, range up to 88% for the higher output voltages.
Quad-output power management units
Also wanting to keep things designer-friendly, National Semiconductor developed two new, integrated power management units (PMUs) for its family of easy-to-use PMUs.
These are optimised to power mid-range, quad-output applications (see Fig. 2), such as low-power FPGAs, microprocessors, and digital signal processors. The LP3906 and LP3905 PMUs each feature two high-efficiency buck regulators and two ultra-low-noise, low-dropout regulators (LDOs). The high level of integration should simplify system design.
National's LP3906 PMU has a I2C-compatible interface for programmability. This provides the flexibility to use the same device for multiple solutions that require different output voltages.
Including dynamic voltage scaling with 96% conversion efficiency reduces the power consumption of the powered device, such as a microprocessor. Example applications include powering an embedded processor, in which each switching regulator can drive the core and input/output while each LDO supplies the analogue and peripheral functions.
In FPGA applications, the dual regulators power the core and I/O voltages. And the dual LDOs power the auxiliary voltages that supply the embedded peripherals, such as communication engines.
<-- prev. page
[1]
2
next page -->
|
)
)
)
)
