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Murata, Infineon, and Simplis Technologies Make Waves At APEC 2009

February 16, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

As the power electronics industry gathers in Washington D.C. for the 2009 Applied Power Electronics Conference, Murata Power Solutions, Infineon Technologies AG, and Simplis Technologies Inc. issued significant announcements from the show floor

Murata Power Solutions introduced the first three models in its new Okami™ range of miniature non-isolated single output point-of-load (PoL) dc-dc converters. The OKY-T/3-D12P-C, OKY-T/3-D12N-C and OKY-T/5-D12N-C are said to provide designers of equipment requiring high efficiency PoL power with compact and reliable solutions that deliver respective output currents of 3 and 5A. Murata claims the modules can act as a drop-in replacement for other DOSA-compliant parts or be used as a cost-competitive alternative to discrete designs where reduced component count and shorter time-to-market are required.

Housed in an industry-standard DOSA surface-mount package, the Okami OKY-T/3-D12P-C, OKY-T/3-D12N-C and OKY-T/5-D12N-C have a wide input voltage range of 8.3 to 14Vdc (nominal 12Vdc) and can be used with high capacitance loads of up to 1000µF. This makes the modules well suited for powering the latest generation of FPGAs and DSPs that require tight output load regulation. The modules have an operating temperature range of -40 to +85°C.

Fabricated on a 20.8 x 12mm surface mount module and using fixed-frequency buck switching topology, the OKY-T/3 and OKY-T/5 offer narrow line/load regulation and achieve high efficiency levels of up to 93% (3.3Vout/5A) with no heatsink and no extra components. The design also results in very low heat and minimal electrical noise.

All of the new models provide a user selectable output (via a precision resistor) of 0.75 to 5.5Vdc and incorporate a remote on/off control. Inputs are protected from undervoltage whilst outputs have short circuit protection plus overcurrent and excess temperature shutdown

Infineon introduced its third generation thinQ!™ SiC Schottky diodes. Featuring what the company describes as the industry’s lowest device capacitance for any given current rating, which enhances overall system efficiency at higher switching frequencies and under light load conditions, the new thinQ! diodes are said to help reduce overall power converter system costs. Additionally, with its third-generation, Infineon states that it provides the industry’s broadest SiC Schottky diode portfolio which not only includes the TO-220 package (2-pin version) but also the DPAK package for high power density surface mount designs.

Main application areas for SiC Schottky diodes are active Power Factor Correction (CCM PFC) in Switched-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) and other ac-dc and dc-dc power conversion applications such as solar inverters and motor drives.

Compared to the second generation, the device capacitances of the Infineon third generation SiC Schottky diodes are about 40% lower, which reduces switching losses. For example in a 1 kW PFC stage operating at 250 kHz there will be an improvement of 0.4% in the overall efficiency under 20% load conditions. Higher switching frequencies allow the use of smaller and lower cost passive components, such as inductors and capacitors, resulting in higher power density designs. Reduced power losses result in several benefits, including reduced cooling requirements in terms of size and number of heatsinks and fans, which enables system cost reduction and increased reliability levels. This also contributes to reduced system level energy requirements to provide an appropriate cooling environment. Infineon expects system cost reductions in some SMPS applications of up to 20%.

The third generation thinQ! SiC Schottky diodes are available in 600V (3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12A), in both TO-220 and DPAK packages, and in 1200V products (2, 5, 8, 10, and 15A) in TO-220 package. In quantities of 10,000 pieces, third generation SiC Schottky diodes with a blocking voltage of 600V (3A) are priced at €0.61 (US $0.85, ) per unit. The 4A version is priced at €0.85 (US $1.19) per unit, the 8 A version at €1.89 (US $2.65) per unit.

Simplis announced a new version of its simulation engine. The SIMPLIS 5.6 allows designers of digitally controlled power supplies to effectively explore the interaction between increasingly complex digital control schemes and the resulting performance of the complete power supply system. Updating to SIMPLIS 5.6 is said to offer significant improvements to the simulation speed of any power supply system with substantial digital content.

Tom Wilson, President of Simplis Technologies commented, "We are excited to bring all the benefits of virtual prototyping with SIMPLIS to a whole new class of digital power supplies. Whether the power supply utilizes significant digital content for supervisory and protection circuits or incorporates full digital control, SIMPLIS 5.6 can help users model, evaluate and optimize a design before committing it to hardware. "

There is no charge to update to the new release for existing SIMPLIS customers with current maintenance.