New Industry Products

Emerson Debuts New Astec DTX Digital DC Converter

October 01, 2005 by Jeff Shepard

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (St. Louis, MO), announced the preview release of a breakthrough device from Astec Power (Carlsbad, CA) as an aid in the creation of digital power designs. The first offering from Astec Power’s comprehensive Digital Power Initiative, the new DTX digital dc converter will enable designers to prepare and evaluate products for use with the new digital architecture and the new open-source PMBus communication protocol, as well as the industry-standard I2C bus. The control platform is designed to work in an integrated digital system environment, and will include a spectrum of devices from front-ends to eighth-bricks, bus converters, and point-of-load regulators.

"Because this technology enables designers to digitally control such parameters as output voltage and startup sequencing via a PC with an easy-to-use graphical user interface, they’ll be able to make broad changes during prototyping without the need to physically change parts," explained Astec Power DC-DC Sales and Marketing Vice President Bharat Shah. "Products developed with this architecture will give designers enhanced flexibility that will enable rapid development. In addition, the digital control allows for reduced parts count to increase reliability while minimizing space requirements."

"It’s important to note that our devices will be able to connect to virtually any I2C-based power control and monitoring systems, but the communication bus is not required for operation," added Astec DC-DC Advanced Technology Vice President Geof Potter. "These devices will operate in ‘stand-alone’ mode as well. Customers will be able to adapt these products to their individual needs on their own, using Astec’s support tools or with the assistance of Astec’s technical support department."

The DTX dc converter takes the form of a low-profile, open-frame package with surface-mount termination. It accepts dc input from 36 V to 75 V and offers output from 0.96 Vdc to 1.44 Vdc with output power up to 50 W. It can tolerate wide temperature ranges from -40 °C to +85 °C and meets basic insulation requirements. Featuring integrated digital control with bi-directional PMBus communication, the unit also includes self-diagnostics, efficiency optimization, and output impedance control, as well as dynamic feedback-loop compensation and configuration. Designers can program limits and modes relating to under-voltage, over-voltage, over-current, and over-temperature.

Astec has begun demonstrating the DTX converters and will supply a limited quantity of the devices to early adopters starting in November 2005. Pricing for prototype quantities will start at $55.