New Industry Products

High Efficiency 50W Wireless Power Amplifier Evaluation Kit

March 10, 2019 by Paul Shepard

GaN Systems announced the availability of its 50W wireless power amplifier, a small size, low cost, and high efficiency evaluation board designed for wireless power transfer and charging applications. It is targeted for lower power applications in industrial and consumer markets for items such as power tools, IoT devices, handheld terminals, medical devices and household robots.

The new GSWP050W-EVBPA evaluation board uses GaN Systems' GS61004B E-HEMTs in a 50W 6.78MHz class EF2 power amplifier.

This evaluation kit adds to GaN Systems' solutions that are designed to support, simplify, and speed up the innovation of wireless power transfer systems. These kits combine GaN Systems power transistors with high frequency GaN E-HEMT drivers from pSemi and are designed to be consistent with AirFuel standards.

GSWP050W-EVBPA WPT driver block diagram (click on block diagram to enlarge)

The Push-Pull circuit is comprised of two single ended PAs which share a common supply, however; the impedance matching is separated. The high-side E-HEMTs are powered by a dc source, referred to as the HV supply. The voltage of this source not exceed 25Vdc.

The low-voltage logic circuitry runs off a 3.3Vdc voltage regulator which is powered from a +5Vdc source. The +5Vdc rail also feeds two PE29102 drivers, which are driven independently by a common logic D-type flip/flop. The two PE29102 gate drives are capable of 6V operation.

The PA can be configured to operate in two different modes:

  • Push-pull configuration
  • Single ended mode

The PA includes an over-temperature protection circuit. The temperature sensor is placed close to the GS61004B E-HEMTs. In an over-temperature condition, the PE29102A driver will be disabled and stop driving the E-HEMTs.

The design also includes circuitry to protect against over-current, and load mismatch. For convenience, test points are provided to monitor and measure the electrical signals. The PA also includes a microcontroller monitor interface header. The signals can be used to control the PA system for close loop in the WPT system.

"Wireless power is growing, and technologies need to progress quickly to overcome the current technical challenges in the market," said Paul Wiener, Vice-President, Strategic Marketing for GaN Systems. "In the area of wireless power transfer, designers are demanding solutions with spatial freedom, high power, and high efficiency, which, by definition, requires high frequency GaN-based solutions."

The 50 W evaluation kit addresses challenges associated with working at high frequency, which provides an easy-to-use baseline for engineers in their system designs.

GaN Systems is displaying its family of wireless power amplifiers and several wireless power implementations at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) in Anaheim, Calif. on March 17-21, 2019.