Power Integrations

BridgeSwitch-2 ICs handle operational exceptions in hardware, which permits the use of IEC 60730 Class A safety software, reducing certification time by months. Quiescent BLDC inverters can be ordered into sleep mode, reducing driver power consumption to less than 10 mW; this leaves more power available under regulated standby power limits to be allocated for loads such as network access and monitoring.

BridgeSwitch-2 ICs address a power range of 30 to 746 W (1 HP), encompassing a broad range of applications including heat exchanger fans, refrigerator compressors, fluid and circulation pumps, gas boiler combustion fans, washing machine drums and kitchen blenders and mixers. The IHB architecture reduces component count by 50 percent and PCB space by 30 percent over discrete designs by eliminating shunt resistors and associated signal conditioning circuits. Shunt losses are also eliminated, improving efficiency. Precise motor control is achieved with the built-in real-time reporting of phase current (IPH) information. Accurate turn-on/off gate drive and a soft-body diode result in a typical EMI profile 10 dB lower than existing drivers, so a smaller EMI filter can be selected.

BridgeSwitch-2 ICs feature built-in DC overvoltage protection and current limits that protect the inverter and the system without relying on system software. The choice of error-flag or comprehensive fault bus reporting supports a range of system requirements. Emerging use-cases like failure prediction are now possible with the high accuracy of the built-in IPH information and comprehensive reporting via the fault bus. BridgeSwitch-2 motor drives use built-in, hardware-based low- and high-side over-current protection to meet IEC 60335-1 Class A requirements. BridgeSwitch-2 also works without an auxiliary power supply, further reducing PCB area and component count.

Pricing for BridgeSwitch-2 ICs starts at $0.48 for 10,000-unit quantities. A 150 W reference design and design report, RDK-974 can be freely downloaded.

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The magnetics designer function in PI Expert provides full planar transformer information including stack specification, vertical and horizontal PCB construction, trace parameters, current density information, and layer resistance. The tool automatically incorporates user-specified creepage and clearance distances necessary to meet safety isolation standards. An intuitive GUI provides vertical and horizontal stack construction and a bird’s eye view for all layers. The tool also outputs detailed manufacturing information of the planar solution, enabling users to go directly from design to fabrication.

The tool provides a comprehensive database of planar cores and components to simplify design and can also accept custom core geometries. PI Expert automatically optimizes the planar transformer design to match the power supply specification, incorporating additional winding layers and adjusting trace geometries as appropriate.

PI Expert leverages decades of PI’s combined power supply design expertise and is used by tens of thousands of global engineers annually.

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For more than thirty years, engineers have used silicon (Si) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power semiconductor devices to produce power supplies and power conversion systems. However, consumers are demanding smaller and lighter power supplies and systems, and governments are mandating higher efficiencies. Wide-bandgap (WBG) materials, such as GaN and SiC, switch more than ten times faster than Si in semiconductor devices, and reduce size and weight while increasing efficiency. However, many engineers are implementing WBG semiconductors for the first time, and they need more measurement bandwidth and more accurate and detailed analysis of the semiconductor devices.

The new Teledyne LeCroy DL-ISO High Voltage Optically Isolated Probe provides design engineers with the highest-confidence GaN and SiC power semiconductor device measurements. The new probe has the best signal fidelity, lowest overshoot and best accuracy — 1.5% when combined with Teledyne LeCroy’s industry-leading 12-bit resolution HDOs, nearly twice as good as the only competitor. The 1-GHz bandwidth meets requirements to measure GaN device 1-nsec rise times. HDOs also provide up to 20 GS/sec sample rate at 12-bit resolution for the most faithful capture and display of high-speed GaN and SiC device signals. This combination of best signal fidelity, low overshoot, high accuracy, high bandwidth and high sample rate is critically important for successfully implementing GaN and SiC technologies in new designs. Teledyne LeCroy’s new Power-Device software package additionally simplifies the analysis of GaN and SiC devices with automated JEDEC® switching loss and other measurements, and color-coded overlays to highlight the relevant, measured areas.

The DL-ISO probes are offered in bandwidths of 350 MHz, 700 MHz and 1 GHz. Availability of the probe and Power-Device software is 14 weeks ARO.
Compatible Teledyne LeCroy HDOs range in bandwidth from 350 MHz to 8 GHz, with 12-bit resolution all the time and up to 20 GS/sec sample rate.

Teledyne LeCroy, 700 Chestnut Ridge Road, Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977-6499, 800-553-2769 or 845-425-2000, Fax Sales: 845-578-5985, contact.corp@teledynelecroy.com, support@teledynelecroy.com, teledynelecroy.com/powerprobes

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