The Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) has grown over the course of a few decades to be the leading conference in North America for power electronics professionals. This past month, March 19th to the 23^rd, in Orlando, APEC returned to share the latest trends, technologies, and opportunities in power electronics with industry and academia alike. Below, a compilation of product releases and company announcements will give you an idea of what was revealed this APEC, 2023.

Advanced Energy Industries introduced a series of ultra-miniature isolated single and dual-output high-voltage DC-DC converters. Devices in the AEQ series supply up to 600 VDC at 0.5 W output power from an input voltage of +5 VDC and offer several benefits compared to other small form factor DC-DC converters. These include an output proportional to the control pin voltage, giving complete programmability from zero to the maximum rated value. Output stability is within 5% at maximum Vout and full load. A high input-to-output isolation rating of ±1500 VDC supports precise output voltage control and meets safety levels required for handheld equipment, in addition to supporting compliance in medical and life science applications.

Analog Devices (ADI) introduced a super low noise dual output DC/DC μModule regulator with patented silicon, layout, and packaging innovations. Operating from up to 40 V input, the LTM8080’s front-end is a high-efficiency synchronous Silent Switcher step-down regulator followed by two separate low-noise, low dropout (LDO) regulators. You can watch a video to learn more about the LTM8080 μModule regulator here and find the data sheet, samples, and evaluation boards here.

Danisense announced the release of its latest current transducer mainly aimed at automotive (EV) test benches and battery testing & evaluation systems. Featuring a very large aperture of 41.2mm, the DN1000ID current transducer enables power cables with large power connectors to be easily fitted to EV test benches allowing for quick changeovers. Like all Danisense products the DN1000ID current transducers benefit from the high stability closed loop fluxgate technology. Further technical details include a linearity of 1 ppm, 5 ppm offset and a compact aluminium housing. Additional target applications for the product are power measurement and power analysis, MPS for particle accelerators, gradient amplifiers for MRI devices, precision drives as well as current calibration purposes.

Elektro-Automatik (EA) revealed its 60 kW and 30 kW EA-PU 10000 programmable DC power supplies, EA-PUB 10000 programmable bidirectional DC power supplies, and EA-PUL DC programmable regenerative electronic loads. Typical applications include electric vehicle battery pack testing, powering furnaces in semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities, electrochemical electrolysis processing, and solar inverter testing. The new products, without manual front panel displays, are intended for use in production ATE systems and automated process control systems requiring high power. For more information, visit here.

Murata pSemi showed its PE25203 phase-interleaved 10 W charge-pump. It’s designed for low-profile applications such as displays for tablets and notebook computers where height is scarce. The charge pump provides a single-cell voltage to the display. The charge pump raises the voltage going to the display. The higher voltage minimizes the surrent passing through the ribbon cable between a display and the computer’s motherboard. The company also displayed its PE24108 buck regulator. Developed for optical communications the device takes a 3.3 V input down to 0.5 V to power ASICs.

Infineon demonstrated reference designs for chargers such as a 56-W dual USB-C charger. The videos shows the design, which includes controllers for the primary and secondary side of the power supply as well as a USB controller. The charger’s small size can be attributed to the high switching frequency, which lets designs use smaller transformers. As switching frequencies increase, the magnetics need store smaller amounts of energy, thus their smaller size.

Nexperia announced the release of its first 80 V and 100 V application-specific MOSFETs (ASFETs) for hot-swap with an enhanced safe operating area (SOA) in a compact 8×8 mm LFPAK88 package, as well as its PSMN1R9-100SSE (80 V, 1.9 mΩ), an 80 V ASFET which responds to the growing trend for using 48 V power rails in computing servers and other industrial applications where environmental conditions allow for MOSFETs with a lower BVDS rating. Details about the new ASFETs can be found here.

Onsemi presented a breakthrough in simulation tools for onsemi’s EliteSiC Silicon Carbide (SiC) product family and its applications. The company launched the online Elite Power Simulator and Self-Service PLECS Model Generator, which provide meaningful insights for complex power electronic applications through system-level simulations at an early stage of the development cycle. To date, system-level simulators and their associated PLECS models have only been valid for hard switching topologies, with simulation results for soft switching applications such as LLC (inductor-inductor-capacitor) or CLLC (capacitor-inductor-inductor-capacitor) being highly inaccurate. Onsemi’s industry-first PLECS models break this trend and solve this problem for customers.

Picotest‘s Steve Sandler explained the motivation behind developing the P2124A water-cooled probe. It stems from optical modules such as SFP+, QSFPDD/QSFP-DD800/QSFP112 Hardware Specification 6.3 and OSFP Octal Small Form Factor Pluggable Module Rev. 5. “You have to test the probes by injecting noise and measuring the eye diagram,” said Sandler. “Because of the optical module’s impedance, you can afford just ¼-in. of wire to get the 10-MHz modulation signal to the transceiver. The only way we could figure out how to dissipate 25 W at the probe was through water cooling.”

Power Integrations announced a 900-volt gallium-nitride (GaN) extension to the company’s InnoSwitch3 family of flyback switcher ICs. The new ICs, which feature the company’s proprietary PowiGaN™ technology, deliver up to 100 watts with better than 93 percent efficiency, eliminating the need for heat sinks and streamlining the design of space-challenged applications. The new 900-volt InnoSwitch3-EP and InnoSwitch3-AQ off-line CV/CC flyback switcher ICs employ synchronous rectification, a valley switching discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and continuous conduction mode (CCM) flyback controller.

Qorvo announced seven 750V silicon carbide (SiC) FETs in the surface mount D2PAK-7L package. They deliver an optimal solution for high-power applications that require maximum efficiency, low conduction losses and excellent cost effectiveness in a thermally enhanced package. With the industry’s lowest RDS(on) of 9 milliohms (mohms) at 650/750V, the Gen 4 UJ4C/SC series is rated at 9, 11, 18, 23, 33, 44, and 60 mohms. This wide selection provides engineers with more device options, enabling greater flexibility to achieve an optimum cost/efficiency balance while maintaining generous design margins and circuit robustness. Leveraging a unique cascode SiC FET technology in which a normally-on SiC JFET is co-packaged with a Si MOSFET to produce a normally-off SiC FET, these devices deliver a best-in-class RDS x A figure of merit, resulting in the lowest conduction losses in a small die.

Saelig unveiled Pulsiv OSMIUM, a novel patented power electronics technology for efficiently converting AC to DC which involves charging/discharging a small storage capacitor without the need for a PFC inductor. The OSMIUM microcontroller family and supporting components can be combined with commodity flyback DC-DC converters to displace higher-cost LLC solutions, achieving an unrivaled efficiency profile. Pulsiv OSMIUM microcontrollers do not directly determine output power so they can be used as a platform for any application requiring 1W up to 10kW by adjusting only three system components and connecting a suitable DC/DC converter. Its circuit’s critical components also operate at low temperatures to extend their expected operating life, even under convection cooling.

Skyworks exhibited its digital isolators. In the video John Wilson explains how digital isolators send a digital signal across on isolation barrier from one ground domain to another. The isolation is formed by two CMOS capacitors. A modulated digital bit gets RF modulated to it can pass through the capacitors. The isolation barrier is rated to 6 kV_RMS, which is 1 kV highter than previous parts. The 86S family of digital isolators goes into product in April 2023.

STMicroelectronics extended its high-voltage wide-bandgap power converter family by adding the VIPerGaN100 and VIPerGaN65 for single-switch quasi-resonant (QR) flyback converters up to 100W and 65W. Each operates in quasi-resonant mode, with dynamic blanking time and valley synchronization to reduce switching losses and maximize efficiency at all input line and load conditions. This assists in reducing energy usage, helping to meet ecodesign codes targeting global energy savings and net-zero carbon emissions. Integrated features to ensure safety and reliability include input voltage feedforward compensation to minimize peak power variation, output overvoltage protection, current sensing, input overvoltage protection, and brown-in and brown-out protection. Thermal shutdown is also included, as well as frequency jittering to suppress EMI.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSC) announced an additional 200V ultra fast diode to the family of ThinDPAK devices. Applications include high frequency switching and DC/DC converters while key benefits include:

• Low profile (1.3mm height) ThinDPAK package
  Ultra fast (trr<25ns>)
• Footprint compatible with traditional DPAK package with 44% low profile to increase power density
• Heatsink area is 20% larger than traditional DPAK package to reduce the thermal resistance
• Operating temperature range from -55(°C) to 175(°C)
• Automotive and Industrial grade available

TDK Corporation presented the B82559A*A033 series of new shielded EPCOS ERU33 high-current chokes for through-hole mounting. Designed for very high saturation currents from 32 A to 83 A at 100 °C, the six new types cover a range of inductance values from 3.2 µH to 10 µH. DC resistances are as low as 0.85 mΩ or 1.2 mΩ, depending on the type.

Texas Instruments (TI) debuted the first stand-alone active electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter integrated circuits (ICs), enabling engineers to implement smaller, lighter EMI filters. The active EMI filters enhance system functionality at reduced system cost while simultaneously meeting conducted regulatory standards such as CISPR 11, CISPR 25, and CISPR 32. The filters work by measuring inverse phase and injecting it back into the signal loop, wich reduces EMI and lets engineers design for conducted EMI using smaller components. The new family of active EMI filter ICs consists of the TPSF12C1 and TPSF12C3 for single- and three-phase commercial applications and TPSF12C1-Q1 and TPSF12C3-Q1 for automotive applications.

Transphorm, Inc. and Weltrend Semiconductor Inc. announced the release of their first GaN System-in-Package (SiP). The WT7162RHUG24A is an integrated circuit designed for use in 45 to 100-watt USB-C PD power adapters charging smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other smart devices and offers peak power efficiency of greater than 93%. The SiP integrates Weltrend’s WT7162RHSG08 multi-mode flyback PWM controller with Transphorm’s 240 milliohm, 650 volt SuperGaN® FET. Other key specifications include:

• Peak Power Efficiency: > 93%
• Power Density: 26 W/in³
• Wide Output Voltage Operation: USB-C PD 3.0 and PPS 3.3V~21V
• Max Frequency: 180 kHz
• Targeted Topology: flyback with QR mode/valley-switching multi-mode operation

Lastly, Würth Elektronik used a demonstration to show how passive components can reduce EMI in a flyback converter. First, a common-mode choke made of MgZn reduces EMI. Replacing the choke with one made from a crystalline core that half the size lowers emission even further, but not quite enough due to differential inductance. Finally, adding capacitance lowers emissions shown on an EMI receiver.