EPC Board Delivers Best-in-Class Power Density
Delivers the power of a quarter brick in the size of an eighth brick to deliver 1 kW of power
EPC has announced the availability of the EPC9149, a 1 kW-capable 48 V input to 12 V output LLC converter that operates as a DC transformer with a conversion ratio of 4:1. This demonstration board features the 100V EPC2218 and 40 V EPC2024 GaN FETs.
The board is the size of DOSA-standard ⅛th brick format, measuring only 58.4 mm by 22.9 mm. This is considerably smaller than alternative silicon-based solutions that are generally sized in the ¼th brick format, or twice as large, for 1 kW of output power. The total thickness of the converter without heatsink is only 10 mm. To make it simple for a power supply designer to easily replicate this design, all supporting materials for this board including schematic, bills of materials, and Gerber files are available on the EPC website.
The high-power density, 1226 W/in3, is achieved thanks to EPC GaN FET technology. eGaN FETs enable high switching frequency, in this case 1 MHz, and they are very small, ⅓ of the size of silicon MOSFETs with similar on resistance. The EPC9149 board features four 100 V rated EPC2218 eGaN FETs for the primary rectification, and eight 40 V rated EPC2024 eGaN FETs for the secondary synchronous rectification. The board also features a 4 mm x 4 mm Microchip dsPIC33CKMP102T-I/M6 for flexibility, configuration, communications, and programmability.
This new demonstration board can operate from an input voltage between 36 V and 60 V and delivers up to 83.3 A load current. The peak efficiency from 48 V to 12 V is 98 percent and the full load efficiency, at 12 V when delivering 1 kW, is 97 percent.The highest temperature in steady state operation at maximum load with 400 LFM airflow is 88degC, which relates to a maximum junction temperature of 95degC.
“eGaN FETs and integrated circuits increase power density for 48 V to 12 V converters and address data center application demands for higher power in a small size,” said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC. “The use of a Microchip digital controller allows flexibility for programming and configuration of the EPC9149 demonstration board.”
