News Article
EPC GaN technology & TI's driver are a match made in heaven
EPC's new power product shows the performance benefits of its gallium nitride technology when used alongside Texas Instruments' FET driver
Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) has introduced the EPC9102, a fully functional eighth brick converter.
The board which has a 36 V – 60 V input to 12 V output, is a 375 kHz phase-shifted full bridge (PSFB) eighth brick converter with 17 A maximum output current. The EPC9102 uses the 100 V EPC2001 eGaN FETs in conjunction with the recently introduced LM5113 100V half-bridge gate driver manufactured by Texas Instruments.
LM5113 board
EPC says the LM5113 board is the industry’s first driver to optimally drive and fully release the benefits of enhancement mode GaN FETs. The EPC9102 demonstrates the performance capabilities of high switching frequency eGaN FETs when coupled with this eGaN driver.
The converter has a standard eighth brick footprint and height; it measures 2.3" x 0.9" x 0.4”. The board has a peak power efficiency of 94.8% while delivering 10 A of current with a 36 V input.
The EPC9102 demonstration circuit was designed to showcase the size and performance that can be achieved at 375 kHz operation using eGaN FETs. EPC did not prioritise maximum output power when designing the device. The company says operating frequency is roughly 50% to 100% higher than similar commercial eighth brick DC-DC power converters.
To assist the power system design engineers, the EPC9102 demonstration board is oversized to allow connections for bench evaluation. There are various probe points aid to simple waveform measurements and efficiency calculation. The board is intended for bench evaluation with low ambient temperature and forced air cooling.
The EPC9102 demo boards are priced at $306.25 each and are available for immediate delivery.
