EPC9146 power board is based on monolithic ePower Stage
The EPC9146 is a 400W motor drive demonstration board from EPC. It is powered by the company’s EPC2152 ePower Stage which enables higher performance and smaller solution size for high performance, low cost brushless DC (BLDC) motors, said the company.
Released as part of EPC’s PCIM 2021 Digital Days activity, the EPC9146 power board contains three independently controlled half bridge circuits, featuring the EPC2152 monolithic ePower Stage with integrated gate driver, 80V maximum device voltage, 15A (10A RMS) maximum output current. It can operate under full load with PWM frequency up to 3MHz.
The inverter board is compact, measuring 81 x 75mm. Efficiency is greater than 98.4 per cent at 400W output power.
The EPC9146 can be paired with individually designed mating boards. This allows users to leverage existing resources and control the power board directly through mainstream microcontroller boards to reduce development costs and time.
The EPC9146 can be configured to support many, varied applications including three-phase motor drives for robotics, drones, e-bikes, e-scooters, multi-phase interleaving buck converters and full-bridge converters.
“eGaN FETs and integrated circuits provide the fast switching, small size, and low cost needed to further reduce the size and weight of BLDC motors, reduce audible noise, improve torque for faster reaction times, and increase efficiency,” said Alex Lidow, EPC’s CEO. “The EPC9146 is an ideal example of the capabilities of the integrated power stage, EPC2152, to expand the application areas that can take advantage of the design simplification and performance improvements that GaN offers,” he added.
The EPC9146 demonstration board is available now. EPC also offers the EPC9146KITA which includes the microcontroller mating board featuring Microchip’s dsPIC33EP-MC digital signal controller (DSC).
The EPC9146 demo board and kit are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key.
EPC specialises in enhancement-mode GaN-based power management devices. The company was the first to introduce enhancement-mode GaN-on-silicon (eGaN) FETs to replace power MOSFET in applications such as DC/DC converters, wireless power transfer, envelope tracking, RF transmission, power inverters, remote sensing technology (lidar), and class D audio amplifiers with device performance many times greater than the best silicon power MOSFETs, said the company. EPC also has a growing portfolio of eGaN-based ICs that provide space, energy, and cost efficiencies.
