EPC and Renesas demonstrate efficiency of GaN technology
A demonstration board which has a two-phase synchronous GaN boost controller from Renesas and eGaN FETs from Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) is available from EPC. The EPC9166 is a 500W DC/DC demo board that converts a 12V input to 48V output.
The board uses Renesas’ ISL81807 80V two-phase synchronous boost controller with the EPC2218, the latest generation of eGaN FETs from EPC, to achieve greater than 96.5 per cent efficiency in a 12V input to 48V regulated output conversion with 500kHz switching frequency. The output voltage can be configured to 36, 48 and 60V. The board can deliver 480W power without a heatsink.
Regulated DC/DC boost converters are typically used in data centres, computing, and automotive applications, where they are used to convert a nominal 12V to a 48V distribution bus among other output voltages.
Reflecting the trend towards higher power density, the use of eGaN FETs provides the fast switching, high efficiency and small size suitable for stringent power density requirements demanded by high performance computing, automotive design and data centres. EPC claims that the EPC2218 is the smallest and highest efficiency 100V FET in the market. The ISL81807 is believed to be the industry’s first 80V dual output / two-phase (single output) synchronous buck controller with integrated GaN driver, capable of supporting frequencies up to 2MHz. The controller uses current mode control and generates two independent outputs or one output with two interleaved phases. It supports current sharing, synchronisation for paralleling more controllers / more phases, enhanced light load efficiency and low shutdown current. For ease of design, as well as a reduction in component count and cost, the ISL81807 directly drives EPC GaN FETs, says EPC.
Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC says the Renesas controller IC makes using GaN even easier and that combining the benefits of the controllers with the performance of GaN results in “a low component count solution that increases efficiency, increases power density, and reduces system cost”.
“The Renesas ISL81807 is designed to fully exploit the high performance of GaN FETs for high power density solutions” adds Andrew Cowell, vice president of the Mobility, Industrial and Infrastructure Power division at Renesas. “ISL81807 reduces [bill of material] cost for GaN solutions because it does not require [a microcontroller], current sense op amp, external driver or bias power. It is also fully protected and integrates the GaN drivers. With the ISL81807, designing with GaN FETs is as simple as designing with silicon-based FETs,” he concludes.
The EPC9166 demonstration board is available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key.
