Power conversion demonstration board delivers 1,226W/in3
Delivering the power of a quarter brick in an eighth brick form factor, the EPC9149 uses eGaN FETs switching at 1.0MHz for extreme power density to deliver 1kW of power, says Efficient Power Conversion (EPC).
The 1kW-capable 48V input to 12V output LLC converter operates as a DC transformer with a conversion ratio of 4:1. The demonstration board features the 100V EPC2218 and 40V EPC2024 GaN FETs.
The board is the size of DOSA-standard one eighth brick format (58.4 x 22.9mm). This is considerably smaller than alternative silicon-based solutions that are conventionally in the quarter brick format, or twice as large, for 1kW of output power. The total thickness of the converter without heatsink is only 10mm.
The high-power density, 1226 W/in3, is achieved using GaN FET technology, explains EPC. eGaN FETs enable high switching frequency, in this case 1MHz, and they are very small, one third the size of silicon MOSFETs with similar on resistance. The EPC9149 board features four 100V rated EPC2218 eGaN FETs for the primary rectification, and eight 40V rated EPC2024 eGaN FETs for the secondary synchronous rectification. The board also features a 4.0 x 4.0mm Microchip dsPIC33CKMP102T-I/M6 for flexibility, configuration, communications, and programmability.
The EPC9149 demonstration board can operate from an input voltage between 36 and 60V and delivers up to 83.3A load current. The peak efficiency from 48 to 12V is 98 per cent and the full load efficiency, at 12V when delivering 1kW, is 97 per cent. The highest temperature in steady state operation at maximum load with 400 LFM airflow is 88 degrees C, which relates to a maximum junction temperature of 95 degrees C.
The EPC9149 demonstration board is available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key. It ships with a motherboard to simplify testing.
All supporting materials for this board, including schematic, bills of materials, and Gerber files are available on the EPC website.