EPC to present on GaN at Virtual PCIM
At PCIM Europe 2020 Digital Days (July 7 - 8, 2020), EPC will be delivering three technical presentations and participating in two panel discussions on GaN technology and customer applications. In addition, the company will participate in the event’s virtual exhibit, showing its latest eGaN FETs and ICs in customers’ end products that are rapidly adopting eGaN technology.
In the virtual exhibit, EPC's GaN experts will be available to discuss eGaN devices in several applications including: high performance 48 V DC-DC power conversion for advanced computing and automotive applications; high power nanosecond pulsed laser drivers for lidar used in autonomous vehicles; and precision motor drives for robotics and drones.
EPC papers at PCIM include:
'A Low Voltage BLDC Motor Drive Inverter Using a Monolithic eGaN IC Power Stage'
BLDC motors are popular choices and are finding increasing application in robotics and drones. Such applications have special requirements such as lightweight, small size, low torque ripple, and precision control.
To address these needs, inverters powering the motors need to operate at higher frequency but require additional filtering to prevent excessive losses, EMI generation, and excess mechanical wear related to high frequency common mode and induced current flow. GaN FETs and IC’s offer the ability to operate at much higher frequencies in hard-switching topologies without incurring significant losses.
'GaN FET-Based Ultra-Thin DC-DC Step-Down Converter'
As computers, displays, smart phones and other consumer electronics systems become thinner and more powerful over the past decade, there is increasing demand for addressing the challenge of thinner solutions while extracting more power out of this limited space.
This paper will examine the feasibility of adopting various non-isolated DC-DC step-down topologies for an ultra-thin 48 V-to-20 V power solution. Two topologies, namely the three-level and the two-phase buck converters, are selected to design an ultra-thin 48 V-to-20 V, 250 W converter. GaN FETs are used to reduce the converter size and improve efficiency.
'300 W 48V-12V 1/16th Brick DC-DC Converter Using GaN FETs'
Brick DC-DC converters are standardised by the Distributed-power Open Standards Alliance (DOSA). They have promoted better compatibility and flexibility in power distribution systems for data centre, telecommunication and automotive industries.
These brick converters are commonly used to convert a nominal 48 V to a nominal 12 V distribution bus among other output voltages. The main trend has been towards higher power density given the form factor is fixed.
This paper will introduce the design of a non-isolated 1/16th brick DC-DC converter using GaN FETs for 48 V-to-12 V application, with a maximum output power of 300 W and power density of 730 W/in3.
