Industry Showcases Advanced Power Components at APEC

Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
By David Morrison, Editor in Chief

Product Demos

In addition to the products being introduced at APEC, many recently introduced products will be shown or demonstrated in the exhibition hall. Power modules are particularly well represented.

For example, Microsemi (www.microsemi.com) will show its new line of 38 standard power modules in the low-profile and compact SP1 package. The modules, which include phase leg, full-bridge, buck, and boost configurations, target applications such as power factor correction, motor control, UPS, power supplies, solar inverters and welding converters. The power modules feature a 12-mm profile that provides minimum parasitic inductance, while solderable pins provide easy mounting to top-printed circuit boards.

At the Powerex (www.powerex.com) booth, visitors will find the NX-Series of IGBT modules. These modules were developed with a new package design that uses a building-block concept to provide multiple configuration options, improved manufacturability, reduced development time and lower cost. Designed for use in general-purpose motor drives, the NX-Series features high thermal conductivity aluminum-nitride ceramic to provide improved heat transfer from the chips to the heatsink.

Powerex’s NX-Series of IGBT modules.

A common base plate and case shell are used with interchangeable screw terminal box and pin terminals to create single, dual, seven-pack and converter-inverter brake circuit configurations. These modules offer ratings ranging from 75 A to 600 A at 600 V and 35 A to 600 A at 1200 V with NTC thermistor output in a 17-mm thin package.

Vette’s Aluma-Cop Liquid Cooled Flat Tubes.

For designers working with IGBTs, a related product on display will be Vette's (www.vettecorp.com) Aluma-Cop Liquid Cooled Flat Tubes, which were developed for the liquid cooling of IGBTs. The flat tube has a cross-sectional aspect ratio of greater than 4:1 with internal, integral forged fins creating a flow channel optimized for both fin pitch and fin height-to-width ratios. This design provides better cooling than designs that press a smooth bore-round copper tube into an aluminum carrier block, says the company.

STMicroelectronics (www.st.com) will show two power MOSFETs intended for the most demanding dc-dc converter applications. The STD60N3LH5 and STD85N3LH5 use the latest version of ST's STripFET technology to deliver low conduction and switching losses — up to 3 W lower in a typical voltage regulator module. These 30-V devices, which are available in DPAK and other packages, achieve low FOM (R_DSON × Q_G). For example, the STD60N3LH5 specifies a gate charge of 8.8 nC and an on-resistance of 7.2 mΩ at 10 V, making it suitable as a control FET in a synchronous buck converter.

Toshiba America Electronic Components (www.toshiba.com/taec) will show the latest addition to its family of power multichip modules. The TB7004FL is a 35-A, 30-V synchronous stepdown converter switching module that is compatible with Intel's Driver-MOSFET 1.0 (DrMOS 1.0) specifications. It combines MOSFET gate drivers with high-side and low-side MOSFETs produced in the company's UMOS V-H process.

Voltage Multipliers (www.voltagemultipliers.com) will showcase its E-Zorb controlled avalanche high-voltage diodes. These diodes specify ratings of 10 mJ to 400 mJ for reverse avalanche energy, 2.5 kV to 10 kV for working reverse voltage, 20 mA to 1.5 A for average rectified current, and 30 ns to 3000 ns for reverse-recovery time.

Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) will exhibit two USB power management switches with adjustable, 100-mA to 1.1-A current limit. Housed in a 2-mm × 2-mm SON or a 6-pin SOT-23, the TPS2550 and TPS2551 feature an integrated 85-mΩ, n-channel MOSFET.

Magnetics (www.mag-inc.com) will exhibit powder cores based on XFLUX, a distributed air gap 6.5% silicon-iron material. A true high-temperature material with no thermal aging, XFLUX offers lower losses than powder iron cores and superior dc bias performance. XFLUX cores are best suited for low- and medium-frequency chokes where inductance at peak is critical.

Positronic (www.connectpositronic.com) will show its CBD Series of Combo-D Power Contacts, which now offers power contact options for use with size 6 AWG wire. These contacts have a contact resistance of 0.0003 Ω maximum per IEC 512-2 Test 2b and are rated for current levels up to 110 A per contact per UL 1977. The contacts are also suitable for voltages up to 450 Vac.

The APEC exhibit will provide opportunities to view power-specific test equipment. For example, Newtons4th (www.newtons4th.com) will exhibit its PPA2500 KinetiQ Power Analyzers featuring a new architecture that yields high accuracy and precision over the highest frequency range, at a price tag of less than $10,000 for 3 channels. The power analyzer measures power, phase, harmonics and impedance, and provides a true-RMS multimeter as well as real-time digital, tabular, graphic and oscilloscope displays. KinetiQ was developed for designers of electronic devices ranging from power supplies and lighting ballasts to microwaves and motor drives.

Chroma Systems Solutions (www.chromausa.com) will showcase Cool-Burn, an automated test system featuring energy-saving recyclable electronic loads. Designed for burn-in testing of isolated and nonisolated dc-dc converters, the test system saves energy by recycling the converter's output power, reduces heat and utility costs via diminished energy demands and dramatically increases production volumes by reducing change-over times.

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