Electronica Showcases Latest Power Products

Nov 22, 2006 10:26 AM
by David Morrison, Editor, Power Electronics Technology

A record 78,000 attendees were reported at the Electronica event held last week in Munich and many power component vendors took advantage of this massive industry gathering to showcase their latest wares. Several vendors used the occasion to launch new power ICs and modules, passives, and other components. Among the power components unveiled at Electronica were second-generation, point-of-load converters from Enpirion; power management chips and LED drivers from Advanced Analogic Technologies, power and current-sense resistors from TT Electronics, and mini solid-state relays from Avago Technologies.

Enpirion (www.enpirion.com), maker of IC-style dc-dc converters with inductors in package, announced the release of its second-generation products with 3-A and 6-A load current ratings. According to the vendor, the 3-A EN533x and the 6-A EN536x synchronous buck converters occupy 25% less pc-board area than the company first-generation point-of-load converters (POLs). In addition, these second-generation parts achieve as much as 5% better efficiency than the first-generation converters thanks to optimization of on-chip MOSFET switches. These QFN-packaged parts also offer enhanced thermal performance, which eliminates the need for thermal derating or forced-air cooling at ambients up to 85°C.

According to the vendor, the second-generation converters produce much smaller designs than competing POLs. In addition, Enpirion claims an additional advantage versus conventional regulators or controller-plus-switch designs—lower ripple and noise on the output. As a result of this quieter performance, the EN533x and EN536x can power sensitive CMOS circuits designed in 95-nm (and finer) processes without requiring significant increases in output capacitance. (For pricing on this and other parts mentioned in this article, see the table below.)

Advanced Analogic Technologies (www.analogictech.com), announced the AAT2550, a highly integrated power management IC for smart phones, portable media/music players, and other handheld devices. Targeted at systems powered by single-cell Li-ion batteries rated up to 1500 mAh, this chip saves pc-board space by combining a 1-A battery charger with two 600-mA stepdown converters in a 4-mm x 4-mm QFN. This device features a digital thermal control loop in the battery charger, which automatically reduces charge current when the demand on the power system exceeds its thermal limits.

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