High-efficiency, two-stage architecture power distribution

29th April 2019

Alex Lynn

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A zero-voltage-switching (ZSC) switched capacitor converter has been introduced by Infineon Technologies. It features a two-stage architecture for 48V applications to power up CPUs, GPUs, SoCs, ASICs, and memory. Infineon’s full system concept for 48V architecture paves a way towards 99% of efficiency.

It combines a ZSC board with CoolGaN 600V based solutions results in an optimized power flow and high performance for the datacenters of tomorrow. The latest ZSC converter board is introduced at the PCIM 2019 tradeshow in Nuremberg, Germany.

The ZSC converter delivers the highest efficiency and power density for applications using 48V. Through capacitive energy transfer with soft switching of the power MOSFETs, it generates an intermediate bus voltage.

This enables an easy and low-risk migration path for legacy 12V systems to a 48V infrastructure at significantly improved total cost of ownership. Combined with Infineon’s best-in-class multi-phase buck regulators, it offers overall efficiency of more than 94% and power density for 48V input systems above the industry’s average.

The board is featuring microcontrollers, drivers and switches from Infineon. It comprises well-matched 25V and 40V OptiMOS 5 and OptiMOS 6 MOSFETs as well as EiceDRIVER 2EDi gate driver ICs. The XMC family of microcontrollers is complementing the ZSC switched capacitor converter.

It is easy to implement as a voltage regulator module (VRM) or down (VRD) design depending upon system requirements and limitations.

The bidirectional power transfer capability of the ZSC converter offers ultimate flexibility for designers of power architectures to implement high-efficiency and compact bus converters that can provide voltage conversion from 48 to 12V, or vice versa.

Additionally, the converter can be easily configured to supply different conversion ratios (2:1, 4:1, 6:1, 8:1, 10:1, 12:1) with the same set of components for best system-level efficiency optimization. In a 4:1 configuration, the ZSC converter can achieve peak efficiency of up to 99% at 600W with a power density of 780 W/inch 2.

The same design can deliver up to 1 kW with excellent thermal performance due to its high power conversion efficiency. The ZSC board is available upon request.