Power conversion demo board delivers high power density

The board is the size of DOSA-standard ⅛th brick format, measuring only 58.4x22.9mm. This is considerably smaller than alternative silicon-based solutions that are generally sized in the ¼th brick format, or twice as large, for 1kW of output power. The total thickness of the converter without heatsink is only 10mm. To make it simple for a power supply designer to easily replicate this design, all supporting materials for this board including schematic, bills of materials, and Gerber files are available on the EPC website.

The high-power density, 1,226W/in3, is achieved thanks to EPC GaN FET technology. eGaN FETs enable high switching frequency, in this case 1MHz, and they are very small, ⅓ of 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 4x4mm Microchip dsPIC33CKMP102T-I/M6 for flexibility, configuration, communications, and programmability.

This new 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% and the full load efficiency, at 12V when delivering 1kW, is 97%. The highest temperature in steady state operation at maximum load with 400 LFM airflow is 88°C, which relates to a maximum junction temperature of 95°C.  

“eGaN FETs and integrated circuits increase power density for 48 to 12V converters and address data center application demands for higher power in a small size,” said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC. “The use of a Microchip digital controller allows flexibility for programming and configuration of the EPC9149 demonstration board.”

The EPC9149 demonstration board is priced at $381.60 each and is available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key. The EPC9149 ships with a motherboard to simplify testing.