DC/DC converter in quarter-brick format

12th March 2019

Flex

Alex Lynn

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The launch of the BMR490, a non-isolated digital IBC (Intermediate Bus Converter) DC/DC converter with an output power of 1,300W in the quarter-brick form factor, has been announced by Flex Power Modules. The new converter combines very high power density with excellent thermal performance in a price-sensitive design, making it ideal for demanding applications such as data centres.

In developing the converter, Flex Power Modules has registered more than ten patents, which in part have led to significant improvements in the area of thermal management within the converter. To help with the thermal performance, manufacturing has also been improved, with the baseplate screwed directly to the converter’s PCB. Together, these measures lead to an increase of usable power from the BMR490 of over 20% when compared to similarly rated modules in extended temperatures.

The BMR490 provides a digital interface fully compliant to PMBus 1.3, which makes it simple to reconfigure, and therefore to fine-tune the functionality to respond to the requirements of a particular application. The converter can be configured using the Flex Power Designer software, which provides detailed simulations including thermal modelling, and therefore helps reduce development time and minimise the risk of weaknesses in a power system design.

Olle Hellgren, Director of Product Management and Business Development at Flex Power Modules, said: “In server and data centre applications, demands for power are always increasing. The new BMR490 provides an efficient solution with a very high power density, making it ideal for this kind of use case.”

The BMR490 offers high efficiency of typically 97.3%, at 53V input and half load. This has been achieved in part due to Hybrid Ratio Regulation (HRR), which enables the converter to switch seamlessly between conventional fixed-ratio or fixed-output conversion modes, depending on the input voltage and output demand. HRR delivers greater efficiency and power delivery under the commonest operating conditions, permits a wide input voltage range, and provides a superior response to transients.

The new converter is aimed at a variety of high power applications including data centres, high speed cloud, high performance computing, high capacity storage and high speed optical networking.

The input voltage range is 40 to 60V, with an output voltage of 12V and output current up to 145A. Input to output is non-isolated. The BMR490 is provided in an industry standard low-profile quarter brick package, measuring 58.4x36.8x14.5mm.

The BMR490 will be available in OEM quantities from April 2019.