Standard enables advanced power conversion technology

The teraAMP standard, designed for non-isolated digital PoL DC/DC converters, will extend the current range from 90 to 120A while supporting both vertical and horizontal mechanical configurations.The new standard adds to the previous microAMP and megaAMP standards for digital PoLs that covered 20-25A and 40-50A designs respectively. All of these allow for both horizontal and vertical configurations. The first products to meet the teraAMP standard will be introduced by AMP Group members at APEC 2015, which takes place from 15^th to 19^th March.

The formation of the AMP Group, announced in October 2014, recognised a need for true multi-sourced but technically advanced and highly efficient power supplies for distributed power architectures. Initially this requirement was driven by telecomm and datacomm companies but is now proliferating into other industries. Previous attempts to standardise power supplies typically only addressed the mechanical aspects of their design, i.e. the physical dimensions and pin locations. What the AMP Group has done is to extend its standardisation to embrace electrical specifications and performance, including the monitoring, control and communications functions made possible by the adoption of digital controllers. This allows AMP to define common configuration files to enable plug-and-play interoperability between products from its member firms, which currently comprise CUI, Ericsson Power Modules and Murata.

Alongside the digital PoL standards, AMP has also defined two standards for advanced bus DC/DC converters: the ABC-ebAMP standard relates to advanced bus bricks measuring 58.42x22.66mm and ranging from 264 to 300W, while the ABC-qbAMP standard covers quarter-brick supplies, measuring 58.42x36.83mm and ranging from 420 to 468W. These standards detail mechanical footprints, features and configuration files.

“The teraAMP standard is the next step in high density, high complexity power design support,” commented Mark Adams, Spokesperson, AMP Group. “As chip architectures continue to reduce and on-board power requirements increase, it is imperative that the power industry keeps pace by providing high current density solutions at the PoL.”