Vicor has entered the market for AC-DC power supplies with its first isolated AC-DC converter with power factor correction (PFC).
The company's approach has been to address the problem of maintaining power efficiency when used with the range of mains voltages used around the world.
The design uses a power topology that adapts to the level of the input voltage to maintain power efficiency.
"The module has two power trains and these are stacked or run in parallel depending on the input AC voltage," said Stephen Oliver, v-p of product marketing and sales at Vicor.
The result, said Oliver, is a power efficiency held well above 93% even for input voltages ranging from 265V to 85V.
Called the PFM VI Brick the module delivers 330W at 48V (SELV) in a 9.5mm profile.
"Unlike low frequency AC-DC front ends using a PFC boost stage and a DC-DC down converter, the PFM module provides isolation, voltage transformation and PFC regulation in a single stage using high-frequency 1MHz soft switching technology," said Oliver.
According to Oliver, it is the first in a range of AC-DC modules the company plans to introduce. There will be a chip version of the converter very soon and further modules with different output voltage options and higher mains frequency.