Vicor aims to repackage distributed power design with new bus Richard WilsonVicor has stepped up its DC-DC converter offering for distributed power designs based on a 12V intermediate bus. It has introduced a family bus converter modules (BCM) which take a 48V input to derive an isolated 12V output.
The company is presenting the step-down converter as an alternative to traditional quarter brick converters in a significantly
smaller surface mount package.
Available in a BGA surface mount package, called the VIC, the 200W BCM B048K120T20 requires less than a third the board area of intermediate bus converters in quarter-brick style packages, said the supplier.
Available in two mounting styles, it has an above-the-board height of 4 mm (in-board mounting) or 6 mm (on-board mounting).
Power density is 800W/in3. The B048K120T10, rated at 100W, and B048K120T15, rated at 150W, support
lower power applications in the same VIC package.
The DC-DC converter is a precursor to a range of so-called point-of-load (POL)devices which Vicor will introduce in the summer. These voltage transform modules (VCMs)will be the basis of a proprietary distributed power architecture which the company is proposing as an alternative to the 12V intermediate bus approach.
The new architecture, called Factorized Power Architecture (FPA), is based on devices in the firm's VIC package which will support up to 200W power levels in a devcies less than 0.25 cubic inch. Representing a power density of 800W/in3.
The proprietary architecture is based on two new tpyes of device which Vicor is calling the Pre-Regulator Module (PRM) and the Voltage Transformation Module (VTM). The PRM is a controlled voltage source with 97% to 99% efficiency which converts the input voltage to a Factorized Bus.
The VTM is an isolated device which replaces the non-solated POL converters in intermediate bus designs. It is a step-down or step-up converter which works from the factorised bus voltage with an effective switching frequency of 3.5MHz.
www.vicorpower.com