Insight
Vicor Europe's Quarterly Newsletter
Issue 8 – Summer 2007
Westcor provides flexible, powerful AC-DC solutions
Vicor’s Westcor division specialises in the manufacture of flexible and high quality medium to high power AC-DC supplies based on the proven design and performance of Vicor’s DC-DC converters. Our MegaPAC, LoPAC and FlatPAC-EN families of power solutions are highly configurable and can provide literally thousands of custom output combinations with 0.1 V setpoints from 1.5 V to 95 V.
Westcor’s “your custom is our standard” modular product architecture enables our power solutions to provide the specific outputs you need with up to 20 different isolated voltages from a single unit. Your custom prototype can be available in as little as two weeks, delivering a robust, high performance power supply, as well as reduced time-to-market. Low noise options are also available with ripple as low as 10mV or 0.15% peak to peak.
The applications engineering group Vicor’s dedicated team of field applications engineers
Circuit schematic symbol mix Click here
High performance and flexibility means that Westcor has the right solution for your application.
Westcor also recently introduced the “Vantage Line” family of power supplies. Offering a 15% price reduction with all the speed-to-market and performance of our standard supplies, the Vantage line is ideal for customers with less stringent environmental and operational specifications.
For more information, go to http://westcorpower.com/ or e-mail
Expansion of mid-power 24 Vin mini modules family
Vicor announces the addition of nine mid-power Mini DC-DC converters to the 24 Vdc input family: a 100 W model at 3.3 Vout, 150 W models at 5, 12, 15, 24, 28, 36, and 48 Vout. A 200 W model at a new standard 36 V output has also been added. The modules – which incorporate Vicor’s patented low-noise Zero-Current and Zero-Voltage Switching (ZCS/ZVS) – can be used as a cost-effective option in a variety of applications, including industrial or process control, distributed power, medical, ATE, communications, defence, and aerospace. Low-noise ZCS/ZVS greatly reduces the design effort and filtering costs required for power converters to meet agency conducted emissions requirements.
With these new models, the 24 Vin Mini family now comprises 16 models with output voltages from 3.3 to 48 Vdc and power levels from 100 to 200 W. The converters operate from 24 V nominal input, with an input range of 18 V to 36 V. Efficiencies range up to 89% for the higher output voltages. These models are available in five different environmental grades, with six different pin options and three baseplate options. They can be configured in any combination in Vicor’s Custom Module Design System at www.vicorpower.com.
The modules, which are optionally available in RoHS compliant models, are a compact 57.9 x 55.9 x 12.7 mm in size, with a height above board of 10.9 mm.
top »Multiple inputs power supply architecture
Some electronic systems, such as field communication shelters or portable emergency equipment, must be able to operate from a variety of power sources, for example worldwide AC (85–264 Vrms), vehicle battery power, or portable generator sets, in both the 12 V or 24 V standards. In addition, these systems may also require backup power from auxiliary batteries in case the primary source is interrupted.
An example of this power supply architecture is shown in the figure below (click for larger image). For AC line use, a front-end module accepts a universal AC input and provides power factor correction. A high power DC-DC converter feeds a regulated 28 V output to the point of load converters. The 28 V converter can be trimmed to 30 V, so that no power will be delivered by the backup battery, as long as the AC main is active.
The point of load converters have an input range of 18–36 V, which allows them to accept 30 V from the AC line or 24 V from the backup battery or the vehicle source.
A peculiarity of this structure is the way the 12 V source is adapted to supply the 24 V input modules. Instead of converting the 12 V source directly to 24 V, the 12 V input feeds a 12 V output, 225 W converter array, that provides half the power needed. The output of this array is placed in series with the 12 V source to obtain a total of 24 V, at the required power level. This approach has the advantage of halving the number of modules required, which reduces costs, simplifies layout and increases reliability.
Overall efficiency is also increased, since half of the output power is provided by the battery, which is effectively 100% efficient.
To prevent back driving, the outputs of the intermediate converters and the 24 V source are diode OR’ed. Diodes should be selected to handle maximum load current and voltage.
For previous technical tips, click here.
top »Head-down display equipment for harsh environments
In recent years aircraft flight and navigational information have migrated from conventional round mechanical dials mounted on the instrument panel, to software-dependent electronic displays, capable of showing many types of information. In particular, a head-down display is a rear projection information system that displays essential flight information, helping the pilots “artificially” see their surroundings and the ground.
Our customer is specialised in the area of high technology electronic systems, telecommunication accessories and aircraft harnesses, which satisfy the needs of the international defence industry. They are now developing a new head-down display designed to operate in the harsh military aircraft environment.
Vicor Maxi modules are ideal for this kind of application, thanks to their high reliability and operating temperature. They are electrically and mechanically rugged, are built to high standards that tolerate the harsh environments of the avionic applications, and meet the MIL-STD810E.
top »Getting support from the Vicoreurope website
Did you know that there are many ways that you can get support from the Vicor European website? You can easily access any of the following:
- Request a Call Back: just fill in your name and telephone number and a local representative will call you back; use this service for either sales or technical enquiries.
- Ask an Expert: E-mail your technical question to us, and one of our applications engineers will e-mail you back with an answer or will phone you to discuss your problem.
- FAQs: go here to get a list of frequently asked questions which have been answered thoroughly by our technical applications engineers.
- Tech Tips: get handy tips on topics such as EMI filtering, output voltage trimming, improving output ripple, etc.
- Glossary of terms: an extensive glossary of terms commonly used amongst power supply designers, with lots of useful links to further technical or product information.
- Technical library: collection of helpful design guides, application notes, datasheets, articles and other useful tools for you to download.
Alternatively, request hard copy literature or technical CDs by filling in a simple online form.
top »The applications engineering group
Undoubtedly one of benefits of working with Vicor is its dedicated team of field applications engineers (FAEs). The worldwide team of highly skilled experts maintain an exemplary level of technical support to our customer base, and who are always available to provide the product information and technical assistance customers need when designing their products and power solutions.
At each Vicor location, be it in USA, Europe, or the Far East, there is a fully equipped power supply laboratory, where the FAE can run tests, demonstrate products to customers, or help them out with debugging their development.
To further support customers, the FAE team regularly writes useful and pertinent applications notes and reference designs, as well as putting together informative technical seminars and training materials. They offer ongoing support via the telephone, by e-mail or, where appropriate, by visiting the customer’s development laboratory.
Two recent initiatives from our applications group are ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions, and the ‘Hands-On Product Workshops’. The lunch and learn is usually an hour-long training session on a topic that a design engineer would find useful, and takes place during a lunch time, so as not to take up too much of a busy day.
The hands-on workshop is a concept based on having the attendees get their hands on working hardware, instead of looking at slides and listening to yet another presentation! The experiments have been designed to give the participants the idea that working with Vicor products is easy and straightforward. By the end of the session, designers go back to their companies with a real technical advantage in component power supply solutions.
A programme of ‘Lunch and Learn’ and ‘Hands on Workshops’ will be coming to a venue near you soon – watch out for more information.
To contact an applications engineer, go to http://www.vicoreurope.com/support/ask_an_engineer/
top »Match the symbols to the names and e-mail your answers to europe@vicorpower.com with ‘Quiz 8’ as the subject line.
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