Three power supply manufacturers – CUI Inc., Ericsson Power Modules and Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. – have come together to define common mechanical, electrical and even software specifications for the architecture of a standard end-to-end distributed power conversion system. Their consortium is called AMP for Architects of Modern Power.
Many power supply companies offer families of ac/dc converters, dc/dc converters and point-of-load regulators but all tend to offer proprietary architectures, electrical specifications and physical formats making it difficult for customers to obtain second sources or mix and match power conversion products.
With the advent of digital monitoring and control of power supply performance software compatibility is being added as an extra layer of sophistication and all can benefit from commonly agreed standards, the three companies have argued. Telecommunications and data communications companies first drove the use of digital control of dc-dc converters and point-of-load regulators. It is now spreading into other sectors. The AMP Group is looking to address not only mechanical and electrical compatibility but also digital interfaces and compatibility of PMBus commands, proprietary controller commands, and configuration files. The PMBus, or power management bus has been in use by multiple power supply manufacturers for several years.
Two standards have been defined for digital point-of-load converters. The 'microAMP' specification covers supplies rated at 20 to 25 A in vertical and horizontal configurations, while the 'megaAMP' standard defines requirements for 40 to 50 A vertical and horizontal units. For dc-dc converters the 'ABC-ebAMP' standard relates to advanced bus bricks measuring 58.42mm by 22.66mm and ranging from 264W to 300W. For quarter-brick supplies, measuring 58.42mm by 36.83mm and ranging from 420W to 468W, the group has defined the 'ABC-qbAMP' standard. These four standards detail mechanical footprints, features, and configuration files.
Power supplies meeting these standards were on show at Electronica from CUI, Ericsson and Murata.
The consortium’s long-term strategic aim is to foster close collaboration between members to develop shared technology roadmaps. Participating companies must agree to establish common mechanical and electrical specifications for their products, standardization of monitoring, control and communications functions, and create common configuration files for plug-and-play interoperability between products from each firm.
The consortium states that the group is not limited to the three founding members but it does warn that the group requires any organization that wants to join be willing to work with all the others and the all existing members with any joiner. "All members must bring a high value to the consortium," the group states.
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