Vicor has readied two new Cool-Power zero voltage switching (ZVS) buck-boost regulators for a wide range of demanding applications, including automotive, industrial, test, automation, lighting, battery regulation and telecom. Requiring minimal external components to form a complete high-performance regulator, the new buck-boost regulators, PI3741-0x, are designed to deliver up to 200 W or up to 6.5 A at > 97% efficiency. The wide input voltage range for these units is 21–60 VDC. While PI3741-00 delivers a user-definable output voltage range of 21–36 VDC, the PI3741-01 supports a higher output voltage range of 36–54 VDC.
Unlike conventional hard-switching buck-boost regulators—which are burdened by switching losses and exhibit conversion efficiency degradation when operating from a higher voltage input source with extended dynamic range—the new buck-boost regulators exploit Vicor’s proprietary ZVS technology to maintain high efficiency over the specified input voltage range. Also the wide input voltage range of the regulators allows designers to handle large supply voltage variations.
New 60 V Cool-Power ZVS buck-boost regulators deliver up to 200 W at > 97% efficiency. (Image credit: Vicor Corp.)
Housed in a thermally efficient 10.0 × 14.0 × 2.5-mm system-in-package, the regulators take up little board space and simplify layout. In addition, they operate over a wide operating temperature range of –40° C to +125° C. Besides incorporating a ZVS controller, power switches and support circuitry, these regulators also feature single-wire current sharing for parallel operation; an integrated current-monitoring amplifier and a user-configurable, high-bandwidth differential amplifier; over/under-voltage, over-temperature and over-current protection; and options to enable bi-directional synchronization.
