• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Remotely Configurable Point-Of-Load Converter Simplifies Design, Qualification and Production Testing

Posted on: Monday, 18 October 2004, 06:00 CDT

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Artesyn Technologies, Inc. today launched a remotely configurable point-of-load DC/DC converter that provides powerful control flexibility for board-level design, qualification and production testing. Combining industry-leading conversion technology with next-generation voltage control features, the new SIL15E-12M non-isolated point-of-load (POL) converter incorporates an industry-standard I2C (TM) bus interface that simplifies set-up and control.

I2C programmable features include precision setting of the converter's output voltage as well as voltage margining facilities. An active control loop function improves output voltage accuracy by up to a factor of ten over existing converters, both during normal operation and when performing up/down voltage margining during system test. Programming the POL converters on a board under development is simply a case of connecting its I2C bus connector via a USB cable to a standard PC running a Windows (TM)-based configuration GUI (graphical user interface). The configuration software employs an intuitive, simple to use interface to minimize system prototype development time.

Artesyn's vice president of marketing, Todd Hendrix, stated, "The SIL15E- 12M is the first remotely configurable converter to use the I2C bus. We chose this particular interface because it's an open-architecture solution that's widely used throughout the electronics industry, and its simple two-wire structure can be easily routed to all the converters on a system board with minimal impact on printed circuit board design. As the market for digital power products evolves, Artesyn will continue to introduce power converters with increasingly flexible control and management features."

During customers' system development, the converter's voltage set-point can be programmed to within a 0.2% accuracy via the built-in I2C interface. The active control loop function will maintain the precise output setting during normal operation by automatically compensating for different load conditions. The same control function is used when performing voltage margining during production test, to ensure accurate results and protect expensive semiconductor ICs from being over-stressed or damaged. During product development, designers can program various functions of the converter to check board operation before locking in final parameters for production, thus reducing both development time and risk.

The SIL15E-12M is the latest addition to Artesyn's E-class family of high- efficiency, general-purpose POL converters, and is intended primarily for high-end applications in the telecommunication and data communication markets. The converter has an input voltage range of 10 to 14V and an exceptionally wide 0.8 to 3.36V output range, enabling a large number of different voltage supply requirements to be satisfied with just the one model. It can generate up to 15A with a very high full-load efficiency of 92%.

Sample quantities of Artesyn's SIL15E-12M POL converter are available for immediate delivery, and production quantities will be supplied in 84-piece cartons. Pricing for 1,000-piece quantities is $18.45, and the standard lead- time is stock to 8 weeks.

About Artesyn Technologies, Inc.

Artesyn Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, is a world leader in designing and manufacturing power conversion solutions for industry- leading OEMs in communications and IT infrastructure markets and is one of the foremost providers of controllers and WAN/protocol software for worldwide telecom and datacom systems and real-time communication applications. The Company has a global sales reach with design and manufacturing facilities in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Artesyn is a public company whose common stock is traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol ATSN. For more information about Artesyn Technologies and its products, please visit the company's web site at http://www.artesyn.com/ .

I2C (pronounced "I squared C") is a registered trademark of Philips Electronics N.V.

Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Artesyn Technologies

CONTACT: Todd Hendrix, VP, Worldwide Marketing, Artesyn Technologies,+1-508-424-2749

Web site: http://www.artesyn.com/

More News in this Category