DC/DC Converters Now Come In Sixteenth-Brick

With the launch of the 50W ALX series, OEMs have their first commercial sixteenth-brick isolated DC/DC converters. Preserving the same pin location assignments as handled by quarter- and eighth-bricks, but with reduced input-to-output pin separation, the new, 1.65" x 0.8" x 0.33" power sources are more than one-third smaller than the previous smallest member of the brick family - namely, eighth-brick converters. The sixteenth-bricks are expected to be widely used in wired and wireless telecomm and datacomm equipment and other applications where board real estate is at a premium. The single-output, surface-mount DC/DC converters operate from a 36V to 75V input voltage and deliver up to 20A from 1.8V and 1.2V models, 18A from 2.5V units and 15A from 3.3V units. The ALX series is said to raise the power density bar for isolated converters to 114W/in.3 and to also feature efficiencies as high as 88% for 1.8V models, over-voltage, over-current and over-temperature protection, under-voltage lockout with hysteresis, and an output trim pin and enable pin with positive or negative logic controls. MTBF is pegged at more than one million hours. Price is $40.75 each in OEM quantities. For more details, contact Mark Rice at ASTEC POWER, Carlsbad, CA. (760) 930-4600.