Flyback ICs Extend Operating Power to 440 W
An advance in flyback topology developed by Power Integrations extends the power range of flyback converters to 440 W, leading to reduced system cost, complexity, and design time. This reaches beyond the limits of more complex legacy resonant and LLC topologies.
The TOPSwitchGaN flyback IC family leverages the company’s PowiGaN technology with its TOPSwitch IC architecture. In addition to cutting down the complexity and shortening design time, the new topology helps eliminate heatsinks in many designs.
Presented as a fundamental shift in power-supply design, the devices can take flyback supplies into a power range previously not possible, offering high efficiency and performance with a far simpler architecture.
TOPSwitchGaN ICs provide up to 92% efficiency from 10% to 100% load, with less than 50 mW power consumption in standby and off modes. And there's no need for synchronous rectification. PowiGaN switches' lower RDS(on) results in reduced conduction losses, which dramatically increase the power capability of flyback converters.
The integrated 800-V PowiGaN switches provide excellent surge withstand capabilities and low switching losses, and can operate at switching frequencies of up to 150 kHz, minimizing transformer size. No-load consumption is below 50 mW at 230 V AC, including line sense. In addition, up to 210 mW of output power is available with a 300-mW input at 230 V AC to run housekeeping functions when in standby mode.
Low-profile eSOP-12 surface-mount packaging enables 135 W (85 to 265 V AC) to be delivered without a heatsink. And the vertical orientation of the eSIP-7 package minimizes PCB footprint with a thermal impedance equivalent to a TO-220-packaged part.
Mounting a metal heatsink extends the power range for demanding applications. TOPSwitchGaN ICs are pin-to-pin compatible with TinySwitch-5 offline switcher ICs. Thus, designers can use the same methodology for applications from 10 W up to 440 W.
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About the Author
Alix Paultre
Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design
An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces.