Highly Integrated 65-W Flyback Converter Comes in Thermally Enhanced QFN Package
STMicroelectronics recently added VIPerGaN65W, a 65-W flyback converter, to its VIPerGaN series. By combining a 700-V gallium-nitride (GaN) transistor and quasi-resonant pulse-width-modulation (PWM) control IC in a single QFN 5x6 package, the VIPerGaN65W provides a compact, high-quality, cost-effective platform for developing USB-PD chargers, fast battery chargers, and auxiliary power supplies.
VIPerGaN flyback controllers operate in quasi-resonant mode with zero-voltage switching (ZVS) up to the full load. Valley skipping optimizes efficiency at mid-to-high load — ST’s proprietary valley locking prevents noise at audio frequencies and thus ensures silent operation. With frequency foldback at light load, the converter enters burst operation at no-load to cut power consumption below 30 mW for eco-design compliance.
In addition to its integrated GaN FET, the converter features integrated high-voltage startup circuitry, and a senseFET for accurate current monitoring for reduced BOM costs, a compact PCB footprint, and simplified manufacturing logistics.
About the Author
Lee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.
Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.