New Industry Products

Offline Buck Converter for Space-Constrained IoT Applications

July 12, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Diodes Incorporated announced the availability of the AL17050 universal offline buck converter designed for low-power Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. With its wide ac input voltage range and fully integrated MOSFET, it provides a compact and efficient solution to generating a constant voltage for low-power applications that need to comply with strict standby power restrictions.

The AL17050 has been developed to accept an input voltage between 85- and 265-Vac, making it suitable for any region. The internal MOSFET is able to withstand voltages of up to 500V yet is optimized for low-power applications, meaning the device only consumes 100μA of static current. Furthermore, the device automatically adjusts to low loads, so it delivers excellent overall efficiency.

The non-isolated design minimizes the BoM for manufacturers developing applications for the IoT, such as smart appliances, smart sensors, and connected lighting. The AL17050 delivers a constant 3.3V/5V at up to 60mA, making it suited for devices based on low power microcontrollers (MCUs) that integrated IoT connectivity such as Bluetooth® LE or Zigbee™.

Using the AL17050, manufacturers will be able to develop IoT applications that are powered directly from a high-voltage ac supply yet deliver outstanding power efficiency. With the number of devices in the IoT expected to rise to many billions in the next few years, energy efficiency is now a major design consideration.

Alongside its excellent regulation and high-power efficiency, the AL17050 also integrates protection against over-temperature, over-load, output-short, and open-loop conditions. It is available in the SOT25 package and requires very few additional components in a buck converter configuration, making it suitable for small products where space is often limited.

The AL17050 is priced at $0.125 each in 10K quantities.