RECOM Releases Next Generation of R-78 Switching Regulator Replacements for Linear Regulators
RECOM Power announced that the existing features of the standard R-78 series (high efficiency, small case size & pin-compatibility with 78-series linear regulators) have been improved by adding a much higher input voltage range of up to 42Vdc and double the output power in the same size case. The R-78C series offers 15W/cm³ of power.
According to RECOM, linear regulators suffer from sharply decreasing efficiency with increasing input-output voltage variance. This is not so with switching regulator designs. Although the R-78C has the highest efficiency of 96% when the input/output voltage variance is only a few volts, it still reaches very respectable 90% with an input voltage that is 30V higher than the output voltage. RECOM says that this is one of the main advantages of its product compared with competition: many claim high conversion efficiency under ideal conditions, only the R-78C can deliver high efficiency over the entire input voltage range and with a nearly constant efficiency when the load varies between 20% and 100%.
Not only has the R-78C consistent efficiency, it has also low output ripple (20-40mVp-p) and can meet Class B EMC with a simple low pass filter. The standard output voltage options are 1.8V, 3.3V, 5V, 9V, 12C and 15V all with 1A continuous output current and 3A peak current. The output is overload and short circuit protected. The ambient operating temperature covers the full industrial range of -40 to +85°C and the high conversion efficiency is makes heat-sinking unnecessary. The converter is EN60950 certified, RoHS 6/6 conform and comes with RECOM’s standard 3 Year Warranty. The MTBF is specified by MIL-HDBK 217F at +25°C with 8.6 million hours.
Applications for the R-78C include industrial controls, battery-powered devices, hand-held equipment, avionics, fan controllers and embedded designs, but this versatile switching regulator module will find uses in every branch of electronics.
