Several interesting product announcements brought the 2010 Electronica Trade Fair to its conclusion last week, with offerings from Fairchild, Renesas, EnOcean, and ROHM.
Fairchild Semiconductor unveiled the AccuPower™ load switch series, which it says is the industry’s first 2.8 to 36V integrated load switches, intended to address the mid-voltage needs of designers. Devices in the AccuPower series of load switches include the FPF2700, FPF2701 and FPF2702. According to the company, unlike current solutions that require discrete MOSFETs plus external protection circuitry, devices in the AccuPower series of load switches feature built-in protection to eliminate as many as four additional devices, saving over 70% board space.
The AccuPower series is a family of current limiting load switches that provide full protection to systems and loads that may encounter large current conditions. The series contains a slew rate controlled N-Channel MOSFET which limits the amount of in-rush current. This protects from abnormalities on the main power supply rails. The input voltage range operates from 2.8 to 36V. Devices in the series offer low RDS(ON) (90mΩ typical) to optimize power losses across the switch and over the entire input voltage range. Additionally, to address the emerging concern of current surges in these applications, AccuPower load switches feature Safe Operation Area (SOA) current limit protection, which guards against instantaneous short circuit events and protects the system from failure.
Renesas Electronics unveiled several new Power MOSFETs that feature a very compact HSON-8 package, making them suitable for use in automotive electronics systems like engine management and pump motor control. Measuring just 6.0 x 5.2 x 1.45mm, the HSON-8 package has the same footprint as a SOP-8 package. Compared to the DPAK (TO-252), its mounting area is reduced by half, while maintaining the DPAK’s good thermal and electrical properties. The new package can handle currents of up to 75A. As a result, it can be used in conjunction with Renesas Electronics’ UMOS-4 Trench technology to achieve an on-resistance RDS(on) of 5.1mΩ for N-channel modules with VDSS=40V (for the NP75N04YUG product); and an RDS(on) of 6.2mΩ for P-channel modules with VDSS=-30V (for the NP75P03YDG product).
The new HSON-8 product range comprises a total of nine N-channel Power MOSFETs with nominal voltages of 40, 60, 75 and 100V as well as three P-channel Power MOSFETs with -30V und -40V. All the modules are suitable for use in automotive applications, such as to switch inductive loads and various types of motors as well as to protect against reversed battery conditions. The new Power MOSFETs enable system manufacturers to develop more compact automotive electronics control units and to make more efficient use of the limited space available in vehicles
EnOcean GmbH launched the ECT 310 dc-dc converter which enables Battery-less wireless modules to use heat as their power source. This marks another important step in the continuing development of the company’s energy harvesting technology for building and industrial automation.. In addition to motion and light, this is the third energy source exploited by EnOcean for its service-free wireless modules. The ECT 310 works as an interface between thermoelectric converters and EnOcean modules – the all-purpose, bidirectional STM 300 sensor and the new plug&play STM 312. The ECT 310 is an ultra-low-voltage dc-dc converter, which converts low input voltage upwards of 20 mV into conventional used electronic output voltage of 3 to 4V. The energy obtained in this way powers EnOcean wireless modules. To achieve maximum system efficiency, the output voltage of the ECT 310 is crudely regulated. With its plug&play capability, the ECT 310 can be combined with a thermoelectric converter and the STM 300 or STM 312 energy harvesting wireless modules for simple implementation of batteryless sensors or actuators powered solely by heat.
ROHM Semiconductor announced the development of a new BD555BKFV LED driver family, a flexible building block solution for advanced LED illumination applications. Features – among others – include what the company says is an excellent dimming performance due to a proprietary solution with a dimming range of up to 5% for intelligent lighting but also the option of high LED power and voltage tolerance for optimum performance and secure operation.
The LED current control ICs in a compact SOP 14 package accommodate up to four LED channels at 50V up to 200mA. High efficiency is provided by an auxiliary winding supplying the IC with an additional voltage option up to 30V. The accurate LED current sensing combined with course peak current regulation is offering accuracy for a wide range of applications, securing smooth operation and eliminating brightness fluctuations. With an external switching transistor the new BD555BKFV drivers are able to deliver a wide range of LED powers. The patented weak and strong bleeder circuit reduce power dissipation while providing high-quality dimming performance from standard wall mounted transistor and triac based dimmers. Accurate dimming is achieved by true phase-cut sensing, adjustable filter to control the LED current in closed loop manner. The phase cut angle to LED current transfer curve is adjusted for the sensitivity curve of a human eye in order to achieve a smooth and natural dimming behaviour. An intelligent on-chip power management system controls start up and normal operation conditions to be optimized for system energy consumption. The user can choose various supply options ranging from simple to more advanced to archive maximum energy efficiency. Various protection circuits such as bleeder control, UVLO, PWM control or OCP provide reliability and fault tolerance.
