DC-DC converters are undergoing significant changes that will provide opportunities for power management IC and power supply manufacturers, in spite of today’s economic challenges. These developments are highlighted in the tenth edition of "DC-DC Converter Modules and ICs: Economic Factors, Application Drivers, Business Models, Packaging and Technology Developments," just released by Darnell Group.
The recent emergence of the Centralized Control Architecture (CCA) is the second major change in distributed power architectures in the past decade. The impact of the CCA is expected to be as significant as the earlier replacement of the Classic Distributed Power Architecture by today’s Intermediate Bus Architecture.
In addition to emerging power system architectures such as the CCA, the architectures of multi-phase dc-dc converters for powering processors and memories are evolving. These now include centralized control multi-phase, bussed multi-phase, variable-phase, digital multi-phase and various levels of IC integration.
The number of voltages in electronic systems continues to increase, as well. A low-end multi-core server has about 20 independent voltage rails, all requiring individual dc-dc converters. A mid-range server may have 60 or more voltage rails. Also, the number of rails needing a multi-phase converter is increased dramatically in multi-core systems.
Along with the above topics, the report includes in-depth analysis of application segment trends, converter demand trends, module price/performance, standards, packaging, implications of digital power for the dc-dc supply chain, and the impact of trends in critical facilities power management. The study provides a comprehensive discussion of the major challenges facing the power supply industry during uncertain economic times, and details the areas that companies can focus on for maximum competitive advantage.
More information can be found here .
