Power supply design firm Telcodium of Boucherville, QC, Canada, in collaboration with Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA — which designs and manufactures JEDEC-qualified 650V gallium nitride (GaN)-based devices for high-voltage power conversion applications — has released what are claimed to be the first redundant power supplies using GaN field-effect transistors (FETs).
Telcodium's AC Series replaces a typical three-module power supply architecture — two power supply bricks and one intermediate bus converter (IBC) — with a single power module with redundant AC feeds. The firm's power module operates at 94% true system efficiency (TSE, i.e. power supply module efficiency plus IBC efficiency) or higher — reducing average energy loss by 13% or more. To achieve the same TSE with the typical three-module power supply, the bricks and IBC would each need to yield 97% efficiency, which exceeds the 80Plus Titanium specification and has yet to be demonstrated by any power supply manufacturer.
Further, the new module is reckoned to be 30% smaller than the two bricks and eliminates the standalone IBC, freeing considerable, critical space inside a host system.
The high TSE and size reduction are made possible by Telcodium's design, which pairs patented front-end circuitry with what is said to be the market's only JEDEC-qualified 650V GaN FET (from Transphorm). The resulting AC Series enables data-center, server and telecom manufacturers to develop smaller, high-performing systems that can virtually eliminate power-supply-related failures, it is reckoned. Such features can potentially reduce an average system's total cost of ownership by 19%.
The AC Series' universal form factor (260mm x 100mm x 40mm) is lightweight (1.36kg) and fits common equipment developed by data center, server and telecom manufacturers. Products are available now, and short delivery windows average in-stock to 6 weeks.