Vicor has introduced a buck regulator for point-of-load applications which is efficiency optimised for 12V input voltages.
The Picor PI34XX series buck regulators will deliver 95% peak efficiency for 12V to 3.3V regulation and up to 15A, said the supplier.
"We recognise that some customers are constrained by a 12V architecture and are not able to take advantage of higher line conversion with our existing regulators," said Robert Gendron, vice president, Picor Semiconductor Power Solutions, Vicor.
"We optimised our 8V to 36V wide range regulators for a 12V family, reducing the Vin range to 8V to 18V and further enhancing efficiency for 12V usage," said Gendron.
The Picor buck regulators use a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) topology which is designed to reduce the switching losses associated with conventional hard-switching buck regulators.
The result is higher efficiency and smaller devices.
PI34XX series buck regulators integrate control circuitry, power semiconductors and support components within the SiP and require only an external inductor with minimal capacitors to form a complete DC-DC switching mode buck regulator.
