To provide an easy-to-use way for power systems designers to evaluate the performance of gallium nitride transistors and get their products into volume production quickly, Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA, which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) for power management applications, has expanded its portfolio of DrGaNPLUS evaluation boards. The boards are proof-of-concept designs that integrate all necessary components of a half-bridge circuit into a single, small PCB-based module that can be readily mounted to demonstrate the performance of a GaN transistor power conversion solution.
As an example of performance, the EPC9203 80V, 20A half-bridge power converter is a 'plug and play' evaluation board (featuring the EPC2021 eGaN FET) that designers can use to quickly and easily evaluate the high performance gained with gallium nitride power transistors. With Vin = 48V and Vout = 12V, the board achieves greater than 97.5% peak total system efficiency, including power stage, inductor, driver, capacitors and PCB losses.
The EPC9201 30V, 40A half-bridge power converter (featuring the EPC2015C/EPC2023 eGaN FETs), with Vin = 12V and Vout = 1V, achieves 92% peak efficiency.
Both boards operate in the same way and can be driven by either a single or a dual PWM (pulse width modulation) input and feature eGaN FETs, the Texas Instrument's LM5113 driver, and high-frequency input capacitors. The DrGaNPLUS board is small (only 11mm x 12mm) and can mount directly onto a printed circuit board. It has been designed with an optimal layout to minimize the debilitating effects of common source and high-frequency power commutation loop inductances.
"In addition to improved performance, lower cost and reliability, ease-of-use is a critical factor in the adoption of a new technology," says CEO & co-founder Alex Lidow. "With DrGaNPLUS evaluation boards, power conversion systems design engineers have a quick and easy way of assessing the exceptional benefits of incorporating gallium nitride transistors into their power systems circuits," he notes.
A Quick Start Guide, containing set-up procedures, circuit diagram, performance curves, a bill of material and Gerber files is provided on-line.
The EPC9201 is priced at $44.99 each and the EPC9203 is priced at $58.40 each. Both boards are available from Digi-Key.
