While this traditional approach is technically sound, its limitations are becoming increasingly apparent in the face of current demands for miniaturization, cost reduction, high reliability, and shorter development times. On the one hand, an overloaded bill of materials (BOM) increases purchasing, inventory, and management costs, while the use of multiple discrete devices consumes valuable space on the printed circuit board (PCB), hindering the design of compact equipment. On the other hand, the connections between discrete components introduce electrical interference and noise that degrade signal integrity and create ground loops; this can complicate electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing and tuning, increasing the risk of redesigns and delaying time to market.
To address these industry needs, single-chip 3-in-1 isolated transceivers represent an exciting evolution in industrial equipment design. Housed in a standard SOIC-16 package, these devices integrate an isolated power supply, digital isolation, and an RS-485/CAN communications transceiver into a single component, replacing a whole array of traditional discrete circuits. Compared to traditional solutions with separate components, this integrated alternative offers significant advantages for hardware development:
1. Simplified BOM, lower costs and greater efficiency
A single chip replaces multiple separate components, optimizing the bill of materials and effectively reducing purchasing costs, inventory burden, and SMT assembly complexity.
2. Ultra-compact format, ideal for small devices
By reducing the design area on the PCB, it is the perfect solution for space-constrained products such as smart meters, IoT terminals, and compact PLCs, facilitating their miniaturization.
3. Standardized factory calibration and reduced risk during commissioning
100% testing of devices at the factory guarantees completely homogeneous parameters, eliminating tolerance deviations and compatibility problems common when combining discrete components, thus reducing field failures.
4. High level of insulation and high immunity for complex industrial environments
With a high level of insulation voltage and excellent immunity to common mode transients (CMTI), these devices help minimize the effects of ground loops, electrical noise, and transient overvoltages.
5. Wide industrial temperature range for extreme conditions
Its ability to operate (between -40°C and +125°C) guarantees stable performance even in the most demanding working environments.
This does not suggest that traditional standalone solutions should be completely abandoned, since when a project requires customized isolation voltages or very specific power supply requirements, conventional designs still offer the advantage of greater flexibility. However, in mainstream applications such as standardized industrial communications, energy measurement, or IoT data acquisition, single-chip 3-in-1 isolated transceivers represent a clear technological trend.
Engineers no longer need to repeatedly select, combine, and adjust isolated power supplies, isolation circuits, and communication transceivers. This frees up R&D resources to focus on firmware development, system optimization, and product innovation. The result is four key advantages: lower cost, smaller size, stable performance, and faster time to market.
Typical applications for these devices include: industrial automation, smart buildings, HVAC control, smart meters, remote I/O modules and signal acquisition, security systems, medical devices, motor drives, instrumentation and measurement, isolated ADC/DAC interfaces, and more.
CLAF Power Product Portfolio
CLAF Power offers a range consisting of three bus interface devices and a general-purpose high-speed digital isolator. Their main features are detailed below:
(1) T485H05S-T16 | Isolated Half-Duplex RS-485 Transceiver
• Transmission speed of up to 20Mbps
• Compliant with TIA/EIA-485-A standard
• Wide input voltage range: from 3V to 5.5V
• Integrated isolated power supply with isolation voltage up to 5000Vrms
• High immunity to common-mode transients (CMTI): 180kV/μs (typical value)
• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection: ±8kV (HBM) / ±4kV (contact discharge)
• Operating temperature range: -40°C to +125°C
• Capacity to control up to 256 nodes (1/8 unit load)
• SOIC-16 Encapsulation
(2) TCANH05S-T16 | Isolated CAN bus transceiver
• Transmission speed up to 5Mbps
• Compatible with ISO 11898-2
• I/O power supply range compatible with 5V microprocessors
• Protection against bus faults from -58V to +58V
• Integrated isolated power supply with isolation voltage up to 5000Vrms
• High immunity to common-mode transients (CMTI): 180kV/μs (typical value)
• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection: ±8kV (HBM) / ±4kV (contact discharge)
• Operating temperature range: -40°C to +125°C
• Ability to control up to 110 nodes
• SOIC-16 Encapsulation
(3) T422H05S-T16 | Full-Duplex Isolated RS-485/RS-422 Transceiver
• Transmission speed of up to 20Mbps
• Compliant with TIA/EIA-485-A standard
• I/O power supply range compatible with 5V microprocessors
• Integrated isolated power supply with isolation voltage up to 5000Vrms
• High immunity to common-mode transients (CMTI): 180kV/μs (typical value)
• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection: ±8kV (HBM) / ±4kV (contact discharge)
• Operating temperature range: -40°C to +125°C
• Capacity to manage up to 256 nodes (1/8 unit load)
• SOIC-16 Encapsulation
(4) T4xHS-T16 | High-speed digital isolator with integrated isolated DC-DC converter
• Transmission speed of up to 150Mbps
• Wide input voltage range: from 3V to 5.5V
• Integrated isolated power supply with isolation voltage up to 5000Vrms
• High immunity to common-mode transients (CMTI): 180kV/μs (typical value)
• Operating temperature range: -40°C to +125°C
• SOIC-16 package • Channel configuration options: 4/2 and 4/1
