The company's flagship TOPSwitch™ integrated circuit architecture reduces complexity, eliminates heat sinks in many cases, shortens design time, improves manufacturability, and lowers the overall system cost.
“This is more than a product evolution; it’s a fundamental shift in how engineers can approach power supply design,” said Silvestro Fimiani, director of product marketing at Power Integrations. “For decades, designers have had to rely on resonant topologies like LLC as power levels increased. With TOPSwitchGaN, we’re bringing flyback to a power range that wasn’t previously possible, enabling engineers to achieve high efficiency and performance with a much simpler architecture.”.
The TOPSwitchGaN integrated circuits deliver 92% efficiency across the entire load range—from 10% to 100% load—and far exceed European Energy-related Products (ErP) regulations, with power consumption below 50 mW in standby and off modes. The device achieves this without the need for synchronous rectification.
PowiGaN switches offer a much lower RDS(ON) than silicon. This translates into reduced conduction losses, dramatically increasing the power handling capacity of flyback converters. These new devices incorporate 800 V PowiGaN switches, providing excellent surge resilience and low switching losses, meaning they can operate at switching frequencies up to 150 kHz to minimize transformer size.
No-load power consumption is well below 50 mW at 230 VAC, including line sensing, and up to 210 mW of output power is available for a 300 mW input at 230 VAC to perform maintenance functions when the units are in standby mode.
Fimiani continued: “As the first device to combine offline switches in small packages—and with billions of units sold since 1994—the name TOPSwitch is synonymous with innovation in power conversion. Engineers rely on TOPSwitch for its efficiency and ease of use, and now those advantages are available for an even wider range of designs. TOPSwitchGaN extends the power range of the flyback architecture to 440 W—unprecedented with this architecture—allowing flybacks to be used in applications that previously required more complex topologies.”
The new integrated circuits are available in two versions. For ultra-thin designs, the low-profile eSOP™-12 surface-mount package delivers 135 W (85–265 VAC) without a heatsink for applications such as household appliances. The vertical orientation of the eSIP™-7 package minimizes its footprint on the printed circuit board and has a thermal impedance equivalent to that of a TO-220 packaged component. Attaching a metal heatsink with a simple clip expands the power range for applications including power tools, electric bicycles, and automatic garage doors. Because TOPSwitchGaN ICs are pin-compatible with TinySwitch™-5 offline switching ICs, designers can use the same methodology for applications ranging from 10 W to 440 W.
Availability and Resources:
The price of TOPSwitchGaN starts at $1.00 for quantities of 10,000 units (TOP7074K-TL). The following reference design materials are available:
DER-1079: This kit uses the TOP7074K to provide a 60W wide-range isolated flyback power supply for household appliances;
DER -1019: This kit details a 356W high-voltage (89V/4A) industrial isolated flyback power supply, based on the TOP7078E;
RDK -1018: This electric bicycle charger kit is a 168W wide-range isolated flyback design using the TOP7075E.
For more information, contact a Power Integrations sales representative or one of the company's authorized distributors worldwide — DigiKey, Newark, Mouser and RS Components — or visit power.com.
