EPC’s 50 W, 12 V to 60 V eGaN® FET-based Boost Converter Provides an Efficient, Simple, Low-cost Solution for Laptop and PC Monitor Backlighting

A 50 W, 12 V to 60 V eGaN FET-based synchronous boost converter achieves 95.3% peak efficiency with low temperature rise with a simple, low-cost topology

EPC announces the availability of the EPC9162, a bi-directional buck or reverse-boost converter. This demonstration board features the 100 V EPC2052 for the synchronous converter, and the EPC2038 in the synchronous bootstrap FET circuit.

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“How to Design a 12V-to-60V Boost Converter with Low-temperature Rise Using eGaN® FETs” (Graphic: Business Wire)

The EPC9162 is by default programmed as a boost converter operating at 12 V input to 60 V/50 W output. However, the board can also be operated as a buck converter at 48 V input to 12 V/60 W output. The fast-switching speed of eGaN FETs significantly reduces switching losses for higher efficiency operation. To make it simple for a power supply designer to easily replicate this design, all supporting materials for this board including schematic, bills of materials, and Gerber files are available on the EPC website.

The peak efficiency from 12 V to 60 V/0.85 A is 95.3% and the light load efficiency is 86% with only a 40°C temperature rise despite the small size of the eGaN FETs.

“In applications where light-load efficiency is critical, such as LED backlighting for laptops and monitors, the low switching losses of eGaN FETs provide high efficiency with very low temperature rise to prevent equipment overheating,” said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC. “The synchronous boost topology is a simple, low-cost solution for power system designers.”

Price and Availability

The EPC9162 demonstration board is priced at $284.12 each and is available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key at https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/epc/EPC9162/15295925.

About EPC

EPC is the leader in enhancement mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) based power management. eGaN FETs and integrated circuits provide performance many times greater than the best silicon power MOSFETs in applications such as DC-DC converters, remote sensing technology (lidar), motor drives for eMobility, robotics, and drones, and low-cost satellites.

Visit our web site: www.epc-co.com

eGaN is a registered trademark of Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, Inc.

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50 W GaN-based Boost Converter is an Efficient, Low-cost Solution for Laptop and PC Monitor Backlighting