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Customers benefit from Vicor's short cycle-time production processes

The “component power” concept, where modular building blocks replace discrete component designs, has proved popular partly because customers benefit from the improved time-to-market. Over the past few years Vicor’s investment in automation and lean manufacturing processes has reduced the lead-time for manufactured products from weeks to days.

Through our prototype service Vicor can offer delivery of small quantities of any one of 10,000 different standard modules from our factory in typically 10-15 days. Additionally, Power Express offers customers lead-times of less than six weeks on production quantities.

For your nearest Vicor support centre go to http://www.vicor-asia.com/.

EMI input filters compatible with most DC-DC converters

The QPI family of active EMI filters provides conducted common-mode (CM) and differential-mode (DM) attenuation from 150 kHz to 30 MHz. The proprietary active filtering circuit provides superior attenuation for typical power conversion frequencies and supports PICMG ® 3.0 ATCA requirements.

The QPI-4 and QPI-6 meet the specifications for the telecom bus: range 36-76V including 100V, 100 ms surge capability. Rated at 7 and 14A, the products support single or multiple DC-DC converters requiring up to 672W of input power at 48V input.

The QPI-3 and QPI-5 operate over a 10-40Vdc range to support industrial bus and COTS defence applications. The units are rated at 7 and 14A respectively and support single or multiple DC-DC converters requiring up to 336W of input power at 24V input.

QPI-8 has in-rush current limit and circuit breaker functions with Hot Swap capability supporting PICMG®3.0 200W per board limit on 48 or 60V DC bus. It complies with AdvancedTCA™ PICMG®3.0 requirements for hot insertion.

The QPI family is available in a 25 x 25 x 4.5 mm SiP with LGA mounting. For further information and datasheets, go to http://www.vicor-asia.com/.

Local and remote sensing

The sense leads of 2nd Generation Mini and Maxi modules must always be closed: either directly at the output pins (local sensing) or at the load (remote sensing).

When remote sensing is used, all of the wiring impedances - both in the sense leads and power leads - may introduce instabilities into the feedback loop. This can result in oscillation, poor transient response, activation of the output over voltage protection (OVP) or, in extreme cases, possible damage to the module. Care must always be used in lead placement and/or printed circuit board layout to minimize impedances and maximize noise immunity. If very long sense leads are used, external compensation circuitry may be required for stability.

Do not exceed 0.25 Vdc drop between -S and -Out leads. This is an important consideration if OR'ing diodes are used - they should be located in the +Output lead to avoid exceeding this rating.

When using remote sense, it is important not to exceed the maximum output power rating of the converter. The power lost in the conductors from the converter to the load must be included in the total power delivered by the converter.

Please bear in mind, if the sense pins are not closed the module will not operate in open loop and will trigger the OVP. Once the OVP has been triggered it is necessary to remove the input voltage and wait for several minutes.

Any attempt to restart the module earlier will reactivate the delay period of the OVP circuit and the module may appear defective

Laser for 3D glass engraving

You may have already seen these nice little glass cubes with engraved 3-dimensional faces, animals, machines etc. They are manufactured by focusing a high power laser beam inside the glass. The energy of the laser beam causes micro explosions in the glass. The result is small white dots, and with hundreds of these dots a 3-dimensional picture appears inside the glass.

Laser diodes are not only very expensive but also quite sensitive. Precise output regulation is necessary to control the current into the laser diodes.

Vicor's product was an ideal solution because of its high density and adjustable output voltage.

Get your ticket here!

When using public transport such as trains, buses or trams, you could be buying your ticket from a machine powered by Vicor.

At a public bus or railway station, ticket machines have to tolerate all weather conditions, ranging from the freezing cold temperatures of long winters in Finland or Norway, to very hot summers in Spain or Italy. Because Vicor modules operate from -55ºC to +100ºC, they are ideally suited to this particular application.

Inside a bus or tram, a ticket machine has to be able to withstand shock and vibration; because all Vicor modules are potted, they provide the necessary rugged power supply.

Additionally, we have input modules as low as 9.2 Vin, offering the ideal power supply solution for the 12 V and 24 V battery requirements of this market.

If you have used Vicor modules in a novel application, we'd love to hear from you!

Technical Library on CD

The CD enables easy access to product data and application notes as well as linking to the internet to provide an up-to-date product catalogue. It gives access to webcasts and seminars, video demos showing how to optimise power supply systems, and a 180-page applications manual explaining the best design approaches and techniques to solve common challenges such as thermal issues, input and output filtering, and EMI considerations.

A free copy of the CD can be obtained from http://www.vicor-asia.com/cd/

Below is a crossword. Complete each of the clues across to give you a word down that relates to an item that Vicor has recently been promoting!