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Power Integrations announced the release of the InnoSwitch™5-Pro family of high-efficiency, programmable flyback switcher ICs. The single-chip switcher achieves over 95 percent efficiency with a novel secondary-side control scheme which achieves zero-voltage switching (ZVS) without a dedicated and costly additional high voltage switch.
The new IC, which features a 750 V or a 900 V PowiGaN™ primary switch, primary-side controller, FluxLink™ isolated feedback and secondary controller with an I2C interface, optimizes the design and manufacture of compact, highly efficient single- or multi-port USB PD adapters. Applications are notebooks, high-end cellphones and other portable consumer products, including designs that require the new USB PD EPR (Extended Power Range) protocol.
Adnaan Lokhandwala, senior product marketing manager at Power Integrations said: “The combination of ZVS and GaN is power supply magic. Switching losses vanish, and we can leverage the low conduction losses of GaN to implement super dense adapter layouts with far fewer components than asymmetric half-bridge (AHB) circuits or active clamp alternatives. For example, we have demonstrated 140 W / 28 V USB PD adapters in 4.2 cubic inches using only 106 components. The flyback topology used by InnoSwitch5-Pro ICs is much easier to implement than AHB and can also operate from universal mains with or without a PFC stage.”
InnoSwitch5-Pro flyback switcher ICs feature lossless input line voltage sensing on the secondary side for adaptive DCM/CCM and ZVS control to maximize efficiency and simplify design across line and load. The ICs also feature a post-production tolerance offset to facilitate accurate output constant-current (CC) control of better than two percent to support the UFCS protocol.
Excellent efficiency – better than 95 percent – allows designers to eliminate heat sinks, spreaders and potting materials for thermal management, further reducing size, weight, component cost and manufacturing complexity. Key markets for the InnoSwitch5-Pro family of flyback switcher ICs include high-density USB PD 3.1 Extended Power Range (EPR), UFCS and multi-protocol adapters, notebook adapters and after-market single- and multi-port chargers and adapters.
Original – Power Integrations
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Power Integrations announced that it has been Certified™ by Great Place To Work® for a second consecutive year. In a recent anonymous survey, 85 percent of employees said that Power Integrations is a great place to work—28 points higher than the average U.S. company. Additionally, 91 percent reported feeling that they make a difference at the company, while 86 percent said they would strongly endorse the company to friends and family as a great place to work.
Stated Balu Balakrishnan, chairman and CEO of Power Integrations: “We are proud to be recognized once again with Great Place To Work Certification. As an innovation-driven company, our success depends on developing a talented, stable workforce and a culture that promotes creativity and risk-taking. While we will always strive to improve, it is gratifying to learn that so many of our employees are happy and proud to be part of Power Integrations.”
“Great Place To Work Certification is a highly coveted achievement that requires consistent and intentional dedication to the overall employee experience,” says Sarah Lewis-Kulin, vice president of global recognition at Great Place To Work.
She emphasizes that Certification is the sole official recognition earned by the real-time feedback of employees regarding their company culture. “By successfully earning this recognition, it is evident that Power Integrations stands out as one of the top companies to work for, providing a great workplace environment for its employees.”
Power Integrations currently has numerous job openings across North America, Europe and Asia. To learn more, interested job seekers can visit the “Careers” page of the Power Integrations website.
Original – Power Integrations
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Power Integrations announced a new family of plug-and-play gate drivers for 62 mm silicon-carbide (SiC) MOSFET and silicon IGBT modules rated up to 1700 V, with enhanced protection features to ensure safe, reliable operation.
SCALE™-2 2SP0230T2x0 dual-channel gate drivers deploy short-circuit protection in less than two microseconds, protecting the compact SiC MOSFETs against damaging over-currents. The new drivers also include advanced active clamping (AAC) to protect the switches against over-voltage during turn-off, enabling higher DC link operating voltages.
Thorsten Schmidt, product marketing manager at Power Integrations, commented: “The 2SP0230T2x0 gate drivers are flexible; the same hardware can be used to drive either SiC MOSFET or IGBT modules. This reduces both system design and sourcing challenges, and the plug-and-play approach speeds development.”
Ideal for applications such as railway auxiliary converters, offboard EV chargers and STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM) voltage regulators for the power grid, 2SP0230T2x0 gate drivers are based on Power Integrations’ proven SCALE-2 technology, resulting in higher levels of integration, smaller size, more functionality and enhanced system reliability.
Power Integrations’ compact 134 x 62 mm 2SP0230T2x0 provides reinforced isolation at 1700 V, enabling use for up to 1700 V operation; this is 500 V higher than conventional drivers, which are typically limited to 1200 V.
Original – Power Integrations
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Power Integrations announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. Net revenues for the third quarter were $125.5 million, up two percent compared to the prior quarter and down 22 percent from the third quarter of 2022. Net income for the third quarter was $19.8 million or $0.34 per diluted share compared to $0.26 per diluted share in the prior quarter and $0.80 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2022. Cash flow from operations for the third quarter was $26.7 million.
In addition to its GAAP results, the company provided non-GAAP measures that for the third quarter of 2023 exclude stock-based compensation, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets and the related tax effects. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2023 was $26.6 million or $0.46 per diluted share compared to $0.36 per diluted share in the prior quarter and $0.84 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2022. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results is included with the tables accompanying this press release.
Commented Balu Balakrishnan, chairman and CEO of Power Integrations: “Our results and forecast reflect the broad-based demand weakness and elevated supply-chain inventories cited by many of our peers this quarter. Notwithstanding the uncertain short-term outlook, our products are winning in the market, design activity remains healthy, and we are making excellent progress on growth initiatives such as EVs, efficient drivers for brushless DC motors, and our proprietary GaN technology.
“We took the next step on our GaN roadmap last month with the introduction of InnoSwitch™ ICs incorporating a 1250-volt PowiGaN™ switch. This breakthrough not only extends the efficiency benefits of GaN to a wider range of applications but also demonstrates that GaN will be a more cost-effective alternative to silicon carbide in the years ahead.”
Power Integrations paid a dividend of $0.19 per share on September 29, 2023, and will pay a dividend of $0.20 per share on December 29, 2023, to stockholders of record as of November 30, 2023. During the third quarter the company repurchased approximately 24,000 shares of its common stock for $1.8 million. The company had $73.4 million remaining on its repurchase authorization as of September 30, 2023.
Financial Outlook
The company issued the following forecast for the fourth quarter of 2023:
- Revenues are expected to be $90 million plus or minus $5 million.
- Gross margins are expected to be similar to the third-quarter levels.
- GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $50 million; non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $42.5 million. Non-GAAP expenses are expected to exclude about $7.5 million of stock-based compensation.
Original – Power Integrations
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Power Integrations released the world’s highest-voltage, single-switch gallium-nitride (GaN) power supply IC, featuring a 1250-volt PowiGaN™ switch. InnoSwitch™3-EP 1250 V ICs are the newest members of Power Integrations’ InnoSwitch family of off-line CV/CC QR flyback switcher ICs, which feature synchronous rectification, FluxLink™ safety-isolated feedback and an array of switch options: 725 V silicon, 1700 V silicon carbide, and PowiGaN in 750 V, 900 V and now 1250 V varieties.
The switching losses for Power Integrations’ proprietary 1250 V PowiGaN technology are less than a third of that seen in equivalent silicon devices at the same voltage. This results in power conversion efficiency as high as 93 percent – enabling highly compact flyback power supplies that can deliver up to 85 W without a heatsink.
Radu Barsan, vice president of technology at Power Integrations, said: “Power Integrations continues to advance the state of the art in high-voltage GaN technology development and commercial deployment, rendering even the best high-voltage silicon MOSFETs obsolete along the way. We were first to market with high-volume shipments of GaN-based power-supply ICs in 2019, and earlier this year introduced a 900-volt version of our GaN-based InnoSwitch products.
Our ongoing development of higher voltage GaN technology, illustrated here by our new 1250 V devices, extends the efficiency benefits of GaN to an even wider range of applications, including many currently served by silicon-carbide technology.”
Designers using the new InnoSwitch3-EP 1250 V ICs can confidently specify an operating peak voltage of 1000 V, which allows for industry-standard 80 percent de-rating from the 1250 V absolute maximum. This provides significant headroom for industrial applications and is particularly valuable in challenging power grid environments where robustness is an essential defense against grid instability, surge and other power perturbations.
Original – Power Integrations
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Power Integrations™ is providing advanced PowiGaN™ gallium-nitride (GaN) technology, expert design support, and financial sponsorship for Team aCentauri in the 3,000 km Bridgestone World Solar Challenge later this month. Power Integrations’ Mr. Green will follow Team aCentauri and the 37 other entrants across the Australian Outback as they push the boundaries of innovation in efficiency, aerodynamics, speed and range for solar-powered cars.
“After studying Power Integrations’ extensive list of reference designs, Team aCentauri asked us to help them design a power converter based on the 750-volt, InnoSwitch™3-EP with PowiGaN technology,” said Trevor Hiatt, director of marketing at Power Integrations. “With our IC and expert design support, the team not only boosted energy efficiency to 95.7 percent while the system operates at maximum power, but also improved efficiency by more than 50 percent while the system drives light loads – which is most of the time.”
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge begins in Darwin on October 22 and is expected to conclude in Adelaide on October 29.
Original – Power Integrations
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Power Integrations, the leader in gate-driver technology for medium- and high-voltage inverter applications, introduced the SCALE-iFlex™ LT NTC family of IGBT/SiC module gate drivers. The new gate drivers target the popular new dual, 100 mm x 140 mm style of IGBT modules, such as the Mitsubishi LV100 and the Infineon XHP 2, as well as silicon carbide (SiC) variants thereof up to 2300 V blocking voltage. The SCALE-iFlex LT NTC drivers provide Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) data – an isolated temperature measurement of the power module – which enables accurate thermal management of converter systems. This is particularly important for systems with multiple modules arrayed in parallel, ensuring proper current sharing and dramatically enhancing overall system reliability.
Thorsten Schmidt, product marketing manager at Power Integrations, commented: “Designers of renewable energy and rail systems using SCALE-iFlex drivers already benefit from increased system performance; the SCALE-iFlex approach handles paralleling so expertly that one module in five can be eliminated without loss of performance or current de-rating. Adding an isolated NTC output reduces hardware complexity – particularly cables and connectors – and contributes to system observability and overall performance.”
Based on Power Integrations’ proven SCALE™-2 technology, SCALE-iFlex LT gate drivers improve current sharing accuracy and therefore increase the current carrying capability of multiple-paralleled modules by 20 percent, allowing users to significantly increase the semiconductor utilization of their converter stacks. This is possible because the localized control of each 2SMLT0220D MAG (Module Adapted Gate driver) unit ensures precise control and switching, enabling excellent current sharing. Advanced Active Clamping (AAC) is employed to deliver accurate overvoltage protection.
To further increase space saving, up to four MAG-driven power modules can be parallel-connected from a single 2SILT1200T Isolated Master Control (IMC) unit, which can also be mounted on a power module due to its compact outline. The gate drivers are fully qualified to IEC 61000-4-x (EMI), IEC-60068-2-x (environmental) and IEC-60068-2-x (mechanical) specifications, and undergo complete type testing – low voltage, high voltage, thermal cycling – shortening designer development time by 12 to 18 months. A comprehensive set of protection features is included, and parts are optionally available with conformal coating.
Original – Power Integrations
