Silicon Labs Launches Plug-and-Play Isolated Power Supply Solution
April 01 2015 - 4:05PM
Business Wire
Si88xx Isolators with On-Chip dc-dc Converter
Target Industrial Applications Including Factory Automation, Solar
Inverters and Battery Management
Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leading provider of digital
isolator and power products for industrial automation, today
introduced a new family of high-speed, multi-channel digital
isolators designed to provide a complete, highly integrated
solution for signal and power isolation. Silicon Labs’ new Si88xx
isolators feature an integrated dc-dc converter with 78 percent
efficiency, deliver up to 2 W of power, and offer very low
electromagnetic interference (EMI) emissions and high noise
immunity. The Si88xx family reduces system cost, speeds
time-to-market and enhances reliability for applications in harsh,
noisy operating environments including factory automation, process
control, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), solar inverters and
automotive battery management.
Silicon Labs’ Si88xx isolator family addresses a critical need
in industrial automation for plug-and-play isolated power supplies.
Developers often must design made-from-scratch isolated power
supplies, which can be a time-consuming, frustrating and costly
process requiring numerous discrete components. Discrete power
isolation solutions commonly use field-effect transistors (FETs),
controllers, single-channel isolators or optocouplers, and other
components. In contrast, a design based on a multi-channel Si88xx
isolator requires the addition of only one miniature ferrite core
transformer and a few discrete passive components. Solutions based
on Si88xx isolators ultimately save multiple design iterations and
reduce bill-of-materials (BOM) cost and design complexity while
enhancing noise immunity and power efficiency.
Si88xx digital isolators provide up to 2 W of isolated power by
harvesting power from the primary side to supply secondary side
power. The isolators offer up to four high-speed digital isolation
channels with excellent timing characteristics including low
propagation delay and low jitter, enabling longer system lifetimes
at high voltages. These signal isolation characteristics are
critical for developers designing systems for industrial
automation, battery management and motor control requiring
long-term performance. The low-power, high-speed Si88xx digital
isolation channels offer substantial data rate, propagation delay
and reliability advantages over legacy isolation technologies
including optocouplers. The Si88xx family supports data rates of up
to 100 Mbps, and Si8xx devices achieve typical propagation delays
of 23 ns.
The Si88xx isolators incorporate Silicon Labs’ proven, patented
digital isolator technology with an on-chip isolated dc-dc
converter providing regulated output voltages of 3.3 V or 5.0 V (or
>5 V with external components) at peak output power levels of up
to 2 W. The robust dc-dc converter architecture, coupled with a
ferrite core isolated transformer, provides ample power to
self-power the secondary side of the isolator as well as other
components such as RS-485 or CAN transceivers, microcontrollers and
analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The dc-dc converter is based
on a modified fly-back architecture with secondary side sensing and
feedback to the controller with external compensation. The power
switches use zero voltage switching (ZVS) techniques to minimize
power losses as well as dithering to minimize EMI.
The Si88xx isolators incorporate multiple safety features
including a built-in soft-start function providing protection from
inrush currents, a cycle-by-cycle current limiting capability and
thermal detection/shutdown. The integrated dc-dc converter includes
a built-in secondary sensing and feedback signal, eliminating the
need for an additional opto feedback path while enabling excellent
line and load regulation for greater system stability. The dc-dc
converter also features a shut-down option and user-adjustable
switching frequency for fine-tuning the EMI profile to suit each
developer’s application needs.
“The new Si88xx family brings the superior EMI performance, high
data rates and reliability of Silicon Labs’ digital isolator
technology to demanding applications requiring both signal and
power isolation coupled with higher channel count density,” said
Ross Sabolcik, vice president and general manager of Silicon Labs’
Analog, Power and Sensor products. “The Si88xx digital isolators
provide industrial system developers with a complete, plug-and-play
solution that greatly simplifies their power supply applications
while ensuring long-term performance and reliability.”
Pricing and Availability
Samples and production quantities of Si88xx digital isolators
are available now in 20-pin WB SOIC packages. Ordering options
include a choice of dc-dc converter features, isolation channel
configurations and a fail-safe mode. All Si88xx products are
certified by UL, CSA, VDE and CQC. Si88xx family pricing in
10,000-unit quantities begins at $2.42 (USD). To help developers
evaluate the performance of Si88xx isolators, Silicon Labs’
Si88xxxISO-KIT evaluation kit is available now for $29 (USD MSRP).
For more details about Silicon Labs’ Si88xx digital isolators and
to purchase samples and development tools, please visit
www.silabs.com/Si88xx.
Silicon Labs
Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is a leading provider of silicon,
software and system solutions for the Internet of Things, Internet
infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive
markets. We solve the electronics industry’s toughest problems,
providing customers with significant advantages in performance,
energy savings, connectivity and design simplicity. Backed by our
world-class engineering teams with unsurpassed software and
mixed-signal design expertise, Silicon Labs empowers developers
with the tools and technologies they need to advance quickly and
easily from initial idea to final product. www.silabs.com
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Silicon LabsDale Weisman,
+1-512-532-5871dale.weisman@silabs.com
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