EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - International Rectifier, IR®(NYSE: IRF), a world leader in power management technology, today introduced a new chipset in their XPhase® family of control ICs and phase ICs for scalable multi-phase, interleaved buck DC-DC converters, adding N+1 redundancy, hot-swapping capability and a host of protection features. IR’s new chipset, comprising the IR3510 XPhase Control IC and companion IR3086A and IR3088A Phase ICs, is ideal for powering high-availability CPUs and servers in fault-tolerant applications where live insertion is required.
The IR3510 Control IC implements a simple and efficient synchronous buck topology, combined with input MOSFETs for hot-swapping and output MOSFETs for ORing, to ensure complete system protection against failures such as short circuits. To extend MTBF, average current mode control is used to implement droop sharing between converters without any single point failure modes, thus enabling N+1 redundancy. Additionally, the chipset provides input isolation protection, allowing hot-swapping of power modules without damage, while enabling 100% availability of power to the system.
“International Rectifier’s Hot-Swappable N+1 redundant XPhase voltage regulator chipset is the first to incorporate hot-swapping and active ORing along with a full-featured multi-phase VRM controller,” said Jeff Sherman, senior marketing manager of IR’s DC-DC multi-phase computing products. “We believe it will quickly become a standard in high-availability applications,” he added.
Hot Swappable N+1 redundant AC-DC and DC-DC converters using transformer-based power topologies have been available for many years to provide board-level bulk power in server, telecommunication and netcom systems. Transformer-based topologies, however, are no longer viable solutions for directly powering advanced microprocessors due to decreasing operating voltages, increasing currents, and the proliferation of power rails required. Until now, point-of-load converters have been unable to provide N + 1 redundant power along with the required input to output isolation.
About XPhase
XPhase is IR's distributed multiphase architecture that consists of control ICs and phase ICs that communicate using a simple five-wire bus scheme. Phases can be added or removed without changing the fundamental design. The five-wire analog bus consists of bias voltage, phase timing, average current, error amplifier output and VID voltage. By eliminating point-to-point wiring between the control and the phase ICs, the five-wire bus shortens interconnections, and reduces parasitic inductance and noise. This simplifies PCB layout and gives a more robust design.
Availability and Pricing
The new chipset is available immediately and samples are available to qualified users.
Pricing for the IR3510M is US $7.49 each in 10,000-piece quantities. Pricing for the IR3086A and IR3088A is US $2.20 each in 10,000-piece quantities. Prices are subject to change. The devices are lead-free and are compliant with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS).