Digital-power Advanced Bus Converter platform improves power consumption
Ericsson was the first company to introduce digitally controlled and PMBus-compliant advanced DC/DC bus conversion technology with its BMR453.
Built around the capabilities of the 32-bit ARM7TDMI-S microprocessor core, the FRIDA II platform integrates brand new hardware and firmware that has been optimized to guarantee the highest efficiency at any point of operation. The platform offers a tightly regulated output voltage (2%) across the entire operational range – from 36 V to 75 V – together with an unprecedented output response to input disturbances such as line transients.
FRIDA II also includes proprietary firmware developed by Ericsson to integrate complex scenarios and the challenges faced by DC/DC board-mounted power supplies in telecom and datacom applications, such as in Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA or AdvancedTCA) or remote telecom equipment that is connected to an unstable power grid.
Exploiting the possibilities offered by its core processor’s fast response and computational abilities, the embedded firmware integrates an ultra-fast response-loop algorithm. The algorithm adjusts parameters to guarantee output voltage will always be contained within a narrow band-gap, and remain tightly controlled whatever the input conditions, over the input voltage range from a low 36 V to a high 75 V.
Ericsson’s proprietary dead-time control algorithm has also been augmented with additional functionalities to reduce switching power losses and ease component stress during switching, even further increasing the outstanding reliability of the original FRIDA I platform. This combined with a unique integrated transformer layout and the use of leading-edge power transistor technologies enables the FRIDA II platform to deliver the high level of performance required in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications.
Compared to the FRIDA I platform, the implementation of a highly advanced power controller, in conjunction with control algorithms, has made it possible to reduce the number of components used in the FRIDA II platform by approximately 10%. This contributes to a reduction in cost and a further increase in reliability. The platform’s integrated transformer and feedback components have also been specially designed to meet 2250 VDC isolation requirements for applications requiring this high level.
The first product based on the FRIDA II platform will be a quarter-brick advanced bus converter, called the BMR456, which will deliver an output power of 400 W and above; followed by a new eighth-brick format device, the BMR457, which will deliver an output power of 250 W and above.
The FRIDA II platform is part of the Ericsson 3E products and patents portfolio.
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