Maximise power supply efficiency with a smart AC to DC front end: This MCU changes the game

This is the right technology at the right time: On the Newcomer Pavilion at PCIM, Zaki from Pulsiv talks us through perhaps the greatest power supply innovation that we saw at the show. Pulsiv’s solution will save you space, design complexity, component count, AND energy cost to the consumer. To understand its value, we must first set the scene.

Power supplies work most efficiently when running at the load they are designed for. However, if we take, for example, a laptop power supply, most of the time for many of us, this is simply maintaining the full charge on the battery. While doing this, the power supply is operating in an extremely inefficient low-power mode.

Recognising that this is a common way that many power supplies are being operated, Pulsiv have developed a new MCU-driven configuration for power supply front ends that significantly improves the efficiency of operation and ensures that this efficiency remains extremely high regardless of the load. Using this already-minimised front end, designers can now replace resonant DC/DC convertors with a flyback for a more efficient, more reliable, and less expensive back end.

To reiterate, Pulsiv’s power supply front-end innovation:

• Lowers component costs for power supplies
• Shrinks BOM and size of the power supply
• Improves efficiency across all load conditions
• Reduces energy bills for end users
• Everybody wins.

The currently available front-end evaluation board is only 70 x 70 x 30 mm and can serve greater than 250 W power supplies, depending on the chosen configuration.

Considering that this technology can be used in most power supplies and is perfect for creating more efficient chargers for the upcoming USB-C standard, Pulsiv should be flooded with enquiries. If not, there might be something wrong with the World, or their message is not getting out there. At least ipXchange has done our bit, and no doubt we’ll do it again.