Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today released industry-first’s high-efficiency power supply IC, the RAA230161 that supports the Power Rules requirements as defined in USB Power Delivery (USB PD) 2.0 and 3.0 specifications from USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). This IC can be used with a wide variety of equipment that uses direct current (DC) power, from AC adapters and PC peripheral equipment to home and office equipment, and hub applications.
The new high-efficiency power supply IC allows system manufacturers to quickly and easily implement safe and reliable power supply equipment that is based on the USB PD 2.0 and 3.0 specifications.
The USB PD specification makes it possible to provide DC power over a USB cable to equipment, such as notebook personal computers and digital single-lens reflex cameras that previously could not be powered over a USB cable.
In particular, in addition to the maximum 7.5 W (5 V at 1.5 A) of the earlier USB standards, this new standard adds Power Rules based on 15 W (5 V at 3 A), 27 W (9 V at 3 A), 45 W (15 V at 3 A), 60 W (20 V at 3 A), and 100 W (20 V at 5 A) capacities. As a result, power supply designers are faced with challenges supporting multiple voltage levels of the USB PD standards, output voltage switching, and handling large currents up to 3 A. Also, as the concerns for hazards (e.g., overheating on non-compliant cables) associated with larger currents increases, new designs for USB PD power supply will need to provide a higher level of safety and reliability.
Given these conditions, Renesas moved up its development of technology for “Simple DC/DC” called for by users of Renesas microcontroller (MCU) and system-on-chip (SoC) devices, and developed power supply ICs centered around DC/DC converters that can achieve an efficiency rate of up to 95 percent leading to less power loss, as devices that can resolve the issues in the construction of power supply equipment that supports the USB PD 2.0 and 3.0 standards.
