Ericsson has announced an industry first with the new PIM4800PI series of power interface modules that save board space for core processing functions. The modules enable system architects to design equipment with energy-monitoring features, enabling in turn the use of optimization algorithms to reduce overall board power consumption. The new series is able to sustain a current of 16.5A across the full telecommunications input voltage range of 36V to 75V. This results in an output power of 660W to 890W with built-in digital monitoring via the PMBus. In addition, the new modules can provide up to 20A continuous current in systems where there are very limited or no input-voltage transients.

Says Patrick Le Fèvre, marketing and communications director of Ericsson Power Modules: "The demands for increasing computing power and signal-handling capacity in the ICT industry means higher power needs per system board. However, at the same time, board real estate together with energy management and power optimization have became strategically important factors for systems designers. This new product benefits from Ericsson's extensive experience in high-efficiency topologies, board power optimization technologies and the development of products incorporating digital interfaces and PMBus capabilities."

The first in this new series, the PIM4820BPD, is a power interface module that enables monitoring via the industry-standard PMBus. It includes a DC/DC power module converter with 2250 VDC isolation and an adjustable output voltage of 0.85V to 7.0V within a power range of 15W/5A. While aimed primarily at high-end equipment applications, the PIM4820BPD allows the optimization of board space and delivers board-level control of power consumption. This makes the product also highly attractive for a broad range of ICT applications overall.

The module delivers all the features being demanded by high-end and high-capacity datacom and telecom equipment, which is fast evolving toward the kilowatt board power level yet also requires advanced monitoring functionalities such as input power or state-of-the-input power stages for energy optimization, preventive maintenance, auto-diagnostic and general monitoring. When combined with centralized-feed input filters, the PIM4820BPD becomes the most advanced solution for a new generation of telecom and datacom ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture) based architectures.

The product provides a PMBus-based (Version 2.0) digital interface that enables the user to monitor the input voltages, input current and device temperature. It can also be used with any standard two-wire I2C or SMBus host device. The module also includes a SALERT line. Thus it is possible to monitor various different parameters and status/fault flags such as overtemperature, overcurrent, undervoltage, input overvoltage and OR-ing MOSFET status.

Packaged in a quarter-brick form factor, measuring 57.9 x 36.8 x 13.7 mm (2.28 x 1.45 x 0.539 in), the PIM4820BPD leaves ample board real estate for core system components such as microprocessors and FPGAs. Offering an MTBF of 1.2 million hours, it incorporates all the necessary monitoring functions to assist system architects in meeting emerging energy regulations. Additionally, it provides a number of sub-components such as the input transient suppression and protection devices and many other features that usually require additional board space. Ericsson claims that the product is designed to sustain a permanent current of 16.5A. It further claims that the PIM4820BPD's OR-ing MOSFET and hot-swap stage have been carefully designed to reduce power losses to a minimum, resulting in 99.4% efficiency at 60V input.

A development board, ROA1285151, has also been made available, offering designers the ability to connect to other Ericsson 3E* development boards that host digitally-controlled Advanced Bus Converters (ABCs) and 3E Point-of-Load (POL) converters.

As a standalone product, the ROA1285151 development board is priced at $560. In OEM quantities, the PIM4820BPD is priced at $77.