Innovative GaN ac-dc converter IC from Power Integrations earns 2019 Leap Award

The votes are in. Business-to-Business publisher WTWH Media, LLC, has announced the winners of the second-year Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program (LEAP) Awards, a design engineering product competition honoring the most exciting new products in a host of technology areas: Additive Manufacturing, Advanced Materials, Analog Electronics, Connectivity, Embedded Computing, Fastener Technology, Hydraulics, Industrial Automation, Mechanical, Motion Control, Pneumatics, Power Electronics, Software, Switches & Sensors, and Test & Measurement.

Earning honors in the Power Electronics category were new GaN-based offline CV/CC flyback switcher ICs developed by Power Integrations. The new ICs achieve up to 95% efficiency across the full load range and up to 100 W in enclosed adapter implementations without requiring a heatsink – a ground-breaking increase in performance thanks to the company’s internally developed high-voltage GaN switch technology.

The InnoSwitch INN3X79C and INN3X70C devices feature GaN switches that replace the traditional silicon high-voltage transistors on the primary side of the IC, reducing conduction losses when current is flowing and considerably reducing switching losses during operation. This results in substantially less wasted energy and therefore increased efficiency and power delivery from the space-saving InSOP-24D package.

Power Integrations’ InnoSwitch3 family silicon variants have become the technology leader in the offline switcher IC market since they launched eighteen months ago. The quasi-resonant InnoSwitch3-CP, InnoSwitch3-EP and InnoSwitch3-Pro ICs combine the primary FET, the primary-side controller, a secondary side controller for synchronous rectification and FluxLink technology that eliminates the requirement for an optocoupler into a single surface-mounted package.

Performance parameters are:
INN3X79C: at 230 Vac ±15%, Adapter 80 W, open frame 85 W; at 85 – 264 Vac, Adapter 65 W, open frame 75 W.
INN3X70C: at 230 Vac ±15%, Adapter 90 W, open frame 100 W; at 85 – 264 Vac, Adapter 75 W, open frame 85 W.
Pricing for the new GaN INN3X79C and INN3X70C devices is $4/unit in 10,000-piece quantities.

Congratulations to Power Integrations and to the rest of the 2019 Leap Award winners.