Introduction

As electronic systems continue to trend toward lower voltages with higher currents and as the speed of contemporary loads – such as state-of-the-art processors and memory – continues to increase, the power systems designer is challenged to provide small, cost-effective and efficient solutions that offer the requisite performance. Traditional power architectures cannot, in the long run, provide the required performance. Vicor’s new Factorized Power Architecture™ (FPA), and its new families of integrated power components, called V•I Chips™ and VI BRICKs™, provide a revolutionary new and optimal power conversion solution that addresses the challenge in every respect.

The Architectural Problems of Power Conversion

With each new generation of processor, memory, DSP and ASIC, the trend is toward lower voltages, higher currents, higher speeds and more onboard voltages. System designers are challenged to contend with a proliferation of lower voltages; provide ever-faster transient response; improve overall power system efficiency; and do it all using less board area.

Historically, a variety of power systems architectures have been adopted as solutions. Principal among them have been Centralized Power Architecture (CPA), Distributed Power Architecture (DPA) and Intermediate Bus Architecture (IBA).

CPA, one of the oldest power systems architectures, generates all system voltages at a central location and distributes them to load locations via distribution buses. This can be effective if the voltages are high and the currents low or if the distances between the power supply and the loads are small. However, for low voltages and widely distributed loads, the problem of distribution losses becomes unmanageable as distribution power loss increases, due to the rising current (as power loss = I²R). The bus cross-section would have to increase as the square of the reduction in the voltage in order to maintain constant distribution efficiency – an impractical solution in today’s complex, low-voltage systems.

The introduction in the early 1980s of modular, high-density power converters, enabled the migration to DPA and overcame some of the problems of CPA. The “bricks” of DPA deliver all of the functions of a classic DC-DC converter – isolation, voltage transformation and regulation – at the point of load. A­s onboard voltages proliferated, however, DPA solutions required increasing numbers of bricks, thereby exacting a penalty in terms of board space and cost. Furthermore, typical DPA brick topologies are inadequate for the transient response requirements of today’s fast loads.

Factorized Power Architecture (FPA): Solving the Contemporary Power Conversion Problem

FPA uses Vicor’s power architecture research, and ASIC-based product development strategy. The enabling components are integrated power components called V•I Chips and VI BRICKs which set new standards in terms of density, efficiency, responsiveness and system cost and offer the power architect entirely new ways to solve power problems.

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