
4-110
Output Power Capability
The HIP5015EVAL2 board is capable of supplying 7ADC
total load current. Both Converter #1 and Converter #2 are
capable of individually supplying about 5ADC of load current
with the supplied clip-on heatsink attached to the
SynchroFETs and 100 linear feet per minute (LFM) of
airflow. For applications requiring greater than 7ADC of total
load current, the board capability can be increased to 9ADC
with an additional 1000
μ
F input capacitor.
Efficiency
As seen in Figure 3, the HIP5015EVAL2 occupies only 2.2
inches by 1.5 inches of board space. A switching frequency
of 400kHz helps achieve this small size, but not at the
expense of high efficiency. Figure 6 shows the predicted
efficiency versus load current curves for both the 3.5V
converter and 2.5V converter. The power dissipation is
almost identical for the two converters (the inductor losses
are a little higher for the 2.5V converter), but the efficiency is
lower for the 2.5V converter because of its lower output
power. The curves of Figure 6 were generated with a
MathCAD program which calculates thermal equilibrium
and the major power losses for the converters. The accuracy
of the simulated efficiency curves is demonstrated in Figure
7, which compares lab data to the predicted efficiency for the
situation of a load-shared 3.5V output with 100 LFM of
airflow.
More Evaluation Board Performance
The Flexible DC-DC Converter evaluation board has output
voltage ripple and load transient response required for high-
performance microprocessor applications. Figures 8 and 9
are lab-measured data for Converter #1 (3.5V output); the
2.5V output (or Converter #2) has similar characteristics.
Higher Power Capability
In situations where greater than 5A current capability on one
output is required, there are two options available:
1. Replace the heatsink with Aavid part number
573902B00000. This heatsink is the same style as the
one called out in the BOM (in the appendix), only it is
twice the height (1.5 inches).
2. Replace the HIP5015 with a HIP5010 (or HIP5016 with a
HIP5011). The HIP5010/11 are 35m
devices and have
higher current capability than the 70m
HIP5015/16
SynchroFET devices.
For either option, the output inductor (L1 or L2) may need to
be replaced. For a 6A output current and 50
o
C ambient
temperature, a T38-52 core (from Micrometals) with 9 turns
of 22AWG wire can be substituted.
FIGURE 6. PREDICTED EFFICIENCY vs LOAD CURRENT
95
90
85
80
75
E
0
2
4
6
8
10
LOAD CURRENT (A)
3.5V OUTPUT
2.5V OUTPUT
FIGURE 7. ACTUAL vs PREDICTED EFFICIENCY FOR THE
FLEXIBLE DC-DC CONVERTER WHEN
SHARING A 3.5V LOAD
95
90
85
80
75
E
0
2
4
6
8
10
TOTAL 3.5V LOAD CURRENT (A)
LAB DATA
PREDICTED
FIGURE 8. 3.5V OUTPUT VOLTAGE RIPPLE WITH 4A LOAD
CURRENT
I
L
(0.5A/DIV)
TIME (1
μ
s/DIV.)
3.5V
OUT
(10mV/DIV)
Application Note 9625
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