High Isolation DC/DC Converters for Gate Drivers

From RECOM
High Isolation DC/DC Converters for Gate Drivers

High Isolation DC/DC Converters for Gate Drivers

DC/DC converters are often required to provide an isolated asymmetric supply for high-side gate drivers. The simplest (functional) isolation can withstand 1kVDC for one second. This sounds impressive; however this is often not sufficient.

High side inverters are often floated a few hundred volts with an opto-isolated PWM control, so the gate drivers need an isolated power supply. This isolated supply is typically +15/-9V for IGBT, +20/-5V or +15/-3V for SiC or +6V and +9V for GaN. A typical DC/DC isolation voltage would be at least twice the working voltage, but the high ambient temperature and fast switching edges generated by these high-power transistors additionally stress the insulation barrier. RECOM combines the required asymmetric output voltages, high insulation voltage and low isolation capacitance into one simple DC/DC converter module. Whether IGBT, SiC MOSFET or GaN HEMT, RECOM has the matching drop-in product.

High isolation 2W DC/DC converters for SiC gate drivers

Recom’s 2W (RKZ and RxxP2xx series) SiC gate driver DC/DC converters provide isolation up to 6.4kVDC/1 sec. They were specifically designed to power gate drivers for SiC MOSFETs requiring +20/-5V or +15/-3V drive levels.

Part Number
Nominal Input Voltage (V)
Output Voltage (V)
Output Power (W)
Isolation (kV)
R05P22005D/P
5
20/-5
2
6.4
R12P21503D
12
15/-3
2
6.4
R12P22005D
12
20/-5
2
6.4
R12P22005D/P
12
20/-5
2
6.4
R15P21503D
15
15/-3
2
6.4
R15P22005D
15
20/-5
2
6.4
R15P22005D/P
15
20/-5
2
6.4
R24P21503D
24
15/-3
2
6.4
R24P21503D/P
24
15/-3
2
6.4
R24P22005D
24
20/-5
2
6.4
R24P22005D/P
24
20/-5
2
6.4
RKZ-052005D
5
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-052005D/H
5
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-052005D/HP
5
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-052005D/P
5
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-122005D
12
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-122005D/H
12
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-122005D/HP
12
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-122005D/P
12
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-152005D
15
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-152005D/H
15
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-152005D/HP
15
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-152005D/P
15
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-242005D
24
20/-5
2
3
RKZ-242005D/H
24
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-242005D/HP
24
20/-5
2
4
RKZ-242005D/P
24
20/-5
2
3

DC/DC supplies for GaN technology

GaN devices are set to supersede existing SiC MOSFETs for many applications and reach their optimal performance with a gate switching voltage of +6V from RP-xx06S and RxxP06S DC/DC converter series. In GaN applications where higher noise and interferences have to be considered, RECOM also offers converters with +9V output which can be split up via a Zener diode to +6V and -3V to provide a negative gate voltage on turn-off ensuring that the gate voltage stays below the turn-on threshold.

Part Number
Nominal Input Voltage (V)
Output Voltage (V)
Output Power (W)
Isolation (kV)
R05P06S
5
6
1
6.4
R12P06S
12
6
1
6.4
R15P06S
15
6
1
6.4
R24P06S
24
6
1
6.4
RP-0506S
5
6
1
5.2
RP-1206S
12
6
1
5.2
RP-1506S
15
6
1
5.2

Energy & Power Design Support

Allow us an opportunity to assess your project and help bring your vision to market faster.

About our Team of Experts

Our team of global applications engineers are available to answer your questions to ensure your power conversion or energy storage system design meets your performance expectations. If you’re transitioning from silicon to gallium nitride (GaN) or silicon carbide (SiC), we’ll help identify the right switching device to achieve the power density and increased efficiency your application requires.