■ Power supply protection for input section

The input section requires protection against overvoltage (OV) and undervoltage (UV), current limiting, inrush current limiting, and reverse voltage protection. In addition, if the power source does not have sufficient power, power limiting is required to prevent excessive input.

In systems using multiple power supplies, power is switched by ORing or redundancy. In these cases, reverse voltage protection is important to prevent reverse current from a high-voltage power supply to a low-voltage power supply.

■ Power supply protection for output section

At the output, current limiting is required for overloads and short circuits on connectors, and reverse voltage protection for short circuits to the high voltage rail. When feeding multiple power rails, load switches, ORing, and power limiting are required to control the power distribution.

These various protections are essential to improve the safety and reliability of power systems.

■ Voltage

The input voltage may exceed the normal range due to lightning strikes, blown fuses, static electricity, short circuits caused by external factors, etc.

■ Current

Current-related faults include overloads and short circuits. Overloads occur when a system is asked to perform beyond its capabilities, while short circuits are caused by defective components or incorrect operation. Short circuits can cause permanent damage to the board or even cause a fire.

■ Temperature

A properly designed system will usually not experience thermal failures, but sustained overload, a failed fan, blocked intake or exhaust vents, or a malfunctioning air conditioner can cause temperatures to exceed the expected limits.

These faults occur frequently, so if they are not properly considered during design, the system may not be able to pass test cases during verification. They can also cause downtime during operation. To prevent these problems before they occur, a protection mechanism that can handle a variety of voltage, current, and temperature faults is required.

■ Increased uptime

It protects power systems from all types of faults, increasing uptime. Unlike traditional fuses that shut off the circuit by blowing, eFuse shuts off the circuit by switching FETs on and off. This eliminates the need for component replacement and allows for repeated use, allowing for quick recovery and reducing downtime. With its auto-recovery function, eFuse can automatically resume application operation once the fault is resolved.

■ Improved design efficiency

The ability to integrate protection functions into a single chip is effective in simplifying the design and reducing the number of components, and also makes it easy to achieve miniaturization and reduce development man-hours.

■ Improved reliability and quality

By selecting eFuses that comply with UL and IEC standards, you can smoothly meet safety requirements and efficiently improve reliability and quality.

By utilizing eFuse, you can meet development requirements such as miniaturization, short delivery times, and cost reduction, while ensuring safety, reliability, and improving uptime.

● Supports high voltages up to 75V, making it useful in a wide range of applications

Supporting a wide input voltage range from 3V to 75V, it can be used in a wide range of applications, from 12V and 24V to high voltages such as 48V and 54V. It is also used in data centers, where high voltages are becoming increasingly common, as well as in industrial automation and motion control.

● Protection functions integrated into a single chip reduces solution size by more than 65%

The extensive protection features on a single chip reduce solution size by over 65% compared to discrete solutions, including integrated FET, current sensing, thermal foldback, power limiting, current monitoring, ground loss protection, and an integrated gate drive for driving an external FET.

● Output voltage clamp reduces capacitors by over 90%

The built-in programmable output voltage clamp function reduces the number of capacitors required to absorb voltage fluctuations by more than 90 %, significantly reducing the number of components and contributing to a smaller solution size.

● Supports PMBus interface, allowing for flexible design

The PMBus interface allows for flexible settings such as real-time monitoring of voltage and current, selection of current limiting mode, inrush current limiting, and short-term overcurrent protection. Cause analysis in the event of a fault can also be performed using the PMBus interface without the need for an external monitoring device.