Boeing satellites use Vicor radiation-tolerant power modules
Vicor Corporation (have announced the launch of its first radiation-fault-tolerant DC-DC converter power modules, housed in the new Vicor plated SM-ChiP™ package. Capable of powering low-voltage ASICs of up to 300 W from a 100 V nominal power source, the ChiPs were tested by Boeing to be resilient to 50krad of total ionizing dose and immune to single-event upsets. Immunity to single-event upsets is achieved using a redundant architecture, where two identical and parallel powertrains with fault-tolerant control ICs are housed in a single high-density SM-ChiP package.
Advanced communication satellites require high power density and low noise. Vicor soft-switching, high-frequency ZCS/ZVS power stages within metal-shielded ChiPs, reduce the power system noise floor, enabling signal integrity and total system performance with the requisite high level of reliability.
The complete power-source-to-point-of-load solution system of four SM-ChiPs: the BCM3423, a 100 V nominal, 300-W K = 1/3 bus converter in a 34- x 23-mm package; the PRM2919, a 33 V nominal 200-W regulator in a 29- x 19-mm package; and two VTM2919 current multipliers, a K = 1/32 with an output of 0.8 V at 150 A and a K = 1/8 with an output of 3.4 V at 50 A. The solution powers the ASIC directly from the 100 V power source with minimal external components and low-noise operation.
All of the power modules are available in the Vicor high-density SM-ChiP package with BGA (ball grid array) connections and optional solder mask for the top and bottom surfaces. Operating temperature for the ChiPs is –30 to 125°C.
Further reading
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