Texas Instruments-DCDC Power:FPGA & Data Converter - Review

Table of contents

RoadTest: Texas Instruments-DCDC Power:FPGA & Data Converter

Author: acdoering

Creation date:

Evaluation Type: Evaluation Boards

Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True

What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: We used the cheap chinese converter modules before, that can be bought on ebay. However, they sense the current in the ground which is a big nuisance when operating multiple converters with common ground

What were the biggest problems encountered?: None, the module was easy to setup and worked immediately. If I had needed a different output voltage, some soldering might have been necessary, but that was not the case here.

Detailed Review:

The board has an impressive low output ripple, it vanished in the noise that the scope caught on the short non-shielded wires that I used between the EVM and the probes.

Even with AC-coupling and 2mV/div it was not really visible.

I used an electronic load set at various currents with the same result.

 

The efficiency is fine at high currents (92% at 2A) and ok at low currents (85% at 0.5A).

I tried to find a voltage overshoot at load drop from 2A to 0, which was also hardly visible.

 

The most impressive thing is the small size of the solution. The inductor is just 3x3 mm, so in a crowded board, where some of the extra components can be distributed, it is really only the four components, switcher, inductor, input and output capacitor that have to be close in placement. Hence, this thing is really very flexible to fit into gaps between larger components.

The other great thing is the low minimum output voltage of 0.8V.

For most of our designs with the current rating this converter would be used for secondary voltages, IO, etc. And those are getting smaller

with each new device.

 

We certainly will put it on one of our next boards.

Anonymous