3D Sweep: Power Module Games Round 2

And the winner is… Monolithic Power Systems MPM3690-30A!

This summer, ProGrAnalog are hosting the Power Module Games where 5 DC-DC power module evaluation boards are competing for the chance to be crowned champion of the power modules. If you would like to take part in the competition, click here to predict your overall champion and make sure to follow us on Linkedin for the latest ProGrAnalog news and power module games updates!

Test Details:

3D Sweep testing in power delivery schemes is a useful technique to quickly visualize voltage controller stability issues. Typically, within the 3D plot, we look for a uniform, tight voltage response across a sweep of frequencies and duty cycles. Each board was set to 1.2V nominal output and measurements of VDroop and VLiftOff were taken with a Loadslammer Pro 1000RS across a frequency sweep of 1KHz to 1,000KHz, at varied duty cycles between 20% to 80%.

Within the LoadSlammer 3D plot, Passing responses (green regions), are less than +/-100mV deviation from Vnominal, Marginal responses (yellow regions) are between +/-100mV and +/-200mV deviation from Vnominal, and Failing responses (red regions), is more than +/- 200mV.

We tested using a 30% current offset and a current step size of 50% calculated from the maximum rated current for each power module board. A grand total of 1,800 measurements were captured from each board under the 3D sweep testing. We then calculated the average of the voltage deviations (VLiftOff minus VDroop) across varying duty cycles and frequencies. The power module board with the smallest average voltage deviations to Vnominal was judged the winner.

                         MPS Power Module Test Setup

The five DC-DC power modules used were Analog Devices LTM4681, Infineon IRDC28063, MaxLinear MxL 7225, Monolithic Power Systems MPM3690-30A & Texas Instruments LMZ31530 tested with the Loadslammer Pro 1000 RS. ProGrAnalog as competition sponsor, takes an impartial stance in presenting the results. The Power Module Games is intended to stimulate discussions within the engineering community and provides a forum for power testing best practices See competition terms & conditions.