News: Microelectronics
2 June 2022
Transphorm’s GaN FET used in Nayuta’s LEMURIA Li-ion battery power supply
Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA — which designs and manufactures JEDEC- and AEC-Q101-qualified gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistors (FETs) for high-voltage power conversion applications — says that its GaN technology is powering the LEMURIA ME3000 of power supply manufacturer Nayuta Power Energy Co Ltd of Hamamatsu, Japan. Nayuta uses the GaN FETs in the LEMURIA’s AC inverter to achieve 99% efficiency in a fanless system. Notably, the LEMURIA ME3000 is Japan’s first lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery power storage device for medical equipment to earn S-JQA certification for electrical products (indicating a product’s safety and performance quality).
Transphorm’s JEDEC-qualified TP65H035WS is a high-performance 650V, 35mΩ GaN device in a thermally robust TO-247 package. It is claimed to offer the industry’s highest reliability with a ±20V gate safety margin and a 4V noise immunity threshold. It can also yield greater than 99% power efficiency while reducing power system size, weight and overall cost. The TP65H035WS GaN FET can be used in AC-to-DC and DC-to-DC converters as well as DC-to-AC inverters. Target markets include computing, crypto-mining, data-center, medical and telecommunications applications.
The LEMURIA ME3000 is a small, lightweight product that is easily portable in medical facilities as well as in the field. It has a continuous 1.5kW output and a 3.3kWh storage capacity with up to 33 hours of usability before needing to be recharged. Whereas an incumbent silicon product was fan cooled, the GaN FET’s performance enabled Nayuta to build the LEMURIA ME3000 as a fanless power system that increased power efficiency from 96.24% to 99.01% (a 73% reduction in power loss operating at the same frequency). As a result, the power supply is a hermetically sealed unit without ventilation holes, which prevents liquids and dust from contaminating or damaging the system.
The LEMURIA ME3000 is JIS T060-1 certified, a Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA) standard based on the international IEC 60601 standard. These quality controls ensure that electrical equipment used in medical environments meet higher safety and performance requirements, particularly with respect to electromagnetic interference and current leakage.
“Medical environments call for solutions that offer extremely high reliability all while meeting rigid safety and sanitation protocols. A power supply running a respirator cannot fail. Nor can it expose patients to potential germs harbored in areas that cannot be easily cleaned — which is where a sealed, GaN-based unit offers incredible value,” comments Morgan Yoshiyuki Habuta, executive director, Nayuta Power Energy. “The high switching capability and reliability offered by Transphorm’s GaN FETs enabled us to achieve our goals with respect to the LEMURIA ME3000. Incorporating the FETs into our advanced power system design delivered a Li-ion battery supply capable of supporting a wide range of high-power medical applications at any location.”
Due to its portability, the LEMURIA ME3000 can be used in numerous environments including large hospitals (operating, diagnostic, and patient rooms); long-term care facilities; individuals’ homes; and disaster sites.
