Clare intros two new 100V innovative integrated full wave bridge rectifiers in one chip

BEVERLY, USA: Clare Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of IXYS Corp., has released its first 100V diode bridge chips, the CPC7556 and CPC7557, manufactured with Clare's high voltage SOI technology.

The CPC7556 and CPC7557 devices feature a reverse voltage of 120V, a forward current of 250mA and a low capacitance of 5pF. The CPC7556 includes an integrated gated thyristor device on the diode bridge for over-voltage protection.

“Our scientists were able to tackle one of the most difficult IC challenges - to integrate in one silicon chip a high voltage full wave rectifier bridge for power management. This technology enables the reduction in part count and size of AC to DC power conversion circuits and energy harvesting circuits,” commented Mark Heisig, GM of Clare.

The diode bridge devices may be used in a variety of market applications such as over-voltage protection for current limited circuits in telecom systems and in AC signal rectification. The low 5pF capacitance provides a minimal load to AC signal. The diode bridge with a resistor divider and filter capacitor may be used outside the AC mains to activate the input control of a solid state relay. An additional application includes using the bridge as a high voltage switch on the output pins by controlling the bias to the input pins.

The CPC7556 integrated bridge offers protection from high voltage transients with an adjustable voltage clamp. The clamp performs two actions, first, to limit the voltage across the diode bridge rectified output to a target value determined by the gate voltage set by external resistors and, second, to fully discharge the V+ to V- outputs when the trigger current threshold is exceeded during the voltage limiting function.

These products are suited for energy harvesting applications where AC voltages can be rectified to produce a DC voltage source. Both devices are available in an 8 lead, SOIC package.