V
•
I C
HIP
Evaluation Board
TM
• Oscilloscope probe jack
for output voltage and
ripple measurements
• Simple to use
• Ring lug or solder connections
• Parallelable
• This board suitable for the
following V•I Chip products:
Bus Converter Module (BCM)
Voltage Transformation
Module (VTM)
The V•I Chip evaluation board offers a convenient means to
evaluate the performance of Vicor’s Bus Converter Modules
(BCM) or Voltage Transformation Modules (VTM).
The board has been optimized for user convenience.
Refer to the appropriate V•I Chip datasheet for performance
and operating limits. The datasheets are available for
downloading at vicorpower.com.
It is important to remember that given the fast response of most
V•I Chips, they can readily show the limitations of the source,
load, and associated wiring connected to the evaluation board.
Care should be exercised to minimize stray source and load
impedances in order to fully exercise the V•I Chip.
Please refer to
Figure 1
for locations of the input and output
connections as viewed from the component side. Wires may be
soldered directly to the pads in lieu of ring lugs if desired to
minimize circuit impedances.
The evaluation board should be set up as follows:
Note: Care should be taken to avoid reversing polarities
if connecting to the opposite (solder) side of the board.
1. + IN, - IN
Connect a high quality, low noise power supply to this
location. The interconnect leads should be heavy gauge
and as short as possible. Additional capacitance may
have to be added on the evaluation board to make up
for impedances in the interconnect leads as well as
deficiencies in the source. It is important to remember
that noise from the source, as well as any input source
voltage drops, will appear at the output of the V•I Chip
multiplied by its k factor.
2. + OUT, -OUT
An electronic or passive load should be connected to this
location with short heavy gauge leads. Most commercially
available electronic loads do not have current slew rates
capable of exercising the V•I Chips capability. The evaluation
board can be connected directly to the application for which
the V•I Chip is intended; however, the interconnect
impedances between the evaluation board and the application
can greatly effect the transient response. For applications
where transient response is critical, the user should consider
mounting the V•I Chip directly to the target application PCB.
3. OUTPUT VOLTAGE MEASUREMENT JACK (J1)
This connector is provided to make an accurate
measurements of the output voltage of the V•I Chip. Many
types of scope probes may be directly connected to this
point if the probe is equipped with a removable plastic
sheath. Be careful to avoid creating ground loops when
making measurements of the output or input voltage. It is
recommended that the measurements be made separately.
4. PARALLELING
The paralleling and current sharing capability of the devices
can be demonstrated by stacking multiple evaluation PCBs
and interconnecting the inputs and outputs with standoffs
of sufficient current handling capability to create a
3-dimensional array.
See Figure 3.
5. INPUT CURRENT MEASUREMENT
A current probe can be passed around the +IN lead connected
to the V•I Chip. Input capacitors on the evaluation board
are downstream of this measurement point.
P
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45
Vicor Corporation Tel: 800-735-6200 vicorpower.com
V•I Chip Evaluation Board
Rev.
1.2
Page 1 - 4
VICOR [ VICOR CORPORATION ]
