News: Microelectronics
3 August 2023
Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor of Torrance, CA, USA says that its CRPS185 3200W ‘Titanium Plus’ server reference design not only surpasses the stringent 80Plus Titanium efficiency requirements but also effectively satisfies the increasing power demands of AI data-center power.
The rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing with AI, and Google’s Bard, has penetrated all aspects of people’s lives. New power-hungry AI processors like NVIDIA’s DGX GH200 ‘Grace Hopper’ demand up to 1600W each, and are driving power-per-rack specifications from 30-40kW up to 100kW per cabinet. Meanwhile, with the global focus on energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as the latest European regulations, server power supplies must exceed the 80Plus ‘Titanium’ efficiency specification.
Navitas says that its reference designs dramatically accelerate customer developments, minimize time-to-market, and set industry benchmarks in energy efficiency, power density and system cost, enabled by GaNFast power ICs. These system platforms include complete design collateral with fully tested hardware, embedded software, schematics, bill-of-materials, layout, simulation and hardware test results.
In this case, the ‘Common Redundant Power Supply’ (CRPS) form-factor specification was defined by the hyperscale Open Compute Project, including Facebook, Intel, Google, Microsoft, and Dell. Now, Navitas’ CRPS185 platform delivers a full 3200W of power in only 1U (40mm) x 73.5mm x 185mm (544cc), achieving 5.9W/cc, or almost 100W/in3 power density. This is a 40% size reduction versus the equivalent legacy silicon approach and easily exceeds the Titanium efficiency standard, reaching over 96.5% at 30% load, and over 96% stretching from 20% to 60% load, creating a ‘Titanium Plus’ benchmark, critical for data-center operating models.
The CRPS185 uses the latest circuit designs including an interleaved CCM (continuous conduction mode) totem-pole PFC (power factor correction) with full-bridge LLC. The critical components are Navitas’ new 650V GaNFast power ICs, with robust, high-speed integrated GaN drive to address the sensitivity and fragility issues associated with discrete GaN chips. Additionally, GaNFast power ICs offer extremely low switching losses, with a transient-voltage capability up to 800V, and other high-speed advantages such as low gate charge (Qg), output capacitance (COSS) and no reverse-recovery loss (Qrr). As high-speed switching reduces the size, weight and cost of passive components in a power supply, Navitas estimates that GaNFast power ICs save 5% of the LLC-stage system material cost, plus $64 per power supply in electricity over three years.
Compared with traditional ‘Titanium’ solutions, the Navitas CRPS185 3200W ‘Titanium Plus’ design running at a typical 30% load can reduce electricity consumption by 757kWh, and decrease carbon dioxide emissions by 755kg over three years (equivalent to saving 303kg of coal). Not only does it help data-center clients achieve cost savings and efficiency improvements but it also contributes to the environmental goals of energy conservation and emission reduction.
In addition to data-center servers, this solution can also be widely used in applications such as switch/router power supplies, communications, and other computing applications.
“The popularity of AI applications like ChatGPT is just the beginning. As data-center rack power increases by 2x-3x, up to 100kW, delivering more power in a smaller space is key,” says Charles Zha, VP & general manager of Navitas China. “We invite power designers and system architects to partner with Navitas and discover how a complete roadmap of high-efficiency, high-power-density designs can cost-effectively and sustainably accelerate their AI server upgrades.”
Source: https://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2023/aug/navitas-030823.shtml
