High-density PSU reference design for AI data centres and servers

Infineon Technologies AG has introduced a 12kW reference design for high-performance PSUs, specifically designed for AI data centres and server applications. The reference design offers high efficiency and high-power density, leveraging all relevant semiconductor materials: Si, SiC, and GaN. It is aimed at research and development engineers, hardware designers, and developers of power electronics systems.

"In the ongoing quest of the increased energy demand of artificial intelligence, Infineon's contribution is to provide power solutions with the highest conversion efficiency to preserve every single possible Watt," said Richard Kunčič, senior vice president and general manager of Power Switches at Infineon. "Our new 12kW high-density power supply unit reference design is using advanced power conversion topologies and therefore utilising CoolMOS, CoolSiC and CoolGaN, which allows the PSU to release the full potential in energy efficiency, reliability, and power density. We are proud to be at the forefront of powering AI."

To achieve high-performance levels, the design leverages advanced power conversion topologies in both the AC/DC and DC-DC power stages. The front-end AC/DC converter features a three-level flying capacitor interleaved PFC topology, delivering peak efficiency above 99% while reducing magnetic component volume. This is achieved by the company's CoolSiC technology, which offers high switching performance and excellent thermal properties. The isolated DC-DC converter features a full-bridge LLC resonant converter and offers peak efficiency above 98.5%, enabled by using two planar high-frequency transformers and its CoolGaN technology. These architectures, combined with the company's latest wide-bandgap technologies, achieve a power density of up to 113W/in³.

Another key feature of the 12kW PSU reference design is the bidirectional energy buffer, which is integrated into the overall power supply topology. This converter enables compliance with hold-up time requirements while significantly reducing capacitance requirements. Furthermore, the energy buffer provides a grid-shaping function, improving system reliability and limiting both fluctuations and the rate of change of power drawn from the grid during transient events.