Power Integrations displayed a wide array of new tech for applications including EVs, railways, industrial power supplies, and renewable energy systems at electronica 2025. In their booth, we met with Andrew Smith, their Director of Technical Outreach and Director of Training, who walked us through some of the key highlights. The company showcased its range of switch technologies featuring integrated switcher ICs with voltage ratings of 750 V, 900 V, 1250 V, and 1700 V. Smith underscored, "This makes our integrated switcher ICs very good for the Indian environment."
The company uses three semiconductor materials in their switches: silicon, gallium nitride (referred to as "PowiGaN"), and silicon carbide. The GaN tech is their in-house replacement for traditional MOSFETs in their flyback switcher ICs. Engineers can use the same converter IC with different switch tech on the inside, making it far less of a challenge to select the best tech for their needs. "Our aim is to make it very easy for the engineer to use whichever of those technologies they would like to explore by using the same converter IC with a different switch inside," said Smith.
He pointed out to us a 70-watt design of a bridge switch inverter driver board that was accompanied by support software. The software served as a virtual oscilloscope and offered performance monitoring by capturing characteristics of a motor. The demo used a single-output motor. He emphasized the minimal power consumption quality of the company’s bridge switch technology in standby mode. A 150-watt motor on display used as little as 8 milliwatts.
The company also showcased LLC half-bridge designs for EV and tool chargers, featuring a 720-watt design with programmable current charging for applications including two-wheeler chargers, using their HiperLCS-2 family and Power Factor Controller ICs. Additionally, they demonstrated their gate driver technology portfolio, including fully integrated three-level gate driver architectures and dedicated gate driver boards for power modules across alternative energy, thermal, and automotive applications.
From the company’s press release, the RDK-85SLR is their reference design kit for solar-powered race cars targeted at student teams to compete in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The kit features the InnoSwitch3-AQ flyback power supply IC, which uses the company’s PowiGaN switch tech. With no need for a heatsink, the kit includes all you will need to build a 46-watt power supply that can briefly deliver up to 80 watts. The kit takes inspiration from a design created by Power Integrations' PowerPros engineers in collaboration with ETH Zurich's aCentauri team. The team’s #85 ‘Silvretta’ challenger-class car uses the design to improve auxiliary power supply efficiency.
