A PCB system integration concept for power electronics

Current passive components construction technologies and power converters manufacturing methods are the main barriers limiting the power density improvement. In this paper a new PCB system integration concept for power converters construction - Power Sandwich, that allows for a high density packaging, effective thermal management and automated manufacturing is introduced. In the Power Sandwich integration concept new passive components, x-dimension components, having the same height (x) and double sided electrical terminations are stacked between planar substrates and soldered on two sides. Depending on the number of stack layers (x-layers) and the components loss density, various arrangements in the Power Sandwich converter is possible. A Power Sandwich demonstrator, 70W flyback converter, is designed and implemented using modified standard components representing the prototype of x-dimension components. The spatial and thermal designs are discussed in detail and the experimental results of the first Power Sandwich demonstrator are shown.