Toshiba electronics Europe has released a new photovoltaic output optocoupler, packaged in a thin SO6L package, measuring only 3.84mm x 10mm x 2.1mm, ideal for driving the doors of high-voltage power mosfets used to develop current-isolation solid-state relays.
Optocouplers, such as the new TLP3910, are photoelectric relays that contain optical elements but do not have mosFEts to perform high-current switching functions. To simply configure an isolated SSR to handle high-voltage, high-current switches, designers often combine photovoltaic couplers with MOSFEts.
Currently, driving a high voltage power MOSFET with a gate voltage of 10V or higher requires connecting two TLP3906 in series because of its low open circuit voltage of about 7V. However, the new device has a minimum open VOC of 14V, twice that of the TLP3906, so only one device is required to drive the gate of a high-voltage power MOSFET. This reduces the number of parts, improves reliability and saves PCB space and BOM costs.
The device is the company's first photovoltaic coupler to provide a minimum isolation voltage (BVS) of 5000Vrms while supporting the superior performance of current products (TLP191B and TLP3906). This feature, combined with an 8 mm creepage distance and associated UL/cUL certification, can be used in industrial equipment driven by 400VAC systems and other applications where electrical safety is critical.
High temperature operating range -40 ° C to +125 ° C ensures the device is ideal for a wide range of rugged applications.
