Astral Driver - Boost, Buck, & Sepic

[Astralist]

This is not a sale thread!
This is a discussion thread.

For a sale thread, please go to >here<

Hello all!

BACKGROUND STORY
So long story short, at first i kinda hesitant to design and manufacture a driver because i think people already satisfied with currently available driver,
But since i saw that there are so many monster diode emerged from the depth of a hell, and not to mention the declining stock of driver in market,
Then i decided to design a 12A buck driver with the dimension is only 15*10mm.
And due to addiction in designing things, i continue another one with boost topology capable of delivering 9A current with only 12.5*10mm.
After that, i think that i need to provide one to be used with low power diode,
So i design another one, a small one for small laser diode.

In the middle of design times i scaled down both the 12A and 9A to 6A, because i think it's not quite useful for now.
So the final are 6A for both buck and boost driver.

DRIVERS AND SPECIFICATION

ASTRAL SUPERDRIVE HV (STATUS: INACTIVE - WAITING FOR PRODUCTION)

Retail price: $19.9

• Topology: Buck (When operating, Vin must be above Vout/diode Vf)
• Vin: 4.5 - 18V
• Vout: 0.7 - 8V
• Iout: 1.1 - 6A
• Size: 15*10mm
• Features:
  • Current regulated
  • Adjustable current
  • Soft start (1sec)
  • Delayed start (1.5sec+)
  • Thermal shutdown
  • PCB with 2oz (70um) copper, twice the copper thickness of usual PCB to maximize current and heat transfer.
  • Components mounted only on top side of PCB, allowing maximum contact from driver to heatsink, hence maximizing heat transfer from PCB to heatsink.
  • Thin PCB with lots of vias, maximizing heat transfer from top side to bottom side.
  • Component mounted and soldered using automated assembly machine, minimizing human error.
  • Continuous ground/negative

ASTRAL SUPERDRIVE LV (STATUS: INACTIVE - WAITING FOR PRODUCTION)

Retail price: $24.9

• Topology: Boost (When operating, Vin must be below Vout/diode Vf)
• Vin: 1.9 - 4.2V
• Vout: 2.5 - 5.5V
• Iout: 1.2 - 4.5A+
• Size: 15*10mm
• Features:
  • Current regulated
  • Adjustable current
  • Soft start (internal 3ms)
  • Thermal shutdown
  • PCB with 2oz (70um) copper, twice the copper thickness of usual PCB to maximize current and heat transfer.
  • Components mounted only on top side of PCB, allowing maximum contact from driver to heatsink, hence maximizing heat transfer from PCB to heatsink.
  • Thin PCB with lots of vias, maximizing heat transfer from top side to bottom side.
  • Component mounted and soldered using automated assembly machine, minimizing human error.
  • Continuous ground/negative

ASTRAL PICODRIVE (STATUS: ACTIVE - IN PRODUCTION)

Retail price: $14.9

• Topology: Boost (When operating, Vin must be below Vout/diode Vf)
• Vin: 2 - 24V
• Vout: 2.5 - 28V
• Iout: 70 - 1500mA+ (depends on Vout)
• Size: 12*9mm
• Features:
  • Current regulated
  • Adjustable current
  • Soft start (internal)
  • Thermal shutdown
  • Thin PCB with lots of vias, maximizing heat transfer from top side to bottom side.
  • Component mounted and soldered using automated assembly machine, minimizing human error.
  • Continuous ground/negative

ASTRAL EZ DRIVE (STATUS: INACTIVE - WAITING FOR PRODUCTION)

Retail price: $14.9

• Topology: Linear (When operating, Vin must be above Vout/diode Vf)
• Vin: 3 - 12V
• Vout: (Vin - 1.5)V
• Iout: 0 - 2200mA
• Size: 11*9mm
• Features:
  • Current regulated
  • Adjustable current
  • Components mounted only on top side of PCB, allowing maximum contact from driver to heatsink, hence maximizing heat transfer from PCB to heatsink.
  • Very thin PCB with lots of vias, maximizing heat transfer from top side to bottom side.
  • Component mounted and soldered using automated assembly machine, minimizing human error.
  • Continuous positive

All of the driver above can be modded to be able to accept TTL/PWM, Except the EZDrive

The driver is completed
I only fabricate in small number for now
I hope these can balance the supply and demand of driver these day
Thanks for looking! :beer:

 

[Astralist]

Reserved

 

[dden4012]

I'll want 2 of each if they make the grade. This is nice to see. Looking forward to a review.

 

[Astralist]

Sure, i'll do a thorough testing before making it available to all, although there is already so many protection feature in these three driver. :beer:

 

[paul1598419]

Very nice, astralist. The current of these is quite high. I hope you have made allowances for this in your design as small traces could be overcome by the current. Also, longer traces might cause oscillations in some of these drivers. The size of the PCB looks acceptable as long as these problems have been dealt with. It would be helpful if you could add the components you plan on using. If it all works out, I will be buying many of these from you.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

These should be pretty damn future proof for any newer diodes too. Very nice specs on the boost driver. Got an ETA for a sale? Is the boost driver current adjustable below 6A, and how far can it be adjusted?

Creative naming scheme too

 

[Astralist]

Very nice, astralist. The current of these is quite high. I hope you have made allowances for this in your design as small traces could be overcome by the current. Also, longer traces might cause oscillations in some of these drivers. The size of the PCB looks acceptable as long as these problems have been dealt with. It would be helpful if you could add the components you plan on using. If it all works out, I will be buying many of these from you.

As i'm using 2oz copper, it should provide great thermal properties and also minimizing resistance plus allowing more current.
Actually, i even calculate the resistance of the trace (which is only microohm to miliohm) and takes it into account of the math calculation.

The components are all with low temperature coefficient and small tolerances
The ridiculous thing about this driver is that the trimmer potentiometer which as expensive as the IC :banghead:

These should be pretty damn future proof for any newer diodes too. Very nice specs on the boost driver. Got an ETA for a sale? Is the boost driver current adjustable below 6A, and how far can it be adjusted?

Creative naming scheme too

ETA for sale is about one moth from now i guess, i'll pay the manufacturing cost on next monday ant the factory said it would be finished between 10-20 work days.

Regarding the adjustability, i'll update the first post with graph :beer:

 

[paul1598419]

A good noise free pot is essential to having a stable driver. Do you have an estimated price for each, yet?

 

[BowtieGuy]

Astralist, these are sure to be a welcome addition to our current driver supplies, hope they prove to be successful! :yh:
:gj:

 

[Astralist]

Thread updated!
Added:
Graph of current vs potentiometer position

A good noise free pot is essential to having a stable driver. Do you have an estimated price for each, yet?

It sure is! even the pot is low tempco.
The price is always been there paul

Astralist, these are sure to be a welcome addition to our current driver supplies, hope they prove to be successful! :yh:
:gj:

Thankyou!! :thanks:

 

[BobMc]

Will be buying a few if these myself. Best wishes and hoping the best. :gj:

 

[paul1598419]

It sure is! even the pot is low tempco.
The price is always been there paul

Thanks. I somehow missed that the first time I read it. Hope there will be a quantity price as well.

 

[badboybilly]

This is awesome mate, a small high current boost driver will be very popular can't wait,

Count me in for a few!

 

[paul1598419]

Just saw the current vs pot position on all drivers Looks great, so far. No jumpers to install, just a difference in input voltage on the buck/boost driver.

 

[Benm]

Looks like a great build!

One question though: it seems that the output current depends on the input voltage according to your graphs.

Is this just due to the device operating in boost vs buck mode on 1 or 2 lithium cells?

Another thing you mention is sepic operation, which i find very interesting. Would it be possible to use this driver with a battery that is slightly over the output voltage when fully charged but goes under it during discharge?

That'd be a real gamechanger since most power supplies available at the moment are either boost, buck or linear. With diode voltages pretty close to battery voltages having a driver that can eihter boost or buck when required would be a great addition. I know such drivers exist using an intermediate voltage, but i've never seen something this small that uses that.

 

[Astralist]

@paul:
yes of course there will be a quantity price

@badboy:
Honestly i'm quite confused with people's motivation on using boost driver with one li-ion battery, as it will much likely torturing the battery by drawing so much current from it lol
but here it is i'm just providing an option to choose
I'll be sure to inform you all when the driver passed my test :beer:

@Benm:
You mean the PicoDrive right?
This driver is unique, the input voltage allows it to run with boost and sepic topology. With one lithium battery it can supply about 800mA+ to 5V load, with two lithium battery, you can get a double output current.
Making the DC-DC switching boost converter with regulated current is actualy just like making a sepic converter, the output voltage is depends on the load, the voltage will increased as the current trying to reach the set/limit current. The limitation lies on the capability/flexibility of the IC. The SuperDrive LV for example, can only have minimum output voltage of 2.9V regardless of the current, so that it can regulates itself properly and the max input.