Issue #1/2017
A.Verkhovtsev, A.Gayoso de los Santos, Z.Pavlova
OEM-driver with butterfly housing for power supply of laser diodes
OEM-driver with butterfly housing for power supply of laser diodes
The company Fedal Ltd is producing compact OEM drivers with output current ranging from 20 A to 100 А and output voltage ranging from 0 V to 40 V. Fedal has begun to produce OEM driver with butterfly housing for power supply of laser diodes.
Two years ago, the company released a line of compact OEM-drivers with output currents ranging from 20A to 100A and voltage outputs ranging from 0 V to 40 V. Since last year, the company has been working on the development of new OEM-driver for power supply of butterfly laser diode mounts (Fig.1). This mount is the most common for laser diodes with the power ranging from 10 MW to 800 MW and more (Fig.2). It consists of a laser diode, a built-in Peltier cooler element (TEM), a thermistor, and a photo-electric tracing device.
The main difference of this mount from others is that it provides more effective heat sink of the laser diode due to increased area of contact of Peltier element with the laser module mount (where the main heat-removing surface is the lower one). For this purpose electric outputs are moved for lateral faces, but such technical solution complicates the organization of a detachable connection of the laser module with a control board. The butterfly diode mounts are commonly used in telecommunication (fiber optic communication, semiconductor fiber amplifiers), medicine (medical diagnostic equipment, blood examination, dermatology), industry (high resolution spectroscopy, detection of leak of methane in mines and pipelines, determination of concentration of ammonia to remote detection of explosives, optical fiber sensors of pressure, deformation, temperature, rotation, optical metrology and sensory properties).
Based on the requests from potential customers of OEM-driver for power supply of butterfly laser diode mounts, the specification has been made. Most of the customers were going to feed laser diodes with current up to 750 mA. Thus, stability of electrical parameters and low level of noise was highly required. Such requirements were characteristic for the orders for laser diodes used in sensors and setting generators. The requests connected with a module mount development largely varied. Therefore, it was decided to provide options of mount modification with installation of laser diode in the board connector or by soldering to a board (Fig.3). The important parameter of OEM-driver is its compactness. Planned driver dimensions are as follows: 101.6Ч61Ч15 mm. Also it was necessary to provide a cooler which could provide stable heat sink.
Two modifications of the driver, SF8025 (with current up to 250 mA) and SF8075 (with current up to 750 mA), have been implemented so far. Soon it is planned to produce SF8150 driver (with current up to 1500 mA). Laser diode driver is based on DC/DC transformer with a current source output characteristic enabling to avoid voltage adjustment. The linear voltage controller is used to ensure high stability and low noise.
DC/DC transformer built on the specialized PWM controller is also used as a thermocontroller; it possesses the low pulsation level (about 2 mA). The thermocontroller has the built-in PID-regulator which promotes the optimal output to the set temperature mode, and does not demand readjustment.
All necessary controls allowing configuring operation of the device to a necessary mode without additional external control circuits are located on the board. It can be useful when embedding the module into the final system for the purposes of miniaturization and reduction of components quantity. The analog connector duplicates control signals, and also reports the measured values for control and device statuses. The interface of a digital control is still under development.
A number of fuses ensuring safety of the laser diode are used in the device. There is a jumper shunting driver outputs for protection of a laser diode against static discharges when mounting the diode on the board and connecting the board to other devices (Fig.4).
The driver return diode protects the laser diode from emergence of reverse current and excludes emergence of reverse voltage on a driver output.
Current protection ensures safe functioning of a laser diode in area of admissible currents. When current protection triggers, the current generator is switched off, and the output is shunted. Shunt resistance is 2 mOhm. Shunting of the output allows securing load even in the case of driver components failure.
Restriction of thermocontroller voltage allows adjusting maximum voltage safe to a thermoelement.
Further, the company plans to expand a model range by producing a driver without butterfly mount seat. Such modification will allow feeding and thermostat diodes with Peltier elements in other mount types. Besides, it will allow to reduce the driver dimensions and to implement it in a standard half-brick size: 61Ч58Ч15 mm.
We invite you to visit us at Photonics-2017 exhibition which will take place in Moscow during February 28 – March 3. Our company will be presented at the collective stand of Skolkovo technopark. We are looking forward to show a new line of drivers, and also to respond to all your questions.
The main difference of this mount from others is that it provides more effective heat sink of the laser diode due to increased area of contact of Peltier element with the laser module mount (where the main heat-removing surface is the lower one). For this purpose electric outputs are moved for lateral faces, but such technical solution complicates the organization of a detachable connection of the laser module with a control board. The butterfly diode mounts are commonly used in telecommunication (fiber optic communication, semiconductor fiber amplifiers), medicine (medical diagnostic equipment, blood examination, dermatology), industry (high resolution spectroscopy, detection of leak of methane in mines and pipelines, determination of concentration of ammonia to remote detection of explosives, optical fiber sensors of pressure, deformation, temperature, rotation, optical metrology and sensory properties).
Based on the requests from potential customers of OEM-driver for power supply of butterfly laser diode mounts, the specification has been made. Most of the customers were going to feed laser diodes with current up to 750 mA. Thus, stability of electrical parameters and low level of noise was highly required. Such requirements were characteristic for the orders for laser diodes used in sensors and setting generators. The requests connected with a module mount development largely varied. Therefore, it was decided to provide options of mount modification with installation of laser diode in the board connector or by soldering to a board (Fig.3). The important parameter of OEM-driver is its compactness. Planned driver dimensions are as follows: 101.6Ч61Ч15 mm. Also it was necessary to provide a cooler which could provide stable heat sink.
Two modifications of the driver, SF8025 (with current up to 250 mA) and SF8075 (with current up to 750 mA), have been implemented so far. Soon it is planned to produce SF8150 driver (with current up to 1500 mA). Laser diode driver is based on DC/DC transformer with a current source output characteristic enabling to avoid voltage adjustment. The linear voltage controller is used to ensure high stability and low noise.
DC/DC transformer built on the specialized PWM controller is also used as a thermocontroller; it possesses the low pulsation level (about 2 mA). The thermocontroller has the built-in PID-regulator which promotes the optimal output to the set temperature mode, and does not demand readjustment.
All necessary controls allowing configuring operation of the device to a necessary mode without additional external control circuits are located on the board. It can be useful when embedding the module into the final system for the purposes of miniaturization and reduction of components quantity. The analog connector duplicates control signals, and also reports the measured values for control and device statuses. The interface of a digital control is still under development.
A number of fuses ensuring safety of the laser diode are used in the device. There is a jumper shunting driver outputs for protection of a laser diode against static discharges when mounting the diode on the board and connecting the board to other devices (Fig.4).
The driver return diode protects the laser diode from emergence of reverse current and excludes emergence of reverse voltage on a driver output.
Current protection ensures safe functioning of a laser diode in area of admissible currents. When current protection triggers, the current generator is switched off, and the output is shunted. Shunt resistance is 2 mOhm. Shunting of the output allows securing load even in the case of driver components failure.
Restriction of thermocontroller voltage allows adjusting maximum voltage safe to a thermoelement.
Further, the company plans to expand a model range by producing a driver without butterfly mount seat. Such modification will allow feeding and thermostat diodes with Peltier elements in other mount types. Besides, it will allow to reduce the driver dimensions and to implement it in a standard half-brick size: 61Ч58Ч15 mm.
We invite you to visit us at Photonics-2017 exhibition which will take place in Moscow during February 28 – March 3. Our company will be presented at the collective stand of Skolkovo technopark. We are looking forward to show a new line of drivers, and also to respond to all your questions.
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