HUGD-50

The GAIA Converter Hold up device HUGD-50 provides a state-of-the-art solution to the problem of maintaining electronic system in operation during input bus drop-out with enough time. Usually this approach uses very large capacitors because they are only charged at the voltage at which power fail. The Gaïa Converter HUGD-50 module provides an alternative solution to reduce the amount of capacitance needed by charging the hold up capacitor at a high voltage (typically 38V) while limiting the input current.

The HUGD-50 needs to be connected between the line source and DC/DC modules (if an EMI filter and /or a pre-regulator are used, it is connected between them and the converters). Basically it charges the external capacitor to 38V while powering the DC/DC converters. If the power fails, the HUGD-50 generates a signal and the converters are powered from the external capacitor. it can be used either with 16-40V or 9- 36V input voltage DC/DC converters since the «power fail voltage» is externally adjustable between 8.8V and 15.3V by the user. The HUGD-50 features 3 modes of operations: • Charging operation mode : when the input voltage ramps-up and reaches the startup charge threshold (which is set at 1Vdc above the «power fail voltage»), the HUGD-50 begins to charge the external capacitor at 38 VDC while powering the dc/dc converter. the charging current is controled and externally adjustable between 100mA and 2A by a resistance. The capacitor charging time depends on the charging current. When the capacitor voltage reaches 34V, (representing 90% of charge) the signal (active, floating output collector) «capacitor charged» is activated and it enters in the normal operation mode.  • Normal operation mode : in normal operation mode with the capacitor charged and the input bus is between the «output power fail» and 40VDC, the HUGD-50 consumes only power to keep the capacitor charged (i.e.less than 1W.

The voltage drop between input and output is lower than 150mV in the worth case (50W power and 9 VDC input voltage)

The HUGD-50 will operate indefinitely until the input voltage drops below the «power fail voltage» threshold.
• Power fail mode : when the input voltage drops below the «power fail voltage» threshold a «power fail» signal is activated and the HUGD-50 disconnects input and output and connects the hold-up capacitor to the output.

At this point the DC/DC converters HUGD-50 are powered by the capacitor. When 90% of the usable stored energy in the capacitor is activated and operation will stop as the energy reaches zero.