On this page we will take an in-depth look at the primary stage of Rocketfish 700 W. For a better understanding, please read our Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies tutorial.

This power supply uses one T15XB80 rectifying bridge in its primary, capable of delivering up to 15 A at 100º C with a heatsink, which is the case. This component is clearly overspec'ed: at 115 V this unit would be able to pull up to 1,725 W from the power grid; assuming 80% efficiency, the bridge would allow this unit to deliver up to 1,380 W without burning this component. Of course we are only talking about this component and the real limit will depend on all other components from the power supply.

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Figure 8: Rectifying bridge.

The active PFC circuit uses two SPW20N60C3 power MOSFET transistors, each one capable of handling up to 13.1 A in continuous mode at 100º C (or 20.7 A at 25º C; see the difference temperature makes) or 62.1 A in pulse mode at 25º C. These transistors are located on the same heatsink as the switching transistors.

On the switching section this power supply uses regular power NPN transistors and not power MOSFET transistors in the two-transistor foward configuration. Usually power supplies based on this kind of transistor presents lower efficiency. Two 2SC3320 are used, each one capable of delivering up to 15 A at 25º C.

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Figure 9: Switching transistors, PFC diode and active PFC transistor (the other active PFC transistor is on the other side of the heatsink).

The primary section is controlled two separated integrated circuits, one for the active PFC circuit (ICE2PCS01) and one for driving the switching transistor (i.e., PWM, AZ7500B integrated circuit), instead of using just one combo controller as it happens with almost all modern power supplies.

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Figure 10: Active PFC controller.