Fairchild's Snubberless TRIAC Driver Optocouplers Lower Standby Power

(Product News, 30 Oct 2008)

Fairchild Semiconductor brings industrial designers an isolation solution that lowers standby power by up to 2W to meet stringent regulations such as the 1Watt Initiative and ENERGY STAR with its optically-isolated TRIAC drivers. The FOD410, FOD4108, FOD4116 and FOD4118 series of zero-crossing TRIAC driver optocouplers, eliminates the RC-snubber network when used to drive a snubberless discrete power TRIAC, saving board space and energy needed to power this circuitry. These snubberless TRIAC optocouplers have been designed to withstand high static and commutating dv/dt to protect against the high degree of noise found in noisy industrial environments. Static dv/dt immunity allows the device to remain in the blocking state in the presence of voltage transients, and commutating dv/dt immunity allows the device to turn off when the load voltage and current are out of phase with each other.

These FOD41xx optocouplers feature a guaranteed 1kV/µs minimum rating for both commutating and static dv/dt. Most of the alternative solutions in the market guarantee a static dv/dt immunity with no performance guarantees for commutating dv/dt. The FOD41xx devices are zero-crossing TRIAC driver optocouplers, which restrict the optocoupler from turning on only when the AC voltage is near zero, further improving dv/dt immunity.

The FOD41xx series of devices utilize lead-free (Pb-free) terminals and have been characterized for moisture sensitivity in accordance with the Pb-free reflow requirements of the joint IPC/JEDEC standard J-STD-020. All of Fairchild's products are designed to meet the requirements of the European Union's Directive on the restriction of the use of certain substances (RoHS).

Click here for more information on the devices

Click here for more information on Fairchild Semi