BIG-ASS Power Supplies:  Is TLVR still a thing? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: frogblender
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2025, 05:13:31 pm
content: I'm talking about multi-hundreds of amps at 0.7v or whatever... such as what is feeding your GPU and CPU right now.Among those who design such things, the talk around the water cooler a couple of years ago was thatTLVR- trans-inductance-voltage-regulators - was the next Big Thing, promising much better transient response than the normal multi-phase supplies, for a given output capacitance.Alas, now I'm having trouble finding diddly on the matter; TI was a big proponent of TLVR, offering a boatload of CSD955xx power stages with "Native TLVR" support; Now, a year later, I can't find any trace.Anyone using tlvr? Or know what happened to it?

author: indeterminate
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2025, 08:19:45 am
content: Try a different search enginehttps://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slup413https://www.analog.com/en/resources/technical-articles/multiphase-designs-decisions-trade-offs-trans-inductor-voltage-regulators.htmlhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9862078

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2025, 05:21:10 pm
content: Fascinating, I never heard of this. Good reading!

author: jbb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2025, 07:43:55 pm
content: I could be wrong, but I think Oxide computer uses them for a CPU or a giant switch ASIC; I think they mentioned the topology on one of their podcast (Oxide and Friends) episodes.

author: frogblender
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2025, 08:58:10 pm
content: Quote from: indeterminate on June 11, 2025, 08:19:45 amYes, I can see all the technical papers from years past.... but now I need actual datasheets and orderable partnumbers I can drop into my schematic. These multi-phase fancy controllers are all kept under NDA (for MPS, TI, Analog, onSemi, at least), and I'm working to actually... talk... to these manufacturers.... but wondering if anyone has actually designed with these TLVR's.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2025, 09:41:27 pm
content: The inductors exist and are being sold, so someone must be using them:https://abracon.com/product-lineup/power-magnetics/inductors/power-inductors/trans-inductor-voltage-regulator-tlvr-inductorshttps://abracon.com/resources/pdf-viewer?id=TLVR-Inductors-The-Basics-and-How-They-Improve-Multiphase-DC-DC-Converters.pdfhttps://www.powerelectronicsnews.com/transformer-based-voltage-regulators-with-flexible-tlvr-structure-for-extremely-fast-dynamic-response/I don't see any cross references to those parts for recommended ICs though.

author: jbb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2025, 12:24:06 am
content: The Oxide people mentioned that Renesas (I think) had parts which were least-encumbered by NDAs

author: electron_plumber
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2025, 01:56:31 am
content: You can find TLVR-aware controllers if you look for them. Renesas, TI, and Infineon all sell them. E.g.,the TPS53689TRSBR datasheetmentions it explicitly:QuoteI spoke with a few engineers who tried implementing TLVR bucks into some datacenter PSU's a couple years ago (>200A load steps, ~0.85V rail). They said it simulated well, but they had trouble demonstrating the theoretical gains in practice for some reason or another. Has anyone here tried out this topology?