Isolated Data Transmission and Power Conversion
Integrated Into a Surface Mount Package
Keith Bennett Galvanic isolation is used in a variety of industries, most commonly to provide safety
against potentially lethal voltages. Isolation is also used to eliminate the effects of noise
and common mode voltage differences created by ground loops, or as a level shifter
between dissimilar operating voltages. Typically, building an isolated system requires
a number of passive and active components on either side of the isolation barrier, in
addition to the barrier components themselves. These barrier components can be
optical, magnetic, capacitive, RF or even GMR (giant magnetoresistance) devices.
Barrier components are notoriously difficult to use, adding significant design
time and cost to isolated systems. With
this in mind, Linear Technology has
developed a line of ВµModuleВ® isolators that reduces the design of isolated
systems to simply plugging in a module—no complex barrier components
are required. In fact, ВµModule isolators
require no external components at all.
Linear Technology ВµModule isolators
use magnetically coupled techniques to
provide data and power isolation in a
single package. The result is an easy-touse, low power, robust solution with
excellent field immunity. The LTM2881
isolated RS485/RS422 transceiver and LTM2882 dual isolated RS232 transceivers use ВµModule isolator technology
to provide complete transceiver-pluspower solutions in 15mm Г— 11.25mm …