USB-C on tähän asti ollut käytännössä kuluttajalaitteiden liitin. Nyt se alkaa murtautua myös teollisiin virtalähteisiin. Renesas Electronics on esitellyt GaN-pohjaisen AC/DC-alustan, jossa USB-lataus yhdistyy jopa 500 watin teholuokkaan.

Keskeinen muutos ei ole yksittäinen laturi, vaan arkkitehtuuri. Renesasin uusi Half-Wave LLC (HWLLC) -topologia on suunniteltu skaalautumaan noin sadasta watista aina 500 wattiin ilman perinteisten ratkaisujen kokoon, lämpöihin ja hyötysuhteeseen liittyviä kompromisseja. Samalla samaan kokonaisuuteen on integroitu sekä tehokerroinkorjaus (PFC) että resonanssikonvertteri.

USB-C:n rooli tässä on tarkasti rajattu mutta merkittävä. USB Power Delivery -spesifikaation Extended Power Range (EPR) nostaa liittimen maksimitehon 240 wattiin (48 V, 5 A), ja Renesas tuo tämän osaksi suurempaa virtalähdealustaa. Käytännössä USB-C ei vielä kanna koko 500 watin kuormaa, mutta siitä tulee osa samaa teollista tehonsyöttöarkkitehtuuria.

Using USB for powering devices is wonderful, as it frees us from a tangle of incompatible barrel & TRS connectors, not to mention a veritable gaggle of proprietary power connectors. The unfortunate side-effect of this is that the obvious thing to do with power connectors is to introduce splitters, which can backfire horribly, especially since USB-C and USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) were introduced. The [Quiescent Current] channel on YouTube recently went over the ways in which these handy gadgets can literally turn your USB-powered devices into a smoldering pile of ashes.

Much like Qualcomm’s Quick Charge protocols, USB-PD negotiates higher voltages with the power supply, after which this same voltage will be provided to any device that’s tapped into the power supply lines of the USB connector. Since USB-C has now also taken over duties like analog audio jacks, this has increased the demand for splitters, but these introduce many risks.

Why USB-C multiport adapters can be dangerous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvnoz5uaTwE

USB-C splitters or extensions can be convenient, but may also break your devices if used in the wrong combination. This can be annoying, but worst case dangerous if something gets hot or catches fire.

Comments:

Completely correct that they CAN be dangerous. They can also not be dangerous. I have a few of these adapters, that serves the same purpose as yours. Except the ones I have are a bit bigger, because they each have a built-in USB hub, that provides USB 3.0 or 3.1 speed on the secondary port. The primary port is the passthrough port for charging (up to 20V/100W on mine). The secondary port is a regular USB-C or USB-A port with just 5V output, because it goes through a voltage regulator either inside the USB hub chip or a separate one. I have one connected to my laptop at home, which provides power to my laptop, but the other USB port is connected to an USB-C 2.5G ethernet dongle.

The “U” in “USB” becomes increasingly untrue…

The problem is that the vast majority of people don’t understand that there IS a difference.