What is the intermediate bus architecture?
The use of intermediate bus converters (IBC) is becoming very popular in distributed power architectures. This implementation continues to distribute 48V along the system backplane. The intermediate architecture differs from conventional distributed power architecture at the card level. On each card in the system, an intermediate power bus voltage is established rather than converting directly to multiple point-of-use voltages. The intermediate power bus converter ground isolates and steps down the backplane voltage to a nominal 8V to 12V. Non-isolated point of load converters (typically buck regulators) receives power from the intermediate bus and regulate down to point-of-use voltages, which completes the power system.
