Analog power controllers with digital enhancements

Power Electronics / Power Management

19 November 2014 Power Electronics / Power Management

Microchip announced its latest Digitally Enhanced Power Analog (DEPA) controllers – the MCP19118 and MCP19119. They provide simple, effective analog PWM control for DC-DC synchronous buck converters up to 40 V, with the configurability of a digital microcontroller (MCU).

They are also the industry’s first devices to combine 40 V operation and PMBus communication interfaces.

The devices enable quick power conversion circuit development with an analog control loop that is programmable in the integrated 8-bit PIC MCU core’s firmware. Together with their PMBus communication, this integration and flexibility provide for power conversion applications such as battery charging, LED driving, USB power delivery, point-of-load and automotive power supplies.

In addition to the rapidly growing popularity of digitally controlled power supplies, power system designers also have an increasing need for the ability to report telemetry and conduct two-way communication, typically for monitoring and fault reporting, via standard communication interfaces such as PMBus. Additionally, the recently released USB charging specifications, USB Power Delivery and the USB type C connector, include variable charging voltages which allow for rapid device charging, but add potentially difficult hardware requirements.

By integrating a supervisory microcontroller, the MCP19118/9 can create programmable power supplies. Key system settings – such as switching frequency from 100 kHz to 1,6 MHz, current limits and voltage setpoints – can be adjusted on-the-fly during operation by issuing write commands to the registers in the device. One design can then be reused for additional applications, using firmware updates to change the configuration.

Additionally, the integrated MCU core can be used to monitor other parts of the application to sequence startup operations; intelligently manage faults, under-voltage or brown-out conditions; perform housekeeping functions; adjust power outputs in response to load requirements, such as battery charging or USB port power; and assist with the module’s external interfaces by monitoring or delivering signals to the user or system.

With integrated linear regulators, PWM generators, ADCs, MOSFET drivers, analog error amplifiers and control loop compensation, the chips provide a very compact circuit solution, and can also provide data over the I2C interface using customised SMBus or PMBus compatible commands.

MCP19118/9 programming assistance is available via the MCP19111 Design Analyser and the MCP19111 Graphical User Interface Plug-in for MPLAB X IDE.

For more information contact Arnold Perumal, Avnet Kopp, +27 (0)11 319 8600, arnold.perumal@avnet.eu, www.avnet.co.za

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Power Electronics / Power Management

Analog power controllers with digital enhancements

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