DSP, Micros & Memory


Technical brief: multiple PWM output soft-start controller for switching power supplies

8 February 2006 DSP, Micros & Memory

Sometimes applications have devices with multiple voltage requirements (eg, core voltages, I/O voltages). The sequence in which these voltages rise is important.

A common requirement is that one voltage must rise and stabilise before another voltage. These multiple-voltage applications can benefit from small microcontrollers, such as Microchip Technology's PIC10F206, to control the sequence in which the voltages in the system are allowed to rise. The PIC microcontroller can be added to an existing design with a minimal increase in complexity or cost.

The circuit operates by using pulse width modulation (PWM) to slowly increase the amount of time the power supply is allowed to operate (the complete technical brief is available at www.microchip.com). The circuit will first increase the duty cycle of one PWM output from 0 to 100% to allow the first voltage to rise. It will then pause and increase the duty cycle of the second PWM output from 0 to 100% to allow the second voltage to rise, as shown in the timing diagram. While doing this, an active-low shutdown pin will be polled to ensure that the voltage on the under-voltage lockout pin is above 0,6 V.

This particular solution demonstrates how to control the shutdown pins of two power supplies in order to provide one with a specifiable soft-start time. The delay between PWM outputs and when the softstart begins can be customised. Furthermore, the design provides both an active-low shutdown pin and an under-voltage lockout pin.



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