New online center from Microchip Technology Inc. is intended to provide designers with technical tools and resources to develop analog power-supply applications.
Chandler, AZ —Technical tools and resources to design analog power-supply applications are now available online. Microchip Technology Inc. has established an Intelligent Power-Supply Design Center that also helps users augment existing analog power-supply applications with inexpensive microcontrollers and design switch-mode power supply (SMPS) applications involving digital control of the power-conversion feedback loop.
The center offers access to the company’s power-supply application notes and reference designs. Links to Microchip simulation tools (including the Mindi simulation tool for battery charger and power-supply circuits) and technical documentation are also included.
Tools are offered at four levels of design integration into power supplies:
Level one– An 8-bit microcontroller is used to implement simple functions such as soft start;
Level two– At this level, the loop is still analog, yet an 8- or 16-bit microcontroller provides basic proportional control;
Level three– Here the loop is still analog but an 8- or 16-bit microcontroller or digital signal controller (DSC) can modify the topology of the power supply; and
Level four– At this level of digital integration, the power-conversion loop is fully digital and managed by a DSC with specialized peripherals.
The free resource is intended to help designers market products faster and continue to develop their knowledge base, said Lucio Di Jasio, Microchip application segments manager.
—Control Engineering Daily News Desk Jeanine Katzel , senior editor
