Microchip DSCs Bring Digital Power to Mainstream Applications

Industry analysts concur that the market opportunity for digital power is expected to grow significantly over the next several years. The seven new dsPIC33F “GS” series digital-power DSCs enable digital control loops with four to eight high-speed, 1 nanosecond (ns) resolution PWMs, up to four 20 ns comparators, each with an integrated Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) and one or two 10-bit, on-chip ADCs, providing 2 to 4 Million Samples Per Second (MSPS) for low latency and high-resolution control. They range from 18 to 44 pins and 6 to 18kbyte Flash memory, and are pin-to-pin compatible with Microchip’s initial digital power DSC family.



They feature an “Intelligent Power Peripheral,” which includes interconnected analog comparators, Pulse-Width Modulators (PWMs) and Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) that are specialized for digital-power applications and can be software configured to adapt to a variety of topologies. This topology flexibility gives power supply designers the complete freedom to optimise for specific product applications and with the dsPIC33’s in-circuit programming capabilities, common SMPS platforms can be differentiated late in the production process, saving both time and cost.



Fully digital topologies provide designers with a new degree of freedom, to develop supplies with improved density and improved cost effectiveness. The new digital-power dsPIC33Fs enable full control of the power-conversion process, via software, through high performance and highly configurable integrated peripherals. With these DSCs, components do not need to be ‘oversized’ to account for component variation, mean component drift and temperature compensation are no longer mainstream considerations, and manual tuning at the end of the manufacturing line can be eliminated.



The dsPIC33F “GS” series devices offer 10 modes of PWM operation, including standard, complementary, push-pull, variable-phase and centre-aligned. Application examples include AC/DC power supplies, Power Factor Correction (PFC), DC/DC converters, UPSs and power inverters. A host of other applications can benefit from the ultra-fast PWM and ADC on the dsPIC33F “GS” series devices, such as digital lighting (including HID) and liquid crystal display backlights.



The new devices are supported by a host of development tools including the new Buck/Boost Converter PICtailTM Plus Daughter Board. This comprises two independent DC/DC synchronous buck converters and one independent DC/DC boost converter. All the necessary power, drive and control signals are presented to board connectors. The board can control two buck stages, or one buck and one boost stage, via the demo software running on the board’s dsPIC33 DSC.