TI Introduces GUI-Configurable Digital Power Controllers for Point-of-Load Systems

Digital POL Management - No Programming Required TI's single-phase UCD9111 and dual-phase UCD9112 controllers implement digital pulse width modulators (PWM) with 175 picosecond resolution, and are fully configurable via a graphical user interface (GUI) for monitoring, control and management for point-of-load power conversion - without the need to write a single line of software. GUI configuration allows a designer to intelligently manage the power supply's voltage and current thresholds and response, soft start, margining, loop compensation and many other features.



The UCD9111 and UCD9112 incorporate a control law accelerator peripheral, which performs full-digital loop control while supporting switching frequencies of up to 2 MHz. The controllers' architecture is optimized to deliver high power performance with unique functionality, such as differential voltage feedback for common mode rejection and 175 ps PWM resolution to support wide input to output voltage ratios at high switching frequencies without limiting the output resolution.



Additionally, the UCD9111 and UCD9112 devices support up to 80 PMBusTM interface commands for control, configuration and management of the power supply, while requiring a minimal supply current as low as 7 mA during normal operation.



Digital Power Driver for Point-of-Load Systems To support the microcontroller-based UCD9111 and UCD9112 devices and previously announced TMS320F28x line of digital signal processor-based controllers, TI today introduced the UCD7230 2-MHz synchronous buck driver with high and low side 4-A drivers and an integrated 3.3-V linear regulator. The UCD7230 also incorporates cycle-by-cycle current limit and a low offset current sense amplifier to provide average inductor-current information to the controller. In a dual-phase configuration, the current measurement enables the driver to perform current-balancing of the two phases to achieve higher efficiency and increased system reliability. Together, the UCD7230 driver and digital power controller allows a digital power designer to minimize the number of external components required to construct a fully digital DC/DC converter. See: www.ti.com/sc06157a.