Online Design Centre for Power-Supply Applications

12th October 2006

ES Admin

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Microchip announces an online Intelligent Power-Supply Design Centre to provide the technical resources needed to design analogue power supplies, augment existing analogue power supply designs with inexpensive microcontrollers, or design Switch-Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) with full digital control of the power-conversion feedback loop. The site offers direct access to all of Microchip’s power-supply application notes, reference designs and other technical documentation. Links to Microchip simulation tools (including the Mindi simulation tool for battery charger and power-supply circuits) are also provided. Find it at www.microchip.com/power

The Intelligent Power-Supply Design Centre offers design tools for each of four levels of digital integration into power supplies. Level one involves using an 8-bit microcontroller to implement simple functions, such as soft start. At level two, the control loop is still analogue, with an 8- or 16-bit microcontroller providing basic proportional control. The loop is also still analogue at level three, but an 8- or 16-bit microcontroller or Digital Signal Controller (DSC) can be used to modify the topology of the power supply. At the highest level of digital integration into power supplies, the power-conversion loop is entirely digital and managed by a DSC with specialized peripherals.

Microchip has long provided cost-effective PIC microcontroller and analogue products to the power-supply market, and has recently announced a new family of dsPIC DSCs (dsPIC30F1010/2020/2023) for full digital control of SMPSs.