Energy-Saving PFC Controller Handles Up To 800 W

The UCC28060 from Texas Instruments is a two-phase high-performance power-factor correction (PFC) controller for 75- to 800-W applications. The device simplifies power system design, minimizes switching losses, and saves system cost and valuable board space when compared to traditional single-phase, transition-mode topologies or continuous-conduction-mode topologies, according to TI. The company notes that in certain applications, designers have been able to reduce bill of materials costs by 20% while gaining improved performance from a smaller and lighter power supply. The controller complies with the world’s most stringent PFC requirements for consumer electronics.

The device's Natural Interleaving technology reduces the amount of input and output current ripple, distributes magnetics to improve thermal management, and provides light-load phase management. A ripple cancellation feature significantly reduces ripple current compared to single-phase or alternative "master-slave" interleaved solutions. In addition, the feature enables designers to decrease capacitor size by 27% and allows them to use a smaller, less expensive electromagnetic interference filter.

The UCC28060 incorporates the industry's first "failsafe" overvoltage protection circuit, which provides dual paths of voltage sensing to protect against shorts to an intermediate voltage. If undetected, such shorts could lead to a catastrophic failure on the board. Also, in-rush current management prevents MOSFET conduction during in-rush events while eliminating reverse recovery events in the system output rectifiers. Finally, the UCC28060 employs sensorless current shaping to protect the system from potential damage that could occur during brownout conditions and recovery. The UCC28060 comes in a 16-pin small-outline IC package.