A complementary family of PMBus-compliant digital power-control ICs for telecom and datacentric applications supports designs from the ac line to the point of load. Texas Instruments' Fusion Digital Power family comprises three product series. Two work together in a purely digital-control mode. The third can be used with more modest digital controllers, providing most of the benefits of digital power control while closing the control loop in the analog domain.
The UCD9xxx programmable all-digital power controllers can handle multiple point-of-load (POL) feedback loops while providing monitoring and supervisory functions. They work with TI's UCD7xxx ICs, which are smart MOSFET drivers that interface the digital power controller to the power stage. The UCD7xxx parts also offer first-line protection for the power supply if the digital controller does not detect a failure situation.
UCD8xxx chips combine UCD7xxx functionality with an on-chip, digitally controlled analog pulse-width modulation (PWM) driver. This maintains digital supervision but closes the feedback loop in the analog domain.
To program power systems built using UDC9xxx chips, TI offers the Code Composer Studio integrated development environment. Industry-standard PMBus tools also are available, as are reference designs and source-code examples.
Samples are currently shipping. Volume production is expected by September. Pricing in quantities of 1000 units starts at $4.95 for the UCD9xxx all-digital controllers, $0.99 for the UCD7xxx MOSFET drivers, and $1.99 for the UCD8xxx PWM-controller/drivers.
Texas Instrumentswww.ti.com