(iTers News/Video News) - As devices get sophisticated with many new power-guzzling features, power management is increasingly becoming crucial in optimizing the system performances.
That’s where Texas Instruments’ digital power management chip and its companion gate driver zero in on.
Unlike analog-based controller chips that have fixed usage voltage range, TI’s UCD3138A digital controller and UCD7138 low-side gate driver are digitally controlled to allow system developers to adjust their systems for various usage ranges featuring flexibility and wider usability.
Especially, the two chip solutions pair together to optimize the dead time, or an overlapping time between switch-on an- off not only to improve system efficiency, but also reduce MOSFET stresses.
The working formula is simple. The UDC3138A digital controller chipset drive the DC/DC or AD/DC converter, and then the UCD7138 gate driver jumps in to optimize the dead time.
The two chip solutions are the latest of TI’s broad spectrum of digital power chip portfolios that include power controllers, power regulators, power sequencing, and hot-swap chips.
The power controllers are used to manage a wide range of power systems from isolated AC/DC amplifiers to DC/AC inverters to power-conditioning to non-isolated DC/DC, or isolated DC/DC converters. Coming embedded with MOSFET of up to 30 amperes, the power regulators manage and control PM bus, while power sequencing controller is to manage the sequences of when to activate of the power rails of the system.
The hot-swap power controller is used to manage over charge voltages which tend to occur when other external devices plug in the system.
Applications markets range widely from industrials to automotives to communications equipment and enterprise buildings.
The non-isolated DC/DC converter controller is used with main CPUs, or chipsets, as they need to convert direct DC inputs to get low voltages and high currents to maximize power efficiency.
“These applications are mostly costly to build. So, they need digital power controller chips to get efficiency, reliability, ease of use, and more importantly faster time to market,” said WS Lee, field applications engineer automotive team with TI Korea
The followings are PR statements from TI
Texas Instruments (TI) introduced the first power management chipset with intelligent digital control and a unique body-diode sensing feature to optimize secondary-side synchronous rectification in next-generation AC/DC and isolated DC/DC power supplies. The UCD3138A digital controller and UCD7138 low-side gate driver improve system efficiency and cut synchronous rectification MOSFET voltage stress in half compared to other digital-power solutions.
Accurate control of dead time in the synchronous rectifiers helps minimize power losses and reduces the risk of MOSFET failure. The UCD3138A and UCD7138 chipset use body-diode voltage information in fast digital control algorithms to dynamically optimize dead-time and compensate for power-stage component variations without calibration or screening during mass production. This helps telecom and server end-equipment manufacturers more easily bring to market energy-efficient 80 PLUS Titanium-grade power supplies, which saves energy costs to information technology service providers.
Key features and benefits of the UCD3138A and UCD7138:
· Intelligent diode voltage sensing optimizes dead time: Adjusting timing for minimal diode conduction increases efficiency and reliability, while eliminating the signal-to-noise ratio challenges of traditional MOSFET VDS ON sensing devices.
· High peak current supports wide load range: The UCD7138’s asymmetrical, rail-to-rail 4-A source and 6-A sink peak-current drive supports load range of a few-hundred watts to a kilowatt where multiple paralleled FETs are used.
· Compact solution enables fast, efficient switching: A 3-mm by 3-mm QFN package reduces board space as well as parasitic inductances when placed alongside the synchronous rectifier MOSFETs.
· Efficient operation at frequencies up to 2 MHz: The hardware peripherals in the UCD3138A along with 14-ns propagation delays and fast rise/fall times with minimized tolerances in UCD7138 enable extremely high frequencies.
Along with this chipset, TI has also recently released a new solution for lower-power AC/DC flyback converters. TI’s UCC24630 synchronous rectifier controller delivers the highest efficiency with low sensitivity to board layout and MOSFET package parasitics. Auto low-power detection and 110-uA standby current also allow designers to easily achieve ultra-low standby power consumption.
Tools and support
Designers can quickly develop and debug applications with TI’s Code Composer Studio™ (CCS) integrated development environment (IDE) or refer to the TI Designs 340W digital controlled LLC resonant half-bridge DC/DC power conversion reference design.
Pricing and availability
The UCD3138A and UCD7138 devices are available now in the TI store and through the company’s authorized distribution network. The UCD7138 MOSFET driver is packaged in a 6-pin QFN package and is priced at US$1.10 in 1,000-unit quantities. The UCD3138A digital controller is packaged in a 40-pin QFN package and is priced at US$3.22 in 1,000-unit quantities.