Management ICs unite power control schemes

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Dec 2, 2004

Novel primary side power management ICs enable integration of primary and secondary side power control schemes.

With an on-chip serial datalink, the PS-1005 and PS-1006 power management ICs from Potentia Semiconductor are the first in a series of devices to comprehensively monitor primary side power subsystem data and transmit it to a companion power subsystem controller IC - such as Potentia's PS-2406 - on the secondary side.

The resultant integration of on-card primary and secondary side power control schemes will maximise system uptime in networking and high-availability compute and storage applications.

Residing on the high-voltage side (24, 48, 60V) of the safety isolation barrier, the PS-1000 Series devices continuously monitors primary input voltage, current and fuse status information and transmits digitised data through the PI-Link interface to the secondary side controller.

Via the PS-2406's I2C interface, this primary side status information is then readily interrogated by a higher-level CPU for analysis.

The PS-1005 and PS1006 are easily configured with undervoltage, overvoltage and overcurrent detection thresholds, which are used to shutdown the card under adverse circuit conditions.

Brownout detection is also provided by the ICs.

Undervoltage, overvoltage and brownout alarms are also communicated to the PS-2406.

As well as primary side data monitoring and control, the PS-1006 device also integrates inrush current limiting.

By controlling an external MOSFET, the IC is able to limit card inrush current at startup, enabling hot swapping of cards without damaging the system or causing service disruption.

The PS-1006 also provides an electronic system shutdown function.

If the input current exceeds the overcurrent threshold, the inrush MOSFET is turned off.

In addition, in the event of an unrecoverable secondary side voltage fault, the PS-2406 can instruct the PS-1005 or PS-1006 across the isolation barrier to shut down the DC/DC convertor, thereby protecting the card from any damage.