Product category:
Power Supply ICs and Controllers
News Release from: Silicon Laboratories | Subject: Si825x family
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 21 April 2005
New architecture puts DSP in charge of
power
The Si825x family of single-chip digital power supply controllers combines the flexibility and programmability of a DSP with the fast response of a hardware-based controller.
This week at the Portable Power Developer's Conference (PPDC) Silicon Laboratories announced its entrance into the power market, offering the first of a family of products specifically designed for power control applications Based on a patented architecture, the Si825x family of single-chip digital power supply controllers combines the flexibility and programmability of a DSP with the fast response of a hardware-based controller
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 12 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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This unique architecture enables the Si825x family of products to provide both digital power control and power management functions for most isolated and nonisolated switch-mode power supply topologies while consuming one-tenth the space and drawing less than 15% of the supply current of typical DSP solutions.
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"By carefully considering the integration of high-performance mixed-signal elements, Silicon Laboratories made the Si825x a remarkably cost-effective solution for a wide range of power conversion applications", said Geof Potter, Vice President, DC/DC Advanced Technology at Astec Power, an Emerson Network Power company and a leading global supplier of power conversion solutions.
"We selected the Si825x due to a variety of advantages over alternate solutions, but one of the most significant features that influenced our decision is the ability to use firmware to tailor generic hardware platforms to specific end applications resulting in a better application fit, faster time-to-market and lower cost-of-development".
The unique Si825x architecture incorporates high-speed processing hardware for real-time loop control and a Flash-based system management controller.
The high-bandwidth control loop updates at a 10MHz rate and contains a dedicated analogue-to-digital convertor (ADC), programmable DSP filter engine, six-channel DPWM and programmable overcurrent protection (OCP) hardware detector.
The system management controller performs fault detection and recovery, control loop optimisation, such as dynamic loop compensation and dead-time adjustment, PMBus communication and external device management.
The system management controller is based on a 50MIPS 8051 CPU with 32Kbyte of Flash and incorporates a 12bit self-sequencing ADC, SMBus PMBus interface port, UART, 16bit timers and additional PWM channels.
The Si825x is specified to operate in the -40 to +125C range.
"Estimated to be more than a $17.4 billion market in 2009, the combined AC/DC and DC/DC power market is increasingly interested in digital control in power conversion and power management due to the growing complexity of system applications", said Jeff Shepard, President of The Darnell Group.
"Silicon Laboratories has delivered a digital solution that offers the flexibility, adjustability and programmability required by customisable power supplies".
Silicon Laboratories' Si825x is supported with an intuitive toolset that leverages users' existing analogue design methodology, minimising the digital control design learning curve.
The toolset consists of a real-time firmware kernel (C-language source code), loop compensation and timing simulator/designer tools, system controller, configuration wizards and Silicon Laboratories' integrated development environment (IDE).
The Si825x development kit also includes a USB debug adapter and complete half-bridge Si825x-based DC/DC convertor.
The kit comes complete with a PMBus interface protocol and external host interface hardware.
"Silicon Laboratories applied its mixed-signal expertise to the power conversion market to offer a novel solution that fully allows the benefits of digital power to be realised", said Dan Artusi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Laboratories.
"This product family is the first in our road map of power products that will revolutionise the power market, saving customers design time and board space, reducing the system bill-of-materials and bringing higher levels of energy efficiency to the end user".
The Si825x is available in a 5 x 5mm 28-pin quad no lead (QFN) package or a 32-pin low profile quad flatpack (LQFP).
Pricing for the Si825x family starts at $2.49 in quantities of 1000.
The Si825x is sampling now, with general availability scheduled for Q3 2005.
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