News Release from: Summit Microelectronics
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 22 June 2005
PSU manager does without external MOSFET switches
An innovative power supply management controller combines voltage tracking, supply sequencing and voltage monitoring in a single chip.
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Summit Microelectronics has expanded its communications power management family with the introduction of an innovative power supply management controller. The SMT4504 combines three of the most essential power management functions - voltage tracking, supply sequencing and voltage monitoring - in a single chip. This new device eliminates the need for external MOSFET switches, thereby reducing board space and cost.
Using Summit's SMT4504, system designers can tailor their power control circuit to the system requirements by digitally programming the most essential functions and parameters.
The SMT4504 provides a complete quad supply rail management, while incorporating a level of programmability and integration previously missing in power management offerings.
The device can track or sequence up to four external DC/DC convertor ICs with a programmable sequence ordering and delay times, without the need for any external components.
In addition, when supplies are assigned to the same sequence position, the SMT4504 allows those these rails to be tracked at the same or different (ratiometric) slew rates - a very useful feature for applications requiring supplies to be started at the same time but to ramp up at different rates.
The SMT4504 is the first true 'lossless tracker' on the market, eliminating the need for external series MOSFETs by interfacing directly to the convertor's trim input pin.
This allows designs to reduce board space, component count and power dissipation.
Moreover, the elimination of MOSFET switches results in improved load regulation, a critical performance parameter in applications using low core voltages.
Continuing the tradition of offering high levels of design flexibility, the SMT4504 allows many of the essential parameters to be programmed and therefore adjusted to new design requirements.
This allows original equipment and original design manufacturers (OEMs and ODMs) to reduce their development time and engineering investment and bring products to market faster and more reliably.
The SMT4504 incorporates Summit's proprietary 'link' function that provides seamless expanding operation when more than four supplies are involved.
This allows several SMT4504 devices to control up to 48 power supplies in a single system.
Furthermore, it offers the ability to accurately (1%) monitor each channel for detecting under- and overvoltage conditions.
These voltage trip-points, as well as the fault trigger conditions and output polarities, are programmable, allowing for great design flexibility.
Programmable slew rate control is also available to enable power supply rails to rise and fall at different rates.
The SMT4504 can work with point-of-load (POL) and monolithic DC/DC convertors making it ideal for modern designs that require tracking, sequencing and voltage detection.
Applications include datacomms/telecomms equipment, servers, storage and other equipment using multivoltage CPUs, DSPs and ASICs.
Programming is achieved via a convenient I2C bus and configuration data are safely stored in 4Kbyte of nonvolatile EEPROM.
The devices can be programmed during development and then used in a 'fixed' configuration or they may be reprogrammed in-system via the I2C interface.
The SMT4504 device can operate directly from a +2.7 to +5.5V logic supply rail or from an 8 or 12V intermediate bus.
It is offered in both commercial and industrial operating temperature ranges and packaging is the 48-lead TQFP.
Available now in production quantities, the SMT4504 is priced at $6.80 each in the commercial temperature range and $9.63 each in the industrial temperature range in quantities of 1000 units.
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