Digital signal controllers address power supply challenges

The 14-member dsPIC33EP “GS” family of Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) from Microchip Technologies delivers the performance needed to implement more sophisticated non-linear, predictive and adaptive control algorithms at higher switching frequencies. These advanced algorithms enable power supply designs that are more energy efficient and have better power supply specifications.

Higher switching frequencies enable the development of smaller and less expensive components. Compared with the previous generation of DSCs, the new dsPIC33EP “GS” devices provide less than half the latency, when used in a three-pole three-zero compensator, and consume up to 80% less power in any application.

A Live Update Flash capability can be used to change the firmware of an operating power supply, including the active compensator calculation code, while maintaining continuous regulation. Variants from this new digital-power-optimized DSC family are available in an industry’s-smallest, 4 x 4 mm UQFN package for space-constrained designs.

Other key features of this family include up to five 12-bit ADCs with as many as 22 ADC inputs, providing total throughput of 16 Mega samples per second (Msps) with a 300 ns ADC latency. The dsPIC33EP “GS” devices include 12-bit DACs for each of the four analog comparators, for higher-precision designs. The two on-chip programmable gain amplifiers can be used for current sensing and other precision measurements. Including these advanced analog amplifiers on the device reduces the number of external components required, thereby saving cost and board space. These features, combined with the overall high performance of the dsPIC33EP “GS” family, make it well suited for a wide range of applications, including AC/DC and DC/DC power supplies in computers and telecom, solar inverters, LED lighting, and battery chargers in industrial, and LED and HID headlights in automotive.

Discover more about this new family of DSCs with Design World Executive Editor, Lee Teschler in this video where Lee goes “Inside a state-of-the-art digital power controller” with Tom Spohrer of Microchip.