Controller expands digital power management

Vince Biancomano

eeProductCenter (08/10/2005 10:04 PM ET)

Ottawa, Canada—The PS-2606 power system controller from Potentia Semiconductor provides a complete power management solution for up to six non-isolated DC/DC converters and one intermediate bus in telecom, networking, and data storage applications. This highly integrated chip enables users to digitally program output voltages, sequencing for startup and shutdown, and over-voltage and under-voltage warning and fault thresholds on each power rail.

Using the company's intuitive PowerCenter Designer software, the user can easily configure the controller for complex power system applications. Designs incorporating any type of DC/DC converter, including standard POLA and DOSA modules, can be validated using the PowerCenter Emulation Platform.

All secondary side power system data managed by the PS-2606 is accessible to system-level processors through the chip's I²C interface. In addition, via its integral PI-Link isolated communications interface, the controller can also provide voltage, fuse status and fault data from the company's PS-1000 series primary side power management ICs. Users can cascade the controllers for higher rail count.

The chip has a separate input for monitoring the intermediate bus voltage to determine whether the bus is suitable for startup sequencing. The controller can also be configured to automatically retry power sequencing after responding to a fault condition. The PS-2606’s four general purpose I/O pins (GPIOs) can be allocated to any of the six monitored power rails as either hardware enable inputs or three power good outputs and one power bad output. They can also be configured as an interrupt for OV/UV warnings, primary side fault indication, or primary side shutdown.

The product datasheet can be accessed by clicking here. The PS-2606 power system controller is priced at $6 each in 10k pieces.

Potentia Semiconductor, 1-613-592-0027, www.potentiasemi.com

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