TI Unleashes Power Management Solutions for Portable Wireless Designs
To achieve better consumption figures, engineers are looking for new power management solutions. Dallas-based Texas Instruments is trying to answer this call through the release of several new power management solutions for wireless designs.
In its first release, TI unveiled two families of power management devices that are designers to increase efficiency and overall system performance while reducing required board space and component count in digital signal processor- (DSP) and microprocessor-based applications. The new products include a family of DC/DC converters, designated the TPS6012x and TPS6013x, and a family of power controllers, called the TPS5102 and TPS5103.
The converters
The new DC/DC converters are step-up regulated, charge pump power supplies. The TPS6012x generates an output of +3.3 VDC at up to 200 mA from an input voltage of +1.8 to +3.6 V delivered by two alkaline, nickel cadmium (NiCd), or nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. The TPS6013x charge pumps, on the other hand, generate an output of +5 VDC percent from an input of +2.7 to +5.4 VDC delivered by three alkaline, NiCd, or NiMH batteries or one lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery.
Unlike traditional DC-to-DC converters that employ inductors, these devices use capacitors for charge storage. By employing this approach, TI says the TPS6012x and TPS6013x only require four inexpensive external capacitors, reducing overall system cost.
The converters feature a power-saving pulse-skip mode that extends battery life at light loads. Both devices also offer a logic shutdown function to reduce supply current to 0.05 µA and completely disconnect the battery from the load.
Power controllers
The TPS5102 and TPS5103 power controllers are targeted at portable wireless and personal digital assistant (PDA) designs. These devices are equipped with on-chip 1.5 A MOSFET drivers that can supply system current up to 20 A.
The TPS5102 dual-channel controller can independently control two voltages. It features an input range of +4.5 to +25 VDC and an output voltage range of +1.2 VDC up to the input voltage level in each channel. The device can achieve efficiency greater than 95% and is designed to save power under light-load conditions such as sleep mode by switching from pulse-width-modulation (PWM) mode to the skip mode on command from a CPU or DSP. Furthermore, the device allows designers to easily avoid noise problems by adjusting its operating frequency between 100 and 500 kHz.
The TPS5103 is a single-channel, multi-purpose-switching controller that can be designed to address many portable wireless applications. For notebooks, PDAs, and other battery-operated products that benefit from a higher efficiency under light-load conditions, a PWM/skip mode can be used. For higher current demanding applications that need an extremely fast transient response time, a hysteretic mode can be deployed.
The TPS5103 accommodates a range of input voltages as low as +1.2 VDC. The device is well suited for controlling high-performance DSPs, such as TI's TMS320C5409.
Additional products
On the heels of its new converter/controller family releases, TI has unleashed a family of supervisory circuits for portable wireless designs. This new family of circuits, dubbed the TPS312x, enables designers to monitor core voltages as low as +1.2 VDC.
Housed in a SOT-23 package, the TPS312x family provides precision initialization and timing supervision of DSPs and other processors operating at +1.2, +1.5, +1.8, and +3 VDC. The devices sport an integrated watchdog timer that monitors processor activity and a manual reset function that gives designers added flexibility through manual operation, as well as the ability to daisy-chain devices. In addition, the TPS312x family offers an active-low and active-high reset function that enables designers to use these devices in a wide range of DSP and processor-based systems.
All the devices in the TPS312x family need a minimum supply voltage of +0.75 VDC. The integrated power on reset function is enabled as soon as the supply voltage rises above the +0.75 VDC level.
Complementary circuits
To complement the TPS312x family, TI is also announcing the TPS382x family of supervisory circuits. These devices monitor voltages of +2.5, +3, +3.3, and +5 VDC while drawing 15 µA. Similar to the TPS312x, the TPS382x family sport watchdog, manual reset, active-high and active-low reset functions in a five-pin SOT-23 package. The TPS382x device has a fixed delay time of 25 ms with a defined minimum reset voltage of +1.1 VDC during power-on. Their reset threshold is guaranteed accurate to ±2% over an operating temperature range of -40 to +85°C.
Pricing/availability
Samples of the TPS6012x, TPS6013x, TPS5102, and TPS5103 devices are available now from TI and its authorized distributors. The TPS6012x and TPS6013x devices will be available in a 20-pin, PowerPAD package and have a suggested resale pricing from $1.99 to $2.49 in 1,000-piece quantities. The TPS5102 device is available in a 30-pin, TSSOP package and has a suggested resale pricing of $3.90 in 1,000-piece quantities. The TPS5103 device is available in a 20-pin, SSOP package and has a suggested resale pricing of $2.76 in 1,000-piece quantities.
Samples of the TPS312x and TPS382x supervisory circuits are also available now. Full production is slated for the first quarter of 2000. In quantities of 1,000 pieces, the TPS312x devices will be priced at $0.80 to $0.86. In 100-piece quantities, the TPS382x devices will be offered for $0.67 to $0.73.
For additional information on any of TI's new power management solutions, contact the company at 800-477-8924, ext. 4500.
Edited by Robert Keenan