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Control a GaN power stage with a Hercules™ LaunchPad™ development kit – part 2
In my last blog post, I walked you through a hands-on project: dimming a lamp with a gallium nitride (GaN) power stage, a Hercules™ microcontroller and a scroll wheel. I covered setup, design and how...
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Simplifying loop compensation and poles and zeros calculations
Do you ever find yourself frustrated while designing the power supply for your end application? Designing for power-supply loop compensation and calculating the poles and zeros can be difficult,...
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How to extend a controller’s output-voltage range
A controller is capable of regulating a maximum output voltage: for example, the LM5140-Q1 regulates a maximum output voltage of 15V. Still, there are many applications where a design engineer would...
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How to use slew rate for EMI control
Many industrial and automotive applications use the synchronous buck converter power-supply topology; these applications also require low conducted and radiated emissions to ensure that the power...
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Let’s GaN together, reliably
I often wonder why our industry doesn’t collaborate more to speed up the adoption of gallium nitride (GaN) transistors; after all, a rising tide lifts all boats. Each year, we’ve watched market...
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Building blocks of power
On July 4, 1795, Paul Revere and Sam Adams set a cornerstone in the Massachusetts state house. Inside the cornerstone was a time capsule containing newspapers, coins and American emblems- early...
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Highlights from APEC 2016 – GaN, 48V POL, wireless charging and more!
The Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) is somewhat like a big family reunion. It not only draws many of the same people from industry, academia and government, but it is one of the largest...
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Pump it up with charge pumps – part 3
The product line I work in develops multirail power supplies for LCDs and AMOLED displays. It is common for such supplies to feature one or more inductive converters, plus a couple of charge pumps to...
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DC/DC converter datasheets - Quiescent current demystified: Part one
One of the most confusing specifications of a DC/DC converter is its quiescent current, or IQ. Part of the reason for this is that each manufacturer uses different terminology and definitions to...
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Power Tips: Simplify creation of multiphase and multimodular board designs...
As the demand for automotive and industrial power increases, so does the need for multiphase and modular-based designs. Designing a multiphase or multimodule board can be tedious and take a long time....
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Differences between PSR and SSR in bias power-supply design
For a bias power supply with a power level less than 10W, the biggest consideration about the design is its efficiency and its cost. In this post, I’ll compare two control schemes – primary-side...
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DC/DC converter datasheets - Quiescent current demystified: Part two
At the end of part 1, I started talking about the no-load input supply current. But there is one more “quiescent” current that you need to look at before I continue.Many DC/DC converters have an...
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Power Tips: How to find switching loops in a power supply
Power-supply layout is one of the most important parts of being able to create a successful power design. Everyone has an opinion on how to do it and reasons why their way is the best way. The truth is...
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DC/DC converter datasheets – System efficiency demystified
With the variety of regulators on the market, it can be difficult to choose a DC/DC regulator. Most automotive applications require high efficiency over the entire load range since they’re running from...
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Have you been had? Check the stated vs. actual current limit
TI’s SIMPLE SWITCHER® LM257x and LM259x regulators have been a popular choice for direct current (DC)/DC buck regulation for over 20 years. Due to their popularity, a number of manufacturers have...
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DC/DC converter datasheets – System losses demystified
Welcome back to the DC/DC converter datasheets series. Whereas in the last installment I covered system efficiency, in this installment I will discuss DC/DC regulator component switching losses,...
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From blue light to green power
Whizzing across the Japanese countryside at 300kph, my colleague Tomomasa Emoto and I arrived at Nagoya station by Shinkansen. Nagoya is home to famous Shintō shrines and castles, but that is not why...
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Digitally select your reference voltage
Adjustable voltage references offer great flexibility to circuit designers because the reference is not limited to the manufacturer’s pre-set values. The adjustable output is typically configured with...
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Charge it up with charge pumps – Part 4
To conclude this short series on charge pumps, I’d like to give you a few circuit ideas, to get you thinking about a basic charge-pump circuit as a building block adaptable to a wide range of...
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Keep it simple with an LDO regulator
Living and working in Asia exposes me to a wide variety of interesting support questions. For example, I was recently asked if TI had a cross-device to an LDO controller. This controller is in a...
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