Microchip expands DSC portfolio for digital power apps

CHANDLER, USA: Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, announced the expansion of its 16-bit dsPIC Digital Signal Controller (DSC) portfolio for digital power-conversion applications.

These new DSCs provide up to four times the memory, compared to Microchip’s existing SMPS & Digital Power Conversion families. Additionally, these flexible DSCs can be configured for a variety of topologies, giving power-supply designers the complete freedom to optimize for specific product applications. The eight new DSCs offer up to 18 channels of Pulse-Width-Modulators (PWMs) with 1 nanosecond resolution, enabling an unprecedented number of completely independent digital control loops.

Implementing high-speed, precision digital control loops for digital power conversion applications requires a high-performance DSP engine, along with specialized digital power peripherals. Microchip’s 16-bit dsPIC33F ‘GS’ Series DSCs provide on-chip peripherals specifically designed for high-performance, digital power supplies.

On-chip digital power peripherals include high-speed PWMs, ADCs and analog comparators. The newly expanded dsPIC33F ‘GS’ family supports applications such as induction cooking, uninterruptable power supplies, solar and pure sine-wave inverters, intelligent battery chargers, power factor correction, HID lighting, fluorescent lighting, LED lighting, and AC-DC and DC-DC power converters.

“Microchip further extends its industry leadership with this family of digital-power DSCs,” said Sumit Mitra, vice president of Microchip’s High Performance Microcontroller Division. “These new devices enable a broader set of digital-power applications that require more communication and control of more complex systems.”

The eight new dsPIC33F ‘GS’ series digital-power DSCs enable digital control loops with 12 to 18 high-speed, 1 nanosecond (ns) resolution PWMs and one or two 10-bit, on-chip ADCs, providing 2 to 4 Million samples per second (MSPS) for low latency and high-resolution control. They range from 64 to 100 pins and 32 to 64 KB Flash memory.

These DSCs feature interactive peripherals that both minimize the intervention of the processor and are able to handle the real-time needs of high-speed current-mode control.