Next generation of digital control power devices for medium to low power AC/DC SMPS applications

A next generation of digital control power devices that provides software defined power competes to enter the medium to low power AC/DC SMPS applications in a broader scope. Based on a core approach, the new IC generation claims to fully exploit the opportunities given by a digital control implementation. The target power range can be mainly seen in consumer applications, which are extremely product and system cost driven. Furthermore there are requirements on low IC current consumption to support the energy saving standards. The on high performance optimized DSP and μC can´t support the low bill of material in the application and are consuming too high currents compared to state of the art analog controllers. Therefore a dedicated IC architecture is necessary to enable properly the software defined power approach in this AC/DC consumer segment. This paper gives an insight on how system and product cost and current consumption can be specifically addressed by a corresponding IC hardware architecture.