LinkSwitch chips combine a power MOSFET, PWM controller, high-voltage start-up, current limit and thermal shutdown circuitry on a single CMOS chip. With as few as 14 components, a chip can implement a fault-protected, universal-input, constant voltage / constant current power supply. Power Integrations' chips provide overload protection under output short-circuit conditions.
LinkSwitch chips combine a power MOSFET, PWM controller, high-voltage start-up, current limit and thermal shutdown circuitry on a single CMOS chip. With as few as 14 components, a chip can implement a fault-protected, universal-input, constant voltage / constant current power supply. Power Integrations' chips provide overload protection under output short-circuit conditions.
LinkSwitch chips combine a power MOSFET, PWM controller, high-voltage start-up, current limit and thermal shutdown circuitry on a single CMOS chip. With as few as 14 components, a chip can implement a fault-protected, universal-input, constant voltage / constant current power supply. Power Integrations' chips provide overload protection under output short-circuit conditions.
By John Day, Contributing Editor, Power Electronics Technology
witching power supply chips from easily translate to a significant cost saving if, for example,
S firms such as Power Integrations Inc.
(San Jose, Calif.), Fairchild Semicon- ductor International (San Jose, Calif.) and STMicroelectronics Inc. (Lexing- ton, Mass.) offer significant reductions in power drain, especially when products are in standby or no-load mode. Vendors say such chips are increasingly signifi- a transformer manufacturer has to air freight products to meet delivery schedules.” LinkSwitch chips combine a power MOSFET, PWM controller, high-voltage start-up, current limit and ther- mal shutdown circuitry on a single CMOS chip. With as few as 14 components, a LinkSwitch chip can implement a fault-protected, universal-input, constant voltage/con- cant because of the proliferation of energy-gulping elec- stant current (CV/CC) switching power supply that tronic devices in homes and businesses. meets worldwide energy-efficiency standards. Power Integrations’ LinkSwitch series of switching Leveraging technology developed for Power Integra- power conversion ICs is intended to replace low-power tions’ TOPSwitch devices for higher-power applications, linear transformer designs in adapters and battery charg- LinkSwitch’s CV/CC design combines the primary ers rated at 3 W and below (see the figure). LinkSwitch, clamp, feedback, IC supply and loop compensation func- along with Power Integrations’ TinySwitch-II and tions, eliminating up to 20 external components typi- TOPSwitch-GX product families, allows the firm to address cally found in alternative switcher designs. In all, the power supplies from 0 W to 250 W, or 90% of all ac-dc technology can eliminate as many as 50 external com- power supplies currently manufactured, according to Rich ponents, according to Fassler, and can be used without Fassler, director of product marketing. the opto-coupler typically required on the secondary Compared with linear transformer-based power side of the transformer. supply designs, LinkSwitch offers smaller size, lighter Power Integrations’ chips provide overload protec- weight, better energy efficiency and superior perfor- tion under output short-circuit conditions, and feature mance, Fassler says. He adds, “The lighter weight can thermal and current limit protection, auto-restart for short-circuit and open-loop fault protection, and EcoSmart technology to reduce power sup- ply energy consumption during standby and no-load conditions. These features enable en- gineers to meet all current or proposed gov- ernment energy guidelines. “Energy consumption is a growing prob- lem,” notes Fassler. “Most homes in the United States have more than a dozen pieces of elec- tronic equipment plugged into power strips, with power supplies based on linear transformer de- signs. It’s estimated that as much as 10% of the energy we produce is wasted while products sit in standby or no-load conditions. LinkSwitch can reduce that energy waste by up to 90%.” Fairchild’s RS6X1220RT power switch is for dc-dc forward or flyback power supply appli- cations as well as for VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) phones, digital feature phones, in- Power Integrations’ LinkSwitch chips implement switching power supplies that can dustrial power supplies and telecom central of- replace linear transformer-based power supplies in 3-W adapters and battery fice and PBX power supplies. chargers. Offered in TO-220F-5L and D2-PAK-5L pack-
Power Electronics Technology May 2004 52 www.powerelectronics.com
ages, Fairchild’s chip integrates an avalanche-rated other applications. The chip provides an automatic burst SenseFET (200-V minimum breakdown rating) with a mode under low-load conditions; auxiliary undervoltage current-mode PWM IC in a design that minimizes the need lockout with hysteresis; a built-in high-voltage start-up for external components, simplifies designs and lowers current source; and overtemperature, overcurrent and costs. An integrated 300-kHz oscillator improves efficiency overvoltage protection with autostart. PETech and allows the use of smaller transformers, according to Bob Conrad, senior vice president and co-general manager of Fairchild’s IC group. For more information on this article, The power switch features overvoltage, overload, CIRCLE 345 on Reader Service Card cycle-by-cycle current limit and ther- mal shutdown protection. It has tem- perature-compensated, precision current sources for loop compensa- tion and fault protection circuitry, and also includes line-undervoltage detection, remote sleep on/off, undervoltage lock out, and an opti- mized blanking and gate turn-on/ turn-off driver. Conrad says the power switch can replace discrete MOSFET/controller or ringing choke converter (RCC) switching converter solutions, occu- pying less board space and offering better reliability. STMicroelectronics offers two single-chip off-line flyback con- verters for ac-dc power conversion, the VIPer12A and VIP22A. Both combine PWM circuitry with a ver- tical power MOSFET. The VIPer12A is designed for off-line battery charger applications from 1 W to 10 W (1 W to 5 W for wide range 115-V to 230-V input). Its control circuit accepts auxiliary supply volt- ages from 8 V to 40 V. Features in- clude the ability to start-up from zero auxiliary voltage using an auto- matically controlled current source from the line voltage, burst-mode operation for light loads and auto- matic undervoltage lockout with hysteresis. The VIP22A features current- mode control, a fixed 60-KHz switching frequency and an 8-V to 40-V V DD voltage range. It can deliver up to 12 W (20 W for the European line voltage) in off-line battery charger designs, isolated or nonisolated standby power supplies for televisions and video monitors, and auxiliary switch-mode power supplies for motor controls and CIRCLE 240 on Reader Service Card or freeproductinfo.net/pet
www.powerelectronics.com 53 Power Electronics Technology May 2004