Single-Pin Configuration
Powervation’s single-pin configuration technology is a highly flexible configuration input that can greatly improve supply chain inventory management. With a single resistor, the user can fully configure a controller for its use in the desired switch mode power supply (SMPS). Additionally, by simply providing a different resistor, the controller can be fully configured per the needs of an alternative design.
Powervation’s Single-Pin Configuration
This technology provides the user access to eight configuration tables within the IC’s non-volatile memory (NVM). Each of the eight configuration tables allows the user access to 59 parameters (e.g., VOUT settings, switching frequency, slew rate, VOUT tracking, protection feature set-points, master/slave, etc.). When multiple configuration tables are loaded to a single controller, the controller may then be used in multiple SMPS designs, each selectable by a single resistor. Essentially, the controller is able to upload its needed persona, simply by pairing it with a different configuration resistor, allowing a single controller (single inventory part number) to be used in up to eight converters and eliminating the need to configure the part through PMBus™ or via multiple external programming components.
Using Single-Pin Configuration in Multiple Sockets
During the design stage, Powervation's graphical user interface (GUI) is a valuable tool that allows the users to easily select and program (to the controller’s memory) the desired parameters of their configuration table(s). For use in production, the user has the option of ordering devices that are programmed with the user’s custom configuration table(s) or ordering “blank” devices and having the configuration tables uploaded to memory at the production site, or at an outside “programming house”.
Using the GUI to Set the Configuration Tables
Configuration settings are determined during the device’s start-up process; in order to minimize controller power consumption, the configuration measurement currents are turned off during normal operation. Device settings determined through the configuration table resistor may be overwritten subsequently by settings retrieved from NVM or through on-going PMBus communication during normal operation.
