Controller Manages Six POLs Plus Intermediate Bus

Aug 10, 2005 1:01 PM

The PS-2606 power system controller from Potentia Semiconductor provides a complete power management solution for up to six nonisolated dc-dc converters and one intermediate bus in telecom, networking and data storage applications.

This highly integrated chip enables users to digitally program output voltages, interlocked sequencing for startup and shutdown, and overvoltage and undervoltage warning and fault thresholds on each power rail.

Using the PowerCenter Designer software, the controller is simple to configure for complex power system applications. Designs incorporating any type of dc-dc converter, including standard POLA and DOSA modules, can be validated using Potentia's PowerCenter Emulation Platform.

All secondary-side power system data managed by the PS-2606 is accessible to system-level processors through the I2C interface. In addition, via its integral PI-Link isolated communications interface, the controller can provide voltage, fuse status and fault data from Potentia's PS-1000 Series primary-side power management ICs. For higher rail count power systems, multiple controllers can be cascaded. A separate input for monitoring the intermediate bus voltage provides the means to determine whether the bus is suitable for startup sequencing, and can be fully integrated into the system's warning and fault diagnostics. The controller also can be configured to automatically retry power sequencing after responding to a fault condition.

The PS-2606's four general purpose I/O pins (GPIOs) can be allocated to any of the six monitored power rails as either hardware enable inputs or three power good outputs and one power bad output, and also can be configured as an interrupt for OV/UV warnings, primary side fault indication or primary side shutdown. The PS-2606 power system controller is priced at $6 each in 10,000-piece quantities.