They are also the first devices on the market to combine 40V operation with PMBus™ communication interfaces. These features enable the rapid development of a power conversion circuit with a programmable analog control loop in the firmware of the integrated 8-bit PIC® microcontroller core. This integration and flexibility are ideal for power conversion applications such as battery charging, LED control, USB power, point-of-charge power supplies, and automotive applications.
In addition to the rapidly growing popularity of digitally controlled power supplies, thanks to their configurability under diverse operating conditions and topologies, power system designers also face an increasing need to provide telemetry and bidirectional communication, typically for monitoring and fault reporting, all through standard communication interfaces such as PMBus. Furthermore, the recently announced USB charging specifications, including USB Power and the USB Type-C connector, feature variable charging voltages that enable fast device charging but also introduce potentially complex hardware requirements.
The integration of a supervisory microcontroller allows the MCP19118/9 devices to create programmable power supplies. Key system settings, such as a switching frequency of 100 kHz to 1.6 MHz, current limiting, and voltage setpoints, can be adjusted on the fly during operation by sending write commands to the device's registers. This enables a single design to be reused in other applications by simply updating the firmware to change the configuration, thus minimizing design, production, and inventory requirements across multiple platforms.
Furthermore, the integrated microcontroller core can be used to monitor other application devices to establish a startup sequence; intelligently manage faults, as well as undervoltages or inadequate voltages; perform internal management functions; adjust output power in response to load requirements, such as battery charging or powering USB ports; and assist the module's external interfaces by monitoring or supplying signals to the user or system. With their integrated linear regulators, PWM generators, A/D converters, MOSFET drivers, analog error amplifiers, and control loop compensation, the MCP19118/9 devices offer a solution in a very compact circuit. When properly implemented, this system is capable of providing high conversion efficiency and excellent transient response to reduce system power losses, with smaller heat sinks and longer battery life in portable applications. These DEPA devices also supply data via the I2C™ interface using custom commands compatible with SMBus or PMBus.
Programming assistance for the MCP19118/9 devices is provided by the MCP19111 Design Analyzer and the MCP19111 Graphical User Interface Module for MPLAB® X IDE. These two software tools are available for free download from the "Documentation and Software" section of the links above. Application Note AN1541 also describes how to use these tools.
The entire Microchip development tools suite offers support for the DEPA MCP19118/9 drivers, including the MPLAB X integrated development environment, the PICkit™ 3 (PG164130), the PICkit serial analyzer (DV164122), and the MPLAB XC8 compiler.
The MCP19118 and MCP19119 are now available for samples and volume production. The MCP19118 is supplied in a 4x4 mm, 24-pin PFN package, while the MCP19119 is supplied in a 5x5 mm, 28-pin QFN package.
