As the performance of many handheld devices approachesthat of laptop computers, design complexity also increases.Chief among them is thermal management—how doyou meet increasing performance demands while keepinga compact and small product cool in the user’s hand?For instance, as battery capacities inevitably increase,charge currents will also increase to maintain or improvetheir charge times. Traditional linear regulator-based batterychargers will not be able to meet the charge currentand effi ciency demands necessary to allow a product torun cool. What is needed is a switching-based chargerthat takes just about the same amount of space as a linearsolution—but without the heat.
The makers of handheld medical, industrial and consumerdevices use a wide variety of high resolution, small tomedium sized color TFT LCD displays. The power supplydesigners for these displays must contend with shrinkingboard area, tight schedules, and variations in displaytypes and feature requirements. The LTC®3524 simplifi esthe designer’s job by combining a versatile, easily programmed,TFT LCD bias supply and white LED backlightdriver in a low profi le 4mm × 4mm QFN package.
Piezoelectric motors are used in digital cameras for autofocus,zooming and optical image stabilization. Theyare relatively small, lightweight and effi cient, but theyalso require a complicated driving scheme. Traditionally,this challenge has been met with the use ofseparatecircuits, including a step-up converter and an oversizedgeneric full-bridge drive IC. The resulting high componentcount and large board space are especially problematicin the design of cameras for ever shrinking cell phones.The LT®3572 solves these problems by combining astep-up regulator and a dual full-bridge driver in a 4mm× 4mm QFN package. Figure 1 shows a typical LT3572Piezo motor drive circuit. A step-up converter is usedto generate 30V from a low voltage power source suchas a Li-Ion battery or any input power source within thepart’s wide input voltage range of 2.7V to 10V. The highoutput voltage of the step-up converter, adjustable upto 40V, is available for the drivers at the VOUT pin. Thedrivers operate in a full-bridge fashion, where the OUTAand OUTB pins are the same polarity as the PWMA andPWMB pins, respectively, and the OUTA and OUTB pinsare inverted from PWMA and PWMB, respectively. Thestep-up converter and both Piezo drivers have their ownshutdown control. Figure 2 shows a typical layout
An essential component of a noise-free audio device isa clean power supply, but few switching regulators canoperate at high efficiency while keeping the switchingfrequency out of the audio band. The LTC®3620 fills thisvoid. It is a high efficiency 15mA buck regulator with aprogrammable minimum switching frequency, making itpossible to virtually eliminate audible switching noise. Theinternal synchronous switches and low quiescent currentof this buck regulator provide the ability to maintain highefficiency, while its small footprint makes it ideal for tiny,low power audio applications.
In a recent discussion with a system designer, the requirementfor his power supply was to regulate 1.5Vand deliver up to 40A of current to a load that consistedof four FPGAs. This is up to 60W of power that must bedelivered in a small area with the lowest height profi lepossible to allow a steady fl ow of air for cooling. Thepower supply had to be surface mountable and operateat high enough effi ciency to minimize heat dissipation.He also demanded the simplest possible solution so histime could be dedicated to the more complex tasks. Asidefrom precise electrical performance, this solution had toremovethe heat generated during DC to DC conversionquickly so that the circuit and the ICs in the vicinity do notoverheat. Such a solution requires an innovative designto meet these criteria:
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are widely utilized in laserbased fiberoptic systems to convert optical data intoelectrical form. The APD is usually packaged with a signalconditioning amplifier in a small module. An APD receivermodule and attendant circuitry appears in Figure 1. TheAPD module (figure right) contains the APD and a transimpedance(e.g., current-to-voltage) amplifier. An opticalport permits interfacing fiberoptic cable to the APD’sphotosensitive portion. The module’s compact constructionfacilitates a direct, low loss connection between theAPD and the amplifier, necessary because of the extremelyhigh speed data rates involved
Notebook and palmtop systems need a multiplicity ofregulated voltages developed from a single battery. Smallsize, light weight, and high efficiency are mandatory forcompetitive solutions in this area. Small increases inefficiency extend battery life, making the final productmuch more usable with no increase in weight. Additionally,high efficiency minimizes the heat sinks needed onthe power regulating components, further reducing systemweight and size.
The above title is not happenstance and was arrived at afterconsiderable deliberation. As a linear IC manufacturer, it isour goal to encourage users to design and build switchingregulators. A problem is that while everyone agrees thatworking switching regulators are a good thing, everyonealso agrees that they are difficult to get working. Switchingregulators, with their high efficiency and small size, areincreasingly desirable as overall package sizes shrink.Unfortunately, switching regulators are also one of themost difficult linear circuits to design. Mysterious modes,sudden, seemingly inexplicable failures, peculiar regulationcharacteristics and just plain explosions are commonoccurrences. Diodes conduct the wrong way. Things gethot that shouldn’t. Capacitors act like resistors, fusesdon’t blow and transistors do. The output is at ground, andthe ground terminal shows volts of noise.
The LTM4601 DC/DC μModule regulator is a completehigh power density stepdown regulator for up to 12Acontinuous (14A peak) loads. The device is housed ina small 15mm ¥ 15mm ¥ 2.8mm LGA surface mountpackage, thus the large power dissipation is a challengein some applications. This thermal application note willprovide guidelines for using the μModule regulator inambient environments with or without air fl ow. Loadcurrent derating curves are provided for several inputvoltages and output voltages versus ambient temperatureand air fl ow.
The LTM4600 DC/DC μModule regulator is a complete highpower density stepdown regulator for 10A continuous (14Apeak) loads. The device has two voltage options: 20VINmaximum for the LTM4600EV and 28VIN maximum for theLTM4600HVEV each housed in a small 15mm ¥ 15mm ¥2.8mm LGA surface mount package.
