Low power standby requirements are typically associatedwith battery-Powered systems. Automotive systems,for example, commonly require power supplies tomaintain output voltage regulation even under no-loadconditions—while drawing minimal quiescent current topreserve battery life. Rising energy costs, however, haveextended the need for low current standby operation toline-Powered systems, such as small plugged-in appliancesfor home and business.
Automobile electronic systems place high demands ontoday’s DC/DC converters. They must be able to preciselyregulate an output voltage in the face of wide temperatureand input voltage ranges—including load dump transientsin excess of 60V and cold crank voltage drops to 4V. Theconverter must also be able to minimize battery drain inalways-on systems by maintaining high effi ciency over abroad load current range. Similar demands are made bymany 48V nonisolated telecom applications, 40V FireWireperipherals and battery-Powered applications with autoplug adaptors. The LT3437’s best in classperformancemeets all of these requirements in a small thermallyenhanced 3mm × 3mm DFN package.
Battery Powered applications that have a signifi cantamount of time in standby mode, require electrical circuitsto operate with a low quiescent current to preserve batterylife. The LTC3835 synchronous step-down controlleris an excellent solution with its ultralow quiescent current(80μA). Other features make it uniquely qualifi ed tosatisfy the needs of automotive applications. A wide 4Vto 36V input voltage range protects the supply againsthigh input voltage transients and is compatible with lowvoltage cold crank conditions. The constant frequencycurrent-mode architecture with high-side inductor current
A number of conventional solutions have been available forthe design of a DC/DC converter where the output voltageis within the input voltage range—a common scenarioin Li-Ion battery-Powered applications—but none werevery attractive until now. Conventional topologies, suchas SEPIC or boost followed by buck, have numerousdisadvantages, including low effi ciency, complex magnetics,polarity inversion and/or circuit complexity/cost. TheLTC®3785 buck-boost controller yields a simple, effi cient,low parts-count, single-converter solution that is easyto implement, thus avoiding the drawbacks associatedwith traditional solutions.
Video cable driver amplifi er output stages traditionallyrequire a supply voltage of at least 6V in order to providethe required output swing. This requirement is usuallymet with 5V supplies by adding a boost regulator or asmall local negative rail, say via the popular LT®1983-3.Such additional circuitry is unnecessary in typical 1VP-Pvideo connections, such as HD component video, if thecable driver amplifi ers simply offer near rail-to-rail outputcapability when Powered from 5V.
To this day, Power over Ethernet (PoE) continues to gainpopularity in today’s networking world. The 12.95Wdelivered to the Powered Device (PD) input supplied bythe Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) is a universal supply.Each PD provides its own DC/DC conversion from anominal 48V supply, thus eliminating the need for a correctvoltage wall adapter. However, higher power devicescan not take advantage of standard PoE because of itspower limitations, and must rely on a large wall adapteras their primary supply. The new LTC4268-1 breaks thispower barrier by allowing for power of up to 35W for suchpower-hungry 2-pair PoE applications. The LTC4268-1provides a complete solution by integrating a high powerPD interface control with an isolated fl yback controller.
Advances in low power electronics now allow placementof battery-Powered sensors and other devices in locationsfar from the power grid. Ideally, for true grid independence,the batteries should not need replacement, but instead berecharged using locally available renewable energy, suchas solar power. This Design Note shows how to producea compact battery charger that operates from a small2-cell solar panel. A unique feature of this design is thatthe DC/DC converter uses power point control to extractmaximum power from the solar panel.
Once relegated to the hinterlands of low cost indicatorlights, the LED is again in the spotlight of the lightingworld. LED lighting is now ubiquitous, from car headlightsto USB-Powered lava lamps. Car headlights exemplifyapplications that capitalize on the LED’s clear advantages—unwavering high quality light output, tough-assteelrobustness, inherent high effi ciency—while a USBlava lamp exemplifi es applications where only LEDs work.Despite these clear advantages, their requirement forregulated voltage and current make LED driver circuitsmore complex than the venerable light bulb, but some newdevices are closing the gap. For instance, the LTM®8040μModule™ LED driver integrates all the driver circuitryinto a single package, allowing designers to refocus theirtime and effort on the details of lighting design criticalto a product’s success.
A large group of fiber optic lasers are Powered by DCcurrent. Laser drive is supplied by a current source withmodulation added further along the signal path. Thecurrent source, although conceptually simple, constitutesan extraordinarily tricky design problem. There are anumber of practical requirements for a fiber optic currentsource and failure to consider them can cause laser and/or optical component destruction.
