Mixed-Signal MCU for Digitally-Controlled Power Supplies

Sanken Electric Co., Ltd. has developed a mixed-signal microcontroller unit (MCU), the MD6602, that is targeted for use in digitally-controlled power supplies and other applications. Samples of the new MCU are available for shipment beginning mid-October 2014 at 500 yen. The production of new MCU will start in March 2015 and 50,000 pieces per month will be shipped initially.

To supply stable voltage is the most important function of power sources. In the past, voltage fluctuation has been detected by an analog circuit and corrected by analog feed-back. Now, “digital control” or “digital power management” technology digitizes this feedback process to enhance the controllability of power supply unit. In addition, detailed fine control by software actualizes optimal control of not only voltage but also, current and power. These features comprehensively achieve higher efficiency and intelligent operation through controls by software, thereby contributing to reducing energy consumption and reducing harm to the environment. The new technology has a wide variety of applications.

Against this backdrop, Sanken has developed MD6602 as a successor product of its MCU MD6601 for digitally-controlled power supplies that has been produced in large quantities by Sanken. The MD6602 is upper-compatible to its predecessor products and incorporates many more functions. The new product is more user-friendly and enhances the system performance of the sets that incorporate this product.

Several instructions have been added and the program area has been expanded. The new product packs two units of high-performance DSPs featuring parallel operation for high-speed feedback. Computation Example: A 3-ordered IIR digital filter can be operated in 200 ns.

The transfer bus width and the number of transfer channels have been doubled. This function automatically transfers data in the register of each module to other modules, enabling automatic transfer of data from an A/D converter to a DSP and from the DSP to a pulse width modulator (pwm), for instance. Digitally-controlled power supplies without using a CPU can be configured.

The analog block of the new product integrates two units of high-speed 10-bit A/D converters and a high-precision 12-bit A/D converter. Compared with conventional products, the analog block has been dramatically reinforced. The analog block packs six units of comparators, four units of operational amplifiers and four units of D/A converters. The individual analog modules can be flexibly connected through inter-connections by software configuration.

LQFP-64 has been newly added to the product lineup by Sanken. QFN-40 and LQFP-44 are compatible with conventional MD6601. QFN-40 (Dimensions: 6.0 mm x 6.0 mm, pin pitch: 0.5 mm); LQFP-44 (Dimensions: 10.0 mm x 10.0 mm, pin pitch: 0.8 mm); LQFP-64 (Dimensions: 10.0 mm x 10.0 mm, pin pitch: 0.5mm).