Texas Instruments Introduces the New TPS23xx Family of Power Controllers
Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) recently introduced the TPS23xx, a new family of power controllers supporting the live insertion, or hot-swapping, of circuit boards while a system is powered up. This new family of power controllers offers an extremely low-cost implementation of an extensive feature set that includes circuit-breaker over-current protection, rise/fall time control, output power status indicators and under-voltage lock-out.
According to the company, applications that benefit from these options include device bay and hot-plug PCI circuit boards in servers and workstations, RAID storage, and other electronic circuit-breaker applications. Each of the TPS23xx controllers integrates internal charge pumps designed to drive multiple external high-side N-channel MOSFETs used for supplying milliamps to amps of system power to system circuitry. The use of external switches is intended to keep the power controllers small and gives designers flexibility in the selection of MOSFETs.
Independent operation of two channels, one at 3V to 12V and the other at 3V to 5V, makes the device outputs suitable for use in a variety of systems. The TPS23xx family offers a standby supply current of 5.0uA with inrush current limiting with a 50uS startup delay, which is designed to preserve the integrity of the system by controlling the ramp of power to the board. Other features include over-current protection with programmable current-limit thresholds and deglitch timeouts, under-voltage lock-out to prevent premature start-up, and power-good circuitry designed to ignore voltage transients.
"The new TPS23xx power controller family is not just a step ahead, but a leap forward in the implementation of hot-swap power supplies," said Jonathon Bearfield, Texas Instrument's manager for power-distribution products. "Texas Instruments is releasing a new family of power controllers taking all of the power supply knowledge of Texas Instruments and Unitrode and putting it to work in today's applications."
In quantities of 1,000, pricing for the TPS23xx hot-swap power controllers ranges from $2 to $3.50 each. The devices are packaged in thin-shrink, small-outline packages with up to 20 pins.
