Digitally Enhanced Power Analog (DEPA) Hybrid Controllers

Digitally Enhanced Power Analog (DEPA) controllers contain analog control loops with digital oversight using analog references, amplifiers and Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) generators to regulate an output, while configuring, monitoring, measuring and dynamically adjusting that performance with an embedded microcontroller (MCU). This allows the system to report telemetry, make operating adjustments on the fly and respond to faults with customized, application-specific code. Without this added integration, flexible robust designs could require separate chips to regulate the output, adjust the regulator operation, measure the results, and communicate the information outside the system. DEPA controllers make it easy to create compact, efficient and flexible power supplies.

Power designers get the elegance and performance of an analog PWM controller with the customizability of a digital microcontroller (MCU). DEPA products maintain the fast, efficient analog feedback loop and incorporate an 8-bit PIC^® microcontroller. This offers configurability, including the ability to measure and respond to the environment with tailored algorithms, as well as a communication interface for control or diagnostic functions. DEPA products offer more flexibility than any other analog control architecture on the market today. The single-chip solution accepts a high-voltage input (up to 42V) and regulates a wide output current or voltage range (0.3V to 16V without any external components or drivers, for the MCP19123). They offer the tight regulation levels, fast transient responses, high gain and phase margins required in server or telecommunications operation with the robustness and operating ranges required for automotive applications. They add dynamic operational changes, measurements, and diagnostic reporting capabilities to any application.