Do you know that numerous Power Management ICs are utilized in all aspects of our day-to-day lives? They supply the necessary voltages for electrical appliances to function effectively. To put it another way, electrical equipment cannot function without them.
We will discuss ICs for power management: the various types, roles, and ways in which those ICs affect our lives.
What are ICs for Power Management?
It is common knowledge that your home’s wall outlet supplies electricity. In the United States, a lot of electrical appliances use an AC power cord connected to an outlet and a 120 V alternating current as their power source. However, not every part of a home appliance can use alternating current as a power source. In order to supply direct current (DC) to electronic circuits, the 120 V AC needs to first be converted. Each of the electronic circuits that are required for electronic control in electrical appliances has its own unique electrical requirements. In order to meet each requirement, power management integrated circuits provide stable source voltages to the circuits.
As depicted in power management integrated circuits are utilized in every electrical product in addition to household appliances.
How are ICs for power management used?
How are power management ICs chosen and arranged to determine the appropriate source voltages for each device? Using an example of a laptop PC’s power tree, we will discuss the selection of power management ICs.
Depending on the PC’s specifications, performance, cost, and other factors, laptop computers can be built with a variety of components. Additionally, the efficiency, noise, and source voltages required by each device vary. As a result, different combinations of power management ICs are used.
Provides an illustration of the power tree used to supply electricity to the primary components of a laptop computer.
The Li-ion secondary Battery and the AC adapter supply the laptop computer with power for operation. The charge control IC simultaneously charges the Li-ion battery while the AC adapter converts the 120 V AC to 16 V DC and supplies the converted voltage to the PC. The Li-ion battery powers the entire system’s power tree when the AC adapter is disconnected.
The CPU and GPU circuits are constructed with the most recent microfabrication technologies and are densely packed. These technologies need very little voltage and draw a lot of current. In order to achieve effective conversion, buck (step-down) DC/DC converter is frequently utilized in the CPU and GPU source lines. However, audio amplifiers should not use DC/DC converters because the switching noise they produce degrades sound quality. To reduce switching noise and enhance sound quality, a 2.85 V linear regulator (LDO) is frequently inserted between an audio amplifier and a DC/DC converter.
LEDs are linked in tandem in a back-light LED panel. To function, it requires more than 16 V. As a result, a step-up converter supplies the back-light LED panel with 30 V.
As can be seen above, the laptop computer’s components have distinct electrical characteristics and operating voltages. Electrical products therefore require power management integrated circuits (ICs).
Classification of Power Management ICs by Function and Application Power management ICs include a lot of ICs that do more than just the ones listed above. Ex. supervisory, voltage detectors, etc.)
The power management ICs are categorized according to their functions and applications in Figure 3.
The figure’s left box lists general-purpose ICs with a single function. These ICs are used to control electricity in a wide range of electrical devices. Reset and switch integrated circuits, DC/DC and AC/DC converters, and so forth. are a part of this group.
The right-side power management ICs are made for a specific purpose. These integrated circuits are designed with specific electrical requirements in mind. Included are ICs for Li-ion battery protection, charge control, LED controllers, and power management units (PMUs) that combine multiple functions into a single package.
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