Devices support 'unprecedented number' of independent digital control loops

Paul Boughton
Microchip has announced the expansion of its 16-bit dsPIC Digital Signal Controller (DSC) portfolio for digital power-conversion applications.

Microchip’s 16-bit dsPIC33F GS Series DSCs provide on-chip peripherals specifically designed for high-performance, digital power supplies.  On-chip digital power peripherals include high-speed Pulse-Width-Modulators (PWMs), ADCs and analogue comparators. 

The newly expanded dsPIC33F GS family supports applications such as induction cooking, uninterruptable power supplies, solar and pure sine-wave inverters, intelligent battery chargers, power factor correction, HID lighting, fluorescent lighting, LED lighting, and AC-DC and DC-DC power converters.

These new DSCs provide up to four times the memory, compared to Microchip’s existing SMPS & Digital Power Conversion families.  Additionally, these flexible DSCs can be configured for a variety of topologies, giving power-supply designers the complete freedom to optimise for specific product applications.  The eight new DSCs offer up to 18 channels of PWMs with 1nS resolution, enabling an unprecedented number of completely independent digital control loops. 

The eight new dsPIC33F GS series digital-power DSCs enable digital control loops with 12 to 18 high-speed, 1ns resolution PWMs and one or two 10-bit, on-chip ADCs, providing 2 to 4 Million samples per second (MSPS) for low latency and high-resolution control. They range from 64 to 100 pins and 32 to 64 KB Flash memory.  These DSCs feature interactive peripherals that both minimise the intervention of the processor and are able to handle the real-time needs of high-speed current-mode control.

The dsPIC33F GS series DSCs are supported by the MPLAB Integrated Development Environment, MPLAB C Compiler for dsPIC DSCs, MPLAB SIM 30 Software Simulator, MPLAB ICD 3 In-Circuit Debugger and MPLAB REAL ICE™ In-Circuit Emulation System.

For more information, visit www.microchip.com