The electronic components market offers a wide range of power management ICs (PMICs), some of which differ greatly in function and field of application and are difficult or impossible to compare. In general, all these PMICs are used to organise energy management in order to process the energy with as little loss as possible and to provide the connected electronics with a stable supply. A discrete structure of such an energy management system is usually very complex and associated with high development costs. The time-to-market factor that is important today is unnecessarily protracted and can be significantly shortened by using a finished PMIC solution. These can be used very flexibly and can be adapted to the individual conditions of the application or field of application.
The topic of reliability plays an increasingly important role in today's electronics, for example when it comes to driver assistance systems, autonomous driving and networking. The systems used there require 100 per cent functionality in the extended temperature range. The applications and modules used there must run stably and must not be endangered by failure or undervoltage or overvoltage of the battery or rechargeable batteries.
Endrich Bauelemente Vertriebs GmbH offers the NJW4750 from New Japan Radio (NJR), one of the smallest 4 channel power management ICs on the European market. The new development offers three step-down regulators and one linear regulator (LDO) on a 16 x 18 mm board in a very compact 3.4 x 2.6 mm EQFN26 housing, thus independently managing four power supplies with a multitude of connection options.
CH1 is designed for a maximum of 40V and can therefore be connected directly to the 12V or 24V supply line. This channel serves as primary controller for the downstream synchronous step-down controllers together with LDO. This reduces the number of necessary protective circuits to a minimum. One of the two secondary controllers can be switched to LDO mode, which further increases the flexibility of the circuit design. Each controller provides both an individual power good pin with high precision and an enable input, allowing more precise control of the output voltages during the system power-on phase. Overcurrent protection is individually adjustable. The PMIC has a thermal cut-out, an undervoltage lockout (UVLO), standby function and a soft start function.
It is controlled either by the external sync input or by an internal oscillator covering a frequency range from 280kHz to 2.4MHz, allowing the use of compact coils.
Applications include industrial controls, camera systems, IoT boards, photoelectric sensors and single-board controls consisting of MCUs, peripherals and sensors where a very small design is required. The NJW4750 is suitable for modules such as rear view cameras, electronic mirrors, 360° cameras (Surround View), driver assistance systems and camera systems based on ISP technology in the automotive sector.