Texas Instruments Inc. (TI, Dallas, TX) announced the new TPS6030x family of low-power dc/dc converters. These devices are claimed to be the first single-cell charge pumps in the industry to feature a flexible conversion ratio that prolongs battery life. Applications that can benefit from the new charge pumps' space savings and power efficiency include pagers, toys, medical and measurement instruments, metering equipment, and a variety of other battery-powered systems.
Suitable for use with low-power microcontrollers, the TPS6030x family of single-cell charge pumps provides a regulated 3V or 3.3V output at up to 20mA from a single NiMH, NiCd or alkaline battery. The charge pumps convert input voltages ranging from 0.9V to 1.8V at either a 3x or 4x rate, depending on the input level. This flexible conversion rate compensates for the lower voltage level in a partially discharged battery. The new switched-cap converters also enable designers to use smaller external capacitors, allowing them to further reduce board space and component costs.
The TPS6030x single-cell devices feature a newly developed LinSkip mode that TI claims enables the power supplies to achieve an efficiency of up to 90 percent over a wide load range. This new technology also allows designers to use small 1uF capacitors, and provides a typical output voltage ripple of 30mVpp at an output current of 20mA. Under light loads, the charge pump automatically switches from low-noise, constant-frequency linear regulation to a power-saving pulse-skip mode.
Load isolation disables current flow to the system during shutdown, providing longer shelf and standby times for the battery. The devices have a quiescent current of less than 35uA during operation and less than 500nA during shutdown. These devices also include an integrated power-good function to eliminate the need for an external supervisor. The device requires five 1uF capacitors to help simplify the design and save up to 25 percent in board space for the total solution. In addition, the device does not require an inductor.
“TI's new TPS6030x dc/dc converters offer the industry's smallest and most efficient charge pump solutions for small-profile, single-cell portable electronic systems," said Guenter Sporer, power management systems manager, TI. “Developers now have one more excellent reason to turn to TI for a wide selection of power supply solutions for portable applications."
Samples of the TPS6030x single-cell charge pumps are available now from TI with planned volume production scheduled for August of this year. The devices are packaged in a 10-pin MSOP package, and pricing is $1.25 in quantities of 1,000 units. An evaluation module is also available.
