Digital power management scheme that improves system performance while reducing energy costs

MOS power IC full range

Passive 3225G 8MHZ 10MHZ

Overview:
Today's network equipment designers face the pressure of rapid development time and cost constraints, but people still expect them to break through performance limits and add functionality. More and more network system functions require the addition of ASICs and processors, and each ASIC and processor requires several voltage rails, resulting in the appearance of line cards with dozens of rail voltages. The challenge with so many voltage rails is to optimize hardware utilization to minimize overall power consumption.

To meet this need, digital power management is rapidly emerging as a key component of complex, high-reliability applications. Digital power management allows for efficient debugging of complex multi-track systems with PC-based software tools, eliminating the need to spend a lot of time changing hardware. Software-based in-circuit testing (ICT) and board development and health verification are greatly simplified compared to traditional hardware ECN methods because firmware changes can be made on the PC without touching the board. Digital power management provides designers with real-time telemetry data and fault logging to enable rapid diagnosis of power system failures and prompt corrective action.

Perhaps most significant, DC/DC converters with digital management allow designers to develop “green” power systems that meet system performance goals (calculation speed, data transfer rate, etc.) while still meeting system performance goals (calculation speed, data transfer rate, etc.) Can optimize energy efficiency. Optimization can be done at load points, boards and racks, and even during the installation phase, thereby reducing infrastructure costs and total cost of ownership for the entire life of the product.

This article explores how to improve performance, reliability, and energy efficiency by using the LTC2974 quad-channel digital power management IC in network switches and routers, base stations and servers, and industrial and medical equipment.

Figure 1: Four-channel power controller with EEPROM (only one channel is shown)

(Please read the PDF for details)