A different perspective

The release of Apple’s iPad is set to put a new strain on power management technologies in the portable consumer electronics segment. Featuring wireless connectivity to support internet activities, for instance watching online videos from YouTube, iPad is a new game changer when it comes to power efficient designs especially now that there are still no other available battery technologies in the market apart from the current lithium ion/polymer (fuel cells, maybe, but there doesn’t seem to be any available product out yet in the market today). On the other hand, iPad has the luxury of being a bigger device compared to smartphones or portable gaming devices today; therefore it can pack in a bigger battery to support its power requirements.

On the other hand, what about these smartphones, for example? Almost every new model is expected to support a plethora of new mobile applications and device functionalities nowadays, but in an ever more-compact design and still with the same standard-sized Li-ion or NiMH battery pack. That continues to be the challenge for the industry. As such, it still depends on the device manufacturers and designers to develop power-efficient devices that will consume lesser power and will cover as small board area as possible.

For many companies, the answer is an integrated device or system-on-chip (SoC). The trend nowadays is the integration of more functions in the power management chip, with more regulators and converters and other power-related functions in a single chip. This approach offers designers lower component count, thereby cheaper bill-of-materials, and smaller board area.

However, Jacques Lavernhe, system engineering manager at ON Semiconductor, noted in his article “Less integrated PMIC increases reliability and flexibility” (p.6) that while integration is a logical approach to save space and cost, this might not be always the feasible and best option. He pointed out that despite the benefits of integrated devices, there are still potential drawbacks that could lead to different integration schemes.

That’s a totally different perspective as to where the industry should be headed nowadays. Of course integrated devices should be at the heart of most portable devices today, but, considering Levernhe’s points, sometimes it makes good sense to step back, take a look at the whole picture, and focus on smarter ways to deal with the problem. Like they said, two heads are better than one.