Far-reaching changes are taking place in power distribution architectures. The need for multitude of voltages at higher current levels has 
changed the design needs of distributed bus architectures (DBA).
Legacy architectures for power distribution use a central power source that converts the incoming line voltage to various DC outputs, and distributes them individually to various points of use in an equipment. Designers are moving away from legacy architectures and moving towards DBA. Herein voltage is generated from a front-end DC bus and converted into required voltages at points of use, known as point of load (POL). POL converters, which are small in size and placed close to their load, provide several advantages over legacy converters. First, as they have no transformers or electrical isolation, they are pricier. Second, by being closer to load, they can provide higher efficiency. Third, because of less components and complexity, they are more reliable.
Another important change affecting the power distribution architecture is the advent of digitally-controlled power (DCP). DCP brings flexibility of software programmability to traditional hard-wired analog power ICs and subsystems. I anticipate that DCP would trigger some kind of OS war, like the ones we have seen in PC and PDA OSs. The ideal DCP OS should be open. This would allow architecture designers freedom to meet changing system power requirements. The ideal DCP OS should also have a GUI allowing system architect communicate directly with the OS, which would enable system manipulation and seeing in real time the Bode plots and S parameters power engineers need. Both open and close OS are available in DCP systems in the market today. DCP solutions utilize many categories of chips, including ASICs, DSPs, MCUs, FPGAs, and so on. I think once the market matures, DCPs will be based on FPGAs and open OS, because programmability and openness are the current technological trends. |
Power Supplement Articles New PSPICE electro-thermal subscircuit for power MOSFETSby Alain Laprade, Scott Pearson, Stan Benczkowski, Gary Dolny and Frank Wheatley, Fairchild Semiconductor Power distribution architectures for serversby Conor Quinn, Product Manager, Artesyn Technologies Variable speed motion: System architecture for encoder-based and sensor-less controlby David Tam, VP Applications Engineering Motion Control, International Rectifier
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DCP has many advantages. It reduces passive network in an analog-only solution, enabling cost and space saving, as also improved thermal and electrical performance. It also has greater flexibility and improved time-to-market.
Does the rise of DCP mean migration of power management to digital realms? I think it is too early to say so. I don't see this migration in the foreseeable future. But I do see power IC suppliers gradually moving away from proprietary analog solutions.
Some more trends are discussed in the articles in this supplement.
