News Article
National Semiconductor introduces first
National Semiconductor Corporation has introduced a new line of buck switching regulators that feature high power density and self-synchronisation.
Ten full-featured, synchronous buck regulators provide high-efficiency DC-DC power conversion for point-of-load power supply designs in applications such as communication, data storage, industrial and automotive. Part of National's PowerWise energy-efficient product family, the highly integrated regulators feature a variety of input voltages and output currents, and offer a combination of power sequencing, adjustable switching frequency and clock synchronisation options.
The new line of LM201xx and LM202xx synchronous buck regulators includes 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A output current devices. Each regulator integrates two switching MOSFETs and utilises an externally compensated peak current-mode control loop, providing superior load transient response in low duty cycle applications. The external compensation allows the performance to be optimised for the output capacitor and inductor. With current-mode control, just two external components are needed for compensation. The ability of the 3A and 4A clock synchronisation devices to self-synchronise when in out-of-phase operation reduces input capacitance and voltage ripple in power supply designs.
National offers a downloadable power supply design tool for the new low voltage synchronous buck regulators that eliminates the need for tedious hand calculations. The tool, in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format, calculates component values based on user-specified design parameters to quickly create a complete power supply design. The design tool allows the design engineer to quickly analyse the control loop response, thermal performance and efficiency of the design.
