News and New Products

Single IC integrates both drivers and controller for HB-LED lighting

By Margery Conner, Technical Editor -- EDN, 5/7/2009

Most solid-state lighting applications require more electronics than just a series of HB LEDs (high-brightness light-emitting diodes) and their associated power-control circuitry. Lighting features such as communication and control and dimming, among others, require additional circuitry, including high-current drive electronics. To address these needs, Cypress Semiconductor has introduced its PowerPSoC (programmable-system-on-chip) family of integrated, embedded power controllers, which the company claims is the first single-chip device for both controlling and driving HB LEDs. The company based the controllers on the PSoC, which includes an 8-bit microcontroller, programmable analog and digital circuits, and memory. The new family also includes four constant-current regulators and four 32V MOSFETs.

The PowerPSoC includes additional power peripherals, such as four 2-MHz hysteretic controllers, which you can configure as buck, boost, or buck-boost, and a 32V input-voltage regulator. The underlying PSoC platform offers Cypress’ CapSense programmable touch-sense control and other digital, analog, and communication options. Digital options include PWMs (pulse-width modulators), timers, and counters; analog options include ADCs and PGAs (programmable-gain amplifiers); and communication options include the DMX512 lighting-communication protocol, DALI (digital-addressable-lighting interface), SPI (serial-peripheral interface), and RS-232.

Available in a 56-pin QFN, the PowerSoC family sells for less than $10 (sample quantities). The CY3267 PowerPSoC evaluation kit sells for $175.