Products & Applications Power Switching Regulators Extend Battery Life of IoT Designs

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Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH

The recently introduced TPS62840 buck converter with an I_Q value of 60 nA provides greater efficiency in a wide range of battery-powered industrial and personal electronics applications.

Texas Instruments has introduced a switching regulator with the industry's lowest quiescent current consumption (I_Q) of 60 nA, which is only one-third the value of the next competing device. The TPS62840 synchronous buck converter achieves a very high 80% efficiency at low load (1 µA), allowing circuit designers to either extend the battery life of their systems or use fewer or smaller batteries, reducing the size of the total solution and lowering costs. The wide input voltage range from 1.8 to 6.5 V supports a wide range of battery chemistries and configurations.

The TPS62840 helps designers overcome critical design challenges in many battery-powered, continuously powered industrial and personal electronics applications. These include narrow-band Internet of Things (IoT) applications, network infrastructure equipment, and wearables that demand more flexibility, more excellent radio range, higher accuracy, and less EMI.

The TPS62840 complements TI's portfolio of highly integrated, low quiescent current DC/DC converters that enable designers to deliver maximum performance with minimal solution dimensions.

Key features and benefits of the TPS62840:

• Longer battery life, very high light-load efficiency: A lower I_Q value extends battery life for systems that consume tiny current (below 100 µA) and those that are mainly in standby/shipped mode (converter does not switch). With its low I_Q, the TPS62840 achieves 80% efficiency at 1 µA load current, a 30% improvement over competing devices.

• Selectable modes improve performance and lower total cost of ownership: The selectable mode and stop functions of the TPS62840 improve noise performance and reduce signal distortion. These benefits can help reduce solution costs by meeting system requirements without having to rely on more expensive precision signal chain devices, sensors, or wireless solutions for the same functionality.

• The mode pin enables the activation of non-lucky operation (also known as forced pulse-width modulation mode) to improve ripple or noise characteristics and reduce the impact on transmissions insensitive radio frequency applications.

• The stop pin can be used to completely interrupt switching to reduce electromagnetic interference or ripple and to minimize distortion on precise signal chain devices, sensors, or radio transmission components.

• KSmaller solution dimensions: Developers can use the new switching regulator to manage with half the batteries or use smaller batteries in their design. For example, using four AAA batteries instead of four AA batteries can save up to 16.98 cm³.

• Wider range of applications through wider VIN range: The wide input voltage range of the TPS62840, from 1.8V to 6.5V, is suitable for various battery chemistries and configurations, such as two lithium manganese dioxide cells in series (2s-LiMnO₂), one lithium thionyl chloride cell (1xLiSOCL₂), four or two alkaline cells, or lithium polymer batteries (Li-Po).

Housing, availability, and price:

Pre-production samples of the TPS62840 are available in the TI store in two package variants, namely an 8-pin Small Outline No-lead (SON) with dimensions of 1.5 mm x 2.0 mm and a 6-pin Wafer Scale Package (WCSP) with dimensions of 0.97 mm x 1.47 mm. A thermally optimized package (HVSSOP) measuring 3 mm x 5 mm will add this year. The prices start at 0,85 US-$ (from 1000 pieces). The evaluation modules TPS62840-1DLCEVM55 and TPS62840-1YBGEVM56 are available for $49 each.

This article was first published in German by Elektronikpraxis.

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