PMICs – the Smart, High-efficiency Power Solution for Smart Home Applications

Puneet Sehgal

When designing an energy harvesting application such as smart meters, thermostats or smart-connected homes, there are several critical factors to consider. You must maximize efficiency, avoid any components that can cause board leakages, and use the power-saving mode to avoid power loss. Using power-saving modes is the best way to design the most efficient and least bulky system.

You don’t always need to use bigger batteries to produce the most efficient system. Most smart-home application boards include a microcontroller, transceiver and power amplifier (PA). You can design a system with smart devices, such as the TPS65290, ultra-low power management IC (PMIC), which enables you to select various power states when the system is operating under different load conditions without waking the processor or microcontroller. It also helps improve overall system efficiency, as shown in Figure 1. Integrated comparators help you continuously monitor the voltage rails and generate system interrupts to indicate an action.

Figure 1 The TPS65290 Can Improve Overall System Efficiency for Smart-home Applications

The TPS65920 gives you the flexibility to power each block separately and the ability to change the output voltage of each rail. You can configure these options over I²C or the serial voltage identification (SVID) interface. During the active mode when the processor is on, the PMIC uses its buck converter to power the processor for maximum efficiency .. The device switches from buck to low dropout (LDO) to minimize the Iq loss if the system is not at full throttle. Then, when the system starts working for transmission, the buck-boost converter begins operating in buck-boost mode to power the PA. When the system is in a low-power state, all of the blocks are turned off to save power, but the minibuck stays in operation. Each block is designed to have peak efficiency at different loads.

Figure 2 shows the efficiency curve of the various blocks in the TPS65290. By enabling the right power block in the system’s various operation stages, you can significantly improve efficiency.

Figure 2 The TPS65290’S Efficiency Curve of Various Blocks Can Significantly Improve System Efficiency

Which smart-home application you will power using the TPS65290?

Check out the Smart Cities blog series:

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

TI PROVIDES TECHNICAL AND RELIABILITY DATA (INCLUDING DATASHEETS), DESIGN RESOURCES (INCLUDING REFERENCE DESIGNS), APPLICATION OR OTHER DESIGN ADVICE, WEB TOOLS, SAFETY INFORMATION, AND OTHER RESOURCES “AS IS” AND WITH ALL FAULTS, AND DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.

These resources are intended for skilled developers designing with TI products. You are solely responsible for (1) selecting the appropriate TI products for your application, (2) designing, validating and testing your application, and (3) ensuring your application meets applicable standards, and any other safety, security, or other requirements. These resources are subject to change without notice. TI grants you permission to use these resources only for development of an application that uses the TI products described in the resource. Other reproduction and display of these resources is prohibited. No license is granted to any other TI intellectual property right or to any third party intellectual property right. TI disclaims responsibility for, and you will fully indemnify TI and its representatives against, any claims, damages, costs, losses, and liabilities arising out of your use of these resources.

TI’s products are provided subject to TI’s Terms of Sale (www.ti.com/legal/termsofsale.html) or other applicable terms available either on ti.com or provided in conjunction with such TI products. TI’s provision of these resources does not expand or otherwise alter TI’s applicable warranties or warranty disclaimers for TI products.

Mailing Address: Texas Instruments, Post Office Box 655303, Dallas, Texas 75265