Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. Announces New Quadruple Output Regulator for Automotive Infotainment

October 30, 2012

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Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. Announces New Quadruple Output Regulator for Automotive Infotainment

October 30, 2012

Highly-Integrated Power Management IC

Worcester, MA– Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. announces the release of a new, highly-integrated power management IC that is designed to provide the power supply requirements of next generation car audio and infotainment systems. Allegro’sA8600device provides all the control and protection circuitry needed to produce four high current regulators each with 1.5% accuracy.

The A8600 includes control circuitry to implement three adjustable, asynchronous buck regulators with integrated MOSFETs. Also, the A8600 provides the control circuitry, gate drivers, and current sensing to implement a synchronous buck regulator with external MOSFETs. Of the three asynchronous regulators, one is an “Always-On” type of buck regulator that operates down to at least 3.6 VIN (VIN falling). In standby mode, the ”always On” regulator draws less than 50 μA from 12 VIN while employing pulse frequency modulation (PFM) to deliver 3.3 V/40 μA via the Always-ON regulator. Features of the A8600 include an EN/SYNC input to either turn the A8600 ON/OFF or increase/decrease the base PWM frequency, four adjustable soft-start times and four external compensation pins. Output voltage monitoring of the three switchers is provided by a single, open-drain, PowerOK (POK) output.

我n addition, the A8600 provides two high-voltage, high-side switches with fold back over current protection for passing a voltage while passing a current of up to 450 mA and limiting the current to 100 mA during foldback. The two high-side switches actively block reverse current.

The A8600 also provides direct battery (BU) and switched accessory battery (ACC) detectors and a mute pulse output with an adjustable delay. Protection features of the A8600 include pulse-by-pulse current limit, hiccup mode short circuit protection, asynchronous diode protection, BOOT voltage protection, under-voltage lockout, over-voltage protection and thermal shutdown.

The A8600KLPTR-T device is available in a 48-pin LQFP with exposed pad (suffix JP) for enhanced thermal performance.