Detailed explanation of the advantages of digital power supply

The development of the PC industry has a long history. CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, etc. are constantly updated, and recently hard disk storage has also started a craze for solid-state hard disks. On the other hand, there has been no development in the power supply for several years. In fact, digital control technology has developed rapidly recently. Digital systems have the advantages of short design cycles, flexibility, easy modular management, and the ability to eliminate instability and electromagnetic interference caused by discrete components in switching power supplies. Therefore, digital power supplies are increasingly used in high-precision power supplies and have become an important direction for the development of modern power supply technology.

Currently, there are many definitions of digital power.

Definition 1: A switching power supply controlled by a digital interface (it emphasizes the "communication" function of the digital power supply).

Definition 2: Switching power supply with digital control function (it emphasizes the "digital control" function of digital power supply).

Definition three: A switching power supply with digital monitoring function (it emphasizes the "monitoring" function of the digital power supply on parameters such as temperature).

Definition 4: A power supply product that uses a digital signal processor (DSP) or microcontroller (MCU) as the core and digital power drivers, PWM controllers, etc. as control objects to achieve control, management and monitoring functions. It changes the external characteristics of the switching power supply by setting the internal parameters, and adds "power management" on the basis of "power control". The so-called power management refers to the effective distribution of power to different components of the system to minimize losses. The management of digital power (such as power sequencing) must all use digital technology.

The digital power supply also includes the following features:

1. Intelligent control

It is an intelligent switching power supply system with a digital signal processor (DSP) or microcontroller (MCU) as the core, and a digital power driver and PWM controller as the control object. The traditional switching power supply controlled by a microcontroller generally only controls the start and shut down of the power supply, and is not a true digital power supply.

2. Optimization of digital and analog component combinations

The "Fusion Digital Power" technology is used to achieve an optimized combination of analog components and digital components in the switching power supply. For example, the analog component MOSFET driver used in the power stage can be easily connected to the digital power controller to achieve various protection and bias power management, and the PWM controller is also a digital control analog chip.

3. High integration

The power system on chip has been integrated into a single chip or a group of chips.

4. High control accuracy

It can give full play to the advantages of digital signal processors and microcontrollers, so that the designed digital power supply can reach high technical indicators. For example, its pulse width modulation (PWM) resolution can reach 150ps (10~12s), which is far beyond the reach of traditional switching power supplies. Digital power supplies can also realize multi-phase control, nonlinear control, load current sharing and fault prediction, providing convenient conditions for the development of green and energy-saving switching power supplies.

5. High degree of modularity

Digital power supply has a high degree of modularization, and the modules can be easily and organically integrated to form a distributed digital power supply system and improve the reliability of the power supply system.

GALAX HOF1000 realizes the control concept through its own graphics card combined with grinding disk software, providing more functions for the host.

It is not difficult to see that the power supplies commonly seen in the market in the past can be called analog power supplies. However, the cost of digital power supplies is generally higher now. The problem is that the Chinese market attaches great importance to the concept of cost, which can be said to be one of the reasons why digital power supplies have not yet been popularized.

But we have to admit that this is the driving force for the development of power supplies in the future. In this regard, it is not difficult to see that more and more high-end power supplies are beginning to have some digital power supply functions, and the prices of such power supplies are not very exaggerated, such as the above-mentioned GALAXY HOF1000. The diverse functions of digital power supplies can also make up for the functional defects of traditional PC platforms and increase the playability of traditional PC platforms.

Operation photos

Perhaps only when the cost of digital power supply is close to that of traditional analog power supply or when it is considered by audiophile players. However, digital power supply has greatly surpassed analog power supply in terms of function, and can even make up for some defects on the host. With the continuous development of digital power supply function, the cost is decreasing day by day. I believe that we can see more of it in the future.