Power consumption must be tracked and monitored without wasting power for battery-operated devices and energy-restricted applications. In order to address this challenge, Microchip Technology has released two digital power monitors based on typical operating conditions at 1024 samples per second, use half the power of comparable solutions. In addition to achieving this efficiency milestone, the PAC1711 and PAC1811 power monitors provide a patent-pending step-alert function for identifying variations in long-running averages and real-time system alerts for out-of-limit power events.
The 8-pin and 10-pin Very Thin Dual Flat, No-Lead (VDFN) packages that house the 42V, 12-bit single-channel PAC1711 and 16-bit PAC1811 monitors are pin and footprint compatible with the widely used Small Outline Transistor (SOT23)-8 package. This compatibility streamlines upgrades and integration into software, making second-sourcing easier for developers.
The step-alert capability of the PAC1711 and PAC1811 power monitors maintains a running average of the voltage and current values. It will alert the MCU to take action if there is a notable, user-defined variation.
Every new sample can cause an alert, and the devices maintain a rolling average. There is a slow-sample pin option that can further reduce power consumption by delaying the power usage sampling to every eight seconds.
The power monitor’s accumulator register can be used to measure system battery aging or recharge time, handle logistical items, and supply the MCU with short-term historical data for long-term power utilization.
Both current monitor integrated circuits sense bus voltages from 0 to 42 volts and can communicate over an I2C® interface. They are well-suited for first- or second-source options in computing, networking, AI/ML and E-Mobility applications.
Leadership Comments
“Until now, portable devices and a variety of energy-constrained applications have needed to burn a significant amount of valuable power to measure how much they are consuming,” said Keith Pazul, vice president of Microchip’s mixed-signal linear business unit. “Unlike many existing solutions, Microchip’s power monitors function as independent ‘watchdog’ peripherals, eliminating the need for the MCU to handle power monitoring tasks. These monitors allow the MCU or host processor to remain dormant until a significant power event occurs such as needing an LCD screen to power on.”
Development Tools
The evaluation board is a Click board™ compatible with the MikroElektronika’s mikroBUS™ standard for host motherboard sockets. The Click board is used to evaluate the features and performance of the devices.
Additionally, a Linux® driver can be found on the product pages, providing the basic functionality and access to commonly used registers for making power measurements. Microchip also provides a generic C library for the PAC1711 and PAC1811 which includes examples of how they can be used with different MCUs from Microchip.
Pricing and Availability
The PAC1711 is available now in VDFN-8 (PAC1711T-1E/3P) or VDFN-10 (PAC1711T-2E/9Q) packages. The PAC1811 is available now in VDFN-8 (PAC1811T-1E/3P) or VDFN-10 (PAC1811T-2E/9Q) packages.
Pricing begins at $0.58 each in 10,000-unit quantities for the PAC1711 VDFN-8 option. The price of the evaluation board (part #PAC1711-Click) is $15.00 each and is available now.
For additional information and to purchase, contact a Microchip sales representative, authorized worldwide distributor or visit Microchip’s Purchasing and Client Services website, www.microchipdirect.com.
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