Potentia Semiconductor has upgraded its PowerCenter Designer software. Version 4.0 supports the company’s range of second generation devices, including its latest six rail secondary side power system controllers.
The V4.0 offers design flow for the configuration of distributed power systems. Using point-and-click, the topology, sequence, parameter, GPIO and margining configuration screens aim to reduce design time substantially.
New chips supported by V4.0 include the PS-2606 and imminent PS-2607 power system controller ICs. The ICs have the option of an isolated data link to companion primary side devices, providing voltage monitoring and control of up to six POL converters and an intermediate bus.
One of the improvements in Version 4.0 is support for negative voltage rails. Once a negative value has been specified, PowerCenter Designer automatically sets the necessary controller device registers for negative rail management.
A more comprehensive strategy has also been implemented for configuration error handling. The latest PowerCenter Designer software disallows power system configurations that it determines are likely to result in undesirable long term effects in complex power architectures.