PMIC Simplifies Power-Supply Design for Automotive Cameras

The following article was originally published in eeNews Automotive. It is reprinted here with permission.

Renesas’ ISL78083 power-management IC (PMIC) is designed to supply power to HD camera modules like those used in vehicles for environment detection. The chip reduces development time and bill of materials (BOM) costs, and helps minimize supply-chain risks.

The ISL78083 is powered directly from the battery (36 to 42 V) or power-over-coax (15 to 18V) and supports output currents up to 750 mA per output. The power stage offers sufficient capacity for existing image sensors with up to 7 Mpixels and will be able to handle future sensors with even higher resolution.

With this PMIC, Renesas extends its support for automotive surround-view and rearview camera systems beyond the image-processing functions of the R-Car SoC. Furthermore, it enables the development of compact HD cameras. According to the manufacturer, cameras equipped in this way should be easy and convenient to integrate in the vehicle.

The ISL78083, replete with a four-channel voltage regulator, includes a primary high-voltage synchronous buck converter, two secondary low-voltage synchronous buck converters, and an LDO voltage regulator. Thanks to the integrated feedback and compensation function, only an output inductor and capacitors are required to build a highly efficient power supply.

The ISL78083 minimizes BOM costs, requiring 7 to 10 fewer external components compared to competitive solutions. The chip also features four overvoltage and four undervoltage monitoring circuits, three power-good signal outputs, and a reset output/fault indicator. A second reference circuit is provided for overvoltage/undervoltage monitoring.

Its 4- × 4-mm, 24-pin SCQFN package improves solder joint reliability and allows for optical inspection of solder joints to help lower cost of manufacturing. The ISL78083 is now available in high-volume production.