Automated Tools Improve Frequency Response In Switching Regulators

Focus:

Many power supply design tools such as TI’s WEBENCH Power Designer include selection of compensation components. A few also include information to help assess a regulator’s stability, like estimated phase margin and/or electrical simulations showing Bode plot and/or transient response. What happens, though, if key schematic components have to be changed? How does the compensation change to match? Again, this varies by design tool. WEBENCH Power Designer includes a new Compensation Designer that makes it easy to update the compensation, and even improve it to gain faster response or better phase margin. This article will present a design example (based on the LM21215A-1 synchronous buck regulator IC) that demonstrates how to use Compensation Designer and the different options it offers for obtaining the desired transient response and stability after the inductor has been changed. The three options include targeting a specific phase margin and applying the “auto compensate” feature, changing the frequency response poles and zeros, and changing the compensation components directly.

What you’ll learn:

• How to use the Compensation Designer tool in TI’s WEBENCH Power Designer to update the compensation, and to adjust compensation to gain faster response or better phase margin

View the Source

Author & Publication:

Wanda Garrett, Texas Instruments, Santa Clara, Calif., How2Power Today, Apr 15 2015

This article summary appears
in the HOW2POWER Design Guide.

The Design Guide offers
organized access to
hundreds of articles
on dozens of power conversion
and power management topics.

The Design Guide search results
include exclusive summaries
and accurate "how to" analysis
to help you make faster,
more informed decisions.

Search
for more articles