Allegro Unveils Regulator Chips for Infotainment Applications

Automotive infotainment systems are a highly demanding application field for power supplies: a wide input voltage range merges with the need for high transient resilience and extremely low inactive current. To meet these requirements, Allegro Microsystems Europe has developed two new DC/DC step-down switching regulator chips.

The two new products— A8586 and A8587—come with an integrated high-side power MOSFET. The A8586 offers up to 3.5 A output current while the A8587 has output current of up to 2.0 A. These devices are AEC-Q100 qualified and integrate current mode control for quick transient response. The wide input range of 3.8 V to 36 V makes both devices appropriate for a wide array of step-down applications, including those in an automotive input environment. Battery driven “keepalive” applications take advantage from the low 30 µA operational quiescent current.

A8586 and A8587 are designed to strongly handle a load dump condition with 40 V maximum rating as well as idle-stop and cold crank conditions with 3 V UVLO rating. They maintain high-efficiency across wide ranging loads in the PWM mode and integrate pulse frequency modulation (PFM) as the load reduces. In turn, this reduces switching and gate driver losses at light loads.

The new regulators also integrate frequency fold back to help inhibit inductor current runaway during startup and offer improved dropout performance. Included in the extensive safety and robust protection features are thermal shutdown, VIN under-voltage lockout, BOOT open/short voltage protection, open/short freewheeling diode protection, hiccup mode short circuit protection, and pulse-by-pulse current limit. The A8587 also comes with a Negative Power On Reset (NPOR) function to show in-regulation and out-of-regulation status.

The A8586, A8586-2 and A8587 are specifically designed to help in EMC performance by integrating frequency dithering, well controlled switch node slew rates and sofAllegro Microsystems Europe has developed two new DC/DC step-down switching regulator chips: A8586 and A8578. t freewheel diode turn off. Thanks to a 4MHz oscillator, it enables the devices to switch outside EMI sensitive frequency bands such as the AM band or ADSL bands. The A8586-1 disables the frequency dithering feature. Along with the A8586-2, it also serves as an option that disables the PFM function.

Allegro Microsystems’ A8586 and A8587 are intended for the automotive and industrial markets, heads-up display (HUD), advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), battery powered systems and industrial controls. The A8586 is offered in industry standard DFN-10 and SOIC-8 packages while the A8587 is available in DFN-10 package.