Preface

The Core Independent Peripheral (CIP) Hybrid Power Starter Kit is a hardware platform designed to demonstrate the flexibility of Microchip’s CIP hybrid power microcontroller as used in a Switched Mode Power Supply (SMPS) application. The board incorporates the PIC16F1779 as the freely programmable Power Management IC (PMIC) device of a synchronous buck converter.

The synchronous buck converter on the board accepts input voltages ranging from 6V to 16V and delivers an output voltage of 3.3V with a maximum load current of 8A. The output of the power supply is rated for maximum 25W.

The CIP Hybrid Power Starter Kit supports three different control modes:
  • Voltage Mode Control (VMC)
  • Peak Current Mode Control (PCMC)
  • Average Current Mode Control (ACMC) - the components are not populated by default
In addition, the synchronous buck converter plant has been equipped with three different current sensing options to allow users to experiment with different Pulse-Width Modulator (PWM) controller feedback configurations:
  • Current Sense Transformer
  • DC Resistance Sensing
  • High-Side Shunt Amplifier - the component is not populated by default

The CIP Hybrid Power Starter Kit introduces the PIC16F1779 CIP hybrid power microcontroller. This device incorporates four digitally enhanced analog PWM controller function blocks into a low-power, 8-bit microcontroller architecture allowing users to tailor features and functions to application specific requirements. The PWM controller functional blocks are built in as CIPs, making MCU core activity independent from the PWM controller functional block operation.

The PWM controller blocks can be configured at design time or during run time. This is useful for creating nonlinear operating profiles for applications such as programmable power supplies like USB Power delivery DC/DC converters, multi-loop control systems in battery chargers and LED drivers as well as intelligent PMIC devices for embedded systems supporting proprietary or standardized communication like PMBus™ protocols.

PIC16F1779 CIP Hybrid Power Microcontroller

The CIP Hybrid Power Starter Kit features an on-board debugger that provides access to a serial port interface (serial to USB bridge), which is a mass storage interface for easy ‘drag and drop’ programming. It allows configuration and full access to the PIC® microcontroller In-circuit Serial Programming (ICSP) for programming and debugging using the MPLAB® X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) without the need for further hardware development tools to start an evaluation and development process.

The CIP Hybrid Power Starter Kit comes preprogrammed and configured in PCMC utilizing the current sense transformer feedback option for demonstrating the functional operation of the synchronous buck converter. Further code examples and configurations are available for download from the CIP Hybrid Power Starter Kit product webpage.