Brief PDF catalogs needed  for PWM controller selection. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2023, 12:41:25 pm
content: Hi,Have you ever tried to search the entire web for a SMPS PWM controller with a certain spec…eg you want1…Buck2…5 to 60Vin3…Non synchronous4……etc etcAnd you are clicking through multiple links to try and get to a semi co’s online selector tool….on your way, your screen is constantly going into “blue circle delay” mode…….and five hours later, you think you may have found something. Lets face it, even digikey doesn’t let you search on all features you may want…….and some of their search tools are a bit weird…like you want 5Vout……but you can get “2-10vout”, “3-15vout”, and a thousand other combos, etc etc…..left clicking every one is turning you into a “click moron”.And these online selector tools, they go off the end of your screen…they take up loads of time.So whats needed, is for each semi co, to produce a simple PDF catalog, with headings, eg “AC/DC PWM controller”, “Synchronous Buck external FET”, etc etc….then people can quickly zoom through all of these to find the “candidate” part numbers.That’s all they would have to do, just a list of the part numbers, under appropriate headings,eg "PFC controller -Average current mode"…with perhaps the footprint so you can see how big it is.…nothing more than that…..just so it’s a small list…..the engineer can then drill down from there if need be.the online selector tools are OK, and can stay, but a brief overall PDF catalog summary, which contains their entire range , under appropriate headings, is needed.Why is it that the semi co’s don’t do this any more.?(OK, we all know why...SMPS are all mostly designed in China these days...so we dont need to look for PWM controllers that much in the West...but one day we might need to)>>>>Recently, the well known cheap old ti.com monolithic Buck converter IC (I forget the number) has gone nil-stocked everywhere….trying to find an alternative is taking ages and ages, and ages.>>>>Recently spent hours seeking an Average current mode Boost PFC controller, which did trailing edge sync (so you can sync it well with the downstream converter).......and this search is still ongoing, after many many hours.......i have the UCC2817 , as the only one so far.

author: ahbushnell
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2023, 05:47:32 pm
content: Go to Digikey (digikey.com) (or other suppliers i.e. Mouser). You can search with parameters. When you find a part there will be a link to a data sheet so you can get detailed information on the parts. There may also be footprints, step files and schematic symbols.Good luck!Andy

author: temperance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 11:28:45 am
content: Those search engines don't mean too much and it's impossible for those search engines to implement filters for the enormous amount of options available in SMPS controllers.The basics like input voltage,... are not the problem. But try to find a current mode synchronous buck regulator with programmable under-voltage lockout and spread spectrum modulation with a efficiency >80% at low loads.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2023, 11:56:08 pm
content: Quote from: temperance on July 06, 2023, 11:28:45 amA table with an AND filter is exotic and time consuming for you? a few minutes and 26 candidates from TI for me.

author: temperance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2023, 12:32:58 am
content: QuoteI should have been more accurate and you might try reading what others posted before snaring at someone. The OP was writing about a catalog with parts from multiple vendors and my answer was addressing what ahbushnell wrote about using distributor websites search engine filters to find what you need.The TI website is indeed good.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2023, 01:52:24 am
content: Quote from: temperance on July 07, 2023, 12:32:58 amYes, that was a continuation of the claimed challenge you posted, not a generalised solution.It's a matter of scale, the manufacturers website calatogs are themselves filled with missing/incorrect data, and inconsistent naming/capitalisation/hyphenation. Pull that data from several manufacturers to a single database (a distributor like digikey) and those problems increase/multiply making the final database in many wayslessuseful than going to the others individually. For the above TI example the control law/regime is its own column, but that data field doesn't end up on digikey. That the distributors offer anything approaching a paramedic search for such diverse products is nice but not their core business.Sure a multipurpose does everything automated librarian free to use web service integrating all known parts and manufacturers that can dimension its interface to provide goldilocks not too much but not too little information would be nice, but how is that profitable? There are procurement/value add people in the supply chain offering it as meatware for the lazy/incompetent.

author: ArdWar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2023, 02:08:56 am
content: Quote from: temperance on July 07, 2023, 12:32:58 amTI's filter for product selection tableusedto be better. The new one looks nicer but actually a downgrade functionality-wise. I don't think the new one even allows to switch between AND/OR for feature selection.

author: temperance
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2023, 11:23:58 am
content: Every manufacturer and some distributors publish short product information leaflets. I just scan trough them when time permits and keep very short notes about components which might be of interest in the future. FAE's can also be a useful resource. It's their "hobby" to know what's available so you don't have to.

author: mtwieg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2023, 03:02:02 pm
content: It's not up to any chip manufacturer to accomplish such a database/catalog. If one tried, other manufacturers would immediately sue for not representing their own products fairly. Only way for such a thing to exist would be either crowdsourced or via some new consortium. I can't think of a precedent for such a thing actually happening though.At least the recent acquisitions/mergers in manufacturers has decreased the number of vendor-specific catalogs we have to search through!