The DC1978A is a demonstration system for the LTC®2974 quad I2C/SMBus/PMBus power supply monitor and controller with EEPROM. The DC1978A demonstrates the ability of the LTC2974 to monitor, supervise, sequence, trim, margin and log faults for four power supplies. Each power supply channel of the LTC2974 monitors current, voltage and temperature. This demonstration system is supported by the LTpowerPlay™ graphical user interface (GUI) that enables complete control of all LTC2974 features.

The DC1978A consists of two circuit boards designed to work as a pair, DC1809A and DC1810A. The DC1809A contains all the circuitry needed to insert the LTC2974 into a power system and control four power supplies. The DC1810A contains four power supplies, two LTC3860 DrMOS supplies and two LTM®4620 supplies, which are configured to be controlled by the LTC2974. Together, these two boards form a sophisticated four-channel digitally programmable power supply.

Together, the LTpowerPlay software and DC1978A hardware system create a powerful development environment for designing and testing LTC2974 configuration settings. These settings can be stored in the LTC2974 internal EEPROM or in a file. This file can later be used to order preprogrammed devices or to program devices in a production environment. The LTpowerPlay software displays all of the configuration settings and real time measurements from the LTC2974. Telemetry allows easy access and decoding of the fault log created by the LTC2974. The LTC2974 on the DC1809A board comes preprogrammed with the EEPROM values appropriate for the four power supplies used on the DC1810A. Just plug and play!

Multiple DC1978A board sets can be cascaded together to form a high channel count power supply (see Multiboard Arrays). This cascaded configuration demonstrates features of the LTC2974 which enable timing and fault information to be shared across multiple LTC2974s allowing for the formation of a single, coherent power supply control system. This cascaded configuration is supported by the LTpowerPlay GUI and allows the user to configure up to nine LTC2974s, thereby controlling up to 36 separate power supplies. Larger arrays (>9) of LTC2974s are supported through programmable I2C base address or bus segmentation.

The DC1809A/DC1810A boards are powered by an external 12V power supply. Communication with the LTpowerPlay software is via the DC1613 USB to I2C/SMBus/PMBus controller.

Key Applications: Computers and Network Servers, Industrial Test and Measurement, High Reliability Systems, Medical Imaging, Video.