11/12/2018
Techanalye Co.,Ltd.
Last time, I introduced ABLIC's Ultrahigh Efficiency Switching Regulator “S-85S1P Series” and CMOS Voltage Regulator “S-1740/1741 Series” and how their new function “Supply Voltage Divided Output” was produced.
Supply Voltage Divided Output Regulator was produced to respond to a request by a startup company that has a lot of ideas but doesn't have ample resources. And ABLIC has already been working on a new request.
As explained on the last article, current Supply Voltage Divided Output Regulator divides the input voltage (Vin), outputs the voltage through the buffer, and inputs the voltage into an ADC pin of a microcontroller to make it possible to monitor the voltage. But sometimes it is difficult to secure ADC pin because the system needs large number of AD conversion, or the microcontroller is very small and does not assign ADC pin to the regulator. Then the user requests the feature to be able to input the voltage not only to ADC but also to another pin. Now an idea which utilize a Reset IC to monitor the battery has been proposed.
Another option may be to integrate Supply Voltage Divided Output Regulator with a Microcomputer. And in terms of integration, if regulator is integrated with other analog chips which are around it, the new chip reduces the mounting area, improves the power efficiency, performance and increases in functionality. Semiconductor chips which provide traceability such as location information and security are included in analog chips. If these are integrated in a chip, new highly functional feature is included in the ABLIC's regulator lineup.
Figure 1 shows the potential of the ABLIC's regulator products. Feedback mainly from new business field will drive the development plan. Figure 2 shows the applications of the “S-85S1P Series” and “S-1740/1741 Series”. A hearing aid companies, for example, are working on a new product which support not only “to hear” but also “to be easy to hear” in an increasingly aging society. They are also investigating “super slow playback” feature that pares away noises using AI and playbacks only what are necessary more slowly. Automatic translation machines which are commercially available for the last year or two, will become smaller and higher performance. Requests from these “second-generation of wearable” and IoT products, new business field, will continue to grow ABLIC's regulator and other analog products.
Supply Voltage Divided Output Regulator is adopted not only on the Braveridge's Human Tracker also on the latest wireless earphones released by one of the large Japanese Electronics Manufacture. This case indicates a system which ABLIC responds to a request from a new business field, develops a product (market-oriented), and deploys to existing business fields (product-oriented). This shows a trinity which consists of new business markets, ABLIC and existing business markets (see Fig.3). This approach will be a new product model for the product development in the various industries.
