120-mA, smart, capacitance-drop, low-dropout (LDO) linear voltage regulator

The TPS7A78 improves the overall efficiency and standby-power in power-supplies in an easy-to-use, non-magnetic approach to AC/DC conversion. The TPS7A78 uses a capacitor-drop architecture to lower the AC source voltage before actively clamping the rectified voltage. The device then regulates this rectified voltage down to the application-specific operating voltage. The unique architecture of the device allows the standby power to be reduced to just a few 10s of milliwatts. The TPS7A78 switched-capacitor stage reduces power losses by stepping down the rectified input voltage by a factor of four and increasing the output-to-input current by the same ratio, as given by PIN ≅ POUT and VIN ≅ VOUT × 4. Compared to a traditional capacitor-drop (cap-drop) stage, this step down reduces input current, thus minimizing the value of the capacitance needed.

Electricity-metering applications, where the power supply must be reliable and magnetic tamper-proof, benefits from using the TPS7A78 because this device does not require external magnetics. This feature makes complying with IEC 61000-4-8 easier while minimizing magnetic shielding cost.

Additionally, the TPS7A78 also comes with a user-programmable, power-fail detection threshold that can provide an early alert to power failures and enable shutdown before complete power loss. The power-good indicator (PG) is also provided for sequencing or resetting a microcontroller.

The TPS7A78 is available in a 14-pin HTSSOP (PWP) package.