FPGA-Programmable power supply

Can I use an FPGA to control a programmable pwer supply..if so are there any such implementations already available..or if it is a feasible idea...any feedback greatly appreciated.. thnks

On a sunny day (21 Jan 2006 05:18:15 -0800) it happened snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in :

Eh... maybe wrong... you can use a FPGA you can use even a trained monkey. If the result is what you want depends in the case of the FPGA on the programming, same for the monkey.

And on the interface too.... monkey should be able to twiddle knobs, FPGA output should be compatible with power supply control input.

You do not need an fpga for this but

With PWM , simple closed loop control and a LC filter can solve your problem. A FPGA adds 7 segment display, a few buttons to adjust voltage manually or even RS-232 control is very feasable. ok you have a fpga then you can make it multiple output power supply.

Just for fun add sinusoidal outputs to make it universal.(Again PWM)

yusuf

Could do the same with a pic or even a cpld

Well, Sunday, and was just thinking about this a bit, In ANY case, when using FLASH based ROm or a FLASH based FPGA (and you will likely want a AD converter and these new Actel FPGAs have one build in... then do the PWM..... * B U T * We all know FLASH does not hold for ever, I have some PSU that are 20 years old and still work fine. So that begs the question WHAT will happen when a bit goes wrong in the EEPROM or FLASH FPGA? It *could* kick your programable FPGA output to max volts no curent limit ! So I think that in case of a FLASH based micro controller, or FPGA (so not an analog solution, or ROM based ) one MUST provide a second circuit 'crowbar' and in this case 'programmable crowbar'.

Then from that POV one should actually do the PWM and compare in analog, and only use the FPGA output to perhaps set some switches to select voltage range. You *can* specify 20 years max usage in your documentation, but if the thing blows up 1M$ lab equipment one day later I wonder if they could sue you.

As for the OP .. his question implies zero knowledge of FPGA and likely electronics. So I referred to monkeys to explain it.

Sunday .... it is going to be very cold here too this week......

Hi, you mean that flash memory isn't reliable, the same feeling to me. :-)

But, when using flash-based fpga, you only need to read the configuration data from flash memory and load them to configuration sram once at the moment of power up. I think this would not a problem even for such critical system. what do you think about it?

Best regards,

Wicky