Picor Corporation • www.picorpower.com QPO-2 Data Sheet Rev. 1.6 Page 3 of 11
Product Highlights
Picor’s QPO-2, System-in-a-Package (SiP) output ripple
attenuator, is easy to apply and provides the user with
features that can be tailored to optimize the product’s
performance to meet their system needs. It uses active
filtering to achieve greater than 30 dB of attenuation of
Periodic And Random Deviation (PARD) over the frequency
range of 1 kHz to 500 kHz. For converters running off-line
with greater low frequency output ripple, the attenuation
can be extended to be greater than 20 dB down at 50 Hz
by connecting a 25 uF capacitor between the VREF and
REFGRD pins.
The QPO-2 operates over an output voltage range of 0.3 to
5.5 Vdc and requires an external input bias voltage of 7
volts above the QPO output for proper operation. It is
compatible with most switching power supplies and
converters and regulates the output load by using either a
converter’s remote sensing feature or the SC/trim function
of the QPO-2 with the converter. The SC/Trim feature will
correct the converter’s output voltage to compensate for
the headroom voltage drop of the filter if remote sensing
is not available or not preferred. The QPO-2 SC function
works with converters that feature a positive reference
trim adjustment by sourcing correction current into the
trim reference pins commonly found on many power
supplies. The QPO-2 can also be used when remote sense
or SC/trim is not possible. In this mode of operation the
QPO-2 will still provide greater than 30 dB of ripple and
noise attenuation but DC errors will not be corrected for
once the converter and headroom voltages are set,
resulting in reduced load and transient performance.
The QPO-2’s closed loop architecture greatly improves load
transient response of the converter while ensuring steady-
state precise point of load voltage regulation. The
headroom setting of the filter dramatically reduces the
capacitance needed at the converter output to provide the
equivalent transient performance and ripple reduction.
Figure 2 demonstrates how the product can be an ideal
solution for noise sensitive applications providing ripple
and noise reduction and improved output regulation with
high current transient load demands.
Functional Description
The QPO-2 is an active power filter that provides
conducted differential attenuation of power supply output
PARD. It is design to be inserted between the output of the
supply and the load, providing closed loop regulation
through remote sensing or by means of the SC/Trim
feature of supplies having a positive referenced based trim
capability and is set by RSC. The core of the design is a high
bandwidth closed loop function that forces the QPOOUT
pins to be equal to the VREF pin. The VREF pin is a filtered
ratio metric representation of the input voltage that is
determined by the RHR value selection. The voltage
difference between the input to the QPO-2 and VREF pin is
defined as the headroom voltage VHR. The filter time
constant of the VREF pin determines the low frequency
attenuation response of the QPO-2. The high frequency
attenuation response is determined by the roll-off
characteristics of the active loop. To speed up the charging
of the Vref pin the RCP resistor can be used to clamp the
pin just below the steady state regulation point avoiding
excessive delay and headroom during start-up.
The QPO-2 has a current sensing function that creates a
voltage at the Slope Adjust pin that is proportional with
the load current. This feature can be used to improve the
efficiency of the filter when supply ripple amplitude
reduces with increasing load as with Vicor products. By
selecting the appropriate RSA resistor value the slope of the
headroom reduction versus load can be set. The effect of
this function is to reduce the headroom voltage by the
amount determined by the RSA value resulting in reduced
power dissipation and increased efficiency as compared to
a fixed headroom setting.
There is also a Peak Detection function that adds the input
peak of the ripple voltage to the headroom voltage. The
QPO-2 will track the input ripple adjusting the headroom
within the dynamic range of the filter as the peak of the
ripple changes. The peak of the ripple will automatically be
summed with the DC setting of the headroom voltage.
This feature in combination with the slope adjust feature
allows the user to optimize the initial headroom voltage
and overall efficiency required for their specific
application.