Texas Instruments Unveils Industry’s First 4-20mA DAC Featuring Buck/Boost Converter

Texas Instruments has launched a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that integrates industry-leading precision performance with simpler power-supply design. It’s a 16-bit DAC8775 device that operates from a single, wide 12 to 36-V power rail. Owing to the presence of the integrated buck/boost converter, it generates all the required internal power supplies to save designers time, cost, and board space. 

 

The 4-channel DAC8775 caters to the factory automation and process control equipment toward input/output (I/O) modules that are required to squeeze more channels within a small space. Usually, while designing these systems, engineers have to face the challenge of managing power dissipation in a small form factor. 

 

 

In order to counter this issue, the DAC8775 integrates a 4-20mA current and voltage driver with a precision reference and a buck/boost converter. This enables a total system footprint that is up to 25% smaller than the nearest competing device. This newly launched highly integrated DAC offers smaller and more efficient designs with advanced diagnostic capabilities. 

 

 

• The device features smart alarms that monitor open load, short circuit, over-temperature, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), watchdog timer and compliance voltage. 

 

• It is equipped with an innovative auto-learn feature that calculates the load impedance on the 4-20mA loop and clamps the power supply, thereby enabling faster settling time, balancing efficiency and a quicker system response. 

 

• Its high DC performance reduces the need for system calibration, saving manufacturing costs as compared to a discrete solution. 

 

• The converter dynamically adjusts the generated supply on the basis of the current load on the 4-20mA loop. This gives way to an efficient system with well-controlled thermal performance, allowing more channels in a confined space.