An integrated power-management device, the WM8320 from Wolfson, is claimed to provide smaller, more efficient and lower cost solutions to applications that use ARM-based processors, particularly netbooks, mobile Internet devices, smart phones, handsets and digital photo frames. It incorporates the company's BuckWise regulator technology, which enables the power-management ICs to cope with shifts in power requirements as different product functions are switched on and off by the user. The regulator technology eliminates any disturbances in the power-supply outputs that can often be caused by rapid changes in power requirements, without the designer needing to add large external components or reduce the processor speed to lower the load current. The device also suits applications where there is no system battery, such as set-top boxes. The company claims that the device can be used to make significant savings by using smaller components, such as SMT chip inductors, rather than expensive large discrete wirewound inductors. In addition, board-space area can be reduced by 25% over previous-generation solutions.
