Wolfson has launched two products utilising its Smart Power technology. The WM8351 and WM8352 integrated high-fidelity audio-codec and power-management ICs have been introduced to compliment Wolfson's WM8350 power-management IC. The two new ICs offer savings of up to 25% off the BOM (bill of materials) cost and 50% on the board footprint. The simplified WM8351 is targeted at lower cost platforms that do not require all the functionalities of the WM8350. The WM8532 offers extra configuration settings to support high-end designs. The devices have combined nine pre-set start-up and configuration settings. The reduced functionality of the WM8351 results in three step-down DC/DC buck converters and one step-up DC/DC boost converter. The WM8352 has four step-down DC/DC buck converters and two step-up DC/DC boost converters. The integrated audio codec provides the necessary functions for high-quality stereo recording and playback. Programmable on-chip amplifiers allow direct connection of headphones and microphones with minimum external components. An on-chip battery charger in the WM8351 and WM8352 supports both trickle charging and fast charging of single-cell lithium batteries. The charge current, termination voltage and charger time-out are programmable to suit different types of batteries. The ICs feature low DAC playback power consumption and longer battery life in portable audio applications. Up to 90% power efficiency on DC/DC converters extends battery life, and the ICs support small-form-factor builds in portable devices.
