Calibrate a power supply with a digital potentiometer

Understand how to configure, size, and use the

digital pot in this common situation

David Fry, Strategic Applications Manager, Maxim Integrated Products

A resistive feedback network is often used to set the output voltage of a power supply. While a mechanical
potentiometer (pot) conveniently solves the problem of adjusting a power supply, it can be replaced with a digital pot
for easier automatic calibration.

This article presents a calibration solution that uses a digital pot, because digital pots are smaller, do not move
with age or vibration, and can be recalibrated remotely. This proposed solution reduces the susceptibility of the
system to the tolerance of the digital pot’s end-to-end resistance, making the solution optimal for designers. The
article also explains some of the equations required to calculate the resistor chain values and to use a digital pot in
this way. A spreadsheet with standard resistor values is available for easy calculations.

Conventional power-supply feedback

A power supply is often designed using resistive feedback to set the output level. There are, however, many
device tolerances that can affect the output voltage, so a fixed resistor-divider is often insufficient. In these
situations, a variable-resistor ratio is used so the system can be calibrated during final testing.

Although a mechanical pot would have traditionally been used for this task, those components have been
replaced by digital pots in many applications. Digital pots do not suffer from aging effects and are far simpler to
adjust automatically.

Fixed-resistor and mechanical-potentiometer schemes are shown in Figures 1 and 2. .

Figure 1. A conventional fixed-resistive feedback.

 Figure 2. A conventional variable-resistive feedback.

Take the typical example of a 12V supply with a 2.5V reference voltage. The reference voltage and all other
devices in the system will have a tolerance. Conveniently, all tolerances can be represented as additional tolerance
on the reference. For this example, we will use a ±5% typical total tolerance for the reference.

Calculating the values for a fixed-resistive feedback is based on an easy equation:

R1 R 2
VO VR
R2
.................................................. (Eq. 1)

Since in this example VR will have a tolerance of ±5%, this leads to a tolerance in the output voltage of 5%. If this
is not acceptable in the application, the resistive-divider needs to be made variable. Simply replacing R1 and R2
with a mechanical pot is not normally done, since it would result in a wide range of output voltages and would be
very sensitive to adjustments.

Over time and temperature, any drift in the pot’s position would create an unacceptable amount of output voltage
drift. Therefore, Figure 2 illustrates a scheme that reduces the output range, which is now easier to adjust and is
more stable.

Hypothetically, we should be able to replace R2 with a digital pot, and we should have an electrically adjustable
system. However, it is not as simple as that. First, some explanation of digital pots is required.

Basic Structure of Digital Pots

A digital pot is normally a string of resistors with a switch at each node, as shown in Figure 3. For simplicity, the
switches are shown as single MOSFETs. Typically, these switches would be two BiCMOS transistors (one P and
one N) to produce low on-resistances.

This structure is commonly used for pots up to 256 taps. When the pot is above 256 taps, it can be more efficient
to use a more complex segmented structure. However, that is beyond the scope of this article.
 Figure 3. A conventional fixed-resistive feedback.

Since all resistors are manufactured on the same die, they will be very closely matched. Unfortunately, the end-to-
end resistance may not be so well defined.

A typical digital pot is the MAX5402, a single-channel, 256-tap device with end-to-end resistance of 10kΩ
(typical). The end-to-end resistance tolerance, however, is ±20%. Ratiometrically, it is far better defined with integral
nonlinearity (INL) of 0.5 LSB (max). It is, therefore, well suited to be used as a potential divider.

Using the digital pot to calibrate a power supply

The method to calculate the resistor values R1, R2, and R3 is shown in Figure 4. We will use the following
example:

VO = 12V
VR = 2.5V ±5%
RT = R1 + R2 + R3.
 Figure 4. The initial resistor string.

The initial equations are simple and defined below:

R3 VR 2 RT
VR 2 VO R3
RT VO .................. (Eq. 2)

R 2 R3 VR1 RT
VR1 VO R2 R3
RT VO .... (Eq. 3)

R1 = RT – R3 – R2 .................................................. (Eq. 4)

The first step is to define a total resistance for RT using (R1 + R2 + R3). Since this is arbitrary, we will start
with RT = 20kΩ. (We can always change it later to give more realistic values for R1, R2 and R3 if required.)
From Equation 2, we find R3 = 3.958kΩ. From Equation 3, R2 = 417Ω, and from Equation 4, R1 = 15.625kΩ.

Clearly the ideal resistor values calculated will not generally be available, so standard resistor values need to be
used. The closest 1% values are substituted for R1 and R3: R1 = 15.8kΩ, R3 = 3.92kΩ. For convenience, we have
included standard resistor value charts in the spreadsheet.[Editor's note: the spreadsheet will be posted shortly; if
you need it right away, please contact me at bill.schweber@ubm.com and I will email it to you.)

Now we can calculate backward to find an ideal value for R2, as shown in Equation 5. R2 will eventually become
variable. Thus, its value is calculated so that VO will be correct when R2 is cantered, and VR is at its nominal value.

VO R3 VR R3 VR R1
R2
VR V O 2
................. (Eq. 5)

Therefore, R2 = 646Ω.

We need to account for the fact that digital pots have a very poor end-to-end tolerance. Using a large-value digital
pot in parallel with a small-value fixed resistor is a simple and effective method of reducing the pot’s poor end-to
end tolerance. This is illustrated in Figure 5. Thus, the parallel combination of R2a and RP makes R2.
 Figure 5. The final resistor string.

Using Equation 6, the final step is to calculate the value of the parallel fixed resistor, given a potentiometer
nominal end-to-end resistor.

RP R 2
R 2A
RP R 2
............................................... (Eq.6)

So, using a 10kΩ pot for RP, the ideal value for R2A is 690Ω. The closest 1% value is 698Ω. If we calculate the
parallel combination of this and the digital pot at its tolerance extremes, we get RMIN = 642Ω and RMAX = 660Ω. This
is a tolerance of only 1% because of the 20% end-to-end tolerance of the pot. We use a 698Ω resistor for R2A, as
this is the closest standard 1% value.

The final calculation confirms that with real values, the digital pot can cover the required range of 5% for the
reference tolerance. We can use the star-delta transformation, as shown in Figure 6. We obviously do not need to
calculate R6.

Figure 6. Using the star-delta transformation.

RP N
RPL ................................................. (Eq. 7)
NMAX
Where N is the tap position and NMAX is the maximum tap position.

RPH RP RPL .............................................. (Eq. 8)

 RPH R 2A
R4
R2A RPH RPL
.................................. (Eq. 9)

RPL R 2A
R5
R 2A RPH RPL
................................. (Eq. 10)

VR ( R1 R3 R 4 R5)
VO
R3 R5 .................... (Eq. 11)

Using these equations, we confirm that the pot’s range will cover the tolerance range for the reference.

To summarize the requirements and the component values selected:

VO = 12V (output voltage)

VR = 2.5V ±5% (reference voltage)
R1 = 15.8kΩ (upper resistor)
R2A = 698Ω (parallel resistor)
RP = 10kΩ (digital pot)
R3 = 3.92kΩ (lower resistor)

The following tap points set the required output voltage at the extremes of reference tolerance.

VR = 2.375V, tap = 44, VO = 11.99842V

VR = 2.625V, tap = 210, VO = 11.99773V

It may be possible to optimize this further to reduce the output voltage steps. However, the potentiometer does
have some overhead at either end to take account of any further tolerances.

Summary
This article has discussed the problem of adjusting a power supply and how this problem can be conventionally
solved with a mechanical pot. Additionally, the article explains a calibration solution that uses a digital pot, since
digital pots are smaller, do not move with age or vibration, and can be recalibrated remotely. This proposed solution
also reduces the tolerance of the digital pot’s end-to-end resistance, making the solution optimal for designers. The
equations required to calculate the resistor chain values were developed and a spreadsheet is available that
contains standard resistor value charts.

About the Author

David Fry is the Strategic Applications Manager for the DACs, pots, and references product line at Maxim
Integrated Products. He has over 25 years experience in the electronics industry, with the last 13 years working in
semiconductor field applications, market development, and product-line applications. Prior to joining Maxim, David
spent 11 years as a board-level designer working on RF designs and several years designing high-end broadcast
video equipment. He earned a BSc in Electronics in 1984 from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology.