> Hi all,
>
> Some time ago on the list someone was after an efficient 1V PSU, with the
> resulting discussion on losses in the diodes.
>
> There have also been discussions about using PIC's to PWM DC motors.
>
> Having some interest in switching PSU's I've been looking around and found
> a
> chip that provides 1V at 70A, looking at the circuit I noticed that rather
> than use diodes they used FET's to clamp at the correct time.
>
> No I have only used 16C84's so I don't know too much about those PIC's
> with
> AtoD on them but it would seem that a PIC with a couple of FET's and an
> inductor could make a nice PSU or motor driver?
>
>         Anyone have comments as to why this would not be a good thing to
> build?
>
>         cya,    Andrew...
>
Motor/servo control would be fine, and has been done many times.  However as
a Switched Mode PSU controler, I have my doubts.  You can already buy many
different PSU controllers, the manufacturers have done all the hard work for
you.  High speed control loops such as those used in SMPS are not trivial,
to get a good switching speed and good response times the PIC would have to
be running pretty quickly, and you still need som external circuitry for
over current/over voltage protection.

Cheers

Mike Rigby-Jones