July 2005, Issue 180

Solar-Powered Water Pump Controller
Cypress PSoC High Integration Challenge 2004 Contest Winner

FURTHER WORK

The CY8C27443’s unique blend of programmable digital and analog circuitry along with a built-in microcontroller helped condense the solar pump controller’s circuit. During the testing phase of development, I realized a few things about the design that will influence the way I work on future versions. The main improvement has to do with using linear power supplies with large step-down ratios. A more efficient approach would involve using a primary switched mode for the drive circuit with a secondary linear regulator for the CY8C27443 and its surrounding circuitry. Another improvement would be to replace the shunt-current-sensing circuitry with an isolated sensor to help reduce noise coupling between the control and power sections.