With all of the options available today for integrated off-line converters, what does a designer actually require from an IC? ICs range from solutions with a few pins with integrated switching components, to 16 pin ICs with various options to control the switching. Nowadays there are fewer power supply designers than digital designers, and being new to power supply design they do not have the knowledge to complete a complicated design. ICs are available to ease the design process and the following is a discussion of the relevance of the IC options for flyback converters.

The questions to ask are what do I need from my off-line controller? What is the required power level? Is the end system sensitive to particular frequencies? Is EMC important? What is the input voltage range? What is the voltage range for each output? What is the desired efficiency? Will the power supply be enclosed in a box without ventilation? What is the black box that the power supply will operate? What is my loss of optocoupler protection? Is there a startup waveform? What is the necessary bandwidth? Will the system operate in discontinuous, critical conduction or continuous mode?

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