Owned by the System Management Interface Forum, or SMIF, the PMBus protocol is implemented over the industry-standard SMBus serial interface and enables programming, control, and real-time monitoring of compliant power conversion products.
TDK-Lambda has already released products that implement PMBus technology; the HFE1600 series of single output AC-DC hot swap front end power supplies, for example, features an optional I²C compatible PMBus interface to programme the output voltage and current, and monitor output voltage, current and temperature, as well as fault monitoring and other features. TDK-Lambda is developing more new products that will implement the PMBus protocol as a feature.