Theory of Operation (Continued)
inductor current ramps up, causing a voltage drop across the
sense resistor, and this voltage is amplified by the current
sense amplifier.
The voltage signal from the current sense amplifier is applied
to the input of the PWM comparator, where it is compared to
the control level set by the error amplifier. Once the current
sense signal reaches this control voltage, the PWM comparator resets the driver logic which turns OFF the high-side
FET switch.
The low-side FET switch turns on after a delay time which is
the lesser of either:
(a) The time it takes the SW pin voltage to reach zero (this
voltage is sensed by the shoot-through protection circuitry).
(b) 100 ns, which is the pre-set value for maximum delay.
When operating at very light loads (in FPWM mode), the inductor current must flow in a negative direction through the
low-side FET switch in order to maintain the fixed-frequency
mode of operation. For this reason, the built-in zero cross
detector is disabled when ever FPWM mode is activated
(that is, when ever the FPWM pin is pulled to a low state).
It should be noted that if the FPWM pin is high (operation described in next section), the zero cross detector will turn OFF
the low-side FET switch anytime the inductor current drops
to zero (which prevents negative inductor current).
Pulse-Skipping Mode of Operation
Pulling the FPWM pin high allows the LM2640 to operate in
pulse-skipping mode at light loads, where the switching frequency decreases as the output load is reduced. The controller will operate in fixed-frequency mode, as described in
the previous section, if the output load current is sufficiently
high.
Pulse-skipping results in higher efficiency at light loads, as
decreasing the switching frequency reduces switching
losses. The load current value where the transition from
fixed-frequency to pulse-skipping operation occurs is the
point where the inductor current goes low enough to cause
the voltage measured across the current sense resistor (R4
or R13) to drop below 25 mV.
In pulse-skipping mode, the high-side FET switch will turn
ON at the beginning of the first clock cycle which occurs after
the voltage at the feedback pin falls below the reference voltage. The high-side FET switch remains ON until the voltage
across the current sense resistor rises to 25 mV (and then it
turns OFF).
Ramp Compensation
All current-mode controllers require the use of ramp compensation to prevent subharmonic oscillations, and this compensation is built into the LM2640. The internal compensation assumes an R
SENSE
value of 25 mΩ, inductor value of
10 µH, and a maximum output voltage of 6V.
To prevent oscillations, the slope M of the compensation
ramp must be equal to the maximum downward slope of the
voltage waveform at the output of the current sense amplifier. The relationship of the slope M to the external components is given by:
M
COMP
=
M
CS AMP
(max)=NXR
SENSEXVOUT
(max) / L
Where:
M
COMP
is the slope of the compensation ramp.
M
CS AMP
(max) is the maximum downward slope of the volt-
age at the output of the current sense amplifier.
N is the gain of the current sense amplifier.
R
SENSE
is the value of the current sense resistor.
V
OUT
(max) is the maximum output voltage.
L is the inductance of the output inductor.
It is important to note that since the value R
SENSE
appears in
the numerator and L is in the denominator, these two values
may be increased or decreased at the same ratio without
changing the slope.
At higher values of load current, a lower value R
SENSE
will be
selected. The inductance value for the output inductor
should be decreased by the same percentage to maintain
correct ramp compensation.
Application Information
Improved Transient Response
If the output voltage falls below 97%of the nominal value,
the low-voltage regulation (LREG) comparator will activate
logic which turns ON the high-side FET switch continuously
until the output returns to nominal. The low-side FET switch
is held OFF during this time.
This action will improve transient response since it bypasses
the error amplifier and PWM comparator, forcing the
high-side switch ON until the output returns to nominal. This
feature is disabled during start-up.
Boost High-Side Gate Drive
A “flying” bootstrap capacitor is used to generate the gate
drive voltage used for the high-side FET switch. This bootstrap capacitor is charged up to about 5V using an internal
supply rail and diode when ever the low-side FET switch is
ON. When the high-side FET switch turns ON, the Source is
pulled up near the input voltage. The voltage across the
bootstrap capacitor boosts up the gate drive voltage, ensuring that the Gate is driven at least 4.3V higher than the
Source.
Reference
The internal bandgap reference is used to generate a 2.5V
reference voltage which is connected to the REF pin. The
guaranteed tolerance of the REF voltage is
±
2%over the full
operating temperature range, as long as the current drawn is
≤ 5 mA.
A bypass capacitor on the REF pin is not required, but may
be used to reduce noise.
5V LIN Output
The LM2640 contains a built-in 5V/50 mA LDO regulator
whose output is connected to the LIN pin. Since this is an
LDO regulator, it does require an external capacitor to maintain stability. A good quality Tantalum capacitor ≥ 4.7µF is
recommended.
Since the current limit for this LDO regulator is set at about
85 mA, it can be used at load currents up to about 50 mA
(assuming total IC power dissipation does not exceed the
maximum value).
Guaranteed specifications are provided for worst-case values of V
LIN
over the full operating temperature range for load
currents up to 25 mA (see Electrical Characteristics). To estimate how the V
LIN
output voltage changes when going from
I
LIN
=
25 mA to I
LIN
=
50 mA, a change in V
LIN
of about −30
mV should be expected due to loading (typical value only,
not guaranteed). This decrease in V
LIN
is linear with increas-
ing load current.
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