LTC4211
18
4211fb
OPERATION
breaker if the voltage across the SENSE resistor (VCC –
VSENSE = VCB) is greater than 50mV for 20μs. There may
be applications where this comparator’s response time
is not long enough, for example, because of excessive
supply voltage noise. To adjust the response time of the
SLOW COMP, the MS version of the LTC4211 is chosen
and a capacitor is used at the LTC4211’s FILTER pin (see
section on Adjusting SLOW Comp’s Response Time). The
FAST COMP trips the circuit breaker to protect against fast
load overcurrents if the transient voltage across the sense
resistor is greater than 150mV for 300ns. The response
time of the LTC4211’s FAST COMP is fixed.
The timing diagram of Figure 7 illustrates when the
LTC4211’s electronic circuit breaker is armed. After the
first timing cycle, the LTC4211’s FAST COMP is armed
at Time Point 5. Arming FAST COMP at Time Point 5 en-
sures that the system is protected against a short-circuit
condition during the second timing cycle. At Time Point 7,
SLOW COMP is armed when the internal control loop is
disengaged.
The timing diagrams in Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the op-
eration of the LTC4211 when the load current conditions
exceed the thresholds of the FAST COMP (VCB(FAST) >
150mV) and SLOW COMP (VCB(SLOW) > 50mV), respec-
tively.
RESETTING THE ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BREAKER
Once the LTC4211’s circuit breaker is tripped, FAULT is
asserted low and the GATE pin is pulled to ground. The
LTC4211 remains latched OFF in this fault state until the
external fault is cleared. To clear the internal fault detect
circuitry and to restart the LTC4211, its ON pin must be
driven low (VON < 1.236V) for at least 150μs, after which
time FAULT goes high. Toggling the ON pin from low to
high (VON > 1.316V) initiates a restart sequence in the
LTC4211. The timing diagram in Figure 10 illustrates a
start-up sequence where the LTC4211 is powered up into
a load overcurrent condition. Note that the circuit breaker
trips at Time Point B and is reset at Time Point 9A.
FREQUENCY COMPENSATION AT SOFT-START
If the external gate capacitance is greater than 600pF, no
external gate capacitor is required at GATE to stabilize
the internal current-limiting loop during soft-start. Oth-
erwise, connect a gate capacitor between the GATE pin
and ground to increase the total gate capacitance to be
equal to or above 600pF. The servo loop that controls the
external MOSFET during current limiting has a unity-gain
frequency of about 105kHz and phase margin of 80° for
external MOSFET gate input capacitances to 2.5nF.
USING AN EXTERNAL GATE CAPACITOR
In addition to reducing the inrush current (Equation 4), an
external gate capacitor (Figure 6) may also be useful to
decrease or eliminate current spikes through the MOSFET
when power is first applied. At power-up, the instantaneous
input voltage step attempts to pull the MOSFET gate up
through the MOSFET’s drain-to-gate capacitance. If the
MOSFET’s CGS is small, the gate can be pulled up high
enough to turn on the MOSFET, thereby allowing a cur-
rent spike to the output. This event occurs during the time
that the LTC4211 is coming out of UVLO and getting its
intelligence to hold the GATE pin low. An external capaci-
tor attenuates the voltage to which the GATE is pulled up
and eliminates the current spike. The value required is
dependent on the MOSFET capacitance specifications. In
typical applications, this capacitor is not required.
ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BREAKER
The LTC4211 features an electronic circuit breaker function
that protects against externally-generated fault conditions
and shorts or excessive load current and can also be con-
figured to protect against input supply overvoltage. If the
circuit breaker trips, the GATE pin is immediately pulled to
ground, the external N-channel MOSFET is quickly turned
OFF and FAULT is latched low.
The circuit breaker trips whenever the voltage across the
sense resistor exceeds two different levels, set by the
LTC4211’s SLOW COMP and FAST COMP thresholds
(see Block Diagram). The SLOW COMP trips the circuit