17
LTC4210-1/LTC4210-2
421012f
APPLICATIO S I FOR ATIO
WUUU
bypass capacitors, since controlling the surge current to
bypass capacitors at plug-in is the primary motivation for
the Hot Swap controller. Although wire harness, back-
plane and PCB trace inductances are usually small, these
can create large spikes when large currents are suddenly
drawn, cut-off or limited. This can cause detrimental
damage to board components unless measures are taken.
Abrupt intervention can prevent subsequent damage
caused by a catastrophic fault but it does cause a large
supply transient. The energy stored in the lead/trace
inductance is easily controlled with snubbers and/or
transient voltage suppressors. Even when ferrite beads
are used for electromagnetic interference (EMI) control,
the low saturating current of ferrite will not pose a major
problem if the transient voltage suppressors with ad-
equate ratings are used. The transient associated with the
GATE turn off can be controlled with a snubber and/or
transient voltage suppressor. Snubbers such as RC net-
works are effective especially at low voltage supplies. The
choice of RC is usually determined experimentally. The
value of the snubber capacitor is usually chosen between
10 to 100 times the MOSFET COSS. The value of the
snubber resistor is typically between 3Ω to 100Ω. When
the supply exceeds 7V or EMI beads exist in the wire
harness, a transient voltage suppressor and snubber are
recommended to clip off large spikes and reduce the
ringing. For supply voltages of 6V or below, a snubber
network should be sufficient to protect against transient
voltages. In many cases, a simple short-circuit test can be
performed to determine the need of the transient voltage
suppressor.
OVERVOLTAGE DETECTION USING THE TIMER PIN
Figure 11 shows a supply side overvoltage detection
circuit. A Zener diode, a diode and COMP2 threshold sets
the overvoltage threshold. Resistor R
B
biases the Zener
diode voltage. Diode D1 blocks forward current in the
Zener during start-up or output short-circuit. R
TIMER
with
C
TIMER
sets the overload noise filter.
A MOSFET with a V
GS
absolute maximum rating of ±20V
meets the two criteria for all the LTC4210 applications
ranges from 2.7V to 16.5V. Typically most 10V gate rated
MOSFETs have V
GS
absolute maximum ratings of ±20V or
greater, so no external V
GS
Zener clamp is needed. There
are 4.5V gate rated MOSFETs with V
GS
absolute maximum
ratings of ±20V.
In addition to the MOSFET gate drive rating and V
GS
absolute maximum rating, other criteria such as V
BDSS
,
I
D(MAX)
, R
DS(ON)
, P
D
, θ
JA
, T
J(MAX)
and maximum safe
operating area should also be carefully reviewed. V
BDSS
should exceed the maximum supply voltage inclusive of
spikes and ringing. I
D(MAX)
should be greater than the
current limit, I
LIMIT
. R
DS(ON)
determines the MOSFET V
DS
which together with V
CB
yields an error in the V
OUT
voltage.
At 2.7V supply voltage, the total of V
DS
+ V
CB
of 0.1V yields
3.7% V
OUT
error.
The maximum power dissipated in the MOSFET is
ILIMIT2 • RDS(ON) and this should be less than the maxi-
mum power dissipation, PD allowed in that package.
Given power dissipation, the MOSFET junction tempera-
ture, TJ can be computed from the operating temperature
(TA) and the MOSFET package thermal resistance (θJA).
The operating TJ should be less than the TJ(MAX) specifi-
cation.
Next review the short-circuit condition under maximum
supply V
IN(MAX)
conditions and maximum current limit,
I
LIMIT(MAX)
during the circuit breaker time-out interval of
t
CBDELAY
with the maximum safe operating area of the
MOSFET. The operation during output short-circuit condi-
tions must be well within the manufacturer’s recom-
mended safe operating region with sufficient margin. To
ensure a reliable design, fault tests should be evaluated in
the laboratory.
V
IN
TRANSIENT PROTECTION
Unlike most circuits, Hot Swap controllers typically are
not allowed the good engineering practice of supply