Copyright ANPEC Electronics Corp.
Rev. A.4 - Apr., 2014
APW7212
www.anpec.com.tw9
Function Description
Main Control Loop
Start-up
The APW7212 is a constant frequency, synchronous
rectifier, and current-mode switching regulator. In normal
operation, the internal N-channel power MOSFET is turned
on each cycle when the oscillator sets an internal RS
latch and turned off when an internal comparator (ICMP)
resets the latch. The peak inductor current which ICMP
resets the RS latch is controlled by the voltage on the
COMP node, which is the output of the error amplifier
(EAMP). An external resistive divider connected between
VOUT and ground allows the EAMP to receive an output
feedback voltage VFB at FB pin. When the load current
increases, it causes a slightly decrease in VFB relative to
the 1.23V reference, which in turn causes the COMP volt-
age to increase until the average inductor current matches
the new load current.
A start-up oscillator circuit is integrated in the APW7212.
When the device enables, the circuit pumps the output
voltage high. Once the output voltage reaches 1.6V (typ),
the main DC-DC circuitry turns on and boosts the output
voltage to the final regulation voltage.
Automatic PFM/PWM mode Switch
The APW7212 is a fixed frequency PWM peak current
modulation control step-up converter. At light loads, the
APW7212 will automatically enter in pulse frequency
modulation operation to reduce the dominant switching
losses. In PFM operation, the inductor current may reach
zero or reverse on each pulse. A zero current comparator
turns off the P-channel synchronous MOSFET, forcing
DCM(Discontinuous Current Mode) operation at light load.
These controls get very low quiescent current, help to
maintain high efficiency over the complete load range.
Synchronous Rectification
The internal synchronous rectifier eliminates the need
for an external Schottky diode, thus reducing cost and
board space. During the cycle off-time, the P-FET turns
on and shunts the FET body diode. As a result, the syn-
chronous rectifier significantly improves efficiency with-
out the addition of an external component. Conversion
efficiency can be as high as 92%.
Load Disconnect
Driving EN to ground places the APW7212 in shutdown
mode. When in shutdown, the internal power MOSFET
turns off, all internal circuitry shuts down and the quies-
cent supply current reduces to 1µA maximum.
A special circuit is applied to disconnect the load from the
input during shutdown the converter. In conventional syn-
chronous rectifier circuits, the back-gate diode of the high-
side P-FET is forward biased in shutdown and allows
current flowing from the battery to the output. However,
this device uses a special circuit, which takes the cath-
ode of the back-gate diode of the high-side P-FET and
disconnects it from the source when the regulator is
shutdown. The benefit of this feature for the system de-
sign engineer is that the battery is not depleted during
shutdown of the converter. No additional components
must be added to the design to make sure that the bat-
tery is disconnected from the output of the converter.
Current-Limit Protection
The APW7212 monitors the inductor current, flowing
through the N-FET, and limits the current peak at current-
limit level to prevent loads and the APW7212 from dam-
ages during overload conditions.
Over-Temperature Protection (OTP)
The over-temperature circuit limits the junction tempera-
ture of the APW7212. When the junction temperature ex-
ceeds 150oC, a thermal sensor turns off the both N-FET
and P-FET, allowing the devices to cool. The thermal
sensor allows the converters to start a soft-start process
and regulate the output voltage again after the junction
temperature cools by 30oC. The OTP is designed with a
30oC hysteresis to lower the average Junction Tempera-
ture (TJ) during continuous thermal overload conditions,
increasing the lifetime of the device.