ZL2106
25 FN6852.5
Fault Spreading
Digital-DC devices can be configured to broadcast a fault event
over the DDC bus to the other devices in the group. When a
non-destructive fault occurs and the device is configured to shut
down on a fault, the device will shut down and broadcast the
fault event over the DDC bus. The other devices on the DDC bus
will shut down together if configured to do so, and will attempt to
re-start in their prescribed order if configured to do so.
Monitoring via I2C/SMBus
A system controller can monitor a wide variety of different
ZL2106 system parameters through the I2C/SMBus interface.
The device can monitor for fault conditions by monitoring the
SALRT pin, which will be pulled low when any number of
pre-configured fault conditions occur.
The device can also be monitored continuously for any number of
power conversion parameters including input voltage, output
voltage, output current, internal junction temperature, switching
frequency and duty cycle.
The PMBus host should respond to SALRT as follows:
1. ZL device pulls SALRT low.
2. PMBus host detects that SALRT is now low, performs
transmission with Alert Response Address to find which ZL
device is pulling SALRT low.
3. PMBus host talks to the ZL device that has pulled SALRT low.
The actions that the host performs are up to the system
designer.
If multiple devices are faulting, SALRT will still be low after doing
the above steps and will require transmission with the Alert
Response Address repeatedly until all faults are cleared. Please
refer to Application Note AN2033 for details on how to monitor
specific parameters via the I2C/SMBus interface.
Snapshot™ Parametric Capture
The ZL2106 offers a special feature that enables the user to
capture parametric data during normal operation or following a
fault. The Snapshot functionality is enabled by setting bit 1 of
MISC_CONFIG to 1.
See AN2033 for details on using Snapshot in addition to the
parameters supported. The Snapshot feature enables the user to
read the parameters via a block read transfer through the
SMBus. This can be done during normal operation, although it
should be noted that reading the 22 bytes will occupy the SMBus
for some time.
The SNAPSHOT_CONTROL command enables the user to store
the snapshot parameters to Flash memory in response to a
pending fault as well as to read the stored data from Flash
memory after a fault has occurred.
Table 17 describes the usage of this command. Automatic writes
to Flash memory following a fault are triggered when any fault
threshold level is exceeded, provided that the specific fault’s
response is to shut down (writing to Flash memory is not allowed
if the device is configured to re-try following the specific fault
condition).
It should also be noted that the device’s VDD voltage must be
maintained during the time when the device is writing the data to
Flash memory; a process that requires between 700µs to
1400µs depending on whether the data is set up for a block
write. Undesirable results may be observed if the device’s VDD
supply drops below 3.0V during this process.
In the event that the device experiences a fault and power is lost,
the user can extract the last SNAPSHOT parameters stored
during the fault by writing a 1 to SNAPSHOT_CONTROL (transfers
data from Flash memory to RAM) and then issuing a SNAPSHOT
command (reads data from RAM via SMBus).
Non-Volatile Memory and Device Security
Features
The ZL2106 has internal non-volatile memory where user
configurations are stored. Integrated security measures ensure
that the user can only restore the device to a level that has been
made available to them. Refer to “Start-up Procedure” on
page 13 for details on how the device loads stored values from
internal memory during start-up.
During the initialization process, the ZL2106 checks for stored
values contained in its internal memory. The ZL2106 offers two
internal memory storage units that are accessible by the user as
follows:
1. Default Store: A power supply module manufacturer may
want to protect the module from damage by preventing the
user from being able to modify certain values that are related
to the physical construction of the module. In this case, the
module manufacturer would use the Default Store and would
allow the user to restore the device to its default setting but
would restrict the user from restoring the device to the factory
settings.
2. User Store: The manufacturer of a piece of equipment may
want to provide the ability to modify certain power supply
settings while still protecting the equipment from modifying
values that can lead to a system level fault. The equipment
manufacturer would use the User Store to achieve this goal.
Please refer to Application Note AN2033 for details on how to set
specific security measures via the I2C/SMBus interface.
TABLE 17. SNAPSHOT_CONTROL COMMAND
DATA
VALUE DESCRIPTION
1 Copies current SNAPSHOT values from Flash memory to
RAM for immediate access using SNAPSHOT command.
2 Writes current SNAPSHOT values to Flash memory. Only
available when device is disabled.