
AN-16
A
6/96
30
the secondary current ramps down and the primary current
ramps up.  Once the secondary leakage inductance is discharged,
the output rectifier D2 is reverse biased, and the charge carriers
in the diode junction are withdrawn, resulting in a reverse
recovery current spike that is reflected to the primary and
appears at the leading edge of the primary current waveform.
Depending on the diode characteristics, this initial current spike
can be comparable in amplitude or higher than the final value
of the primary current.  This can result in spurious operation of
a current limit protection circuit.  The 
TOPSwitch
 provides
built-in leading edge current limit blanking to prevent the initial
current spike from spuriously triggering the current limit
protection circuitry.
When 
TOPSwitch
 turns off, operation in the continuous mode
is similar to that of the discontinuous mode.  The primary and
secondary current experience a crossover region due to the
effects of the transformer leakage inductance.  This gives rise to
a primary leakage spike, as in the discontinuous operating
mode.  The 
TOPSwitch
 drain to source voltage rises to the sum
of the input supply voltage and the output voltage reflected
back through the transformer turns ratio.  Unlike the
discontinuous mode model, this reflected voltage persists until
TOPSwitch
 turns on again, so that there is no interval (3) where
the reflected secondary voltage decays to zero.
References
1.  Power Integrations, Power Integrated Circuit Data Book
2.  Ralph E.  Tarter, Solid State Power Conversion Handbook,
New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993
3.  Abraham I.  Pressman, Switching Power Supply Design (2nd
ed.), New York, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1991
4.  Application Information 472, C.  van Velthooven, Properties
of DC-to-DC converters for switched-mode power supplies,
Philips Components, 1975  (Ordering Code 9399 324 47201)
5.  Col.  William McLyman, Transformer and Inductor Design
Handbook, New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1978
6. Col.  William McLyman, Magnetic Core Selection for
Transformers and Inductors, New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc.,
1982
7.  Philips Components, Ferroxcube Magnetic Design Manual,
Bulletin 550, 1971
8. Ferdinand C.  Geerlings, “SMPS Power Inductor and
Transformer Design, Part 1”, Powerconversion International,
November/December 1979, pp.  45-52
9. Ferdinand C.  Geerlings, “SMPS Power Inductor Design and
Transformer Design, Part 2”, Powerconversion International,
January/February 1980, pp.  33-40
10.  Philips Semiconductors, Power Semiconductor
Applications, 1991, (Ordering Code 9398 651 40011)
11.  Technical Information 042, Using very fast recovery diodes
on SMPS, Philips Components, 1978 (Ordering Code 9399
450 34201)
12.  Brian Huffman, “Build Reliable Power Supplies by Limiting
Capacitor Dissipation”, EDN,  March 31, 1993, pp.  93-98
13.  Jon Schleisner, “Selecting the Optimum Voltage Transient
Suppressor”, General Instrument Data Book, 11th Edition,
pp.  629-634