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IR3080
PHASE IC
CLOCK
EAIN
VDAC
PWMRMP
GATEH
GATEL
STEADY-STATE
DUTY CYCLE INCREASE
INCREASE
DUTY CYCLE DECREASE
(FEED-FORWARD)
DUTY CYCLE DECREASE DUE TO LOAD
(VCC UV, VCCVID UV, OCP, VID=11111X)
STEADY-STATE
91% VDAC
Figure 4. PWM Operating Waveforms
Body Braking
TM
In a conventional synchronous buck converter, the minimum time required to reduce the current in the inductor in
response to a load step decrease is;
I
L
T
=
O
MIN
MAX
V
SLEW
I
)
(
*
The slew rate of the inductor current can be significantly increased by turning off the synchronous rectifier in
response to a load step decrease. The switch node voltage is then forced to decrease until conduction of the
synchronous rectifier’s body diode occurs. This increases the voltage across the inductor from Vout to Vout +
V
BODYDIODE
. The minimum time required to reduce the current in the inductor in response to a load transient
decrease is now;
I
L
T
+
Since the voltage drop in the body diode is often higher than output voltage, the inductor current slew rate can be
increased by 2X or more. This patent pending technique is referred to as “body braking” and is accomplished
through the “0% Duty Cycle Comparator” located in the Phase IC. If the Error Amplifier’s output voltage drops below
91% of the VDAC voltage this comparator turns off the low side gate driver.
Lossless Average Inductor Current Sensing
Inductor current can be sensed by connecting a series resistor and a capacitor network in parallel with the inductor
and measuring the voltage across the capacitor, as shown in Figure 5. The equation of the sensing network is,
1
)
(
)
(
BODYDIODE
V
O
MIN
MAX
SLEW
V
I
=
)
(
*
CS
CS
L
L
CS
CS
L
C
C
sR
sL
R
s
i
C
sR
s
v
s
v
+
+
=
+
=
1
)
(
1
Usually the resistor Rcs and capacitor Ccs are chosen so that the time constant of Rcs and Ccs equals the time
constant of the inductor which is the inductance L over the inductor DCR. If the two time constants match, the
voltage across Ccs is proportional to the current through L, and the sense circuit can be treated as if only a sense
resistor with the value of R
L
was used. The mismatch of the time constants does not affect the measurement of
inductor DC current, but affects the AC component of the inductor current.
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/30/04