![](http://datasheet.mmic.net.cn/370000/L6376_datasheet_16703429/L6376_8.png)
In this way, the temperature of the device is kept
enough low to preventthe interventionof the ther-
mal protection (in most of the cases) and so to
avoid the shut down of the whole device.
If a short circuit condition is present on one out-
put, the current limiting circuit puts that channelin
linear mode — sourcing the I
SC
current (typically
800 mA) — for a time period (t
ON
) defined by an
external capacitor (C
DON
connected to the ON
DELAY pin).
After that period, if the short circuit condition is
still present the output is turned off for another
time period (t
OFF
) defined by a second external
capacitor (C
DOFF
connected to the OFF DELAY
pin).
When also this period is expired:
if the short circuit conditionis stillpresent the
output stays on for the t
ON
period and the se-
quence startsagain;
if the short circuit condition is not present
anymore the normal operation of the output
is resumed.
The t
ON
and t
OFF
periods are completely inde-
pendent and can be set from 64
μ
s to 15 ms, us-
ing external capacitors ranging from 50 pF to
15 nF (1.28
μ
s/pF).
If the OFF DELAY pin is tied to ground (i.e. the
C
DOFF
capacitor is not used) the t
OFF
time period
is 64 times the t
ON
period.
The diagnostic output (DIAG) is active when the
output is switched off, while it is not active when
the output is on (i.e. during the t
ON
period) even if
in that perioda short circuit condition is present.
Typical waveforms for short circuit operation are
shown in figure 2.
If both the ON DELAY and the OFF DELAY pins
are grounded the non dissipative over current
protection is inhibited and the outputs in short cir-
cuit remain on until the thermal shutdown switch
off the whole device. In this case the short circuit
condition is not signalled by the DIAG pin (that
continues to signal the under voltage and over
temperatureconditions).
PROGRAMMABLE DIAGNOSTIC DELAY
The current limiting circuits can be requested to
perform even in absence of a real fault condition,
for a short period, if the load is of capacitive na-
ture or if it is a filament lamp (that exhibits a very
low resistanceduring the initial heating phase).
To avoid the forwarding of misleading— i.e. short
diagnostic pulses in coincidence with the inter-
vention of the current limiting circuits when oper-
ating on capacitive loads — the activation of the
diagnostic can be delayed with respect to the in-
terventionof one of the current limiting circuits.
This delay can be defined by an external capaci-
tor (C
DON
) connectedbetween the ON DELAY pin
and ground.
RESETINPUT
An external reset input R (pin 18) is provided to
simultaneously switch off all the outputs: this sig-
nal (active low) is in effect an asynchronous reset
that keepsthe outputslow independentlyfrom the
input signals.
For example, this reset input can be used by the
CPU to keep the outputs low after a fault condi-
tion (signaled by the DIAG pin).
DEMAGNETIZATION OF INDUCTIVE LOADS
The device has four internal clamping diodes able
to demagnetizeinductive loads.
The limitation is the peak power dissipation of the
packages, so — if the loads are big or if there is
the possibility to demagnetize more loads con-
temporarly — it is necessary to use external de-
magnetizationcircuits.
In figures 4 and 5 are shown two topologies for
the demagnetization versus ground and versus
V
S
.
The breakdown voltage of the external device
(V
Z
) must be chosen considering the minimum in-
ternal clamping voltage (V
cl
) and the maximum
supply voltage(V
S
).
Vi
Vs
Vout
100mV
D94IN131
1.25V
100mV
Figure3:
Input Comparator Hysteresis
L6376
8/12