PICOR Corporation picorpower.com
QPO-1
Rev 3.6
Page 5 of 17
QPO-1
QUIETPOWER
Built into the QPO-1 is the “peak detector” function, which is
designed to adjust the static DC headroom voltage by half of
the peak to peak voltage, to prevent passing a portion of the
ripple voltage to the output. The filter time constant of the
VREF pin determines the low frequency attenuation response
of the QPO-1. The high frequency attenuation response is
determined by the roll-off characteristics of the active loop.
Peak Detector:
The peak detector function is used to adapt the QPO-1’s
headroom voltage in response to an increase in amplitude of
converter ripple. The peak detector adds about half of the
input ripple’s peak to peak value to the programmed dc value
of the headroom. The increase in headroom will cause the SC
circuit to source more current into the converter’s trim
circuit, increasing the converter’s output voltage, as shown in
Figure 8, which will compensate for the extra headroom
voltage drop. The converter’s remote sense capabilities will
automatically compensate for the increase in headroom.
Figure 8 - Peak detector affecting the QPO-1’s output in
remote sense mode.
The peak detector creates the internal reference voltage rail
that gets divided down by the headroom resistor RHR, so a
connection to the input bus must always be made. The use of
RP to make this connection gives the user the ability to
disable the peak detector, if so desired, by adding the CP
optional capacitor between the PEAK IN pin and ground. The
addition of this capacitor creates an RC filter network that
filters out the converter’s ripple to the peak detector. If the
user only wants the peak detector function enabled, then the
RP resistor can omitted and the PEAK DET pin connected with
a metal trace.
Using a 1k resistor for RP, and a 1uF ceramic capacitor for CP,
will attenuate the PEAK IN signal by 30dB or more for
frequencies of 5.5 KHz or greater.
This will maintain a
constant headroom voltage even with variations in ripple
amplitude from the converter.
Slope Adjust:
The QPO-1 has a current sensing function that creates a
voltage at the Slope Adjust pin that is proportional with the
load current. This feature can be used to improve the
efficiency of the filter when the supply ripple amplitude
reduces with increasing load, as with variable frequency DC-
DC converters. By selecting the appropriate RSA resistor
value, the slope of the headroom reduction versus load
current can be set. Reducing the headroom voltage by the
amount set by the RSA value results in reduced power
dissipation in the QPO-1 when compared to a fixed headroom
setting. The current sensing function also provides a power
limit function that forces the filter to its minimum possible
power loss if the load current approaches 15 Amps, providing
a power fold-back limiting feature. The RSA resistor is
calculated by using the following equation:
Where; IOUT = Maximum change in load current
VHR = desired change in headroom voltage over
maximum load range
RSA = slope adjust resistor
The slope adjust feature can be disabled by either using a
large resistor value (100k or greater) for RSA or by omitting
this resistor entirely.
Headroom Adjust:
The RHR resistor is used to program the desired voltage drop
across the QPO-1. This voltage must be greater than the
ripple voltage that the QPO-1 is to filter, with additional
voltage added for the voltage drops in the attenuation path.
Like the RP resistor, the RHR resistor must always be
installed for proper operation. The value of RHR can be
calculated using this equation:
Where; RHR = headroom setting resistor value,
VOUT = the voltage on the QPO’s output,
VHR = the target headroom voltage.
If this resistor is omitted, then the reference pin will be at the
same voltage as the input pin, forcing the output pin to be
the same voltage as the input pin.
SC Function:
The function of the SC circuit is to use a converter’s trim or SC
(secondary control) pin to compensate for the voltage drop
across the QPO-1, thereby maintaining the desired output
voltage on the QPO’s output. The QPO-1’s SC circuit sources