DN90

A Product Line of
Diodes Incorporated
DN90
ZXGD3101 Synchronous MOSFET controller improves
energy efficiency of dual-output power supply
Yong Ang, Applications Engineer, Diodes Incorporated
Introduction
This design note addresses the challenge of applying Synchronous Rectification on dual-outputs
Flyback converter. It discusses the active mode efficiency improvement with the aid of the
ZXGD3101 synchronous MOSFET controller and studies its practical limit against normal
rectification method. Finally, experimental verification is presented to demonstrate the
performance improvement in a 40W LCD monitor power supply.
Synchronous Rectifier configuration in a dual-output power supply
A common technique to construct transformer for multiple output power supply is to stack the
secondary windings with the same polarity and share a common ground instead of having
separate windings, as shown in Figure 1. This is particularly conducive to maximizing regulation
in applications such as LCD monitor SMPS. Typically, LCD monitors require a 5V output for the
microprocessor as well as a 12V output to supply the LCD backlight inverter. While the ‘+5V’
output is the main regulated output using a voltage reference, the regulation of the quasiregulated ‘+12V’ output is improved through the stacked winding.
Furthermore, the winding for the ‘+5V’ output will provide the return to ground and forms part of
the winding for the ‘+12V’ output. This has the merits of keeping the total number of secondary
turns low and improves cross regulation of the multiple outputs. The wire size for the ‘+5V’
winding needs to be chosen to accommodate its own maximum load current plus the output
current of the ‘+12V’ output stacked on top of it.
T ransform er w ith
stacked secondary
4
Cs
Rs
Lf1
11,12
P1
D1
S2
6
1
Lf2
+5V
S1
D2
C f3
9,10
C f4
R tn
Vcc
GN D C OM P
L
+12 V
R tn
Cs
7
Aux
HV
RT
C f2
8
Rs
3
C f1
OU T
CS
N
Figure 1 - Dual-output power supply with Schottky diodes
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Nevertheless, the previously stacked winding approach does not lend itself readily to
implementation of synchronous rectification on both outputs. Contrary to the separated
secondary approach where a common MOSFET source connection is available on the ground
return, negative side synchronous rectification cannot be implemented for stacked winding.
Positive side rectification on both outputs is less attractive due to extra BOM cost and count as it
prohibits a common synchronous rectifier drive circuit.
A new configuration is described here which enables two MOSFETs to be driven from a common
ZXGD3101 synchronous MOSFET controller. As shown in figure 2, the proposed configuration
has the synchronous rectifier ‘Control’ block positioned on the lower node of the stacked up
winding, where it is also connected to the top node of the 5V output winding. A single controller
can now detect the body diode conduction of the ‘Control’ MOSFET and outputs a gate drive
voltage proportional to the voltage drop across this MOSFET. The same gate voltage is used to
drive the second MOSFET on the ‘+5V’ output, ‘synchronous’ MOSFET, though the gate voltage
level is independent of the current status in the ‘synchronous’ MOSFET. It is also important to
note that as the ZXGD3101’s 2.5A source and sink current is now shared by two MOSFETs, the
likelihood of shoot through current occuring will increase if a very high gate charge MOSFET is
used. A snubber network compromising of Cs and Rs should be included to suppress transformer
leakage inductance induced drain voltage oscillations and reduce EMI emissions.
The recommended supply voltage to ‘VCC’ pin on the ZXGD3101 is 8 to 10V to ensure sufficient
gate voltage to fully enhance the synchronous MOSFETs. Due to the ease of connection, the
supply voltage was derived directly from the ‘+12V’ output via an emitter-follower transistor. The
‘collector’ pin of Q1, FMMT491A should be connected to the left hand side of the output EMI filter
inductor to minimize coupled noises to the output. Nevertheless, there is downside to such a
configuration which will be explained later and an alternative configuration will be proposed.
Lf1
4
VD C
11,12
P1
T o prim ary
M OSF ET
6
S2
8
D R AIN
C ontrol
M OSF ET
Cs
Rs
T o prim ary
side
controller
1
3
R1
Vcc
R EF
GAT EL
GAT EH
R B IA S
GN D
Rs
C f1
C f2
R tn
R RE F
BIAS
Cs
7
Aux
Gnd
+12V
Synchronous
R ectifier
Q1
‘C ontrol’ Block
Z XGD 3101
11V Z ener
Lf2
+ 5V
S1
Synchronous
M OSF ET
9,10
C f3
C f4
R tn
T o controller
C OM P pin
Gnd
Figure 2 - Proposed configuration of ZXGD3101 in a dual-output Flyback SMPS
Efficiency test
Laboratory evaluation is conducted on a Flyback converter to assess the performance benefits of
Synchronous Rectification over Schottky diodes. The converter is built around a PWM based
primary side controller operating at 63kHz to obtain two output voltages. The ‘+5V’ and ‘+12V’
output can supply a maximum load current of 2.5A and 2A respectively. Table 1 shows the
efficiency measurement with MBR30100CT as output rectifier diodes. The average active mode
efficiency of the SMPS is 86.62% at 100Vac input.
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To achieve a significant efficiency improvement, considering the level of RMS current, a MOSFET
with an on-resistance below 20mΩ was selected. Thus a 16mΩ, 79A, 82nC MOSFET is selected so
that the voltage-drop across the Drain-Source pins is within 50 to 100mV at the peak of the
secondary-side current. The turn-off threshold voltage of the controller was set to ‘-20mV’ to
minimize/prevent reverse Drain current flow. For more information about selecting the turn-off
threshold voltage refer to the device datasheet. As shown in Table 2, synchronous rectification
can indeed achieve a significant efficiency improvement over MBR10100CT across a load range
at both 100Vac and 240Vac input. At 100Vac, the circuit is 1.4% more efficiency against the
Schottky diode at 50% loading and has 3.2% better efficiency at 100% loading.
Table 1- Active mode efficiency measurement (MBR10100CT)
Loading (%)
Vin
Pin (W)
V+5V
I+5V
V+12
I+12
Po (W)
Eff (%)
25
100
13.36
5.058
0.5
11.97
0.75
11.49
85.99
50
100
23.16
5.049
1.0
12.05
1.25
20.11
86.83
75
100
36.47
5.043
1.5
12.09
1.99
31.73
87.01
100
100
46.61
5.033
1.99
12.14
2.50
40.38
86.65
Average efficiency (%)
86.62
Loading (%)
Vin
Pin (W)
V+5V
I+5V
V+12
I+12
Po (W)
Eff (%)
25
240
13.94
5.057
0.5
11.97
0.75
11.51
82.52
50
240
23.81
5.05
1.0
12.04
1.25
20.10
84.42
75
240
36.96
5.049
1.5
12.05
2.01
31.65
85.62
100
240
47.05
5.043
1.99
12.09
2.5
40.29
85.64
Average efficiency (%)
84.55
Table 2 – Active mode efficiency measurement (Synchronous Rectification)
Loading (%)
Vin
Pin (W)
V+5V
I+5
V+12
I+12
Po (W)
Eff (%)
25
100
12.99
5.097
0.5
11.62
0.75
11.27
86.76
50
100
22.24
5.097
1.0
11.63
1.24
19.63
88.27
75
100
34.46
5.098
1.5
11.61
2.02
30.87
89.55
100
100
43.71
5.096
2.0
11.63
2.50
39.27
89.82
Average efficiency (%)
88.60
Loading (%)
Vin
Pin (W)
V+5V
I+5
V+12
I+12
Po (W)
Eff (%)
25
240
13.24
5.097
0.5
11.61
0.75
11.25
84.97
50
240
22.47
5.097
1
11.63
1.25
19.64
87.41
75
240
35.03
5.101
1.5
11.61
2.00
30.88
88.15
100
240
44.32
5.099
2
11.61
2.47
39.18
88.38
Average efficiency (%)
87.22
Figure 3(a) to (d) show the operating waveforms on the ‘Control’ MOSFET as the circuit traverses
from Continuous Conduction (CCM) into Discontinuous Conduction (DCM) Mode operation with
decreasing loads. In Figure 3(d), the Gate voltage reaches 8.5V when the MOSFET current was
high to obtain a low resistance at 100% loading. The gate enhancement then eases off gradually
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as the Drain current through the MOSFET decreases, ensuring a quick turn-off of the synchronous
MOSFETs upon primary MOSFET turn-on.
(a) 25% loading
(b) 50% loading
(c) 75% loading
(d) 100% loading
Figure 3 - Synchronous rectifier operating waveform (CH2: Gate voltage; CH4: Drain current)
At turn off, the synchronous MOSFETs currents are pulled down rapidly as the primary MOSFET
current rises. This forces the Drain-Source voltage across the ‘Control’ MOSFET to drop beyond
the turn-off threshold and the ZXGD3101 drives the gate off. As the secondary winding current
fall time is limited to 48ns by the winding leakage inductance (see Figure 4), the controller drives
off both the ‘Control’ and ‘Synchronous’ MOSFET safely and minimizes the possibility of cross
conduction.
(a)
CH1: Primary switch drain voltage;
CH4: ‘Control’ MOSFET current
(b)
CH1: Primary switch current sense voltage;
CH4: ‘Control’ MOSFET current
Figure 4 - Synchronous MOSFET turn-off in CCM
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In Figure 3(b) and (c), the proportional gate drive scheme reduces the gate voltage magnitude
when a lower current flows through the MOSFET at 50% and 75% loading. Although this produces
a larger on-state resistance, the subsequent increase in conduction voltage drop will ensure that
the controller can hold up the gate voltage above 2-3V until the point where the current reaches
zero. This negative feedback mechanism helps to prevent the MOSFETs from been turned off prematurely.
At 25% loading, the MOSFET current decreases linearly (see Figure 3(a)); the MOSFET is driven
off at the zero current point to ensures there is no reverse current flow.
Other design considerations
Efficiency results in the previous section show that synchronous rectification can yield more than
3% better efficiency than diodes in the 40W dual-output power supply under certain load and
input voltage combinations. This improvement is attributed to the significant conduction loss
saving from the MOSFETs.
The on-state conduction loss could potentially be further reduced if a lower on-state resistance
MOSFET is used as either/both ‘Control’ and ‘Synchronous’ MOSFET. However care has to be
taken when a very low resistance is used as the subsequent on-state voltage drop across SourceDrain may not be sufficient to induce the ZXGD3101 to output a high enough gate voltage. This
forms a negative feedback loop consisting of the MOSFET and the controller which would cause
the gate voltage to go into sustained oscillation. Under such circumstances, the full capability of
the MOSFET could not be utilized and results in a non-appreciable efficiency improvement
compared with a higher resistance MOSFET. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain even greater
efficiency without some serious design compromises and modifications.
At low load conditions, generally a power supply within an LCD monitor will have to meet the
‘sleep’ or ‘off-mode’ power requirement of less than 1W. Although the display unit consumes
minimal power in this mode, the power supply still has to supply a finite amount of power
especially to the ‘+5V’ output. Figure 5 below shows the available output power vs. line voltage
for an input power of 1W.
0.41
Output power (W)
0.40
0.39
0.38
0.37
0.36
0.35
0.34
85
105
125
145
165
185
205
225
245
265
Input voltage (Vac)
Figure 5 Available power on ‘+5V’ output to achieve 1W sleep mode input power
Another interesting observation is that the circuit will have a high no load power consumption
with synchronous rectification as shown in Table 3. The no load power consumption will be
higher than that with Schottky diode rectification. The increased no load power is due to the
accumulation of losses associated with gate charge loss, power consumption of the ZXGD3101
and its supply circuit. As the Vcc supply is derived directly from the ‘+12V’ output through an
emitter follower transistor Q1, as shown in Figure 2, Q1 blocks the differential ac voltage at ‘+12V’
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output pin relative to the ‘Control’ MOSFET source pin. This incurs extra power dissipation within
the transistor.
Table 3
Vin (Vac)
Pin (W)
100
0.44
240
0.42
264
0.46
Although this is far out-weighted by the significant conduction loss saving provided by
synchronous rectification in active mode, the no load consumption could be reduced by
augmenting an additional supply winding for the controller similar to that shown in Figure 5. This
necessitates a slight modification to the existing transformer design where the number of turns
for the additional winding is chosen so that voltage at C1 relative to the common MOSFET source
node is a dc voltage of less than 12V. D1 is a low power rectifier diode of 100mA rating whilst the
value of R1 is chosen to be 10kΩ to keep the power dissipation low. This significantly minimizes
the voltage drop across Q1 so that the no load and sleep mode power consumption of the power
supply could be further reduced.
D1
S3
Lf1
+12V
VD C
4
11
, 12
P1
T o prim ary
M OSF ET
6
S2
Aux
Gnd
3
Vcc
R EF
GAT EL
Rs
1
R RE F
BIAS
C f2
R tn
C1
R B IA S
GAT EH
GN D
Rs
Cs
7
S1
C f1
Z XGD 3101
D R AIN
8
Cs
T o prim ary
side
controller
R1
Q1
C ontrol
M OSF ET
Lf2
+ 5V
Synchronous
M OSF ET
9,10
C f3
C f4
R tn
Figure 6 - Alternative winding configuration reduces no load and sleep mode power consumption
Another important aspect to be considered is the synchronous rectification on the power supply
cross regulation performance. Table 4 (following page) shows the data for the outputs under
various loading conditions at 100 and 264Vac. The regulation on the more critical ‘+5V’ output was
within ±5% under the considered conditions.
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Table 4 – Cross regulation matrix
Output
V+5V
V+12V
I+5V
I+12V
100Vac
264Vac
100Vac
264Vac
0
0
5.053
5.063
12.01
11.91
0.4
2.5
5.115
5.117
11.42
11.44
2
0.5
5.017
5.014
12.31
12.33
2
2.5
5.093
5.1
11.63
11.61
Conclusion
A novel configuration of synchronous rectification on a dual-output Flyback converter has been
proposed that enables two MOSFETs to be driven by a single ZXGD3101 synchronous MOSFET
controller. This enables the power supply to achieve excellent performance both in term of active
mode and sleep mode power efficiency. The main control loop is closed around the ‘+5V’ output
and the ‘+12V’ output was configured as a stacked winding to ensure a manageable transformer
design as well as improving cross regulation performance.
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