AND8291/D >85% Efficient 12 to 5 VDC Buck Converter Prepared by: DENNIS SOLLEY ON Semiconductor http://onsemi.com General Description This switching regulator is based on a very flexible ”gated oscillator or bust mode” architecture that can be used to create step-down (buck), step-up (boost) and buck-boost voltage regulators. The NCP3063 contains an internal switch capable of up to 1.5 A but in applications requiring higher current, this device can be configured as a controller driving an external MOSFET. This application note describes how the NCP3063 can be configured as a buck controller to drive an external PFET transistor to produce a cost effective, high efficiency 3 A switching regulator. The NCP3063 has a wide input voltage range up to 40 V which makes it attractive for industrial and consumer applications such as LCD-TVs. The design example illustrates a buck converter delivering 3 A at 5 or 3.3 V from a 12 V supply. The block diagram of the NCP3063 controller is shown in Figure1. NCP3063 8 1 TSD NC Switch Collector SET Dominant R Q S 7 Comparator + Ipk Sense 2 R Q Switch Emitter SET Dominant S + 0.2 V Oscillator 6 3 Timing Capacitor CT +VCC 5 Comparator + - 1.25 V Reference Regulator 4 GND Inverting Input Figure 1. Block Diagram of the NCP3063 © Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC, 2007 September, 2007 - Rev. 1 1 Publication Order Number: AND8291/D AND8291/D Typical operating waveforms, including the timing ramp CT, are illustrated in Figure 2. 1 Feedback Comparator Output 0 1 IPK Comparator Output 0 Timing Capacitor, CT On Output Switch Off Nominal Output Voltage Level Output Voltage Startup Operation Figure 2. Typical Operating Waveforms between the charge current and the discharge current is set within the controller to be 1:6. This ratio creates a fixed duty cycle DMAX of 6/7 or 0.86. The ramp circuit is modified (also illustrated in Figure 3) by adding of an external current source IFF to ICHARGE at the CT pin. This current source, in the simplest case, is created by adding a feedforward resistor between VIN and CT. (Additional information is available in the application note AND8284.) For detailed information regarding controller operation refer to the NCP3063 data sheet. The essentials of the control method can be observed in the waveforms of Figure2. The output voltage is fed back to the inverting input 5 of the comparator (Figure 1) via a resistor divider. If the output is below the set point, the comparator “gates” a series of clock cycles through the power switch. Control of the output voltage is achieved by varying the average number of “on cycles” to the number of “off cycles” in a given time interval. The transfer function (or gain) VOUT/VIN for a conventional buck converter, neglecting circuit losses, is given by the following equation: BuckTransferFunction + D ICC ICHARGE IFF (eq. 1) If the value for DMAX (0.86) set by the NCP3063 is inserted into the above equation, the maximum gain is determined. MaximumAvailableGain + 0.86 VIN IDISCHARGE CT (eq. 2) This maximum gain value may be considerably more than a particular application requires. For example, a typical 12V to 5 V buck application requires a gain of 0.42 and a corresponding D = 0.42. Consequently the “gated oscillator” operates at a small effective duty cycle, delivering power to the load for a few switching cycles before turning off for extended periods. The burst mode frequency is low causing the converter's output ripple to be high. The design may be optimized as follows. The NCP3063 oscillator section consists of two current sources; one charging, the other discharging the timing capacitor CT, between two fixed voltage levels (Figure 3). The levels are approximately 500 mV apart. The ratio Figure 3. Current Sources Charging and Discharging the Timing Capacitor CT Adding an external current will reduce the time it takes to charge the CT capacitor between the ramps's minimum and maximum thresholds. The design equations relating to the oscillator section are given below. ȍ ICHARGE T OFF + C T @ DV RAMPń ȍ I DISCHARGE T ON + C T @ DV RAMPń T S + (T ON ) T OFF) http://onsemi.com 2 (eq. 3) (eq. 4) (eq. 5) AND8291/D D MOD + T ONńT S (eq. 6) F S + 1ńT S (eq. 7) The table also shows the change in normalized oscillator frequency. Once an optimum duty cycle has been identified and IFF selected, the value of CT can be ratio metrically increased to reset the design frequency. This done, the converter's design frequency remains constant over a wide range of operating conditions. Table 1 shows the corresponding reduction in duty cycle DMOD as a normalized function of the charging and discharging currents flowing into the timing capacitor CT. Table 1. Variation of Duty Cycle External Charging Current Internal Charging Current Internal Discharging Current Duty Cycle DMOD Frequency FMOD 0 1 6 0.86 1.00 1 1 5 0.71 1.43 2 1 4 0.66 1.71 3 1 3 0.50 1.71 4 1 2 0.29 1.43 5 1 1 0.14 0.86 Variation of duty cycle DMOD and frequency FMOD as a function of normalized external current, charging the timing capacitor CT. Practical Example Figure 4 is a schematic of the buck converter. The input is a nominal 12 V while the output is regulated to 5 V. The VIN = 12 V NTMS5P02R2 Q1 R1 0.05 R4 3.76 k NCP3063 is used as the imbedded controller driving an external PFET switch. R2 1k L1 22 mH D3 MBRD320 Q2 VOUT = 5 V C2 10 mF / 6V3 C12 220 mF / 6V3 MMBT3904TT1G D1 U1 NCP3063 C1 C11 220 mF / 25 V D2 NC SWC 1 ISENS SWE 2 VCC CT 3 6 CMPINV GND 5 4 R6 RTN MMSZ5V6T1 8 7 10 mF / 25 V R5 1.24 k MMSD914T1G 15 k C3 C4 3.9 nF 2.2 mF / 25 V RTN Figure 4. Schematic of Buck Topology - charging current is 260 mA @ 5 V VCC / 25°C and 280ĂmA @ 40 V VCC / 25°C. - discharging current is 1550 mA @ 5V VCC / 25°C and 1700 mA @ 40 V VCC / 25°C. Assume we chose to operate at a switching frequency of approximately 200 kHz. Then TS is 5 mS and TON is 2.5 mS giving the required modified duty cycle DMOD of 0.5. Rearranging Equation 3, a value for the timing capacitor CT is obtained: The selection of the timing capacitor CT (C4) and feedforward resistor R6 is discussed next. Assuming no circuit losses, the transfer function or gain of this application is 0.42 and is also 0.42. Referring to Table1, a 3:1 ratio for the external charging current to internal charging current would generate a modified duty DMOD of 0.5. This is a good starting point. The nominal charge and discharge currents for the NCP3063 are listed below: http://onsemi.com 3 AND8291/D CT + ń ȍ ICHARGE @ TONńDVRAMP The value of R6 is selected as follows. Assume the average amplitude of the ramp waveform is 0.9 V. We require an external charging current IFF of 3 x 260 mA, hence R6 equals (12 V - 0.9 V) / 780 mA or 14.2 kW. The nominal value selected for R6 was 15 kW (eq. 8) Substituting values of ∑ICHARGE of 4 x 260 mA and ΔVRAMP of 0.6 V into Equation 8, gives a nominal value of CT as 4.3 nF. The nearest standard value for CT is 3.9 nF. Figure 5. Ramp Waveform CT = 3900 pF, TS = 4.88 mS With the values selected the observed ramp was captured in Figure 5. The measured values are given below. continuous conduction mode, the maximum switch current and voltage ratings of the MOSFET must be considered. A 20 V, 5 A, 26 mW PFET such as the NTMS5P02 meets our criteria with margin for de-rating. For a smaller package footprint, the NTHS5441T1G PFET could also be an option, depending on output current and thermal considerations. The RDS(on) and total gate charge Qg curves for ONSemiconductor's NTMS5P02R2 P channel MOSFET are shown in Figures 6 and 7. TON = 2.10 mS TS = 4.88 mS FS = 205 kHz ΔVRAMP = 0.54 V ΔVAVG = 0.94 V DMOD = 2.1 / 4.88 = 0.43. The experimental duty cycle is close to our actual design requirement of DMOD = 0.42. Selection of External Transistor Q1 -VGS, GATE-TO-SOURCE VOLTAGE (V) 0.05 TJ = 25°C VGS = -2.5 V 0.04 VGS = -2.7 V 0.03 VGS = -4.5 V 0.02 0.01 2 4 6 8 -ID, DRAIN CURRENT (A) 10 5 -VGS 3 Q1 12 Q2 2 8 1 ID = -5.4 A TJ = 25°C 0 4 16 8 12 20 Qg, TOTAL GATE CHARGE (nC) Figure 7. Qg vs. VGS NTMS5P02R2 Figure 6. RDS(on) vs. Drain Current ID NTMS5P02R2 http://onsemi.com 4 16 -VDS 0 12 20 QT 4 -VDS, DRAIN-TO-SOURCE VOLTAGE (V) RDS(on), DRAIN-TO-SOURCE RESISTANCE (W) Given the design requirements for a 12 V input and 3 A output buck converter running with low ripple current in 4 0 24 AND8291/D and R2, illustrated in the schematic (Figure 4) provides a fast turn off for the PFET Q1. The turn on/off behavior of the external PFET Q1 is determined as follows. When the internal switch within the NCP3063 turns “on”, the gate charge for Q1 is provided by current flowing from VIN via D1 and D2 to ground return. The positive voltage across D1 creates a reverse bias condition across Q2's base emitter junction. Q2 remains in the off state until the internal switch in the NCP3063 is itself turned “off”. At this time, current flowing through resistor R2 is diverted to provide Q2 base current. Q2 conducts until Q1's gate charge is neutralized. The conduction loss PQ1 is given by Equation 9. P Q1 + ńI OUT @ R DS(on) @ D MOD 2 (eq. 9) PQ1 = 32* 26 mW * 0.43 = 101 mW A 5.6 V zener diode D2 (Figure 4) is used to drop the gate drive voltage VGS below VIN The gate power PG required to switch the FET channel on and off is given by: PG + QG @ VG @ FS (eq. 10) For VGS = 4.5 V, the gate charge QG (from Figure 6) is 20nC PG = 20 nC * 4.5 V * 200 kHz = 180 mW The gate drive waveform is captured in Figure 8. The network consisting of a small signal NPN transistor Q2, D1 Figure 8. High Side Gate Drive for PFET Q1 with Clock Ramp Selection of Output Inductor L1 output inductor value is 25 mH. A 22 mH inductor would meet our design objective and is commercially available from several vendors. For example, part number SLF12575T-220M4R0 is a 22 mH inductor from TDK with a winding resistance RW of 26 mW and rated DC current of 4A. The winding loss PL1 in the output inductor is given by the equation, The value selected for L1 determines the AC ripple current in the inductor as well as the output current boundary between discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) and continuous conduction mode (CCM) operation. The ripple current ΔIL1 flowing in the output inductor IL1 is calculated from the standard flux equation DI L1 + (V IN * V OUT) @ D MOD @ T SńL 1 (eq. 11) P L1 + I OUT 2 @ R W Since CCM was selected to keep the peak current to a minimum, a peak ripple of 20 % of the output current (3 A) is our design criteria, requiring ΔIL1 to be 0.6 A. Also (VIN - VOUT) = 7 V, DMOD = 0.43 and TS = 5 mS, so L1 may be determined by substitution into equation 11. The required (eq. 12) PL1 = 32 A2 * 26 mW = 234 mW By employing the feedforward technique, the maximum flux (VmS) the component “sees” has been reduced. Being http://onsemi.com 5 AND8291/D able to selecting a lower value for L1 reduces the winding resistance RW, improving converter efficiency. Small value MLCC capacitors in 805 and 1206 SMD packages can be an alternative to electrolytic or tantalum capacitors. These MLCCs have extremely low ESR (2mW) and ESL (100 nH) parasitic values and so individually or in parallel combinations can form the “perfect” lossless capacitor when used for filtering at mid to high switching frequencies. For example if C1 = C2 = 10 mF, ΔIL1 = 0.6 A and DMOD = 0.43, the peak to peak voltage ripple ΔVC across the input and output of the converter are 130 mV and 171 mV respectively. However as the NCP3063 controls the output voltage by gating the oscillator on and off, additional electrolytic or tantalum capacitances C11 and C12 are required at the input and output to filter these lower frequencies. Selection of Freewheel Diode D1 Figure 9 shows the forward drop of the MBRD320 series of SWITCHMODEt power rectifiers in a DPAK surface mount package. IF, INSTANTANEOUS FORWARD CURRENT (A) 10 TJ = 25°C 150°C 125°C Current Limit The NCP3063 has a peak current limit sense circuit, set by connecting a sense resistor R1 (Figure 4) between pins 7 and 8 of the controller. The reference voltage for the current limit function is nominally 200 mV so selecting a 50 milliohm resistor for R1 allows the converter to operate above 3A before current limit protection is activated. The power loss in the sense resistor is 32 * R1 or Ps = 450 mW. 75°C 1 Bias Current The maximum bias current to power the NCP3063 is 7mA. Bias power PB is 84 mW. 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 VF, INSTANTANEOUS VOLTAGE (V) Loss Budget Figure 9. Forward Drop of MBRD320 PFWD = 3.0 A * 0.4 V * 0.43 = 0.52 W Summing the theoretical losses for Q1's conduction and gate drive, inductor winding, freewheel diode , current sense and bias power, we obtain a loss budget of 101 mW +180mW + 234 mW + 520 mW + 450 mW + 84 mW or 1.57W, neglecting hysteresis losses in the inductor and esr losses in the input and output capacitors. The converter's maximum theoretical efficiency is 15/16.57 or 90.5%. Selection of Input and Output Capacitors Experimental Results The input and output voltage peak to peak ripple across C1 and C2 are given by the equations below: The efficiency of the buck converter at 5 V and 3.3 V output is shown in Figure 10. The 5.0 V output data is in good agreement with the calculated loss budget above. As can be seen from Figure 9, the typical forward drop VFWD at 3.0 A is 0.4 V at 75°C. The conduction loss PFWD for the free wheel diode is given by the equation: P D + I OUT @ V D @ (1 * D MOD) (eq. 13) DV C1 + DI L1 @ D MOD @ T SńC1 (eq. 14) DV C2 + DI L1 @ (1 * D MOD) @ T SńC2 (eq. 15) http://onsemi.com 6 AND8291/D BUCK CONVERTER EFFICIENCY 100 5.0 V EFFICIENCY (%) 90 3.3 V 80 70 60 50 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 OUTPUT CURRENT AMPS (A) Figure 10. Measured Efficiency Data The waveforms across freewheel diode D3 and ramp capacitor C4 are illustrated in Figure 11 at the full load condition of 5 V and 3 A. By reducing the duty cycle to DMOD, the gated oscillator operates in a near continuous mode, providing drive pulses every clock cycle. Figure 11. Voltage across freewheel diode D3 and ramp capacitor C4 http://onsemi.com 7 AND8291/D Figure 12 illustrates the output ripple, under the same test condition, together with the switch node (D3) for reference. Note the ripple frequency is 52 mV p/p and approximately one third of the converter's 200 kHz clock frequency. Figure 12. Output Ripple (C2) referenced to switch node (D3) Conclusion to be designed for lower stress. Input capacitors, output capacitors, inductor, switches and diodes can all benefit from the DMAX reduction. In the case of a 12 V to 5 V buck converter, the selection criteria of each component is discussed and experimental data and waveforms presented. By summing an external current source into the CT pin of the NCP3063, it is possible to optimize the open loop gain of buck, boost or buck boost topologies for any given application. Reducing the controller's maximum duty cycle of 0.86 to a lower value DMOD allows the power components ON Semiconductor and are registered trademarks of Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC (SCILLC). SCILLC reserves the right to make changes without further notice to any products herein. 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