16
FN9039.5
December 3, 2015
Inrush Current
In the example in Figure 26, the supply voltage is 48V
and the load resistor (RL) is 620, for around 80mA.
The load capacitance is 100F (100V). The Sense
Resistor (R
1
) is 0.02 (trip point at 2.5A; well above
the inrush current here).
Note that the load current starts at 0 (FET off); reaches
a peak of ~850mA as the GATE voltage ramps and
turns on the FET slowly, and then settles out at 80mA,
once the CL is fully charged to the 48V. The width of
the inrush current pulse is 8ms wide. For comparison,
with the same conditions, but without the
gate-controlled FET, the current was over 20A, during a
130µs pulse.
Power Supply Ramp
Figure 27 shows the power supply voltage (to the V
DD
pin, with respect to GND at the V
EE
pin) ramping up. In
this case, the values chosen were R
4
= 562k;
R5 = 5.9k; R
6
= 13.3k; that sets the UV trip point
around 38V, and the OV trip point to 54V. Note that the
GATE starts at 0V, and stays there until the UV trip
point (38V) is exceeded; then it ramps (slowly, based
on the external components chosen) up to around 13V,
where it is clamped; it stays there until the power
supply exceeds the OV trip point at 54V (the GATE
shut-off is much faster than the turn-on). The total
time scale is 2 seconds; the V
DD
ramp speed was
simply based on the inherent characteristic of the
particular power supply used.
Overcurrent at 2.3A
In Figure 28, an Electronic Load Generator was used to
ramp the load current; no load resistor or capacitor
was connected. The sense Resistor R
1
is 0.02; that
should make the nominal overcurrent trip point 2.5A.
The GATE is high (clamped to around 13V), keeping
the FET on, as the current starts to ramp up from zero;
the GATE starts to go low (to shut off the FET) when
the load current hits 2.3A. Note that it takes only 44µs
for the GATE to shut off the FET (when the load current
equals zero).
Keep in mind that the tolerance of the sense resistor
(1% here) and the IC overcurrent trip voltage (V
CB
)
affect the accuracy of the trip point; that’s why the trip
point doesn’t necessarily equal the 2.5A design target.
PWRGD-bar
GATE
Load
Current
48V
FIGURE 26. INRUSH CURRENT
LOAD
CURRENT
48V
GATE
PWRGD-BAR
FIGURE 27. POWER SUPPLY RAMP
GATE
V
DD
OFF
ON
OFF
13V
UV = 38V
OV = 54V
V
DD
= 60V
Load Current
GATE
2.3 A
R1 = 0.02 oh
48V
No cap
FIGURE 28. OVERCURRENT AT 2.3A
LOAD CURRENT
GATE
2.3A
R1 = 0.02
48V
NO CAP
ISL6140, ISL6150