© 2014 Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation www.fairchildsemi.com
FAN4149 • Rev. 1.0.0 5
FAN4149 — Ground Fault Interrupter
Functional Description
Refer to Figure 2.
The FAN4149 is a GFCI controller for AC ground-fault
circuit interrupters. The low-VOS offset for the sense
amplifier allows for direct DC coupling of the sense coil
when the FAN4149 is biased with a full-wave diode
bridge. T his allows for the F AN4149 to be us ed with the
FAN41501 digital auto-monitoring controller to provide
for a low-BOM-cost, complete, GFI solution with self
testing for the critical GFCI components.
The internal shunt regulator rectifier circuit is supplied
from the full-wave rectifier bridge and 75 kΩ series
resistor. A typical 220 nF VS bypass cap acitor is us ed to
filter the VAC ripple voltage. The internal 14 V shunt
regulator uses a precision temperature-compensated
bandgap reference. The combination of precision
reference circuitry and precision sense amplifier
provides for an accurate ground-fault tolerance. This
allows for selection of external components with wider
and lower-cost parameter variations. Due to the low
quiescent current, a high-value external series resistor
(R1) can be used to reduce the maximum power wattage
required for this resistor. The 14 V shunt regulator
generates the VREF reference voltage for the sense
amplifier’s (A1) non-inverting input (AC ground
reference). It also supplies the bias for the delay timer
(t1), comparators (C1 & C2), and the SCR driver.
The secondary winding of the sense transformer is
connected to pin 4 (VREF) and to a resistor, RIN, which
is directly DC connected to the inverting input of the
sense amplifier at pin 5 (VFB). The feedback resistor
(RSET) converts the sense transformer’s secondary
current to a voltage at pin 6 (Amp Out). This voltage is
compared to the internal window comparator (C1 & C2).
When the Amp Out voltage exceeds the ±VTH threshold
voltage, the window comparator triggers the internal
delay timer. The output of the window comparator must
stay HIGH for the duration of the t1 timer. If the window
comparator’s output goes LOW, the internal delay timer
starts a reset cycle. If the windo w comparator’s output is
still HIGH at the end of the t1 pulse, the SCR driver
enables current source I1 and disables Q1. Current
source I1 then enables the external SCR; which
energizes the solenoid, opens the contact switches to
the load, and removes the hazardous ground fault. The
window comparator allows for detection of a positive or
negative IFAULT signal, independent from the phase of
the line voltage.
Calculation of RSET Resistor
The Amp Out signal must exceed the window
comparator’s VTH threshold voltage for longer than the
delay timer and calculated by:
VTH = IFAULT x 1.22 x RSET x COS(2π x (t/2P)) / N (1)
RSET = (VTH x N) / (1.22 x IFAULT x COS(π x t/P)) (2)
where:
VTH = 4.5 V
IFAULT = 5 mARMS (UL943)
T = 1 ms (timer dela y)
P = Period of the A C Line (1/60 Hz)
P = Period of the A C Line (1/60 Hz)
N= Ratio of se condary-to-primary turns (1000:1)
RSET = 750 kΩ (standard 1% value)
In practice, the transformer is non-ideal, so RSET may
need to be adjusted by up to 30% to obtain the desired
IFAULT trip threshold.
Calculation of VOS Trip Threshold Error
Since the sense coil is directly connected to the
feedback of the sense amplifier, the VOS offset
introduces an IFAULT threshold error. This error can be
calculated as follows:
%Error =100 x (VOS x RSET) / (RIN + RLDC) / VTH (3)
where:
VOS = ±175 µV (worst case)
±50 µV (typical)
RSET = 750 kΩ
RIN = 470 Ω (t ypic al val ue)
RLDC = 75 Ω (sense coil secondary DC resistance)
VTH = 4.5 V
%Error
= ± 5.4% (worst case)
± 1.5% (typica l)
The VOS ±100 µV maximum drift specification is based
on temperature cycling per JEDEC JESD22-A104,
Condition B, 850 temperature cycles at -55°C to
+125°C.
Grounded Neutral Detection
If the neutral load terminal side is incorrectly connected
to the earth ground, the sense coil does not correctly
detect the hazardous ground fault current from “load
hot” to earth ground due to the partial IFAULT current
flowing from the grounded neutral fault (load neutral) to
earth ground.
To detect a grounded neutral fault, a grounded neutral
coil is required. When a low resistive path occurs from
the line neutral and load neutral terminals, the sense
and neutral coils are mutually coupled. The mutual
coupling produces a positive feedback path around the
sense amplifier, which causes the sense amplifier to
oscillate. When t he peak oscill ation voltage exceeds the
SCR trigger threshold, the internal delay timer is
enabled. Since the amplifier’s output signal is crossing
the window comparator’s trip threshold typically at
6 kHz, the dela y timer alternates between detection of a
fault/no-fault. The ratio of the fault/no-fault detection
time interval determines if the S C R driver is enabled.
The sensitivity of the grounded neutra l detection can be
changed by the neutral coil turns and the value of C2
and C3.