Preliminary Technical Data ADM1173
Rev. PrE | Page 4 of 8
HOT CIRCUIT INSERTION
When circuit boards are inserted into live backplanes, the
supply bypass capacitors can draw large transient currents
from the backplane power bus as they charge. Such transient
currents can cause permanent damage to connector pins,
glitches on the system supply or reset other boards in the
system.
The ADM1173 is designed to turn a printed circuit board’s
supply voltage ON and OFF in a controlled manner, allowing
the circuit board to be safely inserted into or removed from a
live backplane. The ADM1173 can reside either on the
backplane or on the daughter board for hot circuit insertion
applications.
OVERVIEW
The ADM1173 is designed to operate over a range of supplies
from 2.7V to 16.5V. Upon insertion, an undervoltage lockout
circuit determines if sufficient supply voltage is present. When
the ON pin goes high an initial timing cycle assures that the
board is fully seated in the backplane before the FET is turned
on. A single timer capacitor sets the periods for all of the timer
functions. After the initial timing cycle the ADM1173 can
either start up in current limit or with a lower load current.
Once the external FET is fully enhanced and the supply has
ramped up, the ADM1173 monitors the load current through
an external sense resistor. Overcurrent faults are actively
limited to 47mV/RSENSE for a specified circuit breaker timer
limit. The ADM1173-1 will automatically retry after a current
limit fault while the ADM1173-2 latches off. The ADM1173-1
timer function limits the retry duty cycle to 3.8% for FET
cooling.
UNDERVOLTAGE LOCKOUT
An internal undervoltage lockout (UVLO) circuit resets the
ADM1173 if the VCC supply is too low for normal operation.
The UVLO has a low-to-high threshold of 2.525V, a 25mV
hysteresis. Above 2.525V supply voltage, the ADM1173 will
start if the ON pin conditions are met.
ON FUNCTION
The ON pin is the input to a comparator which has a low-to-
high threshold of 1.3V, an 80mV hysteresis and a high-to-
low glitch filter of 30µs. A low input on the ON pin resets
the ADM1173 TIMER status and turns off the external FET by
pulling the GATE pin to ground. A low-to-high transition on
the ON pin starts an initial cycle followed by a start-up cycle.
The output will then start to rise at a rate determined by the
slew rate of the SLEW pin. A 10k pull-up resistor connecting
the ON pin to the supply is recommended. The 10k resistor
shunts any potential static charge on the backplane and reduces
the overvoltage stress at the ON pin during live insertion.
Alternatively, an external resistor divider at the ON pin can be
used to program an undervoltage lockout value higher than the
internal UVLO circuit. An RC filter can be added at the ON pin
to increase the delay time at card insertion if the internal glitch
filter delay is insufficient.
GATE FUNCTION
During hot insertion of the PCB, an abrupt application of
supply voltage charges the external FET drain/gate capacitance.
This can cause an unwanted gate voltage spike. An internal
circuit holds GATE low before the internal circuitry wakes up.
This reduces the FET current surges substantially at insertion.
The GATE pin is held low in reset mode and during the initial
timing cycle. In the start-up cycle the GATE pin is pulled up by
a 12µA current source. During an over-current fault condition,
the error amplifier servos the GATE pin to maintain a constant
current to the load until the circuit breaker trips. When the
circuit breaker trips, the GATE pin shuts down abruptly.
SLEW RATE CONTROL
The slew rate of a rising or falling supply can be controlled by
an external capacitor on the SLEW pin. Alternatively, this pin
can be overdriven with a supply which will result in the output
following this supply. This enables the ADM1173 to behave as a
voltage tracker.
CURRENT LIMIT CIRCUIT BREAKER FUNCTION
The ADM1173 features a current limiting circuit breaker.
When there is a sudden load current surge, such as a low
impedance fault, the bus supply voltage can drop significantly
to a point where the power to an adjacent card is
affected, causing system malfunctions. The ADM1173 fast
response current sense amplifier instantly limits current by
reducing the external FET GATE pin voltage. This
minimizes the bus supply voltage drop and permits power
budgeting and fault isolation without affecting neighboring
cards. A compensation circuit should be connected to
the GATE pin for current limit loop stability.