LTC4364-1/LTC4364-2
10
436412f
OPERATION
The LTC4364 is designed to suppress high voltage surges
and limit the output voltage to protect load circuitry and
ensure normal operation in high availability power systems.
It features an overvoltage protection regulator that drives
an external N-channel MOSFET (M1) as the pass device
and an ideal diode controller that drives a second external
N-channel MOSFET (M2) for reverse input protection and
output voltage holdup.
The LTC4364 operates from a wide range of supply voltage,
from 4V to 80V. With a clamp limiting the VCC supply, the
input voltage may be higher than 80V. The input supply
can also be pulled below ground potential by up to 40V
without damaging the LTC4364. The low power supply
requirement of 4V allows it to operate even during cold
cranking conditions in automotive applications.
Normally, the pass device M1 is fully on, supplying current
to the load with very little power loss. If the input voltage
surges too high, the voltage amplifier (VA) controls the gate
of M1 and regulates the voltage at the OUT pin to a level
that is set by an external resistive divider from the OUT pin
to ground and the internal 1.25V reference. The LTC4364
also detects an overcurrent condition by monitoring the
voltage across an external sense resistor placed between
the SENSE and OUT pins. An active current limit circuit
(IA) controls the gate of M1 to limit the sense voltage to
50mV if OUT is above 2.5V. In the case of a severe output
short that brings OUT below 1.5V, the sense voltage is
reduced to 25mV to reduce the stress on M1.
During an overvoltage or overcurrent event, a current
source starts charging up the capacitor connected at
the TMR pin to ground. The pull-up current source in
overcurrent condition is 5 times of that in overvoltage to
accelerate turn-off. When TMR reaches 1.25V, the F LT pin
pulls low to warn of impending turn-off. The pass device
M1 stays on and the TMR pin is further charged up until it
reaches 1.35V, at which point the HGATE pin pulls low and
turns off M1. The fault timer allows the load to continue
functioning during brief transient events while protecting
the MOSFET from being damaged by a long period of input
overvoltage, such as load dump in vehicles. The fault timer
period decreases with the voltage across the MOSFET,
to help keep the MOSFET within its safe operating area
(SOA). The LTC4364-1 latches off M1 and keeps F LT low
after a fault timeout. The LTC4364-2 allows M1 to turn
back on and F LT to go high impedance after a cool down
timer cycle, provided the OV pin is below its threshold.
After the HGATE pin is latched low following fault, mo-
mentarily pulling the SHDN pin below 0.5V resets the fault
and allows HGATE to pull high for both LTC4364-1 and
LTC4364-2. In addition, momentarily pulling the UV pin
below 0.6V allows HGATE to pull high after the cool down
timer delay for LTC4364-1, but has no effect on LTC4364-2.
The source and drain of MOSFET M2 serve as the anode
and cathode of the ideal diode. The LTC4364 controls the
DGATE pin to maintain a 30mV forward voltage across the
drain and source terminals of M2. It reduces the power
dissipation and increases the available supply voltage to
the load, as compared to using a discrete blocking diode.
If M2 is driven fully on and the load current results in
more than 30mV of forward voltage, the forward voltage
is equal to RDS(ON) • ILOAD.
In the event of an input short or a power supply failure,
reverse current temporarily flows through the MOSFET
M2 that is on. If the reverse voltage exceeds –30mV, the
LTC4364 pulls the DGATE pin low strongly and turns off
M2, minimizing the disturbance at the output.
If the input supply drops below the GND pin voltage, the
DGATE pin is pulled to the SOURCE pin voltage, keeping
M2 off. When the HGATE pin pulls low in any fault condi-
tion, the DGATE pin also pulls low, so both pass devices
are turned off.
If the output (and so the SOURCE pin, through the body
diode of M2) drops below GND, the HGATE pin is pulled
to the SOURCE pin voltage, turning M1 off and shutting
down the forward current path.
An input undervoltage condition is accurately detected
using the UV pin. The HGATE and DGATE pins remain low
if UV is below its 1.25V threshold. The SHDN pin not only
turns off the pass devices but also shuts down the internal
circuitry, reducing the supply current to 10µA.