APPLICATION NOTE

AN50

 

 

Therefore, for load current of 14.5A, the peak current through the inductor, Ipk, is found to be approximately 15.5A:

ISC Iinductor = ILoad, max +

(IPK – Imin )

= 14.5 + 2 = 16.5A

-----------------------------2

Therefore, the short circuit detection threshold must be at least 16.5A.

The next step is to determine the value of the sense resistor. Including sense resistor tolerance, the sense resistor value can be approximated as follows

RSENSE =

Vth,min

× (1 – TF) =

Vth,min

× (1 – TF)

----------------ISC

1.0---------------------------------+ ILoad,max-

 

 

 

Where TF = Tolerance Factor for the sense resistor.

Table 7 describes tolerance, size, power capability, tempera- ture coefficient and cost of various type of sense resistors.

Table 7. Comparison of Sense Resistors

 

 

 

Discrete Metal

 

Discrete

 

 

Discrete Iron

Strip Surface

Discrete MnCu

CuNi Alloy

 

Motherboard

Alloy

Mount Resistor

Alloy Wire

Wire Resistor

Description

Trace Resistor

Resistor (IRC)

(Dale)

Resistor

(Copel)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tolerance

±29%

±5%

±1%

±10%

±10%

Factor (TF)

 

(±1% available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Size

2" x 0.2" x 0.001"

0.45" x 0.065" x

0.25" x 0.125" x

0.200" x 0.04" x

0.200" x 0.04" x

(L x W x H)

(1 oz Cu trace)

0.200"

0.025"

0.160"

0.100"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Power capability

>50A/in

1 watt

1 watt

1 watt

1 watt

 

 

(3W and 5W

 

 

 

 

 

available)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temperature

+4,000 ppm

+30 ppm

±75 ppm

±30 ppm

±20 ppm

Coefficient

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cost

Low included in

$0.31

$0.47

$0.09

$0.09

@10,000 piece

motherboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refer to Appendix A for Directory of component suppliers

Based on the Tolerance Factor in the above table, for an embedded PC trace resistor and for Iload,max = 14.5A:

RSENSE = ----------------------------------------

Vth,min

× (1 – TF) =

2.0A + ILoad, max

 

100mV

× (1 – 29%) = 4.3mΩ

2.0A---------------------------------+ 14.5A

For a discrete resistor and for Iload, max = 14.5A:

RSENSE = ----------------------------------------

Vth,min

× (1 – TF) =

2.0A + ILoad, max

 

100mV

× (1 – 5%) = 5.8mΩ

2.0A---------------------------------+ 14.5A

For user convenience, Table 8 lists the recommended values for sense resistors for various load currents using embedded PC trace resistors and discrete resistors.

Table 8. Rsense for Various Load Currents

 

RSENSE

RSENSE

ILoad,max

PC Trace

Discrete

(A)

Resistor (mΩ)

Resistor (mΩ)

10.0

5.9

7.9

 

 

 

11.2

5.4

7.2

 

 

 

12.4

4.9

6.6

 

 

 

13.9

4.5

6.0

 

 

 

14.0

4.4

5.9

 

 

 

14.5

4.3

5.8

 

 

 

Discrete Sense Resistor

Discrete Iron Alloy resistors come in variety of tolerances and power ratings, and are most ideal for precision imple- mentation. MnCu Alloy wire resistors or CuNi Alloy wire resistors are ideal for low cost implementations.

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Fairchild RC5051, RC5050 specifications Comparison of Sense Resistors, Rsense for Various Load Currents