Rev 1.1a

Copyright

© 1994

11861 Western Avenue

∞

∞

∞

∞

∞ Garden Grove, CA 92841

5

(714) 898-8121

∞

∞

∞

∞

∞ FAX: (714) 893-2570

APPLICATION NOTES (continued)

CURRENT LIMITING

The current limiting circuitry of the SG1524 is shown in Figure 3.

By matching the base-emitter voltages of Q1 and Q2, and

assuming a negligible voltage drop across R1:

C.L. Threshold = V

~ 200 mV

Although this circuit provides a relatively small threshold with a

negligible temperature coefficient, there are some limitations to

its use because of its simplicity.

The most important of these is the limited common-mode voltage

range: ±0.3 volts around ground. This requires sensing in the

ground or return line of the power supply. Also precautions

should be taken to not turn on the parasitic substrate diode of the

integrated circuit, even under transient conditions. A Schottky

clamp diode at Pin 5 may be required in some configurations to

achieve this.

A second factor to consider is that the response time is relatively

slow. The current limit amplifier is internally compensated by

R

1

, C

A third factor to consider is the bias current of the C.L. Sense

pins. A constant current of approximately 150

µA flows out of Pin

4, and a variable current with a range of 0-150

µA flows out of Pin

5. As a result, the equivalent source impedance seen by the

current sense pins should be less than 50 ohms to keep the

threshold error less than 5%.

Since the gain of this circuit is relatively low (42 dB), there is a

transition region as the current limit amplifier takes over pulse

width control from the error amplifier.

For testing purposes,

threshold is defined as the input voltage required to get 25% duty

cycle (+2 volts at the error amplifier output) with the error amplifier

signaling maximum duty cycle.

APPLICATION NOTE: If the current limit function is not used on

the SG1524, the common-mode voltage range restriction re-

quires both current sense pins to be grounded.

FIGURE 3 - CURRENT LIMITING CIRCUITRY OF THE SG1524

In this conventional single-ended regulator circuit, the two out-

puts of the SG1524 are connected in parallel for effective 0 - 90%

duty-cycle modulation. The use of an output inductor requires

and R-C phase compensation network for loop stability.

Push-pull outputs are used in this transformer-coupled DC-DC

regulating converter. Note that the oscillator must be set at twice

the desired output frequency as the SG1524's internal flip-flop

divides the frequency by 2 as it switches the P.W.M. signal from

one output to the other. Current limiting is done here in the

primary so that the pulse width will be reduced should transformer

saturation occur.