Showing posts with label step. Show all posts
Showing posts with label step. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Latest Step Up Booster Powers Eight White LEDs Diagram Circuit
Tiny white LEDs are capable of delivering ample white light without the fragility problems and costs associated with fluorescent backlights. They do pose a problem however in that their forward voltage can be as high as 4 V, precluding them being from powered directly from a single Li-Ion cell. Applications requiring more white LEDs or higher efficiency can use an LT1615 boost converter to drive a series connected array of LEDs. The high efficiency circuit (about 80%) shown here can provide a constant-current drive for up to eight LEDs. Driving eight white LEDs in series requires at least 29 V at the output and this is possible thanks to the internal 36-V, 350-mA switch in the LT1615.
The constant-current design of the circuit guarantees a steady current through all LEDs, regardless of the forward voltage differences between them. Although this circuit was designed to operate from a single Li-Ion battery (2.5V to 4.5V), the LT1615 is also capable of operating from inputs as low as 1 V with relevant output power reductions. The Motorola MBR0520 surface mount Schottky diode (0.5 A 20 V) is a good choice for D1 if the output voltage does not exceed 20 V. In this application however, it is better to use a diode that can withstand higher voltages like the MBR0540 (0.5 A, 40 V). Schottky diodes, with their low forward voltage drop and fast switching speed, are the best match.
Many different manufacturers make equivalent parts, but make sure that the component is rated to handle at least 0.35 A. Inductor L1, a 4.7-µH choke, is available from Murata, Sumida, Coilcraft, etc. In order to maintain the constant off-time (0.4 ms) control scheme of the LT1615, the on-chip power switch is turned off only after the 350-mA (or 100-mA for the LT1615-1) current limit is reached. There is a 100-ns delay between the time when the current limit is reached and when the switch actually turns off. During this delay, the inductor current exceeds the current limit by a small amount. This current overshoot can be beneficial as it helps increase the amount of available output current for smaller inductor values.
This will be the peak current passed by the inductor (and the diode) during normal operation. Although it is internally current-limited to 350 mA, the power switch of the LT1615 can handle larger currents without problems, but the overall efficiency will suffer. Best results will be o btained when IPEAK is kept well below 700 mA for the LT1615.The LT1615 uses a constant off-time control scheme to provide high efficiencies over a wide range of output current. The LT1615 also contains circuitry to provide protection during start-up and under short-circuit conditions.
When the FB pin voltage is at less than approximately 600 mV, the switch off-time is increased to 1.5 ms and the current limit is reduced to around 250 mA (i.e., 70% of its normal value). This reduces the average inductor current and helps minimize the power dissipation in the LT1615 power switch and in the external inductor L1 and diode D1. The output current is determined by Vref/R1, in this case, 1.23V/68 = 18 mA). Further information on the LT1615 may be found in the device datasheets which may be downloaded from www.linear-tech.com/pdf/16151fa.pdf
The constant-current design of the circuit guarantees a steady current through all LEDs, regardless of the forward voltage differences between them. Although this circuit was designed to operate from a single Li-Ion battery (2.5V to 4.5V), the LT1615 is also capable of operating from inputs as low as 1 V with relevant output power reductions. The Motorola MBR0520 surface mount Schottky diode (0.5 A 20 V) is a good choice for D1 if the output voltage does not exceed 20 V. In this application however, it is better to use a diode that can withstand higher voltages like the MBR0540 (0.5 A, 40 V). Schottky diodes, with their low forward voltage drop and fast switching speed, are the best match.
Many different manufacturers make equivalent parts, but make sure that the component is rated to handle at least 0.35 A. Inductor L1, a 4.7-µH choke, is available from Murata, Sumida, Coilcraft, etc. In order to maintain the constant off-time (0.4 ms) control scheme of the LT1615, the on-chip power switch is turned off only after the 350-mA (or 100-mA for the LT1615-1) current limit is reached. There is a 100-ns delay between the time when the current limit is reached and when the switch actually turns off. During this delay, the inductor current exceeds the current limit by a small amount. This current overshoot can be beneficial as it helps increase the amount of available output current for smaller inductor values.
This will be the peak current passed by the inductor (and the diode) during normal operation. Although it is internally current-limited to 350 mA, the power switch of the LT1615 can handle larger currents without problems, but the overall efficiency will suffer. Best results will be o btained when IPEAK is kept well below 700 mA for the LT1615.The LT1615 uses a constant off-time control scheme to provide high efficiencies over a wide range of output current. The LT1615 also contains circuitry to provide protection during start-up and under short-circuit conditions.
When the FB pin voltage is at less than approximately 600 mV, the switch off-time is increased to 1.5 ms and the current limit is reduced to around 250 mA (i.e., 70% of its normal value). This reduces the average inductor current and helps minimize the power dissipation in the LT1615 power switch and in the external inductor L1 and diode D1. The output current is determined by Vref/R1, in this case, 1.23V/68 = 18 mA). Further information on the LT1615 may be found in the device datasheets which may be downloaded from www.linear-tech.com/pdf/16151fa.pdf
Author: D. Prabakaran
Copyright: Elektor Electronics
Copyright: Elektor Electronics
Monday, September 1, 2014
Low Loss Step Down Converter
This schema arose from the need of the author to provide a 5 V output from the 24 V battery of a solar powered genera-tor. Although solar power is essentially free it is important not to be wasteful especially for small installations; if the battery runs flat at midnight you’ve got a long wait before the sun comes up again. The basic requirement was to make an efficient step-down converter to power low voltage equipment; the final design shown here accepts a wide input voltage from 9 to 60 V with an output current of 500 mA. The efficiency is very good even with a load of 1 mA the design is still better than a standard linear regulator. The low quiescent current (200 µA) also plays a part in reducing losses.
Some of the components specified (particularly the power MOSFET) are not the most economical on the market but they have been deliberately selected with efficiency in mind.
Low Loss Step Down Converter Circuit Diagram
When power is applied to the schema a reference voltage is produced on one side of R2. D1 connects this to the sup-ply (pin 7) of IC1 to provide power at start-up. Once the schema begins switching and the output voltage rises to 5 V, D2 becomes forward biased and powers the IC from the output. Diode D1 becomes reverse biased reducing current through R1. When the schema is first powered up the voltage on pin 2 of IC1 is below the reference voltage on pin 3, this produces a high level on output pin 6. The low power MOSFET T1 is switched on which in turn switches the power MOSFET T3 via R5 and the speed-up capacitor C4, the output volt-age starts to rise.
When the output approaches 5 V the voltage fed back to the inverting input of IC1 becomes positive with respect to the non inverting input (reference) and switches the output of IC1 low. T1 and T3 now switch off and C3 transfers this negative going edge to the base of T2 which conducts and effectively shorts out the gate capacitance of T3 thereby improving its switch off time.
The switching frequency is not governed by a fixed clock signal but instead by the load current; with no load attached the schema oscillates at about 40 Hz while at 500 mA it runs at approximately 5 kHz. The variable clock rate dictates that the output inductor L1 needs to have the relatively high value of 100 mH. The coil can be wound on ferrite core material with a high AL value to allow the smallest number of turns and produce the lowest possible resistance. Ready-made coils of this value often have a resistance greater than 1 ? and these would only be suitable for an output load current of less than 100 mA.
The voltage divider ratio formed by R4 and R3 sets the output voltage and these values can be changed if a different out-put voltage is required. The output volt-age must be a minimum of 1 V below the input voltage and the output has a minimum value of 4 V because of the supply to IC1.
A maximum efficiency of around 90 % was achieved with this schema using an input voltage between 9 and 15 V and supplying a current greater than 5 mA, even with an input voltage of 30 V the schema efficiency was around 80 %. If the schema is used with a relatively low input voltage efficiency gains can be made by replacing D4 with a similar device with a lower reverse breakdown voltage rating, these devices tend to have a smaller for-ward voltage drop which reduces losses in the diode at high currents. At higher input voltage levels the value of resistor R1 can be increased proportionally to reduce the quiescent current even further.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
