20
FN9208.2
October 19, 2005
dissipating their heat so that the affected channels run hotter
than desired, choose new, smaller values of R
ISEN
for the
affected phases (see the section entitled Channel Current
Balance). Choose R
ISEN,2
in proportion to the desired
decrease in temperature rise in order to cause proportionally
less current to flow in the hotter phase.
In Equation 24, make sure that
T
2
is the desired
temperature rise above the ambient temperature, and
T
1
is
the measured temperature rise above the ambient
temperature. While a single adjustment according to
Equation 24 is usually sufficient, it may occasionally be
necessary to adjust R
ISEN
two or more times to achieve
optimal thermal balance between all channels.
Load Line Regulation Component Selection (DCR
Current Sensing)
For accurate load line regulation, the ISL6308 senses the
total output current by detecting the voltage across the
output inductor DCR of each channel (As described in the
Load Line Regulation
section). As Figure 7 illustrates, an
R-C network is required to accurately sense the inductor
DCR voltage and convert this information into a droop
voltage, which is proportional to the total output current.
Choosing the components for this current sense network is a
two step process. First, R
COMP
and C
COMP
must be
chosen so that the time constant of this R
COMP
-C
COMP
network matches the time constant of the inductor L/DCR.
Then the resistor R
S
must be chosen to set the current
sense network gain, obtaining the desired full load droop
voltage. Follow the steps below to choose the component
values for this R-C network.
1. Choose an arbitrary value for C
COMP
. The recommended
value is 0.01μF.
2. Plug the inductor L and DCR component values, and the
values for C
COMP
chosen in steps 1, into Equation 25 to
calculate the value for R
COMP
.
3. Use the new value for R
COMP
obtained from Equation 25,
as well as the desired full load current, I
FL
, full load droop
voltage, V
DROOP
, and inductor DCR in Equation 26 to
calculate the value for R
S
.
I
DROOP
Due to errors in the inductance or DCR it may be necessary
to adjust the value of R
COMP
to match the time constants
correctly. The effects of time constant mismatch can be seen
in the form of droop overshoot or undershoot during the
initial load transient spike, as shown in Figure 18. Follow the
steps below to ensure the R-C and inductor L/DCR time
constants are matched accurately.
1. Capture a transient event with the oscilloscope set to
about L/DCR/2 (sec/div). For example, with L = 1
μ
H and
DCR = 1m
, set the oscilloscope to 500
μ
s/div.
2. Record
V1 and
V2 as shown in Figure 18.
3. Select a new value, R
COMP,2
, for the time constant
resistor based on the original value, R
COMP,1
, using the
following equation.
V
2
4. Replace R
COMP
with the new value and check to see that
the error is corrected. Repeat the procedure if necessary.
After choosing a new value for R
COMP
, it will most likely be
necessary to adjust the value of R
S
to obtain the desired full
load droop voltage. Use Equation 26 to obtain the new value
for R
S
.
Compensation
The two opposing goals of compensating the voltage
regulator are stability and speed. Depending on whether the
regulator employs the optional load-line regulation as
described in “
Load-Line Regulation
”, there are two distinct
methods for achieving these goals.
Compensating the Load-Line Regulated Converter
The load-line regulated converter behaves in a similar
manner to a peak current mode controller because the two
poles at the output filter L-C resonant frequency split with the
introduction of current information into the control loop. The
final location of these poles is determined by the system
function, the gain of the current signal, and the value of the
compensation components, R
2
and C
1
.
R
ISEN 2
R
ISEN
T
2
T
1
----------
=
(EQ. 24)
R
COMP
COMP
---------------------------------------
=
(EQ. 25)
R
S
------------------------
R
COMP
DCR
=
(EQ. 26)
R
COMP 2
R
COMP 1
1
----------
=
(EQ. 27)
FIGURE 18. TIME CONSTANT MISMATCH BEHAVIOR
V
1
V
OUT
I
TRAN
V
2
I
ISL6308