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tems to be customized for MOSFET gate capacitance
and board capacitance (C
BOARD
). The startup period is
adjusted with the resistance connected from TIM to GND
(R
TIM
). R
TIM
must be between 4k
and 500k
. The
startup period has a default value of 9ms when TIM is left
floating. Calculate R
TIM
with the following equation:
t
TIM
=
128 800
where t
START
is the desired startup period.
Startup Sequence
There are two ways of completing the startup sequence.
Case A
describes a startup sequence that slowly turns
on the MOSFETs by limiting the gate charge.
Case B
uses the current-limiting feature and turns on the
MOSFETs as fast as possible while still preventing a high
inrush current. The output voltage ramp-up time (t
ON
) is
determined by the longer of the two timings, case A and
case B. Set the startup timer t
START
to be longer than t
ON
to guarantee enough time for the output voltage to settle.
Case A: Slow Turn-On (without current limit)
There are two ways to turn on the MOSFETs without
reaching the fast-comparator current limit:
If the board capacitance (C
BOARD
) is small, the
inrush current is low.
If the gate capacitance is high, the MOSFETs turn
on slowly.
In both cases, the turn-on time is determined only by the
charge required to enhance the MOSFET. The small
gate-charging current of 100μA effectively limits the out-
put voltage dV/dt. Connecting an external capacitor
between GATE and GND extends turn-on time. The time
required to charge/discharge a MOSFET is as follows:
where:
C
GATE
is the external gate to ground capacitance
(Figure 4).
V
GATE
is the change in gate voltage.
Q
GATE
is the MOSFET total gate charge.
I
GATE
is the gate-charging/discharging current.
In this case, the inrush current depends on the MOSFET
gate-to-drain capacitance (C
rss
) plus any additional
capacitance from GATE to GND (C
GATE
), and on any
load current (I
LOAD
) present during the startup period.
Example: Charging and Discharging times using the
Fairchild FDB7030L MOSFET
If V
IN1
= 5V then GATE1 charges up to 10.4V (V
IN1
+
V
DRIVE
), therefore
V
GATE
= 10.4V. The manufacturer
’
s
data sheet specifies that the FDB7030L has approxi-
mately 60nC of gate charge and C
rss
= 600pF. The
MAX5918/MAX5919 have a 100μA gate-charging cur-
rent and a 3mA strong discharging current.
I
C
C
C
I
I
INRUSH
BOARD
+
rss
GATE
GATE
LOAD
=
×
+
t
C
V
I
GATE
Q
GATE
GATE
GATE
=
×
+
R
pF
START
M
Low-Voltage, Dual Hot-Swap Controllers with
Independent ON/OFF Control
______________________________________________________________________________________
11
COMPONENT
MANUFACTURER
Dale-Vishay
IRC
Fairchild
International Rectifier
Motorola
PHONE
402-564-3131
704-264-8861
888-522-5372
310-233-3331
602-244-3576
WEBSITE
www.vishay.com
www.irctt.com
www.fairchildsemi.com
www.irf.com
www.mot-sps.com/ppd
Sense Resistors
MOSFETs
Table 3. Component Manufacturers
GATE
SENSE
GND
ON_
R
SENSE
V
OUT
C
GATE
C
BOARD
V
IN
IN_
R
PULLUP
PGOOD_
MAX5918
MAX5919
Figure 4. Operating with an External Gate Capacitor