LTC4278
30
4278fc
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
trace length and area to minimize stray capacitance and
potential noise pick-up.
Youcansynchronizetheoscillatorfrequencytoanexternal
frequency. This is done with a signal on the SYNC pin.
Set the LTC4278 frequency 10% slower than the desired
external frequency using the OSC pin capacitor, then use
a pulse on the SYNC pin of amplitude greater than 2V
and with the desired frequency. The rising edge of the
SYNC signal initiates an OSC capacitor discharge forcing
primaryMOSFEToff(PGvoltagegoeslow).Iftheoscillator
frequency is much different from the sync frequency,
problemsmayoccurwithslopecompensationandsystem
stability.Also,keepthesyncpulsewidthgreaterthan500ns.
Selecting Timing Resistors
There are three internal “one-shot” times that are
programmed by external application resistors: minimum
on-time, enable delay time and primary MOSFET turn-on
delay. These are all part of the isolated flyback control
technique, and their functions are previously outlined in
theTheoryofOperationsection.Thefollowinginformation
should help in selecting and/or optimizing these timing
values.
Minimum Output Switch On-Time (tON(MIN))
Minimumon-timeistheprogrammableperiodduringwhich
current limit is blanked (ignored) after the turn-on of the
primary-sideswitch.Thisimprovesregulatorperformance
by eliminating false tripping on the leading edge spike in
the switch, especially at light loads. This spike is due to
both the gate/source charging current and the discharge
of drain capacitance. The isolated flyback sensing requires
a pulse to sense the output. Minimum on-time ensures
that the output switch is always on a minimum time and
that there is always a signal to close the loop.
TheLTC4278doesnotemploycycleskippingatlightloads.
Therefore, minimum on-time along with synchronous
rectification sets the switch over to forced continuous
mode operation.
The tON(MIN) resistor is set with the following equation
RtON(MIN) kW
( )=
tON(MIN) ns
( )104
1.063
Keep RtON(MIN) greater than 70k. A good starting value
is 160k.
Enable Delay Time (ENDLY)
Enabledelaytimeprovidesaprogrammabledelaybetween
turn-off of the primary gate drive node and the subsequent
enablingofthefeedbackamplifier.Asdiscussedearlier,this
delay allows the feedback amplifier to ignore the leakage
inductance voltage spike on the primary side. The worst-
case leakage spike pulse width is at maximum load condi-
tions. So, set the enable delay time at these conditions.
While the typical applications for this part use forced
continuous operation, it is conceivable that a secondary-
side controller might cause discontinuous operation at
light loads. Under such conditions, the amount of energy
stored in the transformer is small. The flyback waveform
becomes “l(fā)azy” and some time elapses before it indicates
the actual secondary output voltage. The enable delay time
should be made long enough to ignore the “irrelevant”
portion of the flyback waveform at light loads.
Even though the LTC4278 has a robust gate drive, the gate
transition time slows with very large MOSFETs. Increase
delay time as required when using such MOSFETs.
Theenabledelayresistorissetwiththefollowingequation:
RENDLY kW
( )=
tENDLY ns
( )30
2.616
Keep RENDLYgreaterthan40k.Agoodstartingpointis56k.
Primary Gate Delay Time (PGDLY)
Primary gate delay is the programmable time from the
turn-off of the synchronous MOSFET to the turn-on of the
primary-side MOSFET. Correct setting eliminates overlap