Application Hints
(Continued)
reference for the Protection Comparator. The Sense resistor
is required in this application to limit the zener current. When
the device is ON, and the load supply attempts to rise higher
than (V
+ V
), the Protection comparator will
trip, and the Delay Timer will start. If the high supply voltage
condition lasts long enough for the Delay Timer to time out,
the MOSFET will be latched off. The ON/OFF input will need
to be toggled to restart the MOSFET.
REVERSE BATTERY
The LM9061 is not protected against reverse polarity supply
connections. If the V
supply should be taken negative with
respect to ground, the current from the V
pin should be
limited to 20 mA. The addition of a diode in series with the
V
input is recommended. This diode drop does not sub-
tract significantly from the charge pump gate overdrive out-
put voltage.
LOW BATTERY
As an additional protection feature the LM9061 incorporates
an Undervoltage Shut-OFF function. If the V
supply to the
package drops below 7V, where it may not be assured that
the MOSFET is actually ON when it should be, circuitry will
automatically turn OFF the power MOSFET.
Figure 6 shows the LM9061 used as an electronic circuit
breaker. This circuit provides low voltage shutdown, over-
voltage latch OFF, and overcurrent latch OFF. In the event of
a latch OFF shutdown, the circuit can be reset by shutting
the main supply off, then back on. An optional reset switch
on the ON/OFF pin will allow a “push-button reset” of the
circuit after latching OFF.
Scaling of the external resistor value, from V
CC
to the ON/
OFF input pin, with the internal 30k resistor can be used to
increase the startup voltage. The circuit operation then be-
comes dependent on the resistor ratio and V
providing an
ON/OFF pin voltage being above the ON threshold rather
than the LM9061 low V
CC
shutdown feature.
DRIVING MOSFET ARRAYS
The LM9061 is an ideal driver for any application that re-
quires multiple parallel MOSFETs to provide the necessary
load current. Only a few “common sense” precautions need
to be observed. All MOSFETs in the array must have identi-
cal electrical and thermal characteristics. This can be solved
by using the same part number from the same manufacturer
for all of the MOSFETs in the array. Also, all MOSFETs
should have the same style heat sink or, ideally, all mounted
on the same heat sink. The electrical connection of the
MOSFETs should get special attention. With typical R
values in the range of tens of milli-Ohms, a poor electrical
connection for one of the MOSFETs can render it useless in
the circuit.
Figure 7 shows a circuit with four parallel NDP706A MOS-
FETs. This particular MOSFET has a typical R
of
0.013
with a T
J
of 25C, and 0.020
with a T
J
of +125C.
With the V
threshold voltage being set to 500 mV, this
circuit will provide a typical maximum load current of 150A at
25C, and a typical maximum load current of 100A at 125C.
The maximum dissipation, per MOSFET, will be nearly 20W
at 25C, and 12.5W at 125C. With up to 20W being dissi-
pated by each of the four devices, an effective heat sink will
be required to keep the T
J
as low as possible when operating
near the maximum load currents.
01231713
FIGURE 5. Adding Over-Voltage Protection
01231714
FIGURE 6. Electronic Circuit Breaker
L
www.national.com
11