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LT3751

The document discusses the design of high-voltage capacitor chargers, highlighting the complexities involved and the introduction of the LT3751 from Linear Technology, which simplifies this task. The LT3751 features primary-side output voltage sensing, improved programmability, and can charge capacitors to high voltages quickly while maintaining efficiency. It addresses major design challenges such as reliability, cost, and performance, making it suitable for various high-voltage applications.

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AR Bhatti
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26 views2 pages

LT3751

The document discusses the design of high-voltage capacitor chargers, highlighting the complexities involved and the introduction of the LT3751 from Linear Technology, which simplifies this task. The LT3751 features primary-side output voltage sensing, improved programmability, and can charge capacitors to high voltages quickly while maintaining efficiency. It addresses major design challenges such as reliability, cost, and performance, making it suitable for various high-voltage applications.

Uploaded by

AR Bhatti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DESIGN + PRODUCTS

PLANET
ANALOG

High-voltage capacitor charging made simple


By Bruce Haug

DESIGNING A HIGH-VOLTAGE capaci-


tor charger or power supply up to a
thousand volts is not a trivial task. A
discrete solution uses a general-purpose
flyback PWM (pulse-width modula-
tion) controller with an optocoupler,
monitoring, status and protection fea-
tures. This solution normally requires
lots of circuitry and is of high design
complexity.
It is essential to avoid an input over-cur-
rent fold-back condition that can occur
during turn-on due to the capacitive
load looking like a short circuit. Care
must also be taken to make sure that
this type of converter turns on only
when the input voltage is within the
safe operating range to ensure its long-
term reliability. It is also convenient to
determine when the high-voltage out-
put capacitor is fully charged without a
physical sense connection to its high
voltage, which eliminates the need for Figure 1: LT3751 applications circuit with primary-side output-
another part crossing the isolation bar- voltage sense
rier. Depending on the application, the
user might also want to have the ability
to select a suitable gate-drive voltage. designed to rapidly charge large capaci- For lower noise and tighter output-regu-
The need for developing a high voltage tors to voltages as high as 1,000 V. It is lation applications, a resistor-divider
across a capacitor can be required for an improved, second-generation version network from the output voltage can be
professional high-voltage photoflash of the previously released LT3750, with used to regulate the output, making it
systems, security-control systems, additional features that include the well suited for high-voltage power-sup-
pulsed radar, automotive air-bags, emer- ability to sense the output voltage from ply requirements. The transformer’s
gency strobes, security/inventory con- the primary or secondary side of the turns ratio and two external resistors
trol systems and detonators. Reliability, transformer, accept a higher input volt- easily program the output voltage. In
cost, safety, size and performance are age, along with having more program- addition, the LT3751 has an internal 60-
the major design obstacles that a high- mability and protection features. The V shunt regulator that is powered
voltage power supply designer must LT3751 drives an external N-Channel through a series resistor and can oper-
contend with. MOSFET and can charge a 1,000 µF ate from input voltages ranging from
However, the recently introduced capacitor to 500 V in less than 1 second. 4.75 V up to 400 V. This enables the end-
LT3751 from Linear Technology greatly Furthermore, it can be configured for user to accommodate an extremely
simplifies this design task. The LT3751 primary-side output-voltage sensing wide range of input-power sources,
is full-featured flyback controller without the need for an optocoupler. unavailable in a single package until
now. Its VCC input accepts voltages
ranging from 5 V to 24 V. The LT3751
Bruce Haug received his BSEE from San Jose State University in 1980. He joined Linear operates in boundary mode, which is
Technology as a product marketing engineer in April 2006. Bruce’s experience includes between continuous-conduction mode
stints at Cherokee International, Digital Power and Ford Aerospace. He is an avid sports (CCM) and discontinuous-conduction
participant. mode (DCM). Boundary-mode control

28 Electronic Engineering Times May 4, 2009


DESIGN + PRODUCTS

minimizes transition losses, reduces and the transformer-turns ratio. This former and VDIODES is the voltage drop
transformer size and configures the part isolated circuit charges a capacitor to across D1 and D2.
to easily ramp up without going into 450 V from a 12 V to 24 V input, using The LT3751 stops charging the out-
current limit when powering a capaci- the on-board differential DCM com- put capacitor once the programmed
tive load. Another advantage of bound- parator. The transformer (T1), part output-voltage trip point is reached.
ary mode is that it reduces large-signal number 75031040, is available off-the- The charge cycle is repeated by toggling
stability issues that can arise from shelf from Wurth Electronics. the CHARGE pin. The maximum
using a voltage mode or PWM tech- The differential operation of the charge/discharge rate in the output
nique and can deliver up to 88% effi- DCM comparator allows the LT3751 to capacitor is limited by the temperature
ciency, along with providing a fast accurately operate from high-voltage rise in the transformer and power dissi-
transient response. Output-voltage reg- inputs of up to 400 V or even higher. pation in the external MOSFET. Limit-
ulation is achieved by dual overlapping Furthermore, the VOUT comparator and ing the transformer surface
modulation, using both peak primary- DCM comparator are needed for lower temperature in Figure 1 (using the
current modulation and duty-cycle input voltages down to 4.75 V, with the Wurth off-the-shelf transformer part
modulation. use of a logic-level external MOSFET. number 75031049) to 40°C rise above
The circuit in Figure 1 shows the This permits the user to accommodate ambient with no air flow requires the
LT3751 operating with the output volt- an extremely wide range of power average output power to be less than or
age being sensed via the primary-side sources. Only five external resistors are equal to 40 W.
winding of the transformer. This needed to operate the LT3751 as a capac- The maximum available output pow-
method of primary-side output-voltage itor charger. The output voltage trip er can be increased by making the
sensing maintains isolation with only point (VOUT) can be adjusted from 50 V transformer larger and providing
one part, namely the power transformer to 450 V by using this equation: forced-air cooling. p
crossing the isolation barrier, and is a
very simple circuit. The output voltage M O R E to read the full article go to
is sensed through the RVOUT pin and is planetanalog.com and search:
programmed by the selection of R8, R9 where N is the turns ratio of the trans- articleID=215801352

Standards Make Sense


Standards improve quality and enable designers to
share components across different projects. Today,
ARM® Cortex™-M profile processors, combined with “The strengths of ARM processor-based NXP
the Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard microcontrollers are fundamentally changing
digital products by combining ease-of-use with
(CMSIS) and optimized middleware from the industry’s
high connectivity and low power consumption.”
largest ecosystem, are setting the hardware and software
standards for microcontrollers.

These standards enable leading vendors such as Luminary


Micro, NXP, and STMicroelectronics to supply advanced
microcontrollers, while maximizing code reuse across
multiple platforms.
Geoff Lees
Cortex-M3 Microcontrollers Vice President and General
Manager, Microcontroller
Make Sense Product Line

For more information visit


www.onARM.com

The Architecture for the Digital World ®


© ARM Ltd. AD153 | 12.08

May 4, 2009 Electronic Engineering Times 29

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