Overvoltage protection for isolated DC/DC converter

Koteshwar Rao, Applications Lead, Isolation, Interface Products

Isolated power supply feedback operation Zener diode is one of the most commonly used voltage
clamping components to protect devices from
A typical isolated DC/DC converter has two sets of
overvoltage conditions. Though a Zener diode
circuits as part of the power supply which are isolated
successfully clamps voltage to its clamping voltage, it
from each other, the input side (primary) circuit and the
doesn’t eliminate or reset the overvoltage fault
converter output side (secondary) circuit as shown in
condition. Hence clamping the power supply output
Figure 1. The input circuit’s primary function is to
voltage alone may not be sufficient to restore the
control turn ON & turn OFF times of power
power supply to a normal operating state. Thus, it is
components like the transformer. The turn ON & OFF
important to employ a circuit to reset the power supply
time values are decided by the converter based on
and bring it back to its normal operating state.
various inputs to the primary circuit. The most critical
input to the primary circuit is the feedback signal Operation
coming from the secondary side. The feedback signal
Figure 2 shows the schematic of overvoltage
always represents the current state of the isolated
protection and reset circuit. It consists of two major
output voltage and is generated on the secondary side
components, a comparator with inbuilt voltage
before it is passed onto the primary.
reference and a P-channel power MOSFET. The
comparator continuously monitors the isolated DC/DC
VIN Primary Secondary VOUT converter’s scaled down output voltage and compares
Circuit Circuit
it with the preset reference thresholds. There are two
reference threshold points, overvoltage threshold point
(OVTP) and under-voltage threshold point (UVTP),
Feedback
created by connecting reference voltage and scaled
Signal down comparator output feedback to the positive input.
Generator When the isolated power supply voltage goes above
OVTP, the comparator output goes LOW. This turns
Figure 1. A typical isolated DC/DC converter block ON the PMOS shunting the power supply output
diagram voltage to GND and starts discharging the output bulk
capacitor. The comparator keeps the PMOS ON till the
The feedback signal generator circuit on the power supply output voltage goes below UVTP. When
secondary side is powered by the output voltage at the power supply output voltage goes below UVTP, the
secondary as the secondary circuit is completely comparator releases the PMOS so that the power
isolated from the primary side circuit. Under some fault supply is reset and has a fresh power-up cycle to
conditions, there can be a situation when the output come out of the fault condition.
voltage goes outside the regulation range causing
over-voltage or under-voltage. Under such situations, While choosing the comparator, it is important to
the feedback signal generator circuit might fail to choose a comparator with wide operating power
operate normal and to represent the output state supply range spanning over both UVTP and OVTP.
correctly. Hence, it becomes necessary to protect TLV3012 is one of the comparators that supports wide
external loads and components powered by the operating power supply range and has inbuilt voltage
isolated output from such fault conditions especially for reference. Similarly, it is also important to make sure
overvoltage fault condition. There are many ways to the gate-source threshold voltage of the P-channel
protect loads and components from power supply MOSFET is much lower than UVTP threshold point.
overvoltage conditions and this document discusses PMV30XPEA is one of the P-channel MOSFETs that
one of the most effective methods. supports very low gate-source threshold voltage (1 V
typical).
Overvoltage protection and reset circulation

SLLA440A – January 2019 – Revised September 2019 Overvoltage protection for isolated DC/DC converter Koteshwar Rao, Applications Lead, 1
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Table 1. Calculated UVTP and OVTP values for

VISO example resistor & VREF values for VISO = 5 V
R1 U1 Parameter Value
IN-
R1 1800 Ω
R2 R2 1500 Ω
Comparator Q1 R3 1200 Ω
IN+ R4 2700 Ω
REF VREF 1.25 V

R3 VISO 5V
OVTP 5.89 V
R4 UVTP 1.90 V

Figure 2. Schematic of overvoltage protection and

reset circuit Table 2. Calculated UVTP and OVTP values for
example resistor & VREF values for VISO = 3.3 V
Equation 1 and Equation 2 can be used to calculate Parameter Value
OVTP and UVTP points for given resistor network. R1 1800 Ω
R2 1800 Ω
R3 2200 Ω
R4 6800 Ω
VREF 1.25 V
VISO 3.3 V
(1) OVTP 3.70 V
UVTP 1.89 V

Table 3. Alternative Device Recommendations

Device Optimized Parameters Performance Trade-Off
Reinforced digital isolator 650 mW power output,
(2)
with integrated high- fixed output ripple
ISOW7841
Table 1 and Table 2 gives examples with resistor efficiency power voltage, two output
converter voltage options
values and their corresponding UVTP & OVTP values
calculated for a 5 V and 3.3 V output power supply Low-noise, low-EMI,
push-pull transformer External transformer,
overvoltage protection. SN6505A,
driver for small form- 2.25 V to 5.5 V input
SN6505B
factor isolated power supply range
supplies

2 Overvoltage protection for isolated DC/DC converter Koteshwar Rao, Applications Lead, SLLA440A – January 2019 – Revised September 2019
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