MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/964AA912/Switchingcurrentpumpmakesbettercharger.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
|
|
|||||||||
Switching current pump makes better charger Alexander Belousov, Rego Park, NYMany currently prop= osed battery-charger designs are simply voltage regulators redesigned to be current sources. Unfortunately, this design approach is far from optimal because it leads to unnecessary hardware redundancy and complexity. This = type of charger also raises a stability problem because of the additional acti= ve device in the feedback loop. The alternative des= ign in Figure 1= , which is based on a switching-inductive current pump, is much simpler and easier to build bec= ause it uses common discrete devices. Also, the primary design goal of a switc= hing voltage regulator is to keep the constant output voltage under the differ= ent load conditions, but a current pump is designed to maintain constant load current under varying terminal voltages. Thus, a current pump is inherent= ly suited to the charging requirements of NiCd and NiMH batteries, and even = the constant-current requirements of Peltier Coolers.
The design in where ILOAD is the average load (charge) current; VBAT and VCC are= the battery and supply voltages, respectively; D is the duty cycle equal to T= ON/TON+TOFF; FSW is the switching frequency; and h is the overall efficienc= y. The efficiency term is the source of most uncertainty in this equation. T= he efficiency of switching regulators based on currently available n-channel MOSFETs is typically 85 to 95%. So, using an efficiency of 0.9 when solvi= ng this equation produces acceptable results. Note that the equat= ion assumes full inductive discharge during TOFF, which implies discontinuous-mode operation. The mC must provide the proper duty cycle to ensure that the energy stored in the inductor completely dissipates during the TOFF interval. This requirement means that where VF= is the forward voltage of catch-diode D1, approximately 0.5V. Continuous-mode operation is not recommended for this application. Note also that for =
this
current-pump topology, VBAT has to be greater than VCC
to prevent dc flows directly through the forward-biased catch diode. A V<=
sub>CC
of 5V well suits the charging of camcorder and other batteries. For lower
voltages, you can modify the design in In Use the following equations to select the inductor: and where IL(PEAK)= is the peak inductor current and E·T is one of the inductor's basic specifications. The inductor, D1, and Q1 must be ab= le to carry the inductor's peak current. You can digitally adjust ILOAD= by controlling D, FSW, or both. It is a good design practice to keep FSW within 50 to 500 kHz because both analog and digital parts of the circuit can easily handle frequencies in this range, and the inductor does not "buzz." Two control algorit= hms are possible for switching-inductor circuits: pulse-width modulation (PWM) and pulse-frequency modulation (PFM). For certainty and simplicity, this circuit uses the PFM control algorithm and discontinuous operation. First, the A/D converter samples VBAT, and the mC calculates the movi= ng average (10 to 100 samples are reasonable). The system also checks the lo= ad temperature. If there is no reason to terminate charging, the mC then calculates and adjusts FSW to produce the necessary load curre= nt. The system also must check that, for the calculated frequency, the induct= or's E·T and IL(PEAK) are still in the safe area. The component value=
s in
| EDN Access= a> | Feedback | = Subscribe to EDN!= | |
|
|||||||||
|
|