Datasheet
LTC4350
12
4350fb
Figure 5. 5V Load Share (20A per Module)
When the power supply is disconnected, the UV pin will
drop below 1.220V if the supply is loaded. The LTC4350
then discharges the gate of the power FET isolating the
load from the power supply.
D
ESIGN EXAMPLE
Load Share Components
This section demonstrates the calculations involved in
selecting the component values. The design example in
Figure 5 is a 5V output. This design can be extended to
each of the parallel sections.
The first step is to determine the final output voltage and
the amount of adjustment on the output voltage. The power
supply voltage before the load sharing needs to be lower
than the final output voltage. If the load is expecting to see
a 5V output, then all of the shared power supplies need
to be trimmed to 4.90V or lower. This allows 2% variation
in component and reference tolerances so that the output
always starts below 5V.
Now that the output voltage is preset below the desired
output, the LTC4350 will be responsible for increasing the
output utilizing the SENSE
+
input to the power supply. If
a SENSE
+
line is not available, then the feedback divider
at the module’s error amplifier can be used. The next step
is to determine the maximum positive adjustment needed
for
each
power supply. This adjustment includes any I • R
drops across sense resistors, power FETs, wiring and
connectors in the supply path between the power supply
and the load. For example, if the maximum current is 10A
and the parasitic resistance between the power supply and
load
is
0.01Ω, then the positive adjustment range for I • R
drops is 0.1V. Since the starting voltage is 4.9V ± 0.1V,
then the lowest starting voltage can be 4.8V. This voltage
is 0.2V below the target. The total adjustment range that
the LTC4350 will need for this example is 0.1V + 0.2V =
0.3V. Note that the lowest starting voltage should not be
lower than 300mV below the target voltage.
The I • R drops should be designed to be low to elimi-
nate the need for additional bulk capacitance at the load.
In most cases the bulk capacitance exists at the power
supply output before the I • R drops. If a 0.002Ω sense
resistor is used and the FET resistance is below 0.003Ω,
then a total 0.005Ω series resistance is acceptable for
loads to 20A. Obviously, the FB pin compensates for the
DC output impedance, but the AC output impedance is the
I • R drops plus the ESR of the capacitors.
4
3
21
R
GAIN
86.6k
R
SET
100Ω
GAIN
R
SET
I
OUT
R
+
R
–
FB
TIMER
C
T
0.1µF
STATUS STATUS
4350 F05
SB
COMP1
V
CC
GATE
GND
COMP2
LTC4350
UV
OV
C
P1
1000pF
C
P2
1µF
R
P1
150Ω
43.2k274k
12.1k121k
C
G
0.1µF
0.1µF
OUT
+
SENSE
+
4.9V NOMINAL, 5.3V MAXIMUM
R
G
100Ω
R
SENSE
0.002Ω
37.4k
5V
BUS
12.1k
R
OUT
30Ω
51Ω
4 s SUD50N03-07
(0.007Ω EACH)
SHARE
BUS
C
UV
0.1µF
applicaTions inForMaTion