Datasheet
TMC2160 DATASHEET (Rev. 1.03 / 2019-FEB-05) 65
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10 Diagnostics and Protection
The TMC2160 supplies a complete set of diagnostic and protection capabilities, like short circuit
protection and undervoltage detection. Open load detection allows testing if a motor coil connection
is interrupted. See the DRV_STATUS table for details.
10.1 Temperature Sensors
The driver integrates a four level temperature sensor (120°C pre-warning and selectable 136°C / 143°C /
150°C thermal shutdown) for diagnostics and for protection of the IC and the power MOSFETs and
adjacent components against excess heat. Choose the overtemperature level to safely cover error
conditions like missing heat convection. Heat is mainly generated by the power MOSFETs, and, at
increased voltage, by the internal voltage regulators. For many applications, already the
overtemperature pre-warning will indicate an abnormal operation situation and can be used to initiate
user warning or power reduction measures like motor current reduction. The thermal shutdown is
just an emergency measure and temperature rising to the shutdown level should be prevented by
design.
After triggering the overtemperature sensor (ot flag), the driver remains switched off until the system
temperature falls below the pre-warning level (otpw) to avoid continuous heating to the shutdown
level.
10.2 Short Protection
The TMC2160 protects the MOSFET power stages against a short circuit or overload condition by
monitoring the voltage drop in the high-side MOSFETs, as well as the voltage drop in sense resistor
and low-side MOSFETs (Figure 10.1). A programmable short detection delay (shortdelay) allows
adjusting the detector to work with very slow switching slopes. Additionally, the short detector
allows filtering of the signal. This helps to prevent spurious triggering caused by effects of PCB
layout, or long, adjacent motor cables (SHORTFILTER). All control bits are available via register
SHORT_CONF. Additionally, the short detection is protected against single events, e.g. caused by ESD
discharges, by retrying three times before switching off the motor continuously.
Parameter
Description
Setting
Comment
S2VS_LEVEL
Short or overcurrent detector level for lowside
FETs. Checks for voltage drop in LS MOSFET and
sense resistor.
Hint: 6 to 8 recommended, down to 4 at low
current scale
4…15
4 (highest sensitivity) …
15 (lowest sensitivity)
(Reset Default:
OTP 6 or 12)
S2G_LEVEL
S2G_LEVEL:
Short to GND detector level for highside FETs.
Checks for voltage drop on high side MOSFET.
Hint: 6 to 14 recommended (minimum 12 if the
bridge supply voltage can exceed 52V)
2…15
2 (highest sensitivity) …
15 (lowest sensitivity)
(Reset Default:
OTP 6 or 12)
SHORT_
FILTER
Spike filtering bandwidth for short detection
Hint: A good PCB layout will allow using setting 0.
Increase value, if erroneous short detection
occurs.
0…3
0 (lowest, 100ns),
1 (1µs) (Reset Default),
2 (2µs),
3 (3µs)
shortdelay
shortdelay: Short detection delay
The short detection delay shall cover the bridge
switching time. 0 will work for most applications.
0/1
0=750ns: normal,
1=1500ns: high
CHOPCONF.
diss2vs
Allows to disable short to VS protection.
0/1
Leave detection enabled
for normal use (0).
CHOPCONF.
diss2g
Allows to disable short to GND protection.
0/1
Leave detection enabled
for normal use (0).