
CONTROL METHOD SELECTION
The LM5046 is a versatile PWM control IC that can be con-
figured for either current mode control or voltage mode con-
trol. The choice of the control method usually depends upon
the designer preference. The following must be taken into
consideration while selecting the control method. Current
mode control can inherently balance flux in both phases of the
PSFB topology. The PSFB topology, like other double ended
topologies, is susceptible to the transformer core saturation.
Any asymmetry in the volt-second product applied between
the two alternating phases results in flux imbalance that caus-
es a dc buildup in the transformer. This continual dc buildup
may eventually push the transformer into saturation. The volt-
second asymmetry can be corrected by employing current
mode control. In current mode control, a signal representative
of the primary current is compared against an error signal to
control the duty cycle. In steady-state, this results in each
phase being terminated at the same peak current by adjusting
the pulse-width and thus applying equal volt-seconds to both
the phases.
Current mode control can be susceptible to noise and sub-
harmonic oscillation, while voltage mode control employs a
larger ramp for PWM and is usually less susceptible. Voltage-
mode control with input line feed-forward also has excellent
line transient response. When configuring for voltage mode
control, a dc blocking capacitor can be placed in series with
the primary winding of the power transformer to avoid any flux
imbalance that may cause transformer core saturation.
VOLTAGE MODE CONTROL USING THE LM5046
To configure the LM5046 for voltage mode control, an exter-
nal resistor (R
FF) and capacitor (CFF) connected to VIN, AG-
ND, and the RAMP pins is required to create a saw-tooth
modulation ramp signal shown in
Figure 11. The slope of the
signal at RAMP will vary in proportion to the input line voltage.
The varying slope provides line feed-forward information nec-
essary to improve line transient response with voltage mode
control. With a constant error signal, the on-time (T
ON) varies
inversely with the input voltage (VIN) to stabilize the Volt-
Second product of the transformer primary. Using a line feed-
forward ramp for PWM control requires very little change in
the voltage regulation loop to compensate for changes in in-
put voltage, as compared to a fixed slope oscillator ramp.
Furthermore, voltage mode control is less susceptible to
noise and does not require leading edge filtering. Therefore,
it is a good choice for wide input range power converters.
Voltage mode control requires a Type-III compensation net-
work, due to the complex-conjugate poles of the L-C output
filter.
30147824
FIGURE 11. Feed-Forward Voltage Mode Configuration
The recommended capacitor value range for C
FF is from
100pF to 1800pF. Referring to
Figure 11, it can be seen that
C
FF value must be small enough to be discharged with in the
clock pulse-width which is typically within 50ns. The R
DS(ON)
of the internal discharge FET is 5.5
.
The value of R
FF required can be calculated from
For example, assuming a V
RAMP of 1.5V (a good compromise
of signal range and noise immunity), at VIN
MIN of 36V (oscil-
lator frequency of 400 kHz and C
FF = 470pF results in a value
for R
FF of 125 k.
CURRENT MODE CONTROL USING THE LM5046
The LM5046 can be configured for current mode control by
applying a signal proportional to the primary current to the
RAMP pin. One way to achieve this is shown in
Figure 12.
The primary current can be sensed using a current trans-
former or sense resistor, the resulting signal is filtered and
applied to the RAMP pin through a resistor used for slope
compensation. It can be seen that the signal applied to the
RAMP pin consists of the primary current information from the
CS pin plus an additional ramp for slope compensation,
added by the resistor R
SLOPE.
The current sense resistor is selected such that during over
current condition, the voltage across the current sense resis-
tor is above the minimum CS threshold of 728mV.
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LM5046