IR3871MPBF
COMPONENT SELECTION
Selection of components for the converter is an
iterative process which involves meeting the
specifications and trade-offs between
performance and cost. The following sections will
guide one through the process.
INDUCTOR SELECTION
Inductor selection involves meeting the steady
state output ripple requirement, minimizing the
switching loss of upper MOSFETs, meeting
transient response specifications and minimizing
the output capacitance. The output voltage
includes a DC voltage and a small AC ripple
component due to the low pass filter which has
incomplete attenuation of the switching
harmonics. Neglecting the inductance in series
with the output capacitor, the magnitude of the AC
voltage ripple is determined by the total inductor
ripple current flowing through the total equivalent
series resistance (ESR) of the output capacitor
bank.
ΔI TON VIN VOUT (5)
2L
One can use equation 5 to find the required
inductance. ΔI is defined as shown in Figure 21.
The main advantage of small inductance is
increased inductor current slew rate during a load
transient, which leads to a smaller output
capacitance requirement as discussed in the
Output Capacitor Selection section. The draw
back of using smaller inductances is increased
switching power loss in upper MOSFET, which
reduces the system efficiency and increases the
thermal dissipation.
INPUT CAPACITOR SELECTION
The main function of the input capacitor bank is
to provide the input ripple current and fast slew
rate current during the load current step up. The
input capacitor bank must have adequate ripple
current carrying capability to handle the total
RMS current. Figure 21 shows a typical input
current. Equation 6 shows the RMS input
current. The RMS input current contains the DC
load current and the inductor ripple current. As
shown in equation 5, the inductor ripple current
is unrelated to the load current. The maximum
RMS input current occurs at the maximum
output current. The maximum power dissipation
in the input capacitor equals the square of the
maximum RMS input current times the input
capacitor’s total ESR.
IOUT
Input Current
ΔI
TS
Figure 21. Typical Input Current Waveform.
IIN_RMS
1
Ts
f2
t
dt
Ts 0
IOUT
Ton Fs
1 1
ΔI
2
(6)
3 IOUT
The voltage rating of the input capacitor needs
to be greater than the maximum input voltage
because of high frequency ringing at the phase
node. The typical percentage is 25%.
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