Optimizing Efficiency of Switching Mode Chargers

Multi-Cell Battery Charge Management (MBCM)

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Outline and Purpose

 Understand the key parameters of a MOSFET and the relationship

to power loss of a switching charger
1. Conduction loss
2. Switching loss
3. Gate drive
 Inductor selection and its impact to the loss
 Current sensing resistance vs. the loss
 Go through the loss analysis with an existing charger EVM design

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 Linear Chargers

VIN VBAT 14.0

3S Vbat=9.0V, Vin=13.2
+ 12.0
ICHG 2S Vbat=6.0, Vin=8.8V
10.0

Ploss (W)
Adapter Linear Battery 8.0
Charger
6.0
4.0

PLOSS  VIN  VBAT   I chg

2.0
0.0
0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.7 3
 Simple and low cost Ichg (A)
 High loss
– Difference of the adaptor and battery voltage
 Only for small current
- The charging current is limited due to the high loss

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 Advantage of Switching Chargers

VIN VBAT 2.0

3S Vbat=12.6V, Vin=19V
+
2S Vbat=8.4V, Vin=19V
1.5

Ploss (W)
Battery
Adapter

1.0

Switching Charger 0.5

0.0
 High efficiency 0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.4 2.7 3
– Wide range input voltage Ichg (A)
– High output current
 High output current

Need to understand the loss and optimize the efficiency

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A Switching Charger and the Loss Components
Q1 L RSNS
RS1

+
Cin Driver and Q2 Cout
Controller

Conduction
Switching Gate Driver Other
(IR)
Q1 √ √ √ Qrr Loss
Dead time
Q2 √ √ Loss
Inductor √ Core Loss
Rs1, Rs2 √
IC Gate Driver
PCB √

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Circuit under Study --- bq24715 NVDC-1 Charger
RS1 Q1 L
System

Cin Cout Qbat

bq24715 Q2 Battery
Pack

 Key features
– NVDC-1 Charger
– Extreme low quiescent current to meet Energy Star Requirement
– Ultra fast transient 100us to supplement mode to prevent adaptor
crash during turbo boost operation
 Operation Condition
– Vin=19V, Vo=8.4V, Io=6A
– Fs=800KHz

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How to Select MOSFET

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MOSFET Losses
Conduction Loss
VDS
ID
VGS
Switching Loss

Gate driver Loss

 MOSFET is equivalent to a R when it is fully on

 Loss is with I-V overlapping during the On-off transition
 Capacitor charge and discharge
How to find the information on the DS
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Rdson Dependency on the Gate Drive Voltage

CSD17308Q3

 When the switch is on, it is equivalent to a resistor RDS_on. Which

determines the conduction loss
 RDS_on is a function of the driver voltage

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Rdson Dependency on the Temp

 RDS_on is a strong function of temperature. At 150oC junction temperature,

the temp coefficient is around 1.4 to 1.5

 The conduction loss calculation must take the temperature coefficient into
consideration

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Calculation the Conduction Loss

∆IL MOSFET Q1
IQ1 L IOUT
Q1 IQ2 IOUT
Q2 C IQ1
D·T
T
Pcond  I 2
rms R DS _ on Cotemp
1 DT 2  2 1 2
I rms 
T 0
I o dt  D I OUT  I L 
 12 
 The conduction loss for Q1 and Q2 can be calculated

 It starts with a assumed temperature and iteration

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Gate Charge and Switching loss

VDS ID
Cgd
Rg VGS
Cds
Cgs VGS(th)

QGS2 QGD QGodr t

QGS(th)

 Qsw determines the switching loss Qgs Qsw

 FOM = RDS_on x Qsw
 The test condition is important

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QGD is a Function of VDS

Increased VDS

 Qgd is a function of VDS and Qg is a function of VGS

 The comparison of the Qgd should be under the same Vds conditions
 Some MOSFET venders specify Qgd at low Vds, resulting in better
data sheets, but not better performance
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QGD a Function of VDS

 The Rdson and Qgd are similar

 The test conditions are different

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Find the Correct QGD

 Need to use the charge graph to

determine the charge under
certain conditions

 The charge under the same test

condition is shown below (30%
higher Qgd)

53 15V

13

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Switching Loss Accurate Formula
 Switching loss calculation
assumes linear transition
Lin
Da 1
12V
Psw _ Qgd   I D VDS  t1  Fs
0
2
10K Ig
 The voltage transitions are nonlinear,
which can be included in Kv:
T

Vds Kv 
0
V (t )dt
d
 0.5
Vgs (5V/div) T  Vin
(1V/div)
 Kv is about from 0.27 to 0.35 for
most of the devices
t1 5s/div Psw _ Qgd  K vI o  Vin  t1  Fs

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Gate Drive Loss
Q1 L

bq24715 Q2 C
Gate Driver

Pgate_ Q1  Qg _ Q1 VDRV _ Q1  f SW

Pdrive  Pgate_ Q1  Pgate_ Q 2

 Gate driver loss is the energy of the gate charge dissipated on
the resistance of the driver loop
 Gate driver loss is proportional to the gate charge and switching
frequency
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Body Diode Conduction Loss
Vgs_Q1
Q1 L t
Vgs_Q2
t

Vbd
Vbd_Q2 C Vds_Q2
Q2 t
Ibd_Q2
ID_Q2
t
tDT

PBD _ Q 2  VBD  I OUT  (t DT1  t DT 2 )  f SW

 The typical dead time is 20-40ns
 The dead time loss impact becomes significant at high
switching frequency

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MOSFET Selection vs. Loss

Conduction
Switching Gate Driver Other
(IR)
Q1 0.21 0.49 0.06 0.14 (Qrr)
Q2 0.24 0.06 0.13 (DT)
Inductor √ Core Loss
Rs1 √
IC Gate Driver
PCB √

 The table above shows the loss breakdown

 The selection is a tradeoff of cost and performance
 The optimized design is to minimize the loss for given MOSFETS

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How to Select Inductor

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Inductance Selection
 30% to 40% peak-to-peak current at the worst scenario

VIN  VBAT VBAT 1

L , I ripple  30% ICHG
I ripple VIN f s

 Selection Consideration
– Ipeak < Inductor Isat
– Low DCR
– Size such as low profile

 Use table in Datasheet to select

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Inductor and the Loss

2525CZ 3.3uH (6.9mm x 6.5mm x 3mm)

 Manufacturers provide calculation tools

Core loss calculation: http://www.vishay.com/docs/34252/ihlpse.pdf

Copper loss Switching Gate Driver Other

Inductor 1.11 0.15 (core)

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Sensing Resistors and IC Loss

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Sensing Resistor

 Selection Consideration
– Accuracy : requiring high value of sensing resistance
– The main source of the error is the offset of the comparator

bq24715
TEST CONDITION MIN TYP MAX UNIT
PARAMETER
INPUT CURRENT 10mΩ current 3937 4096 4219 V
REGULATION (0-125C) sensing resistor -3 3 %

– Competition needs 20mΩ sensing resistor to achieve the

same accuracy

– Power dissipation: requiring low value of sensing resistance

PRsens  I IN
2
R SENSE _ IN  I CHG
2
R SENSE _ CHG

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bq24715 Quiescent Current Efficiency
~80mW
<500mW System
<215mW Q1 Q2

bq24715 Qbat

Batter Pack

bq24715
TEST CONDITION MIN TYP MAX UNIT
PARAMETER
Standby Quiescent Vin=20V, Vbat=12.6V
0.7 mA
Current TJ = -20 to 85°C. No switching

 Standby current
– Crucial to the light load efficiency and meet the Energy Star
requirement
– Competition has a maximum 5mA

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Loss Breakdown
Conduction
Switching Gate Driver Other
(IR)
Q1 0.21 0.46 0.06 0.14 (Qrr)
Q2 0.24 0.06 0.23 (DT)
Rs1 0.09
Inductor 1.11 0.15 (Core)
IC 0.12 0.013 (Bias)
PCB 0.1

28%
 The loss has a good match
3% Q1
Q2 16% – The calculated loss is 2.86W
5% IC – The measured loss is about
3% Rsen 2.98W
– Can be verified at different
L operation points
45%

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Summary

 MOSFET selection is based on the loss optimization and cost

trade off. The loss modeling of a MOSFET is analyzed:
1. Conduction loss
2. Switching loss
3. Dead time loss
4. Gate drive
 The selection of a Inductor and the tradeoff is discussed
 Other loss in a charger circuit breakdown and the impact are
addressed
 The EVM loss breakdown is conducted

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