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
DT
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 5s/div Psw _ Qgd K vI 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 10m current 3937 4096 4219 V
REGULATION (0-125C) sensing resistor -3 3 %

Competition needs 20m 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 85C. 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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