Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and Relays - Application - Note

Relay Products Automotive
Application Notes
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and Relays
Introduction
Efficient energy management is one of the main goals in automotive
industry Regulating actuators by Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a
widespread means of improving efficiency. There has been an increasing penetration of PWM controlled applications like heater blowers,
lamps, EPAS. Once a PWM controller is available in the car it could
be used for several applications.
Heat dissipation of monostable relay coils is one source of high
temperatures in relay boxes, distribution and switching modules.
That limits not only the relay performance, but the performance of
the whole unit, too. These heat sources could be removed by using
latching relays or at least be reduced by use of high resistive coils
and / or by applying PWM controlled driver circuits. This application
note summarizes key aspects, which have to be taken into account
when using PWM strategy for the relay coil driver.
This ripple around the effective current depends on the coil inductance, coil suppression, PWM frequency, voltage level and duty ratio.
It is always recommended to start with 100% PWM duty ratio until
the relay pullsthrough and settles. The necessary time depends on
excess voltage, relay type, etc, but 500ms should be sufficient.
Otherwise it will take some time for the relay current to settle around
the effective current.
In order to warrant a good relay performance with PWM it has to
be made sure, that under all circumstances the coil current does
not undercut the level of holding current plus the excess current for
shock and vibration. Otherwise the armature and the contacts might
open. Then the relay has to pull-in and pull-through again to settle.
Repeated opening and closing the armature might cause humming
noise. Unintended opening and closing the armature and contacts
under load might cause contact welding.
Inductance
Relay Status
The best way to regulate the relay coil power consumption would be
a DC current driver, since the main electrical parameters of a relay
(pull-in, pull-through and holding currents) are to a certain extent
temperature independent. But relay coils are usually voltage driven.
Thus those characteristics translate into the temperature dependent
voltages for pull-in, pull-through and holding. The reason is the temperature depending resistance of the coil wire material, i.e. copper.
Once the relay has pulled through, it keeps its status (armature
keeps to its position on the core) unless the coil current falls below
the holding current. For shock and vibration resistance there is an
additional excess current required, which depends on the relay type,
further relay parameters and shock and vibration requirements.
PWM controlled drivers regulate the effective applied voltage by
changing the duty ratio of DC voltage normally at a given frequency.
Inductive systems like relay coils respond in presence of parallel
components to a negative going edge with a current decrease.
UFET-Gate
Ucoil
Relay coil inductances are in general relatively high, which result in

comparatively small current ripples. But these values are not constant and vary strongly within one relay family or one type. The relay
coil inductance depends among others on quite a few parameters,
which are not under focus in a standard relay manufacturing process. Furthermore it heavily depends on the coil current (saturation)
and status of the relay (armature open or closed).
Coil Suppression
In DC coil drivers coil suppression is done for protecting the relay driver from high coil switch-off voltage peaks. There are several options
for this (see figure 2). For PWM coil drivers suppression is even more
crucial, since the coil switch off occurs at PWM frequencies, i.e. up
to several thousand times per second. Furthermore coil suppression
reduces the ripple coil current, and thus the potential for dropping
out since the coil current takes longer to decrease. Therefore from
this perspective the stronger the suppression the better, i.e. best
with parallel diode (upper circle in figure 2). On the other hand this
case is exactly the worst for relay switching capability. For single
drivers the best compromise is probably an anti parallel low voltage
(39VDC) Z-diode (lower circle in figure 2). A Zener diode in parallel
to the driver would cause a varying voltage clamp across the relay
coil during switch-off due to varying supply voltage.
Ubatt
PWM
Icoil
2
1
Ch1 100mA Ch2 10.0V

Ch4 5.00V
H 400s
Figure 1: Current response to PWM voltage step with parallel diode
GND
Figure 2: Relay coil low side driver with coil suppression options
09-2011, Rev. 0911

www.te.com
2011 Tyco Electronics Ltd.
Datasheets and product specification according to IEC 61810-1 and to be used only
together with the Definitions section.
Datasheets and product data is subject to the

terms of the disclaimer and all chapters of
the Definitions section, available at
http://relays.te.com/definitions
Datasheets, product data, Definitions section, application notes and all specifications
are subject to change.
Relay Products Automotive

Application Notes
Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) and Relays
Frequency:
Disturbing Noises
As could be seen in figure 3 the higher the frequency the lower is the
ripple current. Therefore the effective coil voltage could be chosen to
be lower with keeping all the other parameters constant. We recommend a PWM frequency of minimum 20kHz.
PWM 12VDC, 558Hz, 10 kHz, 20 kHz 67%, Tamb. 23C, Tco il: 50C
The application of PWM voltage across the relay coil causes magnetostriction of the iron within the relay magnetic system (core/frame/
armature). The result is a slight audible noise if the relay was freely
suspended. However when the relay soldered or welded onto a rigid
lead frame that noise might be amplified. This depends on the lead
frame (suspension, dimension, etc.) and the sound propagation and
damping within the car. Choosing 20kHz PWM avoids disturbing
noises for human beings but might cause problems to animals.
EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility)

Due to the steep voltage and current edges EMC problems are
possible. Therefore electromagnetic compatibility tests of the whole
unit are necessary.
Figure 3: Effect of different PWM frequencies on ripple coil current on

Power F relay with parallel diode
Duty Ratio
The effective coil voltage is the product of PWM duty ratio and
supply voltage. However the supply voltage varies due to changes in
system load (e.g. cranking) and alternator and battery status. Therefore the PWM duty ratio should be regulated according to the supply
voltage. A tight regulation would be optimal for efficiency. But slight
variation on the supply side would cause a continuous regulation of
the PWM duty ratio. Furthermore regulation response time would
need to be faster than 1ms to ensure, that the effective coil voltage
does not undercut the required voltage limit.
Figures 4 and 5 show a PWM concept for a requirement of 8VDC
effective coil voltage using a duty ratio regulation with 2VDC steps of
the supply voltage.
100 %
80 %
60 %
40 %
20 %
Relay performance
not warranted
PWM Duty Ratio
120 %
0%
6
2VDC steps
Ucoil, eff 8VDC
10
12
14
Supply voltage [VDC]
16
18
20
12
10
8
6
4
2
Relay performance
not warranted
Effective Coil Voltage [VDC]
Figure 4: PWM duty ratio as a function of supply voltage with 2VDC

step regulation
0
6
10
12
14
16
18
20
Supply voltage [VDC]
Figure 5: Effective coil voltage as function of supply voltage with

2VDC step regulation
2
09-2011, Rev. 0911

www.te.com
2011 Tyco Electronics Ltd.
Datasheets and product specification according to IEC 61810-1 and to be used only
together with the Definitions section.
Datasheets and product data is subject to the

terms of the disclaimer and all chapters of
the Definitions section, available at
http://relays.te.com/definitions
Datasheets, product data, Definitions section, application notes and all specifications
are subject to change.

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Relay Products Automotive

Relay coil inductances are in general relatively high, which result in

Ch1 100mA Ch2 10.0V

Figure 1: Current response to PWM voltage step with parallel diode

09-2011, Rev. 0911

Datasheets and product data is subject to the

Relay Products Automotive

Width Modulation (PWM) and Relays

EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility)

Figure 3: Effect of different PWM frequencies on ripple coil current on

PWM Duty Ratio

Ucoil, eff 8VDC

Supply voltage [VDC]

Effective Coil Voltage [VDC]

Figure 4: PWM duty ratio as a function of supply voltage with 2VDC

Supply voltage [VDC]

Figure 5: Effective coil voltage as function of supply voltage with

09-2011, Rev. 0911

Datasheets and product data is subject to the

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