Slup 075
Slup 075
Slup 075
Current-Mode Control of
Switching Power Supplies
Topic Categories:
Basic Switching Technology
Power Supply Control Techniques
Reproduced from
1985 Unitrode Power Supply Design Seminar
SEM400, Topic 1
TI Literature Number: SLUP075
Current-Mode Control of
Switching Power Supplies
Lloyd H. Dixon, Jr.
Introduction: This paper examines the current mode control method applied
to Buck, Boost and Flyback circuits operated in the continuous and
discontinuous inductor current modes.
The current mode control method
uses two control loops -- an inner,
current control loop and an outer
loop for voltage control. Figure 1
shows a forward converter (buck
family) using current mode control.
When the switching transistor is
on, current through Rsense is
proportional to the upward ramping
filter inductor current. When the
ramp voltage Vs reaches Ve (the
amplified output voltage error), CLOCK --1'---"'_......._ _
the switching transistor turns off.
Thus, the outer voltage control
loop defines the level at which the
inner loop regulates peak current LAfCK II n r-1 -
through the switch and through the OUTPUT --.J LJ LJ ,L...
filter inductor. 1 Figure 1.
ADVANTAGES:
• Input voltage feed-forward, resulting in good open-loop line regulation.
• Simplified loop -- inductor pole and 2nd order characteristic eliminated
• Optimum large-signal behavior.
• No conditional loop stability problems.
• Flux balancing (symmetry correction) in push-pull circuits.
• Automatic pulse-by-pulse current limiting.
• Current sharing of paralleled supplies for modular power systems.
• Less complexity/cost (current sense/amp is not an added complication).
The buck family includes the Forward Converter, Full Wave Center-Tap, Full
Bridge and Half Bridge.
Peak vs. Average Current Error: As shown in Figure 2, current mode control
regulates the peak inductor current. However, in a buck regulator operated
in the continuous mode, the inductor drives the output so that load current
equals the average inductor current. The difference between peak and average
inductor current is an error, which is greatest when Vin is large.
o T------~ o T-----~
Load Regulation: With voltage mode (duty ratio) control, open loop DC load
regulation is inherently excellent, although dynamic load regulation is very
bad. With current mode control, and with the outer voltage control loop
open, the load regulation is very poor. This because the inner current
control loop makes the circuit into a current source. Any current source
has poor load regulation. This is not nearly as bad as it seems, because it
is so much easier to get high closed loop gain-bandwidth which corrects the
problem and gives many other performance advantages.
With conventional duty ratio control applied to the buck regulator, the LC
power filter has a two-pole second order charactistic as shown in Figure 8.
There is an abrupt 180 0 phase lag at filter resonance (often near 100 Hz).
This will cause ringing and instability if not compensated. At least one
and usually two zeros near filter resonance must be provided in the error
amplifier compensation network. This requires much more error amplifier
gain-bandwidth than with current mode control and requires large
compensation capacitors with time constants in the order of milliseconds.
When properly compensated (although with much greater difficulty), the small
signal dynamic behavior of the buck regulator with conventional duty ratio
control may be nearly as good as with current mode control. With a 50 kHz
switching frequency, small-signal response times in the order of 100
microseconds can be achieved with either control method.
40 60
BUCK, CONT I NUOUS M)DE SUCK, CONT I NUOUS MODE
DUTY CYCLE CONTRCL CURRENT ~IODE CONTRCL
20 + + fa + 4C
.,. ... t-
O + + 20 + +
Control to Output
GAIN GAIN
IdS) (dB)
-20 + + 0 + +
-60 -40
(Hz) 1 10 100 1K 10K 1001<. (Hz) 1 10 100 lK 10K lOOK
0 0
/'
./
PHASE PHASE /'
./
-90 + + -90 --'f '" +
-180 -100
Figure 8. Figure 9.
R;p
>-......-_vc
Right-Half-Plane Zero: Current mode control does not eliminate the right
half-plane zero inherent in boost and flyback continuous mode circuits,
although i t does eliminate the inductor pole and the 2nd order resonant
filter characteristic. The RHP zero gives a 20 dB/decade gain boost with a
90 0 phase lag, which is considered impossible to compensate, and usually
forces the designer to roll the loop gain off a decade or more below what
could otherwise be achieved. Current mode control does not help in this
respect. Refer to the separate paper titled "The Right-Half-Plane Zero -- a
Simplified Explanation"
REFERENCES:
(1) B. Holland, "A New Integrated Circuit for Current Mode Control
Powercon 10 Proceedings, B-2, 1983.
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