SLVAE30E February   2021  – March 2021 TPS1H000-Q1 , TPS1H100-Q1 , TPS1H200A-Q1 , TPS1HA08-Q1 , TPS25200-Q1 , TPS27S100 , TPS2H000-Q1 , TPS2H160-Q1 , TPS2HB16-Q1 , TPS2HB35-Q1 , TPS2HB50-Q1 , TPS4H000-Q1 , TPS4H160-Q1

 

  1.   Trademarks
  2. 1Introduction
  3. 2Driving Resistive Loads
    1. 2.1 Background
    2. 2.2 Application Example
    3. 2.3 Why Use a Smart High Side Switch?
      1. 2.3.1 Accurate Current Sensing
      2. 2.3.2 Adjustable Current Limiting
    4. 2.4 Selecting the Right Smart High Side Switch
      1. 2.4.1 Power Dissipation Calculation
      2. 2.4.2 PWM and Switching Loss
  4. 3Driving Capacitive Loads
    1. 3.1 Background
    2. 3.2 Application Examples
    3. 3.3 Why Use a Smart High Side Switch?
      1. 3.3.1 Capacitive Load Charging
      2. 3.3.2 Inrush Current Mitigation
        1. 3.3.2.1 Capacitor Charging Time
      3. 3.3.3 Thermal Dissipation
      4. 3.3.4 Junction Temperature During Capacitive Inrush
      5. 3.3.5 Over Temperature Shutdown
      6. 3.3.6 Selecting the Correct Smart High Side Switch
  5. 4Driving Inductive Loads
    1. 4.1 Background
    2. 4.2 Application Examples
    3. 4.3 Why Use a Smart High Side Switch?
    4. 4.4 Turn-On Phase
    5. 4.5 Turn-Off Phase
      1. 4.5.1 Demagnetization Time
      2. 4.5.2 Instantaneous Power Losses During Demagnetization
      3. 4.5.3 Total Energy Dissipated During Demagnetization
      4. 4.5.4 Measurement Accuracy
      5. 4.5.5 Application Example
      6. 4.5.6 Calculations
      7. 4.5.7 Measurements
    6. 4.6 Selecting the Correct Smart High Side Switch
  6. 5Driving LED Loads
    1. 5.1 Background
    2. 5.2 Application Examples
    3. 5.3 LED Direct Drive
    4. 5.4 LED Modules
    5. 5.5 Why Use a Smart High Side Switch?
    6. 5.6 Open Load Detection
    7. 5.7 Load Current Sensing
    8. 5.8 Constant Current Source
      1. 5.8.1 Selecting the Correct Smart High Side Switch
  7. 6Appendix
    1. 6.1 Transient Thermal Impedance Data
    2. 6.2 Demagnitization Energy Capability Data
  8. 7References
  9. 8Revision History

2.1 Background

Resistive loads are the simplest loads to drive as they follow Ohm’s Law.

Equation 1. GUID-20200729-CA0I-5HLZ-XHDF-G3DPPNFVWLXP-low.png

It's simple because the designer knows the voltage (typically 13.5V for a car battery) and the resistance of the load (by measuring it with an Ohm meter). With these two parameters they can calculate the maximum current that will be flowing through the circuit. Knowing this information is the first step in selecting the correct device to drive this load since each high side switch has an associated ON resistance that limits the amount of nominal current allowed through the device without hitting thermal shutdown. In typical applications the current through the load needs to be varied to provide the intended output. It is also important to have features such as current sensing that can correlate back to the microcontroller what current is actually going through the load. The most basic way to vary the current through the load is through pulse width modulating (PWM) the enable pin. This introduces more complications with regard to the thermal calculations.

In this section we will look into the application of resistive loads and show what relevant features are useful when driving them. We will also see how TI's Smart High Side Switches' feature set aligns well with the requirements for loads. Finally, in order to pick the correct high side switch we must learn how to calculate the power dissipation of the switch and relate that to the junction temperature and set the current limit appropriately so that the high side switch will be able to properly drive the resistive load.