SLVSHI4A October 2025 – December 2025 DRV81545
PRODUCTION DATA
Since the analog current limit condition results in very high power dissipation, the DRV81545 offers a cut-off delay feature that controls the maximum length of an ILIM or overcurrent condition. tCOD can be adjusted with a pull-down resistor on the COD pin as shown in Table 6-3.
| RCOD RESISTOR BETWEEN COD PIN AND GND | FUNCTION BEHAVIOR | nFAULT PIN |
|---|---|---|
| 0 ≤ RCOD< 20kΩ | Cut-off delay function is disabled, Output stage and IC are protected by thermal shut down only | Pulled low when a channel hits thermal shutdown. Released when channel temperature returns to safe level |
| 60kΩ ≤ RCOD ≤ 240kΩ | Current limit allowed to persist for tCOD = RCOD(kΩ)/120ms typical, before power stage shuts off | Pulled low when tCOD elapses. Released when tRETRY elapses. |
| RCOD ≥ 240kΩ | tCOD = RCOD(kΩ)/120ms, but linearity is not specified. |
For 60kΩ ≤ RCOD ≤ 240kΩ , the device lasts in current limit condition for duration tCOD = RCOD(kΩ)/120ms. After the channel shuts off, the channel retries only after an interval of tRETRY = (tCOD × 32) ms typical. If the user changes channel state during a current limit condition, the controller responds to the input state change. During tRETRY, however, the controller does not respond to an input state change.
For RCOD ≥ 240kΩ the same equation holds true, tCOD (ms) = RCOD(kΩ)/120, but linearity is not specified.
If a thermal shutdown occurs during the COD interval, the channel turns off and retries once the temperature reaches safe level. The COD timer is paused for the duration the output turns off due to thermal shutdown.
The cut-off delay-based timing of tCOD and tRETRY feature reduces the average power dissipation compared to thermal-shutdown based retry. Without COD, the device recovers from thermal shutdown in 1-5ms at room temperature with one channel on. With COD, the device waits the full tRETRY period before re-enabling the output. For example, let's calculate the average power dissipation per cycle with versus without COD for RILIM=100kΩ, VVM=VLOAD = 24V, RLOAD = 1Ω
With cut-off delay enabled (60kΩ ≤ RCOD ≤ 240kΩ) the average current depends on the tCOD and the tRETRY = tCOD × 32ms. For RCOD = 120kΩ
Without cut-off delay (COD pin connected to GND, or RCOD < 20kΩ) the device automatically retries after thermal hysteresis (TJ < (tTSD – tTSD_HYS). Calculate the average power dissipation using a retry time of tTSD_HYS_RETRY = 2.5ms and the same 1ms on-time as if the device thermal shutdown after tTSD = 1ms:
Cut-off delay results in a significantly lower average power dissipation (0.43W in this example) than thermal-shutdown based protection (4W in this example). This result leads to lower overall system heating and better performance on adjacent device channels.