SNAS264D April 2006 – February 2024 LM94
PRODUCTION DATA
If a fan's speed is varied using PWM drive of either of the fans power pins, the tachometer output of the fan is corrupted. The LM94 includes smart tachometer circuitry that allows an accurate tachometer reading to be achieved despite the signal corruption. In smart tach mode all four signals are measured within 4 seconds.
A smart tach capture cycle works according to the following steps:
The lowest two bits in each of the Fan Tach value registers are reserved. The smart tach feature takes advantage of these bits. In normal tach mode, these bits return 00. In smart tach mode the two bits determine the accuracy level of the reading. 11 is most accurate (2 periods used) and 10 is the least accurate (1 period used). If less than 1 period occurred during the measurement cycle, the lower two bits are set to 10.
In smart fan tach mode, the TACH_EDGE field is honored in the LM94 Status/Control register. If only one edge type is active, the measurement always uses that edge type (rising or falling). If both are active, the measurement uses whichever edge type occurs first.
Typically the minimum RPM captured by smart fan tach mode is 900 RPM for a fan that produces two pulses per revolution at about 50% duty cycle.