JAJSF18A December 2017 – January 2019 TPS23523
PRODUCTION DATA.
The TPS23523 utilizes two current limit thresholds:
This dual level protection scheme ensures that the part has a higher chance of riding out voltage steps and other transients due to the higher current limit at low VDS, while protecting the MOSFET during start into short and hot-short events, by setting a lower current limit threshold for conditions with high VDS. The transition threshold is programmed with a resistor that is connected from the drain of the hot swap FET to the D pin of the TPS23523. The figure below illustrates an example with a ICL1 set to 25 A and ICL2 set to 3 A. Note that compared to a traditional SOA protection scheme this approach allows better utilization of the SOA in the 10 V < VDS. < 40-V range, which is critical in riding through transients and voltage steps.
Note that in both cases the TPS23523 regulated the gate voltage to enforce the current limit. However, this regulation is not very fast and doesn’t offer the best protection against hot-shorts on the output. To protect in this scenario a fast comparator is used, which quickly pulls down the gate in case of severe over current events (2x bigger than VCL1).