Applications which need higher current input protection along with digital interface for telemetry, control, configurability can use one or more TPS25984x device(s) in parallel with TPS25990x as shown in Figure 9-3

Figure 9-3 TPS25990x Connected in Parallel with TPS25984x For Higher Current Support With PMBus®

TPS25990x is a 60-A integrated eFuse with PMBus® Telemetry interface.

In this configuration, the TPS25990x acts as the primary device and controls the other TPS25984x devices in the chain which are designated as secondary devices. This configuration is achieved by connecting the primary device as follows:

1. VDD is connected to IN through an R-C filter.
2. DVDT is connected through capacitor to GND.
3. IREF is connected through capacitor to GND.
4. IMON is connected through resistor to GND.
5. ILIM is connected through resistor to GND.

SWEN is pulled up to a 3.3-V to 5-V standby rail. This rail must be powered up independent of the eFuse ON/OFF status.

The secondary devices must be connected in the following manner:

1. VDD is connected to IN through a R-C filter.
2. MODE pin is connected to GND.
3. ITIMER pin is left OPEN.
4. ILIM is connected through resistor to GND.

The following pins of all devices must be connected together:

1. IN
2. OUT
3. EN/UVLO
4. DVDT
5. SWEN
6. PG
7. IMON
8. IREF
9. TEMP

In this configuration, all the devices are powered up and enabled simultaneously.

• The TPS25990x monitors the combined VIN, VOUT, IMON, TEMP and reports it over the PMBus® telemetry interface.
• THE OVLO threshold is set to max value in all devices by default. For TPS25984x devices, the OV threshold is fixed in hardware and cannot be changed. The TPS25990x OV threshold can be lowered through PMBus® writes to the VIN_OV_FAULT register. In this case, the TPS25990x uses the SWEN pin to turn off the TPS25984x devices during OV conditions.
• The UVLO threshold for all devices is set by the external resistor divider from IN to GND on the EN/UVLO pin. The TPS25990x UV threshold can be changed through PMBus® writes to the VIN_UV_FAULT register. In this case, the TPS25990x uses the SWEN pin to turn off the TPS25984x devices during UV conditions.
• During inrush, the output of all the devices are ramped together based on the DVDT cap. However, the TPS25990x DVDT sourcing current can be configured through the PMBus® to change the inrush behavior of the whole chain. The TPS25990x controls the DVDT ramp rate for the whole chain and secondary devices simply follow the ramp rate.
• The TPS25990x controls the overall overcurrent threshold of the parallel chain by setting the VIREF threshold voltage using its internal DAC. The VIREF voltage can be programmed through PMBus® to change the overcurrent threshold.
• The TPS25990x controls the transient overcurrent blanking interval (t_{OC_TIMER}) for the whole system through PMBus® writes to the OC_TIMER register. After the digital timer expires, the TPS25990x pulls the SWEN pin low to signal all devices to break the circuit simultaneously.
• The system Power Good (PG) indication is a combination of all the individual device PG indications. All the devices hold their respective PG pins low till their power FET is fully turned on. After all devices have reached steady-state, they release their respective PG pin pulldown and the PG signal for the whole chain is asserted high. The TPS25984x secondary devices have control over the system PG assertion only during startup. After in steady state, only the TPS25990x controls the de-assertion of the PG based on the VOUT_PGTH register setting.
• The fault indication (FLT) for the whole system is provided by TPS25990x. However, each secondary device also asserts its own FLT independently.

Power up: After power up or enable, all the eFuse devices initially hold their SWEN low till the internal blocks are biased and initialized correctly. After that, each device releases its own SWEN. After all devices have released their SWEN, the combined SWEN goes high and the devices are ready to turn on their respective FETs at the same time.

Inrush: During inrush, because the DVDT pins are tied together to a single DVDT capacitor all the devices turn on the output with the same slew rate (SR). Choose the common DVDT capacitor (C_DVDT) as per Equation 22 and Equation 23.

Refer to TPS25990x for more details.

The internal balancing circuits ensure that the load current is shared among all devices during start-up. This action prevents a situation where some devices turn on faster than others and experience more thermal stress as compared to other devices. This can potentially result in premature or partial shutdown of the parallel chain, or even SOA damage to the devices. The current balancing scheme ensures the inrush capability of the chain scales according to the number of devices connected in parallel, thereby ensuring successful start-up with larger output capacitances or higher loading during start-up. All devices hold their respective PG signals low during start-up. After the output ramps up fully and reaches steady-state, each device releases its own PG pulldown. Because the DVDT pins of all devices are tied together, the internal gate high detection of all devices is synchronized. There can be some threshold or timing mismatches between devices leading to PG assertion in a staggered manner. However, because the PG pins of all devices are tied together, the combined PG signal becomes high only after all devices have released their PG pulldown. This signals the downstream load that it is okay to draw power.

Steady-state: During steady-state, all devices share current nearly equally using the active current sharing mechanism which actively regulates the respective device RDSON to evenly distribute current across all the devices in the parallel chain. After PG is asserted, de-assertion is controlled only by TPS25990x and based on VOUT_PGTH register setting.

Overcurrent during steady-state: The circuit-breaker threshold for the parallel chain is based on the total system current rather than the current flowing through individual devices. This is done by connecting the IMON pins of all the devices together to a single resistor (R_IMON) to GND. Similarly, the IREF pins of all devices are tied together and TPS25990x uses internal programmable DAC (VIREF) to generate a common reference for the overcurrent protection block in all the devices. This action helps minimize the contribution of V_IREF variation to the overall mismatch in overcurrent threshold between devices.

In this case, choose the R_IMON as per the following Equation 16:

The start-up current limit and active current sharing threshold for each device is set independently using the ILIM pin. The R_ILIM value for each individual eFuse must be selected based on the following equation:

Where N = number of devices in parallel chain (1 × TPS25990x + (N - 1) × TPS25984x)

Other variations: The IREF pin can be driven from an external precision voltage reference.

During an overcurrent event, the overcurrent detection of all the devices is triggered simultaneously. This in turn triggers the overcurrent blanking timer (OC_TIMER) in TPS25990x. The TPS25990x uses the OC_TIMER expiry event as a trigger to pull the SWEN low for all the devices, thereby initiating the circuit-breaker action for the whole chain at the same time. This mechanism ensures that mismatches in the current distribution, overcurrent thresholds and OC_TIMER intervals among the devices do not degrade the accuracy of the circuit-breaker threshold of the complete parallel chain or the overcurrent blanking interval. However, the secondary devices also maintain their backup overcurrent timer and can trigger the shutdown of the whole chain if the primary device fails to do so within a certain interval.

Severe overcurrent (short-circuit): If there is a severe fault at the output (for example, output shorted to ground with a low impedance path), the current builds up rapidly to a high value and triggers the fast-trip response in each device. The devices use two thresholds for fast-trip protection – a user-adjustable threshold (I_SFT = 2 × I_OCP in steady-state or I_SFT = 1.5 × I_LIM during inrush) as well as a fixed threshold (I_FFT only during steady-state). After the fast-trip, the TPS25990x relies on the SC_RETRY config bit in the DEVICE_CONFIG register to determine if the whole chain enters a latched fault or performs a fast recovery by restarting in current limit manner. If it enters a latched fault, the devices remain latched off till the device is power cycled or re-enabled, or auto-retry with a delay based on the RETRY_CONFIG register setting.