®
AN1134
APPLICATION NOTE
45W AC-DC ADAPTER WITH STANDBY FUNCTION
by Claudio Adragna
Purpose of this note is to provide a brief summary of the specifications and the functionality of the
evaluation board implementing a 45W, wide-range mains AC-DC adapter, based on the L5991 cur-
rent mode PWM controller.
Evaluation results are also presented so as to underline the benefits offered by the L5991 in such a
new generation of equipment that requires a superior efficiency in standby conditions, aiming at com-
pliance with energy saving standards.
Design Specifications
Table 1 summarises the electrical specification of the application. The complete electrical schematic is
shown in fig. 1 and the bill of material is listed in Table 2.
Table 1. Design Specification
Input Voltage Range (V
in
)
Mains Frequency (f
L
)
Maximum Output Power (P
out
)
Output
88 to 264 V
ac
50/60 Hz
45W
V
out
= 18V
I
out
= 2.5A
Full load ripple = 2%
70kHz
18kHz
>80%
≤2W
≤1W
Normal Operation Switching Frequency (f
osc
)
Light Load Switching Frequency (f
SB
)
Target Efficiency (@ P
out
= 45W, V
in
= 88
÷
264 Vac) (η)
Maximum Input Power (@ P
out
= 0.5W, V
in
= 88
÷
264 V
ac
)
Maximum Input Power (Open load, Vin = 88
÷
264 V
ac
)
The selected topology is flyback. The operation mode (@ P
out
= 45W ) is CCM (Continuous Conduc-
tion Mode) at low mains voltage, DCM (Discontinuous Conduction Mode) at high mains voltage. This
design choice relieves the stress on the power components at low mains voltage, compared with a full
DCM solution. The maximum duty cycle will be limited below 50%, thus no slope compensation is
needed.
The application will benefit from the features of the L5991 PWM controller in order to minimise the power
drawn from the mains under light load conditions: low start-up and quiescent currents, and Standby
function.
Evaluation Board Functionality
The outstanding feature of this application board is the so-called Standby Function, directly available
from the L5991. When the load is such that the power demanded of the mains is greater then about
13W the switching frequency of the converter is set at f
osc
= 70 kHz (by means of the capacitor C5 and
the parallel of R12 and R13). When the input power falls below about 8.5W the L5991 automatically
changes the oscillator frequency to f
SB
=18 kHz (by disconnecting R13 internally and charging C5
through R12 only).
These thresholds are "static" values, that is are related to slow load variations. In case of step-load
changes the output of the error amplifier will experience undershoots and overshoots, thus the "dy-
namic" thresholds will be different. Namely, the dynamic threshold for the transition f
osc
→
f
SB
will be
December 1999
1/9
2/9
R22
C17
BD1
DF04M
T1
C15
100
nF
J2
D5
BYW29-200
F1
T2A250V
NTC1
J1
88 to
264
Vac
C1
100
µF
400 V
R1
56 kΩ
D1
BZW06-154
N1
N2
R2
56 kΩ
R4
2.2
MΩ
D2
STTA106
GND
R3
2.2
MΩ
C9
330
µF
25 V
C10
330
µF
25 V
C11
330
µF
25 V
Figure 1. Electrical Schematic
18V/2.5A
AN1134 APPLICATION NOTE
C3 100
nF
R6
330
kΩ
D3
1N4148
R7 4.7
Ω
D4
1N4148
C12
4.7 nF
1kV
R5 47 kΩ
R8 5.6 kΩ
R10
22Ω
R24
DIS
OUT
14
9
8
10
Q1
STP7NB60
R17
4.3
kΩ
OP1
VCC
VC
R11
10
Ω
N3
C2
47 µF
25 V
R9 6.8 kΩ
VREF
DCC
ST-BY
4
3
16
R12
24 kΩ
IC1
ISEN
13
R14
1 kΩ
R18
2.2
kΩ
L5991
7
VFB
R16 100
Ω
C7
220
pF
SS
COMP
PGND
6
11
C8
100
pF
R15
0.47
Ω
1/2 W
R13
8.2
kΩ
TPS5904
1
2
R19
1.2
kΩ
2
RCT
15
12
5
C14
470
nF
C4
100
nF
C6
56 nF
DC-LIM
SGND
7
C13
4
C5
3.3 nF
R20
5.6 kΩ
greater than the static one, whereas the dynamic theshold for the transition f
SB
→
f
osc
will be lower than
the static one (see tables 10 and 11). The gap between static and dynamic thresholds can be reduced to
some extent by slowing down the control loop, although this goes to the detriment of the dynamic re-
sponse of the system.
6
3
R21
348Ω
AN1134 APPLICATION NOTE
Table 2. Component List of the circuit of fig. 1
Symbol
R1, R2
R3, R4
R5
R6
R7
R8, R20
R9
R10
R11
R12
R13
R14
R15
R16
R17
R18
R19
R21
R22, R23, R24
C1
C2
C3, C4, C15
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9, C10, C11
C12
C13, C16, C17
C14
D1
D2
D3, D4
D5
IC1
IC2
T1
OP1
Q1
BD1
NTC1
F1
Value
56kΩ
2.2MΩ
47kΩ
330kΩ
4.7Ω
5.6kΩ
6.8kΩ
22Ω
10Ω
24kΩ
8.2kΩ
1kΩ
0.47Ω
100Ω
4.3kΩ
2.2kΩ
1.2kΩ
348Ω
–
100µF
47µF
100nF
3.3nF
56nF
220pF
100pF
330µF
4.7nF
–
470nF
BZW06-154
STTA106
1N4148
BYW29-200
L5991
–
See specs
TPS5904
STP7NB60FI
DF04M
–
T2A250V
metallic film
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
Note
5%
Not assembled
400V, electrolytic, Rubycon MXR or equivalent
25V, electrolytic
plastic film
plastic film
plastic film
plastic film
plastic film
25V, electrolytic, Panasonic HFZ or equivalent
1kV
Not assembled
plastic film
154V/600W peak Transil, ST
1A/600V Turboswitch, ST
8A/200V Ultrafast, ST
PWM controller, ST
Not assembled
RDT 20001, RD Elettronica Milano (Tel. +39 02 66106489)
Optocoupler + TL431, TI
1.2Ω/600V, ST
GI, or equivalent 1A, 400V
Not assembled (shorted)
2A, 250V ELU
Notes: - if not otherwise specified, all resistors are 1/4W, 1%
- Q1 and D5 are provided with a 15°C/W heatsink
3/9
AN1134 APPLICATION NOTE
Table 3. Transformer Specification (Part Number RDT20001, supplied by RD Elettronica).
Core
Bobbin
Air gap
Leakage inductance
Winding
Pri1
Sec (a)
Sec (b)
Windings
Spec & Build
Pri2
Aux
Wire
AWG27
AWG25
AWG25
AWG27
AWG32
S-F
2-4
11-7
12-8
4-6
3-1
Philips EFD30x15x9, 3C85 Material or equivalent
Horizontal mounting, 12 pins
≅
0.7 mm for an inductance 2-6 of 400
µH
< 10µH
Turns
25
12
12
25
10
Evenly spaced
Bifiliar with Sec (b)
Bifiliar with Sec (a)
Notes
Note: sec (a) and sec (b) are paralleled on the PCB
Figure 2. PCB layout: Silk + component side and bottom layer (top view); 1:1.25 scale.
If the user wants to decrease the power level that causes the switching frequency to be moved from f
osc
to f
SB
(P
inSB
), he or she can add a fixed DC offset (typically in the range 0-200 mV) on L5991’s current
sense pin (13, ISEN). This can be accomplished by means of R24, currently not used. The offset will be
the partition of the reference voltage (pin 4, VREF) through R24 and R14. Consider that applying the off-
set may require the sense resistor R15 to be reduced, as shown in table 4. Increasing R15 is instead the
way to increase P
inSB
.
Table 4. Adjustment of the static standby thresholds
R24
R15[Ω]
DC offset[mV]
P
inSB
[W]
P
inNW
[W]
open
0.47
0
8.3
13.3
100kΩ
0.43
50
6.2
11.9
47kΩ
0.43
100
5.1
12.3
33kΩ
0.43
150
3.6
11.1
24kΩ
0.39
200
2.5
11.5
4/9
AN1134 APPLICATION NOTE
The power level that causes the switching frequency to be moved from f
SB
to f
osc
(P
inNW
) is proportional
to the ratio f
osc
/ f
SB
and depends only slightly on the offset. Thus to reduce P
inNW
, f
SB
needs reducing
and vice versa. If, instead, P
inNW
is increased there is no risk of transformer saturation: the primary peak
current is limited by the sense resistor (R15) and cannot definitely exceed the full load value.
The thresholds are expressed in terms of input power (P
inSB
, P
inNW
); the relevant output power levels
(P
outSB
, P
outNW
) can be obtained by multiplying by the efficiency.
R2 and R3 provide an additional DC offset on the current sense which depends on the supply input volt-
age. This is used for compensating L5991’s delay to output and also minimises the dependence of
PinSB and PinNW on the mains voltage (see table 7).
Additionally, the board includes some protection functions tipically required in AC-DC adapters, such as
overvoltage (OVP) and overcurrent protection (OCP).
OCP is inherent in the functionality of the L5991: the controller provides both pulse-by-pulse and "hic-
cup" mode current limitation (see
Application Information
in the datasheet), which fully protect the con-
verter in case of overload or short circuit.
The OVP, in this specific case, is realised by sensing the supply voltage of the L5991 (generated by the
auxiliary winding) through the divider R5-R6 and feeding this partition into pin 14 (DIS). The divider ratio
is such that the OVP is tripped when the supply voltage exceeds 20V. This protection is particularly ef-
fective in case of feedback disconnection (e.g. optocoupler’s failure).
At maximum load and minimum mains voltage the converter operates at about 48% duty cycle (this is
why slope compensation is not required), however the maximum duty cycle of the L5991 is limited at
about 55% to make allowance for load transients. This implies that during transients resulting from a
large enough step-load change at minimum mains voltage, subharmonic oscillations are likely to arise. It
is, however, acceptable, this being a condition lasting few milliseconds.
To set the maximum duty cycle at 55%, L5991’s pin3 (DC) is biased through R8 and R9 at about 2.26V.
Please refer to
Application Information
in L5991’s datasheet for the calculation of the voltage divider.
The evaluation board is supplied with a start-up circuit simply made up of a dropping resistor (R1+R2), in
series with a diode (D3), that draws current from upstream the bridge rectifier.
This circuit, really inexpensive, dissipates about 300 mW @ 264 Vac. The typical wake-up time is 2.8 s
at 88Vac and 0.8 s at 264 Vac. Should the wake-up time or the consumption become an issue, a more
expensive solution would be adopted. The PCB is also able to accommodate a high-voltage start-up IC
(IC2), the LR745N3 available from SUPERTEX and housed in a small TO92 package. In that case R1,
R2 and D3 would be removed and the consumption of the start-up circuit would be of few mW. The
wake-up time would be about 0.2 s independently of the mains voltage.
To enhance light load efficiency, the EVAL5991-45 board is supplied with the clamping network (for the
leakage inductance spike) made up of a Transil diode (D1) instead of the usual RCD type. The PCB is
able to accommodate the RCD clamp anyway (R23 and C16). The use of the Transil, although slightly
worsens efficiency at full load, allows to save over 100 mW that would have been dissipated on R23 at
light load.
Application board evaluation: getting started
The AC voltage, from an AC source ranging from 88 VRMS to 264 VRMS, will be applied to connector
J1 (close to the bottom left-hand corner). The 18VDC output (connector J2) is located few centimeters
on the right of J1.
Like in any offline circuit, extreme caution must be used when working with the application board
because it contains dangerous and lethal potentials. The application must be tested with an iso-
lation transformer connected between the AC mains and the input of the board to avoid any risk
of electrical shock.
There is a number of test points where significant signals can be probed:
TP1: Q1 drain voltage;
TP2: pin 6 of the L5991: output of the error amplifier;
TP3: pin16 of the L5991: standby indicator;
TP4: pin 2 of the L5991: local oscillator;
TP5: pin 1 of the TPS5904: anode of the LED of the optocoupler.
5/9