International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication

Volume: 4 Issue: 3

ISSN: 2321-8169
496 - 501

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Addressing Overvoltage Protection for High Voltage Loads

Shahera S. Patel
Associate Professor, Department of Electronics, S. P. University, V. V. Nagar
Email: swamibhavin@gmail.com
Abstract : In most of the electrical systems mainly the damage is caused by overvoltage and excess current. This paper addresses the methods
and issues related with the overvoltage protection for high voltage loads. If the voltage exceeds beyond the withstanding voltage capacity of the
device it may damage it. The design and development of primary and secondary protection circuits are described. This includes use of IC
MPS2400 for protecting the loads from damage due to overvoltage. This overvoltage protection controller is used with an external N-channel
MOSFET to isolate the sensitive loads from destructive voltage spikes and surges. The Gate output voltage and Gate sourcing current are
measured. Output Turn on response and Output turn off response are characterized. Results are discussed.
Keywords : Overvoltage protection, Crowbar circuit, Electrical systems, Voltage transient, Gate voltage.

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1.

INTRODUCTION

In most of the electrical and electronics systems, failure and

damage is due to the overvoltage or excess current or
combination of both. High voltage can cause unintended
current paths such as forward or reverse breakdown of diodes
or oxides, reaching their breakdown voltage within integrated
circuits[1]. There is also a direct thermal damage due to the
excess current. Thus, it is necessary and of prime importance
to protect the device against such adverse conditions.
Protection can be done with either voltage activated circuit
elements that open low resistance paths to prevent excess
voltage or with the help of current limiting devices or a
combination of the two. There are various protection methods
which are widely used. Amongst this, the use of primary and
secondary protection is very common. In telecommunication
industry, it is used for lighting and surge protection. In
advanced integrated circuit technology, it is used for ESD
protection [2,3].
2.

(ii) Secondary Protection :

Near sensitive circuits, protection is provided by
secondary protection element. It protects against the let
through stress (Transient) from the primary protection and
surges generated within the building. It is possible to
customize the secondary protection to the special need of the
circuit being protecting. Also, as soon as the secondary
protection begins to carry current, voltage drop in the
resistance between the primary and secondary protection,
either parasitic or intentional, can help turn on the primary
protection. One can also place a current limiting element
between the primary and secondary protection elements to
enhance the safety.

METHODS OF PROTECTION

(i) Primary Protection :

The primary protection element which is
connected closer to the external source of transient is intended
to carry the bulk of the current stress. Fig.1 shows the scheme
of primary and secondary protection for a data line entering in
a building. The primary protection element is located at the
building entrance which prevents surges from lighting causing
fires or electrocution in the building. This protection element
which can carry the large current from a lightning induced
surge normally do not have the fast turn on time and low
trigger voltage needed to protect the sensitive electronic
instrument.
Thus, protection element at an entrance of the
building will also not be able to protect circuits from surges
generated within the building.

3.

CLASSIFICATION OF PROTECTION
DEVICES

Overvoltage protection scheme is classified as

Unidirectional or Bidirectional and Voltage Clamping or
Crowbar circuits. Current limiting devices can be considered
as one time use and resettable.
(i) Unidirectional Protection Methods :
For electrical nodes, protection requirements
with only positive or only negative voltage differ from nodes
whose voltage extends above and below zero volts. This can
be addressed using diode based Transient Voltage Suppressors
(TVS) devices. Figure 2 shows unidirectional TVS protection
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IJRITCC | March 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org

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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication

Volume: 4 Issue: 3

ISSN: 2321-8169
496 - 501

_______________________________________________________________________________________
of an input. The current-voltage curve for a unidirectional
TVS device is same as that of a standard diode.

(iii) Clamp & Crowbar Devices :

Protection devices are also classified as
clamp and crowbar devices. TVS devices are clamp devices.
When any transient occurs or during any stress event, they
clamp the voltage at a defined level. When a trigger voltage is
reached, a crowbar device attempts to create a short circuit. It
is like putting a metal crowbar across the high voltage to
provide a short. This is illustrated in Figure 4.

If such TVS system is inserted into the circuit as shown in

Fig.2, the signal voltage will be undistorted if it remains
between 0V and the TVSs reverse breakdown voltage. The
TVS device protects by reverse bias breakdown for positive
stress on the signal line where as such system protects by
forward bias operation for negative voltage stresses. The
Unidirectional TVS device can be inserted with the opposite
polarity when the signal ranges between 0V and a negative
voltage.
(ii) Bidirectional Protection methods :
A bidirectional TVS device can be formed by
using two anti-parallel diodes in series as shown in Fig. 3.
When it is used as a protection device, the input voltage can
range over positive and negative values.

4.

SELECTION OF PROTECTION DEVICES

The choice of protection element depends on the nature of

the circuit being protected and the nature of the external
stress. While choosing various protection elements one has to
take into account several important technical considerations.
Fig.5 shows very elementary circuit indicating use of
protection element. The signal line is connected to an input of
sensing circuit. The signal line enters the system from an
unprotected electrical environment. The signal line can be
exposed to a variety of external stresses with various voltage
and current levels well beyond those that the input can
withstand. The protection element ensures that the voltage on
the input remains within safe limits.

Protection is provided by reverse bias breakdown in series

with a forward bias diode in both polarities.

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_______________________________________________________________________________________

International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication

Volume: 4 Issue: 3

ISSN: 2321-8169
496 - 501

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Figure 6 shows the normal voltage range of the input, as well
as the maximum range of voltage above which damage may
occur.
The current-voltage curves of two protection elements viz.
voltage clamping device and a crowbar device is shown in
Fig.6

The protection element turns on at 5 V, safely above the

normal operating voltage and can carry in excess of 25A
without the voltage exceeding the unsafe operating voltage.
This type of protection is very powerful tool for protecting
against an ESD stress. Most interfaces are more complex than
a single line with respect to ground. Differential signals and
systems such as the telephone network which use
a
combination of primary and secondary protection need special
considerations. The capacitance of the protection element is
often more important than the low voltage resistance of the
protection element, especially for high speed circuits.
5.

OVERVOLTAGE PROTECTOR FOR HIGH

VOLTAGE LOADS
Electrical transients in the form of voltage surges have always
existed in electrical distribution systems. Many electronic and
electrical instruments/devices can be damaged by voltage
transients. The difference between them is the amount of
energy they can absorb before any damage occurs. Since most
of the modern semiconductor devices such as low voltage
MOSFETs and integrated circuits can be damaged by
disturbances that exceed only 10 to 12 volts or so, their
probability to survive is poor in unprotected environments.

For normal operating voltage range, the resistances of both

protection elements are high, ensuring integrity of input
signal. The voltage clamp protection looks well suited because
the voltage never enters the damage region. The crowbar
circuit is also capable for providing protection.
How much low resistance is required to prevent the voltage
reaching the danger zone depends on how much current the
external stress can provide. Test standards specify the voltage
and current waveforms that a product needs to survive in a
given environment. Fig. 7 illustrates that the system is
required to survive a stress with a peak current of 25A. The
circuit being protected has an input with an operating voltage
of 0V to 3.6V and damage to the input is expected if the
voltage exceeds 8V.

It is observed that in many cases, as semiconductors has

evolved, their ruggedness has diminished. The widespread use
of MOSFET and GaAs based FET technologies as well as
trend to produce smaller and faster devices has led to an
increased unsafe protection[4]. High impedance inputs and
small junction sizes limit the ability of these devices to absorb
energy and to conduct large currents. Therefore, it is required
to use safe electronic components with devices specially
designed to cope with these hazards[5,6,7].
TPS 2400 is one of the most suited overvoltage protection
controller. It is used with an external N-channel MOSFET as
shown in Figure 8.

It isolates the sensitive electronics/electrical system from

destructive voltage spikes and surges. It is specially designed
to prevent large voltage transients associated with automotive
environments ( Load dump) from damaging sensitive
circuitry. When potentially damaging voltage levels are
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IJRITCC | March 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org

_______________________________________________________________________________________

International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication

Volume: 4 Issue: 3

ISSN: 2321-8169
496 - 501

_______________________________________________________________________________________
detected by the overvoltage protection controller, the supply is
disconnected from the load before any damage can occur.
TPS 2400 can be used to protect high voltage loads having up
to 100V overvoltage protection. It is having under voltage
(3V) shutdown threshold and overvoltage(6.9V) shutdown
threshold. It is available in 5 pin SOT-23 package. Its
advantages include fast response time and survival during
external overvoltage events.
Figure 9 represents the block diagram showing the application
of TPS 2400 to protect the load

The large in-rush current may damage power connectors P1

and J1 and power switch S1. If power supply output resistance
and inductance is increased, it helps in reducing the inrush
current. But increase in R1 and L1 increases system power
dissipation where as increase in inrush current causes decrease
in switch and connector reliability by way of allowing
contacts to arc when they bounce.
(ii) Turn On voltage slew rate control :

When the overvoltage protector disconnects the load from

power supply, the power supply output voltage spikes as the
stored energy in inductor L is released. A zener diode ZD1 or
a small capacitor can be used to keep the voltage spike at a
safe level.
6.

EXPERIMENTAL, RESULTS & DISCUSSION

The overvoltage protector is used to control the Load inrushcurrent and Turn-on voltage Slew Rate. This is described in
detail.
(i) To control Load inrush-current :
Figure 10 shows the representation of an appliance
with a plug-in power supply. When power is first applied to
the load, the large filter capacitor C1 connected across load
acts like a short circuit. This produces immediately an in-rush
current that is limited by the power supply output resistance
and inductance R1 & L1 respectively. This in-rush current is
much higher than the steady-state load current.

Fig 11 is an improvement of Fig 10 which limits the inrush

current within a safe limit. Here, IC U1, charges the transistor
Q1 gate capacitance C(G) with a 5 A connected as a source
follower so that load voltage slew rate and gate voltage slew
rate are same and equal to VL/ t = 5 A /CG -----(1)
The corresponding inrush current is,
I INRUSH CL X VL/ t = ( CL /CG ) X 5 A ----(2)
If we select gate capacitance as 2 nF, as per eq.1 we get 2500
V/S. According from eq.2 the inrush current can be
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IJRITCC | March 2016, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org

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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication

Volume: 4 Issue: 3

ISSN: 2321-8169
496 - 501

_______________________________________________________________________________________
approximated as 250mA.Figure 12 shows voltage startup
curve with input voltage of 3V.

(i)Undervoltage lockout threshold :

VUV = (1+2.49K/5.11K)X(3V+0.5 V)
Therefore,VUV = 5.21 V
(ii)Undervoltage hysteresis :
Vhyst(UV)=(1+2.49K/5.11K)X100mv
Therefore, Vhyst =144mv
(iii)Overvoltage protection threshold:
VUV+(1+2.49K/5.11K)X(6.9v+0.5v) = 11V
(iv)Overvoltage hysteresis:
Vhyst(OV) = (1+2.49K/5.11K )X150mv=223mv

An external capacitor and a series 1K resistor can be

connected to the gate of Q1 and ground to further reduce
inrush current. For this gate capacitance (CG) is considered as
sum of the internal and external MOSFET gate capacitance.
The external resistor (1K) decouples the external gate
capacitor. So the TPS2400 device can rapidly turn off
transistor Q1 in response to an overvoltage condition[8].
(iii) Driving a High voltage load :
Figure 13 is used to drive a high voltage load. This circuit
provides overvoltage protection to a load with an operating
voltage of up to 100V.

The threshold and hysteresis levels for this figure are defined
by,
Vt (threshold) = ( 1 + R1/R2) X ( Vt (UV or OV)+ 0.5 )
Vhyst= ( 1 + R1/R2) X Vhyst
The Vt represents the device undervoltage lockout or
overvoltage protection threshold and the parameter V hyst is the
corresponding hysteresis.
If we consider R1 = 2.49 K and R2 = 5.11 K , then the

Capacitors C1 and Crss(i.e gate to drain capacitance) of

transistor Q1 set the turn on voltage slew rate that is given by
VL/ t = 5 A /C1 Crss
The value of R3 is typically in the range of
1K
10K.This resistor decouples capacitor C1 from the circuit so
that the TPS2400 can rapidly turn off transistorQ1 in
response to an overvoltage transient. Zener diode D1 is
required only if transistor Q1 has a gate to source voltage
rating less than 20V.
If 100V transients are present, transistors Q1 and Q2 are rated
at 100V or higher for VDSS and VCEO.
Various parametes of overvoltage protection controller are
measured.
Figure 14 shows graph of gate voltage versus gate sourcing
current.

As shown in Figure14, Gate current is constant up to certain

Gate Voltage and then it decreases. In case of higher junction
temperature the Gate current is more compared to low
junction temperature[9].
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International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication

Volume: 4 Issue: 3

ISSN: 2321-8169
496 - 501

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Fig 15 shows characteristic of input supply voltage versus
gate output voltage.

As shown in Figure 15, for a 3V input supply voltage, Gate

output is approximately 11V. It increases sharply up to 18 V
between input voltage of 3 to 5V. When V IN is between 5 to
7V, it is almost constant. When VIN is above 7V Gate voltage
is reduced to zero[10].
Fig 16 shows output Turn On response when a load
resistance RLOAD of 100 is connected and a step input of 5v
is applied then output starts increasing after 600s and
becomes constant after saturation.

CONCLUSION
The primary and secondary overvoltage protection methods
are discussed. The I-V characteristics of unidirectional and
bidirectional protection methods using crowbar circuits are
addressed. The overvoltage protector for high voltage loads
represents the limits of threshold voltage and hysteresis
voltage. The application of TPS2400 to protect high voltage
loads is in case of overvoltage is designed and developed. The
use of TPS2400 to control the load inrush current and turnon
voltage slew rate are represented. Results shows that device
turnoff response is very fast. Thus, protecting the loads safely
in case of overvoltage.
REFERENCES

Fig.17 shows output turnoff response for a load resistance of

100. When the gate is triggered, output is high. As soon as
gate voltage starts decreasing output reduces very fast. The
output turnoff response is about 40ns.

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