Watch Those Unintended Resonant Responses
Understand how filter ringing can lead to power-supply failures
By Robert Kollman, Texas Instruments
Power Management DesignLine
(02/08/10, 06:00:00 AM EST)
Have you ever snapped on the input voltage to your power supply and found that your power supply has failed? A rapid input-voltage rise time and high Q resonant circuit that can produce twice the voltage of the input supply may be the problem. Similar problems can occur if you rapidly interrupt current flow in inductive elements.

This article looks at how the resonant response of standard filters may induce ringing and overshoot, which in turn may cause power-supply failures. To read the article as a pdf document (no registration required), click here.

(Editor's note: click here for a complete, linked list of all previous installments of the Power Tips! series.)

About the author

Robert Kollman is a Senior Applications Manager and Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Texas Instruments. He has more than 30 years of experience in the power electronics business and has designed magnetics for power electronics ranging from sub-watt to sub-megawatt with operating frequencies into the megahertz range. Robert earned a BSEE from Texas A&M University, and a MSEE from Southern Methodist University.