LOAD DUMP PROTECTION

Pravat Kumar Behera

FormerlyTechnical Specialist-Controls, Cummins Technologies India Pvt Ltd

B.E(Electronics & Telecommunication),U.C.E,Burla(INDIA)
Pbehera1998@gmail.com

Abstract

In automotive electronics, it refers to the disconnection of the vehicle battery from the
alternator while the battery is being charged. Due to such a disconnection of the battery,
other loads connected to the alternator see a surge in power line. The peak voltage of
this surge may be as high as 200 V and the surge may take up to 400 ms to decay.

1 INTRODUCTION
The windings of an alternator have a large inductance. When the vehicle battery is
being charged, the alternator supplies it with a large current, the magnitude of which is
controlled by the current in the field winding. If the battery becomes disconnected while
it is being charged the alternator load suddenly decreases.However the alternator's
regulator cannot quickly cause the field current to decrease sufficiently, so the alternator
continues to generate a large current. This large current causes the voltage on the
vehicle bus to increase significantly -- well above the normal and regulated level.All the
loads connected to the alternator see this high voltage spike. The strength of the spike
depends on many factors including the speed at which the alternator is rotating and the
current which was being supplied to the battery before it was disconnected. These spike
may peak at as high as 200 V and may take up to 400 ms to decay.This kind of a spike
would damage many semiconductor devices, e.g. ECUs, that may be connected to the
alternator.

2 STANDARDS
Various automotive standards such as ISO 7637-2 and SAE J1113-11 specify a
standard shape of the load dump pulse against which automotive electronic
components may be designed.

Figure 1:Typical load-dump condition circuit

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Test Pulses 5a and 5b (ISO 7637-2)
This test is a simulation of a load dump transient, occurring in the event of a discharged
battery being disconnected while the alternator is generating charging current and with
other loads remaining on the alternator circuit at this moment.The pulse duration
depends essentially on the time constant of the field excitation circuit and on the pulse
amplitude.

Possible reasons for the disconnection of the battery as described above are:
-cable corrosion
-poor or loose connection
-intentional disconnection with the engine running

The following general considerations of the dynamic behaviour of an alternator during

load dump apply:
a) The internal resistance of an alternator, in the case of load dump, is mainly a function
of alternator rotational speed and excitation current.
b) The internal resistance Ri of the load dump test pulse generator shall be obtained
from the following relationship:
Ri =[10 x Unom x Nact] /[0.8 x Irat x 12,000 min-1]
where Unom is the specified voltage of the alternator
Irat is the specified current at an alternator speed of 6,000min-1 (as given in ISO 8854)
Nact is the actual alternator speed, in reciprocal minutes
c) The pulse is determined by the peak voltage Us, the calmpe voltage Us*, the internal
resistor Ri and the pulse duration td.

The test pulses 5a and 5b are specified as follows

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3 TYPICAL DISCRETE LOAD DUMP CIRCUIT (ISOLATE LOAD FROM
TRANSIENT SOURCE)

Here the load dump signal is represented by V1 176Vdc. As per circuit architecture as
input exceed 36Vdc the breakdown voltage of Zener PR1, PNP transistor Q1 becomes
ON.Under this condition Source and Gate of MOSFET Q8 becomes same potential and
it turned off.
Under normal condition, the lowest input voltage >=8Vdc. Under this condition transistor
Q1 remain off and Gate to Source voltage of Q8 become negative and Q8 turn on.
During the black out period power is supplied to electronic board through onboard Bulk
Capacitor C1 which may be split into multiple. V2 represents the latching signal that
may come from Microcontroller. Q8 is a P-Channel MOSFET with maximum
Drain−Source Voltage -200Vdc, maximum Drain Current− Continuous -7.27A @100°C
and Static Drain−Source On−Resistance between 0.36 to 0.47 Ω.
The energy, E, stored in a capacitor with a capacitance, C, and an applied voltage, Vc
E = 1/2 * C * Vc²
In major design we use linear Voltage regulator whose output voltage is Vo with load
current IL
As the bulk capacitor in power supply will provide energy during black out period t.
E = 1/2 * C * Vc² = Vo * IL * t
C = 2*[Vo * IL * t] / Vc²

4 REFERENCE
1) https://www.theemcshop.com/246-pulse-5a-5b-7-load-dump-simulators

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