IR2136 operational question/failure

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User22086
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Hi all,

I have made a 36V 250W BLDC driver using the IR2136 controlled by a dspic33FJ. I have 10 of these designs running in the field with mostly success... Somehow there is a situation the driver doesn't work anymore. If i replace the IR2136 on the board everything works as expected...
The PWM signals are 3.3V and i have te EN input also connected to the dsPic digital output 3.3V.

Meanwhile i found the following in the datasheet for the EN input:

Do i need to operate this EN input as 5V to work properly?

5198.attach

Can anyone please confirm me if this is the case or 3.3v on EN input is fine?
This will help me a lot in finding the issue...

Many thanks in advance!
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Srivatsa
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General guideline is to have the VCC capacitor to be 10X the bootstrap capacitor and both these capacitors need to be of ceramic make and close to the driver IC.

More info on sizing the bootstrap capacitor can be found at https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-Bootstrap_Network_Analysis-ApplicationNotes-v01_00-EN.pdf?fil...

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Srivatsa
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Hi,

The IR2136 will work with either 3.3 V or 5 V input for enable pin. See page 3 for the specifications as below:

5200.attach

5201.attach

On the failure, is it the driver only that is failing or other components also fail? Is any particular section of the driver failing like VCC to VSS short or HO / LO shorted etc.? After replacing the drivers, is the failure seen again on the same boards?

Thanks and regards,

Srivatsa
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User22086
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Srivatsa wrote:
Hi,

The IR2136 will work with either 3.3 V or 5 V input for enable pin. See page 3 for the specifications as below:

5200.attach

5201.attach

On the failure, is it the driver only that is failing or other components also fail? Is any particular section of the driver failing like VCC to VSS short or HO / LO shorted etc.? After replacing the drivers, is the failure seen again on the same boards?

Thanks and regards,

Srivatsa


Hi Srivatsa,

Thanks for your reply and confirmation about the control voltages.

I just received again a broken board with the same complain. everything works except the BLDC motor doesn't run anymore.

1. Main Power supply is 40V from 36V Lithium Ion.
2. Vcc is 16V. Powered from a LM2576HV.
3. Enable signal is 3.3V.
4. There is no short between VCC to VSS.
5. There is no HO/LO shorted.

I will replace the IR2136 and check if everything is functional again.

If any suggestions to tackle this problem please let me knw.

Many thanks for helping!
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User22086
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Ok.. I have been struggling with the same issue today.

I have 1 board on which the IR2136 fails after use. After replacing this IC the boards works but driving the motor again will cause the IR2136 to fail.

I disconnected the Itrip input to eliminate problems from my current measurement. I have placed TVS 16V over Vcc. Same issue after enabling the motor and let it spin under light load 36V/~1A finished..No smoke, no shorts but just dead.

After replacing the IR2136 for 3 times i tried using a new motor and the unit keeps working as it should. Same type of motor but it looks like IR2136 keeps working just fine on different loads. No problems so far except i do not understand what causes this?

Does anyone has a suggestion or idea how the motor can cause the IR2136 to get damaged? Can i protect the IR2136 for this?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions
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Srivatsa
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Are you able to find out what part of the gate driver is failing?

Is Fault triggered before failure? Can you replicate the failure in your lab?

One of the recommendation is to reduce the bootstrap capacitance to around 1 uF and increase the Vcc capacitor to 10 uF. Both need to be of ceramic type.

Make sure the IC pin voltages are not exceeded and are within limits of the specifications in pages 2 through 6 of the IR2136 datasheet.
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User22086
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Thanks for your reply Srivatsa,

I will try to reproduce the problem while logging the fault pin.

Is there any documentation/ explanation about the effect off reducing the bootstrap capacitance from 3.3uF to 1 uF? I will try this but would like to know what the reason is.

Thanks!
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Srivatsa
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General guideline is to have the VCC capacitor to be 10X the bootstrap capacitor and both these capacitors need to be of ceramic make and close to the driver IC.

More info on sizing the bootstrap capacitor can be found at https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-Bootstrap_Network_Analysis-ApplicationNotes-v01_00-EN.pdf?fil...
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