Fundamentals of power system ORing

Martin Patoka, Engineering Supervisor, Texas Instruments - March 21, 2007

Many modern devices and systems require power architectures with redundancy, summation of
power for capacity, or selection of multiple sources. In this article, these functions generically are
referred to as ORing. Systems using ORing are ubiquitous and varied in size and complexity. This
includes systems such as portable devices, blade servers, and telecom switches.

Issues of power combination, selection, hot-plug and bus protection rise once the application
requires more than a single power source. Paralleling sources without protection results in
interrupted operation due to failures, shorts, hot-plug or removal of one device. While these
functions are similar to typical hot swap functions of inrush and fault protection, they are distinctly
different in their position and operation. Originally, semiconductor diodes performed this ORing
function, and still are the best solution in some applications. MOSFETs became the basis for higher
performance solutions as they evolved.

There are a number of situations where power must be combined between sources to power the
load. High-power systems like blade servers, or shelf-based telecom systems, may have multiple
power supplies combined for flexibility, redundancy or capacity in an N+1 configuration. Typically,
these supplies are replaceable while the system is operating (hot-pluggable), and are circuit cards.
Another example is an appliance that might run from an AC adapter, USB or battery power.

ORing basics
ORing architectures
The power combining topology is demonstrated in Figure 1. The diode symbol may be implemented
as a semiconductor diode, or a higher-performance functional block. Physically, ORing could be
located in several places. ORing could be located within the power supply, if grouped to the left of
line B. The ORing also could be located on a backplane or midplane, if located between lines A and
B. Finally, the ORing could be on the load, if located to the right of line A.

Figure 1. Multiple Power Inputs

ORing protects the load bus by blocking shorted-output power conversion units, and isolating their
discharged output capacitors when a unit is connected during system operation. Active or passive
load sharing is commonly used in systems with N+1 redundancy to keep all the power conversion
blocks online. ORing implementations aid passive sharing due to inherent resistance.

An application with different sources may not require sharing between them, but simply operate
from the highest supply voltage. ORing selects the highest voltage source, while protecting the bus
from shorts and transients when other input supplies are connected.

Figure 2 demonstrates a redundant power topology with ORing grouped in a subsystem or plug-in
module. This topology is slightly different from Figure 1 in that redundant buses can be shared by
multiple loads. ORing protects the buses while allowing each load to benefit from improved up-time
resulting from independent supply and bus structures. The ORing device must protect each bus from
a short on the redundant bus, while permitting the load to operate from either or both buses during
normal operation. It is important that the units have some form of hot swap and current limit
because the load is on the low-impedance side of the OR function. Usually, this topology occurs in
high-end systems like telecom or server applications where the ORed voltages could be -48V, a 12V
midrail, or a low voltage such as 5V, but could also be an appliance with multiple power inputs.

Figure 2. Redundant Power Feeds

ORing MOSFET
ORing MOSFET
Figure 3 is a graphical comparison of the operating range of an ORing MOSFET and an equivalent
discrete diode. The advantage of the MOSFET is gained when IFL * RDSON (IFL is the full-load current)
is less than a diode forward voltage. A 20A load would dissipate 10W in a 0.5V Schottky diode, but
only 1W in a 2.5mΩ- RDSON MOSFET. The voltage drop across the MOSFET is only 50mV in this
example.
Figure 3. MOSFET Operating Region

A MOSFET requires some control to emulate the functions of a diode as shown in Figure 4. N-
channel MOSFETs are used when the best performance and cost are desired, and P channel devices
when lowest quiescent current is desired in small battery powered equipment. The MOSFET is
configured with the inherent body diode in the desired direction of current. The control must drive
the NMOS gate high with respect to the source, enhancing the MOSFET channel when VAC goes
positive. This creates a low resistance path between the source and the load in parallel with the
internal diode. Conversely, the gate must be driven to, or below, the source voltage when VAC goes
negative to block reverse current through the channel.

Figure 4. ORing Implementation

Once there is active control, a number of features that go beyond a discrete semiconductor can be
implemented. These include:

● Selective turn on and turn off thresholds

● Turn on and turn off speed control
● Forcing the gate off for test and blocking applications
● Switch state reporting
● Shorted gate reporting

Forcing, reporting, and monitoring features become important in high-availability systems where the
failure of an ORing device could compromise system reliability.

MOSFET control
Commonly used MOSFET control
There are two methods of MOSFET control commonly used. The first is a simple comparator
monitoring VAC. The second is a regulated VAC approach. The comparator approach shown on the left
in Figure 5 is the simplest. However, it has a serious drawback. In its most basic implementation,
the MOSFET is turned on if the voltage is greater than 0V, and off if the voltage is less than 0V. If
the load current can approach 0A, VAC decreases to 0V, and is just at the comparator threshold. This
can lead to undesirable cycling operation which is made worse by system noise. To account for this
operation, the comparator is given some hysteresis and a negative threshold (VRT). The drawback is
that a continuous reverse current up to VRT/ RDSON is permitted. The ability to set an accurate
threshold is essential to controlling reverse current.

Figure 5. Comparator Control with Hysteresis

An implementation of the comparator control is demonstrated by the TPS2411, shown on the right in
Figure 5. It has two comparators with some logic to implement the composite comparator function.
This is because the two comparators have different speed and drive requirements. While turn on
may be slow at some positive VAC threshold, turn off is fast, requiring a special comparator. The turn
off comparator has a programmable threshold, and provision for differential input filtering. Partial
turn off and oscillation, caused by the gate drive and bus transient, is prevented by a minimum turn
off pulse.

A simplified regulated VAC approach is on the left in Figure 6. This method uses a linear MOSFET
gate control to force VAC to VP. The regulated voltage is selected lower than IFL * RDSON (IFL is the full-
load MOSFET current) to avoid increasing the full-load voltage drop and power loss. VP should be
well inside the green box of preferred operation shown in Figure 3. The amplifier output trends
higher as VAC meets, and attempts to exceed, VP. While IA * RDSON ≤ VP, the amplifier will actively
control the gate. The amplifier output reaches the bias supply voltage, VG, if VAC increases beyond VP.
Conversely, the amplifier drives the gate low if VAC is less than VP, turning the MOSFET off before
the current reverses. This technique has a drawback in applications with step loads from light to
heavy. The output voltage drops until the amplifier responds and re-regulates VAC. This occurs
because the gate control effectively has turned the MOSFET into a current source, preventing the
load from drawing an instantaneous current increase from the source.

Figure 6. VAC Regulation Control

An implementation of the VAC regulation control is demonstrated by the TPS2410, shown to the right
in Figure 6. This controller has an internally compensated linear amplifier for VAC regulation, and a
fast comparator to respond to abrupt voltage reversals. This combination is required because a
relatively slow amplifier is required for stable VAC regulation. The amplifier must not have excessive
interaction with the other ORing controllers, and handle the random noise on the bus without
switching. The fast comparator permits fast reaction to bus faults. Its unadjusted turn off threshold
is slightly positive, maintaining the advantages of this control technique. Its threshold may be
adjusted negative in order to avoid tripping on small bus transients. However, static reverse current
is still limited by the amplifier. As in Figure 6, the fast comparator input may be filtered to reduce
the sensitivity to normal bus noise and glitches. Partial turn off and oscillation, caused by the gate
drive and bus turn off transient, is prevented by the minimum turn off pulse. ORing considerations
ORing considerations
High-performance applications need accurate, small thresholds and regulation voltages in high-
current and low-voltage applications. Large forward turn-on threshold voltage, due to wide
tolerance, leads to one of the redundant sources shown in Figures 1 and 2 being inactive until a
failure occurs. An undesirable voltage droop occurs when the system is at full load and the inactive
source is instantaneously required to supply current. A wide VP tolerance may result in VP > IFL *
RDSON, causing excess forward voltage drop with lower efficiency. In a similar fashion, a wide-
tolerance turnoff threshold will increase the amount of static reverse current permitted with
comparator control.

The dynamic aspects of control are as important as the static considerations. Consider that the
circuit of Figure 2 is operating with both ORing devices on, and bus A is instantly shorted to ground.
A reverse current will flow from bus B into A until the ORing circuit turns off. The reverse current
causes a voltage sag on bus B, followed by a voltage overshoot as the current in the fault is abruptly
cut off and the excess inductive energy in bus A discharges into the load. The turn off comparator
should have fast response to relatively small bus voltage reversals to lessen the effects of these
faults. This is especially true for configurations where the ORing is located in the middle or end of a
distribution, because there will be greater inductance in the nearby buses.

In contrast to the need to have a fast response, the implementation must also ignore the normal
impulses, switching transients, and ripple present in the power distribution system. Operation of
nearby ORing controllers creates transients with the potential to cause false tripping. Most systems
require a fair amount of low impedance capacitive bypassing on the common bus to control
transients. These transients are caused by faults, unit insertions, load transients, and actual faults.
Transient control and ORing performance must be matched for a successful system design.

ORing located within a redundant power supply has a bit more latitude in speed. This is because the
output capacitors tend to slow the voltage rate-of-fall, when an internal short occurs. This is
dependent on the nature of the output filter and the rest of the system.

An ORing solution should have the capability of being tuned to each application. Often it is difficult
to predict the transients on a bus during system design. In part, this is due to the unknown
parasitics, combinations and configurations of the loads, and system evolution over time. The true
environment may be understood only after the system is built and tested.

Conclusion
Power ORing is an important tool in creating flexible and redundant powering systems. Applications
vary widely in their power levels and key performance parameters. Each application must be
considered for its own particular requirements when designing a solution. ORing solution tradeoffs
include RDSON, control method, bus and bypassing design, switching thresholds and speed, and noise
environment. Lastly, like all hardware designs, be prepared to test and tune the solution.

About the author

Martin Patoka is an Engineering Supervisor with the Power Management group at Texas
Instruments (TI) where he works on hot swap and Power over Ethernet products. Prior to joining TI,
he worked for a number of years in the telecommunications and data communications industries.
Martin received his BSEE from Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, and an MSEE from
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.