7.4.5 Maximum Duty Cycle and Input Drop-Out Voltage

There is a forced off-time of 500 ns implemented each cycle to ensure sufficient time for the diode current to be sampled. This forced off-time limits the maximum duty cycle of the buck switch. The maximum duty cycle will vary with the operating frequency.

Where Fs is the oscillator frequency. Limiting the maximum duty cycle will raise the input dropout voltage. The input dropout voltage is the lowest input voltage required to maintain regulation of the output voltage. An approximation of the input dropout voltage is:

Equation 4.

Where V_D is the voltage drop across the re-circulatory diode. Operating at high switching frequency raises the minimum input voltage necessary to maintain regulation.