Shadowed EEPROM
The DS3882 incorporates SRAM-shadowed EEPROM
memory locations for all memory that needs to be
retained during power cycling. At power-up, SEEB (bit 7
of the BLC register) is low which causes the shadowed
locations to act as ordinary EEPROM. Setting SEEB
high disables the EEPROM write function and causes
the shadowed locations to function as ordinary SRAM
cells. This allows an infinite number of write cycles with-
out causing EEPROM damage and also eliminates the
EEPROM write time, tW from the write cycle. Because
memory changes made when SEEB is set high are not
written to EEPROM, these changes are not retained
through power cycles, and the power-up EEPROM val-
ues are the last values written with SEEB low.
Channel Phasing
The lamp-frequency MOSFET gate turn-on times are
out of phase between the two channels during the burst
period. This reduces the inrush current that would result
from all lamps switching simultaneously, and hence
eases the design requirements for the DC supply. It is
important to note that it is the lamp-frequency signals
that are phased, not the DPWM (burst) signals.
Lamp Dimming Control
The DS3882 provides two independent methods of lamp
dimming that can be combined to achieve a dimming ratio
of 300:1 or greater. The first method is “burst” dimming,
which uses a digital pulse-width-modulated (DPWM)
signal (22.5Hz to 440Hz) to control the lamp brightness.
The second is “analog” dimming, which is accomplished
by adjusting the lamp current. Burst dimming provides
128 linearly spaced brightness steps. Analog dimming
provides smaller substeps that allow incremental bright-
ness changes between burst dimming steps. This ability
is especially useful for low-brightness dimming changes,
where using burst dimming alone would cause visible
brightness step changes. Analog dimming also allows
the brightness to be reduced below the minimum burst
dimming level, which provides for the maximum dimming
range.
Burst dimming can be controlled using a user-supplied
analog voltage on the BRIGHT pin or through the I2C
interface. Analog dimming can only be controlled through
the I2C interface. Therefore, for applications that require
the complete dimming range and resolution capability of
the DS3882, I2C dimming control must be used.
Burst Dimming
Burst dimming increases/decreases the brightness by
adjusting (i.e., modulating) the duty cycle of the DPWM
signal. During the high period of the DPWM cycle,
the lamps are driven at the selected lamp frequency
(40kHz to 100kHz) as shown in Figure 6. This part of
the cycle is called the “burst” period because of the lamp
frequency burst that occurs during this time. During the
low period of the DPWM cycle, the controller disables the
MOSFET gate drivers so the lamps are not driven. This
causes the current to stop flowing in the lamps, but the
time is short enough to keep the lamps from de-ionizing.
The DS3882 can generate its own DPWM signal internal-
ly (set DPSS = 0 in CR1), which can then be sourced to
other DS3882s if required, or the DPWM signal can be
supplied from an external source (set DPSS = 1 in CR1).
To generate the DPWM signal internally, the DS3882
requires a clock (referred to as the dimming clock) to set
the DPWM frequency. The user can supply the dimming
clock by setting POSCS = 1 in CR1 and applying an
external 22.5Hz to 440Hz signal at the POSC pin, or the
dimming clock can be generated by the DS3882’s inter-
nal oscillator (set POSCS = 0 in CR1), in which case the
frequency is set by an external resistor at the POSC pin.
These two dimming clock options are shown in Figure 3.
Regardless of whether the dimming clock is generat-
ed internally or sourced externally, the POSCR0 and
POSCR1 bits in CR2 must be set to match the desired
dimming clock frequency.
The internally generated DPWM signal can be provided
at the PSYNC I/O pin (set RGSO = 0 in CR1) for sourc-
ing to other DS3882s, if any, in the circuit. This allows all
DS3882s in the system to be synchronized to the same
DPWM signal. A DS3882 that is generating the DPWM
signal for other DS3882s in the system is referred to as
the DPWM source. When bringing in an externally gen-
erated DPWM signal, either from another DS3882 acting
as a DPWM source or from some other user-provided
source, it is input into the PSYNC I/O pin of the DS3882,
and the receiving DS3882 is referred to a DPWM receiver.
In this mode, the BRIGHT and POSC inputs are disabled
and should be grounded (see Figure 5).
When the DPWM signal is generated internally, its duty
cycle (and, thus, the lamp brightness) is controlled either
by a user-supplied analog voltage at the BRIGHT input or
through the I2C interface by varying the 7-bit PWM code in
the BPWM register. When using the BRIGHT pin to control
burst dimming, a voltage of less than 0.5V causes the
DS3882 to operate with the minimum burst duty cycle, pro-
viding the lowest brightness setting, while any voltage great-
er than 2.0V causes a 100% burst duty cycle (i.e., lamps
always being driven), which provides the maximum bright-
ness. For voltages between 0.5V and 2V, the duty cycle
varies linearly between the minimum and 100%. Writing a
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DS3882 Dual-Channel CCFL Controller