TDA7370

QUAD POWER AMPLIFIER FOR CAR RADIO

MINIMUM EXTERNAL COMPONENT COUNT

HIGH CURRENT CAPABILITY
NO BOOTSTRAP CAPACITORS
NO BOUCHEROT CELLS
CLIP DETECTOR OUTPUT
HIGH OUTPUT POWER
HIGH APPLICATION FLEXIBILITY
FIXED GAIN MULTIWATT 15
VERY LOW STAND-BY CURRENT (1A typ)
ORDERING NUMBER: TDA7370
NO SWITCH ON/OFF NOISE

PROTECTIONS:
OUTPUT AC/DC SHORT CIRCUIT TO GND DESCRIPTION
AND TO VS
VERY INDUCTIVE LOADS The TDA7370 is a new technology class AB quad
channels Audio Power Amplifier in Multiwatt pack-
OVERRATING CHIP TEMPERATURE age designed for car radio applications.
LOAD DUMP VOLTAGE Thanks to the fully complementary PNP/NPN out-
FORTUITOUS OPEN GND put configuration the high power performances of
REVERSE BATTERY the TDA7370 are obtained without bootstrap ca-
ESD pacitors.

BLOCK DIAGRAM

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TDA7370

PIN CONNECTION (Top view)

ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS

Symbol Parameter Value Unit
VS DC Supply Voltage 28 V
VOP Operating Supply Voltage 18 V
VPEAK Peak Supply Voltage (t = 50ms) 50 V
IO Output Peak Current (not rep. t = 100s) 4.5 A
IO Output Peak Current (rep. f > 10Hz) 3.5 A
Ptot Power Dissipation (Tcase = 85C) 36 W
Tstg, Tj Storage and Junction Temperature -40 to 150 C

THERMAL DATA
Symbol Description Value Unit
Rth j-case Thermal Resistance Junction-case Max 1.8 C/W

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ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS (Refer to the test circuit; VS = 14.4V; RL = 4, Tamb = 25C,

f = 1kHz, unless otherwise specified)
Symbol Parameter Test Condition Min. Typ. Max. Unit
VS Supply Range 8 18 V
Id Total Quiescent Drain Current RL = 150 mA
PO Output Power R L = 4; THD = 10%
Single Ended 5.5 6.5 W
Bridge 20 W
d Distortion R L = 4;
Single Ended, PO = 0.1 to 4W 0.5 %
Bridge, PO = 0.1 to 10W 0.03 %
CT Cross Talk f = 1kHz Bridge 65 dB
f = 10kHz Bridge 55 dB
f = 1kHz Single Ended 60 dB
f = 10kHz Single Ended 50 dB
R IN Input Impedance Single Ended 20 K
Bridge 15 K
GV Voltage Gain Single Ended 20 dB
Bridge 26 dB
GV Voltage Gain Match. 1 dB
EIN Input Noise Voltage (*) SINGLE ENDED
Non Inv. Ch., Rg = 10k 3.0 V
Inv. Ch., R g = 10k 5 V
BRIDGE (Rg = 0 to 10k) 3.5 V
SVR Supply Voltage Rejection R g = 0; f = 100Hz to 10kHz 50 dB
ASB Stand-by Attenuation 60 dB
ISB ST-BY Current 1 A
VSB ON ST-BY On Threshold Voltage 1.5 V
VSB OFF ST-BY Off Threshold Voltage 3.5 V
VOS Output Offset Voltage 200 mV
ICD OFF Clipping Detector OFF THD = 1% (**)
Output Average Current 100 A
ICD ON Clipping Detector ON THD = 10% (**)
Output Average Current 190 A
(*) Weighted A
(**) Pin 10 Pulled-up to 5V with 10k;

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APPLICATION CIRCUIT (QUAD STEREO)

QUAD STEREO P.C. BOARD AND COMPONENT LAYOUT (1:1 SCALE)

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APPLICATION CIRCUIT (DOUBLE BRIDGE)

DOUBLE BRIDGE P.C. BOARD AND COMPONENT LAYOUT (1:1 SCALE)

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APPLICATION CIRCUIT (STEREO/BRIDGE)

Figure 1: Quiescent Drain Current vs. Supply Figure 2: Quiescent Output Voltage vs. Supply
Voltage (Bridge/Single Ended) Voltage (Bridge/Single Ended)

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Figure 3: Output Power vs. Supply Voltage Figure 4: Output Power vs. Supply Voltage
(Single Ended) (Bridge)

Figure 5: Distortion vs. Output Power (Single Figure 6: Distortion vs. Output Power (Bridge)
Ended)

Figure 7: Output Power vs. Frequency (Single Figure 8: Output Power vs. Frequency (Bridge)
Ended)

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Figure 9: Supply Voltage Rejection vs. Figure 10: Supply Voltage Rejection vs.
Frequency (Single Ended) for different Frequency (Bridge) for different
values of pin 6 capacitor. values of pin 6 capacitor.

Rg Rg

Figure 11: Cross-Talk vs. Frequency (Bridge) Figure 12: Stand-By Attenuation vs. Threshold
Voltage (Single Ended/Bridge)

Rg

Figure 13: Clipping Detector Average Current Figure 14: En input vs. RS (Single Ended)
(pin 10) vs.Distortion (Single Ended)

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Figure 15: En input vs. RS (Single Ended) Figure 16: En input vs. RS (Bridge)

Rg Rg

Figure 17: Total Power Dissipation and Figure 18: Total Power Dissipation and
Efficiency vs. Ouput Power (Single Efficiency vs. Ouput Power (Bridge)
Ended)

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TDA7370

OUTPUT STAGE loss on the top side of the waveform. This unbal-
anced saturation causes a significant power re-
The fully complementary output stage was made duction. The only way to recover power consists
possible by the development of a new compo- of the addition of expensive bootstrap capacitors.
nent: the ST exclusive power ICV PNP.
A novel design based upon the connection shown
in fig. 19 has then allowed the full exploitation of 2 - Absolute Stability Without Any External
its possibilities. Compensation.
Referring to the circuit of Fig. 19 the gain
Figure 19: The new Output Stage VOUT/VIN is greater than unity, approximately 1 +
R2/R1. The DC output (VCC/2) is fixed by an aux-
iliary amplifier common to all the channels).
By controlling the amount of this local feedback it
is possible to force the loop gain (A * ) to less
than unity at frequency for which the phase shift
is 180 Deg. This means that the output buffer is
intrinsically stable and not prone to oscillation.
Most remarkably, the above feature has been
achieved in spite of the very low closed loop gain
of the amplifier (20 dB).
In contrast, with the classical PNP-NPN stage,
the solution adopted for reducing the gain at high
frequencies makes use of external RC networks,
namely the Boucherot cells.

The clear advantages this new approach has over OTHER OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTICS:
classical output stages are as follows: Clipping Detector Output
The TDA7370 is equipped with an internal circuit
1 - Rail-to-Rail Output Voltage Swing With No able to detect the output stage saturation provid-
Need Of Bootstrap Capacitors. ing a current sinking into a open collector output
(pin 10) when a certain distortion level is reached
The output swing is limited only by the Vcesat of at each output.
the output transistors, which are in the range of
0.6 Ohm (Rsat) each. This particular function allows gain compression
facility whenever the amplifier is overdriven, thus
Classical solutions adopting composite PNP-NPN obtaining high quality sound at all listening levels.
for the upper output stage have higher saturation

Figure 20: Clipping Detection Waveforms

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Offset Control BUILT-IN PROTECTION SYSTEMS

The quiescent output voltage must be as close as Full Protection of Device and Loudspeakers
possible to its nominal value, so that less undis- Against AC/DC Short Circuits (to Gnd, to Vs,
torted power would be available. across the Speakers).
For this reason an input bias current compensa- Reliable and safe operation in presence of all
tion is implemented to reduce the voltage drop kinds of short circuit involving the outputs is as-
across the input resistors, which appears ampli- sured by a built-in protection system that operates
fied at the outputs. in the following way:
In case of overload, a SCR is activated as soon
Gain Internally Fixed to 20dB in Single Ended, as the current flowing through the output transis-
26dB in Bridge tors overcomes a preset threshold value depend-
ing on the chip temperature. The SCR causes an
Advantages of this design choice are in terms of: interruption of the supply current of the power
components and space saving transistor. The normal working is restored by a re-
output noise, supply voltage rejection and dis- start circuit going into action as soon as the short
tortion optimization. circuit is removed.

Silent Turn On/Off and Muting/Stand-by Func- Load Dump Voltage Surge
tion The TDA 7370 has a circuit which enables it to
The stand-by can be easily activated by means of withstand a voltage pulse train on pins 3 and 13,
a CMOS level applied to pin 7 through a RC filter. of the type shown in fig. 22.
Under stand-by condition the device is turned off If the supply voltage peaks to more than 50V,
completely (supply current= 1 A TYP ; output at- then an LC filter must be inserted between the
tenuation= 90 dB TYP). supply and pins 3 and 13, in order to assure that
Every ON/OFF operation is virtually pop free. the pulses at pins 3 and 13 will be held within the
limits shown.
Furthermore, at turn-on the device stays in muting
condition for a time determined by the value as- A suggested LC network is shown in fig. 21.
signed to the SVR capacitor (T= Csvr * 7,000). With this network, a train of pulses with amplitude
While in muting the device outputs becomes in- up to 120V and width of 2ms can be applied at
sensitive to any kinds of signal that may be pre- point A. This type of protection is ON when the
sent at the input terminals. In other words every supply voltage (pulse or DC) exceeds 18V. For
transient coming from previous stages produces this reason the maximum operating supply volt-
no unpleasantacoustic effect to the speakers. age is 18V.
Another situation under which the device is totally Figure 21
muted is whenever the supply voltage drops
lower than 7V. This is helpful to pop suppression
during the turn-off by battery switch.

Easy Single Ended to Bridge Transition.

The change from single ended to bridge configu-
rations is made simply by means of a short circuit Figure 22
across the inputs, that is no need of further exter-
nal components.

High Application Flexibility

The availability of 4 independent channels makes
it possible to accomplish several kinds of applica-
tions ranging from 4 speakers stereo (F/R) to 2
speakers bridge solutions.
In case of working in single ended conditions the
polarity of the speakers driven by the inverting
amplifier must be reversed respect to those
driven by non inverting channels.
This is to avoid phase inconveniences causing
sound alterations especially during the reproduc-
tion of low frequencies.

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Polarity Inversion safety compared with that of a conventional

circuit. There is no device damage in case of
High current (up to 10A) can be handled by the excessive junction temperature: all happens
device with no damage for a longer period than is that Po (and therefore Ptot) and Id are re-
the blow-out time of a quick 2A fuse (normally duced.
connected in series with the supply). This fea-
tures is added to avoid destruction, if during fitting The maximum allowable power dissipation de-
to the car, a mistake on the connection of the pends upon the size of the external heatsink (i.e.
supply is made. its thermal resistance); Fig. 23 shows the dissi-
pable power as a function of ambient temperature
for different thermal resistance.
Open Ground
When the radio is in the ON condition and the Figure 23: Maximum Allowable Power
ground is accidentally opened, a standard audio Dissipation vs. Ambient Temperature
amplifier will be damaged. On the TDA7370 pro-
tection diodes are included to avoid any damage.

Inductive Load
A protection diode is provided to allow use of the
TDA7370 with inductive loads.

DC Voltage
The maximum operating DC voltage for the
TDA7370 is 18V.
However the device can withstand a DC voltage
up to 28V with no damage. This could occur dur-
ing winter if two batteries are series connected to
crank the engine.

Thermal Shut-down
Loudspeaker Protection
The presence of a thermal limiting circuit offers
the following advantages: The TDA7370 guarantees safe operations even for
1)an overload on the output (even if it is perma- the loudspeakerin case of accidental shortcircuit.
nent), or an excessive ambient temperature Whenever a single OUT to GND, OUT to VS short
can be easily withstood. circuit occurs both the outputs are switched OFF
so limiting dangerous DC current flowing through
2)the heatsink can have a smaller factor of the loudspeaker.

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 TDA7370

CLIPPING DETECTOR ability of higher undistorted power.

Figures 25 and 26 show an application using the WHAT IS NEEDED FOR A DEMONSTRATION
TDA7370 in combination with the SGS-THOM-
SON audioprocessor TDA7302. - a XT or AT IBM compatible PC, supplied with
EGA card
The output clipping is recognized by the micro- - a SGS-THOMSON audioprocessor application disk
processor (in this application it is simulated by a - a TDA 7302 + TDA7370 board
PC). - a connector from audioprocessor board to PC
The detailed way to operate of the system is rep- parallel port
resented by the flow-chart of fig.24
The controller detects when the clipping is active GENERAL INFORMATION
(minimun detection width fixed by a C29 = 12 nF
external capacitor), and reduces the volume (or In the application shown in figures 25 and 26 the
bass ) by steps of 2 dB (with a programmable TDA7302 audioprocessor works on PC XT or AT
waiting time), until no more clipping is detected. IBM compatible.
Then the controller waits for a programmable time Control is accomplished by serial bus ( S-bus or
before increasing the volume again by step of 2 I2C-bus or SPI bus) sent to the test board through
dB until clipping is again detected or the panel se- the PC parallel port.
lected volume is reached. The PC simulates the behaviour of the microproc-
Practical advantages of this application is a better essor in a real application (for example in a car
sound quality deriving from operation under no radio) and the buffer is necessary only in this ap-
clipping conditions, which also means the avail- plication for protecting the PC.

Figure 24: Clipping Detector Control Routine

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Figure 25: Application with TDA7302 + TDA7370 (QUAD STEREO)

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Figure 26: Application wiyh TDA7302 + TDA7370 (DOUBLE BRIDGE)

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TDA7370

MULTIWATT15 PACKAGE MECHANICAL DATA

mm inch
DIM.
MIN. TYP. MAX. MIN. TYP. MAX.
A 5 0.197
B 2.65 0.104
C 1.6 0.063
D 1 0.039
E 0.49 0.55 0.019 0.022
F 0.66 0.75 0.026 0.030
G 1.14 1.27 1.4 0.045 0.050 0.055
G1 17.57 17.78 17.91 0.692 0.700 0.705
H1 19.6 0.772
H2 20.2 0.795
L 22.1 22.6 0.870 0.890
L1 22 22.5 0.866 0.886
L2 17.65 18.1 0.695 0.713
L3 17.25 17.5 17.75 0.679 0.689 0.699
L4 10.3 10.7 10.9 0.406 0.421 0.429
L7 2.65 2.9 0.104 0.114
M 4.2 4.3 4.6 0.165 0.169 0.181
M1 4.5 5.08 5.3 0.177 0.200 0.209
S 1.9 2.6 0.075 0.102
S1 1.9 2.6 0.075 0.102
Dia1 3.65 3.85 0.144 0.152

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Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics assumes no responsibility for the
consequences of use of such information nor for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. No
license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics. Specifications men-
tioned in this publication are subject to change without notice. This publication supersedes and replaces all information previously supplied.
SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems without ex-
press written approval of SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics.

1995 SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics - All Rights Reserved

MULTIWATT is a Registered Trademark of the SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics

SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics GROUP OF COMPANIES

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