Ajay Hari
National Semiconductor

Switch-mode power supplies employ various schemes to protect themselves, and ideally the load, in overload conditions. Depending on whether the power converter automatically recovers and reverts back to normal operation once the overload condition is removed, overload protection schemes can be broadly classified into two categories: non-recoverable protection schemes (fuses, circuit breakers, overload shutdowns) and self-recoverable protection schemes (cycle-by-cycle current limiting and hiccup mode).