Thomson Licensing S.a.

Deutsche Thomson-brandt Gmbh

Reinhard K&ouml;gel

Jean-Paul Louvel

Achim Elgert

Eugen Kizmann

The protection circuit for a power supply unit comprises a switching stage, at which at least two output voltages to be monitored are connected, these voltages being isolated from one another by means of resistors. Arranged here in the connection path of the output voltages is a diode, which turns on and thereby triggers the switching stage in the event of a fault, when there is a drop in one of the output voltages. In this way, the switching stage provides information which acts on a control loop of the power supply unit, so that the power supply unit switches off. The protection circuit also includes a passive network with a resistor and a capacitor, which prescribes a time constant, after which the protection circuit permits renewed starting of the power supply unit. The switching stage may be realized, for example, by a transistor stage, which provides the information signal for the event of a fault for the power supply unit when turning on occurs. This circuit allows a plurality of output voltages of the power supply unit concerned to be monitored in a simple way with respect to a short-circuit, or an undervoltage.

Protection circuit for a power supply unit and respective power supply unit

A switched-mode power supply has a storage capacitor, a transformer with a primary winding and at least one secondary winding, and also a switching transistor which is connected in series with the primary winding. The primary winding is subdivided into sub-windings with at least one tap. A capacitance is disposed in parallel with each sub-winding, as a damping network. The numbers of windings of the sub-windings and the values of the capacitors disposed in parallel with the sub-windings are selected in such a way that the oscillations occurring when the switching transistor becomes blocked have different resonant frequencies and thereby partially cancel each other. This results in an effective damping of the resonant voltage over the switching transistor. Since the capacitors are connected in series, the effective total capacitance is low, so that the resulting discharge current at the time when the switching transistor becomes conductive is comparably low.

Switched-mode power supply

The switched-mode power supply comprises a transformer, a switching transistor connected in series with a primary winding of the transformer, a primary-side control circuit and a secondary-side regulating stage. The regulating stage is coupled to a coupling element for transiting a regulating signal from the secondary side to the primary side. A first switch is situated between the control input of the switching transistor and a primary-side operating voltage, and a second switch is situated between the regulating stage and a secondary-side operating voltage, with the two operating voltages being able to be disconnected using a single control signal. In this case, the isolating element transmits both the regulating information for the primary-side control circuit and the turn-off signal for the first switch. If the second switch is turned off by the control signal, the regulating stage and the optocoupler become completely currentless and consume no further power. As a result of this, the optocoupler is off on the primary side, which means that the first switch is also turned off, so that both the switching transistor and the control circuit become currentless. In this situation, the switched-mode power supply is completely currentless except for the starting circuit, so that the power consumption is reduced down to below 0.2 W in the off-state.

Growing community of inventors

Brigachtal, Germany

Reinhard Kögel

Growing community of inventors

Brigachtal, Germany

Reinhard K&ouml;gel

Reinhard Kögel