Siliconix Incorporated

Texas Instruments Corporation

Robert G Blattner

Richard Kent Williams

Tawen Mei

Jiun Heng Goh

Trang Minh Nguyen

Chae Lee

A device includes a first amplifier and a second amplifier. The first amplifier includes an inverting input configured to be coupled to a feedback node of an output of a power converter, a first non-inverting input configured to couple to a first voltage node, a second non-inverting input, and an output. The second amplifier includes an inverting input coupled to the output of the first amplifier, a non-inverting input coupled to a second voltage node, and an output. The device also includes a first transistor coupled to the output of the first amplifier and having a control terminal coupled to the output of the second amplifier, a capacitor coupled to a ground node and to the second non-inverting input of the first amplifier, and a current node coupled to the capacitor.

Recovery control for power converter

A bidirectional battery disconnect switch, i.e., a switch which is capable of blocking a voltage in either direction when open and conducting a current in either direction when closed, is disclosed. The switch includes a four-terminal MOSFET having no source/body short and circuitry for assuring that the body is shorted to whichever of the source/drain terminals of the MOSFET is biased at a lower voltage.

Low-side bidirectional battery disconnect switch

An N-channel MOSFET is fabricated with its source, body and gate connected together and biased at a positive voltage with respect to its drain. The resulting two-terminal device functions generally in the manner of a diode but has a significantly lower turn-on voltage than a conventional PN diode. The device is therefore referred to as a &ldquo;pseudo-Schottky mode&rdquo;. Pseudo-Schottky diodes have numerous uses, but they are particularly useful when connected to shunt current from a conventional PN diode or MOSFET and thereby prevent such conditions as snapback and latchup which can result from the storage of minority carriers in a forward-biased PN junction. Also, because the pseudo-Schottky diode is a majority carrier device, the diode recovery time, amount of stored charge, and peak reverse current are much lower than in a conventional PN diode.

Pseudo-Schottky diode

An N-channel MOSFET is fabricated with its source, body and gate connected together and biased at a positive voltage with respect to its drain. The resulting two-terminal device functions generally in the manner of a diode but has a significantly lower turn-on voltage than a conventional PN diode. The device is therefore referred to as a 'pseudo-Schottky diode'. Pseudo-Schottky diodes have numerous uses, but they are particularly useful when connected to shunt current from a conventional PN diode or MOSFET and thereby prevent such conditions as snapback and latchup which can result from the storage of minority carriers in a forward-biased PN junction. Also, because the pseudo-Schottky diode is a majority carrier device, the diode recovery time, amount of stored charge, and peak reverse current are much lower than in a conventional PN diode.

Multiple controllers connected in parallel to control external circuits such as dc-dc converters so that the external circuits supply power equally to a load such as a microprocessor. All of the controllers are connected and each controller includes an oscillator and a pulse width modulation circuit to synchronize the frequency of all of the oscillators such that the duty cycle of all the oscillators are equal. Each controller includes an over-current protection circuit and an over-voltage protection circuit which will cause the controller with a fault to discontinue supplying power to the load. Each controller further includes a circuit to adjust the duty cycle of the non-faulty controllers when a controller with a fault is caused to discontinue supplying power to the load.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Robert G Blattner