Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Hitachi Astemo Ltd.

Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd.

Takashi Ryu

Takuya Ishii

Hirohisa Tanabe

Mikio Motomori

Tamotsu Yamamoto

Richard Oswald

Tomoya Shigemi

Hiroki Akashi

Makoto Ishimaru

Hiroshi Saito

Kazuhito Kimura

Masaaki Koto

Satoshi Wada

Keisuke Kuroda

Naoyuki Nakamura

Takeshi Tanaka

Masato Yoshida

Junichi Morita

Motoaki Kato

Atsushi Ogawa

Kengo Nomura

Hideki Shirokoshi

Maki Murakami

Tetsuya Mihashi

Makoto Ishida

Ginga Katase

Kouichi Mikami

Rumi Nakai

Hironori Kamiya

A battery management circuit is a battery management circuit that manages an energy storage device including battery cells and capacitors, and includes: a first switching circuit that connects a first capacitor among the capacitors and a first battery cell among the battery cells in parallel; a second switching circuit that connects the first capacitor and two or more series-connected battery cells other than the first battery cell among the battery cells in parallel; and a control circuit that performs a first control of repeatedly switching between the connection by the first switching circuit and the connection by the second switching circuit.

Battery management circuit and energy storage device

A battery management circuit that is provided for each of sets of battery cells connected in series in an energy storage device including the sets of the battery cells and at least one capacitor, and that includes: a positive connection terminal to be connected to a positive electrode of a corresponding one of the sets of the battery cells; a negative connection terminal to be connected to a negative electrode of the corresponding one of the sets of the battery cells; a capacitor connection terminal to be connected to a terminal of the at least one capacitor; and a control circuit that controls a connection operation of connecting the positive connection terminal or the negative connection terminal to the capacitor connection terminal, and causes the battery management circuit to perform the connection operation in synchronization with the connection operation of another battery management circuit among battery management circuits.

Battery management circuit, energy storage device, and battery management method

This fuel includes: a first switching element disposed between a booster circuit boosting a battery power and one end of a solenoid; a second switching element disposed between a battery and one end of the solenoid; a third switching element disposed between the other end of the solenoid and a ground; a fourth switching element disposed between one end of the solenoid and a ground; and a control unit configured to control open/closed states of the first switching element, the second switching element, the third switching element, and the fourth switching element. The control unit is configured to open the fourth switching element during a valve closing detection period of detecting closing of a fuel injection valve and to detect the closing of the fuel injection valve on the basis of a change in voltage of the other end of the solenoid.

Fuel injection valve driving device

A power supply protection circuit is a circuit that controls a protection switch provided on a power supply line connecting a direct current power supply and a load circuit. The power supply protection circuit includes: circuitry connected to the protection switch; and a controller that switches an operation state of the circuitry between a first state and a second state. The first state is an operation state in which driving of the protection switch is enabled when the protection switch is a first semiconductor switch having a control terminal connected to a semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type. The second state is an operation state in which driving of the protection switch is enabled when the protection switch is a second semiconductor switch having a control terminal connected to a semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type that is different from the semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type.

Power supply protection circuit

A controller controls a bi-directional converter which includes: a first input/output terminal and a second input/output terminal for receiving and outputting a voltage stepped up by a step-up operation and a voltage stepped down by a step-down operation; a first switching element; a second switching element; and an inductor. The controller includes: a first driver which controls the first switching element via a first resistance circuit; a second driver which controls the second switching element via a second resistance circuit; and an operation mode setter which selects one of the step-up operation and the step-down operation, wherein at least one of the first resistance circuit and the second resistance circuit is a variable resistance circuit which has a resistance value that varies for the step-up operation and the step-down operation, in accordance with selection made by the operation mode setter.

Bi-directional converter, controller, and semiconductor device

A current sense circuit for use with a switching regulator including a first transistor, connected to an inductor, configured to switch a current flowing through the inductor from a power supply; and a second transistor, connected to a node to which the inductor and the first transistor are connected, configured to be turned on during a part of an OFF period of the first transistor. The current sense circuit includes a current generator configured to generate a sense current corresponding to a current flowing through the first transistor; a hold circuit configured to output a voltage corresponding to the sense current during an ON period of the first transistor, and to hold and output the voltage corresponding to the sense current during the OFF period of the first transistor; and an output transistor configured to generate a current corresponding to the voltage output by the hold circuit.

Current sense circuit and switching regulator using the same

A step-down switching regulator includes a switching device coupled to an input terminal to which an input voltage is applied, an inductor having a first end and a second end, the first end being connected to the switching device, a smoothing unit having an output terminal and configured to smooth a voltage at the second end of the inductor and generate an output voltage at the output terminal, a rectifier configured to flow a current to the inductor when the switching device is in an OFF state, and a control circuit configured to drive the switching device so that the output voltage becomes equal to a set target voltage. The control circuit detects a difference voltage between the input voltage and the output voltage or a difference voltage between the input voltage and the set target voltage, and causes the switching device to be in an ON state when the difference voltage is lower than or equal to a predetermined voltage value.

Step-down switching regulator

A first auxiliary switch circuit is connected to one terminal and a first terminal of a main switch circuit and generates a first auxiliary detection current. A second auxiliary switch circuit is connected to the other terminal and a second terminal of the main switch circuit and generates a second auxiliary detection current. A current adjustment detection circuit adjusts the first auxiliary detection current so that the potentials of the other terminal and the first terminal are equal and passes the first auxiliary detection current in a direction of receiving the current from the first auxiliary switch circuit and adjusts the second auxiliary detection current so that the potentials of the one terminal and the second terminal are equal and passes the second auxiliary detection current in a direction of outputting the current to the second auxiliary switch circuit, thereby generating a detection current being proportional to the output current.

Current detection circuit and voltage converter using the current detection circuit

A switching regulator is configured to generate an output voltage by stepping down an input voltage by switching control of a switching element. The switching regulator includes a first comparator configured to compare a feedback voltage of the output voltage and a target voltage; a second comparator configured to compare magnitude of a current flowing through the switching element and a predetermined value; an on-time timer configured to measure fixed on-time for on-control of the switching element; an off-time timer configured to measure fixed off-time for off-control of the switching element; and a control circuit configured to perform the on-control of the switching element with the fixed on-time in accordance with an output of the first comparator, and the off-control of the switching element with the fixed off-time in accordance with an output of the second comparator.

Switching regulator

The present invention provides a current-mode control step-up converter capable of reducing the minimum duty ratio to a sufficiently small value and facilitating the setting of the maximum duty ratio. The step-up converter comprises a current detectorfor generating a current detection signal Vc corresponding to the current of a rectifier; an error amplifierfor generating an error signal Ve corresponding to an output DC voltage Vo; and a control circuitfor turning ON/OFF the main switchon the basis of the current detection signal Vc and the error signal Ve. The control circuitcomprises a comparatorand a timer circuit. With this configuration, the ON time of the main switchis set at a predetermined value, and the valley value of an inductor current changing in a triangular waveform is controlled. Hence, the OFF time of the main switch is adjusted to stabilize the output. Since the ON time of the main switchcan be set as desired, the minimum duty ratio can be reduced to zero or a sufficiently small value.

Step-up converter

The step-down converter includes: a switch; an inductor; a rectifier; a smoothing unit; and a current bypass circuit, wherein when the current flowing toward the inductor exceeds a predetermined value, the current bypass circuit forms a path through which the current flows from the input terminal to the output terminal while bypassing the inductor.

Step-down converter

A reference voltage is applied from a reference voltage generating circuit to the non-inverting input terminal of an amplifier for supplying a drive voltage to the gate terminal of an NMOS transistor, and the output voltage appearing at the source terminal of the NMOS transistor is divided by a resistor pair and applied to the inverting input terminal of the amplifier. The voltage obtained by adding a voltage equal to or higher than the voltage for sufficiently driving the NMOS transistor to the output voltage appearing at the source terminal of the NMOS transistor is generated by a charge pump circuit and supplied to the amplifier as a power supply voltage. With this configuration, the drive voltage for the NMOS transistor is suppressed to the required minimum voltage while the drive voltage is obtained securely. The power consumption in the amplifier can thus be suppressed.

Output circuit

A buck-boost switching regulator which includes a first switch, a first diode, an inductor, a second switch, a second diode, and a controller for controlling the first switch and the second switch, the controller being configured to receive a current signal indicative of a inductor current flowing in the inductor, and generating a signal indicative of an average current flowing in the inductor, the average current being utilized to control the first switch and the second switch, wherein the controller includes a first compensator circuit for outputting a voltage error signal, a second compensator circuit for outputting a current error signal and a modulator circuit to output a first control signal to control the first switch and a second control switch to control the second switch.

Buck-boost switching regulator

A switching regulator circuit including a high-side switch and a low-side switch; an inductor having a first terminal coupled to a common terminal between the high-side switch and the low-side switch, and a second terminal coupled to an output terminal of the switching regulator circuit; a low-pass filter coupled to the first terminal of the inductor, where the low-pass filter is operative for generating a ramp signal based on the voltage signal present at the first terminal of the inductor; and a hysteretic comparator coupled to the low pass filter, where the hysteretic comparator receives the ramp signal as an input signal, and generates an output signal which is operative for controlling the operation of the high-side switch and the low-side switch.

Hysteretic switching regulator

A frequency compensation circuit internal to an integrated circuit which comprises a transconductance amplifier having a first input configured to receive a reference voltage, a second input configured to receive an input voltage and an input current, a first output configured to output a first output current and a second output configured to output a second output current; and a compensation circuit connected to said second output of said transconductance amplifier, wherein said first output is connected to said second input.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Takashi Ryu