The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 03, 2020
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2017
Silicon Laboratories Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Sean A. Lofthouse, Pflugerville, TX (US);
Alan L. Westwick, Austin, TX (US);
Silicon Laboratories Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A switch controls current to be supplied to an inductive load when turned on. A clamp circuit clamps a flyback voltage resulting from turning off the switch. The clamp circuit has a first clamping voltage responsive to the switch being turned off, and has a second clamping voltage, higher than the first clamping voltage, responsive to a current level through the inductive load being lower than a predetermined current level. That ensures that as the current comes down to levels required to break contact, the clamp voltage is increased to speed the collapse of the magnetic field when needed to minimize contact wear by maintaining armature momentum.