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:
Oct. 13, 2020
Filed:
Mar. 06, 2018
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Sri Navaneethakrishnan Easwaran, Plano, TX (US);
Timothy Paul Duryea, Dallas, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
An electronic control unit (ECU) operates between first and second voltage rails and includes an amplifier circuit and a single current sense circuit coupled to carry a signal to a bus pin and to protect the bus pin from both a short to ground and a short to battery. The single current sense circuit includes a switch circuit that passes the signal to the bus pin and a forward current sensing circuit that provides a second current that is proportional to an output current at the bus pin. The forward current sensing circuit causes the second current to be substantially zero when voltage on the bus pin is above a given value. The single current sense circuit also includes a forward current protection circuit and a reverse current switching circuit that receives the second current and closes a connection to the second voltage when the second current is zero.