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:
Jan. 07, 2025
Filed:
Apr. 14, 2023
Stmicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza, IT;
Ezio Galbiati, Agnadello, IT;
Maurizio Ricci, Villa di Serio, IT;
STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza, IT;
Abstract
A method includes coupling an electric motor in a hard disk drive to a set of driver circuits. Each driver circuit includes a high-side switch and a low-side switch. The high-side switch has a high-side current flow path between a supply node coupled to a supply voltage and a switching node coupled to a winding of the electric motor. The low-side switch has a low-side current flow path between the switching node and ground. Respective conduction currents are generated through the low-side current flow paths, in response to a command to reduce the motor speed by coupling a drive voltage to the control terminals of the low-side switches. An intensity of at least one of the respective conduction currents is sensed. In response to the sensed current intensity exceeding a current intensity threshold, the control terminals of the low-side switches are coupled to respective ones of the switching nodes.