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. 23, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 17, 1997
Paul T Moody, Oldham, GB;
U.S. Philips Corporation, NY, NY (US);
Abstract
A power semiconductor device (2) has a first main electrode (S) for coupling to a first supply line (3), a second main electrode (D) coupled to a first terminal (4) for connection via a load (L) to a second voltage supply line (5) and an insulated gate electrode (G) coupled to a control terminal (GT) for supplying a gate control signal to enable conduction of the power semiconductor device (2). An open-circuit detection arrangement is integrated with the power semiconductor device (2) for providing an indication that a load (L) coupled to the power semiconductor device (2) is open-circuited. The detection arrangement has a reference current (Ir) providing arrangement (7, R3, R4, R7, Q1, Q2) and a current deriving arrangement (Q3, Q4) for deriving a current (Id) dependent on the voltage at the second main electrode (D). The detection arrangement provides an output signal (OS) to indicate that the load (L) is operating normally when the derived or detected current (Id) is greater than the reference current (Ir). This should allow accurate determination of the status of the load (L) because the use of the reference current (Ir) allows account to be taken of possible leakage current paths around the load (L) so that an indication that the load (L) is operating correctly and is not open-circuit is only given when the derived current (Id) is greater than the reference current (Ir).