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:
May. 04, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 23, 1997
Lawrence Edward Rinehart, Milpitas, CA (US);
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran, Dearborn, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Semipower Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An isolated gate driver device for a power switching device having a plurality of transistors includes a primary circuit having a voltage source of a first voltage potential. The primary circuit constantly switches the voltage source to generate first and second load signals based on control signals received from a microcontroller. The first load signal is modulated at a first frequency for enabling the transistors, and the second load signal is modulated at a second frequency, different from the first frequency, for disabling the transistors. A plurality of high frequency transformers corresponding to each of the transistors is coupled to the primary circuit. The transformers have a primary side for receiving one of the first and second load signals and a secondary side for transforming the one of the first and second load signals into corresponding signals at a second voltage potential. A secondary circuit coupled between each of the transformers and each of the corresponding transistors provides a bias power supply to each of the transistors at the second voltage potential. The secondary circuit also enables and disables each of the transistors based on the first and second load signals.