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:
Dec. 28, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 19, 1999
James L Cooper, Everett, WA (US);
Mark Adams, Arlington, WA (US);
Eldec Corporation, Lynnwood, WA (US);
Abstract
A switching circuit (50) comprising cascaded transistor stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n and 54), connected between a high voltage terminal (62) and a sense resistor (RS) coupled to a low voltage terminal (64). The transistor stage (54) closest to the sense resistor (RS) is referred to as a current gain stage (54), and all the other transistor stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n) are referred to as component stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n). Blocking diodes (DD) are connected across all stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n and 54), forming a continuous path between the high voltage terminal (62) and the low voltage terminal (64). When an enable signal is provided to the current gain stage (54), the transistor stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n and 54) sequentially enter conduction, beginning with the current gain stage (54) and proceeding through the component stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n). As each transistor stage (52a, 52b. . . 52n) enters conduction, the resulting voltage drop will cause each corresponding blocking diode (DD) to avalanche, allowing current to flow. Eventually, all of the component stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n) are turned on, creating a conductive path through the stages (52a, 52b. . . 52n) and completing the switching of the switching circuit (50).