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. 02, 2004
Filed:
May. 31, 2002
Jeffrey A. Ely, Kokomo, IN (US);
Delphi Technologies, Inc., Troy, MI (US);
Abstract
An improved series-pass over-voltage protection circuit includes at least one N-channel enhancement mode MOSFET (NFET) coupling a DC voltage supply such as a motor vehicle storage battery to one or more high current electrical loads. The drain of the NFET is connected to the positive terminal of the DC voltage supply, and a high impedance gate voltage power supply biases the NFET to a fully enhanced state in normal operation to provide very low pass-through on-resistance. A gate discharge circuit including a high current capability transistor connected between the NFET gate and ground potential is activated in response to a detected over-voltage condition, and a compensation network having low AC impedance relative to that of the NFET is connected in parallel with the gate discharge circuit, providing a sink for the NFET gate charge to limit over-voltage shoot-through while the gate discharge transistor is activated in response to the detected over-voltage condition to quickly discharge the gate capacitance and transition the NFET to a limited conduction mode for regulating the load voltage.