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:
Nov. 27, 2007
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2007
Hiroo Yabe, Susono, JP;
Hiroo Yabe, Susono, JP;
Yazaki Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A control circuit includes a drive circuit which applies a drive voltage to a semiconductor device having an overheating protection function according to an externally supplied signal; and a current detecting circuit which outputs a detection signal when a drive current flowing through the semiconductor device exceeds a predetermined threshold current. The semiconductor device incorporates a semiconductor element, a temperature detecting circuit for detecting temperature increase of a chip, and an interrupting circuit for interrupting an input to the semiconductor element according to a detection output of the temperature detecting circuit. The drive circuit turns off the semiconductor element and changes the drive voltage to a predetermined voltage so that the drive current exceeds the threshold current when the interrupting circuit interrupts an input to the semiconductor element, and keeps the drive voltage at the predetermined voltage while the detection signal is output from the current detecting circuit.