Half bridge adaptive dead time circuit and method

Abstract

A high voltage offset detection circuit registers the voltage at the midpoint of a switching half-bridge and may determine when the midpoint voltage reaches a given value to avoid hard-switching in the half-bridge switches. The midpoint voltage of the switching half-bridge is applied through a buffer to a MOSFET that is current limited to produce a voltage that reflects the voltage of the midpoint of the switching half-bridge. The voltage produced by the MOSFET may be supplied to a comparator with a threshold input to obtain a signal that indicates when the switches of the switching half-bridge may be turned on to avoid hard-switching. An adaptive dead-time circuit and method may comprise the above sensing circuit, a first circuit for generating a first signal indicative of a high to low transition of the midpoint voltage; and an output circuit for generating an adaptive dead-time output signal based thereon. A second circuit may generate a second signal indicative of a low to high transition of the voltage; wherein the output circuit generates the adaptive dead-time output signal based on both the first and second signals. The second circuit preferably generates the second signal by reproducing the first signal. The first circuit may generate the first signal by charging a capacitor in response to pulses, and the second circuit may generate the second signal by charging a second capacitor corresponding to said first capacitor, and the adaptive dead-time output signal may be responsive to the charges on the first and second capacitors.