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:
Oct. 03, 2017
Filed:
Feb. 05, 2016
Allegro Microsystems, Llc, Worcester, MA (US);
Gianluca Allegrini, Musselburgh, GB;
Thomas Ross, Howden, GB;
James McIntosh, Longniddry, GB;
Robert Douglas Christie, Fife, GB;
Allegro MicroSystems, LLC, Worcester, MA (US);
Abstract
A driver circuit is provided for driving a load, such as a multi-phase motor. The driver circuit includes a gate driver for providing a control signal to switching elements coupled to the driver circuit. A first switching element is coupled between a high supply voltage and a switching node of the load, and a second switching element is coupled between the switching node and a low supply voltage. To detect zero crossings of a current through the load, a zero crossing detector includes a first counter coupled to the switching node and a second counter coupled to the control signal. The first counter and second counter count in a predetermined direction based on a detected voltage of the switching node and based on a detected voltage of the control signal, respectively. The zero crossing detector generates an output signal based upon the difference between the first and the second counter.