Electricity: power supply or regulation systems – Starting circuits
Patent
1996-07-31
1997-12-16
Hecker, Stuart N.
Electricity: power supply or regulation systems
Starting circuits
323238, 363 49, G05F 110
Patent
active
056989733
ABSTRACT:
A MOSFET, an op-amp, a comparator circuit, and voltage dividers with capacitors are employed in combination to effectuate a soft-start switch with current limiting. The transconductance of the MOSFET is employed so that no sense resistor is required. The MOSFET and op-amp are configured as a closed-loop feedback circuit in which the output of the op-amp is coupled to the gate of the MOSFET and the inverting input of the op-amp is coupled to the output of the soft-start switch via a voltage divider. A first RC circuit provides a voltage to the non-inverting input of the op-amp which can be triggered to gradually me from a value close to zero to some reference voltage so as to soft-start a load. Current limiting means are effectuated by a comparator circuit and voltage dividers with capacitors. The current limiting means brings the MOSFET to an OFF state and the non-inverting input of the op-amp close to zero volts if the op-amp charges a second RC circuit so that the voltage drop across its capacitor exceeds a pre-determined limit-reference, and also, once the current limiting means brings the MOSFET to the OFF state, the current limiting means allows the soft-start switch to begin a soft-start power-up after a pre-determined time dependent upon the time constant of the second RC circuit.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5015921 (1991-05-01), Carlson et al.
patent: 5045771 (1991-09-01), Kislovski
patent: 5257156 (1993-10-01), Kirkpatrick
patent: 5376831 (1994-12-01), Chen
patent: 5528132 (1996-06-01), Doluca
patent: 5619127 (1997-04-01), Warizaya
Goerke Ulrich B.
Pieper Mark S.
Data General Corporation
Hecker Stuart N.
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