Control of freewheeling voltage
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsJens Barrenscheen, Christian Schweikert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one example, a circuit includes a voltage source, an inductive load, a capacitor, a switching unit, and a load unit. The switching unit is configured to operate in a first state and a second state. The switching unit couples the inductive load to the voltage source during the first state. The switching unit couples the inductive load to the capacitor during the second state. The load unit is configured to receive energy from the capacitor based on a comparison of a voltage of the capacitor and a reference voltage.
Claims20
A circuit comprising:
- a voltage source;
- an inductive load;
- a capacitor;
- a switching unit configured to operate in a first state and a second state, wherein the switching unit couples the inductive load to the voltage source during the first state and the switching unit couples the inductive load to the capacitor during the second state;
- and
- a load unit configured to receive energy from the capacitor based on a comparison of a voltage of the capacitor and a reference voltage.
A circuit comprising:
- a voltage source comprising a first node and a second node;
- an inductive load comprising a first node and a second node;
- a capacitor comprising a first node and a second node;
- a first switching unit configured to operate in a first state and a second state, wherein the first switching unit couples the first node of the inductive load to the first node of the voltage source during the first state and the first switching unit couples the first node of the inductive load to the second node of the voltage source during the second state;
- a second switching unit configured to operate in a first state and a second state, wherein the second switching unit couples the second node of the inductive load to the first node of the capacitor during the first state and the second switching unit couples the second node of the inductive load to the second node of the capacitor during the second state;
- and
- a load unit configured to receive energy from the capacitor based on a comparison of a voltage of the capacitor and a reference voltage.
The circuit of 9, wherein the load unit comprises a converter unit that is configured to supply energy to the voltage source.
The circuit of 9, wherein the inductive load is a first inductive load, the circuit further comprising:
- a second inductive load comprising a first node and a second node;
- and
- a third switching unit configured to operate in a first state and a second state, wherein the third switching unit couples the first node of the second inductive load to the first node of the voltage source during the first state and the third switching unit couples the first node of the second inductive load to the second node of the voltage source during the second state,
- wherein the second node of the second inductive load is coupled to the second node of the first inductive load.
The circuit of 12, further comprising:
- a fourth switching unit configured to operate in a first state and a second state, wherein the fourth switching unit couples the second node of the second inductive load to the first node of the capacitor during the first state and the fourth switching unit couples the second node of the second inductive load to the second node of the capacitor during the second state.
A method comprising:
- selectively coupling, by a switching unit of a circuit, a capacitor to an inductive load;
- and
- receiving, by a load unit of the circuit, energy from the capacitor based on a comparison of a voltage of the capacitor and a reference voltage.
The method of 14, wherein the reference voltage is defined by a current profile of the inductive load.
The method of 14, wherein selectively coupling the capacitor to the inductive load comprises:
- coupling, by the switching unit, the inductive load to a voltage source during a first state of the switching unit;
- and
- coupling, by the switching unit, the inductive load to the capacitor during a second state of the switching unit.
The method of 16, wherein:
- the capacitor is a first capacitor;
- receiving energy from the first capacitor based on the comparison of the voltage of the first capacitor and the reference voltage comprises:
- receiving, by a converter unit of the load unit, the energy from the first capacitor at a first voltage;
- and
- supplying, by the converter unit, energy to a second capacitor that is coupled in parallel with the voltage source at a second voltage, wherein the first voltage and the second voltage are different.
The method of 14, wherein receiving energy from the capacitor based on the comparison of the voltage of the capacitor and the reference voltage comprises:
- selectively switching, by a discharge module of the load unit, a resistive element in parallel with the capacitor based on the comparison of the voltage of the capacitor and the reference voltage.
The method of 14, wherein the switching unit is a first switching unit and the inductive load is a first inductive load, the method further comprising:
- selectively coupling, by a second switching unit of the circuit, the capacitor to a second inductive load.
A circuit comprising:
- a terminal configured to be coupled to an inductive load;
- and
- a switching unit configured to operate in a first state and a second state, wherein the switching unit couples the inductive load to a voltage source during the first state and the switching unit couples the inductive load to a capacitor during the second state;
- wherein the circuit is configured to cause energy to be provided to a load unit from the capacitor based on a comparison of a voltage of the capacitor and a reference voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.