Battery charging system with power path switch control
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorSanjay Gurlahosur
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A battery charger circuit having a regulator controller configured to control the switching transistors of a switching voltage regulator. A power path switch is disposed intermediate an output of the switching voltage regulator and a terminal of a battery to be charged, with the power path switch including at least two transistor segments having common respective drain electrodes, common respective source electrodes and separate respective gate electrodes. A power path switch controller operates to sequentially turn ON the at least two transistor segments of the power path switch, preferably in the order of a decreasing ON resistance.
Claims12
A battery charger circuit comprising:
- an input terminal;
- and
- an output terminal;
- a switch coupled between the input terminal and the output terminal, the switch including at least two transistor segments having common drain electrodes, common source electrodes and separate gate electrodes, the at least two transistor segments having different channel resistances;
- current detection circuitry configured to detect a short circuit condition based on a detected current of the switch exceeding a predefined threshold current;
- and
- a controller responsive to the detection of the short circuit condition, configured to successively turn off the at least two transistor segments until the detected current is below the predefined threshold current.
A battery charging system, comprising:
- a switching regulator;
- a battery;
- and
- a battery charge circuit including:
- a switch coupled between the switching regulator and the battery, the switch including at least two transistor segments having common drain electrodes, common source electrodes and separate gate electrodes, the at least two transistor segments having different channel resistances;
- current detection circuitry configured to detect a short circuit condition based on a detected current of the switch exceeding a predefined threshold current;
- and
- a controller responsive to the detection of the short circuit condition, configured to successively turn off the at least two transistor segments until the detected current is below the predefined threshold current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.