Active clamp circuit
AssigneeAppulse Power Inc.
InventorAleksandar Radic
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An active clamp circuit includes an active clamp switch having a drain node and a source node, an active clamp capacitor coupled in a series combination with the active clamp switch, a delay circuit, and an active clamp controller circuit coupled to the active clamp switch and to the delay circuit. The active clamp controller circuit is configured to i) receive an active clamp switch voltage based on a voltage developed across the drain node and the source node of the active clamp switch, ii) enable the active clamp switch based on a voltage amplitude of the active clamp switch voltage, and iii) disable the active clamp switch based on a delay signal generated by the delay circuit.
Claims20
An active clamp circuit comprising:
- a delay circuit;
- and
- an active clamp controller circuit configured to be coupled to an active clamp switch and to the delay circuit, the active clamp controller circuit being configured to i) receive an active clamp switch voltage based on a voltage developed across a drain node and a source node of the active clamp switch, ii) enable the active clamp switch based on the active clamp switch voltage, and iii) disable the active clamp switch based on a delay signal generated by the delay circuit;
- wherein the delay circuit comprises:
- a resistor divider circuit to receive a bias voltage and a voltage from the source node of the active clamp switch to generate a delay threshold voltage;
- a resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit to receive an active clamp switch control signal and the voltage from the source node of the active clamp switch to generate a ramp signal in response to the active clamp switch control signal, the active clamp switch control signal being configured to enable and disable the active clamp switch;
- and
- a first voltage comparison circuit configured to i) receive the delay threshold voltage, ii) receive the ramp signal, iii) compare the ramp signal to the delay threshold voltage, and iv) disable the active clamp switch based on a comparison of the ramp signal and the delay threshold voltage.
An active clamp circuit comprising:
- a delay circuit;
- and
- an active clamp controller circuit configured to be coupled to the delay circuit and to a gate driver circuit to control an active clamp switch, the active clamp controller circuit being configured to i) receive an active clamp switch voltage based on a voltage developed across a drain node and a source node of the active clamp switch, ii) enable the active clamp switch by the gate driver circuit based on the active clamp switch voltage, and iii) disable the active clamp switch by the gate driver circuit based on a delay signal generated by the delay circuit;
- wherein the active clamp controller circuit is configured to produce an active clamp control signal based on the active clamp switch voltage, the active clamp control signal being received concurrently at the gate driver circuit to enable the active clamp switch and at the delay circuit, the delay circuit generating the delay signal based on the active clamp control signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.