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US 11,637,501 B2Granted
Drive circuit for regulating voltage and reducing energy consumed
AssigneeSolaredge Technologies Ltd.
InventorsOfir Bieber, Shay Avner, Tomer Bar-On
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fully isolated drive circuit to be used for regulating an output voltage across a load. The isolated drive circuit may charge, discharge, or preserve the load charge using a controller that controls one or more switches. The controller may operate a switch according to an internal/external clock or an external control signal received by the controller. The isolated drive circuit may be an effective solution to simplify the drive design and decrease the amount of energy dissipated by the drive, especially when the load, associated with the drive, requires a high input voltage level.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a controllable power supply;
- an isolating inductive element comprising a first inductor having a primary winding and a second inductor having a secondary winding, wherein a voltage applied by the controllable power supply across the first inductor induces a voltage across the second inductor;
- a controller configured to output an enable signal;
- and
- a switch electrically connected between a first terminal of the second inductor and a first terminal of a capacitive load and configured to switch between conducting and nonconducting states based on the enable signal;
- wherein the controller is configured to, based on a first polarity voltage supplied by the controllable power supply and based on a first voltage of the capacitive load, control the switch to cause the apparatus to enter a first state in which current is passed to charge the capacitive load to a second voltage;
- wherein the controller is configured to, based on a null voltage supplied by the controllable power supply and based on the second voltage of the capacitive load, control the switch to cause the apparatus to enter a second state in which current is restricted from passing between the first terminal of the second inductor and the first terminal of the capacitive load to keep the capacitive load charged;
- wherein the controller is configured to, based on a second polarity voltage supplied by the controllable power supply and based on the second voltage of the capacitive load, control the switch to cause the apparatus to enter a third state in which current is passed to discharge the capacitive load, wherein the second polarity voltage has a polarity opposite to the first polarity voltage;
- and
- wherein the controller is configured to, based on the null voltage supplied by the controllable power supply and a negative voltage of the capacitive load, control the switch to cause the apparatus to enter a fourth state in which current is passed through the switch to charge the capacitive load to a null voltage.
7 more elements
A method, comprising:
- transmitting, from a controller to a switch, an enable signal to control the switch to pass a first current in a first direction to charge a capacitive load and to pass a second current in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, to discharge the capacitive load;
- applying, by a controllable power supply, a first polarity voltage across a primary winding of a first inductor to induce, in a secondary winding of a second inductor, the first current that passes through the switch to charge the capacitive load to a first voltage;
- applying, by the controllable power supply and based on a determination that the capacitive load is charged to the first voltage, a first null voltage across the primary winding while the switch restricts current from passing between the secondary winding and the capacitive load to keep the capacitive load charged;
- applying, by the controllable power supply, a second polarity voltage, having a polarity opposite to the first polarity voltage, across the primary winding to induce, in the secondary winding, the second current that passes through the switch to discharge the capacitive load;
- and
- applying, by the controllable power supply, a second null voltage across the primary winding while the switch passes current to charge the capacitive load to a third null voltage.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.