US 12,494,778 B1 · Dual application gate driver

Abstract

A drive circuit includes a first half bridge gate driver including a first top device and a first bottom device; a second half bridge gate driver including a second top device and a second bottom device; jumper connections and a circuit board. The jumper connections configure the drive circuit as two parallel half bridge gate drivers connected in parallel when jumpers are applied to the jumper connections. The jumpers connect a control gate of the first top device to a control gate of the second top device and connect a control gate of the first bottom device to a control gate of the second bottom device. The circuit board includes the first and second half bridge gate drivers and electrical interconnect to configure the first half bridge gate driver and the second half bridge gate driver as a switched reluctance converter in the absence of the jumpers.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A driver circuit comprising:

a first half bridge gate driver including a first top device and a first bottom device;
a second half bridge gate driver including a second top device and a second bottom device;
jumper connections to configure the driver circuit as two parallel half bridge gate drivers connected in parallel when jumpers are applied to the jumper connections, wherein the jumpers connect a control gate of the first top device to a control gate of the second top device and connect a control gate of the first bottom device to a control gate of the second bottom device when applied to the jumper connections;
and
a circuit board including the first and second half bridge gate drivers and electrically conductive interconnect to configure the first half bridge gate driver and the second half bridge gate driver as a switched reluctance converter when the jumpers are omitted.

2 more elements

A method of configuring a drive circuit, the method comprising:

including jumpers in the drive circuit to configure the drive circuit as two parallel half bridge gate drivers connected in parallel to a load, wherein each of the parallel half bridge gate drivers includes a top device and a bottom device and the jumpers connect control gates of top devices together and connect control gates of bottom devices together;
and
omitting the jumpers to configure the drive circuit as a switched reluctance converter including half bridge gate drivers.

A circuit board assembly with a configurable gate driver circuit, the assembly comprising:

a first half bridge gate driver including a first top insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and a first bottom IGBT;
a second half bridge gate driver including a second top IGBT and a second bottom IGBT;
jumper connections to configure the first half bridge gate driver and the second half bridge gate driver as two parallel half bridge gate drivers connected in parallel when jumpers are applied to the jumper connections, wherein the jumpers connect a control gate of the first top IGBT to a control gate of the second top IGBT and connect a control gate of the first bottom IGBT to a control gate of the second bottom IGBT;
and
a circuit board including electrical interconnect that connects a first load terminal to emitters of the first and second top IGBTs together and connects a second load terminal to collectors of the first and second bottom IGBTs together when the gate driver circuit is configured as the two parallel half bridge gate drivers;
and configures the first half bridge gate driver and the second half bridge gate driver as a switched reluctance converter when the jumpers are omitted.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Dual application gate driver

Life of this patent

Dual application gate driver

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20