Solid-state circuit breakers and related circuits
AssigneeU.S. Army Research Laboratory
InventorDamian P. Urciuoli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various solid-state circuit breakers and related circuits are presented herein. These include, among other things, a common node bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having diodes connected between terminals of its switches, a shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a BDSSCB, a SVAD circuit for use with a unidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (UDSSCB), a bipolar current actuated driver (BCAD) for use with a BDSSCB, and a multi-directional solid-state circuit breaker (MDSSCB).
Claims23
A bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB), the BDSSCB comprising:
- a pair of solid-state switches, each one of said pair of solid-state switches having a source, gate and drain, the pair of solid-state switches being electrically connected at a common node;
- and
- a pair of diodes, each one of the pair of diodes electrically connecting the gate and either the drain or the source of a respective one of said pair of solid-state switches which is not connected to the common node.
A shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having a pair of solid-state power switches, each one of said pair of solid-state power switches having a source, gate and drain, wherein the sources of the solid-state power switches are electrically connected to a common node, the SVAD comprising:
- a voltage triggered module configured to connect to said pair of solid-state power switches and the common node comprising:
- a pair of solid-state switches, each of the pair having a source, gate and drain, the drains of the pair of solid-state switches being configured to electrically connect to one of the respective drains of the pair of solid-state power switches of the BDSSCB;
- and
- a plurality of shunt resistors in series electrically connecting the pair of solid-state switches, and being configured to electrically connect to the common source node,
- wherein the pair of solid-state switches each have a blocking voltage greater than or equal to that of the respective solid-state power switch of the BDSSCB.
A shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a unidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (UDSSCB) having a solid-state power switch having a source, gate and drain, the SVAD comprising:
- a voltage triggered module configured to connect to the solid-state power switch comprising:
- a solid-state switch having a source, gate and drain, the drain of the solid-state switch being configured to electrically connect to the drain of the solid-state power switch of the UDSSCB;
- and
- a plurality of shunt resistors in series electrically connecting to the solid-state switch, and being configured to electrically connect to the source of the solid-state power switch,
- wherein the solid-state switch has a blocking voltage greater than or equal to that of the solid-state power switch of the UDSSCB.
A bipolar current actuated driver (BCAD) for use with a bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having a pair of solid-state power switches, each one of said pair of solid-state power switches having a source, gate and drain, wherein the sources of the solid-state power switches are electrically connected to a common node, the BCAD comprising:
- a pair of solid-state switches, each of said pair of solid-state switches having a drain, gate, and source, with the drain being connected to one or more series resistors and the source being configured to connect to the common node;
- and
- one or more resistors connected to the pair of solid-state switches are configured to connect to a respective gate of one of the pair of solid-state power switches of the BDSSCB.
A multi-directional solid-state circuit breaker (MDSSCB) comprising:
- at least three solid-state switches, each of the at least three solid-state switches having a source, gate and drain, the at least three solid-state switches being electrically connected to a common node,
- wherein the at least three solid-state switches are configured to provide conduction and voltage blocking in at least three discrete electrical paths relative to the common node.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.