Drive unit employing gallium nitride switches
AssigneeOtis Elevator Company
InventorsShashank Krishnamurthy, Xin Wu, William A. Veronesi, Kyle W. Rogers, Daryl J. Marvin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A switching assembly for use in a drive unit for driving a motor. The switching assembly includes a gallium nitride switch having a gate terminal, drain terminal and source terminal; a gate driver generating a drive signal; a gate drive circuit including a turn on resistor in series with the gate driver and the gate terminal and a clamping circuit connected across the gate terminal and the source terminal, a turn on drive signal from the gate driver being applied to the gate terminal through the turn on resistor; and a snubber circuit connected across the drain terminal and source terminal.
Claims18
A switching assembly for use in a drive unit for driving a motor, the switching assembly comprising:
- a gallium nitride switch having a gate terminal, drain terminal and source terminal;
- a gate driver generating a drive signal;
- a gate drive circuit including a turn on resistor in series with the gate driver and the gate terminal and a clamping circuit connected across the gate terminal and the source terminal, a turn on drive signal from the gate driver being applied to the gate terminal through the turn on resistor;
- and
- a snubber circuit connected across the drain terminal and source terminal.
A drive unit for driving a motor, the drive unit comprising:
- a controller generating a control signal;
- a first voltage bus and a second voltage bus;
- a switching assembly connected between one of the first voltage bus and the second voltage bus and an output, the switching assembly including:
- a gallium nitride switch having a gate terminal, drain terminal and source terminal;
- a gate driver generating a drive signal in response to the control signal;
- a gate drive circuit including a turn on resistor in series with the gate driver and the gate terminal and a clamping circuit connected across the gate terminal and the source terminal, a turn on drive signal from the gate driver being applied to the gate terminal through the turn on resistor;
- and
- a snubber circuit connected across the drain terminal and source terminal.
An elevator drive unit for driving a motor to impart motion to an elevator car, the drive unit comprising:
- a controller generating a control signal;
- a first voltage bus and a second voltage bus;
- a switching assembly connected between one of the first voltage bus and the second voltage bus and an output, the switching assembly including:
- a gallium nitride switch having a gate terminal, drain terminal and source terminal;
- a gate driver generating a drive signal in response to the control signal;
- a gate drive circuit including a turn on resistor in series with the gate driver and the gate terminal and a clamping circuit connected across the gate terminal and the source terminal, a turn on drive signal from the gate driver being applied to the gate terminal through the turn on resistor;
- and
- a snubber circuit connected across the drain terminal and source terminal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.