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AssigneeContinental Automotive Systems, Inc.
InventorsLuis Roberto Togo Peraza, Lothar Erle
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An apparatus for providing protection to an electric circuit includes a P-channel MOSFET; a freewheeling diode coupled to a drain of the P-channel MOSFET and coupled to a load; and a charge pump coupled to a gate of the P-channel MOSEFT. In a normal operating mode, the charge pump receives a voltage from a voltage regulator, and is configured to multiply and reverses the polarity of the voltage to supply to the gate of the MOSFET. In a reverse battery operating mode, the charge pump receives no voltage from the voltage regulator to supply to the gate of the MOSFET causing the MOSFET to deactivate such that when the MOSFET deactivates, current is prevented from flowing through the freewheeling diode to protect the freewheeling diode.
An apparatus for providing protection to an electric circuit, comprising:
A method of operating a protection circuit that includes a P-channel MOSFET, a freewheeling diode coupled to a drain of the P-channel MOSFET and coupled to a load, and a charge pump coupled to a gate of the P-channel MOSEFT, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.