Solid-state bidirectional switch with soft switching
AssigneeUniversity of Connecticut
InventorsAli Bazzi, Pengwei Li, Matthew Silverman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for controlling an electrical current flow between a first device and a second device includes a first semiconductor switch having a first conduction terminal and a second semiconductor switch having a first conduction terminal coupled to the first conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch. The apparatus also includes a first snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch and a second snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the second semiconductor switch, wherein the first snubber circuit is adapted to couple with the first device and the second snubber circuit is adapted to couple with the second device.
Claims15
An apparatus for controlling an electrical current flow between a first device and a second device, the apparatus comprising:
- a first semiconductor switch comprising a first conduction terminal;
- a second semiconductor switch comprising a first conduction terminal coupled to the first conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch;
- a first snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch;
- a second snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the second semiconductor switch;
- wherein the first snubber circuit is adapted to couple with the first device and the second snubber circuit is adapted to couple with the second device.
An apparatus comprising:
- a first semiconductor switch having a first conduction terminal;
- a second semiconductor switch having a first conduction terminal coupled to the first conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch;
- a first snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch;
- a second snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the second semiconductor switch;
- a first device coupled to an output terminal of the first snubber circuit;
- and
- a second device coupled to an output terminal of the second snubber circuit.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for controlling an electrical current flow between a first device and a second device that when executed by a computer implements a method comprising:
- operating a bidirectional controllable solid-state relay, the bidirectional controllable relay comprising:
- a first semiconductor switch having a first conduction terminal;
- a second semiconductor switch having a first conduction terminal coupled to the first conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch;
- a first snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the first semiconductor switch;
- a second snubber circuit coupled to a second conduction terminal of the second semiconductor switch;
- wherein the first device is coupled to an output terminal of the first snubber circuit and the second device is coupled to an output terminal of the second snubber circuit;
- turning on the first semiconductor switch in response to the instructions allowing the electrical current flow from the first device to the second device;
- turning on the second semiconductor switch in response to the instructions allowing the electrical current flow from the second device to the first device;
- turning on the first semiconductor switch and the second semiconductor switch in response to the instructions allowing the electrical current flow from the first device to the second device and from the second device to the first device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.