Gate driver apparatus having an energy recovering circuit
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsLi Faye, Qian Jinrong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A novel gate driver apparatus in which an energy recovery circuitry is incorporated in a square-wave gate driver. The energy recovery circuitry has a first loop circuit for discharging the energy from the gate capacitor to an inductor when the gate driver is turned off, and a second loop circuit for discharging the energy from the inductor to the power supply. Thus, the energy of the gate capacitor is transferred to the power source when the gate driver is turned off, and the gate driver apparatus still maintains its operating flexibility as the square-wave driver and is independent of switching frequency.
Claims17
A gate driver apparatus for driving a power MOSFET, comprising:
- a power supply for providing control driving power;
- a square wave gate driver circuit for charging a gate capacitor so as to turn on said power MOSFET wherein said gate capacitor is connected to the gate of said power MOSFET;
- an energy recovery circuit for discharging said gate capacitor to said power supply during a turn-off operation of said square wave gate driver said energy recovery circuit comprising:
- a. a resonant inductor having first and second terminals;
- b. a first controllable conducting device connected between said second terminal and to a first side of said power supply
- c. a first unidirectional conducting device connected in series with said first controllable conducting device and to a second side of said power supply;
- and
- d. a second unidirectional conducting device connected to said second terminal and in parallel with said first controllable conducting device;
- e. wherein said first terminal of said resonant inductor is connected to said gate capacitor.
A method of recovering energy in a turn-off operation of a square wave gate driver for driving a power MOSFET, comprising:
- providing an energy recovery circuitry for discharging a gate capacitor to a power supply of said square wave gate driver during said turn-off operation of said square wave gate driver;
- discharging said gate capacitor through said energy recovery circuitry when said square wave gate driver is turned off wherein said energy recovery circuitry comprises:
- a. a resonant inductor having first and second terminals;
- b. a first controllable conducting device connected between said second terminal and a first side of said power supply;
- c. a first unidirectional conducting device connected in series with said first controllable conducting device and to a second side of said power supply;
- and
- d. a second unidirectional conducting device connected to said second terminal and in parallel with said first controllable conducting device;
- e. wherein said first terminal of said resonant inductor is connected to said gate capacitor.
A gate driver apparatus for controlling a power MOSFET, comprising:
- a power supply for providing control driving power;
- a square wave gate driver circuitry comprising:
- a first conducting device connected between a first terminal of the power supply and a gate capacitor for forming a first loop circuit for charging said power supply to said gate capacitor when said gate driver apparatus is on;
- a second conducting device connected between said gate capacitor and a second terminal of said power supply for forming a second loop circuit for discharging energy from said gate capacitor to said second terminal of said power supply when said gate driver is turned off;
- a turn-off energy recover circuitry comprising:
- an inductor connected to said gate capacitor for storing energy discharged from said gate capacitor;
- a third conducting device connected between said inductor and said second terminal of said power supply for forming a third loop circuit to discharge energy of said gate capacitor through said inductor;
- a fourth conducting device connected between said inductor and said first terminal of said power supply for forming a fourth loop circuit to discharge energy from said inductor to said power supply;
- whereby energy in said gate capacitor is recovered through said recovery circuitry when said gate driver apparatus is being turned off.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.