Power controller with bond wire fuse
AssigneeHamilton Sundstrand Corporation
InventorJosef Maier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A power controller includes bond wires that also act as fuses to protect the power controller from damage caused by a short circuit fault. The bond wires connect switching elements within the power controller with at least one output pin having at least one output rating. The bond wires themselves are configured so that the steady state current capability of each bond wire matches the output rating of its corresponding output pin. The power controller measures an output current to a load and adapts its protection functions depending on its programmed output rating. The output rating of the power controller may be controlled by the output rating of a particular pin or the number of switching elements that are turned on within the power controller.
Claims17
A power controller, comprising:
- a switching element;
- a plurality of output pins corresponding to the switching element, wherein each of the plurality of output pins corresponds to a different output rating;
- and
- a plurality of bond wires connecting the switching element to at least one of the output pins, wherein the plurality of bond wires have a fuse characteristic corresponding to at least one of the output ratings.
A power controller comprising:
- a switching element including a plurality of switching elements;
- an output pin corresponding to at least one output rating, the output pin comprising a plurality of output pins that include a first output pin having a first output rating and a second output pin having a second output rating;
- and
- at least one bond wire connecting the switching element to at least one of the plurality of output pins, wherein said at least one bond wire has a fuse characteristic corresponding to said at least one output rating, said at least one bond wire comprising a plurality of bond wires, each bond wire associated with one of said plurality of switching elements and connected to output pin, wherein the first output rating and the second output ratings are a multiple of a base value, and wherein said at least one bond wire comprises a plurality of bond wires, the number of said plurality of bond wires corresponding to the multiple.
A power controller comprising:
- a first switching element;
- a second switching element;
- a first output pin having a first output rating that is a first multiple of a base value;
- a second output pin having a second output rating that is a second multiple of the base value that is different from the first multiple;
- and
- bond wires connecting the first switching element and the second switching element to the first output pin and the second output pin, each of said bond wires having a fuse characteristic corresponding to one of the first output rating or the second output rating, and wherein the number of bond wires corresponds to at least one of the first multiple or the second multiple.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.