Method and system for protecting voltage regulator driver circuitry during field coil short circuit condition

A storage medium, comprising:

• a computer readable computer program code for protecting voltage regulator driver circuitry during a short circuit condition of an alternator field coil;
• and
• instructions for causing a computer to implement a method, the method further comprising:
• passively detecting a drop in field coil voltage during an on-portion of a duty cycle of the field coil voltage, wherein the passive detection of the drop in field coil voltage signifies an interrupt event;
• responsive to the interrupt event, changing a logical state of a driver enable control signal so as to deactivate driver circuitry associated with a switching device used to pass field current through the field coil, wherein the driver circuitry, when deactivated, prevents the switching device from passing current regardless of the state of a pulse width modulation (PWM) control signal applied to the driver circuitry, wherein the PWM control signal and the driver enable control signal are generated by a microcontroller included within a voltage regulator;
• and
• changing the logical state of the driver enable control signal so as to reactivate the driver circuitry in the event the short circuit condition is eliminated.

A storage medium, comprising:

• a computer readable computer program code for protecting voltage regulator driver circuitry during a short circuit condition of an alternator field coil;
• and
• instructions for causing a computer to implement a method, the method further comprising:
• passively detecting a drop in field coil voltage during an on-portion of a duty cycle of the field coil voltage, wherein the passive detection of the drop in field coil voltage signifies an interrupt event;
• and
• responsive to the interrupt event, changing a logical state of a driver enable control signal so as to deactivate driver circuitry associated with a switching device used to pass field current through the field coil, wherein the driver circuitry, when deactivated, prevents the switching device from passing current regardless of the state of a pulse width modulation (PWM) control signal applied to the driver circuitry, wherein the PWM control signal and the driver enable control signal are generated by a microcontroller included within a voltage regulator, and wherein the passive detection of a drop in field coil voltage is implemented through an input pin of the microcontroller;
• the voltage regulator further comprising a first resistor coupled between a positive side of the field coil and the input pin of the microcontroller, and a diode configured between a first output pin of the microcontroller corresponding to the PWM control signal and the input pin of the microcontroller.