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US 9,263,877 B1Granted
Temperature-compensated current monitoring
AssigneeAPI Technologies Corp.
InventorIan Kellogg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods and media for current monitoring are provided herein. An exemplary method may include: receiving a temperature of a power MOSFET, the temperature being sensed by a temperature sensor; determining a resistance of the power MOSFET using the received temperature; receiving a voltage across the power MOSFET, the voltage being measured by a differential amplifier; calculating a current provided to an electrical load by the power MOSFET using the determined resistance of the power MOSFET and the received voltage; comparing the calculated current to a predetermined threshold; and switching the power MOSFET to an off state in response to the calculated current exceeding the predetermined threshold.
Claims30
A system for monitoring current comprising:
- an electrical load;
- a power MOSFET electrically coupled to the electrical load;
- a differential amplifier electrically coupled to the power MOSFET;
- a temperature sensor thermally coupled to the power MOSFET;
- a processor communicatively coupled to the differential amplifier and the temperature sensor;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform a method comprising:
- receiving a temperature of the power MOSFET, the temperature being sensed by the temperature sensor, the receiving the temperature of the power MOSFET including:
- receiving an analog voltage from the temperature sensor, the analog voltage representing the temperature of the power MOSFET, and
- converting the analog voltage to a digital number by an analog to digital converter, the digital number representing the temperature of the power MOSFET,
- determining a resistance of the power MOSFET using the digital number representing the temperature,
- receiving a voltage across the power MOSFET, the voltage being measured by the differential amplifier,
- calculating a current provided to the electrical load by the power MOSFET using the determined resistance of the power MOSFET and the received voltage,
- comparing the calculated current to a predetermined threshold, and
- switching the power MOSFET to an off state in response to the calculated current exceeding the predetermined threshold.
12 more elements
A method for current monitoring by a processor comprising:
- receiving a temperature of a power MOSFET, the temperature being sensed by a temperature sensor, the receiving the temperature of the power MOSFET including:
- receiving an analog voltage from the temperature sensor, the analog voltage representing the temperature of the power MOSFET, and
- converting the analog voltage to a digital number by an analog to digital converter, the digital number representing the temperature of the power MOSFET;
- determining a resistance of the power MOSFET using the digital number representing the temperature;
- receiving a voltage across the power MOSFET, the voltage being measured by a differential amplifier;
- calculating a current provided to an electrical load by the power MOSFET using the determined resistance of the power MOSFET and the received voltage;
- comparing the calculated current to a predetermined threshold;
- and
- switching the power MOSFET to an off state in response to the calculated current exceeding the predetermined threshold.
6 more elements
A system for monitoring current comprising:
- an electrical load;
- a power MOSFET electrically coupled to the electrical load;
- a differential amplifier electrically coupled to the power MOSFET;
- a temperature sensor thermally coupled to the power MOSFET;
- a processor communicatively coupled to the differential amplifier and the temperature sensor;
- and
- a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform a method comprising:
- receiving a temperature of the power MOSFET, the temperature being sensed by the temperature sensor,
- determining a resistance of the power MOSFET using the received temperature,
- receiving a voltage across the power MOSFET, the voltage being measured by the differential amplifier, the receiving the voltage across the power MOSFET including:
- receiving an analog voltage from the differential amplifier, the analog voltage representing the temperature of the power MOSFET, and
- converting the analog voltage to a digital number by an analog to digital converter, the digital number representing the voltage across the power MOSFET,
- calculating a current provided to the electrical load by the power MOSFET using the determined resistance of the power MOSFET and the digital number representing the voltage,
- comparing the calculated current to a predetermined threshold, and
- switching the power MOSFET to an off state in response to the calculated current exceeding the predetermined threshold.
12 more elements
A method for current monitoring by a processor comprising:
- receiving a temperature of a power MOSFET, the temperature being sensed by a temperature sensor;
- determining a resistance of the power MOSFET using the received temperature;
- receiving a voltage across the power MOSFET, the voltage being measured by a differential amplifier, the receiving the voltage across the power MOSFET including:
- receiving an analog voltage from the differential amplifier, the analog voltage representing the temperature of the power MOSFET, and
- converting the analog voltage to a digital number by an analog to digital converter, the digital number representing the voltage across the power MOSFET;
- calculating a current provided to an electrical load by the power MOSFET using the determined resistance of the power MOSFET and the digital number representing the voltage;
- comparing the calculated current to a predetermined threshold;
- and
- switching the power MOSFET to an off state in response to the calculated current exceeding the predetermined threshold.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.