Back to results
US 9,802,572 B2Granted
Driver circuit for an inductor coil, method for operating an inductor coil and active transmission system with a driver circuit
AssigneeContinental Automotive GmbH
InventorsHerbert Froitzheim, Dieter Sass
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for operating an inductor coil may include: charging a capacitor by means of a charging current at a reference voltage; and discharging the charged capacitor in an oscillating manner via the inductor coil. The discharging is ended when a current passing through the inductor coil has passed through an entire oscillation period or a multiple thereof.
Claims19
A driver circuit for an inductor coil, the driver circuit comprising:
- a capacitor,
- two input paths for supplying a reference voltage for the capacitor,
- two output paths for connecting the inductor coil to the capacitor,
- a first controllable switch connected in one of the two input paths,
- a second controllable switch connected in one of the two output paths,
- a current measuring unit connected in one of the two output paths to measure a current flowing through the inductor coil, and
- a switch control unit connected downstream of the current measuring unit to analyze the current flowing through the inductor coil, and to firstly close the first switch when the second switch is open, in order to charge the capacitor to the reference voltage, and then to open the first switch and close the second switch in order to discharge the capacitor via the inductor coil creating an oscillating current through the current measuring unit,
- wherein the second switch is first opened again when the current through the inductor coil has passed through an entire oscillation period or a multiple thereof.
5 more elements
A method for operating an inductor coil, the method comprising:
- charging a capacitor by means of a charging current at a reference voltage;
- and
- discharging the charged capacitor via the inductor coil creating an oscillating current through a current measuring unit in series with the capacitor,
- wherein the discharging is ended when a current passing through the inductor coil has passed through an entire oscillation period or a multiple thereof.
1 more element
An active transmission system comprising:
- an inductive antenna,
- a capacitor,
- a reference voltage source,
- two input paths connected between reference voltage source and capacitor,
- two output paths connected between the inductive antenna and the capacitor,
- a first controllable switch connected in one of the two input paths,
- a second controllable switch connected in one of the two output paths,
- a current measuring unit connected in one of the two output paths to measure a current flowing through the inductive antenna, and
- a switch control unit connected downstream of the current measuring unit to analyze the current flowing through the inductive antenna, and to firstly close the first switch when the second switch is open, in order to charge the capacitor using the reference voltage source, and then to open the first switch and close the second switch, in order to discharge the capacitor via the inductive antenna creating an oscillating current through the current measuring unit, wherein the second switch is first opened again when the current through the antenna has passed through an entire oscillation period or a multiple thereof.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.