CLAMP FOR A HYBRID SWITCH
Granted: September 13, 2018
Application Number:
20180262190
A switch having a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal. The switch includes a normally-on device with a first terminal, a second terminal, and a control terminal. The first terminal of the normally-on device is the first terminal of the switch. The control terminal of the normally-on device is coupled to the second terminal of the switch. A normally-off device includes a first terminal, a second terminal, and a control terminal. The control terminal of the…
DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER CIRCUIT FOR USE IN A POWER CONVERTER
Granted: November 19, 2015
Application Number:
20150333764
A digital-to-analog converter circuit includes an input to receive a digital input signal having multiple bits. A modulation circuit is coupled to respond to less significant bits of the digital input signal by outputting a modulation signal that alternates between a logic low level and a logic high level. A digital-to-analog circuit is configured to convert more significant bits of the digital input signal to a first analog level. The digital-to-analog circuit is configured to alternate…
MULTI-PACE CONTROLLER
Granted: November 19, 2015
Application Number:
20150333630
A controller for controlling a power supply includes a feedback signal generator to generate a feedback signal representative of an output current in response to an output sense signal. A state selector circuit receives the feedback signal and outputs a digital state signal to set an operational state of a switch of the power supply. The state selector circuit adjusts the digital state signal in response to feedback information at an end of a feedback period. A driver circuit receives…
FAULT PROTECTION CIRCUIT
Granted: November 12, 2015
Application Number:
20150326008
A fault detection circuit for use with a power converter includes an initiate fault check circuit coupled to generate an enable signal in response to a first sense signal coupled to be received from an output socket. A threshold detection circuit is coupled to generate a threshold detection output signal in response to a second sense signal coupled to be received from the power converter and a second reference signal. A logic circuit is coupled to generate a fault signal that is coupled…
MULTI-BLEEDER MODE CONTROL FOR IMPROVED LED DRIVER PERFORMANCE
Granted: October 29, 2015
Application Number:
20150312978
Various examples directed to phase-dimming LED driver input circuitry having multiple bleeder circuits activated by a controller with multi-bleeder mode control are disclosed. In one example, the input circuitry may include multiple bleeder circuits controlled by the controller in an open-loop or closed-loop configuration. The controller may selectively activate or deactivate the multiple bleeder circuits based on the input line voltage, the dimming state, and the type of dimming being…
DIMMING EDGE DETECTION FOR POWER CONVERTER
Granted: October 22, 2015
Application Number:
20150303812
A controller for a power converter includes an edge detection circuit and a drive circuit. The edge detection circuit includes a comparator, a count module, and an edge checking module. The comparator is coupled to output a compare signal in response to comparing an input sense signal and a count signal. The input sense signal is representative of an input voltage of the power converter. The count module is coupled to adjust the count signal to track the input sense signal in response to…
SAMPLING FOR DIMMER EDGE DETECTION IN POWER CONVERTER
Granted: October 15, 2015
Application Number:
20150295500
A controller and a method for controlling a power converter includes a sample block coupled to generate a first, second, and third sample by sampling an input sense signal that is representative of an input voltage of the power converter. An enable signal is asserted when a first difference between the first sample and the second sample exceeds a first threshold. An edge signal is asserted when both the enable signal is asserted and a second difference between the first sample and the…
VARIABLE FEEDBACK SIGNAL BASED ON CONDUCTION TIME
Granted: July 16, 2015
Application Number:
20150200599
A controller for a power converter includes conduction detection circuitry and a variable reference generator. The conduction detection circuitry is coupled to generate a conduction signal representative of conduction times that an input signal is above a threshold value. The variable reference generator is coupled to receive the conduction signal and configured to generate a count value in response to a first conduction time of the conduction signal. The variable reference generator is…
DIGITAL PEAK DETECTOR WITH FOLLOWER MODE
Granted: March 19, 2015
Application Number:
20150078050
Circuits and processes for detecting a peak value of an input signal are disclosed. In one example, a peak detector circuit may sample a line sense signal, determine the peak value of the line sense signal during a search window, and output a peak detection signal representative of the determined peak value. In a first mode, the peak detector circuit may cause the peak detection signal to be representative of the determined peak value from an immediately preceding search window. In a…
WAVEFORM SHAPE DISCRIMINATOR
Granted: March 12, 2015
Application Number:
20150070953
A waveform shape discriminator includes a running maximum finder circuit coupled to receive a sense signal. The running maximum finder circuit is coupled to update a running maximum signal in response to the sense signal. A first comparator is coupled to receive the sense signal and a running maximum threshold signal that is representative of the running maximum signal. A search window block is coupled to receive the input signal to detect a search window in the sense signal. An output…
PRE-DISTORTION OF SENSED CURRENT IN A POWER FACTOR CORRECTION CIRCUIT
Granted: March 5, 2015
Application Number:
20150062985
An example controller includes a power factor enhancer, an on-time controller, and a switching signal generator. The power factor enhancer is coupled to generate a pre-distortion signal each half-line cycle of an ac input voltage of a PFC converter. The on-time controller ends an on-time of a PFC switch in response to a sensed PFC switch current of the PFC converter multiplied by the pre-distortion signal. The switching signal generator controls an input current waveform of the PFC…
Controller IC with Zero-Crossing Detector and Capacitor Discharge Switching Element
Granted: March 5, 2015
Application Number:
20150062974
An integrated circuit (IC) for controlling the discharge of a capacitor coupled across first and second input terminals of a power converter circuit, wherein the first and second terminals for receiving an ac line voltage. The IC includes a switching element coupled across the first and second input terminals and a detector circuit. The detector circuit including first and second comparators that produce first and second output signals responsive to a zero-crossing event of the ac line…
FEEDBACK PROTECTION FROM ADJACENT TERMINAL SHORTS
Granted: March 5, 2015
Application Number:
20150062768
This relates to detecting unwanted couplings between a protected terminal and an adjacent terminal of an IC controller of a power supply. The voltages across adjacent terminals are monitored. If the voltage difference between the terminals falls below a minimum threshold for greater than a first duration of time, an internal current source injects current into one of the terminals. If, within a second duration of time, the injected current pulls the voltage of the injected terminal to a…
OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER WITH SELECTIVE INPUT
Granted: February 5, 2015
Application Number:
20150035597
An operational amplifier includes a selective differential stage including a first current mirror and a current distribution circuit. First and second legs of the first current mirror are responsive to current in first and second paths of the current distribution circuit, which distributes a tail current in response to a first signal received by a first input of the operational amplifier. Current in a first path of a selection circuit in the second path of the current distribution…
HIGH QUALITY GAN HIGH-VOLTAGE HFETS ON SILICON
Granted: December 25, 2014
Application Number:
20140374768
Substrates of GaN over silicon suitable for forming electronics devices such as heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs), and methods of making the substrates, are disclosed. Voids in a crystalline Al2O3 film on a top surface of a silicon wafer are formed. The top surface of the silicon wafer is along the <111> silicon crystal orientation. A plurality of laminate layers is deposited over the voids and the Al2O3 film. Each laminate layer includes an AlN film and a GaN film.…
DIMMER DETECTOR FOR BLEEDER CIRCUIT ACTIVATION
Granted: November 13, 2014
Application Number:
20140333228
A circuit to be utilized for an LED driver bleeder activation. The circuit comprises a circuit block for timing a duration of any removed portion of a rectified line signal. The input of the circuit to be coupled to receive the phase controlled rectified line signal through a voltage divider. Comparing the divided rectified line signal with a threshold voltage and output a comparison result. A timer coupled to the comparator and responsive to the comparison result to time the duration of…
SUPPLEMENTING WIRE BONDS
Granted: September 18, 2014
Application Number:
20140264952
Systems and techniques for supplementing wire bonds. In one embodiment, a device includes a body having a first surface, a first wire bond pad disposed on the first surface, a first wire that is wire bonded to the first wire bond pad to form a contact between the first wire and the first wire bond pad, a first supplemental conductor disposed to form a supplemental conduit between the first wire and the first wire bond pad, a second wire bond pad disposed on the first surface, a second…
LOSSLESS PRELOAD FOR LED DRIVER WITH EXTENDED DIMMING
Granted: September 18, 2014
Application Number:
20140265898
A quasi-phase active preload circuit to be coupled at the output of a non-isolated LED driver converter having a pre-stage phase-angle control dimmer circuit, such as a commonly used leading-edge control Triac dimmer, is disclosed. The quasi-phase active preload circuit may include a preload resistor coupled to a current-controlled current source configured to draw a sinking current through the preload resistor based on a peak detect signal. The peak detect signal may be, in one example,…
LIGHT DRIVER CONTROL SYSTEM
Granted: September 18, 2014
Application Number:
20140265896
A system for controlling a light source includes a control circuit to be coupled to an ac source to receive an ac signal. The control circuit includes an input controller coupled to receive an input control signal and dimming command circuitry coupled to the input controller and coupled to receive the ac signal. The dimming command circuitry is coupled to remove one or more portions of a predetermined duration from the ac signal followed by a substantially full ac signal in response to…
CURRENT LIMITER WITH ACTIVE DAMPING
Granted: September 18, 2014
Application Number:
20140265861
This relates to a current limiter circuit that can be used in a power conversion system having a triac dimmer. In one example, the power conversion system may be used in an off-line LED driver. The current limiter circuit may be coupled to a power converter of the power conversion system and may operate to reduce the current that the power converter receives from an input line in the event of a power line surge. The current limiter circuit may also be coupled to the triac dimmer and may…
