Solid state lighting control with dimmer interface to control brightness
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10149362
A dimmer interface circuit for reducing ringing on a drive signal to a lighting device. The dimmer interface circuit controls brightness of the lighting device and receives a brightness control voltage from a dimmer circuit. The dimmer interface includes a voltage converter and a charge store, which is coupled to receive charge from an inductive component to convert the brightness control voltage to the converter output voltage. The dimmer interface circuit also includes control…
Single pin MOSFET drive and discharge functionality
Granted: November 27, 2018
Patent Number:
10141765
A circuit for use with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) socket includes a power converter coupled to receive an input voltage at an input terminal and coupled to provide an output voltage at an output terminal. A transistor is coupled between the output terminal of the power converter and a bus voltage terminal of the USB socket. A USB communication controller is coupled to the USB socket. The USB communication controller includes an output terminal coupled to a control terminal of the…
Threshold detection with tap
Granted: November 20, 2018
Patent Number:
10135357
A controller for use in a power converter includes a power switch including a drain, a source, a control input, and a tap. The power switch includes a first transistor coupled to a second transistor, a drain of the first transistor is coupled to the drain of the power switch and the source of the first transistor is coupled to the tap. A tap sense circuit is coupled to the tap. A drive circuit is coupled to receive an indicator signal from the tap sense circuit. The indicator signal is…
Load responsive jitter
Granted: November 20, 2018
Patent Number:
10135343
A controller for use in a power converter that includes a current limit generator coupled to receive a feedback signal representative of an output of the power converter and generate an initial current limit signal. The controller includes a modulation circuit coupled to output a modulation signal which is a percentage of the initial current limit signal. An arithmetic operator is coupled to receive the initial current limit and selectively receive the modulation signal and output a…
Output-side controller with switching request at relaxation ring extremum
Granted: November 13, 2018
Patent Number:
10128763
A method for regulating a power converter includes initiating a transition of a switch coupled to an input side of the power converter from an OFF to an ON state to regulate a transfer of energy from the input to an output side of the power converter after a switch control signal generator receives an enable signal and if a feedback signal representative of an output of the power converter indicates a change in an output of the power converter. The enable signal is generated to…
Protective insulator for HFET devices
Granted: November 6, 2018
Patent Number:
10121885
A high-voltage field effect transistor a heterojunction is disposed between the first and second semiconductor material. A first composite passivation layer includes a first insulation layer and a first passivation layer, and a second composite passivation layer includes a second insulation layer and a second passivation layer. The first insulation layer is disposed between the first passivation layer and the second passivation layer, and the second passivation layer is disposed between…
Modulating jitter frequency as switching frequency approaches jitter frequency
Granted: October 2, 2018
Patent Number:
10088854
A controller for use in a power converter includes a jitter generator circuit coupled to receive a drive signal from a switch controller and generate a jitter signal. The switch controller is coupled to a power switch coupled to an energy transfer element. The switch controller is coupled to receive a current sense signal representative of a drain current through the power switch. The switch controller is coupled to generate the drive signal to control switching of the power switch in…
BJT driver with dynamic adjustment of storage time versus input line voltage variations
Granted: September 25, 2018
Patent Number:
10084386
A controller for a power converter includes a driver circuit that generates a control signal to switch a power switch in response to an output, and a control circuit that controls the switching of the power switch. The control circuit includes a storage time reference circuit generates a storage time reference signal responsive to an input. A first comparator generates a collector off signal in response to a comparison of a switch current sense signal and a collector off reference…
Method and apparatus for implementing an unregulated dormant mode with an event counter in a power converter
Granted: September 18, 2018
Patent Number:
10079544
A method for controlling an output of a power converter with a control circuit includes generating a drive signal to control switching of a switch to regulate the output of the power converter. It is detected if a switching period of one switching cycle of the drive signal exceeds a threshold switching period. The drive signal is disabled when a period of a switching cycle of the drive signal exceeds the threshold switching period for a threshold consecutive number of switching cycles.
Storage time control
Granted: August 28, 2018
Patent Number:
10063152
A controller for use in a power converter includes a first terminal to provide a turn on signal to initiate turning on of a power switch and a second terminal to provide a turn off signal to initiate turning off the power switch. A detection circuit is coupled to detect a turn off time delay. The turn off time delay is the duration of time between an initiating of a turn off of the power switch by the turn off signal and an actual turn off of the power switch. A control circuit is…
Control circuit and control method for turning on a power semiconductor switch
Granted: July 31, 2018
Patent Number:
10038439
A control circuit for turning on a power semiconductor switch includes an input that receives a signal characterizing a switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch. A phase detection circuit detects two or more phases of the switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch in response to the signal that characterizes the switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch. The phase detection circuit is coupled to generate a phase signal that indicates which of the two or…
Soft shutdown modular circuitry for power semiconductor switches
Granted: July 31, 2018
Patent Number:
10038434
Circuitry for soft shutdown of a power switch and a power converters that includes circuitry for soft shutdown are described. In one aspect, circuitry for soft shutdown of a power switch includes a sense input to be coupled to a power switch receive a signal representative of current passing through the power switch, a comparator to compare the signal with an overcurrent threshold indicative of an overcurrent condition of the power switch and to output a triggering signal in response to…
Power supply with power factor correction and output-referenced energy reservoir
Granted: July 24, 2018
Patent Number:
10033284
An ac-dc power supply includes a dc-dc converter coupled to an input of the ac-dc power supply. The input of the ac-dc power supply is coupled to receive an ac input voltage and an ac input current. The dc-dc converter includes a regulated output and a reservoir output. A controller is coupled to receive sense signals from the dc-dc converter. The controller is coupled to control the dc-dc converter to regulate the regulated output in response to the sense signals. The controller is…
Controlled power circuit with adjusted voltage feedback to regulate the output power
Granted: July 17, 2018
Patent Number:
10027236
A controller for use in a power converter includes a sense circuit coupled to generate a feedback signal representative of an output voltage of the power converter. A feedback reference circuit coupled to generate a drive signal in response to the feedback signal. An output power control circuit coupled to receive a current sense signal representative of an output current of the power converter and a power signal representative of a desired value of an output power of the power converter…
Hybrid boost-bypass function in two-stage converter
Granted: July 10, 2018
Patent Number:
10020742
A controller for use in a two-stage power supply is coupled to control switching of a switching element to regulate a transfer of energy from an input to an output of a flyback converter. The controller activates a boost switching element during a first interval in each line half cycle of an input voltage to boost an output voltage at an output of a boost-bypass converter. The controller deactivates the boost switching element during a second interval in each line half cycle such that…
High side signal interface in a power converter
Granted: June 26, 2018
Patent Number:
10008942
A controller for use in a power converter includes a control circuit coupled to generate a low side drive signal to control switching of a low side switch, and generate an ON signal and an OFF signal in response to a feedback signal representative of an output of the power converter. A high side signal interface circuit is coupled to generate a high side drive signal in response to the ON signal and the OFF signal to control switching of a high side switch. The ON signal and the OFF…
Reduction of audible noise in a power converter
Granted: June 19, 2018
Patent Number:
10003270
A controller includes a drive circuit that generates a drive signal to switch a power switch to control a transfer of energy to of a power converter output in response to a current sense signal, a feedback signal, and a current limit signal. A current limit generator generates the current limit signal in response to a load coupled to the output. An exclusion frequency range detection circuit generates a frequency skip signal in response to the drive signal to indicate when an intended…
Shield wrap for a heterostructure field effect transistor
Granted: June 19, 2018
Patent Number:
10002957
Devices are disclosed for providing heterojunction field effect transistor (HFETs) having improved performance and/or reduced noise generation. A gate electrode is over a portion of the active region and is configured to modulate a conduction channel in the active region of an HFET. The active region is in a semiconductor film between a source electrode and a drain electrode. A first passivation film is over the active region. An encapsulation film is over the first passivation film. A…
Clamp for a hybrid switch
Granted: June 12, 2018
Patent Number:
9998115
A cascode switch circuit includes a normally-on device cascode coupled to a normally-off device between first and second terminals of the cascode switch circuit. A leakage clamp circuit is coupled between first and second terminals of the normally-off device. The leakage clamp circuit is coupled to clamp a voltage at an intermediate terminal between the normally-on device and the normally-off device at a threshold voltage level. The leakage clamp circuit is further coupled to clamp a…
Integrated linear current sense circuitry for semiconductor transistor devices
Granted: May 29, 2018
Patent Number:
9983239
An integrated circuit (IC) for sensing a current flowing through a transistor device includes a substrate and a current scaling circuit that includes first and second MOSFET devices. The first MOSFET device has a drain coupled to the switched FET at a first node and a source coupled to the substrate. The second MOSFET device has a source coupled to the substrate and a drain coupled to a second node. The first MOSFET device has a channel size that is K times larger than the second MOSFET…
