Inductive load power switching circuits

Abstract

Power switching circuits including an inductive load and a switching device are described. The switches devices can be either low-side or high-side switches. Some of the switches are transistors that are able to block voltages or prevent substantial current from flowing through the transistor when voltage is applied across the transistor.

Description

technical field [0001] This invention relates to power switching circuits, and more particularly, to power switching circuits using inductive loads. Background technique [0002] A single-sided switch is a switch configuration in which a switching device is used to connect a load to a node at a low potential - a "low-side" switch, or a load to a node at a high potential - a "high-side" switch. exist figure 1 The low-side configuration is shown in a, and the figure 2 A high-side configuration is shown in a, where nodes at high potential are represented by high voltage (HV) sources and nodes at low potential are represented by ground terminals. In both cases, when the load 10 is an inductive load, a freewheeling diode 11 (sometimes called a flyback diode) is required to provide a path for the freewheeling load current when the switching device is turned off. For example, as in figure 1 As shown in b, when the device threshold voltage is applied by V th Large gate-source ...

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Problems solved by technology

However, parasitic diode 63 typically has much poorer switching characteristics and suffers greater switching losses than standard high voltage diodes, resulting in increased power losses, and is therefore generally preferred image 3 a-d circuit

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