Current limit circuit for inhibiting voltage overshoot
US5838524A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 21, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 17, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 21, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH02H3/44
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A current limit circuit for preventing voltage overshoot in a driver circuit. A diode is coupled to the output terminal of the driver circuit. The diode's junction capacitance is utilized to reduce a current limit threshold in order to control the rate of change of the output voltage at the output terminal. A bias control circuit regulates a pass transistor to prevent load current provided by the driver circuit from exceeding the current limit threshold. The cathode of the diode is coupled to the output terminal so that the voltage at the cathode of the diode is responsive to the output voltage of the driver terminal. The base of a transistor is coupled to the anode of the diode so that the transistor conducts current at its collector when there is a sufficiently large rate of change in the output voltage. The collector current of the transistor reduces a reference current applied to a current mirror. The current mirror is coupled to a bias control circuit so that when the reference current is reduced, the current limit threshold of the driver circuit is also reduced. The diode, transistor, current mirror, and bias control circuit prevent overshoots by reducing the current limit th…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.