Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Clamping inductive flyback voltage to reduce power dissipation
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Application No.: US15629949Application Date: 2017-06-22
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Publication No.: US10581241B2Publication Date: 2020-03-03
- Inventor: Sean A. Lofthouse , Alan L. Westwick
- Applicant: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
- Applicant Address: US TX Austin
- Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
- Current Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US TX Austin
- Agency: Zagorin Cave LLP
- Main IPC: H02M1/32
- IPC: H02M1/32 ; H02M1/34 ; H03K17/08 ; H03K17/16 ; H03K17/30 ; H03K17/64 ; H02H9/04 ; H03K17/082 ; H03K17/60

Abstract:
A switch controls current to be supplied to an inductive load when turned on. A clamp circuit clamps a flyback voltage resulting from turning off the switch. The clamp circuit has a first clamping voltage responsive to the switch being turned off, and has a second clamping voltage, higher than the first clamping voltage, responsive to a current level through the inductive load being lower than a predetermined current level. That ensures that as the current comes down to levels required to break contact, the clamp voltage is increased to speed the collapse of the magnetic field when needed to minimize contact wear by maintaining armature momentum.
Public/Granted literature
- US20180375325A1 Clamping Inductive Flyback Voltage to Reduce Power Dissipation Public/Granted day:2018-12-27
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