The invention relates to a circuit arrangement (200) for controlling a plurality of semiconductor switches connected in parallel, having an activation connection (213) and a deactivation connection (214), and having a plurality of control connections (220), each provided for connection to a control connection (123) of one of the plurality of semiconductor switches, wherein the activation connection (213) and the deactivation connection (214) are each connected to each of the plurality of control connections (220), and wherein a circuit breaker (230) is provided between the activation connection (213) and at least one of the control connections (220), furthermore having at least one detection and control arrangement which is designed to detect a current flow in the at least one of the control connections (220) and, if a short-circuit is detected on the basis of the current flow, to control the circuit breaker (230) to open.

An electronic circuit breaker comprising: an input connected to an electric DC power supply; an output connected to a load; the input connected to the output via a switch, said switch is controlled via a switch control line between an “ON”-state and an “OFF”-state; a switch driver connected to the switch control line, said switch driver configured to control the switch; and a switch protection, a voltage detection branch configured to output a first electric potential indicative of the electrical potential difference between the input and the output; a comparator circuit configured to compare the first electrical potential with a first threshold voltage, said first threshold voltage is indicative of an over-current level flowing through the switch; and a gate controller connected to the switch disable line and configured to disable the switch by connecting the switch control line to a potential which causes the switch to enter the “OFF”-state.

Devices having one primary transistor, or a plurality of primary transistors in parallel, protect electrical circuits from overcurrent conditions. Optionally, the devices have only two terminals and require no auxiliary power to operate. In those devices, the voltage drop across the device provides the electrical energy to power the device. A third or fourth terminal can appear in further devices, allowing additional overcurrent and overvoltage monitoring opportunities. Autocatalytic voltage conversion allows certain devices to rapidly limit or block nascent overcurrents.

A system may include an output power stage driver comprising a plurality of parallel-coupled field-effect transistors and a current sensor comprising a sense field-effect transistor matched to a matched field-effect transistor of the plurality of parallel-coupled field-effect transistors and gate-coupled and source-coupled to the matched field-effect transistor. The current sensor may be configured to measure a reference voltage across the sense field-effect transistor, measure a sense voltage across the matched field-effect transistor, and determine a current through the output power stage driver based on a comparison of the reference voltage to the sense voltage.

A driver can be configured to provide sensed phase currents as feedback to a controller to indicate the output currents from each phase of a switch mode power supply (SMPS). The driver can be configured to temperature compensate the sensed currents in one of two ways. If a temperature sensor is directly coupled to the driver, then the driver may be configured to temperature compensate the sensed currents from each phase based on a temperature measurement made by the temperature sensor. If a temperature sensor is not directly coupled to the driver, then the driver may be configured to temperature compensate the sensed current from each phase based on a temperature signal received from a bus coupled to the driver. The bus can communicate the temperature signal so that multiple drivers can utilize one temperature sensor.

In accordance with an embodiment, a circuit includes: a supply pin and an output pin for connecting a load, and a configuration pin; a semiconductor switch connected between the supply pin and the output pin and configured to establish or to block a current path between the supply pin and the output pin depending on a control signal; and a control circuit configured to generate the control signal for the semiconductor switch taking account of a first parameter, and set the first parameter depending on a component parameter of an external component connected to the configuration pin. The first parameter is set to a first standard value when the component parameter is less than a first threshold value, and the first parameter is set to a second standard value when the component parameter is greater than a second threshold value.

An overcurrent fault detector using a High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) operated by a gate driver is disclosed. The overcurrent fault detector includes a band-pass filter and a control circuit. The band-pass filter is configured to receive gate-to-source voltage (VGS) signals of the HEMT and filter the VGS signals to generate a band-limited version of the VGS signals. The control circuit is configured to measure a value of the band-limited version of the VGS signals, determine if the value is greater than a threshold value, and generate a fault signal that disables the gate driver and terminates an overcurrent fault condition in response to determining that the value is greater than the threshold value.

Provided is a technology in which a control device of a converter performs gate cutoff for cutting off power supply to a load when one of a battery detection value obtained by a battery voltage sensor or a low-voltage-side detection value obtained by a low-voltage-side voltage sensor or both thereof are abnormal values. After the control device performs the gate cutoff, the control device determines whether or not a main body circuitry is abnormal based on the battery detection value and the low-voltage-side detection value. When the control device determines that the main body circuitry is not abnormal, the control device determines whether one of the battery voltage sensor or the low-voltage-side voltage sensor is abnormal based on the battery detection value, the low-voltage-side detection value, and a high-voltage-side detection value obtained by a high-voltage-side voltage sensor.

An electronic control device includes an input terminal connected to a second terminal of a switch via an electrically conductive lead, an input circuit connected to the input terminal via a signal line, and a microcontroller to detect whether the switch is in an electrically conducting state or an electrically non-conducting state based on an output signal from the input circuit, and to perform at least one process in accordance with a detected result. The input circuit includes a first resistor connected to a supply voltage or ground and to the signal line, and a transient current circuit connected to the supply voltage or ground and to the signal line, the transient current circuit including a second resistor that allows a transient current to flow through the switch when the switch transitions from the electrically non-conducting state to the electrically conducting state.

The present disclosure relates to current control circuitry for controlling a current through a load. The current control circuitry comprises amplifier circuitry, reference voltage generator circuitry configured to supply a fixed reference voltage to a first input of the amplifier circuitry and an output stage comprising: a control terminal coupled to an output of the amplifier circuitry; a current input terminal configured to be coupled to the load; and a current output terminal. The current control circuitry further comprises a variable resistance coupled to the current output terminal of the output stage, and a feedback path between the current output terminal of the output stage and a second terminal of the amplifier circuitry for providing a feedback voltage to a second input of the amplifier circuitry.