Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for adaptive synchronous rectifier control. An example apparatus includes an adaptive off-time control circuit to determine a first voltage and a second voltage when a drain voltage of a switch satisfies a voltage threshold, the first voltage based on a first off-time of the switch, the second voltage based on the first off-time and a first scaling factor, determine a third voltage based on a second scaling factor and a second off-time of the switch, the second off-time after the first off-time, and determine a third off-time of the switch based on at least one of the second voltage or the third voltage. The example apparatus further includes a driver to turn off the switch for at least the third off-time after the second off-time.

Circuits and methods for converting a current to an output voltage are disclosed herein. An embodiment of the circuit includes a first switch connected between a source of current and a first node and a second switch connected between the first node and a common voltage. The circuit also includes a first controller for controlling the state of the first switch and a second controller for controlling the state of the second switch. A capacitor is coupled to the first node; the voltage on the capacitor is the output voltage. When the second switch is open, the capacitor charges, and when the second switch is closed, the capacitor does not charge. The current flows through the primary inductance of a transformer.

A voltage supply circuit includes a rectifier circuit, a charging circuit, a feedback circuit and an energy storage circuit. The rectifier circuit is used to receive an input voltage to generate a rectified energy. The charging circuit is coupled to the rectifier circuit and has a modulation input terminal and an energy supply terminal. The modulation input terminal is used to receive a modulation voltage, and the energy supply terminal is used to selectively output a charging current according to the modulation voltage. The feedback circuit is used to receive a high voltage signal and a supply voltage, and output the modulation voltage to the modulation input terminal. The feedback circuit is used to adjust the modulation voltage according to a difference between the supply voltage and a reference voltage. The energy storage circuit is charged by the charging current to pull up the supply voltage.

A boot charge circuit for charging a boot capacitor of a switching power converter with upper and lower switches including pulse circuitry that provides a boot refresh pulse in response to a pulse control signal transitioning to an active state to turn on the lower switch for a duration of the boot refresh pulse, and gate circuitry that prevents activation of the upper switch until after completion of the boot refresh pulse in response to the transitioning of the pulse control signal. The boot refresh pulse has a negligible duration relative to each switching cycle yet sufficient to charge the boot capacitor to enable a driver to turn on the upper switch. A load monitor may be included to disable the pulse circuitry from providing the boot refresh pulse during higher load levels.

A microinverter is provided herein and comprises DC side MOSFETs connected to an input side of the microinverter, AC side MOSFETs connected to an output of the microinverter, and a plurality of gate drivers connected to the AC side MOSFETs and configured to automatically drive the microinverter without a DC voltage being applied to the input side of the microinverter.

Circuits and methods for providing a “bootstrap” power supply for level-shifter/driver (LS/D) circuits in a FET-based power converter. In a first embodiment, linear regulators and a bootstrap capacitor provide a bootstrap power supply for level-shifter/driver circuits in each tier of a multi-level FET-based power converter. In a second embodiment, floating charge circuits and bootstrap capacitors provide an improved bootstrap power supply for level-shifter and driver circuits in each tier of a multi-level FET-based power converter. More particularly, a floating charge circuit configured to be coupled to an associated bootstrap capacitor includes a first sub-circuit configured to pre-charge the associated bootstrap capacitor when coupled and a second sub-circuit configured to transfer charge between the bootstrap capacitor and a bootstrap capacitor coupled to an adjacent floating charge circuit.

A power control device includes: an output voltage controller configured to control an output voltage based on a feedback voltage corresponding to the output voltage; and an overvoltage protector configured to continue or stop the operation of the output voltage controller based on a first detection result of whether the output voltage has exceeded an output voltage threshold value and a second detection result of whether the feedback voltage has fallen to or below a feedback voltage threshold value.

The invention relates to a circuit arrangement (1) for generating an auxiliary DC voltage (VLV), having:—a half bridge circuit (2) which outputs a load current (IL) and which converts a DC voltage (V1) into an AC voltage, and—wherein the half bridge circuit (2) has, in each of the two branches (A1, A2), at least two switch elements (S1, S2 and S3, S4) arranged in series and—wherein a flying capacitor (3) is connected in parallel to corresponding switch elements (S2, S3) in each of the two branches (A1, A2), characterized by:—an auxiliary voltage generating unit (5) which is supplied with electrical energy by the flying capacitor (3) and which is designed to generate an auxiliary DC voltage (VLV) which is less than or equal to 48 V. The invention also relates to an associated method for generating an auxiliary DC voltage and to a power converter and a vehicle having such a circuit arrangement.

A power interrupter device includes a solid-state bidirectional switch and control circuitry to control the solid-state bidirectional switch. The bidirectional switch is connected between input and output terminals of the power interrupter device. The control circuitry includes driver circuitry and fault detection circuitry. The driver circuitry generates a regulated direct current (DC) voltage using current drawn from an input power source applied to the input terminal and applies the regulated DC voltage to a control input of the bidirectional switch. The fault detection circuitry is configured to sense a level of load current flowing in an electrical path between the input and output terminals, to detect an occurrence of a fault condition based on the sensed load current level, and to short the control input of the bidirectional switch to place the bidirectional switch in a switched-off state, in response to detecting the occurrence of a fault condition.

An isolated gate driver includes a transformer including primary and secondary windings, a synchronous rectifier connected between the secondary winding and an output terminal of the isolated gate driver, a first switch including a first terminal connected to a supply voltage, a second switch including a first terminal connected to the supply voltage, a first damping resistance connected between a first terminal of the secondary winding and a second terminal of the first switch, a second damping resistance connected between a second terminal of the secondary winding and a second terminal of the second switch, a first inverter including an input connected to the first terminal of the secondary winding and an output connected to a gate terminal of the first switch, and a second inverter including an input connected to the second terminal of the secondary winding and an output connected to a gate terminal of the second switch.