A motor protecting circuit is provided. A first terminal of each of high-side transistors is coupled to a power supply voltage. A second terminal of each of low-side transistors is grounded. Second terminals of the high-side transistors are respectively connected to first terminals of the low-side transistors. An overvoltage detector circuit is coupled to the power supply voltage of an output circuit. When the overvoltage detector circuit determines that the power supply voltage of the output circuit is higher than a voltage threshold, the overvoltage detector circuit outputs an overvoltage detected signal to a controller circuit. According to the overvoltage detected signal, the controller circuit controls a driver circuit to turn on at least one of the high-side transistors and at least one of the low-side transistors at the same time.

Provided is a semiconductor device capable of suppressing increase in size of a package and adjusting an amount of negative feedback. A power module as a semiconductor device includes an IGBT which is a switching element and a free wheel diode (FWD) parallelly connected to the switching element. The IGBT has, on a surface thereof, an emitter electrode and a gate electrode of the IGBT and a conductive pattern insulated from the emitter electrode and the gate electrode. The FWD has, on a surface thereof, an anode electrode of the FWD and a conductive pattern insulated from the anode electrode.

An output module of an industrial control apparatus includes an output circuit controlling an electrical connection between a power supply terminal and an output terminal and a controller controlling an operation of the output circuit. The output circuit includes multiple switches, which are connected in series between the power supply terminal and the output terminal, and a voltage divider circuit outputting a divided voltage. The controller controls on/off states of the switches, and detects a short circuit of the switches based on the divided voltage. When the divided voltage detected during an off period while the multiple switches are in off states is within a normal voltage range, the controller determines that no short circuit is occurred. When the divided voltage detected during the off period is out of the normal voltage range, the controller determines that a short circuit is occurred in at least one of the switches.

A semiconductor device, including a control circuit that has a gate control circuit driving a power semiconductor element. The control circuit further includes a plurality of alarm detection circuits respectively detecting a plurality of abnormalities, a protection circuit stopping the gate control circuit responsive to the detection of any abnormality, an alarm signal generation circuit generating an alarm signal responsive to the detected abnormality, a warning detection circuit detecting a warning before any of the abnormalities is detected, and a pulse generation circuit generating a warning signal while the warning is being detected. The alarm signal is a one-shot pulse having a pulse width thereof corresponding to the detected abnormality, such that alarm signals generated responsive to different abnormalities have different pulse widths. The warning signal includes a plurality of successive pulses, each of which has a pulse width smaller than any of the pulse widths of the alarm signals.

An active gate driver suitable for activating an electronic switch of an electric motor. The active gate driver includes a pull up branch, a pull down branch and a current and voltage feedback from an output of the active gate driver to at least one input of the active gate driver, wherein the current and voltage feedback is common to both the pull up branch and the pull down branch.

A method for active gate driving a switching circuit, wherein: a characteristic of a waveform controlled by the switching circuit is represented by a function mapping an input variable to an output metric, and wherein: the input variable comprises: a design variable having a first set of possible values; and an environmental variable having a second set of possible values, wherein the environmental variable is observable but not controllable. The method comprising: performing Bayesian optimisation on the function to generate a model of the function, wherein a next value of the design variable for evaluating the function is selected based on values of an acquisition function associated with a predicted value of the environmental variable; determining a first value of the design variable that optimises the model of the function; and controlling the switching circuit according to the first value of the design variable.

A power gating circuit includes inverters and a voltage divider sub-circuit, a latch comparator, and a gated switch sub-circuit connected to an external power supply circuit of 5V, respectively. The voltage divider sub-circuit is configured to divide a voltage of 5V and output a first voltage and a second voltage to the latch comparator and the gated switch sub-circuit, both voltage values of the first voltage and the second voltage are smaller than a withstand voltage value of a field effect transistor, and the voltage value of the first voltage is greater than that of the second voltage; the latch comparator is configured to compare two signals output by the inverters and latch a comparison result; and the gated switch sub-circuit is further connected with the latch comparator to control an output voltage, thereby improving the stability of the circuit, and extending the using life of the entire circuit.

An electronic fuse circuit for safeguarding a multi-channel electronic power distributor includes a driver circuit for each channel of the power distributor configured to control an electronic switch of a corresponding channel to assume a certain state, and a microcontroller interface configured to receive from a microcontroller a command for setting the state of the electronic switch of a corresponding channel. The driver circuit of the corresponding channel is configured to set the state of the electronic switch of the corresponding channel according to the command from the microcontroller. The electronic fuse circuit further includes a safety circuit for detecting a malfunction in the microcontroller and/or the power distributor. In the event of a detected malfunction in the microcontroller and/or the power distributor, the driver circuit of each channel is configured to set the state of the electronic switch of the corresponding channel according to a channel-specific preconfigured safety state.

Provided are embodiments for a system for performing input power detection. The system includes a first input for a first power source, a second input for a second power source, and a controller that is operably coupled to the first power source and the second power source. The system also includes a first path connecting a first circuit to the first power supply, wherein the first path comprises a first field effect transistor (FET) that is operated to inhibit leakage current flow to the first circuit, and a second path connecting a second circuit to the second power supply, wherein the second path comprises a second FET that is operated to inhibit leakage current flow to the second circuit. Also provided are embodiments for a method for performing input power detection.

There is provided a protection device capable of protecting a load drive system at an appropriate timing according to the temperature of a power semiconductor.

A protection device includes: a capacitor that outputs a voltage according to a charge accumulated by a first current; and a protection circuit that determines whether or not the voltage output by the capacitor exceeds a certain threshold value, generates a second current having a magnitude according to information related to the temperature of a power semiconductor which drives a load, and changes the magnitude of the first current based on the generated second current.