An apparatus includes a first gate drive transistor and a second gate drive transistor connected in series, a common node of the first gate drive transistor and the second gate drive transistor connected to a gate of a power switch, the second gate drive transistor configured as a bulk switch having a bulk terminal connected to a bulk terminal of the power switch, a first auxiliary transistor connected between the bulk terminal and a source of the power switch, a second auxiliary transistor coupled between the gate of the power switch and a system ground, and a third auxiliary transistor coupled between a logic control ground and the system ground, wherein the second auxiliary transistor and the third auxiliary transistor are configured to pull the gate of the power switch and the logic control ground down to the system ground in response to a turn off of the apparatus.

A power conversion system with abnormal energy protection includes a plurality of DC input power sources, a plurality of DC power converters, two output capacitors, and a protection circuit. An input side of each DC power converter is correspondingly coupled to one of the DC input power sources, and output sides of the DC power converters are coupled in parallel to each other to form a DC output bus. Two output capacitors are coupled in series between a positive voltage end and a negative voltage end of the DC output bus. The protection circuit is coupled between the DC input power sources and the two output capacitors. When one of the two output capacitors is abnormal, the protection circuit decouples the DC input power sources from the two output capacitors in a shorted-circuit manner.

A method of controlling an isolated switching converter having an output voltage that is adjustable, can include: generating an output voltage setting signal characterizing an expected output voltage of a load; increasing a time period when an output voltage reference signal changes from a current value to the output voltage setting signal; and making overvoltage protection not trigger due to a change of the output setting signal.

A Boost DC-DC switching converter, having a safety protection method for a short circuit to ground during normal Boost operations, is described. A short circuit protection mechanism, to be used at startup, is also described. A low current capability active clamp is activated, during a soft or hard short circuit condition, and an isolation switch is turned off. An input of the switching converter is isolated from an output of the switching converter, and the Boost switching converter is able to safely discharge high energy stored in its coil, with no external components and minimum extra silicon area.

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.

A power converter and method for providing surge protection to the power converter is provided herein. An over voltage protection portion of a protection circuit is coupled between the rail voltage and ground reference of the power converter, and senses a first magnitude of the rail voltage. An under voltage protection portion of the protection circuit is coupled to a controller of the power converter and further between the rail voltage and the ground reference, and senses a second magnitude of the rail voltage to be transmitted to the controller. A regulator block is coupled between the over voltage protection portion and the under voltage protection portion, and is configured to compare the first magnitude of the rail voltage to a reference voltage of the regulator block, and to short circuit the under voltage protection portion when the first magnitude of the rail voltage is greater than the reference voltage.

A DC power attachment device provides a convenient solution in adapting DC powers from AC sockets connected to an existing power distribution circuit. It enables multitude DC devices to concurrently access multiple DC powers at the same or at different voltages on the same power attachment device, which may be coupled to a DC power source, an existing socket, or directly connected to a DC power distribution circuit. The method on the assembly of a DC power attachment device is also addressed.

Various implementations described herein are directed to a methods and apparatuses for disconnecting, by a device, elements at certain parts of an electrical system. The method may include measuring operational parameters at certain locations within the system and/or receiving messages from control devices indicating a potentially unsafe condition, disconnecting and/or short-circuiting system elements in response, and reconnection the system elements when it is safe to do so. Certain embodiments relate to methods and apparatuses for providing operational power to safety switches during different modes of system operation.

A reverse polarity protection circuit of a DC-DC converter includes an inductive component. When the DC-DC converter is connected to a power supply with correct polarity, the inductive component of the converter receives power via a body diode of a protection switch. Once the inductive component begins to charge and discharge under control of a driving switch, the protection switch turns on and allows full power to be provided to the inductive component. When the DC-DC converter is connected with reverse polarity, a clamping switch fed by the power supply turns on and connects a control input of the protection switch to ground, turning off the protection switch. The clamping switch is protected by a switch protection device to lower the voltage difference between a control input of the clamping switch and an input of the clamping switch.

A multi-phase buck converter circuit is provided, including a power supply, a plurality of phase buck circuits, each phase buck circuit including an input terminal, an output terminal, and a second input terminal, with input terminals of the plurality coupled to the power supply, a plurality of inductors coupled to the output terminals of the plurality of phase buck circuits, the plurality of inductors providing an output voltage at an output of the multi-phase buck converter circuit, a detection controller coupled to the output terminals of the plurality of phase buck circuits, the detection controller configured to detect a fault in the plurality of phase buck circuits, and a drive circuit coupled to the detection controller and coupled to each second input terminal of the plurality of phase buck circuits. The drive circuit is configured to detect a faulty phase buck circuit and stop driving the faulty phase buck circuit.