Gate Driver Current Routing to Cut Control Circuit Power
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gate driver circuits in electronic devices face issues of high power consumption and high cost due to the need for multiple control circuits and voltage sources, leading to increased hardware and static power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A gate driver circuit design that incorporates a first current output circuit, channel selection circuit, and output stage circuit, with a single control circuit in the channel selection circuit to reduce hardware and voltage sources, allowing for efficient transmission and conversion of currents to drive transistors on or off, thereby reducing power consumption and cost.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple control circuits and voltage sources are used in the gate driver circuit, then the gate transistor can be driven reliably, but the power consumption and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple control circuits into a single control circuit that can selectively control both the output pull-up circuit and output pull-down circuit. This consolidation reduces the number of voltage sources needed and decreases static power consumption while maintaining the ability to reliably drive the gate transistor through unified control logic
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuit is designed with multi-functionality to perform both pull-up and pull-down control operations. By making the control circuit universal, it can handle different operating modes (turn-on and turn-off) without requiring separate dedicated circuits, thereby reducing overall hardware count and power consumption
2Reliability
If multiple control circuits and voltage sources are used in the gate driver circuit, then the gate transistor can be driven reliably, but the hardware cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple control circuits into a single control circuit that can selectively control both the output pull-up circuit and output pull-down circuit. This consolidation reduces the number of voltage sources needed and decreases static power consumption while maintaining the ability to reliably drive the gate transistor through unified control logic
Solution Approach 2:
The control circuit is designed with multi-functionality to perform both pull-up and pull-down control operations. By making the control circuit universal, it can handle different operating modes (turn-on and turn-off) without requiring separate dedicated circuits, thereby reducing overall hardware count and power consumption
Data Source
AI summary
A first current output circuit transmits a first current to a channel selection circuit. The channel selection circuit selects a transmission channel for the first current based on a control signal, and transmits the first current to an output stage circuit over the transmission channel. Further, the output stage circuit outputs a second current based on the first current, such that the gate driver circuit drives a switch transistor to be turned on or turned off. Since one control circuit is provided in the channel selection circuit, hardware in the gate driver circuit is reduced to lower the cost of the gate driver circuit. In addition, since one control circuit is provided, the number of voltage sources arranged inside the control circuit is also one to reduce static power consumption of the control circuit, such that power consumption of the gate driver circuit is reduced.