Semiconductor Failure Detection Circuit for Insulated ADC Signals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing semiconductor devices face challenges in ensuring functional safety when processing analog-to-digital conversion signals across insulated power supply systems, particularly in vehicles with 48V and 12V systems, where software-based error processing is inadequate.
Innovation Solution
The semiconductor device employs delta-sigma modulators with galvanic insulation and hardware-based error detection, using threshold count and noise recovery registers to compare signals across channels and issue error notifications, ensuring functional safety without software processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If software-based error processing is used, then flexibility in error handling is improved, but functional safety assurance becomes insufficient in insulated power supply systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces software-based error processing with a hardware-based error detection circuit that automatically detects and notifies errors between channels. This substitution of mechanical/hardware system for software system ensures functional safety in insulated power supply systems while maintaining error handling capability through dedicated hardware circuits including error detection units, notification circuits, and threshold count registers.
2Reliability
If hardware-based error detection is implemented, then functional safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The error detection function is segmented into dedicated hardware components: error detection units for each channel, comparison circuits for inter-channel error detection, notification circuits for error signaling, and threshold count registers for configurable error thresholds. This segmentation allows functional safety to be achieved through modular hardware blocks rather than a monolithic complex system.
Solution Approach 2:
The error detection circuit is designed to handle multiple error scenarios universally: inter-channel errors, intra-channel errors, and configurable threshold-based errors. The same hardware structure can detect different types of errors by adjusting the threshold count register values, reducing the need for separate dedicated circuits for each error type.
3Measurement precision
If error detection threshold is lowered, then error detection precision is improved, but false error notifications increase
Solution Approach 1:
The error detection system uses dynamic threshold counting where the threshold count register can be configured to different values based on the desired sensitivity. The system dynamically adjusts the error notification behavior by comparing the accumulated error count against the configurable threshold, allowing optimization between detection precision and false notification reduction based on application requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
The semiconductor device 10 receives an input signal given from the signal generating unit provided externally by a plurality of receiving units, a receiving unit 12, 13 for generating a plurality of received signals from the received input signal, a plurality of received signals by comparing, an error determination unit 14 for outputting an error notification to the upper system in response to the error between the channels that occurs between the received signals becomes equal to or greater than the threshold value, the threshold count value is stored and a threshold count register 17, the error determination unit 14 waits for the departure of the error notification until the period specified by the threshold count value has elapsed.