Electronic regulator for alternator battery charging system
First Claim
1. In a regulator rectifier for a permanent magnet alternator having a full wave rectifier bridge including a gate controlled rectifier connected in each of the branches of the rectifier from the input terminals to one of the output terminals thereof, a battery connected across the output terminals of said rectifier, the improvement comprising means for sensing the voltage level of said battery, including a voltage breakdown diode, a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), including anode, cathode and gate electrodes, the anode of said SCR being connected to the input terminals of said rectifier and its cathode being connected with the gate electrodes of both said gate controlled rectifiers in the bridge circuit, the gate of said SCR also being connected to said input terminals to turn the SCR "on", a transistor having a collector-emitter path and base electrode, the collector-emitter path of said transistor being connected to the gate of said SCR, the base of said transistor being connected to said voltage sensing means, said transistor being rendered "conductive" by conducting current out of the SCR when the voltage level of the battery exceeds the breakdown voltage of said diode, whereby said SCR is switched to a nonconductive state when the battery exceeds a predetermined voltage.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A full wave rectifier regulator for an alternator battery charging system has gate controlled rectifier connected in two separate branches of the rectifier bridge. The gates of the rectifiers are connected to the anode-cathode circuit of a third gate controlled rectifier (SCR) and are thereby selectively turned "on" and "off" by the current flow in the anode-cathode path of the SCR. A portion of the alternator output voltage triggers the SCR to its conductive mode whenever the battery voltage is between predetermined voltage levels. A protection circuit comprising an electronic switching component is connected to the gate of the SCR to shunt off any gate triggering current to hold the SCR "off". The switching component is connected to sense the battery voltage and to clamp "off" the SCR should its voltage either be lower or higher than the predetermined levels. The regulator further includes means for shorting the output of the rectifier to its input terminals at a voltage substantially higher than the normal operating voltage levels of the system. A storage capacitor is also included to hold said SCR "off" for a predetermined time to prevent rapid cycling of the system about an abnormally high output voltage.
17 Citations
5 Claims
- 1. In a regulator rectifier for a permanent magnet alternator having a full wave rectifier bridge including a gate controlled rectifier connected in each of the branches of the rectifier from the input terminals to one of the output terminals thereof, a battery connected across the output terminals of said rectifier, the improvement comprising means for sensing the voltage level of said battery, including a voltage breakdown diode, a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), including anode, cathode and gate electrodes, the anode of said SCR being connected to the input terminals of said rectifier and its cathode being connected with the gate electrodes of both said gate controlled rectifiers in the bridge circuit, the gate of said SCR also being connected to said input terminals to turn the SCR "on", a transistor having a collector-emitter path and base electrode, the collector-emitter path of said transistor being connected to the gate of said SCR, the base of said transistor being connected to said voltage sensing means, said transistor being rendered "conductive" by conducting current out of the SCR when the voltage level of the battery exceeds the breakdown voltage of said diode, whereby said SCR is switched to a nonconductive state when the battery exceeds a predetermined voltage.
Specification