Circuit for sensing individual leg current in a motor controller using resistive shunts
First Claim
1. A circuit for sensing leg current in a three-phase motor controller circuit, said motor controller circuit including three high side transistors connected in series, respectively, with three low side transistors, each of said series connected high side and low side transistors comprising one leg of the three-phase motor controller circuit, each of said high side and low side transistors having an emitter and a gate, the gates of each of said three low side transistors being driven by a single control integrated circuit chip, said control integrated circuit chip including a common VSO pin, said circuit for sensing leg current comprising:
- three shunt resistors disposed, respectively, between the emitters of each of said three low side transistors and ground; and
three emitter return resistors disposed, respectively, between the emitters of each of said low side transistors and the common VSO pin of said control integrated circuit chip;
wherein the voltage across each of said three shunt resistors corresponds, respectively, to the current flowing through each of the legs of said three-phase motor controller circuit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A motor controller inverter circuit with resistive shunts for sensing the current flowing through individual legs of the motor controller. The circuit of the invention allows the use of a single monolithic three-phase driver by providing, in addition to a shunt resistor between the emitter pin of each low side IGBT and ground, an emitter return resistor between the emitter pin of each low side IGBT and the common VSO pin of the three-phase driver. The respective voltages developed across the shunt resistors can be sensed to determine the current flowing through the individual legs of the motor controller circuit.
52 Citations
4 Claims
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1. A circuit for sensing leg current in a three-phase motor controller circuit, said motor controller circuit including three high side transistors connected in series, respectively, with three low side transistors, each of said series connected high side and low side transistors comprising one leg of the three-phase motor controller circuit, each of said high side and low side transistors having an emitter and a gate, the gates of each of said three low side transistors being driven by a single control integrated circuit chip, said control integrated circuit chip including a common VSO pin, said circuit for sensing leg current comprising:
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three shunt resistors disposed, respectively, between the emitters of each of said three low side transistors and ground; and three emitter return resistors disposed, respectively, between the emitters of each of said low side transistors and the common VSO pin of said control integrated circuit chip; wherein the voltage across each of said three shunt resistors corresponds, respectively, to the current flowing through each of the legs of said three-phase motor controller circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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Specification
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- Resources
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Current AssigneeInfineon Technologies Americas Corp. (Infineon Technologies AG)
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Original AssigneeInternational Rectifier Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
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InventorsMangtani, Vijay
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Primary Examiner(s)Wong, Peter S.
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Assistant Examiner(s)HAN, YOUNGHUIE JESSICA
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Application NumberUS09/013,239Time in Patent Office267 DaysField of Search363/97, 363/98, 363/131, 363/132, 318/254, 318/722, 318/800, 318/801, 318/802, 318/803, 361/93US Class Current363/98CPC Class CodesH02M 1/0009 Devices or circuits for det...H02M 7/53875 with analogue control of th...H02P 6/34 Modelling or simulation for...
