Isolated gate driver for bidirectional FET pair

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12255524-B2
Application number	US-202217846876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2022
Priority date	Jun 30, 2021
Publication date	Mar 18, 2025
Grant date	Mar 18, 2025

Abstract

A system for driving four-quadrant (4Q) switches of a power converter is provided herein and comprises a transformer driver module, a first gate driver module and a second gate driver module coupled to the transformer driver module via a first isolation transformer and a second isolation transformer, respectively, for receiving both switch signal information and power, and a first bidirectional switch and a second bidirectional switch coupled to the first gate driver module and the second gate driver module and to one another for driving the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch based on the switch signal information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for driving four-quadrant (4Q) switches of a power converter, comprising:
a transformer driver module;
a first gate driver module and a second gate driver module coupled to the transformer driver module via a first isolation transformer and a second isolation transformer, respectively, for receiving both switch signal information and power; and
a first bidirectional switch coupled to the first gate driver module and a second bidirectional switch coupled to the second gate driver module, wherein the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch are coupled to one another, and wherein the first gate driver module is configured to drive the first bidirectional switch and the second gate driver module is configured to drive the second bidirectional switch.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch comprises a pair of FET switches.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transformer driver module is coupled to a primary winding of each of the first isolation transformer and the second isolation transformer via a corresponding capacitor.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transformer driver module comprises four input terminals, four output terminals, an input voltage terminal on an input side of the transformer driver module, and a ground terminal on an output side of the transformer driver module.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the four input terminals are coupled to the four output terminals via a plurality of logical AND, NOT, and buffer gates, and wherein each of the four input terminals are coupled to the ground terminal via a corresponding resistor.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the input voltage terminal is coupled to each of the buffer gates and receives an input voltage to initiate operation of the transformer driver module.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the four input terminals are coupled to a controller for receiving and coupling signals corresponding to desired switching states.

8. The system of claim 4 , wherein the four output terminals are coupled to the first isolation transformer and the second isolation transformer for driving the first isolation transformer and the second isolation transformer.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first gate driver module and the second gate driver module are coupled to respective gate terminals of FET switch pairs of the first bidirectional switch and to respective gate terminals of FET switch pairs of the second bidirectional switch to provide signals to drive the FET switch pairs.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein each of the first gate driver module and the second gate driver module comprises a FET state controller module, two FET driver modules, and two comparator modules.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein each FET state controller module generates signals for controlling corresponding FET switch pairs to create a desired AC output waveform.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein each FET state controller module is coupled to corresponding FET driver modules for providing control signals to the corresponding FET driver modules, and wherein based on the control signals received from each of the FET state controller modules, the corresponding FET driver modules generate gate drive signals for driving the corresponding FET switch pairs.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the comparator modules receive input signals from corresponding drain voltage sensors and, based on the received input signals, determine corresponding FET drain voltages of the FET switch pairs, and wherein the determined FET drain voltages are coupled to each corresponding FET state controller module and used to determine which of the FET switch pairs to hold on during a switching cycle.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a first drain voltage sensor and a second drain voltage sensor coupled to the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch, respectively, for sensing a drain voltage of the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch, respectively, and coupling a sensed drain voltage of the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch to each respective gate driver module for determining switching signaling.

15. A power converter, comprising:
a low-voltage side and a high voltage side separated by a transformer;
an isolated gate driver system connected to the low-voltage side via a controller and to the high voltage side, the isolated gate driver system comprising:
a transformer driver module that connects to the controller; and
a first gate driver module and a second gate driver module connected to a cycloconverter on the high voltage side and coupled to the transformer driver module via a first isolation transformer and a second isolation transformer, respectively, for receiving both switch signal information and power; and
a first bidirectional switch coupled to the first gate driver module and a second bidirectional switch coupled to the second gate driver module, wherein the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch are coupled to one another, and wherein the first gate driver module is configured to drive the first bidirectional switch and the second gate driver module is configured to drive the second bidirectional switch.

16. The power converter of claim 15 , wherein the power converter is a single-phase bidirectional DC-AC converter.

17. The power converter of claim 15 , wherein each of the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch comprises a pair of FET switches.

18. The power converter of claim 15 , wherein the transformer driver module is coupled to a primary winding of each of the first isolation transformer and the second isolation transformer via a corresponding capacitor.

19. The power converter of claim 15 , wherein the transformer driver module comprises four input terminals, four output terminals, an input voltage terminal on an input side of the transformer driver module, and a ground terminal on an output side of the transformer driver module.

20. A method for controlling a power converter, comprising:
receiving, at a transformer driver module of an isolated gate driver system connected to a low-voltage side via a controller and to a high voltage side of the power converter, switch signal information;
transmitting the switch signal information signal via at least one of a first isolation transformer or a second isolation transformer connected to a corresponding first gate driver module or second gate driver module, wherein the first gate driver module and the second gate driver module are connected to a cycloconverter on the high voltage side and coupled to the transformer driver module via the first isolation transformer and a second isolation transformer, respectively, for receiving both the switch signal information and power;
receiving at the first gate driver module or the second gate driver module a drain voltage signal representing a drain voltage of a corresponding first bidirectional switch coupled to the first gate driver module or a second bidirectional switch coupled to the second gate driver module, wherein the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch are coupled to one another, and wherein the first gate driver module is configured to drive the first bidirectional switch and the second gate driver module is configured to drive the second bidirectional switch; and
based on the switch signal in

Assignees

• Enphase Energy Inc

Inventors

• Kotula Tomasz Janusz
• Chapman Patrick Lyle
• Fornage Martin

Classifications

• H03K17/691

  using transformer coupling · CPC title

• H02M5/22

  using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode · CPC title

• H02M1/088 Primary

  for the simultaneous control of series or parallel connected semiconductor devices · CPC title

• H02M7/757

  using semiconductor devices only · CPC title

• H02M3/33584

  Bidirectional converters · CPC title