Venkateswara A Sankaran

6359331, Mar 19, 2002

Dec 23, 1997

08/997220

Lawrence Edward Rinehart - Milpitas CA
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran - Dearborn MI
John Michael Miller - Saline MI

Ford Global Technologies, Inc. - Dearborn MI
Semipower Systems Inc. - San Jose CA

H01L 2352

257691, 257692, 257693, 257696, 257728

A power switching module includes a substrate having at least one silicon die forming at least one power switching element and having leadframe terminal posts extending away therefrom. A planar negative rail layer providing a negative power supply and including a non-inductive current shunt resistor formed therein and a planar positive rail layer providing a positive power supply are positioned at the substrate so that the negative rail layer and the positive rail layer are coplanar with respect to each other. A phase output layer providing a phase output signal is also positioned at the substrate. Each of the layers are electrically isolated from each of the other layers and are electrically connected to the substrate.

6396674, May 28, 2002

Apr 11, 2000

09/547360

Chingchi Chen - Ann Arbor MI
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran - Farmington Hills MI

Ford Global Technologies, Inc. - Dearborn MI

H02H 300

361 937, 361111

A fault detection circuit and method for monitoring a power converter system to identify faults. The detection circuit includes two comparator circuits each having one input connected to the dc bus of the power converter system and responsive to the voltage spikes that occur as a result of faults. The other inputs of the comparator circuits are respectively connected to first and second sources of reference voltages having preset limits. The outputs of the two comparator circuits are combined on an output lead, and a fault signal will be produced on the output lead when the voltage spike on the dc bus exceeds the limits.

62976613, Oct 2, 2001

Apr 19, 1999

9/294071

Chingchi Chen - Ann Arbor MI
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran - Farmington Hills MI

Ford Global Technologies, Inc. - Dearborn MI

G01R 3126

324769

A system and method for detecting various fault conditions in semiconductor devices. A variable voltage reference is compared to the voltage output of the device during device turn-on to detect circuit fault conditions. The fault condition is then communicated to a controller.

53509838, Sep 27, 1994

Dec 21, 1992

7/993561

John M. Miller - Saline MI
Venkateswara A. Sankaran - Dearborn MI

Ford Motor Company - Dearborn MI

B60G 17015

318254

An electrically powered active suspension system is disclosed having a suspension unit wherein the system controller and the power electronics module are integrated into a single housing with the motor mechanism of the suspension unit.

58617752, Jan 19, 1999

Jan 16, 1997

8/784696

Chingchi Chen - Ann Arbor MI
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran - Farmington Hills MI

Ford Global Technologies, Inc. - Dearborn MI

H03F 345
G05F 100

330 69

A cost-effective conditioning circuit for extracting a weak, floating, wide-band signal with a low common-mode voltage from noisy environments is proposed that includes a high gain single ended operational amplifier to increase the amplitude of the signal. A simple, cost-effective approximately unity gain differential amplifier stage is used to level-shift the signal down to the desired reference potential. A typical application is a motor drive system, where the signals to be measured are bi-directional motor currents.

59263725, Jul 20, 1999

Dec 23, 1997

8/996641

Lawrence Edward Rinehart - Milpitas CA
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran - Dearborn MI
Walter Noll - Cottage Grove OR

Ford Global Technologies, Inc. - Dearborn MI
SemiPower Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

H05K 720

361704

A substrate assembly for use with a high power switching module includes at least one power block having a base plate for providing mechanical rigidity for the power block. The power block also includes at least one silicon die mounted onto the base plate and configured to form at least one high power switching transistor having leads extending away therefrom. The power blocks are then supportably mounted into corresponding apertures in a rigid frame which mounts the power switching module onto a heat dissipating surface and tested independently before mounting into the frame at full load current and power, which cannot be performed at the bare die level.

59006838, May 4, 1999

Dec 23, 1997

8/997198

Lawrence Edward Rinehart - Milpitas CA
Venkateswara Anand Sankaran - Dearborn MI

Ford Global Technologies, Inc. - Dearborn MI
Semipower Systems, Inc. - San Jose CA

H01H 3500

307129

An isolated gate driver device for a power switching device having a plurality of transistors includes a primary circuit having a voltage source of a first voltage potential. The primary circuit constantly switches the voltage source to generate first and second load signals based on control signals received from a microcontroller. The first load signal is modulated at a first frequency for enabling the transistors, and the second load signal is modulated at a second frequency, different from the first frequency, for disabling the transistors. A plurality of high frequency transformers corresponding to each of the transistors is coupled to the primary circuit. The transformers have a primary side for receiving one of the first and second load signals and a secondary side for transforming the one of the first and second load signals into corresponding signals at a second voltage potential. A secondary circuit coupled between each of the transformers and each of the corresponding transistors provides a bias power supply to each of the transistors at the second voltage potential. The secondary circuit also enables and disables each of the transistors based on the first and second load signals.

55284469, Jun 18, 1996

Jul 5, 1994

8/270611

Venkateswara Sankaran - Farmington Hills MI
Xingyi Xu - Canton MI

Ford Motor Company - Dearborn MI

H02H 504

361 25

An integrated power module combining drivers and power devices includes a diagnosis module integrated with or connected to the integrated power module. That includes protectors. The protectors provides protection against power device failure, transistor stack failure, gate drive failure, power failure, and other conditions. In a first level of diagnosis and protection, a gate driver is responsive to hard faults, such as short circuit and under voltage conditions, to disenable the power devices, for example, switching transistors of an inverter. In addition, the first level of protection includes soft faults, such as detection of overcurrent and over temperature in the power device, conditions that are merely reported to the controller, whereby the number and frequency of the events can be monitored. The second level of protection also provided by the diagnostic module may include power interlock to ensure that full power is being delivered to the integrated power module. The system permits detection of a transistor stack failure by monitoring the thermal resistance of the stack layers or junctions to detect physical degradation of the junctions and determine when the level of deterioration exceeds a pre-determined level.