This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202111556131.4, filed on Dec. 17, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention generally relates to the field of power electronics, and more particularly to digital isolators.
A digital isolator is a kind of device in electronic system, which has high resistance isolation characteristics when digital signals and analog signals are transmitted, in order to realize isolation between the electronic system and users. Optocoupler, inductive/magnetic isolation, and capacitive isolation are commonly used for this purpose. Circuit designers may introduce isolation in order to meet safety requirements, or to reduce noise of the grounding loop. Current isolation can ensure that data transmission is not through electrical connections or through leakage paths, thus avoiding security risks.
Reference may now be made in detail to particular embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention may be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it may be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents that may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, processes, components, structures, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.
Referring now to
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Secondary windings L21 and L22 can be electrically isolated from primary winding L1. In this example, secondary winding L21 can generate a first differential signal in phase with the encoded signal through electromagnetic induction, and secondary winding L22 can generate a second differential signal in opposite phase with the encoded signal through electromagnetic induction. Differential circuit 4 may receive the first and second differential signals, and can generate a difference signal according to the first and second differential signals. Decoding circuit 3 can connect with differential circuit 4, and may receive the difference signal, and can accordingly decode in order to generate target digital signal DOUT.
In particular embodiments, two windings are arranged on the secondary side, and one secondary winding can output a signal with the same phase as the encoded signal generated by the encoding circuit of the digital isolator. Also, the other secondary winding can output a signal with the opposite phase as the encoded signal generated by the encoding circuit of the digital isolator. Then, the differential circuit can differentiate the two signals, which can effectively eliminate common mode interference and improve the anti-interference performance of the digital isolator.
In this particular example, the primary side may have one primary winding, while the secondary side has two secondary windings (e.g., secondary windings L21 and L22). Differential circuit 4 can be a differential amplifier. A dotted terminal of primary winding L1 can connect to encoding circuit 1, and a non-dotted terminal of primary winding L1 can connect to the primary reference ground. A dotted terminal of secondary winding L21 can connect to a non-inverting input terminal of the differential amplifier, and a non-dotted terminal of secondary winding L21 can connect to the secondary reference ground. A dotted terminal of secondary winding L22 can connect to the reference secondary ground, and a non-dotted terminal of secondary winding L22 can connect to an inverting input terminal of the differential amplifier. That is, the connection modes of the dotted terminals of secondary windings L21 and L22 can be opposite.
Therefore, the signal generated by secondary winding L21 through induction can be in phase with the input signal of the primary winding, and the signal generated by secondary winding L22 through induction may be in opposite phase with the input signal of the primary winding, such that a differential signal can be generated at the secondary side. In addition, because the common-mode noise is typically generated during the transmission of the isolation element, both the non-inverting signal of the encoded signal and the inverting signal of the encoded signal may have a same-phase common-mode noise after transmission through the isolation element. Therefore, the common-mode noise in the two signals can be removed by obtaining the difference value of the differential signal through the differential amplifier, thereby effectively eliminating the common-mode interference and improving the anti-interference performance of the digital isolator.
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Further, part A of primary winding L1 can be wound clockwise from the dotted terminal (e.g., terminal P), and part B can be wound counterclockwise from the end of part A to the non-dotted terminal (e.g., terminal N) of primary winding L1. Also, secondary windings L21 and L22 may both be wound clockwise from the dotted terminal (e.g., terminal P) to the non-dotted terminal (e.g., terminal N) of themselves. Therefore, the primary winding and the secondary windings can be wound by coils in such a manner, such that the secondary windings can generate a first differential signal in phase with the encoded signal and a second differential signal in opposite phase with the encoded signal through electromagnetic induction.
In this example, insulating materials can be arranged between secondary windings L21 and L22, in order to reduce the mutual influence in the electromagnetic induction process. For example, the insulating materials can be polyimide (e.g., nylon), SiO2, or Si3N4, to name just a few examples. In this example, by dividing the primary winding into two parts which are wound in different directions and arranged side by side, the primary winding can be effectively coupled with two secondary windings, in order to obtain the inverted signals through the two secondary windings at the same time. Further, the primary winding and the secondary windings can be planar metal patterns, such that the isolation structure can be formed on a circuit board or a wafer.
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In addition, secondary winding L21 can be wound clockwise from the dotted terminal (e.g., terminal P) to the non-dotted terminal (e.g., terminal N) of itself, and secondary winding L22 may be wound counterclockwise from the dotted terminal (e.g., terminal P) to the non-dotted terminal (e.g., terminal N) of itself. Therefore, the primary winding and the secondary windings can be wound by coils in such a manner, such that the secondary windings can generate a first differential signal in phase with the encoded signal, and a second differential signal in opposite phase with the encoded signal through electromagnetic induction. In this example, by dividing the primary winding into two parts arranged side by side, and setting the secondary windings in different winding directions, the primary winding can be effectively coupled with the two secondary windings, in order to obtain the inverted signals through the two secondary windings.
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In particular embodiments, the primary winding and the secondary windings can be wound and arranged in such a manner, so that the secondary windings can generate the first differential signal in phase with the encoded signal, and the second differential signal in opposite phase with the encoded signal through electromagnetic induction. In addition, through the above-mentioned various coil winding methods, flexible choices can be provided for the setting/predetermining of the digital isolator, which can improve the applicability of the digital isolator.
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In particular embodiments, the primary side of the isolation element in the original transformer can be adjusted to a structure including a first primary winding and a second primary winding, and the secondary side can be adjusted to a structure including a first secondary winding and a second secondary winding. Also, the secondary windings may respectively generate a first differential signal which is in phase with the encoded signal, and a second differential signal which is in opposite phase with the encoded signal. The differential circuit can generate the difference signal according to the first and second differential signals, in order to realize the differential transmission of encoded signals. By using the advantages of differential signal transmission in common mode rejection, the signal strength during signal transmission can be improved, the anti-interference ability of the digital isolator can be improved, and the quality of digital signal transmission can also be improved.
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For example, the dotted terminal of the primary winding L11 can connect to one output terminal of the encoding circuit, and the non-dotted terminal can connect to the primary reference ground. The dotted terminal of the primary winding L12 can connect to another output terminal of the encoding circuit, and the non-dotted terminal can connect to the primary reference ground. The dotted terminal of secondary winding L21 can connect to the non-inverting input of the differential amplifier, and the non-dotted terminal of secondary winding L21 can connect to the secondary reference ground. The dotted terminal of secondary winding L22 can connect to the inverting input of the differential amplifier, and the non-dotted terminal of secondary winding L22 can connect to the secondary reference ground.
In this example, primary winding L11 and secondary winding L21, and primary winding L12 and secondary winding L22 can adopt the same or two different iron cores, in order to realize electromagnetic coupling. Therefore, the digital isolator with differential transmission structure can be arranged by the above connection mode, which may improve the anti-interference ability of the digital isolator, and realize the high-quality transmission of the input digital signal. Furthermore, the primary windings may respectively transmit the encoded signal and the inverted signal of the encoded signal, which can ensure the validity and accuracy of the information in the encoded signal during the transmission process, reduce the signal interference, and further improve the anti-interference ability of the digital isolator and the transmission quality of the input digital signal.
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In this example, primary winding L11, primary winding L12, secondary winding L21, and secondary winding L22 can all be wound clockwise from the dotted terminals (e.g., terminal P) to the non-dotted terminals (e.g., terminal N) of themselves. Therefore, the secondary windings may generate a first differential signal in phase with the encoded signal, and a second differential signal in opposite phase with the encoded signal through electromagnetic induction. In addition, insulation materials (e.g., polyimide or nylon, SiO2, Si3N4, etc.) can be arranged between primary windings L11 and L12, and between secondary windings L21 and L22, in order to reduce the mutual influence between primary windings L11 and L12, and between secondary windings L21 and L22 during digital signal transmission.
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For example, the dotted terminal of primary winding L11 can connect to the encoding circuit and the non-dotted terminal of primary winding L11 can connect to the primary reference ground. The dotted terminal of primary winding L12 can connect to the encoding circuit, and the non-dotted terminal of primary winding L12 can connect to the primary reference ground. The dotted terminal of secondary winding L21 can connect to the non-inverting input of the differential amplifier, and the non-dotted terminal of secondary winding L21 can connect to the secondary reference ground, thereby receiving encoded signal DIN+. The dotted terminal of secondary winding L22 can connect to the secondary reference ground, and the non-dotted terminal of secondary winding L22 can connect to the inverting input of the differential amplifier, thereby receiving the inverted signal of encoded signal DIN+.
In particular embodiments, primary winding L11 and secondary winding L21, and primary winding L12 and secondary winding L22 can include the same or two different iron cores, in order to realize electromagnetic coupling. Therefore, the digital isolator with differential transmission structure can be constructed by the above connection mode, which can improve the anti-interference ability of the digital isolator and realize high-quality transmission of the input digital signal. In addition, the primary windings can respectively transmit the encoded signal to the secondary windings, which can ensure the validity and accuracy of information during the transmission process of the encoded signal, reduce signal interference, and further improve the anti-interference capability of the digital isolator and improve the transmission quality of input digital signals.
For example, the digital isolator can also include buffer 6. An input terminal of buffer 6 can connect to the encoding circuit, and an output terminal of buffer 6 can connect to the dotted terminal of the first primary winding, which can transmit the encoded signal. Therefore, the encoded signal output by the encoding circuit can be enhanced by buffer 6, such that the signal strength in the subsequent signal transmission process is improved, which is beneficial to further improving the signal transmission quality.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with modifications as are suited to particular use(s) contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202111556131.4 | Dec 2021 | CN | national |