2 Gate Drivers in Small Home Appliances and Garden and Power Tools

The three main components that factor into the performance of an appliance system are the controller, the switch and the gate driver. The controller is the brains of the system, determining switching speed, duty cycle, and when the system is powered. A transistor is the component that performs the switching, handling the majority of the power transfer. Common examples of these power switches can be a MOSFET, IGBT, SiCFET or GaNFET. A gate driver is the in-between of the controller and the switch to efficiently control this transistor. The drive strength of the gate driver determines how fast the switch turns on or off, allowing for the optimization of system efficiency. Appliances systems operate across many power levels, making lower drive currents of LM2x0x or higher drive current of UCC273xx viable options. Features such as undervoltage lockout (UVLO) and overcurrent protection (OCP) help protect the switch from accidental damage and make the system more reliable. Selecting the best gate driver helps get the most out of the system while verifies high performance stays affordable.

TI has gate drivers that come in non-isolated and isolated varieties. Isolated drivers provide a barrier for use across high voltage differentials, protecting both components and people. Non-isolated gate drivers are used when there is no such differential or along with external isolators to optimize the system. Depending on switch placement in the system- connected to ground or referencing a floating voltage – different types of TI gate drivers best service these FETs.

Low-side drivers are utilized when the power switch is referenced to ground. TI offers single or dual channel low-side drivers, referring to if the gate driver can operate one or two ground referenced switches. Half-bridge drivers operate one switch referenced to ground, and another referenced to the switch node which have a floating voltage. Selecting the right gate driver is determined by the type and characteristics of appliance subsystem being designed.