High Speed Current Limiter Circuit System

Title: High Speed Current Limiter Circuit System Background Information: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has developed a switch that limits currents to loads faster than any other current limiting circuit system presently on the market. The current limit is determined by resistor values and the switch speed is proportional to the rate of change of the load current. It can be applied to positive or negative voltages and implemented with P- or N-channel field effect transistors and insulated gate bipolar transistors at heavier current loads, or with PNP or NPN bipolar transistors at lighter current loads. The current limiting operation may be controlled by circuits operating from voltages above or below the current limited voltage. Upon reaching the current limit threshold, the current flow through the switch is held at the limit until the switch is disabled or until the current fault is removed. Opportunity Description: SNL is seeking licensees to commercialize this technology, described in US Patent 9,755,428. Many applications require protection from excessive fault currents. A high-speed current limiter could provide real time protection for devices susceptible to single event radiation effects, and for circuits that would otherwise be damaged from excessive current flow to their load. It could replace fuses that permanently remove temporary faults. Persistent faults could be retested without further damage at the same limited current draw. Potential Applications: - Space Applications for SEU Susceptible Devices - Power Supply Input - Power Supply Output - Fuse Replacements/Resettable Fuses - Circuit Card Overcurrent Protection Primary Point of Contact: David V. Wick Licensing Executive Sandia National Laboratories [email protected] Keywords: Current limit, single event upsets (SEU), single event effects (SEE), flash radiation effects, non-rad hard devices, overcurrent protection, power supply protection, fuse replacements, resettable fuses Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.