Granted Patent B2

US 8,093,879 · App. 12/559,017 · Granted Jan 10, 2012

Abstract

Claims (29)

1. A semiconductor circuit comprising:

a first terminal section to be connected to a connection point between two external resistors which are connected in series;

a second terminal section to be connected to an input terminal of an external circuit;

a voltage circuit section having a first terminal connected to the second terminal section;

a reference voltage circuit section which outputs a predetermined voltage;

an operational amplifier having a first input terminal connected to the reference voltage circuit section, a second input terminal connected to the first terminal section, and an output terminal connected to a second terminal of the voltage circuit section;

an abnormality detecting circuit which detects an abnormal voltage of the first terminal section;

a normal signal generating unit which generates a normal signal; and

a switching circuit which, when the abnormality detecting circuit detects an abnormal voltage, does not output a voltage based on the first terminal section to the second terminal section and instead outputs a normal voltage based on the normal signal to the second terminal section.

2. The semiconductor circuit according to claim 1 , wherein

the abnormality detecting circuit is an abnormality detection comparator wherein a first input terminal is connected to the first terminal section and a predetermined reference voltage is input to a second input terminal.

3. The semiconductor circuit according to claim 1 , wherein

the voltage circuit section comprises:

a PWM comparator wherein a first input terminal is connected to the output terminal of the operational amplifier and a triangular wave voltage or a sawtooth wave voltage is input to a second input terminal; and

a driver circuit having an input terminal connected to an output terminal of the PWM comparator and an output terminal connected to the second terminal section.

4. The semiconductor circuit according to claim 1 , wherein

the normal signal generating unit comprises:

a first resistor element having a first end connected to the output terminal of the operational amplifier; and

a second resistor element having a first end connected to a second end of the first resistor element and a second end grounded, and

the switching circuit switches, when the abnormality detecting circuit detects an abnormal voltage, a connection destination of the second input terminal of the operational amplifier from the first terminal section to a connection point between the first resistor element and the second resistor element.

5. The semiconductor circuit according to claim 1 , wherein

the normal signal generating unit comprises a smoothing circuit which smooths an output voltage of a driver circuit, and

the switching circuit switches, when the abnormality detecting circuit detects an abnormal voltage, a connection destination of the second input terminal of the operational amplifier from the first terminal section to the smoothing circuit.

6. The semiconductor circuit according to claim 3 , wherein

the normal signal generating unit comprises a voltage source which outputs a normal voltage, and

the switching circuit switches, when the abnormality detecting circuit detects an abnormal voltage, a connection destination of a first input terminal of the PWM comparator from the output terminal of the operational amplifier to the output terminal of the normal signal generating unit.

7. The semiconductor circuit according to claim 3 , wherein

the normal signal generating unit comprises a PWM signal generating circuit which generates a PWM signal of a normal duty ratio, and

the switching circuit switches, when the abnormality detecting circuit detects an abnormal voltage, a connection destination of the input terminal of the driver circuit from the output terminal of the PWM comparator to the output terminal of the normal signal generating unit.

Assignments (7)