Patent ID: 11904333
Assignee: CAPSTAN AG SYSTEMS, INC.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  A  H  Y | IPC A  B  H

Claim 0:
1. A solenoid valve comprising:
a solenoid coil;
a poppet configured to transition within the solenoid valve between a first position and a second position based on a coil current flowing through the solenoid coil; and
a drive circuit comprising:
a first semiconductor device controlled by a gate signal to control the coil current; and
a flyback circuit coupled with the solenoid coil, the flyback circuit comprising a second semiconductor device in series with a diode, wherein the second semiconductor device is controlled by a flyback control signal to: (i) enable the flyback circuit to maintain the coil current through the solenoid coil above a threshold value by recirculating the coil current through the solenoid coil, the second semiconductor device, and the diode when the first semiconductor device is controlled by the gate signal to transition the poppet to the second position, and (ii) disable recirculation of the coil current through the solenoid coil when the first semiconductor device is controlled by the gate signal to transition the poppet to the first position; and

a controller configured to transition the poppet from the first position to the second position using the gate signal, to enable the flyback circuit using the flyback control signal, and to reduce at least one of a duty cycle of the gate signal and a frequency of the gate signal when the flyback circuit is enabled.