Patent ID: 7898782

Claim:
An inverter, comprising: a switching unit supplying AC power to a load as a plurality of switching devices switches DC power according to a relevant switching signal; a plurality of switching operation units that generates a plurality of switching signals controlling operations of the plurality of switching devices of the switching unit in response to a relevant switching control signal, and that generates a first voltage and a second voltage, each having a predetermined different voltage difference; a plurality of fault detecting units respectively generating a fault detecting signal having information on whether a fault has been generated, using the first voltage, the second voltage, and voltages of both ends of a relevant switching device out of the plurality of switching devices; and a controlling unit that generates said switching control signal and outputs said switching control signal to a switching operation unit when said load is operated and cuts off said switching control signal when at least one among said plurality of fault detecting units detects the generation of the fault, wherein, each of the switching operation units includes: a switching control signal input unit generating and outputting the first voltage corresponding to the switching control signal, using a first power source, a second power source and a third power source, a switching control signal transmitting resistance generating the second voltage by dropping a voltage level of the first voltage applied to one terminal, and a switching signal output unit generating the switching signal corresponding to the second voltage, using a second power source and a third power source, and wherein, each of the fault detecting units includes: a voltage detecting unit generating a comparison voltage, using the first voltage and the voltages of both ends of relevant switching device, a reference voltage unit generating a reference voltage, using the second power source and the relatively low third voltage out of the voltages of both ends of relevant switching device, a comparator generating a comparative result signal by comparing the comparative voltage and the reference voltage, and a fault detecting signal output unit generating the fault detecting signal corresponding to the comparative result signal, using the second voltage, the third voltage and a relatively low voltage of the voltages of both ends of relevant switching device.