How to Design a Transistor Circuit to Pulse MOSFET Gate from 12V to 24V?

The discussion focuses on designing a transistor circuit to pulse a MOSFET gate voltage from 12V to 24V, with the MOSFET source at 12V and the gate requiring a higher voltage drive. Key solutions include using a high-side driver with a bootstrap charge pump, which simplifies the design compared to discrete components. The IR2112 and IR2117 gate driver ICs from International Rectifier are recommended for their floating channel bootstrap operation, wide voltage tolerance, and undervoltage lockout features. Practical issues addressed include ensuring proper gate drive voltage below threshold levels, avoiding shoot-through in transistor drivers, and managing switching frequency limitations due to heating. Additional circuit modifications involve resistor-diode networks and PNP transistors to introduce dead-time and prevent gate voltage during off cycles, reducing EMI and power losses. Testing challenges with oscilloscope grounding and safe measurement practices are discussed. Application notes from International Rectifier and Fairchild Semiconductor provide design guidance, including increasing bootstrap capacitor values to improve performance. Experimental results show improved MOSFET switching and load driving using a 555 timer PWM input with adjusted duty cycles, enabling manual operation of a permanent magnet alternator (PMA) and illumination of resistive loads. Future steps include controlling duty cycle relative to PMA RPM and powering the driver ICs from the battery or PMA output.
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