Multi-stage High Side MOSFET driver

mosfetvoltage

I have a system that has at most 10 20V batteries and each battery can push out 10A. At each battery I have a SPST relay disconnecting each positive terminal in the ckt. The SPST is driven by a 5V micro controller and a transistor. I am trying to replace a N.O. Relay with a N-chan MOSFET. This is what I currently have:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

This is what I thought I can do:

schematic

simulate this circuit

Can anyone confirm that I am approaching this correctly? What would be other's suggestion in replacing these relays?

Best Answer

On the one hand, I don't for a moment believe that you've drawn your circuit correctly. After all, as long as even one relay is open, no current can flow.

However, let's pretend that what you've asked for is what you want. Then you can replace your relays with MOSFETs, with the gate drive transformer-isolated. The circuit would look something like this for each MOSFET:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

Note that you still have a relay, but it is a very low power unit. Likewise, the transformer is a tiny little audio transformer. You need a source of AC, but you can use a single oscillator to drive all the channels; about 1 KHz should do you. The output of the transformers should be about 5 or 6 volts RMS. R and C are determined by how fast you need the MOSFET to turn on and off.