Cirrus Logic Inc.

Graeme G Mackay

Jason William Lawrence

Eric Jerome King

Ajit Sharma

Lingli Zhang

Christian Larsen

Hasnain Akram

Theodore M Burk

Sakkarapani Balagopal

John L Melanson

Siddharth Maru

Vamsikrishna Parupalli

Thomas H Hoff

Ravi Kishore Kummaraguntla

James Thomas Deas

Paul Wilson

Ruoxin Jiang

Ivan Perry

Chanchal Gupta

Kathryn Rose Holland

Mikel Ash

Pietro Gallina

Mucahit Kozak

Abhishek Ray

Bryan Quinones

Katy Holland

Bo-Ren Wang

A power converter system for converting an input voltage at an input into an output voltage at an output may comprise a switch network comprising a reactive circuit element and a plurality of switches, switch control circuitry configured to operate the plurality of switch in a plurality of periodic, sequential states to regulate the output voltage, and reference current generating circuitry. The reference current generating circuitry may include a comparator coupled to a sensed switch of the plurality of switches and configured to compare a current flowing through the sensed switch to a reference current and current-steering circuitry coupled to the comparator configured to generate the reference current and alternate the reference current between a first reference current and a second reference current whenever the switch control circuitry changes from one state of the plurality of periodic, sequential states to another state of the plurality of periodic, sequential states.

Delta-based current steering for power converter peak/valley current control

A system for generating a plurality of switch control signals of a multiphase power converter may include a plurality of inputs, each input of the plurality of inputs configured to receive a respective control signal for controlling a respective phase of the multiphase power converter, and a plurality of control paths comprising a control path for each respective control signal, each control path configured to, for its respective control signal, control a switching period of the respective control signal for such control path based on a measure of alignment among the respective control signal for such control path and the other respective control signals of the other control paths.

Phase interleaving in a multiphase power converter

Coulomb counter circuitry operable in a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation, the coulomb counter circuitry comprising: first analog to digital converter (ADC) circuitry configured to generate a first ADC output signal indicative of a current through a load coupled to the coulomb counter circuitry; second analog to digital converter (ADC) circuitry; offset correction circuitry; and accumulator circuitry configured to generate a signal indicative of a cumulative amount of charge transferred to the load, wherein in the second mode of operation, the coulomb counter circuitry is operable to enable the second ADC circuitry and to generate an offset correction factor based at least in part on a second ADC output signal output by the second ADC circuitry, and wherein in subsequent operation of the coulomb counter circuitry in the first mode of operation, the offset correction circuitry applies the offset correction factor to the first ADC output signal.

Coulomb counter circuitry

A system may include a power converter configured to receive an input voltage and generate an output voltage and a controller configured to control operation of the power converter based on a comparison of the output voltage with at least one output voltage threshold and set the at least one output voltage threshold based on the input voltage.

Load regulation of a power converter based on adjustable output voltage thresholds

An apparatus may include a sense resistor comprising a plurality of parallel-coupled resistor elements, a plurality of positive voltage sense points, and a plurality of negative voltage sense points. A first passive combination network may be configured to combine the plurality of positive voltage sense points into a single positive sense terminal and a second passive combination network may be configured to combine the plurality of negative voltage sense points into a single negative sense terminal. The first passive combination network and the second passive combination network may be arranged such that a sense voltage is measurable between the single positive sense terminal and the single negative sense terminal and a dependence of the sense voltage on a variation in current density in the parallel-coupled resistor elements is minimized.

Sense resistor and method for forming same

A system may include a power converter having a maximum allowable input power drawn from a power source, an energy storage element coupled to an output of the power converter at a top plate of the energy storage element, wherein the energy storage element is configured to store excess energy, and control circuitry configured to, when an input power of the power converter exceeds the maximum allowable input power, cause excess energy stored in the energy storage element to be consumed by circuitry coupled to the output of the power converter, and in order to maintain positive voltage headroom for the circuitry coupled to the output of the power converter, selectively couple a bottom plate of the energy storage element to the power source such that excess energy stored by the circuitry coupled to the output of the power converter is consumed from the energy storage device when the input power of the power converter exceeds the maximum allowable input power.

Efficient use of energy in a switching power converter

A system may include a boost converter configured to receive an input voltage and boost the input voltage to an output voltage and control circuitry configured to enforce a maximum current limit to limit a current drawn by the boost converter and in response to the output voltage decreasing below the input voltage, dynamically increase the current above the maximum current limit to cause the output voltage to be approximately equal to the input voltage.

Pseudo-bypass mode for power converters

A method for determining if an inductor coupled to a switching network has been electrically shorted may include applying a voltage across the inductor for a predetermined period of time, controlling an impedance in an electrical path of a voltage source generating the voltage and the inductor, sensing an inductor current through the inductor, comparing the inductor current with a predetermined current threshold, and determining whether the inductor has been electrically shorted based on the inductor current, the predetermined current threshold, and the predetermined period of time.

Short detection for inductive switching converters

A system for controlling a current in a power converter configured to generate an output voltage may include a control loop having a plurality of comparators, each comparator having a respective reference voltage to which the output voltage is compared, a digital controller configured to calculate one or more pre-seeded control parameters for the current, and an analog state machine configured to, based on outputs of the plurality of comparators, select control parameters for controlling the current. The control parameters may be selected from the pre-seeded control parameters, control parameters for controlling the current to have a magnitude of zero, and control parameters for controlling the current to have a maximum magnitude.

Prediction of load current and control current in a power converter using output voltage thresholds by pre-seeding target current values

A system may include a power source, a power converter having an input coupled to the power source and an output for supplying electrical energy to a load, and a control circuit for controlling operation of the power converter. The control circuit may include a first feedback control subsystem configured to monitor an output voltage present at the output of the power converter and regulate the output voltage at or about a predetermined regulated voltage level in a normal mode of operation of the power converter and a second feedback control subsystem configured to monitor an input voltage present between the power source and the input of the power converter and responsive to the input voltage decreasing below a predetermined minimum voltage level, causing the power converter to operate in a protection mode of operation in order to maintain the input voltage at or about the predetermined minimum voltage level.

Clamping current limit of a hysteretic power converter to a minimum value to ensure graceful shutdown at battery end of life

A power delivery system may include a power converter configured to electrically couple to a power source and further configured to supply electrical energy to one or more loads electrically coupled to an output of the power converter and control circuitry configured to monitor a first voltage derived from the power source, wherein the first voltage is indicative of a total power demanded by the power converter, and control a limit for a current supplied from the power source to the one or more loads based on comparison of the first voltage to a threshold voltage, wherein the threshold voltage is indicative of a point within a range of operation of the power converter at which the power converter delivers a maximum amount of power to the one or more loads.

Maintaining operation within a stable region of a power curve of a power converter

A power delivery system may include a power converter configured to electrically couple to a power source and further configured to supply electrical energy to one or more loads electrically coupled to an output of the power converter and control circuitry configured to control the power converter in accordance with a control variable. The control circuitry may include a first control mechanism configured to generate a first intermediate control variable based on a first physical quantity associated with the power delivery system, a second control mechanism configured to generate a second intermediate control variable based on a second physical quantity associated with the power delivery system, a selector configured to select the control variable from the first intermediate control variable and the second intermediate control variable, and a shared feedback memory element configured to feed back the control variable to inputs of the first control mechanism and the second control mechanism, such that the first control mechanism generates the first intermediate control variable based on the first physical quantity and the control variable, and the second control mechanism generates the second intermediate control variable based on the second physical quantity and the control variable.

Use of shared feedback among two or more reactive schemes

A method of randomizing inductor current in at least one of a plurality of parallel coupled peak/valley current-controlled power converters may include comparing the inductor current to a threshold to generate a comparison signal, delaying the comparison signal by a plurality of delay amounts to generate a plurality of delayed versions of the comparison signal, and randomly selecting one of the plurality of delayed versions of the comparison signal for controlling the inductor current during one or both of a charging state and a transfer state of the at least one of the plurality of parallel coupled peak/valley current-controlled power converters.

Randomization of current in a power converter

A system may include a power converter configured to receive an input voltage and generate an output voltage and a controller configured to control operation of the power converter based on a comparison of a current associated with the power converter to a threshold current and control the threshold current as a function of the input voltage.

Minimizing voltage droop in a power converter

A battery management system configured to electrically couple to a battery may include a boost converter comprising a plurality of switches arranged to provide a boosted output voltage at an output of the boost converter from a source voltage of the battery and a bypass switch coupled between the battery and the output, wherein the battery management system is operable in a plurality of modes comprising a bypass mode wherein the source voltage is bypassed to the output and when the battery management system is in the bypass mode, at least one switch of the plurality of switches is enabled to increase a conductance between the battery and the output.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Graeme G Mackay