Cirrus Logic Inc.

Lexmark International, Inc.

Jason William Lawrence

Graeme G Mackay

Eric Jerome King

Roberto Napoli

Ajit Sharma

Roger David Serwy

John L Melanson

Firas Azrai

Jie Su

Rong Hu

Marc John Kobayashi

Miroslav Olijaca

Jeffrey Allen May

Stephen James Sanchez

Hasnain Akram

Stefan Williams

Kevin Dean Schoedinger

Christian Larsen

Eric Lindemann

Lingli Zhang

Dayong Zhou

Emmanuel A Marchais

Eric Kimball

Carl Lennart Ståhl

Erik Vilhelm Lindahl

Graeme Gordon Mackay

Theodore M Burk

Qiang Li

Ylva Ellen Maria Bjork

David Ross Cutts

Aaron Michael Lambert

Ryan Matthew Smith

Sakkarapani Balagopal

Christopher Ekbom

Antonio Jesus Diez Elorza

Christopher L Yaeger

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

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

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 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 system may include a power converter comprising at least one stage having a dual anti-wound inductor having a first winding and a second winding constructed such that its windings generate opposing magnetic fields in its magnetic core and constructed such that a coupling coefficient between the first winding and the second winding is less than approximately 0.95 and a current control subsystem for controlling an electrical current through the dual anti-wound inductor, the current control subsystem configured to minimize a magnitude of a magnetizing electrical current of the dual anti-wound inductor to prevent core saturation of the dual anti-wound inductor and regulate an amount of output electrical current delivered by the power converter to the load in accordance with a reference input signal.

Current control for a boost converter with dual anti-wound inductor

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 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.

A method for controlling a current associated with a power converter may comprise controlling the current based on at least a peak current threshold level for the current and a valley current threshold level for the current, and further controlling the current based on a duration of time that the power converter spends in a switching state of the power converter.

Optimizing the control of a hysteretic power converter at low duty cycles

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 select a constraint factor from a plurality of different constraint factors based on at least one of an input voltage to the power converter and a power level available to the power converter, and control the power converter in accordance with the constraint factor.

Control of power converter based on dynamic constraint factors

A system may include a power converter comprising at least one stage having a dual anti-wound inductor constructed such that its windings generate opposing magnetic fields in its magnetic core and a current control subsystem for controlling an electrical current through the dual anti-wound inductor. The current control subsystem may be configured to minimize a magnitude of a magnetizing electrical current of the dual anti-wound inductor to prevent core saturation of the dual anti-wound inductor and regulate an amount of output electrical current delivered by the power converter to the load in accordance with a reference input signal.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Jason William Lawrence