Texas Instruments Corporation

Stefan Schimonsky

Joerg Kirchner

Florian Neveu

The techniques and circuits, described herein, include solutions for pass-through operation including overcurrent protection in buck-boost converters. In some aspects, first and second switches selectively couple inputs of a peak current comparator to inputs of an error amplifier during pass-through operation. As part of peak current control scheme, one of the peak current comparator inputs is coupled to a current sensor that senses a current through an inductor of the buck-boost converter. As a result, an output of the error amplifier tracks the inductor current during pass-through mode, which may be utilized to implement inductor overcurrent protection in the pass-through mode.

DC-DC converter topology with switching overcurrent protection

A soft-start circuit includes an error amplifier, a reference voltage ramp circuit, and a minimum current clamp circuit. The error amplifier is configured to generate a difference voltage representing a difference of a feedback voltage and a reference voltage ramp. The reference voltage ramp circuit is configured to generate the reference voltage ramp. The minimum current clamp circuit is configured to clamp an output of the error amplifier to a predetermined minimum voltage.

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Munich, Germany

Stefan Schimonsky