The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 31, 2006
Filed:
Jan. 05, 2004
Eric Marschalkowski, Inning, DE;
John Malcolm, Headley Hants, GB;
Eric Marschalkowski, Inning, DE;
John Malcolm, Headley Hants, GB;
Dialog Semiconductor GmbH, Kirchheim/Teck-Nabern, DE;
Abstract
A circuit and a related method to sense the inductor current of CD/DC buck converters have been achieved. The inductor current is sensed by generation of a voltage drop across a fully integrated sense resistor. The voltage drop is proportional to the inductor current in the pass device by supplying a fraction of the inductor current out of a source-follower, which matches to the pass device. The source of said source-follower is connected to a sense-resistor that is connected to the same supply as the pass device. The current, which is needed to generate the voltage drop, is fed back into the inductor current minimizing therefore the efficiency loss. Mirroring, amplification and offset correction of the voltage drop across the sense-resistor is performed by using a single matching pair of source-follower, which is supplied by a current tracking the internal reference voltage and the process variations of the resistors.