Switching module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10211643-B2
Application number	US-201315029294-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2013
Priority date	Oct 24, 2013
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

A switching module comprising at least one current sense component. The at least one current sense component is arranged to generate a first phase sense current based at least partly on a received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier when the first cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple the differential inputs of the at least one differential amplifier to the output node of the at least one power switching device and the current sense feedback node with a first polarity, generate a second phase sense current based at least partly on a received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier when the first cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple the differential inputs of the at least one differential amplifier to the output node of the at least one power switching device and the current sense feedback node with a second polarity, and output a combined sense current based at least partly on a combination of the first phase sense current and the second phase sense current.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A switching module, comprising:
at least one power switching device arranged to output from an output node thereof a load current for the switching module, and
at least one current sense component arranged to generate at least one current sense signal for outputting by the switching module representative of the load current; the at least one current sense component comprising:
at least one differential amplifier comprising differential inputs arranged to be operably coupled to the output node of the at least one power switching device and a current sense feedback node, and an output arranged to output a signal representative of the load current output by the at least one power switching device; and
at least one sense current generation component arranged to receive a signal output by the at least one differential amplifier and generate a sense current based at least partly thereon, the sense current generation component comprising a switching circuit, a first charge storage component having a first ground terminal connected to a ground, and second charge storage component having a second ground terminal connected to the ground, the switching circuit selectively operably coupling the signal output by the at least one differential amplifier among the first charge storage component and the second charge storage component;

the at least one current sense component further comprises a first cross-coupling component controllable to alternate a polarity with which the differential inputs of the at least one differential amplifier are operably coupled to the output node of the at least one power switching device and the current sense feedback node, the first cross-coupling component comprising a first switch, a second switch, a third switch, and a fourth switch, the switching module further comprising a switch control module operably coupled to the first switch, the second switch, the third switch, and the fourth switch to control states of the first switch, the second switch, the third switch, and the fourth switch; and
wherein the at least one sense current generation component is arranged to:
generate a first phase sense current based at least partly on a received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier when the first cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple the differential inputs of the at least one differential amplifier to the output node of the at least one power switching device and the current sense feedback node with a first polarity; generate a second phase sense current based at least partly on a received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier when the first cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple the differential inputs of the at least one differential amplifier to the output node of the at least one power switching device and the current sense feedback node with a second polarity; and
output a combined sense current based at least partly on a combination of the first phase sense current and the second phase sense current.

2. The switching module according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one current sense component is arranged to alternate between a first operating phase and a second operating phase such that:
during the first operating phase the first cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple the output node of the at least one power switching device to an inverting input of the differential amplifier and the current sense feedback node to a non-inverting input of the differential amplifier; and
during the second operating phase the first cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple the output node of the at least one power switching device to the non-inverting input of the differential amplifier and the current sense feedback node to the inverting input of the differential amplifier.

3. The switching module according to claim 2 , wherein the sense current generation component is arranged to generate the first phase sense current based at least partly on the received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier during the first operating phase of the at least one current sense component and the second phase sense current based at least partly on the received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier during the second operating phase of the at least one current sense component.

4. The switching module according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one differential amplifier comprises a differential output and the at least one current sense component further comprises a second cross-coupling component arranged to operably couple the differential output of the at least one differential amplifier to the sense current generation component such that:
during the first operating phase of the at least one current sense component the second cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple a non-inverted output of the at least one differential amplifier to the sense current generation component; and
during the second operating phase of the at least one current sense component the second cross-coupling component is configured to operably couple an inverted output of the at least one differential amplifier to the sense current generation component.

5. The switching module according to claim 1 , wherein the sense current generation component comprises:
a first voltage-to-current converter device arranged to convert a voltage signal received at an input thereof to the first phase sense current;
a second voltage-to-current converter device arranged to convert a voltage signal received at an input thereof to the second phase sense current; and
a switching circuit arranged to selectively couple a received output signal of the at least one differential amplifier to the input of the first voltage-to-current converter device during the first operating phase of the at least one current sense component and to the input of the second voltage-to-current converter device during the second operating phase of the at least one current sense component.

6. The switching module according to claim 5 , wherein a charge storage component is operably coupled to the input of each of the first and second voltage-to-current converter devices.

7. The switching module according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one current sense component further comprises a current mirror circuit comprising:
at least one current-to-voltage converter device arranged to convert the combined sense current output by the at least one sense current generation component into a sense current voltage; and
at least one voltage-to-current converter device arranged to convert the sense current voltage from the at least one current-to-voltage converter device into the current sense signal output by the switching module.

8. The switching module according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one current sense component further comprises at least one control component arranged to alternate an operating mode of the at least one current sense component between a first operating phase and a second operating phase.

9. The switching module of claim 8 , wherein the at least one control component is arranged to control at least one of:
the first cross-coupling component;
the second cross-coupling component; and
the switching circuit of the sense current generation component.

10. The switching module according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one current sense component comprises at least one current sense feedback component arranged to generate a current sense feedback signal at the current sense feedback node based at least partly on the differential output signal of the at least one differential amplifier.

Assignees

• Soldatov Alexander Petrovich
• Syngaevskiy Vasily Alekseyevich
• Vydolob Gennady Mihaylovich
• Nxp Usa Inc

Inventors

• Soldatov Alexander Petrovich
• Syngaevskiy Vasily Alekseyevich
• Vydolob Gennady Mihaylovich

Classifications

• H02M2001/0009

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J4/00 Primary

  Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as AC or DC; Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks combining AC and DC sections or sub-networks (arrangements using intermediate DC-AC-DC conversion H02J1/002; arrangements using high-voltage DC [HVDC] links H02J3/36) · CPC title

• H02M1/00 Primary

  Details of apparatus for conversion · CPC title

• G01R19/0092

  Measuring current only · CPC title

• H02M1/0009

  Devices or circuits for detecting current in a converter · CPC title