Power supply circuit and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10218355-B2
Application number	US-201414479339-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2014
Priority date	Sep 27, 2013
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

A power supply circuit according to an embodiment of the invention includes: voltage sources; voltage control circuits that boost an input voltage; and a voltage source connection switch that connects at least one of the voltage sources to one of the voltage control circuits. For example, the voltage source connection switch connects, to the voltage control circuit, a voltage source having a voltage lower than a predetermined reference voltage among the voltage sources, and connects, to the voltage control circuit, a voltage source having a voltage equal to or higher than the determined reference voltage among the voltage sources.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power supply circuit comprising:
N (N≥3) voltage sources;
first and second voltage control circuits that boost respective input voltages; and
a voltage source connection switch that connects each voltage source to either the first voltage control circuit or the second voltage control circuit based on a voltage of the voltage source,
wherein
the first voltage control circuit boosts an input voltage according to a duty ratio of a first clock signal supplied to the first voltage control circuit, and
the second voltage control circuit boosts an input voltage according to a duty ratio of a second clock signal supplied to the second voltage control circuit.

2. The power supply circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the voltage source connection switch connects, to the first voltage control circuit, a voltage source having a voltage lower than a predetermined reference voltage among the N voltage sources, and connects, to the second voltage control circuit, a voltage source having a voltage equal to or higher than the predetermined reference voltage among the N voltage sources.

3. The power supply circuit according to claim 2 , further comprising a voltage monitor circuit that monitors a voltage of each of the N voltage sources, wherein
the voltage monitor circuit includes:
a reference voltage generation circuit that generates the predetermined reference voltage; and
a comparator that compares the voltage of each of the N voltage sources with the reference voltage.

4. The power supply circuit according to claim 3 , further comprising a voltage source switching circuit that sequentially switches connections between each of the N voltage sources and the voltage monitor circuit.

5. The power supply circuit according to claim 3 , wherein
the power supply circuit has operating modes including a monitor mode and a normal mode,
in the monitor mode, the voltage monitor circuit monitors the voltage of each of the N voltage sources, and
in the normal mode, the voltage source connection switch connects at least one of the N voltage sources to one of the first and second voltage control circuits according to a result of monitoring the voltage of each of the voltage sources.

6. The power supply circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second voltage control circuits are respectively supplied with the first and second clock signals that are set so that an output voltage of the first voltage control circuit and an output voltage of the second voltage control circuit are substantially the same.

7. The power supply circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the first clock signal has a duty ratio larger than that of the second clock signal.

8. The power supply circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second clock signals supplied to the first and second voltage control circuits, respectively, are controlled according to a voltage of each of the N voltage sources.

9. The power supply circuit according to claim 1 , further comprising a voltage source switch capable of connecting an i (1≤i≤N−1)-th voltage source and an (i+1)-th voltage source of the N voltage sources to each other, wherein
m voltage sources of the N voltage sources are directly connected to the voltage source connection switch, and
N-m voltage sources of the N voltage sources are connected to the voltage source connection switch via the voltage source switch.

10. The power supply circuit according to claim 9 , wherein the voltage source switch connects the i-th voltage source and the (i+1)-th voltage source to each other when a voltage of the i-th voltage source and a voltage of the (i+1)-th voltage source fall within a predetermined range.

11. The power supply circuit according to claim 9 , wherein the voltage source switch connects voltage sources each having a voltage lower than a predetermined reference among the N voltage sources to thereby form a first voltage source group, and connects voltage sources each having a voltage equal to or higher than the predetermined reference among the N voltage sources to thereby form a second voltage source group.

12. The power supply circuit according to claim 11 , wherein the first voltage source group is connected to the first voltage control circuit, and the second voltage source group is connected to the second voltage control circuit.

13. The power supply circuit according to claim 9 , wherein when all voltage source switches between an a-th voltage source and a b-th voltage source (1≤a<b≤N) among the N voltage sources are turned on, and when none of the voltage sources directly connected to the voltage source connection switch are included in the voltage sources ranging from the a-th voltage source to the b-th voltage source, voltage source switches between an (a−1)-th voltage source and the a-th voltage source, or voltage source switches between the b-th voltage source and a (b+1)-th voltage source, are turned on.

14. A power supply circuit comprising:
N (N≥3) voltage sources;
first and second voltage control circuits that boost respective input voltages; and
a voltage source connection switch that connects each voltage source to either the first voltage control circuit or the second voltage control circuit based on a voltage of the voltage source,
wherein
the first voltage control circuit boosts an input voltage according to a duty ratio of a first clock signal supplied to the first voltage control circuit,
the second voltage control circuit boosts an input voltage according to a duty ratio of a second clock signal supplied to the second voltage control circuit,
the first and second voltage control circuits and the voltage source connection switch are formed on a chip,
the first voltage control circuit and the voltage source connection switch are connected to each other via a first wire formed outside the chip, and
the second voltage control circuit and the voltage source connection switch are connected to each other via a second wire formed outside the chip.

15. The power supply circuit according to claim 14 , wherein
the voltage source connection switch includes:
a first switch that switches a connection between each of the voltage sources and the first voltage control circuit; and
a second switch that switches a connection between each of the voltage sources and the second voltage control circuit, and

the power supply circuit further comprises:
a first pad that connects the first wire and one end of the first switch to each other;
a second pad that connects the second wire and one end of the second switch to each other; and
a third pad that connects another end of the first switch, another end of the second switch, and the corresponding voltage source to each other, the first pad, the second pad, and the third pad being formed at an end of the chip on a side of the first and second wires.

16. The power supply circuit according to claim 15 , wherein
one end of the first switch and the first pad are connected to each other by an in-chip wire, and the first wire and the first pad are connected to each other by a bonding wire,
one end of the second switch and the second pad are connected to each other by an in-chip wire, and the second wire and the second pad are connected to each other by a bonding wire, and
another end of the first switch, another end of the second switch, and the third pad are connected to each other by an in-chip wire, and the third pad and the corresponding voltage source are connected to each other by a bonding wire.

17. A method for controlling a power supply circuit includin

Assignees

• Renesas Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Ikenaga Yoshifumi

Classifications

• Y10T307/549

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H03K17/693 Primary

  Switching arrangements with several input- or output-terminals, e.g. multiplexers, distributors (logic circuits H03K19/00; code converters H03M5/00, H03M7/00) · CPC title

• H02J1/10 Primary

  Parallel operation of DC sources · CPC title

• H02M3/1584

  with a plurality of power processing stages connected in parallel · CPC title