Switching regulator and control circuit thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10326351-B2
Application number	US-201816123135-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2018
Priority date	Nov 6, 2017
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

A switching regulator includes: a controller power ON reset (POR) circuit, a controller post-POR signal generation circuit, and a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generation circuit. The controller post-POR signal generation circuit switches the controller post-POR signal to a ready level after a controller pre-POR signal is switched to a controller reset-accomplished level and a driver signal starts switching levels to operate a power switch. The PWM signal generation circuit sets a duty ratio of a PWM signal to a predetermined minimum duty ratio after the controller pre-POR signal is switched to the controller reset-accomplished level and before the controller post-POR signal is switched to a ready level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A switching regulator, which is configured to operably convert an input voltage to an output voltage, the switching regulator comprising:
a power stage circuit, which is configured to operably control at least one power switch therein to convert the input voltage to the output voltage according to a driver signal;
a driver circuit, which is coupled to the power stage circuit, and is configured to generate the driver signal according to a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal; and
a control circuit, which is coupled to the driver circuit and the power stage circuit, the control circuit including:
a controller power ON reset (POR) circuit, which is configured to switch a pre-controller signal POR to a controller reset-accomplished level when a voltage level of a controller voltage supply rises above a controller POR rising threshold;
a controller post-POR_signal generation circuit, which is coupled to the controller POR circuit and the driver circuit, wherein after the controller pre-POR signal is switched to the controller reset-accomplished level, the controller post-POR signal generation circuit is configured to switch a controller post-POR_signal to a ready level according to the driver signal after the driver signal starts switching levels according to the PWM signal to operate the power switch; and
a PWM signal generation circuit, which is configured to generate the PWM signal according to a feedback signal related to the output voltage and the controller post-POR_signal;
wherein the PWM signal generation circuit sets a duty ratio of the PWM signal to a predetermined minimum duty ratio after the controller pre-POR_signal is switched to the controller reset-accomplished level and before the controller post-POR_signal is switched to the ready level.

2. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the driver circuit includes:
a driver POR circuit, which is configured to switch a driver POR_signal to a driver reset-accomplished level when a voltage level of a driver voltage supply rises above a controller driver rising threshold; and
a driver signal generation circuit, which is coupled to the driver POR circuit and the PWM signal generation circuit, and is configured to generate the driver signal according to the driver POR_signal and the PWM signal.

3. The switching regulator of claim 2 , wherein the driver POR circuit switches the driver POR_signal to a driver reset level when the voltage level of the driver voltage supply falls below a driver POR falling threshold, and the PWM signal generation circuit sets the duty of the PWM signal to the predetermined minimum duty ratio after the driver POR_signal is switched to the driver reset level and before the controller pre-POR signal is switched to a controller reset level.

4. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the controller post-POR_signal generation circuit includes a latch circuit, wherein the latch circuit is reset according to the controller pre-POR_signal, and is configured to latch a switching operation signal related to the driver signal according to a clock signal, so as to generate the controller post-POR signal.

5. The switching regulator of claim 4 , wherein the clock signal includes the PWM signal.

6. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the PWM signal generation circuit includes:
a preliminary circuit, which is coupled to the controller post-POR_signal generation circuit, and is configured to generate a preliminary signal according to the controller post-POR_signal and the feedback signal; and
a determination circuit, which is coupled to the preliminary circuit, and is configured to generate the PWM signal according to the preliminary PWM signal and a clock signal.

7. The switching regulator of claim 6 , wherein the preliminary circuit is further coupled to the controller POR circuit and is further configured to generate a minimum PWM signal as the clock signal according to the controller pre-POR_signal so that the determination circuit sets the duty ratio of the PWM signal to the predetermined minimum duty ratio before the controller post-POR_signal is switched to the ready level.

8. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein when the voltage level of the controller voltage supply falls below a controller POR falling threshold, the controller POR circuit switches the controller pre-POR_signal to a controller reset level and the post-controller generation circuit switches the controller POR_signal to a not-ready level.

9. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the post-controller signal generation circuit receives a phase node voltage of the power stage circuit as a signal related to the driver signal to indicate information of the driver signal.

10. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the power stage circuit includes a synchronous or non-synchronous buck, boost, inverting, buck-boost, inverting-boost, or flyback power stage circuit.

11. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined minimum duty ratio is zero.

12. The switching regulator of claim 1 , wherein the input voltage has a semi-sinusoidal waveform.

13. A control circuit for a switching regulator, wherein the switching regulator is configured to convert an input voltage to an output voltage, the switching regulator comprising: a power stage circuit, which is configured to switch a least power switch according to a driver signal to convert the input voltage to the output voltage; a driver circuit, which is coupled to the power stage circuit, and is configured to generate the driver signal according to a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal; and the control circuit, the control circuit comprising:
a controller power ON reset (POR) circuit, which is configured to switch a pre-controller signal POR to a controller reset-accomplished level when a voltage level of a controller voltage supply rises above a controller POR rising threshold;
a controller post-POR_signal generation circuit, which is coupled to the controller POR circuit and the driver circuit, wherein after the controller pre-POR_signal is switched to the controller reset-accomplished level, the controller post-POR_signal generation circuit is configured to switch a controller post-POR_signal to a ready level according to the driver signal after the driver signal starts switching levels according to the PWM signal to operate the power switch; and
a PWM signal generation circuit, which is configured to generate the PWM signal according to a feedback signal related to the output voltage and the controller post-POR_signal;
wherein the PWM signal generation circuit sets a duty ratio of the PWM signal to a predetermined minimum duty ratio after the controller pre-POR_signal is switched to the controller reset-accomplished level and before the controller post-POR signal is switched to the ready level.

14. The control circuit of claim 13 , wherein the driver circuit includes:
a driver POR circuit, which is configured to switch a driver POR_signal to a driver reset-accomplished level when a voltage level of a driver voltage supply rises above a controller driver rising threshold; and
a driver signal generation circuit, which is coupled to the driver POR circuit and the PWM signal generation circuit, and is configured to generate the driver signal according to the driver POR_signal and the PWM signal.

15. The control circuit of claim 14 , wherein the driver POR circuit switches the driver POR_signal to a driver reset level when the voltage level of the driver voltage supply falls below a driver POR falling threshold, and the PWM signal generation circuit sets the duty of

Assignees

• Richtek Technology Corp

Inventors

• Lo Li-Di
• Chen Isaac Y
• Tang Chien-Fu

Classifications

• H02M1/088 Primary

  for the simultaneous control of series or parallel connected semiconductor devices · CPC title

• H02M1/32

  Means for protecting converters other than automatic disconnection · CPC title

• H02M2001/0048

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02M3/158

  including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load · CPC title

• H02M1/0054

  Transistor switching losses (periodically suspending operation of switching converter in low power mode H02M1/0035) · CPC title