Charge adjustment techniques for switched capacitor power converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11038418-B2
Application number	US-202017079379-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2020
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

Various embodiments of charge adjustment techniques for a switched capacitor power converter are described. In one example embodiment, briefly, charge adjustment techniques may include a technique to control operation of a charge pump for a switched capacitor power converter so that the charge pump is able to adjust the charge of a selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors along a charge transfer path, independent of the charge of other charge pump capacitors of the two or more charge pump capacitors. Likewise, in some instances, a charge may be adjusted in a manner that is to include at least one of the following: a current source, a voltage regulator, an adjustment of switching frequency of a charge pump, a time-based charge operation, a bypass switch with respect to at least one charge pump capacitor, on-resistance modulation for one or more switches of the charge pump, or any combination thereof.

First claim

Having described the invention, and a preferred embodiment thereof, what is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
an integrated circuit (IC);
the IC comprising a controller for a charge pump including two or more charge pump capacitors coupled along a charge transfer path between an input port and an output port of the charge pump;
the controller, during at least a portion of an interval before steady-state charge pump operation, to control operation of the charge pump so that the charge pump is able to adjust the charge of a selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors along the charge transfer path, independent of the charge of other charge pump capacitors of the two or more charge pump capacitors.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller to control the operation of the charge pump so that the charge pump is able to pre-charge the selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors, independent of the charge of the other charge pump capacitors of the two or more charge pump capacitors.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors to be pre-charged from ground.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors to be pre-charged in a manner that is to include a current source.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the current source to comprise a voltage follower.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors to be pre-charged in a manner that is to include a bypass switch with respect to a passive component.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors to be pre-charged for a specified period to result in a specified voltage level of the selected one or more of the two or more charge pump capacitors.

8. An apparatus comprising:
an integrated circuit (IC);
the IC comprising a controller for a charge pump comprising two or more charge pump capacitors coupled along a charge transfer path between an input port and an output port of the charge pump;
the controller, during at least a portion of an interval before steady-state charge pump operation, to at least partially control operation of the charge pump so that the charge pump is able to adjust the charge of at least one of the two or more charge pump capacitors along the charge transfer path,
wherein the charge of the at least one of the two or more charge pump capacitors is to be adjusted in a manner that is to include at least one of the following: a current source, a voltage regulator, an adjustment of switching frequency of the charge pump, a time-based charge operation, a bypass switch with respect to the at least one charge pump capacitor, on-resistance modulation for one or more switches of the charge pump, or any combination thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the current source to comprise a voltage follower.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the current source to comprise a current regulator and/or a current mirror.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the adjustment of the switching frequency to comprise an increase of the switching frequency.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the time-based charge operation is for a specified period to result in a specified voltage level of the at least one charge pump capacitor.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the specified voltage level is to comprise a voltage level below an input voltage level of the charge pump or below an output voltage level of the charge pump.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the bypass switch is operable to add or remove a passive component from the charge transfer path of the charge pump.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the passive component comprises a charge pump capacitor.

16. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the on-resistance modulation for the one or more switches of the charge pump to comprise modulation between two values.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the modulation between the two values to comprise modulation from a lower value to a higher value.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the modulation between the two values to comprise modulation from a higher value to a lower value.

19. An apparatus comprising:
an integrated circuit (IC);
the IC comprising a controller for a charge pump including a plurality of charge pump capacitors coupled along a charge transfer path between an input port and an output port of the charge pump, a first charge pump capacitor of the plurality of charge pump capacitors to be coupled to a first node and a second charge pump capacitor of the plurality of charge pump capacitors to be coupled to a second node;
the controller, during at least a portion of an interval before steady-state charge pump operation, to control operation of the charge pump so that the charge pump is able to pre-charge a selected one of the first and/or second nodes so as to pre-charge less than all charge pump capacitors of the plurality of charge pump capacitors along the charge transfer path, independent of the charge of other charge pump capacitors of the less than all charge pump capacitors.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of pump capacitors to comprise two outer charge pump capacitors and at least one inner charge pump capacitor to be coupled along the charge transfer path.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the controller to further control operation of a current-limited switch so as to reduce electrical transient effects to occur during the at least the portion of the interval before the steady-state charge pump operation.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the selected one of the first or the second nodes to be pre-charged in a manner that is to include a bypass switch with respect to a passive component.

23. An apparatus to convert a first voltage into a second voltage, the apparatus comprising:
a switched capacitor power converter comprising a switched capacitor arrangement; and
a controller to generate one or more control signals to control a plurality of switches based, at least in part, on a clock-type periodic signal, the switched capacitor arrangement to comprise two or more pump capacitors of a plurality of capacitors to be coupled along a charge transfer path between an input port and an output port of the switched capacitor arrangement, the plurality of capacitors to have respective first and second nodes,
wherein the charge transfer path to include a plurality of stack nodes and a multiplicity of phase nodes, and
wherein the plurality of capacitors to be coupled, via the respective first nodes, to the plurality of stack nodes.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein two or more pump capacitors of the plurality of capacitors to be coupled, via the respective second nodes, to a shared node of the multiplicity of phase nodes along the charge transfer path between the input port and the output port of the switched capacitor arrangement.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the multiplicity of phase nodes to comprise three or more phase nodes.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the switched capacitor arrangement to comprise a cascade multiplier.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the switched capacitor power converter to comprise a reconfigurable switc

Assignees

• Psemi Corp

Inventors

• Low Aichen
• Giuliano David M
• Szczeszynski Gregory
• Summit Jeff
• Blyde Oscar

Classifications

• H02M1/0095

  Hybrid converter topologies, e.g. NPC mixed with flying capacitor, thyristor converter mixed with MMC or charge pump mixed with buck · CPC title

• H02M1/0054

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

• H02M3/07 Primary

  using capacitors charged and discharged alternately by semiconductor devices with control electrode {, e.g. charge pumps} · CPC title

• H02M3/075

  including a plurality of stages and two sets of clock signals, one set for the odd and one set for the even numbered stages · CPC title

• H02M1/0003

  Details of control, feedback or regulation circuits · CPC title