Charge pump circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11043894-B2
Application number	US-202016988796-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2020
Priority date	Dec 23, 2010
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

A bipolar output charge pump circuit having a network of switching paths for selectively connecting an input node and a reference node for connection to an input voltage, a first pair of output nodes and a second pair of output nodes, and two pairs of flying capacitor nodes, and a controller for controlling the switching of the network of switching paths. The controller is operable to control the network of switching paths when in use with two flying capacitors connected to the two pairs of flying capacitor nodes, to provide a first bipolar output voltage at the first pair of output nodes and a second bipolar output voltage at the second pair of bipolar output nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charge pump circuit, comprising:
a voltage input node for receiving an input voltage with respect to a reference voltage at a reference voltage node;
a first pair of first and second output nodes for outputting a first bipolar output voltage;
a second pair of third and fourth output nodes for outputting a second bipolar output voltage;
a plurality of flying capacitor nodes for connection to a plurality of flying capacitors;
a network of switching paths for interconnecting said nodes; and

a controller operable to control the network of switching paths to provide both a first bipolar output voltage at the first pair of output nodes and a second bipolar output voltage at the second pair of bipolar output nodes,
wherein the controller is operable in a first mode to control the network of switching paths such that first bipolar voltage is +/−3VV, where VV is the input voltage to the charge pump circuit.

2. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 wherein, in the first mode, the second bipolar voltage is +/−VV.

3. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 wherein the controller is further selectively operable in at least a second mode to control the network of switching paths such that first bipolar voltage is one of +/−VV or +/−2VV.

4. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 wherein the controller is further selectively operable in at least one additional mode to control the network of switching paths such that first bipolar voltage is one of +/−2VV, +/−VV, +/−VV/2, +/−VV/3, +/−VV/4, +/−VV/5 or +/−VV/6.

5. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 wherein the controller is selectively operable in a plurality of operating modes, including said first mode, wherein a ratio of the first bipolar voltage to the input voltage is different in each of said operating modes.

6. The charge pump circuit of claim 5 wherein the first bipolar output voltage is supplied as a bipolar supply voltage to a first audio component in an audio signal path and wherein the controller is configured to operate in a selected operating mode based on an indication of signal level of an audio signal in said audio signal path.

7. The charge pump circuit of claim 6 wherein the first audio component is an audio amplifier.

8. The charge pump circuit of claim 6 wherein the second bipolar output voltage is supplied as a bipolar supply voltage to a second audio component in said audio signal path.

9. The charge pump circuit of claim 1 wherein the controller is operable in the first mode, in use, with first and second flying capacitors connected to said plurality of flying capacitor nodes.

10. The charge pump circuit of claim 9 wherein the controller is operable in the first mode, in use, with a first reservoir capacitor connected between the first output node and the reference node, a second reservoir capacitor connected between the reference node and the second output node, a third reservoir capacitor connected between the first output node and the reference node, and a fourth reservoir capacitor connected between the reference node and the fourth output node.

11. The charge pump circuit of claim 10 wherein, in the first mode, the controller controls the network of switching paths in a sequence of states comprising:
a first state in which: the first reservoir capacitor is connected between the voltage input node and the reference node, the second reservoir capacitor is connected between the first output node and the voltage input node and the voltage input node is connected to the third output node;
a second state in which: a negative plate of the first flying capacitor is connected to the third output node, a positive plate of the first flying capacitor is connected to a negative plate of the first flying capacitor, and a negative plate of the second flying capacitor is connected to the reference node; and
a third state in which: the first flying capacitor is connected between the reference node and the fourth output node and the second flying capacitor is connected between the fourth output node and the second output node.

12. The charge pump circuit of claim 10 wherein, in the first mode, the controller controls the network of switching paths in a sequence of states so as to charge the first flying capacitor to a voltage of +VV and to charge the second flying capacitor to a voltage of +2VV.

13. The charge pump circuit according to claim 1 , comprising a comparator for comparing at least one voltage derived from the first or second bipolar output voltage is compared with a threshold level, wherein the controller is responsive to said comparator to control the network of switching paths.

14. The charge pump circuit according to claim 13 wherein the controller is responsive to said comparator to control a switching frequency of switching of the network of switching paths.

15. The charge pump circuit of claim 13 wherein said threshold is independent of the input voltage.

16. An electronic device comprising the charge pump circuit of claim 1 .

17. A charge pump circuit comprising:
a first pair of output nodes for outputting a first bipolar output voltage based on an input voltage;
a second pair of output nodes for outputting a second bipolar output voltage based on the input voltage; and
a controller for controlling the charge pump circuit to provide both a first bipolar output voltage at the first pair of output nodes and a second bipolar output voltage at the second pair of bipolar output nodes,
wherein the controller is operable in a first mode such that first bipolar voltage is +/−3VV, where VV is the input voltage.

18. The charge pump circuit of claim 17 wherein, in the first mode, the second output voltage is +/−VV.

19. The charge pump circuit of claim 17 wherein the controller is further selectively operable in at least a second mode to control the network of switching paths such that first bipolar voltage is one of +/−VV or +/−2VV.

20. A charge pump circuit comprising:
a first pair of output nodes for outputting a first bipolar output voltage based on an input voltage;
a second pair of output nodes for outputting a second bipolar output voltage based on the input voltage; and
a controller for controlling the charge pump circuit to provide both a first bipolar output voltage at the first pair of output nodes and a second bipolar output voltage at the second pair of bipolar output nodes,
wherein the controller is operable so that charge pump circuit is operable to output any of +/−3VV, +/−2VV or +/−VV as the first bipolar output voltage, where VV is the input voltage.

Assignees

• Cirrus Logic Int Semiconductor Ltd
• Cirrus Logic Inc

Inventors

• Lesso John P
• Frith Peter J
• Pennock John L

Classifications

• H02M1/00

  Details of apparatus for conversion · CPC title

• H02M1/0083

  Converters characterised by their input or output configuration · CPC title

• H02M3/072

  adapted to generate an output voltage whose value is lower than the input voltage · CPC title

• H02M3/07 Primary

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

• H02M3/071

  adapted to generate a negative voltage output from a positive voltage source · CPC title