Current sharing for multi-output charging device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11799311-B2
Application number	US-202017106507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2020
Priority date	Aug 21, 2019
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

A charging device comprising a first power converter configured to provide a first output power, a second power converter configured to provide a second output power. A switch is coupled to the first power converter and the second power converter. A first socket is configured to deliver the first output power from the first power converter to a first powered device. A second socket is configured to deliver the second output power from the second power converter to a second powered device. A power delivery (PD) controller configured to detect a coupling of the first socket to the first powered device. In addition, the PD controller is configured to detect an absence of coupling of the second socket to the second powered device. Furthermore, the PD controller is configured to control the switch to provide the first output power and the second output power to the first powered device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multiple output power supply comprising:
a first power converter configured to provide a first output power, the first power converter further configured to receive a communication signal to adjust the first output power;
a second power converter configured to provide a second output power, the second power converter further configured to receive the communication signal to adjust the second output power;
a bidirectional switch coupled between the first power converter and the second power converter; and
a microcontroller coupled to the first power converter and the second power converter, the microcontroller configured to receive a first configuration channel signal from a first powered device, the microcontroller further configured to negotiate with the first powered device a total output power of the multiple output power supply, the microcontroller further configured to generate the communication signal to the first power converter and the second power converter to provide the total output power in accordance with the negotiation between the microcontroller and the first powered device, wherein the total output power is a sum of the first output power and the second output power, the microcontroller further configured to control the bidirectional switch such that the first power converter and the second power converter provide the total output power to the first powered device.

2. The multiple output power supply of claim 1 , the second power converter coupled to a switch (Q 2 ), the switch configured to provide the second output power from the second power converter to a second charging device.

3. The multiple output power supply of claim 2 , the microcontroller further configured to disable the switch (Q 2 ) in response to a turn on of the bidirectional switch.

4. The multiple output power supply of claim 3 , the microcontroller further configured to adjust the first output power and the second output power to be equal within a hysteresis, wherein the hysteresis is that the first output power is greater than one-hundred twenty percent of the second output power.

5. The multiple output power supply of claim 4 , the microcontroller further configured to adjust the first output power and the second output power to be equal within a hysteresis, wherein the hysteresis is that the first output power is less than eighty percent of the second output power.

6. The multiple output power supply of claim 5 , the microcontroller further configured to adjust the first output power and the second output power to be equal within a hysteresis, wherein the hysteresis is that the second output power is less than eighty percent of the first output power.

7. The multiple output power supply of claim 4 , the microcontroller configured to turn off the bidirectional switch.

8. The multiple output power supply of claim 3 , the microcontroller further configured to adjust the first output power and the second output power to be equal within a hysteresis, wherein the hysteresis is that the second output power is greater than one-hundred twenty percent of the first output power.

9. The multiple output power supply of claim 1 , the microcontroller further configured to receive a second configuration channel signal from a second powered device, the microcontroller further configured to negotiate the second output power with the second powered device, the microcontroller further configured to negotiate the first output power with the first powered device, the microcontroller further configured to generate the communication signal to the first power converter and the second power converter.

10. The multiple output power supply of claim 9 , the second power converter coupled to a switch (Q 2 ), the switch (Q 2 ) configured to provide the second output power from the second power converter to the second powered device.

11. The multiple output power supply of claim 9 , the first power converter coupled to a second switch, the second switch configured to provide the first output power from the first power converter to the first powered device.

12. The multiple output power supply of claim 1 , the bidirectional switch comprising a first PMOS transistor, and a second PMOS transistor.

13. The multiple output power supply of claim 1 , wherein the first power converter and the second power converter is a flyback converter.

14. The multiple output power supply of claim 1 , the first power converter further comprising a first power converter controller, the first power converter controller configured to receive the communication signal from the microcontroller.

15. The multiple output power supply of claim 14 , the second power converter further comprising a second power converter controller, the second power converter controller configured to receive the communication signal from the microcontroller.

16. The multiple output power supply of claim 15 , the microcontroller configured to communicate the communication signal to the first power converter controller and the second power converter controller over an inter-integrated (I2C) circuit bus.

17. A charging device, comprising:
a first power converter configured to provide a first output power, the first power converter further configured to be regulated by a first controller;
a second power converter configured to provide a second output power, the second power converter further configured to be regulated by a second controller;
a switch coupled to the first power converter and the second power converter;
a first socket coupled to the first power converter, the first socket configured to deliver the first output power from the first power converter to a first powered device;
a second socket coupled to the second power converter, the second socket configured to deliver the second output power from the second power converter to a second powered device; and
a power delivery (PD) controller configured to detect a coupling of the first socket to the first powered device, the PD controller further configured to detect an absence of coupling of the second socket to the second powered device, the PD controller further configured to control the switch to provide the first output power and the second output power to the first powered device.

18. The charging device of claim 17 , the PD controller further configured to detect an absence of coupling of the first socket to the first powered device, the PD controller further configured to detect a coupling of the second socket to the second powered device, the PD controller further configured to control the switch to provide the first output power and the second output power to the second powered device.

19. The charging device of claim 18 , the PD controller further configured to turn off the switch in response to the coupling of the first socket to the first powered device and to the coupling of the second socket to the second powered device.

20. The charging device of claim 19 , the first socket comprising:
a voltage bus terminal;
a first configuration channel terminal;
a second configuration channel terminal; and
a first return terminal.

21. The charging device of claim 20 , the second socket comprising:
a voltage bus terminal;
a third configuration channel terminal;
a fourth configuration channel terminal; and
a second return terminal.

22. The charging device of claim 18 , further comprising a second pass transistor, wherein the second pass transistor is configured to be turned off

Assignees

• Power Integrations Inc

Inventors

• Quek Eng Hwee
• Kulkarni Aditya Jayant
• Li Ran
• Saint-Pierre Roland Sylvere

Classifications

• H02J7/56

  Active balancing, e.g. using capacitor-based, inductor-based or DC-DC converters · CPC title

• H02J7/933 Primary

  the cycle being controlled or terminated in response to electric parameters · CPC title

• H02J7/575

  Parallel/serial switching of connection of batteries to charge or load circuit · CPC title

• H02J7/00712 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/0019

  Electricity · mapped topic