Apparatus and methods for switching regulator current sensing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8937467-B2
Application number	US-201313791210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2013
Priority date	Mar 8, 2013
Publication date	Jan 20, 2015
Grant date	Jan 20, 2015

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for current sensing in switching regulators are provided. In certain implementations, a switching regulator includes a switch transistor, a replica transistor, a sense resistor, and a current sensing circuit. The drain and gate of the switch transistor can be electrically connected to the drain and gate of the replica transistor, respectively. The current sensing circuit can generate an output current that varies in response to a sense current from a source of the replica transistor. Additionally, the current sensing circuit can sink the sense current when the sense current flows from the drain to the source of the replica transistor and source the sense current when the sense current flows from the source to the drain of the replica transistor. The sense resistor can receive the output current such that the voltage across the sense resistor changes in relation to the current through the switch transistor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a first switch transistor including a drain, a source, and a gate, wherein the source is electrically connected to a first supply voltage, and wherein the gate is electrically connected to a first control signal;
a replica transistor including a drain, a source, and a gate, wherein the drain of the replica transistor is electrically connected to the drain of the first switch transistor, wherein the gate of the replica transistor is…

Assignees

• Analog Devices Technology

Inventors

• Qin Song

Classifications

• G05F3/02 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• H02M1/0009

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02M3/158 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic