Voltage regulator and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9423810-B2
Application number	US-201414231084-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2014
Priority date	Oct 16, 2013
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

A voltage regulator and a control method thereof are provided to dynamically adjust an output voltage. The voltage regulator comprises a plurality of switching transistors and a control circuit. The first end of each switching transistor receives a driving voltage, and the second end of each switching transistor is electrically connected to the end which outputs the output voltage. The input end and the feedback end of the control circuit respectively receive a reference voltage and the output voltage. A plurality of output ends of the control circuit are electrically connected to the control ends of the switching transistors respectively. Switching transistors adjust the output voltage. The control circuit compares the output voltage with the reference voltage, and selectively turns the switching transistors on or off according to the comparison between the output voltage and the reference voltage, to control the output voltage to approach the reference voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A voltage regulator, adapted to dynamically adjust an output voltage from a first output end of the voltage regulator, and comprising:
a plurality of switching transistors, wherein each of the plurality of switching transistor has a first end, a second end, and a control end, the first ends receive a driving voltage, the second ends are electrically connected with the first output end, and the switching transistor is configured to adjust the output voltage; and
a control circuit, comprising an input end, a feedback end, a plurality of second output ends and a plurality of driving modules;
wherein the input end receives a reference voltage, the feedback end receives the output voltage, the second output ends are electrically connected with the control ends of the switching transistors respectively, the plurality of driving modules are electrically connected with each other, each of the plurality of driving modules receives the reference voltage and the output voltage and electrically connects with one of the plurality of switching transistors, and the control circuit is configured to compare the output voltage with the reference voltage, and selectively turn on or off the plurality of switching transistors according to the comparison between the output voltage and the reference voltage so that the output voltage approaches the reference voltage;
wherein when the output voltage approaches the reference voltage and one of the plurality of switching transistors is repeatedly switched between on and off, the voltage regulator keeps the switching transistor, which is repeatedly switched between on and off, turned on, to stabilize the output voltage; and
wherein an Ith stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules selectively turns on or off the switching transistors corresponding to the Ith stage driving module according to the comparison between the reference voltage and the output voltage when receiving a triggering signal, and I is a positive integer.

2. The voltage regulator according to claim 1 , wherein when the output voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns on one or more of the plurality of switching transistors, and when the output voltage is larger than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns off one turned-on switching transistor.

3. The voltage regulator according to claim 1 , wherein when the output voltage is larger than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns off one or more of the plurality of switching transistors, and when the output voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns on one turned-off switching transistor.

4. The voltage regulator according to claim 1 , wherein when the output voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, the Ith stage driving module turns on the switching transistor corresponding to the Ith stage driving module and sends the triggering signal to a (I+1)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules.

5. The voltage regulator according to claim 1 , wherein when the output voltage is larger than the reference voltage, the Ith stage driving module feeds the triggering signal back to a (I−2)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules, and the (I−2)th stage driving module then transfers the fed-back triggering signal to a (I−1)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules, so that the (I−1)th stage driving module turns off the switching transistor corresponding to the (I−1)th stage driving module according to the comparison between the reference voltage and the output voltage.

6. The voltage regulator according to claim 5 , wherein after the (I−1)th stage driving module turns off the switching transistor corresponding to the (I−1)th stage driving module, the (I−1)th stage driving module feeds the triggering signal back to a (I−3)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules, and then the (I−3)th stage driving module transfers the triggering signal to the (I−2)th stage driving module.

7. The voltage regulator according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuit further comprises:
a first reflecting module, configured to provide the triggering signal to a first stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules and to transfer the triggering signal outputted by the first stage driving module or a second stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules to the first stage driving module; and
a second reflecting module, configured to transfer the triggering signal sent by a last stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules to a second last stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules, so that the second last stage driving module transfers the transferred triggering signal to the last stage driving module.

8. A control method of a voltage regulator, comprising:
feeding an output voltage back to a control circuit;
comparing the output voltage with a reference voltage; and
selectively turning on or off a plurality of switch transistors according to the comparison between the output voltage and the reference voltage so that the output voltage approaches the reference voltage;
wherein when the output voltage approaches the reference voltage and one of the plurality of switching transistors is repeatedly switched between on and off, the voltage regulator keeps the switching transistor, which is repeatedly switched between on and off, turned on, to stabilize the output voltage; and
wherein the control circuit comprises a plurality of driving modules, the plurality of driving modules are electrically connected with each other, each of the plurality of driving modules receives the reference voltage and the output voltage and electrically connects with one of the plurality of switching transistors, and when an Ith stage driving module of the plurality of driving modules receives a triggering signal, the Ith stage driving module selectively turns on or off the switching transistor corresponding to the Ith stage driving module according to the comparison between the reference voltage and the output voltage, and I is a positive integer.

9. The control method according to claim 8 , wherein when the output voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns on one or more of the plurality of switching transistors, and when the output voltage is larger than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns off one turned-on switching transistor.

10. The control method according to claim 8 , wherein when the output voltage is larger than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns off one or more of the plurality of switching transistors, and when the output voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, the control circuit turns on one turned-off switching transistor.

11. The control method according to claim 8 , wherein when the output voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, the Ith stage driving module turns on the switching transistor corresponding to the Ith stage driving module and sends the triggering signal to a (I+1)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules.

12. The control method according to claim 8 , wherein when the output voltage is larger than the reference voltage, the Ith stage driving module feeds the triggering signal back to a (I−2)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules, and the (I−2)th stage driving module then transfers the fed-back triggering signal to a (I−1)th stage driving module in the plurality of driving modules, so that the (I−1)th stage driving module turns off the switching transistor corresponding to the (I−1)th stage driving module according to the comparison betw

Assignees

• Ind Tech Res Inst

Inventors

• Chen Long-Der
• Huang Dau-Chen
• Lin Yu-Chen
• Chen Ke-Horng
• Peng Shen-Yu

Classifications

• G05F1/59 Primary

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

• G05F1/563

  including two stages of regulation at least one of which is output level responsive, e.g. coarse and fine regulation · CPC title