Implantable medical device having power supply for generating a regulated power supply

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9526905-B2
Application number	US-201414203967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2014
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for generating a plurality of output voltages from a single input power source. The techniques include implementing a switched capacitor voltage converter to provide at least two output voltages having different supply ratios. The supply ratio is defined as a function of the input voltage provided to the switched capacitor voltage converter by the power source. The switched capacitor voltage converter includes a plurality of capacitors selectively coupled to a plurality of switches to define at least a first and a second mode with each of the modes having a plurality of configurations. In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, the techniques include coupling the plurality of capacitors to define the first or second mode based on predetermined criteria.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An implantable medical device having electronic circuitry operable to perform a therapeutic and/or monitoring function, comprising:
a power source for supplying an input voltage;
a capacitor arrangement having a plurality of capacitors dynamically configurable in at least a first mode and a second mode to simultaneously generate multiple output voltages in each of the first and second modes based on the input voltage, wherein each of the first and second modes includes a plurality of stacked configurations;
a switch array having a plurality of switches coupled to the plurality of capacitors and operable in a number of different states to dynamically configure the plurality of capacitors in the plurality of stacked configurations; and
a switch controller operable to issue a control signal to the switch array to control the coupling of the plurality of capacitors in one of the plurality of stacked configurations within a selected one of the at least first and second modes,

wherein each value of the multiple output voltages corresponds to a supply ratio of the input voltage defined by the capacitor arrangement, and the value of at least one of the multiple output voltages is different from the values of the other output voltages for each of the first and second modes.

2. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein the control signal is issued to dynamically configure the plurality of switches to couple the capacitors in one of the plurality of stacked configurations for one of the first and second modes based on predefined criteria.

3. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the plurality of stacked configurations associated with the first mode are different from the stacked configurations associated with the second mode.

4. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein the control signal is issued to establish at least two regulated signals corresponding to at least two of the multiple output voltages generated in one of the first and second modes.

5. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of capacitors include at least two floating capacitors and two hold capacitors.

6. The implantable medical device of claim 5 , wherein each of the at least two floating capacitors is concurrently coupled to the power source and each of the at least two hold capacitors is coupled to a different load.

7. The implantable medical device of claim 6 , wherein the stacking of the first and second plurality of capacitors in the second mode couples a first of the at least two hold capacitors to a second of the at least two hold capacitors.

8. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein the supply ratio is defined based on the stacked configuration of the plurality of capacitors.

9. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein the switch controller comprises of a state machine having instructions for generating a control signal to control a state of the plurality of switches.

10. The implantable medical device of claim 1 , wherein the selection of the one of the first and second modes is based on predefined criteria.

11. The implantable medical device of claim 10 , wherein the predefined criteria includes a residual amount of the charge stored by the power source.

12. An implantable medical device having electronic circuitry operable to perform a therapeutic and/or monitoring function, comprising:
a power source for supplying an input voltage;
a capacitor arrangement having a plurality of capacitors dynamically configurable in at least a first mode and a second mode to simultaneously generate multiple output voltages in each of the first and second modes based on the input voltage, wherein each of the first and second modes includes a plurality of stacked configurations;
a switch array having a plurality of switches coupled to the plurality of capacitors and operable in a number of different states to dynamically configure the plurality of capacitors in the plurality of stacked configurations;
a switch controller operable to issue a control signal to the switch array to control the coupling of the plurality of capacitors in one of the plurality of stacked configurations within a selected one of the at least first and second modes; and
a monitoring module coupled to at least one of the output voltages operable to compare the voltage level of the at least one output voltage to a predetermined level and generate a conversion signal to change the selected mode of the plurality of capacitors.

13. The implantable medical device of claim 12 , wherein in response to detecting that the output voltage level is less than the predetermined level, the switch controller issues a control signal to cause the switch array to select a mode having a larger supply ratio from the at least first and second modes.

14. The implantable medical device of claim 2 , wherein the predefined criteria includes power supply requirements of a load coupled to the capacitor arrangement that is supplied with one of the generated multiple output voltages.

15. A regulated power supply to generate multiple output voltages based on an input voltage from a power source having a finite supply, comprising:
a plurality of capacitors dynamically configurable in at least a first mode and a second mode, each of the first and second modes having a plurality of stacked configurations and operable to simultaneously generate the multiple output voltages based on the input voltage;
a switch array having a plurality of switches coupled to the plurality of capacitors and operable in a number of different states to couple the capacitors to establish the plurality of stacked configurations, wherein at least one of the output voltages generated by the plurality of capacitors has a first supply ratio that is different from a second supply ratio of a second of the output voltages; and
a switch controller operable to issue a control signal to the switch array to control the coupling of the plurality of capacitors in a selected one of the plurality of configurations based on predefined criteria, wherein each value of the multiple output voltages corresponds to supply ratios established by the stacked configurations, and the value of at least one of the multiple output voltages is different from the values of the other output voltages for each of the first and second modes.

16. The regulated power supply of claim 15 , further comprising a monitoring module coupled to at least one of the output voltages operable to compare the voltage level of the at least one output voltage to a predetermined level and generate a conversion signal to change the selected mode of the plurality of capacitors.

17. The regulated power supply of claim 16 , wherein in response to detecting that the output voltage level is less than the predetermined level, the switch controller issues a control signal to cause the switch array to select a mode having a larger supply ratio from the at least first and second modes.

18. The regulated power supply of claim 15 , wherein the control signal is issued to dynamically configure the plurality of switches to stack the capacitors in one of the plurality of stacked configurations based on predefined criteria.

19. The regulated power supply of claim 15 , wherein the control signal is issued to establish at least two regulated signals corresponding to one of the multiple output voltages.

20. The regulated power supply of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of capacitors include at leas

Assignees

• Medtronic Inc

Inventors

• Reinke James D
• Gordon Charles R
• Hossain Shohan T
• Liang Weizheng
• Sarkinen Gregg T

Classifications

• A61N1/3981

  High voltage charging circuitry · CPC title

• A61N1/378 Primary

  Electrical supply · CPC title

• H02M3/07

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

• A61N1/36125

  Details of circuitry or electric components · CPC title

• A61N1/025

  Digital circuitry features of electrotherapy devices, e.g. memory, clocks, processors · CPC title