Abstract: A power supply circuit with low noise and low power consumption and a battery device using the power supply circuit. If a voltage VDD is higher than a prescribed voltage, a charge pump circuit 140A is operated in “½ mode” (a step-down ratio of “2”), steps down the voltage VDD, and outputs an intermediate voltage VCPO. Since the voltage VDD is stepped down, the intermediate voltage VCPO being input into a first LDO 135 is about half the case where no step-down is carried out, and the power being consumed in a MOS transistor Q11 (FIG. 3) of the first LDO 135 is greatly reduced. Therefore, the increase in power consumption of the first LDO 135 due to a voltage increase in the voltage VDD can be suppressed. Also, since the heat sink of the first LDO 135 can be reduced in size or omitted by the suppression of power consumption, the size and weight of the device can be reduced.

Abstract: A voltage clamping circuit includes a current source having a fixed current source and a variable current source and a variable resistor receiving current from the current source. The variable resistor varies its resistance in response to an environmental operating condition. The voltage clamping circuit also includes an amplifier configured to compare a sensor node voltage with a reference voltage, the sensor node voltage being in communication with the voltage drop across the variable resistor. The amplifier is configured and connected to provide a control output to control the variable current source to modify current output from the variable current source to at least in part prevent the sensor node voltage from exceeding a reference voltage when certain operating conditions are present.

Abstract: In a method and an amplifier for the compensation of unlinearities e.g. of the class D type, wherein an audio signal is pulse-width modulated, e.g. with a carrier wave signal in the form of a triangular signal to provide a pulse-width modulated small-signal, the so-called multiplicative error signals, which occur prior to the provision of a pulse-width modulated great-signal (7), are detected in a detector (10)). It is noted that the carrier wave signal could be analog as well as digital. The signal from the detector, which is derived on the basis of differences between the pulse widths of the small-signals and the pulse widths of the great-signals, is used for changing the carrier wave signal so that the amplifier gets a constant gain in the entire audio range and is thereby linearized.

Abstract: Systems and devices for dynamically scaled charge pumping are presented. Example embodiments of the disclosed systems of dynamically scaled charge pumping enable regulation of the output voltage at a particular ratio and to dynamically control the ratio based on the input voltage. A charge pumping circuit is enabled by an oscillator. The charge pump oscillator is enabled by the output of a comparator. The comparator compares an input voltage to a comparator voltage, which is a divided version of the output voltage. The output voltage is referenced to a regulated voltage and the comparison voltage is divided between the two voltages by a resistor divider. The regulated voltage remains flat until the input voltage equals the reference voltage. At that point, the regulated voltage will begin to rise and follow the input voltage. Before the reference voltage is reached, the output voltage equals the input voltage multiplied by the resistor divider ratio.

Abstract: A switching power supply device for a ripple control system that can obtain the ripple component with the necessary amplitude without using discrete elements. On capacitor Ci of CR integrator 11, a voltage is generated corresponding to the integration value of the voltage applied to inductor Lo. The ripple voltage generated on capacitor Ci has a waveform similar to that of the ripple current flowing through inductor Lo. The voltage of capacitor Ci is converted into current Iq by voltage/current converter 12, and the current is injected in resistor R3 arranged on the transmission path of output feedback voltage VFB in comparator 2. Resistor R3 generates ripple voltage (Iqxr3) corresponding to the ripple current flowing through inductor Lo. The synthetic voltage of the ripple voltage and output feedback voltage VFB is compared to reference voltage Vref.

Abstract: A random number generator generates a string of random bits from a received RF signal source. A sample-and-hold circuit is coupled to the received RF signal source. The RF signal is sampled by a jittered clock signal from a source coupled to the sample-and-hold circuit. The frequency of the jittered clock signal is less than frequency of the received RF signal. The random number appears at the output of the sample-and-hold circuit.

Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention provide voltage converters and methods for using such. As one example, a voltage converter is disclosed that includes a transformer with a first winding and a second winding. A voltage is applied to the first winding for a period that is followed by an OFF time. The voltage converter further includes an OFF time controller that is operable to adjust the OFF time based at least in part on a load current traversing the second winding.

Abstract: Various systems and methods for determining micro-shorts are disclosed. For example, some embodiments of the present invention provide battery systems including a determination of potential micro-shorts based on rate of change of state of charge. Such battery systems include: a battery, a processor, and a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium includes instructions executable by the processor to: determine a rate of change of the state of charge of the battery; compare the rate of change of the state of charge of the battery against a threshold; and indicate a potential failure where the result of the comparison is beyond the threshold.

Abstract: The invention relates to a DC-DC converter, which includes a power stage driven by a pulse width modulator, a first error amplifier with a first input coupled to a first reference voltage source and a second input coupled to a current sink through which a current is fed from an output of the power stage to receive a first feedback voltage (FB1), a second error amplifier with a first input coupled to a second reference voltage source and a second input coupled to the output of the power stage to receive a second reference voltage (FB2), and switching means (SW1) for connecting a control input of the pulse width modulator with the output of the first error amplifier in a current regulation mode and with the output of the second error amplifier in a voltage regulation control mode.

Abstract: Various apparatuses, methods and systems for a voltage regulator are disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments provide an apparatus for regulating a voltage including an N-channel transistor that is connected between an input and an output, an error amplifier that is connected to the output, a capacitor that is connected between the error amplifier and a gate of the N-channel transistor, and a comparator that is connected to a node between the error amplifier and the capacitor. The apparatus also includes a charge pump that is switchably connected to the gate of the N-channel transistor. The apparatus is adapted to connect the charge pump to the gate of the N-channel transistor when a voltage at the node between the error amplifier and the capacitor rises above a threshold voltage.

Abstract: This invention relates to an ACDC converter (1) comprising a converter input (3) and a converter output (5), a pre-regulation stage (7) and a DC transformer stage (9) comprising a transformer input stage (11) and a transformer output stage (13). The transformer input stage comprises a double ended converter and there is further provided a controller (17) for providing a control signal to the double ended converter. The controller (17) operates the ACDC converter using burst mode control and by sending control signals comprising pulse sets that are designed to provide substantially zero net magnetising current in the double ended converter. The pre-regulation stage preferably comprises a buck converter which in turn also provides power factor correction to the input of the ACDC converter.

Abstract: Multistage charge pumps with diode loss compensation are disclosed. In one example, a pre-regulated charge pump to generate a voltage is described. The example pre-regulated charge pump includes a charge pump having a plurality of stages and one or more diodes. The stages are configured to generate an output voltage at an output terminal based on an input voltage and a number of the multiplier stages. The example pre-regulated charge pump also includes a pre-regulator stage configured to adjust the input voltage to remove dependency on supply voltage variation. The pre-regulator includes a feedback diode configured to compensate for one or more voltage drops associated with the one or more charge pump diodes.

Abstract: An embodiment of the invention provides a method of reducing surge current in an LLC converter. The LLC converter comprises a switching circuit having a first switch and a second switch, a resonant circuit, and a rectification circuit. During start up of the LLC converter, first and second signals having a fixed period and a variable duty cycle are applied to the first and second switches respectively. When a predetermined voltage on a load configured to be coupled to the rectification circuit is reached, the first and second signals are changed to signals having a variable period and a fixed duty cycle.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to facilitate ground fault detection with a single coil and an oscillator are disclosed. An example ground fault detection device includes a sense coil including a secondary winding surrounding a line conductor and a neutral conductor, the line conductor and the neutral conductor forming a primary winding. The example ground fault detection device also includes a voltage oscillator connected in series with the secondary winding to drive an oscillation component, and at least one of a detector or an amplifier connected in series with the secondary winding to detect at least one of a neutral-to-ground fault or a line-to-ground fault.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for over-voltage protection of device inputs are disclosed. An example apparatus to protect a device from an over-voltage condition disclosed herein comprises a switch coupled between a device input and at least one component of the device, and a voltage compensator to pull a control input of the switch to a voltage associated with the device input to open the switch to protect the device component from the over-voltage condition.

Abstract: Various systems and methods for battery charging are disclosed herein. As just one example, a battery charger is disclosed that includes a current feedback loop that has a pulse width modulated current control output, and a voltage feedback loop that has a pulse width modulated voltage control output. In addition, the battery charger includes a transition circuit with a digital phase/frequency detector. The digital phase/frequency detector is operable to detect a duty cycle difference between the pulse width modulated current control output and the pulse width modulated voltage control output. Further, the transition circuit is operable to transition between application of a substantially current charge control to a charging node to application of a substantially constant voltage to the charging node based at least in part on the difference in duty cycle.

Abstract: Systems and methods for overvoltage and undervoltage detection may be implemented with a fully differential circuit that includes a coarse comparator and a band gap based fine comparator. The coarse comparator may determine if the battery is closer to an OV condition or an UV condition. Based on the output of the coarse comparator, the trip point of the fine comparator is adjusted. The outputs of both comparators are pull-up circuits whose output is decoded to determine if an OV or a UV condition has occurred. The systems and methods accomplish valid circuit outputs even when the voltage across the battery reduces to zero volts. This may be achieved by using an active low signal for the UV condition and an active high signal for the OV condition. Thus, when the battery voltage goes to zero, the circuit evaluates to the correct output.

Abstract: Methods for power factor correction (PFC) and for reducing conduction losses and switching losses in a power converter as well as the power converter and phase management circuitry for the power converter. The power converter includes a first PFC pre-regulator interleaved with at least one additional PFC pre-regulator, and a step down converter. The average input power is measured downstream of the front end at the step down converter and the average current sense signal is compared to a reference voltage. Each additional PFC pre-regulator is disable when output power generated by the front end is less than a first pre-designated rated power level and each additional PFC pre-regulator is enabled when the output power is greater than a second pre-designated rated power level.

Abstract: An integrated electrostatic discharge (ESD) device includes a first ESD structure coupled to a pad terminal of the integrated ESD device and a second ESD structure coupled to a ground terminal of the integrated ESD device. The integrated ESD device also comprises a diffusion region that is shared by each of the first ESD structure and the second ESD structure, such that the shared diffusion region forms a portion of at least one semiconductor junction associated with each of the first ESD structure and the second ESD structure.

Abstract: One embodiment of the invention includes a level-shifter circuit. The circuit comprises a control stage that steers a current from one of a first control node and a second control node to the other of the first control node and the second control node based on an input signal to set a first initial voltage at the first control node and a second initial voltage at the second control node, the input signal having logic-high and logic-low voltage magnitudes that occupy a low voltage domain. The circuit also includes a logic driver that is coupled to the second control node and is referenced in a high voltage domain. The logic driver can be configured to provide an output signal having logic-high and logic-low voltage magnitudes that occupy the high voltage domain based on the second initial voltage.