Patents Examined by Matthew V. Nguyen
  • Patent number: 11695339
    Abstract: A circuit includes an output node and an amplifier and first and second branches coupled between power supply and reference nodes. The first branch includes a first switching device coupled between a first amplifier input and the reference node, the second branch includes a second switching device coupled between the output node and a second amplifier input, and a third switching device is coupled between the power supply and output nodes. Responsive to a first voltage level on the power supply node, each of the first and second switching devices is switched off and the third switching device is switched on, and responsive to a second voltage level on the power supply node greater than the first voltage level, each of the first and second switching devices is switched on and the third switching device is switched off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignees: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., TSMC CHINA COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Wei Li, Yongliang Jin, Yaqi Ma
  • Patent number: 11689102
    Abstract: An example power supply circuit includes a boost converter and a feedback control circuit. The boost converter generally includes an inductive element coupled between an input voltage node and a switching node, a first switch coupled between the switching node and a reference potential node, a second switch or a diode coupled between the switching node and an output voltage node. The feedback control circuit has a first input coupled to the output voltage node and has an output coupled to at least a control input of the first switch. The feedback control circuit generally includes a voltage node configured to influence a duty cycle of the boost converter; and a feedforward path coupled to the voltage node and configured to have a voltage signal derived from at least one of an input voltage at the input voltage node or an output signal at the output voltage node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventor: Subbarao Surendra Chakkirala
  • Patent number: 11677321
    Abstract: A power converter having a slew rate controlling mechanism is provided. A first terminal of a high-side switch is coupled to an input voltage. A first terminal of a low-side switch is connected to a second terminal of the high-side switch. A second terminal of a first capacitor is connected to a node between the second terminal of the high-side switch and the first terminal of the low-side switch. A first terminal of an inductor is connected to the second terminal of the first capacitor and to the node. A first terminal of a second capacitor is connected to a second terminal of the inductor. A second terminal of the second capacitor is grounded. An input terminal of a current controlling device is connected to a power output terminal of a high-side buffer. An output terminal of the current controlling device is connected to the node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: ANPEC ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tse-Hsu Wu, Cheng-Han Wu, Fu-Chuan Chen, Yun-Chiang Chang
  • Patent number: 11677322
    Abstract: Voltage regulator circuits and methods therefor provided. In some embodiments, a voltage regulator circuit comprises: a first switch coupled to a power input; a second switch coupled to the first switch; a switching node between the first switch and the second switch; an inductor coupled between the switching node and an output node; a capacitor coupled between the output node and ground; a driver configured to operate the first and second switches according to a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) signal; a PWM circuit configured to generate the PWM signal based on at least an error signal; and a phase detector configured to generate the error signal based on a phase difference between the PWM signal and a clock reference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Kinetic Technologies International Holdings LP
    Inventors: Karl Richard Volk, Sofjan Goenawan
  • Patent number: 11671011
    Abstract: Method and apparatus include a circuit having a duty cycle and interleaving modulation configured to realize high density and efficient energy transfer. The circuit may efficiently achieve higher step-down voltage ratios with fewer electrical components. For example, as few as seven electrical devices, such as switches and diodes, may be used to realize at least a four-to-one conversion ratio. The high density of the circuit is advantageous to meet shrinking space demands A modulator may interleave signals sent to the electrical components (e.g., switching devices via driver circuitry). The driver signals may include a duty cycle of 1/(nc+1), where nc is (n?1)/3, and n is the number of devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Qin Huang, Qingyun Huang
  • Patent number: 11671081
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a regulator. The regulator generally includes a source follower circuit and a low-voltage assist circuit. The low-voltage assist circuit generally includes a first transistor having a gate coupled to an output node of the source follower circuit, a voltage comparison circuit having a first input coupled to a source of the first transistor and a second input coupled to a control input node of the source follower circuit, and a second transistor having a gate coupled to an output of the voltage comparison circuit and a drain coupled to the output node of the source follower circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Mukesh Bansal, Iulian Mirea, Xun Liu
  • Patent number: 11671026
    Abstract: A method involves receiving, at an active clamp controller circuit, an active clamp switch current that passes through an active clamp switch. The active clamp switch is enabled using the active clamp controller circuit in response to determining, based on the active clamp switch current, body-diode conduction of the active clamp switch. The active clamp switch is disabled using the active clamp controller circuit in response to determining, based on the active clamp switch current, a first zero-crossing of the active clamp switch current and a second zero-crossing of the active clamp switch current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Appulse Power Inc.
    Inventor: Aleksandar Radic
  • Patent number: 11658479
    Abstract: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is provided in using a supply clamp circuit using an ESD event actuated MOSFET device. Triggering of the MOSFET device is made at both the gate terminal and the substrate (back gate) terminal. Additionally, the MOSFET device can be formed of cascoded MOSFETs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics International N.V., STMicroelectronics SA
    Inventors: Radhakrishnan Sithanandam, Divya Agarwal, Ghislain Troussier, Jean Jimenez, Malathi Kar
  • Patent number: 11656645
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a main circuit including multiple sub-circuits powered by a direct-current (DC) power supply circuit. The main circuit has a main circuit current demand being a time-varying demand for a DC voltage-regulated supply current being a function of a number of the sub-circuits being active. The DC power supply circuit may include multiple DC voltage regulators to provide the main circuit with the supply current and a command decoding and power management circuit to control enablement of the voltage regulators. The command decoding and power management circuit may be configured to detect an instant value of the main circuit current demand and to selectively enable one or more of the voltage regulators based on the detected instant value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Si Hong Kim, Ki-Jun Nam
  • Patent number: 11652415
    Abstract: A current sensing technique for coupled inductors in switching regulator circuits, where the current sensing technique can provide the current information needed for a power converter design and can be implemented as a real-world solution. The current sensing techniques can provide complete information of the coupled inductor current, such as peak current, valley current, and intermediate ripples. The current sensing techniques can use a simple RC network, such as two resistors and two capacitors for 2-phase operation. The techniques, however, are not limited to two-phase operation. The current sensing techniques of this disclosure can be extended to power stage assembly implementations, e.g., DrMOS modules, with current output in order to increase signal-to-noise ratio, which is significant for reliable control. In addition, the current sensing techniques of this disclosure can be extended to multi-phase operation, such as three or more phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Owen Jong, Yingyi Yan, Ya Liu, Jindong Zhang
  • Patent number: 11652414
    Abstract: A mixed analog-to-digital converter circuit capable of stabilizing voltages at two ends of a load and reducing output voltage ripples, includes a power supply, a digital converter, an analog converter, and a load assembly. The analog converter includes power supply capacitors arranged in parallel; and when working, the load assembly is connected to corresponding power supply capacitors, and the power supply capacitors not connected to the load assembly are connected to the digital converter. The digital converter includes a component multiplexer connected to input and output ends of a power supply through wires; the component multiplexer includes power supply capacitors arranged in series; the analog converter includes the component multiplexer; two ends of each power supply capacitor in the component multiplexer are respectively connected to input and output ends of the load assembly through discharge wires; and when working, the load assembly is connected to corresponding power supply capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Inventor: Teng Long
  • Patent number: 11646651
    Abstract: A ramp generator for a constant on-time DC-DC converter, wherein the ramp generator is configured to reduce DC offset and smooth transitions between conduction modes. The ramp voltage generator includes a common voltage generator suitable for generating a common voltage; a first ramp voltage generation block suitable for generating a first ramp voltage responsive to a first switching signal and a control signal, wherein the first switching signal resets one or more valley points of the first ramp voltage to one or more valley points of the common voltage; and a second ramp voltage generation block suitable for generating a second ramp voltage responsive to a second switching signal, the first ramp voltage, and the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Reed Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Jiwei Fan, Yingqian Ma, Jingyuan Chen, Hal Chen, Jialun Du
  • Patent number: 11646656
    Abstract: A multi-level converter includes a flying capacitor and a resistive voltage divider. The multi-level converter is configured to convert an input voltage into an output voltage. The resistive voltage divider is configured to charge a flying capacitor in the multi-level converter during an initial charging mode of operation. In some implementations, the multi-level converter includes a plurality of flying capacitors and a plurality of resistive voltage dividers including a resistive voltage divider for each flying capacitor in the plurality of flying capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Efficient Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: Yuanzhe Zhang, Michael A. de Rooij, Jianjing Wang
  • Patent number: 11646661
    Abstract: A voltage converter system includes a switch configured to operate in first and second states. Compensation circuitry is configured to provide: a certain reference voltage as a reference voltage when the switch has the second state; and a compensated reference voltage as the reference voltage when the switch has the first state. Control circuitry is configured to switch the switch between the first and second states based on the reference voltage and a feedback voltage generated based on an output voltage of the voltage converter system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jiancong Ruan, Runqin Tan, Wenkai Chen, Biao Chen
  • Patent number: 11637498
    Abstract: A multi-phase switching regulator and a switching regulating method using the multi-phase switching regulator employ an interleaving circuit. The multi-phase switching regulator includes: a first regulating circuit configured to receive an input voltage and generate a first sub-output voltage with a first phase by transforming the input voltage in response to a first set signal; a second regulating circuit configured to receive the input voltage and generate a second sub-output voltage with a second phase by transforming the input voltage in response to a second set signal; and the interleaving circuit configured to repeatedly and sequentially generate the first set signal and the second set signal by comparing a reference voltage with an output voltage generated based on the first sub-output voltage and the second sub-output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sun-Kyu Lee, Nguyen Huyhieu, Dong-Jin Keum, Je-Hyung Yoon, Hee-Seok Han
  • Patent number: 11632040
    Abstract: An assembly for powering a first circuit, including at least one ferrite bead in series with a diode between a first terminal of application of a first voltage and a first terminal of said first circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives
    Inventor: Guillaume Lefevre
  • Patent number: 11621708
    Abstract: A startup circuit adapted to be coupled to an input voltage supply and operable to supply an output voltage at an output terminal, the startup circuit including: a first transistor having a first control terminal, a first current terminal and a second current terminal, the first current terminal adapted to be coupled to the input voltage supply and the second current terminal coupled to the output terminal; a precharge circuit having a first terminal, a second terminal and a third terminal, the second terminal adapted to be coupled to the input voltage supply and the third terminal coupled to the first control terminal; a current limiter coupled to the precharge circuit, the first control terminal and the second current terminal; a second transistor having a second control terminal, a third current terminal and a fourth current terminal, the third current terminal coupled to the precharge circuit and the second control terminal adapted to be coupled to a control signal; and a third transistor having a third c
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Michael Lueders, Johan Strydom, Cetin Kaya, Maik Peter Kaufmann
  • Patent number: 11621638
    Abstract: The present invention provides a power conversion system, an electronic device including the same, and an integrated circuit, and relates to the field of power supplies. By arranging a second switch series branch connected to a switch series branch of a switch capacitor converter, and matching a switch in the second switch series branch and a switch in the switch series branch of the switch capacitor converter, a function of a three-level buck converter is achieved, so that the three-level buck converter and the switch capacitor converter are integrated. The quantity of switches is reduced. The volume is small. The costs are low, and high efficiency of a whole process of charging a battery of the electronic device is achieved while supplying power to a power consumption unit of the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: NuVolta Technologies (Hefei) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junhe Zhang, Fuchun Zhan
  • Patent number: 11616442
    Abstract: A switching power converter circuit comprises a single inductive circuit element; a common control loop circuit coupled to a circuit input and the inductive circuit element and including switching circuit elements to charge the inductive circuit element using energy provided at the circuit input; at least one current sensing circuit configured to sense inductor current of the inductive circuit element; one or more output control loop circuits that each include switching circuit elements activated to generate an output voltage; and one or more pulse width modulation (PWM) circuits configured to generate a PWM control signal to activate the switching circuit elements of the output control loop circuits and to change a peak voltage of the PWM control signal of the one or more PWM circuits according to the inductor current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Analog Devices International Unlimited Company
    Inventors: Danzhu Lu, Langyuan Wang
  • Patent number: 11611281
    Abstract: A multiple output isolated power supply for the usage as a floating V/I source in an automated test equipment. The multiple output isolated power supply includes a multi-layer printed circuit board. Furthermore the multiple output isolated power supply includes a planar transformer, which includes a plurality of secondary windings associated with different output channels, arranged on or in the multi-layer PCB. At least two output channels out of the output channels of the multiple output isolated power supply includes a rectifier and a voltage regulator or a current regulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: Advantest Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Nakamura, Anton Thoma