Patents by Inventor Fabio Cacciotto

Fabio Cacciotto has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250119056
    Abstract: Provided is a power supply control circuit for a power supply, including a PFC converter configured to generate a bus voltage, an electronic converter and an auxiliary power supply configured to generate an auxiliary supply voltage. The PFC converter comprises a PFC control circuit configured to drive the PFC converter to regulate the bus voltage to a requested value. When the output power is greater than the threshold, the power supply control circuit supplies the PFC control circuit with the auxiliary supply voltage. When the output power is smaller than the threshold, the circuit compares the bus voltage to upper and lower thresholds. When the bus voltage is greater than the upper threshold, the circuit inhibits supply of the PFC control circuit with the auxiliary supply voltage. When the bus voltage is smaller than a lower threshold, the circuit supplies the PFC control circuit with the auxiliary supply voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2024
    Publication date: April 10, 2025
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics International N.V.
    Inventors: Fabio CACCIOTTO, Salvatore TORRISI
  • Patent number: 11996777
    Abstract: A control circuit for an electronic converter is generates a drive signal of the electronic converter by setting the drive signal to a first logic level in response to a switch-on signal, and to a second logic level in response to a switch-off signal. The control circuit comprises a valley detection circuit and a combinational logic circuit. The control circuit comprises a blanking circuit configured to generate the blanking signal by determining a blanking time, and asserting the blanking signal when the blanking time elapses since the start of the switch-on or the switch-off interval. The control circuit comprises a blanking time adaption circuit to adapt the blanking time as a function of a blanking time adaption signal based on the input voltage, and to increase the blanking time when the input voltage increases, and decrease the blanking time when the input voltage decreases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
    Inventor: Fabio Cacciotto
  • Publication number: 20240039391
    Abstract: A control circuit for a switching stage of an electronic converter is described. The control circuit includes a driver circuit configured to generate one or more drive signals as a function of a Pulse-Width Modulation, PWM, signal and a PWM signal generator circuit configured to generate the PWM signal. A first comparator asserts a comparison signal when a feedback signal having a voltage being indicative of a current flowing through an inductance of the switching stage is greater than a reference signal. In response to a clock signal, a storage element asserts the PWM signal, whereby the clock signal indicates the duration of the switching period of the PWM signal. Conversely, in response to determining that the comparison signal is asserted, the storage element de-asserts the PWM signal. Specifically, the reference signal is generated as a function of the voltage at a capacitance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2023
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS S.r.l.
    Inventor: Fabio CACCIOTTO
  • Patent number: 11881784
    Abstract: A control circuit for a driving an electronic switch associated with a switching node of a flyback converter includes a comparison circuit configured to generate a switch-off signal by comparing a current measurement signal with a current measurement threshold signal. A valley detection circuit is configured to generate a trigger in a trigger signal when a valley signal indicates a valley in a voltage at the switching node of the flyback converter, and a blanking circuit is configured to generate a switch-on signal by combining the trigger signal with a timer signal provide by a timer circuit. The timer signal indicates whether a blanking time-interval has elapsed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
    Inventor: Fabio Cacciotto
  • Publication number: 20230246552
    Abstract: A control circuit for an electronic converter is described. The control circuit generates a drive signal for an electronic switch of the electronic converter by setting the drive signal to a first logic level in response to a switch-on signal, thereby closing said electronic switch for a switch-on interval, and to a second logic level in response to a switch-off signal, thereby opening the electronic switch for a switch-off interval. The control circuit comprises a valley detection circuit configured to generate a trigger in a trigger signal in response to detecting a valley in the voltage at the electronic switch during the switch-off interval, and a combinational logic circuit configured to generate the switch-on signal by masking the trigger signal in response to a blanking signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2022
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
    Inventor: Fabio CACCIOTTO
  • Publication number: 20230019116
    Abstract: A control circuit for a driving an electronic switch associated with a switching node of a flyback converter includes a comparison circuit configured to generate a switch-off signal by comparing a current measurement signal with a current measurement threshold signal. A valley detection circuit is configured to generate a trigger in a trigger signal when a valley signal indicates a valley in a voltage at the switching node of the flyback converter, and a blanking circuit is configured to generate a switch-on signal by combining the trigger signal with a timer signal provide by a timer circuit. The timer signal indicates whether a blanking time-interval has elapsed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2022
    Publication date: January 19, 2023
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
    Inventor: Fabio CACCIOTTO
  • Patent number: 11482935
    Abstract: A control circuit for a driving an electronic switch associated with a switching node of a flyback converter includes a comparison circuit configured to generate a switch-off signal by comparing a current measurement signal with a current measurement threshold signal. A valley detection circuit is configured to generate a trigger in a trigger signal when a valley signal indicates a valley in a voltage at the switching node of the flyback converter, and a blanking circuit is configured to generate a switch-on signal by combining the trigger signal with a timer signal provide by a timer circuit. The timer signal indicates whether a blanking time-interval has elapsed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventor: Fabio Cacciotto
  • Publication number: 20210257914
    Abstract: A control circuit for a driving an electronic switch associated with a switching node of a flyback converter includes a comparison circuit configured to generate a switch-off signal by comparing a current measurement signal with a current measurement threshold signal. A valley detection circuit is configured to generate a trigger in a trigger signal when a valley signal indicates a valley in a voltage at the switching node of the flyback converter, and a blanking circuit is configured to generate a switch-on signal by combining the trigger signal with a timer signal provide by a timer circuit. The timer signal indicates whether a blanking time-interval has elapsed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventor: Fabio CACCIOTTO
  • Patent number: 8436599
    Abstract: A method of controlling an output voltage of a pulse width modulation (PWM) converter with a PWM signal driving a power switch of the converter may include using a comparator to compare a reference voltage with a scaled output voltage of the converter, incrementing or decrementing an up/down counter at each pulse of a clock signal applied to the counter depending on a state of the comparator, and controlling the comparator to generate the PWM signal with a control voltage selected from a look-up table using a value of the counter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.R.L.
    Inventor: Fabio Cacciotto
  • Publication number: 20110122660
    Abstract: A method of controlling an output voltage of a pulse width modulation (PWM) converter with a PWM signal driving a power switch of the converter may include using a comparator to compare a reference voltage with a scaled output voltage of the converter, incrementing or decrementing an up/down counter at each pulse of a clock signal applied to the counter depending on a state of the comparator, and controlling the comparator to generate the PWM signal with a control voltage selected from a look-up table using a value of the counter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2010
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventor: Fabio Cacciotto