Patents by Inventor Xiaoru Gao

Xiaoru Gao 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: 20240154518
    Abstract: A control method and control circuit for a switched-mode power supply (SMPS) and a control chip are disclosed. The SMPS is switched between different operating modes based on different levels of its output voltage. When the output voltage is lower than a first reference and the difference between it and the first reference exceeds a threshold, an operating frequency of a power transistor and output voltage are controlled to satisfy a proportional relationship defined by an associated slope. When the output voltage is lower than the first reference and the difference between it and the first reference is below the threshold, the power transistor is controlled to operate at a fixed frequency. When the output voltage is higher than the first reference, the power transistor is controlled to operate at a variable frequency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2023
    Publication date: May 9, 2024
    Inventors: Rulong JIANG, Zhen ZHU, Xiaoru GAO, Zongyuan HE, Yanlei WEI, Shuaimin YAN, Yuqi PENG
  • Publication number: 20240154537
    Abstract: A control circuit for an isolated power supply is disclosed, the control circuit includes a secondary-side drive signal generator, a secondary-side transistor switch turn-off detector and a primary-side control signal generator. The primary-side control signal generator is configured to: determine a second turn-on instant referring to an turn-off instant of the secondary-side synchronous rectification transistor from the turn-off acknowledgement signal; determine a first turn-on instant referring to a supposed turn-on instant for the primary-side transistor switch from the feedback signal of the output voltage of the isolated power supply; and determine the turn-on instant for the primary-side transistor switch from the second turn-on instant or the first turn-on instant whichever is later, and responsively generate the primary-side transistor switch control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2024
    Publication date: May 9, 2024
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Zhen ZHU, Yihui CHEN, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Haifeng MIAO, Hanfei YANG
  • Patent number: 11929684
    Abstract: Isolated power supply control circuits, isolated power supply and control method thereof are disclosed, the control circuit for controlling an isolated power supply includes a secondary-side control signal generator and a primary-side control signal generator. The secondary-side control signal generator produces a secondary-side transistor switch control signal containing information about a turn-off instant of a secondary-side synchronous rectification transistor, which serves as a second turn-on instant. The primary-side control signal generator derives, from a feedback signal, a supposed turn-on instant for a primary-side transistor switch, which serves as a first turn-on instant. The primary side turn-on signal generator further derives a turn-on instant for the primary-side transistor switch from the second or first turn-on instant whichever is later and responsively generates a primary-side transistor switch control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: SHANGHAI BRIGHT POWER SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yanmei Guo, Zhen Zhu, Yihui Chen, Yuehui Li, Xiaoru Gao, Haifeng Miao, Hanfei Yang
  • Patent number: 11909300
    Abstract: A switch-mode power supply (SMPS), an SMPS system and a power supply method for an SMPS system are disclosed. The SMPS controller includes an output-voltage power supply unit, a built-in energy storage unit and a logic control unit. The output-voltage power supply unit is configured to charge the built-in energy storage unit using an output voltage from the SMPS system so that the built-in energy storage unit can provide an operating voltage for the logic control unit. The use of a stand-off energy storage capacitor can be dispensed with, and the use of the output voltage as a power supply is enabled. As a result, significant reductions in overall and standby power dissipation are achieved. In addition, the SMPS controller may further include a high-voltage power supply unit, which provides a hybrid power supply solution, together with the output-voltage power supply unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: SHANGHAI BRIGHT POWER SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Rulong Jiang, Liqiang Hu, Shungen Sun, Zhen Zhu, Xiaoru Gao, Yihui Chen, Hong Zhang, Pengfei Lu
  • Publication number: 20230412082
    Abstract: A control circuit, system and method for switched-mode power supply are disclosed, the control circuit is for driving a first switch to convert an input voltage into an output voltage. The control circuit includes an on-time control unit, which receives a first signal characterizing switching frequency of first switch and a second signal characterizing current flowing through first switch and responsively generates a signal indicative of a turn-off instant for first switch. When a peak value of the current flowing through the first switch drops below a predefined value, the on-time control unit determines the turn-off instant for the first switch based on the first signal so that the switching frequency of the first switch is maintained at a target frequency. This design can effectively avoid the generation of audible noise, stabilize the output voltage against load changes while maintaining desirable efficiency, and ensure operational safety of the switched-mode power supply.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2023
    Publication date: December 21, 2023
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Yihui CHEN, Haifeng MIAO, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Zhen ZHU
  • Patent number: 11799379
    Abstract: A control circuit, system and method for switched-mode power supply are disclosed, the control circuit is for driving a first switch to convert an input voltage into an output voltage. The control circuit includes an on-time control unit, which receives a first signal characterizing switching frequency of first switch and a second signal characterizing current flowing through first switch and responsively generates a signal indicative of a turn-off instant for first switch. When a peak value of the current flowing through the first switch drops below a predefined value, the on-time control unit determines the turn-off instant for the first switch based on the first signal so that the switching frequency of the first switch is maintained at a target frequency. This design can effectively avoid the generation of audible noise, stabilize the output voltage against loading changes while maintaining desirable efficiency, and ensure operational safety of the switched-mode power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: SHANGHAI BRIGHT POWER SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yanmei Guo, Yihui Chen, Haifeng Miao, Yuehui Li, Xiaoru Gao, Zhen Zhu
  • Patent number: 11737180
    Abstract: A control circuit, a chip and a control method are disclosed. The control circuit includes: an adjustment signal generation unit configured to detect an electrical signal reflecting a power supplied to a load under control of a current value of a reference signal, generate a feedback signal and output an adjustment signal based on both the feedback signal and the reference signal; and a control unit coupled to the adjustment signal generation unit and configured to control the switching circuit on and off based on the adjustment signal. With the generated adjustment signal that reflects a change in an adjustment metric indicated in the reference signal, the control circuit and the driving system can be adapted in real time to the specifications of any AC power standard. Moreover, much more granular adjustments can be made in the power supplied to the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: SHANGHAI BRIGHT POWER SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xiaoru Gao, Shungen Sun, Fuqiang Zhang, Xiaohui Cai
  • Publication number: 20230082592
    Abstract: A controller chip of a flyback converter, a flyback converter and a switched-mode power supply system are disclosed. In the controller chip, a current scaling module is added, which converts a feedback current signal at a feedback pin of the controller chip to allow compensation capacitor with a small capacitance to be integrated into the chip to constitute a required pole compensation module. In this way, a pole required by the feedback pin FB can be successfully provided in the chip. As a result, filtering of high-frequency noise in a feedback path in which the feedback pin FB is located can be achieved, reducing ripple in an output voltage generated by the flyback converter. Moreover, without changing a sampling gain and the compensation pole, it is allowed to greatly reduce the compensation capacitance, for example, to the order of 10 pF.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Inventors: Pengbo YANG, Xiaoru GAO
  • Publication number: 20230063861
    Abstract: A control circuit, a control chip and a power supply device are disclosed by the present invention. The control circuits are used for control of a constant-voltage closed-loop which causes a voltage of a voltage feedback signal obtained from an output voltage to approach a voltage of a reference voltage signal obtained from a base voltage and thereby achieves a constant-voltage output. In addition, when a sampled current obtained from an output current is higher than a predetermined current, or when output power is higher than a predetermined power, the control circuit increases the voltage feedback signal or decreases the reference voltage signal, causing the constant-voltage closed loop to decrease the output voltage and the output current and thereby achieving a limited output current and limited output power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2022
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Zhen ZHU, Yuehui LI, Yihui CHEN, Xiaoru GAO, Haifeng MIAO, Rulong JIANG
  • Publication number: 20230049884
    Abstract: An output short-circuit protection method, a power management chip and a switched-mode power supply are disclosed. When current accumulation has occurred in a power transistor, the number of consecutive current pulses during which the current accumulation occurred is counted. Upon the number of consecutive current pulses reaches a preset value, a regulation interval spanning switching periods is triggered, for at least some of the switching periods, the leading-edge blanking time is shortened or cancelled. In this way, an excessively large current flowing through the power transistor is prevented. Compared with existing fault response measures for power management chips, restart of the power supply and adjustment of the system timing are not needed, allowing easier implementation. Further, the automatic restart during chip start up due to false triggering as found in the existing measures for power management chips is circumvented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Zhen ZHU, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Yihui CHEN, Haifeng MIAO, Rulong JIANG
  • Publication number: 20230050386
    Abstract: An operation circuit and a chip pertaining to the field of integrated circuit design technology are disclosed by the present application. The circuit includes a capacitor charging/discharging module and an error amplification module electrically connected to the capacitor charging/discharging module. The capacitor charging/discharging module is configured to receive a first signal and a third signal that are external to the capacitor charging/discharging module and to output a feedback signal. The error amplification module is configured to receive the feedback signal and a second signal that is external to error amplification module and to output, based on the received feedback and second signals, a target signal to the capacitor charging/discharging module. In a steady state, values of the target, first, second and third signals satisfy a predefined mathematical relationship.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2022
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Zhen ZHU, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Yihui CHEN, Haifeng MIAO, Rulong JIANG
  • Publication number: 20230046618
    Abstract: An operation circuit and a chip pertaining to the field of integrated circuit design technology are disclosed by the present invention. The circuit includes a capacitor charging/discharging module and an error amplification module electrically connected to the capacitor charging/discharging module. The capacitor charging/discharging module is configured to receive first, second and third signals external to the capacitor charging/discharging module, and to output a reference signal and a feedback signal. The error amplification module is configured to receive the reference and feedback signals and output a target signal to the capacitor charging/discharging module based on the received reference and feedback signals. The first, second and third signals are all analog signals, and in a steady state, values of the target, first, second and third signals satisfy a predefined mathematical relationship.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2022
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Zhen ZHU, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Yihui CHEN, Haifeng MIAO, Rulong JIANG
  • Publication number: 20220216783
    Abstract: A high power factor control circuit is disclosed, which is used in an AC/DC converter. The converter includes a rectification module, a conversion module and a load. The rectification module receives AC power and rectifies it into a DC current, and the conversion module converts the DC current to drive power as desired by the load and provides it to the load. The conversion module includes a conversion element including an inductive element and a switching element. The control circuit includes a peak limiting signal generator and a switching element control module. The peak limiting signal generator receives a reference signal and produces at least one peak limiting signal from a sample signal. The switching element control module is configured to control switching of the switching element so that, within at least half a line-frequency period, a value of the ripple in the output current flowing through the load is not greater than a limit value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventors: Xiaoru GAO, Shungen SUN
  • Publication number: 20220209673
    Abstract: A control circuit, system and method for switched-mode power supply are disclosed, the control circuit is for driving a first switch to convert an input voltage into an output voltage. The control circuit includes an on-time control unit, which receives a first signal characterizing switching frequency of first switch and a second signal characterizing current flowing through first switch and responsively generates a signal indicative of a turn-off instant for first switch. When a peak value of the current flowing through the first switch drops below a predefined value, the on-time control unit determines the turn-off instant for the first switch based on the first signal so that the switching frequency of the first switch is maintained at a target frequency. This design can effectively avoid the generation of audible noise, stabilize the output voltage against loading changes while maintaining desirable efficiency, and ensure operational safety of the switched-mode power supply.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2021
    Publication date: June 30, 2022
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Yihui CHEN, Haifeng MIAO, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Zhen ZHU
  • Publication number: 20220200466
    Abstract: Isolated power supply control circuits, isolated power supply and control method thereof are disclosed, the control circuit for controlling an isolated power supply includes a secondary-side control signal generator and a primary-side control signal generator. The secondary-side control signal generator produces a secondary-side transistor switch control signal containing information about a turn-off instant of a secondary-side synchronous rectification transistor, which serves as a second turn-on instant. The primary-side control signal generator derives, from a feedback signal, a supposed turn-on instant for a primary-side transistor switch, which serves as a first turn-on instant. The primary side turn-on signal generator further derives a turn-on instant for the primary-side transistor switch from the second or first turn-on instant whichever is later and responsively generates a primary-side transistor switch control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Yanmei GUO, Zhen ZHU, Yihui CHEN, Yuehui LI, Xiaoru GAO, Haifeng MIAO, Hanfei YANG
  • Patent number: 11303197
    Abstract: A low-pass filter, a switching control circuit, a driving system, a chip and methods are disclosed. The low-pass filter performs digital differential-integral process on a voltage of an acquired analog signal and a predefined reference voltage to generate differential-integral signals, accumulates a count of the differential-integral signals, and convert the result to an analog signal. By performing differential-integral process accumulating a count of the differential-integral signals, a low-pass filtered signal is obtained in a way that solves the problem of low integrity of circuits in conventional driving systems, reduces the complexity of external circuits for such driving systems and increases their circuit stability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: SHANGHAI BRIGHT POWER SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fuqiang Zhang, Xiaoru Gao
  • Publication number: 20210384832
    Abstract: A switch-mode power supply (SMPS), an SMPS system and a power supply method for an SMPS system are disclosed. The SMPS controller includes an output-voltage power supply unit, a built-in energy storage unit and a logic control unit. The output-voltage power supply unit is configured to charge the built-in energy storage unit using an output voltage from the SMPS system so that the built-in energy storage unit can provide an operating voltage for the logic control unit. The use of a stand-off energy storage capacitor can be dispensed with, and the use of the output voltage as a power supply is enabled. As a result, significant reductions in overall and standby power dissipation are achieved. In addition, the SMPS controller may further include a high-voltage power supply unit, which provides a hybrid power supply solution, together with the output-voltage power supply unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Publication date: December 9, 2021
    Inventors: Rulong JIANG, Liqiang HU, Shungen SUN, Zhen ZHU, Xiaoru GAO, Yihui CHEN, Hong ZHANG, Pengfei LU
  • Publication number: 20210282241
    Abstract: A control circuit, a chip and a control method are disclosed. The control circuit includes: an adjustment signal generation unit configured to detect an electrical signal reflecting a power supplied to a load under control of a current value of a reference signal, generate a feedback signal and output an adjustment signal based on both the feedback signal and the reference signal; and a control unit coupled to the adjustment signal generation unit and configured to control the switching circuit on and off based on the adjustment signal. With the generated adjustment signal that reflects a change in an adjustment metric indicated in the reference signal, the control circuit and the driving system can be adapted in real time to the specifications of any AC power standard. Moreover, much more granular adjustments can be made in the power supplied to the load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Inventors: Xiaoru GAO, Shungen SUN, Fuqiang ZHANG, Xiaohui CAI
  • Publication number: 20210194350
    Abstract: A low-pass filter, a switching control circuit, a driving system, a chip and methods are disclosed. The low-pass filter performs digital differential-integral process on a voltage of an acquired analog signal and a predefined reference voltage to generate differential-integral signals, accumulates a count of the differential-integral signals, and convert the result to an analog signal. By performing differential-integral process accumulating a count of the differential-integral signals, a low-pass filtered signal is obtained in a way that solves the problem of low integrity of circuits in conventional driving systems, reduces the complexity of external circuits for such driving systems and increases their circuit stability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2021
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Inventors: Fuqiang ZHANG, Xiaoru GAO
  • Patent number: 9991787
    Abstract: A control circuit for a switch mode power supply (SMPS) includes a power switch for coupling to a primary winding of the power supply and a startup resistor coupled to an external input voltage and to a control terminal of the power switch. The control circuit also includes a controller. During startup, the controller is configured to cause the power switch to amplify a startup current from an external input voltage through the startup resistor and provide a startup power to the controller. During normal operation, the controller is configured to provide a power switch control signal to turn on and off the power switch for controlling a current flow in the primary winding and regulating an output of the power supply. The controller is configured to provide a current signal for driving an NPN power switch and to provide a voltage signal for driving an NMOS power switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: SHANGHAI SIM-BCD SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., Ltd.
    Inventors: Meiling Zhang, Xiaoru Gao, Chao Chen, Yajiang Zhu