Switched (e.g., Switching Regulators) Patents (Class 323/282)
  • Patent number: 10965216
    Abstract: An integrated circuit comprising: a high-side pMOSFET comprising a drain and a gate; a node coupled to the drain of the high-side pMOSFET; a voltage-to-current circuit comprising a first nMOSFET and a first resistor, the first nMOSFET comprising a gate and a source, the first resistor comprising a terminal coupled to the source of the first nMOSFET; an error amplifier comprising an output port coupled to the gate of the first nMOSFET; a skip clamp nMOSFET comprising a source coupled to the output port of the error amplifier; and a current limit clamp pMOSFET comprising a source coupled to the output port of the error amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Gerhard Thiele, Manuel Wiersch
  • Patent number: 10958169
    Abstract: A power converter includes an input node on an input side of the power converter, an output node on an output side of the power converter, a switch coupled to the input node and having a switch control node, an inductor coupled to the switch and to the output node, and a feedback compensation and control circuit between the output node and the switch control node. The feedback compensation and control circuit includes two or more programmable resistors to adjust one or more gains of i) a proportional-integral-derivative portion, and ii) a bandpass filter portion of the feedback compensation and control circuit. The feedback compensation and control circuit receives an output voltage from the output node and generates a compensated feedback signal based on the output voltage from the output node and the one or more gains, the switch control node being controlled based on the compensated feedback signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: Silanna Asia Pte Ltd
    Inventor: Barry S. Arbetter
  • Patent number: 10958174
    Abstract: A power converter and method to detect a light load condition at an output of the power converter are presented. The power converter may have an inductor and a resistive element connected between an input of the power converter and an input of the inductor. The power converter may have a first chopping unit to generate a chopped voltage signal at an output of said first chopping unit, wherein the chopped voltage signal is generated by chopping an inductor voltage at the input of said inductor based on a duty cycle of the power converter. The power converter may have a reference current source, wherein the reference current source and a replica resistive element are arranged in series. The power converter may have a comparator unit to generate, based on the reference potential and based on the chopped voltage signal, a signal indicative of said light load condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: Manmeet Singh, Pietro Gallina, Rosario Pagano, Vijay Choudhary, Vivek Parasuram, John Kesterson
  • Patent number: 10951108
    Abstract: This invention provides a switching power supply controlling circuit, the switching power supply comprises an upper transistor and a lower transistor, the switching power supply controlling circuit comprises a boost circuit, an input terminal of the boost circuit is connected to an input terminal of the switching power supply, the boost circuit output a first voltage to control a working state of the boost circuit, driving the upper transistor to be in an on state. The switching power supply controlling circuit adopts a boost circuit to provide a driving power for the upper transistor, and there is no need to set a bootstrap pin or a bootstrap capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: JOULWATT TECHNOLOGY (HANGZHOU) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yongji He, Xunjin Dou, Xunwei Zhou
  • Patent number: 10951115
    Abstract: A switching regulator includes a switch device that is connected between an input terminal to which an input DC voltage is applied and an output terminal from which an output DC voltage is output, and that is turned on and off according to a drive signal; a hysteresis generation circuit to which the input DC voltage and the output DC voltage are applied; a reference voltage generation circuit that generates a reference voltage having a gradient proportional to an output current or an output voltage; and a drive signal generation circuit that generates the drive signal by comparing the output DC voltage with the reference voltage, and that, where the hysteresis generation circuit generates the output current or the output voltage that is inversely proportional to a differential voltage between the input DC voltage and the output DC voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Mihashi, Junji Ishiyama
  • Patent number: 10945318
    Abstract: A circuit assembly for operating a load may include an input for inputting an input voltage and/or current. The circuit assembly may further include an output for outputting an output voltage and/or current. The circuit assembly may further include an at least partially digital switching regulator with a feedback loop. A loop gain of the feedback loop may be frequency-dependent where the frequency ranges from 3 Hz to 20 Hz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: OSRAM GmbH
    Inventor: Markus Heckmann
  • Patent number: 10944323
    Abstract: A power converter for detecting oscillation of an output voltage including a switching regulator configured to perform switching so that an inductor is alternatively connected to or isolated from an external power voltage and generate the output voltage by a current that flows through the inductor and an oscillation detector configured to detect oscillation that occurs in the output voltage and output an oscillation detection signal by determining whether the oscillation belongs to an oscillation frequency detection range to be detected by the oscillation detector may be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hyunseok Nam
  • Patent number: 10935582
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device, method, computer program and computer program product for determining the equivalent series resistance of a power converter having power train parameters comprising a capacitance, an inductance and the equivalent series resistance, the device comprising a resistance determining unit that obtains a ripple voltage embedded in an output voltage of the power converter, determines a ripple current based on the output voltage, the inductance and operational switching data of the power converter, and estimates the equivalent series resistance of the power converter based on the ripple voltage, ripple current and the operational switching data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Magnus Karlsson, Fredrik Wahledow
  • Patent number: 10925497
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement for an optical monitoring system comprises a driver circuit configured to generate at least one driving signal for driving a light source and a detector terminal for receiving a detector current. The circuit arrangement further comprises a current source configured and arranged to generate at the detector terminal a reduction current. The reduction current has an amplitude which is given by a base value whenever none of the least one driving signal assumes a value suitable for activating the light source and by a sum of the base value and a reduction value otherwise. The circuit arrangement also comprises a processing unit configured to generate an output signal depending on a combination of the detector current and the reduction current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: ams AG
    Inventors: Peter Trattler, Manfred Pauritsch, Herbert Lenhard
  • Patent number: 10928843
    Abstract: A device can be used for managing for managing the supply voltage on an output power supply pin of a USB Type-C source device that includes an AC-to-DC power converter for delivering the supply voltage. The source device is capable of supplying power to a receiver device. A power supply controller includes a first circuit configured to deliver a signal for discharging a capacitive network coupled to the power converter and also includes a second circuit configured to deliver, at the same time as the discharge signal, a new setpoint signal, corresponding to the new voltage delivered, to a control input of the power converter. A delay element is coupled between an output of the second circuit and the control input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS (GRENOBLE 2) SAS
    Inventor: Christophe Lorin
  • Patent number: 10931198
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure provide for a circuit. In an example, the circuit comprises a buck-boost region detector. The buck-boost region detector comprises a timing criterions circuit that comprises a timer, a mode determination circuit coupled to the timing criterions circuit and comprising a processing element, and a switching circuit coupled to the mode determination circuit and comprising a digital logic structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Anmol Sharma
  • Patent number: 10925129
    Abstract: A tunable illumination system is disclosed which splits a single channel output into three by means of current steering and/or time division and multiplexing techniques. More particularly, the tunable light system may split the input current into three pulse-width modulated (PWM) channels. The individual duty cycles of the PWM channels may be adjusted based on a control signal that is received via a control signal interface. The control signal interface may include a switch and/or other circuity that is manipulated by the user when the user wants to change the color of light that is output by the illumination system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Lumileds LLC
    Inventor: Yifeng Qiu
  • Patent number: 10925131
    Abstract: An electronic device is described. The electronic device includes current measuring circuitry configured to measure load current to produce a load current measurement. The electronic device also includes a processor coupled to the current measuring circuitry. The processor is configured to calculate an estimated load current slope based on the load current measurement and to determine a predicted zero-cross point based on the estimated load current slope to minimize damaging voltage spike creation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: WirePath Home Systems, LLC
    Inventors: Sidney Lyle King, Joseph M. Doubek, Gregory Scott Smith, Robert Don Bruhn, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10924012
    Abstract: A power converter circuit that includes a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor may, during a charge cycle, source current to the switch node, and source a bypass current to the regulated power supply node using a regulator control signal. A control circuit may initiate the charge cycle using a first reference voltage level and a sensed inductor current, and generate the regulator control signal using a second reference voltage level and a voltage level of the regulated power supply node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yesim Inam, Miguel A. Dos Santos, Fabio Ongaro
  • Patent number: 10923952
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a power converter includes a wireless transmitter coil and a resonant capacitor that is configured to resonate at a first frequency. The wireless transmitter coil and resonant capacitor are configured to receive an alternating current at a second frequency such that the power converter outputs a first voltage that is dependent on the second frequency. In one embodiment, the first and second frequency are substantially equal. The power converter may also include an interconnection link configured to substantially double or vary the first voltage depending on a duty cycle that is applied to the interconnection link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: CHARGEDGE, INC.
    Inventor: Sanjaya Maniktala
  • Patent number: 10924104
    Abstract: A power-switch-system (PSS) having a low-side transistor (LSS) and a high-side transistor (HSS), which are switchable to be conductive or switched to be blocking in respectively alternating time-segments of a switching-period of the PSS. A source-terminal of the LSS is connected to a load-terminal, and a drain-terminal of the LSS is connected to a supply-voltage via a storage-inductor. A drain-terminal of the HSS is connected to the load-terminal, and a source-terminal of the HSS is connected to the supply-voltage via the storage-inductor. Provided is a PSS of this kind, the LSS having at least two transistor-segments. At least two of the transistor-segments have a different electrical resistance in the connection to the storage-inductor. The PSS provides that at least two of the transistor-segments are switched at a different point in time during a switching operation of the PSS to reduce unwanted voltage fluctuations, without markedly increasing switching losses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Alexander Spaeth, Joachim Joos
  • Patent number: 10917014
    Abstract: A free-wheeling diode control method includes determining whether a sum of a first pulse width value of a free-wheeling diode obtained according to an inductance current law and a third pulse width value of a main control tube meets a first preset condition, obtaining a determining result, and controlling, according to the determining result, conduction of the free-wheeling diode according to the first pulse width value or a second pulse width value of the free-wheeling diode obtained according to a volt-second balance law.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chengfeng Jiang, Hongfeng Liang
  • Patent number: 10903838
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes a clock management unit that selectively provides a clock signal, an energy management circuit that provides an internal power supply voltage to an internal voltage rail in response to an external power supply voltage, and has a capacitor coupled between the internal voltage rail and a reference voltage terminal, and a clocked digital circuit that is coupled to the internal voltage rail and the reference voltage terminal and operates in synchronism with the clock signal. The clock management unit provides the clock signal at a first frequency during a standby state, continuously at a second frequency higher than the first frequency during an active state, and during a first clock cycle following an end of the standby state while suppressing the clock signal during at least one subsequent clock cycle during a transition state between the standby state and the active state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Taylor Brunn, Paul Ivan Zavalney, Adrianus Josephus Bink, Chester Yu
  • Patent number: 10903653
    Abstract: Distributed series reactance modules and active impedance injection modules that are adapted to operating with electric power transmission lines over a wide range of transmission voltages are disclosed. Key elements include a virtual ground, an enclosure that acts as a Faraday shield, radio frequency or microwave control methods and the use of corona rings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Smart Wires Inc.
    Inventors: Ali Farahani, David Munguia, Amrit Iyer, Haroon Inam, Joe Carrow, Debrup Das, Arthur Kelley
  • Patent number: 10903721
    Abstract: An apparatus of charging an electric mobility may include a tire wheel having an external surface configured to be coupled to a tire and an internal surface in which an empty space is formed, a battery accommodated in the empty space of the internal surface of the tire wheel and mounted, like the tire wheel, on a rotation shaft fixed to the tire wheel to be rotationally driven, a stopper configured to selectively couple the battery to the rotation shaft, and a controller connected to the stopper and configured to control selective coupling of the rotation shaft to the battery by the stopper, wherein the stopper is controlled by the controller so that the battery is charged using an induced electromotive force generated between a coil wound on the battery and a permanent magnet which is mounted to face the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Kyu-Beom Ko, Jin-Cheol Shin
  • Patent number: 10897200
    Abstract: A half-bridge converter is controlled by a circuit including a differential circuit receiving a reference signal and a feedback signal which is a function of an output signal from the converter. The half-bridge converter includes high-side and low-side electronic switches. A comparator generates a PWM-modulated signal for controlling the converter as a function of the duty cycle of the PWM-modulated signal in response to a signal at an intermediate node between the high-side and low-side electronic switches and an output of the differential circuit. A gain circuit block coupled between the intermediate node and the input of the comparator applies a ramp signal to the input of the comparator which is a function of the signal at the intermediate node. A variable gain is applied by the gain circuit block in order to keep a constant value for the duty cycle of said PWM-modulated signal irrespective of converter operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Alberto Cattani, Stefano Ramorini, Alessandro Gasparini
  • Patent number: 10896896
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a MOSFET including a PN junction diode. A unipolar device is connected in parallel to the MOSFET and has two terminals. A first wire connects the PN junction diode to one of the two terminals of the unipolar device. A second wire connects the one of the two terminals of the unipolar device to an output line, so that the output line is connected to the MOSFET and the unipolar device via the first wire and the second wire. In one embodiment the connection of the first wire to the diode is with its anode, and in another the connection is with the cathode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: ROHM CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Keiji Okumura
  • Patent number: 10892681
    Abstract: A DC-DC converter generates an output voltage from an input voltage through current-mode control output feedback control using a current sense signal commensurate with a sampled value obtained by sampling a coil current in a switching output stage, for example, at the midpoint of the ON period or the OFF period of the switching output stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shun Fukushima, Yuhei Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 10886850
    Abstract: Multi-phase interleaving control of a power supply device is accelerated. Furthermore, in accelerating the multi-phase interleaving control in the power supply device, detection of feedback signal is accelerated. In the power supply device and a method for controlling the power supply device, output voltage is acquired as an operation result of a discrete time process using an initial value of the output voltage at a predetermined point, and a detection value of capacitance current at each point of the discrete time process. Accordingly, only detection of the initial value is performed when the output voltage being slow in response is acquired, and detection performed in the discrete time process can be accomplished by detection of capacitance current being rapid in response, thus enabling rapid response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: KYOSAN ELECTRIC MFG. CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Itsuo Yuzurihara, Ryosuke Ohma, Hiroshi Kunitama, Yu Hosoyamada
  • Patent number: 10879811
    Abstract: A switching power supply device has a switching output stage generating an output voltage from an input voltage by switching operation and a controller controlling the switching output stage based on a feedback voltage commensurate with the output voltage. The switching power supply device can perform switching suspension control whereby it stops switching operation on detecting a light-load condition based on the feedback voltage, though it restarts switching operation on detection of an overvoltage condition during suspension of switching operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shun Fukushima, Yosuke Fukumoto
  • Patent number: 10879720
    Abstract: Balancing circuits for an ultracapacitor module are provided. In some implementations, the balancing circuit can include a regulator having an input. The regulator can be configured to compare an input voltage associated with the ultracapacitor received at the input to a reference voltage and to provide an output via an output node. The balancing circuit can further include a switching circuit coupled to the regulator. The switching circuit can be configured to discharge the ultracapacitor based at least in part on the output of the regulator. The switching circuit can include at least one semiconductor switching element operated in a hard switching manner during operation of the switching element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: AVX Corporation
    Inventor: Joseph M. Hock
  • Patent number: 10879794
    Abstract: A dc-dc controller is provided. The dc-dc controller includes a current sensing pin, a zero-current comparator, a comparison circuit and a threshold adjustment circuit. The current sensing pin is coupled to an output stage to receive a current sensing signal related to the output current. The zero-current comparator is coupled to the current sensing pin, and receives the current sensing signal and a first preset value to provide a zero-current signal. The comparison circuit is coupled to the zero-current comparator and the current sensing pin, and compares the current sensing signal with a second preset value to provide an adjustment signal. The threshold adjustment circuit is coupled to the comparison circuit and the zero-current comparator, and generates the first preset value according to the adjustment signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: uPI Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Chih-Lien Chang, Min-Rui Lai
  • Patent number: 10873219
    Abstract: Contactless power supply device of the present invention includes: contactless power supply section that supplies AC power in a contactless manner; contactless power receiving section that receives the AC power in a contactless manner; first DC transformer circuit that transforms, to DC load voltage, DC reception-power voltage obtained from the contactless power receiving section and supplies the DC load voltage to first electric load, and that has a reverse transfer function of transferring regenerative power generated by the first electric load in a reverse direction; and second DC transformer circuit that transforms the DC reception-power voltage to DC load voltage and supplies the DC load voltage to second electric load. Accordingly, the generated regenerative power is allocated and made available to the other electric load, and a power storage section is not necessary, which suppresses an increase in the weight and size of the power-receiving-side device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: FUJI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Kato, Takeshi Nomura, Masayuki Oki
  • Patent number: 10871810
    Abstract: A power supply system can include at least one power switch to generate an output current based on an input voltage in response to a switching signal to generate an output voltage. A feedback system generates a feedback current based on the output voltage. A mode detector generates a control current associated with the output current based on the feedback current and selects between a pulse-width modulation (PWM) mode and a pulse mode based on an amplitude of the control current. The PWM mode is associated with a sequential on-time and off-time of the at least one power switch, and the pulse mode is associated with adding an idle time between the on-time and the off-time of the at least one power switch based on the switching signal. A gate driver system generates the switching signal based on the mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Joerg Kirchner, Stefan Dietrich, Julian Becker, Eduardas Jodka
  • Patent number: 10873260
    Abstract: A voltage converter circuit comprises a charge pump circuit, a switching converter circuit, and a control circuit. The charge pump circuit includes multiple switch circuits connected in series. The switching converter circuit includes a first inductor coupled to an output node of the voltage converter circuit, and a second inductor coupled to a series connection of the multiple switch circuits. The control circuit is configured to control activation of the multiple switch circuits to generate a regulated voltage at the output node, and to activate each of the multiple switch circuits when a drain to source voltage of the switch circuit is zero volts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: Analog Devices International Unlimited Company
    Inventors: Yingyi Yan, Yi Ding Gu
  • Patent number: 10853292
    Abstract: A computing device includes a switch that operates in a linear mode according to a threshold based on a detection of an increase of current drawn by a device that is connected to the switch. The linear mode delivers a constant amount of current to the device. The switch, upon reaching the threshold, exits the linear mode and operates in a non-linear mode to communicate power to the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Raghotham Reddy Nathadi
  • Patent number: 10855165
    Abstract: Circuits and methods are provided for soft switching within a switched-capacitor DC/DC converter, so as to reduce switching losses and improve efficiency. This is accomplished, in preferred converters, by coupling a compensation inductor between one half-bridge of an output rectifier and another half-bridge of the output rectifier. The compensation inductor functions to transfer charge from or to the capacitance of switches within the converter while the switches are off, such that the voltage across each switch is reduced to zero before that switch is turned on. This provides zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and its associated high efficiency. The efficiency associated with the ZVS makes ideal zero-current switching (ZCS) less important, such that high-precision capacitors and inductors forming the resonant tanks required by near-ideal ZCS are not required. The resultant circuits are physically smaller and less expensive than other converters that require near-ideal ZCS, but achieve similar or better efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventor: Christian Rainer
  • Patent number: 10855181
    Abstract: A variable efficiency and response buck converter is achieved. The device includes a multi-phase switch, the coupled coils, the filter capacitor, and the load. The multi-phase switch includes the phase control inputs, the circuit common reference, at least two pairs of complementary switches with each switch containing one upper switch and one lower switch, at least two phase control outputs from the complementary switches. The coupled inductive coils are coupled to the phase control outputs to enable weak couplings and strong couplings. Based on the working mode, equivalently the coupled coils can provide strong mutual inductances and weak mutual inductances. The filter capacitors connected to the output of the coupled coils provide high efficiency output to the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Mark Childs
  • Patent number: 10855185
    Abstract: A semiconductor circuit includes a reference voltage generating circuit which generates a first reference voltage; a voltage control circuit which receives the first reference voltage from the reference voltage generating circuit to output a second reference voltage; a DC-DC conversion circuit which executes DC-DC conversion on the basis of the second reference voltage which is output from the voltage control circuit, and provides an output thereof to a first node; and a voltage regulator which executes voltage regulating on the basis of the first reference voltage which is output from the reference voltage generating circuit, and a voltage of the first node, and provides an output thereof to a second node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ki Jae Song, Jong Woon Yoo
  • Patent number: 10845853
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a system of providing power to a chip on a mainboard, including: a preceding-stage power supply, located on a mainboard, and configured to receive a first DC voltage and to provide a second DC voltage, wherein the first DC voltage is greater than the second DC voltage; and a first post-stage power supply and a second post-stage power supply, located on the mainboard, to receive the second DC voltage, the first post-stage power supply is disposed at a first side of the chip, the second post-stage power supply is disposed at a second side of the chip, the first post-stage power supply provides a third DC voltage to the chip, the second DC voltage is greater than the third DC voltage, the second post-stage power supply provides a fourth DC voltage to the chip, and the second DC voltage is greater than the fourth DC voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Haoyi Ye, Jianhong Zeng, Xiaoni Xin
  • Patent number: 10838444
    Abstract: An adaptive constant current engine (ACCE) to control a current of a target load device at a constant level is disclosed. The ACCE includes a closed feedback loop which generates a sensed current that represents a load current conducted by the target load device and then compares the sensed current to a reference current. Based on this comparison, the circuit can output a voltage to control the current conducted by the target load device. The disclosed ACCE adapts the comparison to an operating voltage of the target load device in order to provide electrical conditions at a reference node receiving a reference current that are the same as electrical conditions at a sensing node receiving a sensing current. Accordingly, the ACCE can generate very accurate comparisons regardless of variations in the operating voltage of the target load device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Rovshan Rustamov
  • Patent number: 10840731
    Abstract: A high power flash battery system includes a wayside flash battery and a half-bridge cell. The half-bridge cell has a voltage polarity opposite to that of the wayside flash battery. The half-bridge cell is configured to be in a voltage compensation mode when the system is unloaded, and to be switched to a bypass mode when a voltage drop occurs due to the system being loaded. A high power charging station, an onboard battery operated device, as well as a method for flash charging are also presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG
    Inventor: Tomas Tengner
  • Patent number: 10840742
    Abstract: A wireless power receiver circuit includes an active rectifier circuit with a plurality of power transistors, wherein the active rectifier circuit is configured to rectify an induced AC receiver current. The wireless power receiver circuit includes also includes a gate drive controller circuit configured to sense the induced AC receiver current and to provide gate drive signals for the plurality of power transistors synchronized with the induced AC receiver current. The gate drive controller circuit includes a current sense circuit configured to provide two voltage signals having a difference proportional to the induced AC receiver current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Efficient Power Conversion Corporation
    Inventors: Michael A. de Rooij, Yuanzhe Zhang
  • Patent number: 10830799
    Abstract: A power MOSFET Rdson compensation device comprising analog circuitry receives an input signal proportional to a voltage drop across a power MOSFET, one or more base reference voltages, a voltage-dependent reference voltage, and a temperature-dependent reference voltage. The analog circuitry is configured to produce an output current corresponding to the input signal with compensation for voltage and temperature variation of a drain-source on resistance of the power MOSFET.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (Cayman) Ltd.
    Inventor: Gilbert S. Z. Lee
  • Patent number: 10826393
    Abstract: Direct current-direct current (DC-DC) converters including buck converters are described. These DC-DC converters may be configured to reduce oscillations that would otherwise arise in the output reference voltage due to ringing effects without significantly lengthening the duration of the transient period. These DC converters may leverage a feedback voltage generated by sensing the current flowing through the inductor of the buck converter. The feedback voltage may compared to a threshold, and the signal resulting from the comparison may be used to vary the reference voltage. The DC-DC converter may be operated in a “partial reset mode,” in which the voltage generated by sensing the inductor's current is reduced to a value greater than zero in response to the feedback voltage reaching the threshold. Reducing the sense voltage in this manner may reduce the duration of the transient period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: MediaTek Inc.
    Inventors: Yueh-Min Chen, Yu-Hsin Lin
  • Patent number: 10819227
    Abstract: An N-phase power converter has N phases with outputs connected in parallel and outputs connected in parallel. The converter comprises: N switch units, wherein each phase of the N-phase power converter comprises one of the N switch units; and an integrated inductor unit, comprising M inductor subunits, wherein M is a natural number greater than or equal to 2, each inductor subunit comprises i inductors, i is a natural number greater than or equal to 2, N>M×i or N=M×i, M×i of the inductors in the integrated inductor unit are respectively coupled to M×i of the N switch units, wherein: the i inductors of each of the inductor subunit are inverse-coupled to each other, the coupling coefficient between the M inductor subunits is less than the coupling coefficient between the i inductors in each of the inductor subunits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Jinping Zhou, Min Zhou, Zhangnan Xin, Xinjian Zou
  • Patent number: 10819120
    Abstract: A converter apparatus for energy harvesting comprises a converter and an associated control device. The converter comprises a first charging circuit for charging a galvanic energy store (8) when a positive voltage of a connected energy harvesting device is applied and a second charging circuit for charging the galvanic energy store when a negative voltage of the connected energy harvesting device is applied. The charging circuits each have an electronic switch and an electrical energy store connected in series therewith. The control device is used to actuate the electronic switches on the basis of a polarity of the applied voltage of the energy harvesting device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Würth Elektronik eiSos GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Mahmoud Shousha, Martin Haug
  • Patent number: 10819328
    Abstract: A PWM modulator has a quantizer that generates a PWM output signal to speaker driver. When a first voltage swing range is supplied to the speaker driver, the quantizer analog gain is controlled to be a first gain value. When a second PWM drive voltage swing range is supplied to the speaker driver, the analog gain is controlled to be a second gain value. The first and second gain values of the analog gain of the quantizer cause the combined gain of the quantizer and driver to be approximately equal in the two modes. The quantizer has at least two gain-affecting measurable non-ideal characteristics. The quantizer is adjustable using measured first and second values to correct for first and second of the at least two non-ideal characteristics. The gain of the quantizer is calibratable while the quantizer is adjusted using the measured first and second measured values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Ramin Zanbaghi, Anuradha Parsi, Kyehyung Lee, John L. Melanson
  • Patent number: 10804801
    Abstract: A hysteretic current mode buck-boost voltage regulator including a buck-boost voltage converter, a switching controller, a window circuit, a ramp circuit, and a timing circuit. The timing circuit may be additional ramp circuits. The voltage converter is toggled between first and second switching states during a boost mode, is toggled between third and fourth switching states during a buck mode, and is sequentially cycled through each switching state during a buck-boost mode. The ramp circuit develops a ramp voltage that simulates current through the voltage converter, and switching is determined using the ramp voltage compared with window voltages provided by the window circuit. The window voltages establish frequency, and may be adjusted based on the input and output voltages. The timing circuit provides timing indications during the buck-boost mode to ensure that the second and fourth switching states have approximately the same duration to provide symmetry of the ramp signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Intersil Americas LLC
    Inventors: M. Jason Houston, Eric M. Solie
  • Patent number: 10805884
    Abstract: A preamble detector for a Bluetooth Long Range includes a receiver for forming baseband samples from Bluetooth packets and a preamble detect controller for enabling and disabling power to the receiver. Where the preamble duration is Tcyc, the preamble detector turns on for a preamble detect time T1 and turns off for a duration T2, where T2=Tcyc?2*T1. A series of hierarchical decisions is made on sequentially increasing intervals of time based on an accumulated correlation result of correlating the baseband samples against a SYNC sequence to power the receiver back down before the end of the T1 period when the accumulated correlation result is below a threshold and continues to a subsequent correlation interval when the accumulated correlation result is above a threshold, where the threshold is established to have at least a 20% false alarm rate for preamble detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Partha Sarathy Murali, SuryaNarayana Varma Nallaparaju
  • Patent number: 10804854
    Abstract: A tri-level converter provides three levels of power supply to a power amplifier that includes a supply path. The supply path has a first transistor and a first inherent body diode associated with the first transistor, as well as a second transistor and a second inherent body diode associated with the second transistor. A polarity of the second body diode is reversed relative to a polarity of the first body diode. A first driver is configured to drive the first transistor and the first inherent body diode to control a power supply, including a battery supply signal, to an output of the tri-level converter. The tri-level converter is coupled to a switching node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Moataz Abdelsamie Abdelfattah, Mukesh Bansal, Iulian Mirea, Song Shi, Pengfei Li
  • Patent number: 10797580
    Abstract: A detection circuit for detecting an inductor current flowing through an inductor is provided. The inductor is coupled to a switch. The detection circuit includes a comparison circuit and a signal generating circuit. The comparison circuit, having a first node, is configured to compare a conduction time of a diode of the switch with a time threshold to provide a first voltage at the first node. The signal generating circuit, coupled to the first node, is configured to output a first detection signal according to the first voltage. The first detection signal indicates whether the inductor current flowing through the inductor reaches a first current threshold. A switching regulator comprises the detection circuit. A control method controls the switching regulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: ALPHA AND OMEGA SEMICONDUCTOR (CAYMAN), LTD.
    Inventors: Bu-Wei Chen, Yueh-Ping Yu, Jung-Pei Cheng
  • Patent number: 10797585
    Abstract: A controller controls Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals of one or more phases. The controller includes a phase sequencer to select a phase, a common ramp generator generating a common ramp signal, a phase activation circuit to turn on the PWM signal of the selected phase based on the common ramp signal, and for each phase a Current Sense plus Ramp (CSR) signal generator to generate a phase CSR signal according to a current of the phase and a phase deactivation circuit to turn off the PWM signal of the phase based on the phase CSR signal. A method of controlling PWM phases comprises selecting a phase, generating a common ramp signal, turning on the PWM signal of the selected phase based on the common ramp signal, generating CSR signals according to currents of the phases, and turning off the PWM signals based on the respective CSR signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Gang Chen, Gabor Reizik
  • Patent number: 10788848
    Abstract: An amplifier stage of an LDO regulator circuit includes an amplifier stage that generates a drive signal in response to a first voltage difference an output voltage of the LDO regulator circuit and a reference voltage. A drive stage having a quiescent current consumption is configured to generate a control signal in response to the drive signal. The control signal is applied to the control terminal of a power transistor. A dropout detector senses whether the LDO regulator circuit is operating in closed loop regulation mode or in open loop dropout mode by sensing a second difference in voltage between the drive signal and the control signal. A quiescent current limiter circuit responds to the sensed second difference by controlling the quiescent current consumption of the drive stage, and in particular limiting current consumption when the LDO regulator circuit is operating in the open loop dropout mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics Design and Application S.R.O.
    Inventor: Sandor Petenyi
  • Patent number: 10790079
    Abstract: A thin film inductor includes a first magnetic thin film and a second magnetic thin film that are adjacent, the first magnetic thin film is nested in the second magnetic thin film, and a relative magnetic permeability of the first magnetic thin film is less than a relative magnetic permeability of the second magnetic thin film, and a difference between the relative magnetic permeability of the first magnetic thin film and the relative magnetic permeability of the second magnetic thin film is greater than or equal to a first threshold, where when a magnetic induction intensity of the second magnetic thin film reaches a saturated magnetic induction intensity of the second magnetic thin film, a magnetic induction intensity of the first magnetic thin film is less than or equal to a saturated magnetic induction intensity of the first magnetic thin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shijun Yang, Heqian Yang, Yongfa Zhu, Wei Chen