Analog predictive dead-time

A circuit for controlling switching elements and controlling dead-time of the switching elements, the circuit configured to:

• generate a phase difference voltage using voltage at a control node of a first switching element and voltage at a control node of a second switching element, the first switching element configured to couple a first node of a supply and a switch node based on voltage at the control node of the first switching element and the second switching element configured to couple the switch node and a second node of the supply based on voltage at the control node of the second switching element, wherein, to generate the phase difference voltage, the circuit is configured to generate, using a phase detector, an unfiltered error signal based on voltage at the control node of the first switching element and voltage at the control node of the second switching element and filter, using a low pass filter, the unfiltered error signal to generate the phase difference voltage;
• generate a first driving signal based on a first pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for the first switching element and the phase difference voltage, wherein the first driving signal includes a voltage-controlled delay module;
• and
• generate a second driving signal for driving the second switching element based a second PWM signal for the second switching element.

A circuit for controlling switching elements and controlling dead-time of the switching elements, the circuit configured to:

• generate a phase difference voltage using voltage at a control node of a first switching element and voltage at a control node of a second switching element, the first switching element configured to couple a first node of a supply and a switch node based on voltage at the control node of the first switching element and the second switching element configured to couple the switch node and a second node of the supply based on voltage at the control node of the second switching element, wherein, to generate the phase difference voltage, the circuit is configured to:
• generate a state signal for the first switching element using a comparison of an indication of voltage at the control node of the first switching element with a first threshold;
• generate a state signal for the second switching element using a comparison of an indication of voltage at the control node of the second switching element with a second threshold;
• and
• generate the phase difference voltage using the state signal for the first switching element and the state signal for the second switching element;
• generate a first driving signal based on a first pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for the first switching element and the phase difference voltage;
• and
• generate a second driving signal for driving the second switching element based a second PWM signal for the second switching element.

A method for controlling switching elements and controlling dead-time of the switching elements, the method comprising:

• generating, by processing circuitry, a phase difference voltage using voltage at a control node of a first switching element and voltage at a control node of a second switching element, the first switching element configured to couple a first node of a supply and a switch node based on voltage at the control node of the first switching element and the second switching element configured to couple the switch node and a second node of the supply based on voltage at the control node of the second switching element;
• generating, by the processing circuitry, a first driving signal based on a first pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for the first switching element and the phase difference voltage, wherein generating the first driving signal is based on a comparison of the phase difference voltage and a reference voltage generated based on the first PWM signal;
• and
• generating, by the processing circuitry, a second driving signal for driving the second switching element based on a second PWM signal for the second switching element.

A system comprising:

• a first switching element configured to couple a first node of a supply and a switch node based on voltage at a control node of the first switching element;
• a second switching element configured to couple the switch node and a second node of the supply based on voltage at a control node of the second switching element;
• and
• a circuit for controlling dead-time, the circuit configured to:
• generate a phase difference voltage using voltage at the control node of the first switching element and voltage at the control node of the second switching element;
• generate a first driving signal based on a comparison of the phase difference voltage and a reference voltage generated based on a first pulse width modulation (PWM) signal for the first switching element;
• and
• generate a second driving signal for driving the second switching element based on a second PWM signal for the second switching element.