# US 10,768,678 B2 · Method and system for reducing transients in DC-DC converters

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- Number: US 10,768,678 B2
- Document ID: US10768678B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/125,678
- Filed: 2018-09-08
- Published: 2019-01-03
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2015-09-22
- Assignees: Intersil Americas Inc.
- Applicants: Intersil Americas LLC
- Inventors: Steven Laur; Daniel Zheng
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10768678B2

## CPC

- G06F 1/26: Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C)
- H02M 3/158: including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load
- H03K 7/08: Duration or width modulation {; Duty cycle modulation}
- H02M 1/0022: {the disturbance parameters being input voltage fluctuations}
- H02M 1/15: using active elements
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H02M: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF (transformers H01F; dynamo-electric converters H02K47/00; controlling transformers, reactors or choke coils, control or regulation of electric motors, generators or dynamo-electric converters H02P)
- H03K: PULSE TECHNIQUE (measuring pulse characteristics G01R; modulating sinusoidal oscillations with pulses H03C; transmission of digital information H04L; discriminator circuits detecting phase difference between two signals by counting or integrating cycles of oscillation H03D3/04; automatic control, starting, synchronisation or stabilisation of generators of electronic oscillations or pulses where the type of generator is irrelevant or unspecified H03L; coding, decoding or code conversion, in general H03M)

## Abstract

One embodiment pertains to a method including determining the duty cycle of a PWM signal, operating in valley current control mode when the duty cycle is greater than fifty percent, operating in peak current control mode when the duty cycle is less than fifty percent, and including, commencing a PWM pulse upon the occurrence of a pulse of a first clock signal pulse, and terminating the PWM pulse upon a level of a signal exceeding a positive window threshold.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A voltage converter, comprising:
a window comparator;
an inductor current sense signal coupled to a first input of the window comparator;
a window generator including a positive window voltage node coupled to a second input of the window comparator, and a negative window voltage node coupled to a third input of the window comparator;
one or more switches having a plurality of terminals, including at least one terminal coupled to an output of the window comparator;
a PWM signal generator coupled to at least one of the terminals of the one or more switches; and
mode switch-over logic coupled to the terminals of the one or more switches, and including an input coupled to an output of the PWM signal generator.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The voltage converter of claim 1, further comprising a slope compensator having at least one input coupled to at least one output of the window generator, and at least one output coupled to at least one input to the window comparator.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The voltage converter of claim 1, wherein the mode switch-over logic further comprises a PWM rising edge detector having an input and an output;
wherein the input of the PWM rising edge detector is coupled to at least one output of the PWM signal generator; and
wherein the output of the PWM rising edge detector is coupled to the window generator.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The voltage converter of claim 3, wherein the window generator comprises:
a window voltage generator; and
a frequency compensator including at least one input coupled to an output of the PWM rising edge detector, and coupled to the window voltage generator.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The voltage converter of claim 4, wherein the window voltage generator includes at least one input coupled to an input voltage node of the voltage converter, an output voltage node of the voltage converter, and an output node of the frequency compensator.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The voltage converter of claim 5, wherein the window voltage generator comprises:
a voltage scaler including at least one input coupled to the input voltage node and the output voltage node;
a window transconductance amplifier including at least one input coupled to an output of the voltage scaler; and
a current mirror coupled to the window transconductance amplifier.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The voltage converter of claim 1, further comprising:
gate control logic including at least one input coupled to at least one output of the PWM signal generator; and
a driver coupled the gate control logic.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The voltage converter of claim 7, further comprising at least one power transistor coupled to the output of the driver.

### Claim 9

A method of operation of a current mode voltage converter, comprising:
determining a duty cycle of a PWM signal;
obtaining a positive window threshold and a negative window threshold;
operating in a valley current control mode when the duty cycle is greater than fifty percent; and
operating in a peak current control mode when the duty cycle is less than fifty percent, including:
commencing a PWM pulse upon an occurrence of a pulse of a first clock signal pulse; and
terminating the PWM pulse upon a level of a signal exceeding the positive window threshold.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
increasing inductor current when the PWM pulse commences;
decreasing the inductor current when the PWM pulse terminates; and
wherein the signal is one of a signal representative of the inductor current, a signal emulating the inductor current, and a signal representative of a current flowing through a power transistor.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the inductor current respectively increases and decreases linearly.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the commencing and terminating of the PWM pulse respectively turns on and off one of one power transistor or two power transistors.

### Claim 13

A method of operating a current mode voltage converter, comprising:
determining a duty cycle of a PWM signal;
obtaining a positive window threshold and a negative window threshold;
operating in a peak current control mode when the duty cycle is less than fifty percent;
operating in a valley current control mode when the duty cycle is greater than fifty percent, including:
commencing a PWM pulse upon a level of a signal being less than the negative window threshold; and
terminating the PWM pulse upon the occurrence of a pulse of a second clock signal.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, further comprising generating the pulse of the second clock signal after a fixed period of time after the occurrence of a pulse of a first clock signal.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, further comprising:
increasing inductor current when the PWM pulse commences; and
decreasing the inductor current when the PWM pulse terminates;
wherein the negative window threshold is a negative window offset voltage; and
wherein the signal is one of an inductor current sense signal representative of the inductor current, or a signal emulating the inductor current, or a signal representative of a current flowing through a power transistor.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the inductor current respectively increases and decreases linearly.

### Claim 17 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the commencing and terminating of the PWM pulse respectively turns on and off one of one power transistor or two power transistors.