Startup of power converter with switched-capacitor circuit

A charge balance circuit configured to be coupled to a corresponding charge pump capacitor within a switched-capacitor power converter, including:

• (a) a comparator having a first input coupled to an output voltage of the switched-capacitor power converter, a second input coupled to a feedback voltage derived from a voltage across the corresponding charge pump capacitor, and a comparator output signal that provides a signal indicative of the relative values of the output voltage of the switched-capacitor power converter with respect to the feedback voltage;
• (b) a ground connection subcircuit configured to selectively couple the corresponding charge pump capacitor to, or uncouple the corresponding charge pump capacitor from, circuit ground;
• (c) a constant current charge circuit coupled to the comparator and selectively couplable to the corresponding charge pump capacitor in response to a first value of the comparator output signal;
• (d) a constant current discharge circuit coupled to the comparator and selectively couplable to the corresponding charge pump capacitor in response to a second value of the comparator output signal;
• and
• (e) a digital controller coupled to the comparator output, the digital controller configured to disable at least one of the constant current charge circuit and the constant current discharge circuit after the comparator output changes state.