Power converter with inductor current monitoring circuit based on inductor voltage
AssigneeRenesas Design Netherlands B.V.
InventorsMarinus Wilhelmus Kruiskamp, Jasper Velner
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Abstract
A current monitoring circuit for use with an inductor having a magnetizing phase and a de-magnetizing phase is presented. The current monitoring circuit has a voltage controlled oscillator and a first counter. The voltage controlled oscillator generates a clock signal based on a voltage across the inductor. The first counter generates a counter value using the clock signal. The current monitoring circuit may be implemented as part of a switched mode power supply having an inductor coupled to a pair of power switches and a controller adapted to generate a control signal to control the pair of power switches based on the counter value.
Claims24
A current monitoring circuit for use with an inductor having a magnetizing phase and a de-magnetizing phase, the current monitoring circuit comprising:
- a voltage controlled oscillator adapted to generate a clock signal based on a voltage across the inductor;
- and
- a first counter configured to generate a counter value using the clock signal.
A switched mode power supply comprising:
- an inductor coupled to a pair of power switches;
- a current monitoring circuit comprising a voltage controlled oscillator adapted to generate a clock signal based on a voltage across the inductor;
- and a first counter configured to generate a counter value using the clock signal;
- and
- a controller adapted to generate a control signal to control the pair of power switches based on the counter value.
A method of monitoring an inductor current comprising:
- generating with a voltage controlled oscillator a clock signal based on a voltage across the inductor;
- and
- generating with a first counter a counter value using the clock signal to monitor the inductor current.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.