Flying capacitor balancing for multi-level voltage converter
AssigneeRenesas Electronics America Inc.
InventorBarry John Concklin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatuses, devices, and methods for operating a multi-level voltage converter are described. A circuit can, in response to a completion of a state of the multi-level voltage converter, output an indication that indicates whether a voltage of a flying capacitor in a multi-level voltage converter reaches a reference voltage or fails to reach the reference voltage. The completed state can be one of a charge state and a discharge state. A controller can, in response to the indication indicating the voltage of the flying capacitor fails to reach the reference voltage, repeat the completed state to operate the multi-level voltage converter.
Claims20
A semiconductor device comprising:
- a circuit configured to sense a switch node voltage in a multi-level voltage converter to generate an indication that indicates whether a voltage of a flying capacitor in the multi-level voltage converter reaches a reference voltage or fails to reach the reference voltage, wherein the switch node voltage is being sensed during switching operations of the multi-level voltage converter;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- in response to a completion of a state of the multi-level voltage converter, read the indication being outputted by the circuit, wherein the state is one of a charge state and a discharge state during the switching operations of the multi-level voltage converter;
- and
- in response to the indication indicating the voltage of the flying capacitor fails to reach the reference voltage, repeat the completed state during the switching operations to operate the multi-level voltage converter.
A system comprising:
- a multi-level voltage converter including a flying capacitor;
- a controller configured to:
- sense a switch node voltage in the multi-level voltage converter to generate an indication that indicates whether a voltage of the flying capacitor reaches a reference voltage or fails to reach the reference voltage, wherein the switch node voltage is being sensed during switching operations of the multi-level voltage converter;
- in response to a completion of a state of the multi-level voltage converter, determine whether the voltage of the flying capacitor reaches the reference voltage or fails to reach the reference voltage, wherein the completed state is one of a charge state and a discharge state during the switching operations of the multi-level voltage converter;
- and
- in response to a determination that the flying capacitor fails to reach the reference voltage, repeat the completed state during the switching operations to operate the multi-level voltage converter.
A method for operating a multi-level voltage converter, the method comprising:
- operating a multi-level voltage converter under a predefined sequence of states that includes at least one charge state and at least one discharge state;
- sensing a switch node voltage in the multi-level voltage converter during switching operations of the multi-level voltage converter;
- generating an indication that indicates whether a voltage of a flying capacitor in the multi-level voltage converter reaches a reference voltage or fails to reach the reference voltage;
- in response to a completion of a state of the multi-level voltage converter, determining, based on the indication, that a voltage of the flying capacitor in the multi-level voltage converter fails to reach a reference voltage, wherein the completed state is one of a charge state and a discharge state during the switching operations of the multi-level voltage converter;
- and
- in response to determining that the voltage of the flying capacitor fails to reach the reference voltage, repeating the completed state during the switching operations to operate the multi-level voltage converter, wherein repeating the completed state departs from the predefined sequence of states.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.