Apparatus, system, and method for providing high efficiency in a power supply over a range of load conditions

A system for improving the efficiency of a switching power supply at variable load conditions, the system comprising:

• a switching power supply comprising:
• a high load power train comprising one or more switching power supply stages optimized for high efficiency in high power conditions;
• a low load power train comprising one or more switching power supply stages optimized for high efficiency in high power conditions;
• wherein only one of the high load power train and the low load power train is continuously supplying power to a load connected to the switching power supply at a time;
• a condition module that determines that the switching power supply is in a high load state in response to the switching power supply supplying power to the load above a predefined power value, and that determines that the switching power supply is in a low load state in response to the switching power supply supplying power to the load below the predefined power value;
• a high load module that supplies power to the load of the switching power supply using the high load power train in response to the condition module determining that the state is the high load state;
• and
• a low load module that supplies power to the load of the switching power supply using the low load power train in response to the condition module determining that the state is the low load state.

A method for improving the efficiency of a switching power supply at variable load conditions, the method comprising:

• determining that a switching power supply is in a high load state in response to the switching power supply supplying power above a predefined power value;
• determining that the switching power supply is in a low load state in response to the switching power supply supplying power below the predefined power value;
• supplying power to a load of the switching power supply using a high load power train in response to determining that the state is the high load state, wherein the high load power train comprises one or more switching power supply stages optimized for high efficiency in high power conditions;
• and
• supplying power to the load of the switching power supply using a low load power train in response to determining that the state is the low load state, wherein the low load power train comprises one or more switching power supply stages optimized for high efficiency in low power conditions.