Controlling power loss in a switched-capacitor power converter

A switched-capacitor power converter configured to actively control a power loss involved in converting an input voltage to an output voltage, comprising:

• one or more switched-capacitor blocks (SCBs), wherein each SCB includes a first capacitor and a set of switching devices configured to couple a constant-potential terminal and a time-varying-potential terminal of the first capacitor between the input voltage, the output voltage and a reference voltage;
• a clocking circuit which produces gate drive signals for switching transistors in the one or more SCBs;
• and
• a controller configured to actively control the gate drive signals from the clocking circuit to substantially minimize the power loss for the switched-capacitor power converter.

A power supply, comprising:

• a battery that provides an input voltage;
• an output that provides an output voltage;
• and
• a switched-capacitor power converter configured to actively control a power loss while converting the input voltage to the output voltage, wherein the switched-capacitor power converter comprises,
• one or more switched-capacitor blocks (SCBs), wherein each SCB includes a first capacitor and a set of switching devices configured to couple a constant-potential terminal and a time-varying-potential terminal of the first capacitor between the input voltage, the output voltage and a reference voltage;
• a clocking circuit which produces gate drive signals for switching transistors in the one or more SCBs;
• and
• a controller configured to actively control the gate drive signals from the clocking circuit to substantially minimize the power loss for the switched-capacitor power converter.