Digital stress share method
AssigneePowervation Limited
InventorsKarl Rinne, Anthony Kelly, Eamon O'Malley
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Abstract
The Application is directed at arrangements at which switch mode power converters share a common load. More particularly, the application provides a masterless arrangement in which no single converter controls the operation of the other converters. This is achieved by an arrangement in which each converter attempts to share its current measurement with other converters through an arbitration scheme employed on a data line, with the winning converter providing a defacto current measurement; for example, a maximum or minimum, to the overall arrangement.
Claims39
A PWM controller for controlling a phase in a multi-phase environment, the PWM controller comprising:
- a control circuit for generating control signals for a switching circuit to provide an output voltage, the control circuit providing control signals to operate the switching circuit at a level of stress,
- a communications circuit configured to receive a maximum stress value and a minimum stress value,
- wherein the control circuit is adapted to adjust the level of stress toward an average of the maximum and minimum values.
A PWM controller according to claim 12, wherein the arbitration process comprises detecting at each bit in a packet communication whether any other controller is transmitting a higher priority bit and where this is the case, exiting from the arbitration process.
A PWM controller for controlling a phase in a multi-phase environment, the PWM controller comprising:
- a control circuit for generating control signals for a switching circuit to provide an output voltage, the control circuit being configured to operate the switching circuit at a level of stress,
- a communications circuit for receiving stress data in packets from other PWM controllers and transmitting stress data in packets to other PWM controllers, wherein the controller is adapted to cease transmission of a packet in the event that a substantially simultaneously transmitted packet of another controller has priority wherein the communications circuit is configured to receiving at least two different values per cycle of stress data.
A PWM controller for controlling a phase in a multi-phase environment, the PWM controller comprising:
- a control circuit for generating control signals for a switching circuit to provide an output voltage, the control circuit being configured to operate the switching circuit at a level of stress,
- a communications circuit for receiving stress data in packets from other PWM controllers and transmitting stress data in packets to other PWM controllers in a communications cycle, wherein the controller is adapted to cease transmission of a packet in the event that a substantially simultaneously transmitted packet of another controller has priority,
- wherein there are a plurality of stress data cycles in a communications cycle, wherein at least one of the stress data cycles represents a first type of measurement and at least one of the stress data cycles represents a second type of measurement.
A controller for controlling a switching circuit providing a phase in a multiphase environment, the controller comprising:
- a) a communications circuit for receiving at least one stress signal
- b) a voltage control loop for controlling the voltage output from the circuit, the voltage control loop being a digital controller operating at a first rate,
- c) a current control loop for controlling a phase current by updating a set point of the voltage control loop, the current control loop providing an updated set point to the voltage control loop at a second rate to the first rate, wherein the second rate is slower than the first rate, and
- d) a stress control loop receiving the at least one stress signal from the communications circuit and providing a current set point to the current control loop, wherein the current control loop provides an updated set point to the current control loop at a third rate,
- wherein the third rate is slower than the second rate.
A digital controller for operating a switching circuit in a multi-phase environment where several switching circuits share the provision of an output voltage to a common load, the controller having a voltage control loop for ensuring that the output voltage remains at a set point, a current control loop for adjusting the setpoint of the voltage loop to adjust the share provided by the switching circuit wherein a proportion of the deviation of voltage output is provided as an input to the current control loop.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.