Stacked switched capacitor energy buffer circuit

A circuit comprising;

• a first set of circuitry comprising:
• m capacitors;
• and
• m switches, each m switch serially coupled to a corresponding one of the m capacitors;
• and
• a second set of circuitry comprising:
• n capacitors;
• and
• n switches, each n switch serially coupled to a corresponding one of the n capacitors;
• wherein a voltage across the first sot of circuitry and the second set of circuitry is a bus voltage,
• wherein the circuit is configured to maintain the bus voltage within a predetermined range of a nominal value,
• wherein n and m are integers greater than zero, and
• wherein at least one of (i) at least two of the capacitors of the two sub-circuits have capacitance ratios determined based upon a desired voltage ripple ratio and (ii) at least one of the m switches is driven by a ground reference drive signal and at least one of the n switches is driven by a ground reference drive signal.

A stacked switched capacitor (SSC) energy buffer circuit comprising:

• two sub-circuits that are serially coupled during a first operating mode wherein each sub-circuit comprises one or more capacitors and at least one sub-circuit further comprises a plurality of switches disposed to selectively couple the capacitors to:
• (a) pre-charge the one or more capacitors prior to normal operating conditions;
• (b) enable dynamic reconfiguration of how the capacitors are coupled to the terminals of the sub-circuit;
• and
• (c) dynamically reconfigure the interconnection among the capacitors within the sub-circuit.

A circuit comprising;

• a first set of circuitry comprising:
• m capacitors;
• and
• m switches, each m switch serially coupled to a corresponding one of the m capacitors, wherein a microcontroller is adapted to control at least one of the m switches to pre-charge at least one of the m capacitors;
• and
• a second set of circuitry comprising:
• n capacitors;
• and
• n switches, each n switch serially coupled to a corresponding one of the n capacitors, wherein a microcontroller is adapted to control at least one of the n switches to pre-charge at least one of the n capacitors;
• wherein a voltage across the first sot of circuitry and the second set of circuitry is a bus voltage,
• wherein the circuit is configured to maintain the bus voltage within a predetermined range of a nominal value,
• wherein n and m are integers greater than zero.