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US 7,190,210 B2Granted
Switched-capacitor power supply system and method
AssigneeIntegral Wave Technologies, Inc.
InventorsFiras Azrai, Michael Yates, David Nelms
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A plurality of thin-film capacitors are grouped in phases. A control circuit switches each phase between charging and discharging states devised to supply one or more loads with controlled power.
Claims55
A switched-capacitor power supply comprising:
- (a) a plurality of thin-film capacitors each one of said plurality of thin-film capacitors being disposed substantially along a first plane and elongated to have a first end and a second end;
- (b) a power management integrated circuit for controlling the switched-capacitor power supply;
- (c) a plurality of semiconductor switches, each selected one of which plurality of semiconductor switches being connected to one or more selected ones of the plurality of thin-film capacitors;
- (d) a plurality of connective structures, each selected one of which plurality of connective structures being disposed to connect each selected one of the plurality of semiconductor switches to the one or more selected ones of the plurality of thin-film capacitors while being disposed substantially along one of a plurality of respective axes that are disposed in an orientation that is substantially normal to the first plane.
1 more element
A switched-capacitor power supply comprising:
- (a) a plurality of capacitors formed on a substrate, the capacitors having a plurality of electrodes;
- (b) a plurality of charging transistors formed on an integrated circuit;
- (c) a plurality of discharging transistors formed on the integrated circuit;
- (d) a plurality of conducting structures connecting a plurality of respective terminals of the charging and discharging transistors to respective ones of the capacitor electrodes, the conducting structures having an equivalent series resistance of less than 10 milliohms.
1 more element
A method of charging and discharging a plurality of capacitors in a switched-capacitor power supply, the method comprising:
- (a) applying a charging current to the capacitors through a plurality of charging transistors on an integrated chip, the charging transistors arranged in a layout such that a plurality of respective terminals of the respective charging transistors are disposed above a portion of a plurality of respective electrodes of the plurality of capacitors;
- (b) applying an output current from the capacitors through a plurality of discharging transistors on the integrated chip, the discharging transistors arranged in a layout such that a plurality of respective terminals of the respective discharging transistors are disposed above a portion of a plurality of respective electrodes of the plurality of capacitors.
A power supply system comprising:
- (a) at least one phase comprising:
- (i) a plurality of thin-film capacitors arranged with an at least one P1 transistor electrically between respective adjacent pairs of the plurality of thin-film capacitors connecting the plurality of capacitors in series, the plurality of capacitors each having a positive terminal and a negative terminal;
- (ii) at least one P2 transistor connecting the positive terminal of at least one of the plurality of capacitors to a voltage input terminal;
- (iii) at least one P5 transistor connecting the positive terminal of at least one of the plurality of thin-film capacitors to an output terminal;
- and
- (iv) a plurality of P4 transistors connecting the respective negative terminals of the plurality of capacitors to a reference potential.
- (b) a controller operatively connected to all of the transistors, the controller operative to switch the transistors between a first charging mode in which all of the P4 and P5 transistors in the phase are de-activated, and a second discharging mode in which all of the P1 and P2 transistors in the phases are de-activated.
4 more elements
A method of controlling a switched-capacitor power supply comprising the steps:
- (a) allocating a plurality of thin-film switched-capacitor phases to supply at least one load;
- (b) sensing a difference between a desired load voltage and an actual load voltage;
- (c) in response to a higher desired voltage at a substantially constant load current, allocating at least one additional switched-capacitor phase to the load or removing an at least one capacitor block from at least one of the switched-capacitor phases;
- (d) in response to a lower desired voltage at a substantially constant load current, de-allocating at least one of the switched-capacitor phases or adding at least one capacitor block to an at least one switched capacitor phase.
1 more element
A method of operating a switched-capacitor power supply having a plurality of switched-capacitor phases each having a plurality of capacitors, the method comprising the steps:
- (a) de-activating a plurality of P1 transistors connected to a positive terminal of at least one of the capacitors;
- (b) de-activating at least one P2 transistor connecting at least one of the capacitors in each phase of the capacitors to an input supply voltage;
- (c) after de-activating the P1 and P2 transistors in each phase, activating a P3 transistor connecting a negative terminal of each of the capacitors to ground;
- and
- (d) after activating the P3 transistors, activating a P4 transistor connecting a negative terminal of each of the capacitors to ground and activating a P5 transistor connecting the positive terminal of at least one of the capacitors to an output terminal.
2 more elements
A voltage converter system comprising:
- (a) a plurality of capacitors, each having a positive terminal and a negative terminal, arranged in one or more phases with one or more charging switches electrically between respective pairs of the capacitors in each phase;
- (b) one or more voltage supply switches connecting the positive terminal of a respective one or more of the plurality of capacitors to a voltage input terminal;
- (c) one or more first discharging switches connecting the positive terminal of a respective one or more of the plurality of capacitors to an output terminal for that phase;
- (d) one or more second discharging switches connecting the negative terminals of respective ones of the plurality of capacitors to a selected reference potential;
- (e) one or more voltage-shifting switches, connected in parallel with the one or more second discharging switches;
- (f) a control stage operatively connected to all of the switches, the control stage operative to activate and de-activate selected ones of the switches of a selected phase to change between a first charging mode and a second discharging mode, the control stage operative to activate selected ones of the voltage-shifting switches of the selected phase prior to activating selected ones of the second discharging switches.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.