# US 7,746,048 B2 · Non-linear PWM controller for DC-to-DC converters

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- Number: US 7,746,048 B2
- Document ID: US7746048B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 11/558,790
- Filed: 2006-11-10
- Published: 2007-05-24
- Granted: 2010-06-29
- Earliest claimed: 2005-11-11
- Assignees: L&L Engineering, LLC
- Inventors: Paul Latham; John C. Canfield
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7746048B2

## CPC

- H02M 3/157: with digital control
- H02M: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF (transformers H01F; dynamo-electric converters H02K47/00; controlling transformers, reactors or choke coils, control or regulation of electric motors, generators or dynamo-electric converters H02P)

## Abstract

A nonlinear PWM controller for switching power supplies.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A controller for switching power supplies, the controller comprising:
a nonlinear controller component providing a duty cycle to a pulse width modulator, said duty cycle corresponding to at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable;
said nonlinear controller component being operatively connected to receive as inputs at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable;
a relationship between duty cycle and at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable being obtained by a predetermined method; said predetermined method comprising optimizing a predetermined function of said duty cycle and internal states; said predetermined function assigning a cost to each transition from a state to a final target state based on a function of said duty cycle and internal states.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The controller of claim 1 wherein said relationship is obtained by minimizing said predetermined function utilizing dynamic programming.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The controller of claim 1 wherein said predetermined function is subject to at least one constraint.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The controller of claim 1 wherein said relationship is obtained by minimizing said predetermined function utilizing optimization techniques.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The controller of claim 1 further comprising:
a state estimation component receiving an output voltage and an input to a switching power supply and of providing an estimate of states in a state model of the switching power supply and an estimate of a load current of said switching power supply.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The controller of claim 5 further comprising:
a load current predictor receiving an estimate of present load current from said state estimator component; said load current predictor being predicting a future load current value.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The controller of claim 6 wherein said load current predictor comprises a digital filter.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The controller of claim 7 wherein said digital filter is a finite impulse response filter.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The controller of claim 7 wherein said digital filter is an infinite impulse response filter.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The controller of claim 7 wherein filter coefficients of said filter are determined by an RLS type algorithm.

### Claim 11 (depends on 7)

The controller of claim 7 wherein filter coefficients of said filter are determined by an RLS type algorithm.

### Claim 12 (depends on 6)

The controller of claim 6 wherein said load current predictor receives an input signal indicating future occurrence of a sudden change in load; said load current predictor predicting the future load current value after occurrence of the sudden change in load.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The controller of claim 12 wherein said load current predictor utilizes a nonlinear lookup table.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The controller of claim 13 wherein said nonlinear lookup table is implemented by means of a neural network.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The controller of claim 1 wherein said nonlinear controller component comprises:
a plurality of comparators, said plurality of comparators operatively connected to provide a substantially piecewise linear approximation to said relationship between duty cycle and at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable.

### Claim 16

A system for controlling a switching power supply, the system comprising:
means for minimizing a function of switching states and internal states of the switching power supply; said function assigning a cost to each transition from a switching state to a final target switching state;
means for obtaining, from said minimizing, the relationship between duty cycle and at least one predetermined switching power supply state variable; and
means for providing a duty cycle to a pulse width modulator in the switching power supply.