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US 9,866,113 B1Granted
Multilevel buck converter with a flying capacitor and charge pump
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsRida Shawky Assaad, David Wayne Evans
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for flying capacitor balancing in multilevel converters are disclosed. Example flying capacitor balancing circuitry can include voltage difference sense and control circuitry and duty cycle timing adjustment circuitry. The voltage difference sense and control circuitry can generate a compensation control signal for the duty cycle timing adjustment circuitry.
Claims20
An apparatus to be coupled with a flying capacitor through flying capacitor couplers comprising:
- a multilevel DC-DC converter having an operating mode having a duty cycle and including a series connection of at least four primary switches extending between a DC voltage rail and a ground reference, the at least four primary switches including a central high-side primary switch coupled in series between a first high-side primary switch and a central low-side primary switch, the central low-side primary switch coupled in series between the central high-side primary switch and a ground referenced low-side primary switch;
- flying capacitor couplers including a first coupling node to a series connection of the first high-side primary switch and the central high-side primary switch, the flying capacitor couplers further including a second coupling node to a series connection of the central low-side primary switch and the ground referenced low-side primary switch;
- and
- voltage difference sense and control circuitry coupled with the DC voltage rail and the first coupling node of the flying capacitor to sense when there is a difference between a voltage of flying capacitor and half of the DC voltage rail, and to generate a compensation control signal in response to the difference between the voltage of flying capacitor and half of the DC voltage rail.
1 more element
A method of operating a multilevel DC-DC converter in an operating mode having a duty cycle, the method comprising:
- driving respective control gates of at least four series connected primary switches of the multilevel DC-DC converter in the duty cycle of the operating mode;
- and
- sensing when there is a difference between a voltage of a flying capacitor and half of a DC voltage rail of the multilevel DC-DC converter;
- and
- generating a compensation control signal in response to the difference between the voltage of flying capacitor and half of the DC voltage rail.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a multilevel DC-DC converter having an operating mode having a duty cycle and including a series connection of at least four primary switches extending between a DC voltage rail and a ground reference, the at least four primary switches including a central high-side primary switch coupled in series between a first high-side primary switch and a central low-side primary switch, the central low-side primary switch coupled in series between the central high-side primary switch and a ground referenced low-side primary switch;
- a flying capacitor including a first coupling node to a series connection of the first high-side primary switch and the central high-side primary switch, the flying capacitor further including a second coupling node to a series connection of the central low-side primary switch and the ground referenced low-side primary switch;
- and
- voltage difference sense and control circuitry coupled with the DC voltage rail and the first coupling node of the flying capacitor to sense when there is a difference between a voltage of flying capacitor and half of the DC voltage rail, and to generate a compensation control signal in response to the difference between the voltage of flying capacitor and half of the DC voltage rail.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.