High-efficiency dc/dc voltage converter including down inductive switching pre-regulator and capacitive switching post-converter

Abstract

A DC / DC converter includes a pre-converter stage, which may include a charge pump, and a post-regulator stage, which may include a boost converter. The duty factor of the post-regulator stage is controlled by a feedback path that extends from the output terminal of the DC / DC converter to an input terminal in the post-regulator stage. The pre-converter steps the input DC voltage up or down by a positive or negative integral or fractional value, and the post-regulator steps the voltage up by a variable amount depending on the duty factor at which the post-regulator is driven. The converter overcomes the problems of noise glitches, poor regulation, and instability, even near unity input-to-output voltage conversion ratios.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims priority to Provisional Application Nos. 60 / 877952 and 60877720, both titled "High-Efficiency Down-Up And Related DC / DC Converters," filed December 30, 2006, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety Each of them is incorporated herein. technical field [0003] The present invention relates to the design, operation and performance of switching power supplies used in DC / DC conversion and voltage regulation, and to the semiconductor components used in such converters. Background technique [0004] In order to prevent changes in the power supply voltage for powering various microelectronic components such as digital ICs, semiconductor memories, display modules, hard disk drives, RF circuits, microprocessors, digital signal processors, and analog ICs, especially battery-powered Variations in applications such as cellular phones, notebook computers, and consumer products often req...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Additionally, the fact that a converter must undergo a mode transition whenever the conversion ratio approaches unity can become a real problem in many applications: affecting transient regulation, stability, and noise

The disadvantage is that it can only efficiently generate voltages that are a strict integer multiple of the number of flying capacitors used in its converter circuit

[0112] The real problem with charge pumps as power supplies is that charge pumps are not themselves voltage regulators since they only generate multiples of a certain fixed voltage

[0131] In summary, none of the existing charge pump converters, buck-boost switching regulators, and other inductive switching regulators can efficiently step up and step down a DC voltage at the same time, especially near unity (where V in ≈V out ) conversion ratio

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