CN116436263A - Multiphase power supply control device and multiphase power supply - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a multiphase power supply control device and a multiphase power supply, wherein the multiphase power supply comprises a plurality of switch circuits, and output ends of the switch circuits are coupled together to provide output voltage for a load; the multiphase power supply control device comprises a feedback circuit and a control circuit; the feedback circuit generates a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load; the control circuit comprises a plurality of PWM controllers which are in one-to-one correspondence with the switch circuits, and each PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal for the corresponding switch circuit according to the feedback control signal and the PDN parameter. By utilizing the control device provided by the application, the pulse width modulation signals can be provided for the corresponding switch circuit according to the feedback control signals and PDN parameters, so that better dynamic response performance is realized, and the layout of each phase of power supply in the multi-phase power supply is more flexible.

Description

Multiphase power supply control device and multiphase power supply

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of power supply, in particular to a multiphase power supply control device and a multiphase power supply.

Background

With the increase of the chip scale, the core working current of the chip is multiplied, and the layout of the multiphase power supply is difficult. The multi-phase power supply is a technology for realizing adjustment and control of the power supply by connecting a plurality of power conversion circuits in parallel and distributing a switch modulation process to different phases, and is suitable for application scenes of high current or high power. Pulse width modulation pulse width modulation, PWM) signals between the phase sources in the multi-phase power source may be the same or staggered by a certain phase so that the ripple frequency of the output and input is the product of the switching frequency of each phase and the number of phases, thereby reducing the use of capacitors and reducing the input current surge, and also accelerating the response to load current variation.

In order to make full use of space, multiphase power supplies exist in a number of different layouts. For example: each power supply layout in the multiphase power supply may be different from the chip or may be of different board-to-board configuration, and the multiphase power supply may be asymmetrically arranged with respect to the chip. In addition, as the chip is updated iteratively, the core operating current density of the chip is also increased continuously, and the multiphase power supply is required to perform a horizontal and vertical mixed layout to support the current supply capability because the horizontal or vertical single layout of the multiphase power supply cannot meet the requirements of power density and energy efficiency at the same time. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-phase power supply with a hybrid horizontal and vertical arrangement.

The controller for controlling the power supplies of each phase adopts a proportional-integral-derivative control (PID) control mode to control the output voltage of the power supplies of each phase, wherein the PID control mode comprises a traditional PID control mode and a nonlinear control mode. If the chip working current generates dynamic large jump, the controller triggers nonlinear control on each phase of power supply, so that all phases of power supplies can be quickly powered up or powered down, and the problem of dropping or overshooting of the output voltage of the multiphase power supply caused by current loading is reduced, wherein the current jump means that the chip working current exceeds a set current threshold.

The power distribution network (power delivery network, PDN) of each phase power supply to the chip varies significantly when the multiphase power supply is laid out in a horizontal and vertical mix. The PDN refers to the physical path that delivers mains power from a mains supply to a load. Taking the structure shown in fig. 1 as an example, the horizontal phase power supply PDN is several times the vertical phase power supply PDN. Because of the large PDN difference between the horizontal phase power supply and the vertical phase power supply layout, there is a difference in parasitic impedance for each phase power supply. And because the logic of the controller for controlling each phase of power supply is the same, and because the PDN of the phase power supply far away from the chip is larger, the response of the phase power supply with larger PDN has delay, and the working performance of the multiphase power supply when the current large dynamic jump occurs is influenced. Thus, to counteract the delay to achieve a better output voltage sag effect, the controller-triggered nonlinear control is deeper, and when the controller exits the nonlinear control, greater overshoot and oscillation are also likely to occur.

In view of this, it is necessary to provide a multiphase power supply control device and a multiphase power supply, so as to improve the overall dynamic response performance of the multiphase power supply and make the layout of each phase of the multiphase power supply more flexible.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a multiphase power supply control device and a multiphase power supply, which provide pulse width modulation signals for corresponding switch circuits according to feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, so that better dynamic response performance is realized.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a multiphase power supply control device, the multiphase power supply including a plurality of switching circuits, the output terminals of the plurality of switching circuits being coupled together to provide an output voltage for a load; the multiphase power supply control device comprises a feedback circuit and a control circuit; the feedback circuit is used for generating a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load; the control circuit comprises a plurality of PWM controllers which are in one-to-one correspondence with the switch circuits, and each PWM controller is used for providing pulse width modulation signals for the corresponding switch circuit according to feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, wherein the PDN parameters comprise impedance and parasitic parameters in PDNs corresponding to loads from the switch circuit.

According to the PWM controller, pulse width modulation signals can be provided for corresponding switch circuits according to feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, so that better dynamic response performance is achieved. Under the condition that feedback control signals are the same, if PDN parameters corresponding to some switch circuits are smaller, pulse width modulation signals with faster frequency or wider pulse width can be adopted to realize control of the switch circuits, and as the PDN parameters corresponding to the switch circuits are smaller, the switch circuits can be used as dynamic complementary phase power supplies and quickly respond to current jump so as to reduce the response time of output complementary power, thereby improving the overall dynamic performance of the multiphase power supply. If PDN parameters corresponding to some switch circuits are larger, control of the switch circuits can be achieved by adopting pulse width modulation signals with relatively low frequency or relatively narrow pulse width, and the PDN parameters corresponding to the switch circuits are larger, so that the switch circuits can be used as power supply bearing phase power supplies after steady state, the problem of voltage overshoot after adjustment is reduced, and the overall steady state performance of the multiphase power supply is considered.

As a possible implementation manner, the plurality of switching circuits includes at least one first switching circuit and at least one second switching circuit, wherein the PDN parameter of the first switching circuit is not greater than the set PDN threshold value, and the PDN parameter of the second switching circuit is greater than the set PDN threshold value.

By adopting the classification mode, the PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit and the PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit can respectively execute two different control strategies so as to respectively control the conduction time of different switch circuits when the current of the load jumps.

As a possible implementation manner, the control circuit determines that the load generates a current transient rise, and the first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first frequency for the corresponding first switch circuit, and the second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit, where the second frequency is lower than the first frequency. The control circuit determines that the load has current transient reduction, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third frequency for the corresponding first switch circuit, and a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit, wherein the third frequency is lower than the second frequency.

When the load current rises in a transient state, the first PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first frequency for the corresponding first switch circuit, and the second PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the corresponding second switch circuit. When the load current is in transient drop, the first PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third frequency for the corresponding first switch circuit, and the first switch circuit has shorter on time because the third frequency is lower than the second frequency, so that the problem of voltage overshoot of the load is avoided.

As one possible implementation manner, the control circuit determines that the load generates a current transient rise, and the first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first pulse width for the corresponding first switch circuit, and the second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second pulse width for the second switch circuit, where the first pulse width is wider than the second pulse width; the control circuit determines that the load has current transient reduction, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third pulse width for the corresponding first switch circuit, and a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit, wherein the second pulse width is wider than the third pulse width.

When the load current rises in a transient mode, the first PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first width for the corresponding first switch circuit, the second PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second width for the corresponding second switch circuit, the first switch circuit has longer on time due to the fact that the first width is wider than the second width, more energy is provided for the load, when the load current drops in a transient mode, the first PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third width for the corresponding first switch circuit, the second PWM controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second width for the corresponding second switch circuit, and the first switch circuit has shorter on time due to the fact that the third width is narrower than the second width, and therefore the problem of voltage overshoot of the load is avoided.

As one possible implementation manner, the control circuit determines that the load generates a current transient rise, and controls the first switch circuit to output a first output current with a first slope, and controls the second switch circuit to output a second output current with a second slope, wherein the first slope is greater than the second slope; the control circuit determines that the load has current transient reduction, and a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit controls the first switch circuit to output a third output current changing at a third slope, and a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit controls the second switch circuit to output a fourth output current changing at a fourth slope, wherein the third slope is larger than the fourth slope.

In order to fill the voltage dip when the load is current transient rising, the first PWM controller may control the first switching circuit output to vary the first output current with a first slope. The rising speed of the output current of the first switch circuit is enabled to catch up with the rising speed of the load current as much as possible by adjusting the slope, so that the advantage of low response speed of the PDN parameter of the first switch circuit is utilized as much as possible, and output drop is prevented. In order to avoid voltage overshoot when a transient drop in current occurs in the load, the first PWM controller may control the first switching circuit output to vary the first output current at a third slope. The falling speed of the output current of the first switch circuit is enabled to be as close as possible to the falling speed of the load current by adjusting the slope.

As a possible implementation manner, each first switch circuit is connected with the load through a first inductor, and each second switch circuit is connected with the load through a second inductor, wherein the inductance value of the second inductor is larger than that of the first inductor. By setting the smaller first inductance, the first switch circuit can obtain a faster response speed.

As a possible implementation manner, the multiphase power supply further comprises: and the phase power supply control circuit is used for adjusting the effective state of each of the plurality of enabling signals according to the current of the target switching circuit in the plurality of switching circuits so as to control any one or any one of the plurality of switching circuits to be in an on or off state, wherein the plurality of enabling signals are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of switching circuits.

As one possible implementation, each PWM controller includes: a sampling circuit, a comparator and a trigger; the sampling circuit is used for determining a current sampling signal according to the current flowing in the corresponding switching circuit; the positive input end of the comparator receives the current sampling signal, the negative input end receives the feedback control signal, and the comparator is used for generating a reset signal according to the comparison result of the current sampling signal and the feedback control signal; the reset end of the trigger is coupled with the output end of the comparator to receive the reset signal, the set end receives the clock signal, and the output end provides a pulse width modulation signal according to the reset signal and the clock signal.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a multiphase power supply comprising a plurality of switching circuits, a feedback circuit, and a control circuit; the output ends of the switch circuits are coupled together to provide output voltage for the load; the feedback circuit is used for generating a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load; the control circuit comprises a plurality of PWM controllers which are in one-to-one correspondence with the switch circuits, and each PWM controller is used for providing pulse width modulation signals for the corresponding switch circuit according to feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, wherein the PDN parameters comprise impedance and parasitic parameters in PDNs corresponding to loads from the switch circuit.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-phase power supply in a hybrid horizontal and vertical configuration;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multiphase power control device;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multi-phase power control device;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a pulse modulated signal according to the present application;

FIG. 5 is a second schematic waveform diagram of the pulse modulated signal of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a graph comparing dynamic performance of the present application with that of the prior art control method;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a PWM controller;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of steps of a method for controlling a multiphase power supply.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments can be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar structures, and thus a repetitive description thereof will be omitted. The words expressing the positions and directions described in the present application are described by taking the drawings as an example, but can be changed according to the needs, and all the changes are included in the protection scope of the present application. The drawings of the present application are for illustration of relative positional relationships and are not intended to represent true scale.

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The specific method of operation in the method embodiment may also be applied to the device embodiment or the system embodiment. In the description of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, wherein a plurality means two or more. In view of this, the term "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in embodiments of the present invention. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the associated object is an "or" relationship. In addition, it should be understood that in the description of this application, the words "first," "second," and the like are used for distinguishing between the descriptions and not necessarily for indicating or implying a relative importance, nor for indicating or implying a sequential order.

It should be noted that "connected" in the embodiments of the present application refers to an electrical connection, and two electrical components may be connected directly or indirectly between two electrical components. For example, a may be directly connected to B, or indirectly connected to B through one or more other electrical components, for example, a may be directly connected to B, or directly connected to C, and C may be directly connected to B, where a and B are connected through C.

Under the service scenes such as calculation, network service and the like, the core working current of the chip gradually increases, but the core area of the service chip is limited under the scene, so that partial phase power sources can be vertically distributed at the part, the distance between the vertically distributed phase power sources and the chip is relatively short, and the PDN is smaller. But there are many areas around the chip that can be fully utilized, it can lay out the phase power horizontally, the distance between this area and the chip is bigger, PDN is bigger too, it is used for steady state power supply, thus reduce the power supply pressure of the phase power of vertical layout, promote the availability factor of the electric energy. However, the logic of the current controllers for controlling the power supplies of all phases is the same, and as PDNs of the power supplies of all phases are different, the response of the power supply of the phase with larger PDNs has delay, which affects the working performance of the multiphase power supply when current dynamic jump occurs.

In view of this, the present application provides a multiphase power control device 200, which can improve the overall dynamic response performance of the multiphase power, and further make the layout of each phase of the multiphase power more flexible. Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multiphase power supply control apparatus, wherein a multiphase power supply 201 includes a plurality of switch circuits 202, and output terminals of the switch circuits 202 are coupled together to provide an output voltage for a load 203; the multiphase power supply control device 200 includes a feedback circuit 204 and a control circuit 205.

And a feedback circuit 204 for generating a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load 203. The control circuit 205 includes a plurality of PWM controllers 206 corresponding to the switch circuits 202 one to one, and each PWM controller 206 is configured to provide a pulse width modulation signal to the corresponding switch circuit 202 according to a feedback control signal and a PDN parameter of the power distribution network, where the PDN parameter includes an impedance and a parasitic parameter in the PDN corresponding between the switch circuit 202 and the load 203.

The switching circuit 202 includes a switching device, which may be one or more of a plurality of types of switching devices such as a relay, a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, MOSFET), a bipolar junction transistor (bipolar junction transistor, BJT), an insulated gate bipolar transistor (insulated gate bipolar transistor, IGBT), a silicon carbide (SiC) power transistor, and the like, which are not further described in the embodiments of the present application. Illustratively, a plurality of switching devices may form a circuit such as a power processing circuit (powerstage IC), a drive transistor (drMOS), a voltage regulation module (voltage regulator module, VRM) for providing an output voltage to the load 203 for powering the load 203.

The feedback circuit 204 is configured to generate a feedback control signal according to the output voltage of the load 203 and the rated voltage. The feedback circuit 204 may include, for example, an error amplification circuit for generating an error amplified signal based on the magnitude of the output voltage and the magnitude of the nominal voltage, and a signal processing circuit for performing a filtered amplitude modulation process on the error method signal to generate the feedback control signal.

The PWM controller 206 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), general purpose processor, digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP), application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuits, ASIC), field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware components, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. The processor described above may also be a combination that performs the function of a computation, e.g., including one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and so on. Illustratively, the PWM controller 206 may control the switching circuits 202 in a constant on-time (COT) control manner, and since the constant on-time control manner has a very good dynamic response speed, the on-time of the switching devices in each switching circuit 202 is nearly constant at a fixed input voltage and output voltage.

In addition, each PWM controller 206 provided in the embodiments of the present application may generate a pulse width modulation signal according to the feedback control signal and the PDN parameter, so that the corresponding switching circuit 202 provides the output voltage to the load 203. The feedback control signal is generated according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load 203. The PDN parameters corresponding to the switching circuit 202 include impedance and parasitic parameters in the PDN corresponding between the switching circuit 202 and the load 203. Since the switching circuit 202 is connected to the load 203 by metal, which always presents some impedance and parasitic inductance, the PDN parameters include impedance parameters and parasitic inductance.

Even if the feedback control signals are the same, if the PDN parameters are different, the response times of the different switching circuits 202 are different. The longer the response time of the switching circuit 202, the larger the PDN parameter, the delay, and the shorter the response time of the switching circuit 202, the smaller the PDN parameter. If a better voltage drop is desired, the PWM controller 206 is required to perform more in-depth control of the switching circuit 202 to obtain a better response. But deeper control also makes PWM controller 206 prone to greater overshoot and oscillation when exiting control.

Based on the above-mentioned problems, each PWM controller 206 of the present application may jointly provide a pulse width modulation signal to the corresponding switching circuit 202 according to the feedback control signal and the PDN parameter of the power distribution network, so as to achieve better dynamic response performance. For example, if the load 203 has a transient rise in current, if the PDN parameters corresponding to some switch circuits 202 are smaller under the same feedback control signal, the control of the switch circuits 202 may be implemented by using a pwm signal with a faster frequency or a wider pulse width, and because the PDN parameters corresponding to the switch circuits 202 are smaller, the switch circuits may be used as a dynamic complementary phase power supply to quickly respond to the current jump, so as to reduce the response time of the output complementary power supply, thereby improving the overall dynamic performance of the multiphase power supply 201. If some of the switch circuits 202 have larger PDN parameters, the control of the switch circuits 202 may be implemented by using a pulse width modulation signal with a relatively low frequency or a relatively narrow pulse width, and because the PDN parameters corresponding to the switch circuits 202 are larger, they may be used as a power supply carrier phase power supply after steady state, so as to reduce the problem of voltage overshoot after adjustment, and thus compromise the overall steady state performance of the multiphase power supply 201.

In order to solve the problem that, for example, in the vertical/horizontal hybrid power supply scenario, the distances between some phase power supplies in the multiphase power supply 201 and the load 203 are different, referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multiphase power supply control device two, as a possible implementation manner, the plurality of switch circuits 202 includes at least one first switch circuit 301 and at least one second switch circuit 302, where a PDN parameter of the first switch circuit 301 is not greater than a set PDN threshold, and a PDN parameter of the second switch circuit 302 is greater than the set PDN threshold. The second PWM controller 304 is configured to provide a pulse width modulation signal to the second switching circuit 302, and the first PWM controller 303 is configured to provide a pulse width modulation signal to the first switching circuit 301, where the present application is not limited to using a certain set PDN threshold to distinguish between the plurality of switching circuits 202, and the above classification is taken as an example. The embodiments of the present application may also be classified according to the distance between each of the plurality of switch circuits 202 and the load 203, which is not limited herein.

In addition, each of the switch circuits 202 in the plurality of switch circuits 202 may be classified into multiple types according to PDN parameters, for example, a first set PDN threshold value to an nth set PDN threshold value are set at the same time, and according to the set threshold value interval, the switch circuits 202 falling into the same interval are classified into the same type of switch circuits 202.

Illustratively, the first switch circuit 301 according to the above embodiment may be regarded as the switch circuit 202 closer to the load 203 (e.g., the switch circuit 202 vertically disposed on the load 203 and thus closer to the load 203), and the second switch circuit 302 may be regarded as the switch circuit 202 farther from the load 203 (e.g., the switch circuit 202 horizontally disposed on the load 203 and thus farther from the load 203).

In the above classification manner, the PWM controller 206 corresponding to the first switch circuit 301 and the PWM controller 206 corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 may respectively execute two different control strategies to respectively control the on-time of the different switch circuits 202 when the current of the load 203 jumps. For example, if the current transient rise of the load 203 occurs, the control of the first switch circuit 301 may be implemented by using a pulse width modulation signal with a faster frequency or a wider pulse width, so that the gain coefficient of the first switch circuit 301 is significantly improved, thereby implementing fast power supply and reducing the voltage drop of the load 203. And the PDN parameter corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 is larger, a pulse width modulation signal with relatively low frequency or relatively narrow pulse width may be used to control the second switch circuit 302, so that the gain coefficient of the second switch circuit 302 is stable and is not affected by voltage overshoot.

As a possible implementation manner, the control circuit 205 determines that the load 203 has a current transient rise, and the first PWM controller 303 corresponding to the first switch circuit 301 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first frequency to the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency to the second switch circuit 302, where the second frequency is lower than the first frequency.

The control circuit 205 determines that the load 203 has a current transient drop, and the first PWM controller 303 corresponding to the first switch circuit 301 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third frequency for the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit 302, where the third frequency is lower than the second frequency.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of waveforms of pulse modulation signals in the present application, wherein when the current of the load 203 is in a steady state in fig. 4, the first PWM controller 303 and the second PWM controller 304 may use the COT mode to control to supply energy to the load 203, and frequencies of pulse width modulation signals provided to the first switch circuit 301 and the second switch circuit 302 may be the same, so that on-times of switching devices in the first switch circuit 301 and the second switch circuit 302 are the same.

In fig. 4, when the current of the load 203 rises in a transient state, the first PWM controller 303 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first frequency to the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency to the corresponding second switch circuit 302, and the first frequency is higher than the second frequency, so that the first switch circuit 301 has a longer on time at this time, so as to provide more energy to the load 203, so as to realize rapid power-up and reduce output voltage drop. The setting of the first frequency is varied in response to the variation of the current of the load 203, i.e. the greater the transient rise variation of the current of the load 203, the higher the frequency of the first frequency, thereby providing the load 203 with sufficient energy to prevent the output from falling.

In fig. 4, when the current of the load 203 drops in a transient state, the first PWM controller 303 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third frequency to the corresponding first switching circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency to the corresponding second switching circuit 302, and the third frequency is lower than the second frequency, so that the first switching circuit 301 has a shorter on time at this time, so as to avoid the voltage overshoot problem of the load 203. The setting of the third frequency also varies in accordance with the variation of the load 203 current, i.e. the larger the transient drop variation of the load 203 current, the higher the frequency of the third frequency, so as to avoid being affected by the voltage overshoot.

In addition, after one or more clock cycles after the current of the load 203 jumps, the pulse width modulation signal provided by the first PWM controller 303 to the first switching circuit 301 may be converted from the first frequency to the third frequency, thereby reducing the power consumption.

As a possible implementation manner, the control circuit 205 determines that the load 203 has a current transient rise, and the first PWM controller 303 corresponding to the first switch circuit 301 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first pulse width for the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second pulse width for the second switch circuit 302, where the first pulse width is wider than the second pulse width;

the control circuit 205 determines that the load 203 has a current transient drop, and the first PWM controller 303 corresponding to the first switch circuit 301 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third pulse width for the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit 302, where the second pulse width is wider than the third pulse width.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a second waveform schematic diagram of the pulse modulation signal of the present application, wherein when the current of the load 203 is in a steady state in fig. 5, the first PWM controller 303 and the second PWM controller 304 may use the COT mode to control to provide energy to the load 203, and pulse widths of the pulse width modulation signals provided to the first switch circuit 301 and the second switch circuit 302 may be the same, so that on-times of the switching devices in the first switch circuit 301 and the second switch circuit 302 are the same.

In fig. 5, when the current of the load 203 rises in a transient state, the first PWM controller 303 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a first width to the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second width to the corresponding second switch circuit 302, and the first width is wider than the second width, so that the first switch circuit 301 has a longer on time at this time, so that more energy is provided to the load 203 to realize rapid power-up and reduce output voltage drop. The setting of the first width varies according to the variation of the current of the load 203, i.e., the larger the transient rise variation of the current of the load 203, the wider the first width, thereby providing the load 203 with sufficient energy to prevent the output from falling.

In fig. 5, when the current of the load 203 drops in a transient state, the first PWM controller 303 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third width to the corresponding first switch circuit 301, and the second PWM controller 304 provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second width to the corresponding second switch circuit 302, and the third width is narrower than the second width, so that the first switch circuit 301 has a shorter on time at this time, so as to avoid the voltage overshoot problem of the load 203. The setting of the third width is varied according to the variation of the current of the load 203, i.e. the larger the transient drop variation of the current of the load 203, the narrower the third width, so as to avoid being affected by the voltage overshoot.

In addition, after one or more periods after the current of the load 203 jumps, the pulse width modulation signal provided by the first PWM controller 303 to the first switching circuit 301 may be converted from the first width to the third width, thereby reducing the power consumption.

In other embodiments, the first PWM controller 303 is further configured to simultaneously adjust the pulse width of the output PWM signal and adjust the frequency of the output PWM signal when the current transient rise occurs in the load 203, i.e. increase the on-time by increasing the pulse width of the PWM signal, and/or increase the switching frequency by increasing the frequency of the PWM signal, so as to further optimize providing sufficient energy to the load 203; when the load 203 generates transient current drop, the pulse width of the output pulse width modulation signal and the frequency of the output pulse width modulation signal are regulated at the same time; i.e. by reducing the pulse width of the pulse width modulated signal to reduce the on-time and/or by slowing down the frequency of the pulse width modulated signal to reduce the switching frequency.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a graph comparing dynamic performance of the present application and a conventional control method. It can be seen that, in the control manner provided in the present application, when the current transient rise occurs, the output voltages of the plurality of switch circuits 202 can realize rapid power supply, so as to reduce the voltage undershoot amplitude, and when the current transient fall occurs, the overshoot amplitude is reduced, and compared with the existing control manner, the dynamic and steady state performance is considered.

As a possible implementation manner, the control circuit 205 determines that the load 203 has a current transient rise, and controls the first PWM controller 303 corresponding to the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current with a first slope, and controls the second PWM controller 304 corresponding to the second switching circuit 302 to output a second output current with a second slope, where the first slope is greater than the second slope;

the control circuit 205 determines that the load 203 has a current transient drop, and controls the first PWM controller 303 corresponding to the first switch circuit 301 to output a third output current varying at a third slope, and controls the second PWM controller 304 corresponding to the second switch circuit 302 to output a fourth output current varying at a fourth slope, where the third slope is greater than the fourth slope.

In order to compensate for the voltage drop when the load 203 experiences a transient rise in current, the first PWM controller 303 may control the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current that varies at a first slope. The rising speed of the output current of the first switch circuit 301 is as close as possible to the rising speed of the current of the load 203 by adjusting the slope, so that the advantage of low response speed of the PDN parameter of the first switch circuit 301 is utilized as much as possible, and output drop is prevented.

In order to avoid voltage overshoot when the load 203 experiences a transient drop in current, the first PWM controller 303 may control the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current that varies at a third slope. The falling speed of the output current of the first switch circuit 301 is made to follow the falling speed of the current of the load 203 as much as possible by adjusting the slope.

In order to make use of the advantage of the low PDN parameter and the fast response speed of the first switch circuits 301 as much as possible, as a possible implementation manner, each first switch circuit 301 is connected to the load 203 through a first inductor, and each second switch circuit 302 is connected to the load 203 through a second inductor, where the inductance value of the second inductor is greater than that of the first inductor. By providing the smaller first inductance, the first switching circuit 301 can obtain a faster response speed.

As a possible implementation manner, the multiphase power supply 201 further includes: and a phase power supply control circuit, configured to adjust an active state of each of a plurality of enable signals according to a current of a target switch circuit of the plurality of switch circuits 202, so as to control any one or any one of the plurality of switch circuits 202 to be in an on or off state, where the plurality of enable signals are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of switch circuits 202.

The phase power control circuit adjusts the active states of the plurality of enable signals according to the sampling current, thereby controlling the on or off of the corresponding switching circuit 202. Wherein the sampling current is related to the inductor current of the switching circuit 202. When the inductor current is greater than the current threshold, the phase power control circuit generates a phase-reduction signal in an active state. When the inductance current is not greater than the current threshold value, the phase power supply control circuit generates a phase increasing signal in an effective state. Upon receiving the phase-reduction signal in the active state, an enable signal in the active state is switched to the inactive state, so that the switching circuit 202 corresponding to the enable signal stops operating. Upon receiving the phase increasing signal in the active state, an enable signal in the inactive state is switched to the active state, so that the switching circuit 202 corresponding to the enable signal starts to operate.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of PWM controllers, as one possible embodiment, each PWM controller 206 includes: a sampling circuit 701, a comparator 702, and a flip-flop 703; the sampling circuit 701 is configured to determine a current sampling signal according to a current flowing in the corresponding switching circuit 202; the positive input end of the comparator 702 receives the current sampling signal, and the negative input end receives the feedback control signal, and is used for generating a reset signal according to the comparison result of the current sampling signal and the feedback control signal; the reset terminal of the flip-flop 703 is coupled to the output terminal of the comparator 702 to receive the reset signal, the set terminal receives a clock signal, and the output terminal provides the pulse width modulation signal according to the reset signal and the clock signal.

The sampling circuit 701 samples the current flowing through the switching circuit 202 to obtain a sampling current, and generates a current sampling signal according to the sampling current. The negative input of the comparator 702 is connected to the sampling unit to receive the current sampling signal. The input of the comparator 702 receives a feedback control signal provided by the feedback circuit 204 to generate a reset signal according to a comparison result of the feedback control signal and the sampling current. The reset terminal of the flip-flop 703 is connected to the output terminal of the comparator 702 to receive the reset signal, the set terminal receives the clock signal, and the output terminal generates a pulse width modulation signal according to the reset signal and the clock signal.

As a possible implementation, the multiphase power supply control device 200 further comprises a current detection circuit for detecting the current level of the load 203, which may comprise a current transformer (current transformer, CT), for example. When the current transient rise of the load 203 or the current transient fall of the load 203 is detected, the current of the present load 203 is sent to the control current, so that the PWM controllers 206 adjust the frequency or the pulse width of the pulse width modulation signal provided to the switch circuit 202 according to the current of the present load 203.

As a possible implementation manner, the multiphase power supply control device 200 further includes a voltage detection circuit, where the voltage detection circuit is configured to detect the magnitude of the output voltages of the plurality of switch circuits 202 that are coupled together to provide the load 203 with the output voltage, and since the output voltage also changes significantly when the load 203 changes in a transient state, the voltage detection circuit can also indirectly determine whether the load 203 changes in a transient state by detecting the magnitude of the output voltage. Further, the real-time output voltage may be compared with at least one threshold voltage, and at least one voltage comparison signal may be generated and output to the control circuit 205. The control circuit 205 determines whether a transient change in the current of the load 203 occurs according to the voltage comparison signal. If the voltage comparison signal is a preset level value, it is determined that the current of the load 203 has changed transiently.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a multiphase power control method, and referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating steps of the multiphase power control method.

In step S801, the plurality of switching circuits 202 are divided into the first switching circuit 301 and the second switching circuit 302 based on the PDN parameter of each switching circuit 202.

Step S802, detecting whether the load 203 has a current transient change, if so, executing any one or more of steps S8031-S8033, and if so, executing any one or more of steps S8041-S8043.

In step S8031, the first PWM controller 303 provides the corresponding first switch circuit 301 with a pulse width modulation signal with a first frequency, and the second PWM controller 304 provides the second switch circuit 302 with a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency, which is lower than the first frequency. The first switch circuit 301 has a longer on-time, provides more energy to the load 203, achieves fast power up, and reduces output voltage drop. The setting of the first frequency may be varied in response to a change in the current of the load 203, the greater the transient rise in the current of the load 203, the higher the frequency of the first frequency, thereby providing sufficient energy to the load 203 to prevent the output from falling.

In step S8032, the first PWM controller 303 provides the corresponding first switch circuit 301 with a pulse width modulation signal with a first pulse width, and the second PWM controller 304 provides the second switch circuit 302 with a pulse width modulation signal with a second pulse width, wherein the first pulse width is wider than the second pulse width. The first switch circuit 301 has a longer on-time to provide more energy to the load 203 to achieve fast power up and reduce output voltage drop. The setting of the first width changes according to the change of the current of the load 203, and the larger the transient rise change of the current of the load 203, the wider the first width is, thereby providing sufficient energy to the load 203 to prevent the output from falling.

In step S8033, the first PWM controller 303 controls the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current varying with a first slope, and the second PWM controller 304 controls the second switching circuit 302 to output a second output current varying with a second slope, the first slope being greater than the second slope. In order to compensate for the voltage drop when the load 203 experiences a transient rise in current, the first PWM controller 303 may control the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current that varies at a first slope. The rising speed of the output current of the first switch circuit 301 is as close as possible to the rising speed of the current of the load 203 by adjusting the slope, so that the advantage of low response speed of the PDN parameter of the first switch circuit 301 is utilized as much as possible, and output drop is prevented.

In step S8041, the first PWM controller 303 provides the corresponding first switching circuit 301 with a pulse width modulation signal with a third frequency, and the second PWM controller 304 provides the second switching circuit 302 with a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency, where the third frequency is lower than the second frequency. The first switching circuit 301 has a shorter on-time to avoid voltage overshoot problems of the load 203. The setting of the third frequency also changes according to the change of the current of the load 203, and the larger the transient drop change of the current of the load 203 is, the higher the frequency of the third frequency is, so that the influence of the voltage overshoot is avoided. In order to compensate for the voltage drop when the load 203 experiences a transient rise in current, the first PWM controller 303 may control the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current that varies at a first slope. The rising speed of the output current of the first switch circuit 301 is as close as possible to the rising speed of the current of the load 203 by adjusting the slope, so that the advantage of low response speed of the PDN parameter of the first switch circuit 301 is utilized as much as possible, and output drop is prevented.

In step S8042, the first PWM controller 303 provides the corresponding first switch circuit 301 with a pulse width modulation signal with a third pulse width, and the second PWM controller 304 provides the second switch circuit 302 with a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency, wherein the second pulse width is wider than the third pulse width. The first switching circuit 301 has a shorter on-time to avoid voltage overshoot problems for the load 203. The setting of the third width changes according to the change of the current of the load 203, and the larger the transient drop change of the current of the load 203 is, the narrower the third width is, so that the influence of the voltage overshoot is avoided.

In step S8043, the first PWM controller 303 controls the first switching circuit 301 to output a third output current that varies at a third slope, and the second PWM controller 304 controls the second switching circuit 302 to output a fourth output current that varies at a fourth slope, the third slope being greater than the fourth slope. In order to avoid voltage overshoot when a transient drop in current occurs in the load 203, the first PWM controller 303 may control the first switching circuit 301 to output a first output current that varies at a third slope. The slope is adjusted so that the falling speed of the output current of the first switch circuit 301 catches up as much as possible with the falling speed of the current of the load 203.

Based on the same conception, the application also provides a multiphase power supply, which comprises a plurality of switch circuits, a feedback circuit and a control circuit; the output ends of the switch circuits are coupled together to provide output voltage for a load; the feedback circuit is used for generating a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load; the control circuit comprises a plurality of PWM controllers which are in one-to-one correspondence with the switch circuits, and each PWM controller is used for providing pulse width modulation signals for the corresponding switch circuit according to the feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, wherein the PDN parameters comprise impedance and parasitic parameters in PDNs corresponding to the switch circuit to the load.

While some embodiments of the present application have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. It is therefore intended that the following claims be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the application.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims (9)

1. A multiphase power supply control device, wherein the multiphase power supply comprises a plurality of switching circuits, and wherein the output ends of the switching circuits are coupled together to provide an output voltage for a load; the multiphase power supply control device comprises a feedback circuit and a control circuit;

the feedback circuit is used for generating a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load;

the control circuit comprises a plurality of PWM controllers which are in one-to-one correspondence with the switch circuits, and each PWM controller is used for providing pulse width modulation signals for the corresponding switch circuit according to the feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, wherein the PDN parameters comprise impedance and parasitic parameters in PDNs corresponding to the switch circuit to the load.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of switching circuits comprises at least one first switching circuit and at least one second switching circuit, wherein a PDN parameter of the first switching circuit is not greater than a set PDN threshold and a PDN parameter of the second switching circuit is greater than the set PDN threshold.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control circuit determines that a load current transient rise occurs, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switching circuit providing a pulse width modulated signal at a first frequency to the corresponding first switching circuit, a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switching circuit providing a pulse width modulated signal at a second frequency to the second switching circuit, the second frequency being lower than the first frequency;

the control circuit determines that the load has current transient reduction, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third frequency for the corresponding first switch circuit, and a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit, wherein the third frequency is lower than the second frequency.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control circuit determines that a load current transient rise occurs, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switching circuit providing a pulse width modulated signal of a first pulse width to the corresponding first switching circuit, a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switching circuit providing a pulse width modulated signal of a second pulse width to the second switching circuit, the first pulse width being wider than the second pulse width;

the control circuit determines that the load has current transient reduction, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a third pulse width for the corresponding first switch circuit, and a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switch circuit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a second frequency for the second switch circuit, wherein the second pulse width is wider than the third pulse width.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control circuit determines that a load current transient rise occurs, a first PWM controller corresponding to the first switching circuit, controls the first switching circuit to output a first output current that varies with a first slope, and a second PWM controller corresponding to the second switching circuit, controls the second switching circuit to output a second output current that varies with a second slope, the first slope being greater than the second slope;

The control circuit determines that the load has current transient reduction, and controls the first switching circuit to output a third output current changing at a third slope, and controls the second switching circuit to output a fourth output current changing at a fourth slope, wherein the third slope is larger than the fourth slope.

6. The apparatus of any of claims 2-5, wherein each first switching circuit is connected to the load by a first inductor, and each second switching circuit is connected to the load by a second inductor, and wherein the second inductor has an inductance value greater than the first inductor.

7. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the multiphase power source further comprises: and the phase power supply control circuit is used for adjusting the valid state of each of a plurality of enabling signals according to the current of a target switching circuit in the plurality of switching circuits so as to control any one or any one of the plurality of switching circuits to be in an on or off state, wherein the plurality of enabling signals are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of switching circuits.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-7, wherein each PWM controller comprises: a sampling circuit, a comparator and a trigger;

the sampling circuit is used for determining a current sampling signal according to the current flowing in the corresponding switching circuit;

the positive input end of the comparator receives the current sampling signal, and the negative input end receives the feedback control signal and is used for generating a reset signal according to the comparison result of the current sampling signal and the feedback control signal;

the reset end of the trigger is coupled with the output end of the comparator to receive the reset signal, the set end receives the clock signal, and the output end provides the pulse width modulation signal according to the reset signal and the clock signal.

9. A multiphase power supply, comprising a plurality of switching circuits, a feedback circuit, and a control circuit; the output ends of the switch circuits are coupled together to provide output voltage for a load;

the feedback circuit is used for generating a feedback control signal according to the output voltage and the rated voltage of the load;

the control circuit comprises a plurality of PWM controllers which are in one-to-one correspondence with the switch circuits, and each PWM controller is used for providing pulse width modulation signals for the corresponding switch circuit according to the feedback control signals and PDN parameters of a power distribution network, wherein the PDN parameters comprise impedance and parasitic parameters in PDNs corresponding to the switch circuit to the load.

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