CN117639489A - Oscillation boosting circuit, addressable boosting control circuit and light source module - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an oscillation boosting circuit, an addressable boosting control circuit and a light source module, wherein the oscillation boosting circuit comprises an oscillation circuit and a voltage holding unit, the oscillation circuit comprises a charging resistor, an energy storage inductor and an energy storage capacitor, the energy storage inductor and the energy storage capacitor are electrically connected with the charging resistor, the voltage holding circuit is used for holding the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor of the oscillation circuit at a specific value, and the specific value is larger than the input voltage value of the boosting oscillation circuit.

Description

Oscillation boosting circuit, addressable boosting control circuit and light source module

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of boost control, and more particularly, to an oscillating boost circuit, an addressable boost control circuit, a light source module, and a boost method.

Background

A Laser Radar (Laser Radar) is a device that detects a characteristic quantity such as a position, a speed, etc. of a target object with Laser light as a medium. Specifically, the laser radar can detect the relative position of the target object and the laser radar by emitting a laser beam to the target object and receiving the reflected signal, thereby realizing detection, tracking and identification of the target object. For example, by using the TOF technique, a laser pulse is emitted to a target area in a very short time, the laser pulse reflected back by an obstacle in the target area is received by a detector, and the time difference between the emitted pulse and the received pulse, which is one-half times the speed of light, is multiplied by the distance between the obstacle and the radar.

In recent years, lidar is widely used in the fields of intelligent traffic, environmental monitoring, military security, etc. For example: the laser radar can be applied to an intelligent driving sensing system of a vehicle, detects obstacles in a driving road of the vehicle, and can effectively avoid the obstacles through detecting the obstacles so as to ensure driving safety. The lidar can be classified into a pulse type lidar and a continuous type lidar, and a 3D Flash lidar (3D Flash lidar) is a typical pulse type lidar. However, the pulsed laser radar has the problems of low peak power, high cost, overlarge pulse width, eye safety and the like in the practical application process.

Thus, a new driving scheme suitable for pulsed lidar is needed.

Disclosure of Invention

An advantage of the present application is to provide an oscillating boost circuit, an addressable boost control circuit, a light source module and a boost method, wherein an energy storage capacitor of the oscillating boost circuit is capable of providing a light source with a voltage higher than an input voltage at a limited input voltage, and maintaining a voltage across the energy storage capacitor in a state higher than the input voltage, and providing a stable, higher voltage for the light source.

Another advantage of the present disclosure is to provide an oscillating boost circuit, an addressable boost control circuit, a light source module, and a boost method, where the oscillating boost circuit can provide a higher voltage for a light source, and accordingly, can increase a driving current of the light source and increase an optical power of the light source.

Still another advantage of the present application is to provide an oscillation boosting circuit, an addressable boosting control circuit, a light source module, and a boosting method, in which when the light source module configured with the oscillation boosting circuit is applied to a lidar, the light source module can improve the detection performance of the lidar, for example, the detection distance, because the oscillation boosting circuit can boost the optical power of the light source.

Yet another advantage of the present application is to provide an oscillating boost circuit, an addressable boost control circuit, a light source module, and a boost method, wherein the oscillating boost circuit is capable of increasing a driving current of the light source without increasing a pulse width, which is advantageous in various aspects compared to a conventional manner of increasing the driving current by increasing the pulse width, on one hand, reducing electric power consumption; on the other hand, because the pulse width is not increased, the distance measurement resolution is improved compared with the mode of increasing the pulse width; furthermore, when the light source module provided with the oscillation boosting circuit is applied to a laser radar, the safety of human eyes can be protected to a certain extent.

To achieve at least one of the above or other advantages and objects, according to one aspect of the present application, there is provided an oscillating-boost circuit comprising: an oscillating circuit, comprising: the charging device comprises a charging resistor, an energy storage inductor and an energy storage capacitor, wherein the energy storage inductor and the energy storage capacitor are electrically connected with the charging resistor; and the voltage holding unit is used for holding the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a specific value, and the specific value is larger than the input voltage value of the boosting oscillating circuit.

In the addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, the voltage holding unit includes a first switching diode electrically connected to the oscillating circuit.

In the addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, the first switching diode is adapted to be connected between the energy storage inductance and the charging resistance.

In the addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, a ratio between a reverse junction capacitance value of the first switching diode and a capacitance value of the storage capacitor is 1% or less.

In the addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, the reverse junction capacitance value of the first switching diode is 2pF or less.

In an addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, the particular value is adjacent to a voltage maximum of the storage capacitor when the oscillating circuit is in an under-damped condition.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an addressable boost control circuit comprising: a switch integrator including at least two switch units; at least two oscillating boost circuits as described above, each of which is electrically connected to at least two of the switching units, respectively, wherein each of the oscillating boost circuits is adapted to be electrically connected to at least one light emitting point; and the driving circuits are connected with the same oscillating booster circuit.

In the addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, the addressable boost control circuit further comprises at least two second switching diodes electrically connected to at least two of the oscillating boost circuits, respectively, wherein the second switching diodes are adapted to be electrically connected between the storage capacitor and the light emitting point.

In the addressable boost control circuit according to the present application, the light-emitting point forms a parasitic capacitance in parallel with the light-emitting point, and a ratio between a reverse junction capacitance value of the second switching diode and a capacitance value of the parasitic capacitance of the light-emitting point is 1% or less.

According to still another aspect of the present application, there is provided a light source module including: an addressable light source comprising a plurality of light emitting points; and the addressable boost control circuit is characterized in that each oscillating boost circuit of the addressable boost control circuit is electrically connected with at least one luminous point respectively.

According to yet another aspect of the present application, there is provided a boosting method comprising: raising the voltage at two ends of an energy storage capacitor of an oscillating circuit to be greater than the input voltage of the oscillating circuit; and maintaining a voltage across an energy storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a particular value, the particular value being greater than an input voltage value of the oscillating circuit.

Further objects and advantages of the present application will become fully apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present application will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an addressable boost control circuit in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an oscillating boost circuit according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of an addressable boost control circuit in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of a variation implementation of an addressable boost control circuit in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a modified implementation of an addressable boost control circuit in accordance with an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of a boosting method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the application. The embodiments in the following description are by way of example only and other obvious variations will occur to those skilled in the art. The basic principles of the present application defined in the following description may be applied to other embodiments, variations, modifications, equivalents, and other technical solutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application.

It will be understood that the terms "a" and "an" should be interpreted as referring to "at least one" or "one or more," i.e., in one embodiment, the number of elements may be one, while in another embodiment, the number of elements may be plural, and the term "a" should not be interpreted as limiting the number.

Although ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," etc., will be used to describe various components, these components are not limited in this regard. The term is used merely to distinguish one component from another. For example, a first component may be termed a second component, and, likewise, a second component may be termed a first component, without departing from the teachings of the application concept. The term "and/or" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular is intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, or groups thereof.

Summary of the application

As described above, the pulsed laser radar has the problems of low peak power, high cost, excessive pulse width, eye safety, etc. in the practical application process.

The inventor of the application researches and discovers the problems existing in the practical application process of the pulse laser radar at present: the driving voltage of the light source module of the laser radar is limited, so that the driving current of the light source module and the optical power of the addressable light source of the light source module are limited, and the performance of the laser radar is affected.

Specifically, the laser radar realizes the partition lighting of the addressable light source through the addressable light source of the light source module and the addressable driving control circuit, thereby realizing the gradual scanning. Currently, in some addressable drive control circuits, control of the light emitting points of the respective partitions of the addressable light source is achieved by a Switch chip (which may also be referred to as a MUX chip). There is a contradiction that is difficult to reconcile between the withstand voltage (voltage) property of the Switch chip and the requirement of the driving voltage of the light source module.

More specifically, the voltage resistance of the Switch chip is low, and at present, the highest operating voltage of the Switch chip is only 100V, which limits the voltage value of the driving voltage provided by the addressable driving control circuit for the addressable light source, so that the power supply cannot provide a higher input voltage to the addressable driving control circuit, and further, the addressable driving control circuit is difficult to provide a higher driving voltage for the addressable light source, the driving current is also difficult to be raised, and the input voltage becomes a bottleneck for limiting the light power rise of the addressable light source.

In some conventional driving schemes, the driving current is boosted by increasing the light pulse width. However, too large a pulse width of the light may affect the detection performance (e.g., detection distance, ranging resolution) of the lidar on the one hand, and may also present an eye safety hazard on the other hand.

According to the technical scheme, the problems that the optical power of the addressable light source is limited and the optical pulse width is difficult to further reduce are solved by improving the driving voltage, so that the detection performance and the eye safety of the laser radar are improved.

Specifically, the technical scheme of the application realizes the voltage boost through the oscillating circuit, so that the energy storage capacitor in the oscillating circuit can break through the limit of the input voltage of the addressable drive control circuit, and provides higher drive voltage (higher than the input voltage of the addressable drive control circuit) for the addressable light source.

Further, the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor in the oscillating circuit changes regularly, and the voltage gradually decreases after reaching the maximum value without external factor interference, and finally is stabilized at the input voltage of the addressable driving control circuit. According to the technical scheme, the voltage at the two ends of the energy storage capacitor is maintained to be higher than the input voltage through a specific interference mechanism, so that stable and higher voltage is provided for the light source.

Based on this, the present application proposes an oscillation boosting circuit, which includes: the voltage holding circuit is used for holding the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a specific value, and the specific value is larger than the input voltage value of the boosting oscillating circuit.

Accordingly, the present application also proposes an addressable boost control circuit comprising: the LED driving circuit comprises a switch integrator comprising at least two switch units, at least two oscillation boosting circuits which are respectively and electrically connected with at least two switch units, and a driving circuit which is electrically connected with at least two oscillation boosting circuits, wherein each oscillation boosting circuit is suitable for being electrically connected with at least one luminous point, and all the oscillation boosting circuits are connected with the same driving circuit.

The application also proposes a light source module, comprising: the light source comprises a plurality of light emitting points, an addressable light source and the addressable boost control circuit, wherein each oscillating boost control circuit of the addressable boost control circuit is electrically connected with at least one light emitting point respectively.

The application also provides a boosting method, which comprises the following steps: raising the voltage at two ends of an energy storage capacitor of an oscillating circuit to be greater than the input voltage of the oscillating circuit; and maintaining the voltage across the storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a specific value, the specific value being greater than the input voltage value of the oscillating circuit.

Exemplary addressable boost control Circuit

Referring to fig. 1 to 4 of the drawings, an addressable boost control circuit 100 according to an embodiment of the present application is illustrated, wherein the addressable boost control circuit 100 includes a switch integrator 10, at least two oscillating boost circuits 20, and one driving circuit 30 electrically connected to at least two of the oscillating boost circuits 20. Specifically, the addressable boost control circuit 100 is adapted for an addressable light source comprising a light emitting area divided into a plurality of zones that are selectively turned on, each zone comprising at least one light emitting point, the addressable boost control circuit 100 being adapted to control the illuminated zones of the addressable light source and their sequence of illumination.

The type of the addressable light source is not limited in this application, and for example, the addressable light source may be implemented as a VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) type light source, an EEL (Edge Emitting Laser, edge-Emitting Laser) type light source, or the like.

In one specific example of the present application, the addressable boost control circuit 100 is adapted for use with a VCSEL-type light source, which may be implemented as a VCSEL-type light source. In this specific example, each light emitting point of the VCSEL-type light source to which the addressable boost control circuit 100 is adapted includes a light emitting body and a cathode (i.e., negative electrode) electrically connected to the light emitting body and an anode (i.e., positive electrode) electrically connected to the light emitting body, wherein the light emitting body includes a substrate layer, a negative conductive layer, an N-DBR layer, an active region, a confinement layer with confinement holes, a P-DBR layer, and a positive conductive layer from bottom to top, and the preselected partition can be conducted by conducting the anode and the cathode of the light emitting point of the preselected partition.

In this specific example, the parameters of the VCSEL-type light source are chosen to be configured as: the VCSEL-type light source comprises 96 x 28 light emitting points, i.e. the VCSEL-type light source comprises 28 rows of light emitting points, each row of light emitting points comprising 96 light emitting points, which VCSEL-type light source is suitable for use in an on-board lidar.

It is worth mentioning that in existing driving schemes for driving an addressable light source, a distributed control mode is used to control the individual zones of the addressable light source. More specifically, the driving circuits 30 are respectively configured for the respective sections of the addressable light sources, and there is a difference in circuit design, device parameters, and the like between the respective driving circuits 30, so that even if the control timings of the respective driving circuits 30 are uniform, the intervals at which the respective sections of the addressable light sources corresponding to the respective driving circuits 30 are lighted may be non-uniform, which affects the performance of the laser radar, for example, the ranging accuracy of the laser radar. The separate configuration of the drive circuit 30 for each partition of the addressable light source also results in many electronic components of the overall circuitry, large circuit board area, and high cost.

Accordingly, the present application proposes to employ a centrally managed control mode to control the individual zones of the addressable light sources. Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the switch integrator 10 includes at least two switch units, each of which is electrically connected to each of the oscillating-boost circuits 20, and each of which forms a control channel with its corresponding oscillating-boost circuit 20. Each of the oscillating-up circuits 20 is adapted to be electrically connected to one of the partitions of the addressable light source, and each of the partitions includes at least one light emitting point, that is, each of the oscillating-up circuits 20 is adapted to be electrically connected to at least one light emitting point, and all of the oscillating-up circuits 20 are connected to the same driving circuit 30, so that there is no difference in circuit design, device parameters, etc. between the driving circuits as occurs in the conventional driving circuit for driving the addressable light source, uniformity of the driving circuit 30 corresponding to each of the partitions electrically connected to each of the control channels can be ensured, and uniformity of lighting intervals when lighting a plurality of the partitions at the same timing can be further ensured, and performance of the laser radar can be improved, for example, ranging accuracy of the laser radar can be improved. Further, by controlling each oscillation boosting circuit 20 by one driving circuit 30, the number of electronic components can be reduced to a certain extent, the area of the circuit board can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

It is worth mentioning that there is a conflict between the voltage resistance of the switch integrator 10 and the driving voltage requirement of the addressable light source that is difficult to reconcile. The voltage that the switching integrator 10 can withstand is low, and therefore the input voltage of the addressable boost control circuit 100 is not too high. While the addressable light source requires the oscillating boost circuit 20 to provide it with a higher driving voltage to improve the performance of the lidar.

In this embodiment, the oscillating-boost circuit 20 is capable of breaking through the limitation of its input voltage, providing a voltage higher than the input voltage to the addressable light source under the condition that its input voltage is limited, and maintaining the voltage provided to the addressable light source in a state higher than the input voltage, and providing a stable, higher voltage to the addressable light source. Here, the input voltage of the oscillating boost circuit 20 coincides with the input voltage of the addressable boost control circuit 100.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the voltage boosting is implemented by the oscillating circuit 21, so that the oscillating circuit 21 can break through the limitation of the input voltage thereof, and provide a higher driving voltage (higher than the input voltage of the addressable boost control circuit 100) for the addressable light source.

Further, the oscillating circuit 21 includes a storage capacitor 213, and the voltage across the storage capacitor 213 changes regularly, and gradually decreases after reaching a maximum value without external factor interference, and finally stabilizes at the input voltage of the addressable boost control circuit 100. In the embodiment of the present application, the voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 is maintained at a state higher than the input voltage by a specific interference mechanism.

Accordingly, in the embodiment of the present application, each of the oscillation boosting circuits 20 includes an oscillation circuit 21 and a voltage holding unit 22. The oscillating circuit 21 is implemented as an RLC series resonant circuit, and includes a charging resistor 211, a storage inductance 212 electrically connected to the charging resistor 211, and a storage capacitor 213, where the charging resistor 211, the storage inductance 212, and the storage capacitor 213 are connected in series. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, each of the oscillating-booster circuits 20 shares one charging resistor 211.

Based on resonance principle, when the oscillating boost circuit 20 is in under damping condition and the switch integrator 10 is turned on to power up, the voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 will be greater than the input voltage, for example, when the input voltage is 100V, the maximum value of the voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 is greater than 100V.

The boosting capacity of the oscillating circuit 21 is related to the damping coefficient of the oscillating circuit 21, and the maximum voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 after boosting is the input voltage through the series resonant circuitThe multiple (ζ is a damping coefficient equal to r×sqrt ((C/L)/2), where R is the resistance of the charging resistor 211, C is the capacitance of the energy storage capacitor 213, and L is the inductance of the energy storage inductor 212, according to practical requirementsThe charging resistor 211, the energy storage inductance 212 and the energy storage capacitance 213 are selected such that the voltage across the energy storage capacitance 213 reaches a desired value. In a specific example of the present application, the maximum voltage across the storage capacitor 213 is 1.5 times the input voltage.

In this embodiment, the voltage holding unit 22 is configured to hold a voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 of the oscillating circuit 21 at a specific value, where the specific value is close to (less than or equal to) a voltage maximum value of the energy storage capacitor 213 when the oscillating circuit 21 is under an under-damped condition, and is greater than an input voltage value of the boost oscillating circuit 20.

In this embodiment of the present application, the unidirectional conductivity of the switching diode is used to block the channel of the energy storage capacitor 213 for releasing the voltage by using the switching diode with a low reverse junction capacitance as an interference mechanism, and in this way, the voltages across the energy storage capacitor 213 are interfered, so that the voltages across the energy storage capacitor 213 of the oscillating circuit 21 are kept at the specific values. Here, the reverse junction capacitance of the switching diode refers to a capacitance value when the switching diode is reverse biased.

Accordingly, in the embodiment of the present application, the voltage holding unit 22 includes a first switching diode 221 electrically connected to the oscillating circuit 20, and the voltage holding unit 22 is electrically connected between the energy storage capacitor 213 and the charging resistor 211, so as to prevent the energy storage capacitor 213 from being reduced after being charged to the voltage between the two ends thereof is maximized, in this way, the voltage between the two ends of the energy storage capacitor 213 is maintained at a higher level. Specifically, the first switching diode 221 may be disposed between the charging resistor 211 and other electronic components (e.g., the switch integrator 10, the energy storage inductor 212) between the energy storage capacitor 213 and the charging resistor 211. Accordingly, the first switching diode 221 may be connected between the energy storage inductor 212 and the charging resistor 211, or between the energy storage capacitor 213 and the charging resistor 211.

More specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the charging resistor 211 is connected to a power source for supplying power to the addressable boost control circuit 100, the switch integrator 10 is electrically connected between the charging resistor 211 and the energy storage inductor 212, and the energy storage capacitor 213 is electrically connected between the energy storage inductor 212 and the driving circuit 30. In one specific example of the present application, the first switching diode 221 is disposed between the switch integrator 10 and the energy storage inductor 212. In another specific example of the present application, the first switching diode 221 is disposed between the energy storage capacitor 213 and the energy storage inductor 212.

It should be noted that, in a variant embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, the first switching diode 221 is disposed between the charging resistor 211 and the switching integrator 10, that is, before the switching integrator 10, so that each oscillating boost circuit 20 can maintain the voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 to be greater than the input voltage of the addressable boost control circuit 100 only through one first switching diode 221. That is, each oscillating boost circuit 20 shares one first switching diode 221, and the shared first switching diode 221 can maintain the voltage across the storage capacitor 213 of each oscillating boost circuit 20 in a state greater than the input voltage of the addressable boost control circuit 100. In this way, the circuit can be simplified, and when the addressable boost control circuit 100 is applied to a lidar, the overall lidar volume can be reduced while reducing costs.

In this embodiment, the first switching diode 221 is implemented as a schottky diode, which is a diode with extremely low reverse junction capacitance, and the schottky diode is made of a noble metal (gold, silver, aluminum, platinum, etc.) as an anode, an N-type semiconductor as a cathode, and a metal-semiconductor device formed by using a barrier formed on a contact surface of the two to have rectifying characteristics, so that the reverse junction capacitance of the first switching diode 221 is low. Specifically, the ratio between the reverse junction capacitance value of the first switching diode 221 and the capacitance value of the storage capacitor 213 is 1% or less. In a specific example of the present application, the reverse junction capacitance value of the first switching diode 221 is less than or equal to 2pF, and may be even as low as 1pF. In a variant embodiment of the present application, the first switching diode 221 may be implemented as another type of diode, which is not limited to the present application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the reverse junction capacitance value of each first switching diode 221 may be set according to actual requirements, and the reverse capacitance values of the first switching diodes 221 in each oscillating boost circuit 20 may be equal or unequal, which is far lower than the capacitance value of the energy storage capacitor 213.

It should be noted that, since the oscillating-up circuit 20 can provide a higher voltage to the addressable light source, the driving current of the addressable light source can be correspondingly increased, so as to increase the optical power of the addressable light source. When the light source module provided with the oscillation boosting circuit 20 is applied to a laser radar, the light source module can improve the detection performance of the laser radar, for example, the detection distance, because the oscillation boosting circuit 20 can improve the optical power of the addressable light source. In addition, the oscillating-up circuit 20 is capable of increasing the driving current of the addressable light source without increasing the pulse width, which is advantageous in various aspects compared to the conventional increasing of the driving current by increasing the pulse width, on the one hand, reducing the electrical power consumption; on the other hand, because the pulse width is not increased, the distance measurement resolution is improved compared with the mode of increasing the pulse width; furthermore, when the light source module provided with the oscillation boosting circuit 20 is applied to a laser radar, the safety of human eyes can be protected to a certain extent.

It is further noted that the oscillating-up circuit 20 is applicable not only to the addressable light source, but also to other light sources requiring a higher operating voltage or current, or other electronic components.

In this embodiment, the addressable boost control circuit 100 sequentially controls the charging process of the energy storage capacitor 213 in the oscillating boost circuit 20 corresponding to the pre-conduction partition through each switch unit of the switch integrator 10, sequentially controls the discharging process of the energy storage capacitor 213 in each oscillating boost circuit 20 through the single-path driving circuit 30, and sequentially lights each partition of the addressable light source in this way. Specifically: the at least two oscillating boost circuits 20 include a first oscillating boost circuit and a second oscillating boost circuit, and the switch integrator 10 includes a first switch unit corresponding to the first oscillating boost circuit and a second switch unit corresponding to the second oscillating boost circuit, respectively. After the first oscillating boost circuit is charged in the process of alternately charging and discharging at least two oscillating boost circuits 20, under an external instruction, a first switch unit connected with the first oscillating boost circuit in the switch integrator 10 is switched to a closed state, and then a control switch of the driving circuit 30 is switched to an on state, so that an energy storage capacitor 213 of the first oscillating boost circuit is discharged; then, when the second switch unit in the switch integrator 10 is switched to the on state, the energy storage capacitor 213 in the second oscillating boost circuit enters a charging state, and after the charging is completed, the second switch unit in the switch integrator 10 connected to the second oscillating boost circuit is switched to the off state, and then the control switch of the driving circuit 30 is switched to the on state, so that the energy storage capacitor 213 of the second oscillating boost circuit is discharged, and in this way, the alternate charging and discharging of the energy storage capacitors 213 in the at least two oscillating boost circuits 20 are realized. Here, the first oscillation boosting circuit and the second oscillation boosting circuit are only used for illustrating two different oscillation boosting circuits, and distinguishing one oscillation boosting circuit from the other oscillation boosting circuit does not refer to any two oscillation boosting circuits; likewise, the first and second switching units are not specific to any two switching units.

Correspondingly, the driving circuit 30 is adapted to control the energy storage capacitor of the first oscillating boost circuit to enter the discharging state after the energy storage circuit of the first oscillating boost circuit is charged and the switch switching unit electrically connected with the first oscillating boost circuit is switched to the off state.

The drive circuit 30 comprises a control switch electrically connected to all the oscillating boost circuits 20, the control switch and a switching unit connected to the first oscillating boost circuit being configured to operate in an alternating conductive manner, wherein when the switching unit is in a conductive state and the control switch is in a closed state, the drive circuit 30 and the switch integrator 10 are configured such that the storage capacitor 213 of the first oscillating boost circuit is in a charged state, and when the switching unit is in a closed state and the control switch is in a conductive state, the drive circuit 30 and the switch integrator 10 are configured to discharge the storage capacitor 213 of the first oscillating boost circuit.

In this embodiment, the Switch integrator 10 may be implemented as a Switch chip, and integrated with multiple switching units, and the charging process of the storage capacitor 213 in each of the oscillating boost circuits 20 may be controlled sequentially by switching the states (on/off) of the respective switching units.

The control switch of the driving circuit 30 may be implemented as a GaN field effect transistor, or may be implemented as another type of switch, which is not limited in this application.

It is worth mentioning that when the addressable light source is implemented as a VCSEL type light source, each light emitting point has a P-electrode (i.e. the anode of the light emitting point) and an N-electrode (i.e. the cathode of the light emitting point), which will form a parasitic capacitance parallel to the light emitting point between its P-electrode and N-electrode. In some existing driving schemes for driving VCSEL-type light sources, cathodes of light emitting points of respective segments of the VCSEL-type light source are electrically connected to each other. Since each pre-selected section of the VCSEL-type light source is formed with parasitic capacitances in parallel, each parasitic capacitance forms a parasitic capacitance charging electrical connection channel, which is prone to channel crosstalk. When the storage capacitor 213 in the control channel electrically connected to the preselected section of the VCSEL-type light source is charged, the storage capacitor 213 in the control channel electrically connected to the other section of the VCSEL-type light source will also be charged. Thus, when a preselected sector of the VCSEL-type light source is illuminated, the other sectors are also illuminated.

For example, in one specific example of the present application, the cathodes of the light emitting points of the respective partitions of the VCSEL-type light source are integrally connected such that a common cathode is formed between the respective light emitting points.

In still another specific example of the present application, the cathodes of the light emitting points of the respective sections of the VCSEL-type light source are electrically connected to the same driving circuit 30, and the cathodes of the light emitting points of the respective sections of the VCSEL-type light source are electrically connected to each other.

Accordingly, the present application proposes to provide at least two second switching diodes 40 electrically connected to at least two of the oscillating boost circuits 20, respectively, to block the charging electrical connection channels between the parasitic capacitances formed by the respective partitions.

In this embodiment of the present application, the second switching diode 40 electrically connected to the oscillating boost circuit 20 is disposed between the parasitic capacitance and other oscillating boost circuits 20, and the reverse junction capacitance of the oscillating boost circuit 20 is smaller than the capacitance value of the parasitic capacitance, so that the charging electrical connection channel formed by each parasitic capacitance can be prevented from charging the energy storage capacitor 213 in the control channel electrically connected to the non-preselected partition, thereby avoiding the non-preselected partition from being lit.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the second switching diode 40 is implemented as a schottky diode, and the ratio between the reverse junction capacitance value of the second switching diode 40 and the capacitance value of the parasitic capacitance of the light emitting point is 1% or less. In a specific example of the present application, the reverse junction capacitance value of the second switching diode 40 is less than or equal to 2pF, and may be even as low as 1pF. In a variant embodiment of the present application, the second switching diode 40 may be implemented as another type of diode, which is not limited to the present application.

In this embodiment, the reverse junction capacitance value of each second switching diode 40 may be set according to the actual requirement, and the reverse capacitance values of the second switching diodes 40 electrically connected to each oscillating boost circuit 20 may be equal or unequal, and may be far lower than the parasitic capacitance value.

The specific location of the second switching diode 40 is not limited in this application, and in one specific example of this application, the second switching diode 40 is adapted to be electrically connected between a light emitting point and the storage capacitor 213, and the second switching diode 40 is adapted to have a positive electrode connected to a positive electrode of the storage capacitor 213 and a negative electrode connected between positive electrodes (anodes) of the light emitting point. In other specific examples of the present application, the second switching diode 40 may be disposed at other locations.

In the present embodiment, the addressable boost control circuit 100 also includes a power supply 50 that provides power to the overall circuitry. The voltage of the power supply 50 is greater than 0V and less than or equal to 100V, and can be used to adjust the energy of the storage capacitor 213, thereby adjusting the output power of the addressable light source.

Application example 1

Fig. 3 illustrates one specific example of the addressable boost control circuit 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present application. In this particular example, the addressable boost control circuit 100 includes: power supply V _IN Charging resistor R _IN The switching chip, the first switching diode, the second switching diode, the energy storage inductor L1, the energy storage capacitor C and the driving circuit.

In this particular example, the Switch chip is electrically connected to the power supply V _IN The Switch chip includes a plurality of Switch units integrated together, each of which is electrically connected to one of the oscillation boosting circuits 20. The Switch chip can be set to sequentially open a plurality of channels according to any sequence through an addressable circuit, or only sequentially open certain channels, so that the energy storage capacitor C is charged.

Each oscillating boost circuit 20 is adapted to be electrically connected to the common cathode VCSEL array D _L Each of the partitions includes at least one luminous point, and each of the partitions forms a parasitic capacitance connected in parallel to the partition. Each oscillation boosting circuit 20 includes an oscillation circuit 21 and a voltage holding unit 22 electrically connected to a switching unit of the Switch chip. The oscillating circuit 21 is an RLC series resonant circuit including a charging resistor R _IN The energy storage inductor L1 and the energy storage capacitor C share a charging resistor R in each oscillation boosting circuit 20 _IN . The voltage holding unit 22 comprises a first switching diode,wherein the first switching diode is adapted to be electrically connected between the energy storage inductor L1 and the switching unit of the Switch chip to maintain the capacitance across the energy storage capacitor C at a voltage higher than the input voltage of the oscillating-boost circuit 20 (i.e., the power supply V _IN Voltage of (d) is determined. When a certain main selection channel is opened for charging, in the RLC series resonant circuit, based on a resonance principle, under the underdamping condition, the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor C is larger than the input power supply voltage, and because the RLC series resonant circuit is also connected with a first switching diode in series, the reverse junction capacitance of the first switching diode is extremely low, the reverse leakage current is extremely low, and when the reverse bias voltage is applied, the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor C can be regarded as being equivalent to an open circuit, and therefore, the voltage at the two ends of the energy storage capacitor C is kept at the maximum value and hardly decreases. Thereby realizing that a lower input supply voltage can charge the storage capacitor C to a higher voltage.

All oscillating boost circuits 20 are electrically connected to the same driving circuit, which comprises at least one control switch Q1, said control switch Q1 being implemented as a gallium nitride (GaN) field effect transistor.

After the charging of the storage capacitor C of the VCSEL main channel is completed, the single-path driving circuit 30 inputs a high-level ns-level narrow pulse to the GaN field effect transistor through the gate driving control command, and turns on the GaN field effect transistor to discharge, so as to realize the lighting (i.e., on) of the main channel.

Application example 2

Fig. 5 illustrates another specific example of the addressable boost control circuit 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present application. This particular example compares with the addressable boost control circuit 100 illustrated in fig. 3 according to an embodiment of the present application, each oscillating boost circuit 20 is implemented in the storage capacitor C and the common cathode VCSEL array D _L And a second switching diode with extremely low reverse junction capacitance is additionally arranged between the luminous points of the two to avoid channel crosstalk. Specifically, common cathode VCSEL array D _L The cathodes of the VCSEL segments of each channel are connected because the VCSEL devices of each channel themselves have a large parasitic capacitance, e.g., no anode in the VCSEL segment of each channelThe switching diode with very low series reverse junction capacitance with the energy storage capacitor C can be reversely charged by parasitic capacitance of the VCSEL device, so that when the driving circuit is opened, not only the VCSEL partition of the main selection channel can emit light, but also the VCSEL partition of any other channel can emit light, and the crosstalk problem is caused.

In summary, the addressable boost control circuit 100 illustrates that the energy storage capacitor 213 of the oscillating boost circuit 20 in the addressable boost control circuit 100 can provide a voltage higher than the input voltage for the light source under a limited input voltage, and maintain the voltage across the energy storage capacitor 213 in a state higher than the input voltage, so as to provide a stable, higher voltage for the light source.

Based on the above-mentioned addressable boost control circuit 100, according to another aspect of the present application, the present application proposes a light source module, wherein the light source module comprises an addressable light source and the addressable boost control circuit 100 as described above, the addressable light source comprises a plurality of light emitting points, wherein each of the oscillating boost circuits 20 of the addressable boost control circuit 100 is electrically connected to at least one light emitting point, respectively.

The light source module can improve the performance of the light source module through optimizing the addressable boost control circuit. The light source module can be used for a laser radar, so that the performance of the laser radar is improved.

Based on the addressable boost control circuit 100 described above, according to yet another aspect of the present application, the present application proposes a boost method, as shown in fig. 6. The boosting method comprises the following steps: s110, increasing the voltage at two ends of an energy storage capacitor of an oscillating circuit to be larger than the input voltage of the oscillating circuit; and S120, keeping the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a specific value, wherein the specific value is larger than the input voltage value of the oscillating circuit.

The basic principles of the present application have been described above in connection with specific embodiments, however, it should be noted that the advantages, benefits, effects, etc. mentioned in the present application are merely examples and not limiting, and these advantages, benefits, effects, etc. are not to be considered as necessarily possessed by the various embodiments of the present application. Furthermore, the specific details disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and understanding only, and are not intended to be limiting, as the application is not intended to be limited to the details disclosed herein as such.

Claims (11)

1. An oscillating boost circuit, comprising: an oscillating circuit, comprising: the charging device comprises a charging resistor, an energy storage inductor and an energy storage capacitor, wherein the energy storage inductor and the energy storage capacitor are electrically connected with the charging resistor; and the voltage holding unit is used for holding the voltage at two ends of the energy storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a specific value, and the specific value is larger than the input voltage value of the boosting oscillating circuit.

2. The oscillating boost circuit of claim 1, wherein the voltage holding unit includes a first switching diode electrically connected to the oscillating circuit.

3. The oscillating boost circuit of claim 2, wherein the first switching diode is electrically connected between the energy storage inductance and the charging resistance.

4. The oscillating boost circuit of claim 2, wherein a ratio between a reverse junction capacitance value of the first switching diode and a capacitance value of the storage capacitor is 1% or less.

5. The oscillating boost circuit of claim 4, wherein the reverse junction capacitance value of the first switching diode is 2pF or less.

6. The oscillating boost circuit of claim 1, wherein the particular value is adjacent to a voltage maximum of the tank capacitor when the oscillating circuit is in an under-damped condition.

7. An addressable boost control circuit, comprising: a switch integrator including at least two switch units; at least two oscillating boost circuits according to any one of claims 1 to 6, each of which is electrically connected to at least two of said switching units, wherein each oscillating boost circuit is adapted to be electrically connected to at least one luminous point; and the driving circuits are connected with the same oscillating booster circuit.

8. The addressable boost control circuit of claim 7 wherein the addressable boost control circuit further comprises at least two second switching diodes electrically connected to at least two of the oscillating boost circuits, respectively, wherein the second switching diodes are adapted to be electrically connected between the storage capacitor and the light emitting point.

9. The addressable boost control circuit of claim 8 wherein the light-emitting point forms a parasitic capacitance in parallel with the light-emitting point, the ratio between the reverse junction capacitance value of the second switching diode and the capacitance value of the parasitic capacitance of the light-emitting point being less than or equal to 1%.

10. A light source module, comprising: an addressable light source comprising a plurality of light emitting points; the addressable boost control circuit of claim 7, wherein each oscillating boost circuit of the addressable boost control circuit is electrically connected to at least one light emitting point.

11. A boosting method, characterized by comprising: raising the voltage at two ends of an energy storage capacitor of an oscillating circuit to be greater than the input voltage of the oscillating circuit; and maintaining a voltage across an energy storage capacitor of the oscillating circuit at a particular value, the particular value being greater than an input voltage value of the oscillating circuit.