INDUCTOR CURRENT SYNTHESIZER FOR SWITCHING POWER SUPPLIES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention; The present invention relates to current mode control of switching power supplies, particularly low voltage power supplies.
2. Description of Related Art;
Current mode power supplies, such as the synchronous buck converter shown in Fig. 1, typically use a resistive element to sense current. This method has the drawback of causing additional circuit losses, and the sense resistor occupies space. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a current mode power supply which does not require a resistive element for sensing inductor current.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention, in lieu of directly sensing the inductor current with a resistor, derives the inductor current by sensing the voltage drop across the synchronous MOSFET of the half-bridge and reconstructs the current using a sample and hold technique. A ripple current synthesizer is employed to reconstruct inductor current outside the sample and hold window. The sampled product lLoad x Roson is used to update the ripple current synthesizer with dc
information every switching cycle. The resulting voltage waveform is directly proportional to the inductor current.
The power converter may operate at constant switching frequency if desired. The synchronous MOSFET may be turned off after a brief sample period if desired. The inductor current synthesizer of the present invention can be used not only in a synchronous buck converter power supply, but also with boost converter, flyback converter and forward converter topologies.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention, which refers to the accompanying drawings .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows a circuit schematic of the inductor current synthesizer circuit of the present invention. Figure 2 shows a set of timing and control waveforms that illustrate the operation of the circuit the schematic of which is provided in Figure 1.
Figure 3 shows a digital embodiment of the inductor current synthesizer of the present invention.
Figures 4a, 4b and 4c show common power circuit topologies in which the inductor current synthesizer of the present invention can employed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to Fig. 1, the inductor current synthesizer circuit of the present invention is identified generally by reference numeral 2 and comprises two major circuit blocks, namely a switching power supply dc load information converter 4, and an inductor ripple current estimator 6.
Switching power supply dc load information converter 4 comprises inverting amplifier 10 and sample and hold switches 12 and 14. Inductor ripple current estimator 6 comprises transconductance amplifier 16, current slope synthesizer Csιope. and control switch 18. The synchronous buck power stage in Figure 1, which consists of power
MOSFETs Ql and Q2, MOSFET driver 24, inductor LI, output capacitor Cl and Rioad, is used to illustrate the operation of the current synthesizer circuit of the present invention. As shown in Figs. 4a - 4c, the current synthesizer circuit of the present invention can also be used in boost converter, flyback converter and forward converter topologies .
In a conventional buck converter as shown in Fig. 1, a high drive pulse at UG (upper gate driver) turns MOSFET Ql on and a high drive pulse at LG (lower gate driver) turns MOSFET Q2 on. Drive pulses UG and LG are complementary as shown in Figure 2, waveforms 2 and 3. Referring to Fig. 2, the operation of the inductor current synthesizer of the present invention is as follows:
• PERIOD 1 : Sample Period 1 (SHI)
Sample Period 1 (SHI), which is the settling time period for inverting amplifier 10, allows the transfer of switch node negative voltage Vsw information
Vsw = -(Load) X (RdsonQj) (1)
expressed in equation (1) to inverting amplifier 10.
Sample period SHI is adequate to allow inverting amplifier output 10 to settle before Sample Period 2. Inverting amplifier 10 amplifies the sampled portion of Vswby a factor required by current mode control system loop, and is denoted by Idc shown as waveform 6 in Figure 2. The output Idc of inverting amplifier 10 is described by equation (2), where -Kjo is the gain of inverting amplifier 10. .
• PERIOD 2: Sample Period 2 (SH2) After an appropriate delay from the application of SHI , Sample Period 2 is initiated through closure of switch 14 by the dc update signal SH2 as shown in waveform 5 of Figure 2. The closure of switch 14 provides cycle-by-cycle update of dc information to Csι0pe.
ILsynth, shown in waveform 7 of Figure 2, experiences a slight correction of ramp voltage, which is indicative of the ILsynth signal being calibrated to Idc level through closure of switch 14. In practice, the correction to ILsynth may be either positive, negative, or rarely zero. The DC update signal SH2 is held high throughout the Q2 on time period.
Waveform 8 of Figure 2 shows the inductor voltage VLI which can be calculated according to equation (3):
Vout + ILX Rdson (3)
• PERIOD 3 : Ripple Charge Period
As UG goes high, Q2 is turned off and Ql is turned on and Vsw approaches the input voltage and the inductor voltage becomes VLIQI as expressed in equation (4) and as shown in waveform 8 of Figure 2. The output of transconductance amplifier 16 provides a charging current to charge Cslope which can be derived from equations (4) through (9):
The inductor current ripple din is represented by equation (5)
The icsiope capacitor charging current is related to the inductor voltage
V IQ/ by the transconductance Gml6 of amplifier 16, and is represented by equation (6):
/ t Cslope = G ^m l6 x Λ V γ L\Q \ (6)
The capacitor charge current icsiope also develops a changing voltage dv which is represented by equation (7):
_, uV Cslope
1 Cslope — ^ slope X ~~7, (7)
The change of inductor current din is related to change in capacitor voltage dv csiope by scaling factor K and is represented in equation (8):
d i ■ L j ,\ = K x dv Cslope (8)
By proper substitution, a relationship between factor and transconductance Gmι6 is established and is represented by equation (9)
• PERIOD 4: Switch Node settling period
The switch node settling period is the period when turn-off and recovery of Ql take place and Q2 is in the turn-on process. It provides adequate switch node settling time before Period 1 is initiated.
The inductor current synthesizer represented in Figure 3 is the digital embodiment of the inductor current synthesizer circuit of the present invention. Similar to the analog counterpart shown in Figure 1, the digital embodiment consists of two maj or building blocks .
1. The switching power supply dc load and accumulated error information converter 30, which comprises n-bit analog to digital converter 32, two to one line selector 34, and current accumulator 36; and
2. Inductor ripple current estimator 38, which comprises n-bit analog to digital converters 40 and 42, two to one line selector 44, adder 46, and scaling stage 48.
Inputs from both stages are added at adder 50, and scaled in sealer 52, the output of which is the digitally synthesized inductor current.
The power stage is similar to the one described with respect to the first embodiment of the invention. It consists of Ql and Q2 power MOSFETs, inductor LI, output capacitor Cl and load Rιoad-
As in a conventional buck converter, a high output UG turns Ql on and a high output LG turns Q2 on. UG and LG are complementary drive pulses.
The states of the inductor current digital synthesizer are described in the following table:
The operation of the inductor current digital synthesizer is described in the following paragraphs:
In the following paragraphs, the notations used in the formulae are defined as:
Vout: Output voltage of the synchronous regulator, in volts
Vin: Input voltage of the synchronous regulator, in volts
Vsw: Switching node voltage of the synchronous regulator, in volts
&Countdis : Incremental count during discharge period, unitless
ACountch : Incremental count during charge period, unitless
HF: Frequency of the high frequency clock in MHz
ES: Full scale voltage range, in volts LI: inductance of LI inductor, in henries
Kl: scaling factor, unitless
K2: scaling factor, unitless n: number of Analog to Digital converter bits
• Sample Period SHI
Sample period SHI is the period when the output of A/D converter 32 is allowed to settle. This includes the period of quantization of the analog information and the binary coding of the quantized input.
During this period the time varying input switch node voltage Vsw(t) is digitized into n-bits by analog to digital converter 32.
• Sample Period SH2
During this period, the output of analog to digital converter 32 is used to recalibrate the synthesized inductor current information at current accumulator 36. SH2 is a timed signal that enables the output of A/D converter 32 to be transferred to the output of selector 34 during the on time of Q2. Thus, the digitized current information is supplied to current accumulator 36 via selector 34 selector during SH2.
• Ripple Discharge period
When Q2 is turned on, Logic Low inputs of selector 44 are selected. Therefore, the output of adder 46 is the complemented value of the output voltage. The output of A/D converter 42, converted into n-bits, is:
Vout l) " > Vout (0).... Vout n) and is complemented at inverter 45 because during this period the inductor voltage is -Vout.
The output of selector 44 steers the logic low inputs to adder 46. During discharge, the incremental count ACountdjs at each clock cycle is calculated according to :
ACount .h = x (10) d,s Lx HE
Also,
- Vout 2" -l ACountdls = ~ - x -^- (11)
where Kl is the scaling factor which is calculated from equations (10) and (11):
2" - l
Kl = - -x x HF
FS
The expression for Kl indicates that it is independent of the input and the output voltages and is modified due to errors caused by variations in inductance of the inductor, the high frequency clock, and number of A/D converter bits.
During this period, the selected data at the output of selector 34 is loaded to the current accumulator 36 at each occurrence of the high frequency clock HF. The accumulated data is fed to adder 50.
• Ripple Charge Period
When Ql is turned on, the quantized input voltage Vin at the output of n- bit A/D converter 40 is selected by two to one line selector 44. The output of selector 44 is provided to one of the inputs of adder 46. The data at the output of adder 46 is the digital representation of Vin-Vout. The output of A D converter 40 is Vin converted to n-bits: Vin nbits ■y Vjn Vin
The output of selector 44 steers the digitized Vin inputs to adder 46. During this period, the inductor voltage will be Vin-Vout.
During charge the incremental count at each clock cycle will be:
(Vin - Vout) 1 ACount . = x c" Lx HF
Through a similar exercise, one can demonstrate that the expression obtained for Kl in ripple charge period is identical to the one obtained in the ripple discharge period, which is independent of Vin and Vout.
The inductor current up-slope and down-slope information is fed to adder 50 after being scaled by sealer 48.
During this period, the selected data at the output of selector 34 is loaded to the current accumulator 36 at each occurrence of the high frequency clock HF. The accumulated data is fed to adder 50.
Scaling factor K2 at sealer 52 provides correction for changes for synchronous MOSFET Q2 Rdson process variations and Rdson temperature variations.
Example:
Assume A/D converter 32 is 10 bits. A/D converters 40 and 42 are 8 bits.
Switching frequency fs: 300KHz,
Switching period Ts: 3.33microseconds.
Inductor L\ : 800nH
HF Clock: 10MHz,
Q2 on resistance Rdson: 6 milliohms
Input voltage Vjn: 20Volts
Output voltage Vout: 1.3 Volts
ILI= 20A
Inductor ripple current: 5A n: lObits for A/D converter 32 and 8 bits for A/D converters 40 and 42 Input of A D converter 32 when Q2 is conducting is:
^ = ^so_ x ^ι CD
Vsw=0.006*20A=120mV Voltage to Current scaling is 100m V/A
A/D converter 32 will output 120 counts at 1.024v Full Scale.
Count I Amp = = 6counts I Amp
20A
At the ripple generator, 25.5 volts Full Scale for an 8 bit A/D. Number of counts to maintain 5 A peak to peak ripple: Cripple = 5_4 x 6count I A - 30counts (2)
Each clock cycle will provide Ccik counts
(V - V ) 1
Count . = ^s J- x — = 2.3AAIclk (3) ch Lx HF
Number of counts required to generate 5 A ripple
x CountCh
Ccik=6 x 2.34 =14.04 counts
K factor is calculated:
Kl =13.32
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.