Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for balancing channel currents in a multi-phase DC-to-DC converter

US6414470B1 · kind B1 · utility

32Cited by
4References
39Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 22, 2002
Grant dateJul 2, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 22, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH02J1/102
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and method for current balance in a multi-phase DC-to-DC converter with a converter output voltage and a plurality of channel currents employs for each channel a multi-input pulse width modulator or an ordinary pulse width modulator in conjunction with a multi-input comparator to produce a respective PWM signal to regulate the corresponding channel current. In addition to the comparison of the converter output voltage with a reference signal to produce an error signal, the apparatus and method compares the error signal with a ramp signal and the corresponding channel current with each of the other channel currents with the multi-input pulse width modulator. Alternatively, a ramp signal is compared by the ordinary pulse width modulator with a signal derived from the multi-input comparator which subtracts the corresponding channel current from each other channel current and sums the error signal.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.