Method to properly ramp current sharing
US8487477B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 19, 2009 |
| Grant date | Jul 16, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 15, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH02J1/001
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A distributed power management system may include a communication bus and a plurality of POL (point-of-load) regulators coupled to the communication bus, and configured in a current sharing arrangement in which each POL regulator of the plurality of POL regulators has a respective output stage coupled to a common load and configured to generate a respective output current. Each POL regulator may have a respective phase in the current sharing configuration, and may transmit and receive information over the bus according to a bus communication protocol corresponding to the bus. The plurality of POL regulators may autonomously synchronize, to each other, a start time of their respective output voltage signal ramps by transmitting monitoring information to each other over the communication bus, while each of the POL regulators is ramping a duty cycle of a gate signal controlling a low-side field effect transistor of the output stage of the POL regulator according to a duty cycle of a gate signal controlling a high-side FET of the output stage of the POL regulator.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.