Control circuit and control method for switch circuit and switching-mode power supply circuit

• US 10,355,604 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2017
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joulwatt Technology (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Joulwatt Technology (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Wong, Pitleong, Chan, Siopang, Ren, Yuancheng, Zhou, Xunwei
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Nguyen
• Application Number:
  US15/690,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20180062526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 323222, 323271, 323282-285
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0009 Devices or circuits for detecting current in a converter
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/096 the power supply of the control circuit being connected in parallel to the main switching element H02M1/092 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/36 Means for starting or stopping converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/072 adapted to generate an output voltage whose value is lower than the input voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/156 with automatic control of output voltage or current, e.g. switching regulators
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/33523 with galvanic isolation between input and output of both the power stage and the feedback loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/04206 in field-effect transistor switches

Abstract

The present invention provides a control circuit and a control method for a switch circuit and a switching-mode power supply circuit. The control method comprises following steps: detecting an output voltage or an output current, and adjusting an upper limit value and a lower limit value of an inductor current according to a result of comparing the output voltage or the output current with the corresponding reference; and sampling the inductor current, and controlling a main switch transistor in the circuit to be switched off when a sampling current rises to the upper limit value, and controlling the main switch transistor to be switched on when the sampling current drops to the lower limit value. In the present invention, the inductor current is fast in response without overshoot, the output voltage drops very little, there is no overshoot in a process of voltage recovery, and circuit transient response is fast.

Claims

1. A control method for a switch circuit, comprising following steps:

detecting an output voltage or output current in a circuit, and increasing an upper limit value and a lower limit value of an inductor current when the output voltage is lower than a preset reference voltage or the output current is lower than a preset reference current; and

decreasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is higher than the preset reference voltage or the output current is higher than the preset reference current; and

sampling the inductor current in the circuit to obtain a sampling current, and controlling a main switch transistor in the circuit to be switched off when the sampling current rises to the upper limit value of the inductor current; and

controlling the main switch transistor to be switched on when the sampling current drops to the lower limit value of the inductor current;

wherein detecting the output voltage or the output current in the circuit, and increasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is lower than the preset reference voltage or the output current is lower than the preset reference current, and decreasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is higher than the preset reference voltage or the output current is higher than the preset reference current comprise the following steps;

detecting the output voltage in a switch circuit of a constant voltage output, and increasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is lower than the preset reference voltage; and

decreasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is higher than the preset reference voltage; and

detecting the output current in a switch circuit of a constant current output, and increasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output current is lower than the preset reference current; and

decreasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output current is higher than the preset reference current;

wherein detecting the output voltage in the switch circuit of the constant voltage output, and increasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is lower than the preset reference voltage, and decreasing the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current when the output voltage is higher than the preset reference voltage comprise the following steps;

acquiring a sampling voltage of the output voltage in real time;

comparing the sampling voltage with the preset reference voltage, and obtaining a compensation voltage according to a comparison result;

converting the compensation voltage to obtain a command current; and

adjusting the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current according to a preset compensation current value and the command current;

wherein converting a compensation voltage to obtain a command current, adjusting a lower limit value of an inductor current according to the command current, the lower limit value of an inductor current plus a preset compensation current value to obtain the upper limit value of an inductor current, the switching frequency can be controlled by controlling the preset compensation current to achieve fixed frequency.

2. The control method for the switch circuit according to claim 1, further comprising following steps:

after sampling the inductor current in the circuit to obtain a sampling current, determining whether the sampling current is smaller than zero, and if yes, switching off a synchronous rectifier in the circuit.

3. The control method for the switch circuit according to claim 1, further comprising following steps:

after sampling the inductor current in the circuit to obtain a sampling current, determining whether the sampling current is smaller than zero, and if yes, switching off a synchronous rectifier in the circuit.

4. The control method for the switch circuit according to claim 1, further comprising following steps:

after sampling the inductor current in the circuit to obtain a sampling current, determining whether the sampling current is smaller than zero, and if yes, switching off a synchronous rectifier in the circuit.

5. A control circuit for a switch circuit, comprising a command current acquiring circuit, an adjuster, an inductor current control circuit, and a drive circuit;

wherein

the command current acquiring circuit is configured to detect an output voltage or an output current in a circuit, convert the output voltage or the output current into a command current, and output the command current to the adjuster;

the adjuster is configured to adjust an upper limit value or a lower limit value of an inductor current according to the command current and a preset compensation current value; and

the inductor current control circuit is connected with the adjuster, the drive circuit, and a sampling terminal of the inductor current;

the inductor current control circuit is configured to sample the inductor current to obtain a sampling current, generate a switching signal according to the sampling current and the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the inductor current, and control a main switch transistor by the drive circuit, the main switch transistor is controlled to be switched off when the sampling current rises to the upper limit value of the inductor current, and the main switch transistor is controlled to be switched on when the sampling current drops to the lower limit value of the inductor current;

wherein converting a compensation voltage to obtain a command current, adjusting a lower limit value of an inductor current according to the command current, the lower limit value of an inductor current plus a preset compensation current value to obtain the upper limit value of an inductor current, the switching frequency can be controlled by controlling the preset compensation current to achieve fixed frequency.

6. The control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 5, wherein the command current acquiring circuit comprises a load voltage sampling unit, a voltage comparing unit, and a voltage-to-current converting unit;

the load voltage sampling unit is connected with the voltage comparing unit and the voltage-to-current converting unit in sequence; and

the load voltage sampling unit is configured to sample a voltage between two ends of a load to obtain a sampling voltage, and output the sampling voltage to the voltage comparing unit; and

the voltage comparing unit is configured to compare the sampling voltage with a preset reference voltage, output a voltage signal obtained by comparison to the voltage-to-current converting unit for conversion to obtain a command current, and output the command current to the adjuster.

7. The control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 5, wherein the adjuster is an adder or a subtracter;

a first input terminal of the adder or the subtracter is connected with an output terminal of a voltage-to-current converting unit, a second input terminal of the adder or the subtracter is connected with a preset compensation current value, and an output terminal of the adder or the subtracter is connected with the inductor current control circuit.

8. The control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 7, wherein when the adjuster is the adder, the command current is the lower limit value of the inductor current;

and when the adjuster is the subtracter, the command current is the upper limit value of the inductor current.

9. The control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 5, wherein the inductor current control circuit comprises a zero-crossing comparison circuit;

and

the zero-crossing comparison circuit is configured to determine whether the sampling current is smaller than zero, and output a control signal to switch off a synchronous rectifier when the sampling current is determined to be smaller than zero.

10. The control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 6, wherein the inductor current control circuit comprises a zero-crossing comparison circuit;

and

the zero-crossing comparison circuit is configured to determine whether the sampling current is smaller than zero, and output a control signal to switch off a synchronous rectifier when the sampling current is determined to be smaller than zero.

11. A switching-mode power supply circuit, comprising an inductor and a main switch transistor, and further comprising the control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 5.

12. A switching-mode power supply circuit, comprising an inductor and a main switch transistor, and further comprising the control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 6.

13. A switching-mode power supply circuit, comprising an inductor and a main switch transistor, and further comprising the control circuit for the switch circuit according to claim 7.