Method and system for a battery charger

• US 10,594,152 B1
• Filed: 03/17/2017
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intersil Americas LLC (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intersil Americas LLC (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Inventors: Zhao, Lei, Wei, Jia
• Primary Examiner(s): Henze-Gongola, David V
• Application Number:
  US15/462,613
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• Field of Search: 320107
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/20 Charging or discharging characterised by the power electronics converter
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00714 in response to battery charging or discharging current
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007182 in response to battery voltage

Abstract

One embodiment pertains to a method including determining if external power is supplied to a power system which includes a DC-DC voltage converter; if external power is not supplied to the power system, then turn on a switching transistor in the DC-DC voltage converter and provide battery power to the load through the switching transistor; if external power is supplied to the power system, then charge a battery.

Claims

1. A battery charger, comprising:

a switch circuit configured to receive a first output voltage sense signal representative of an adapter output voltage, wherein the switch circuit is configured to generate a first enable signal and a control signal at least partially dependent on the adapter output voltage represented by the received first output voltage sense signal; and

a DC-DC voltage converter comprising an upper power transistor and a lower power transistor, wherein the upper power transistor is configured to receive the control signal;

an output filter configured to be coupled between the upper power transistor and a battery, wherein in response to the control signal, the upper power transistor is configured to provide power from the battery to a load through the output filter;

wherein the DC-DC voltage converter further includes a PWM controller and driver configured to receive the first enable signal, and wherein the DC-DC voltage converter is configured to, at least partially dependent on the first enable signal, charge the battery by controlling the upper power transistor and the lower power transistor;

wherein the PWM controller and driver comprises;

a loop selector circuit that has an output, and is configured to receive a second output voltage sense signal representative of an output voltage of the DC-DC voltage converter, an output current sense signal representative of an output current of the DC-DC voltage converter, a reference voltage signal, and a reference current signal; and

a PWM comparator coupled to the output of the loop selector signal; and

wherein the loop selector circuit comprises;

a first error amplifier having an output, and configured to receive the reference voltage signal and the second output voltage sense signal;

a second error amplifier having an output, and configured to receive the current reference signal and the output current sense signal;

a selector circuit having at least one output, and coupled to the output of the first error amplifier and the output of the second error amplifier;

a third error amplifier coupled to the at least one output of the selector circuit.

2. The battery charger of claim 1, further comprising:

a voltage sensor coupled to the output filter, and configured to provide a second output voltage sense signal to the PWM controller and driver; and

a first reference voltage signal provided to the PWM controller and driver.

3. The battery charger of claim 2, further comprising:

a current sensor coupled to an output terminal of the output filter and configured to provide an output current sense signal to the PWM controller and driver; and

a reference current signal provided to the PWM controller and driver.

4. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein the PWM controller and driver is configured to generate a second enable signal that is provided to the switch circuit.

5. The battery charger of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower power transistors are MOSFETs.

6. A method, comprising:

determining if external power is supplied to a power system which includes a DC-DC voltage converter;

if external power is not supplied to the power system, then turning on a switching transistor in the DC-DC voltage converter and providing power from a battery to a load through the switching transistor;

if external power is supplied to the power system, then charging the battery using the switching transistor in the DC-DC voltage converter;

wherein if external power is supplied to the power system, then charging the battery further comprises;

determining if the battery is charged;

if the battery is charged, then disabling the DC-DC voltage converter; and

if the battery is not charged then enabling the DC-DC voltage converter and charging the battery; and

further comprising;

measuring battery voltage and battery current;

comparing the battery voltage and battery current respectively with a reference voltage and a reference current;

if the difference between the battery current and the reference current is greater than the difference between the battery voltage and reference voltage, then regulate the DC-DC voltage regulator based upon the battery current and reference current;

if the difference between the battery current and the reference current is less than the difference between the battery voltage and reference voltage, then regulate the DC-DC voltage regulator based upon the battery voltage and reference voltage;

determine if the battery is charged; and

if the battery is not charged, continue to regulate the DC-DC voltage regulator based upon the battery voltage and reference voltage.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein measuring battery voltage and battery current comprises generating an output voltage sense signal and an output current sense signal, and wherein comparing the battery voltage and battery current respectively with a reference voltage and a reference current comprises comparing the output voltage sense signal and the output current sense signal respectively with a reference voltage signal and reference current signal.

8. A battery charger, comprising:

a switch circuit configured to receive a first output voltage sense signal representative of an adapter output voltage and a second output voltage sense signal representative of a voltage of a load, wherein the switch circuit is configured to generate one or both of a first enable signal and a second enable signal at least partially dependent on at least one of the adapter output voltage and the voltage of the load as represented by the first and second output voltage sense signals, respectively;

a DC-DC voltage converter comprising an upper power transistor and a lower power transistor; and

an output filter configured to be coupled between the upper power transistor and a battery, wherein in response to one or both of the first and second enable signals, the DC-DC converter is configured to boost power from the battery to the load through the output filter using the upper power transistor;

wherein the DC-DC voltage converter further includes a PWM controller and driver configured to receive the first enable signal and the second enable signal, and wherein the DC-DC voltage converter is further configured to, at least partially dependent on one or both of the first enable signal and the second enable signal, charge the battery by controlling the upper power transistor and the lower power transistor, and wherein the DC-DC voltage converter is configured to receive the second output voltage sense signal representative of the voltage of the load, and a third output voltage sense signal representative of a voltage at an output of the DC-DC voltage regulator; and

wherein the PWM controller and driver comprises;

a loop selector circuit that has an output, and is configured to receive the second output voltage sense signal, the third output voltage sense signal, an output current sense signal representative of an output current of the DC-DC voltage regulator, a first reference voltage signal, a second voltage reference signal, a reference current signal, and the second enable signal; and

a PWM comparator coupled to the output of the loop selector signal.

9. The battery charger of claim 8, wherein the switch circuit is coupled to a communications bus which is further coupled to the load.

10. The battery charger of claim 8, wherein the loop selector circuit is further configured to receive an output current sense signal representative of an output current of the DC-DC voltage converter, and a reference current.

11. The battery charger of claim 10, wherein the loop selector circuit comprises:

a first error amplifier having an output, and configured to receive the first reference voltage signal and the second output voltage sense signal;

a second error amplifier having an output, and configured to receive the current reference signal and the output current sense signal;

a third error amplifier having an output, and configured to receive the second reference voltage signal and the third output voltage sense signal;

a selector circuit having at least one output, and coupled to the output of the first error amplifier, the output of the second error amplifier, and the output of the third error amplifier; and

a fourth error amplifier coupled to the at least one output of the selector circuit.

12. The battery charger of claim 8, further comprising:

a voltage sensor, coupled to the output filter, configured to provide the third output voltage sense signal; and

a reference voltage signal provided to the PWM controller and driver.

13. The battery charger of claim 11, further comprising:

a current sensor, coupled to the output terminal of the output filter, configured to provide an output current sense signal to the PWM controller and driver; and

a reference current signal provided to the PWM controller and driver.

14. The battery charger of claim 8, wherein the PWM controller and driver is configured to generate a third enable signal indicating whether a battery is charged;

and wherein the third enable signal is provided to the switch circuit.

15. The battery charger of claim 8, wherein the upper and lower power transistors are MOSFETs.

16. A method, comprising:

determining if external power is supplied to a power system which includes a DC-DC voltage converter;

if external power is not supplied to the power system, then selecting, for the DC-DC voltage converter, a first reference voltage indicative of a desired load voltage and a feedback signal representative of the voltage at a load;

enabling the DC-DC voltage converter in boost mode to power the load from a battery;

determining if the battery is charged;

if the battery is charged, then disabling the DC-DC voltage converter; and

if the battery is not charged then enabling the DC-DC voltage converter and charging the battery, wherein enabling the DC-DC voltage converter and charging the battery further comprises;

measuring battery voltage and battery current;

comparing the battery voltage and battery current respectively with a second reference voltage indicative of the desired battery voltage, and a reference current;

if the difference between the battery current and the reference current is greater than the difference between the battery voltage and the reference voltage, then regulate the DC-DC voltage regulator based upon the battery current and reference current;

if the difference between the battery current and the reference current is less than the difference between the battery voltage and reference voltage, then regulate the DC-DC voltage regulator based upon the battery voltage and reference voltage;

determining if the battery is charged; and

if the battery is not charged, continuing to regulate the DC-DC voltage regulator based upon the battery voltage and reference voltage.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

if external power is supplied to the power system, determining whether the DC-DC voltage converter should provide power to the load; and

if the DC-DC voltage converter should provide power to the load, then selecting, for the DC-DC voltage converter, a second reference voltage indicative of the desired load voltage and the feedback signal representative of the voltage at the load.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein measuring battery voltage and battery current comprises generating an output voltage sense signal and an output current sense signal, and wherein comparing the battery voltage and battery current respectively with a reference voltage and reference current comprises comparing the output voltage sense signal and the output current sense signal respectively with a reference voltage signal and reference current signal.