Fault control for switched capacitor power converter
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising a power converter and fault-control circuitry connected to said power converter, said power converter comprising a port for coupling to an external circuit disposed to soft-charge said power converter, and a switched capacitor circuit comprising a set of switches, and a set of capacitors, said set of switches being configured to transition between switch configurations, thereby causing said set of capacitors to transition between plural capacitor networks, and wherein, during operation of said power converter, said fault-control circuitry is configured to carry out an action selected from the group consisting of detecting a fault in said operation and responding to said fault, wherein said fault-control circuitry comprises a disconnect switch having a maximum voltage rating greater than a voltage rating of at least one switch element in said set of switches, said disconnect switch being configured to electrically disconnect or limit current flow through a switch element in said set of switches.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Transient or fault conditions for a switched capacitor power converter are detected by measuring one or more of internal voltages and/or currents associated with switching elements (e.g., transistors) or phase nodes, or voltages or currents at terminals of the converter, and based on these measurements detect that a condition has occurred when the measurements deviate from a predetermined range. Upon detection of the condition fault control circuitry alters operation of the converter, for example, by using a high voltage switch to electrically disconnect at least some of the switching elements from one or more terminals of the converter, or by altering timing characteristics of the phase signals.
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Citations
18 Claims
- 1. An apparatus comprising a power converter and fault-control circuitry connected to said power converter, said power converter comprising a port for coupling to an external circuit disposed to soft-charge said power converter, and a switched capacitor circuit comprising a set of switches, and a set of capacitors, said set of switches being configured to transition between switch configurations, thereby causing said set of capacitors to transition between plural capacitor networks, and wherein, during operation of said power converter, said fault-control circuitry is configured to carry out an action selected from the group consisting of detecting a fault in said operation and responding to said fault, wherein said fault-control circuitry comprises a disconnect switch having a maximum voltage rating greater than a voltage rating of at least one switch element in said set of switches, said disconnect switch being configured to electrically disconnect or limit current flow through a switch element in said set of switches.
- 5. An apparatus comprising fault-control circuitry and a switched capacitor circuit connected to said fault-control circuitry, said switched capacitor circuit comprising a set of switches, a set of capacitors, and a port, said set of switches being configured to transition between first and second switch configurations, thereby causing said set of capacitors to transition between forming a first capacitor network and forming a second capacitor network, said port having an average dc current therethrough, said switched capacitor circuit being configured for connection to an external circuit, wherein said fault-control circuitry is configured to detect a fault in operation of said switched capacitor circuit and to respond to said fault, wherein said fault-control circuitry comprises a disconnect switch having a maximum voltage rating greater than a voltage rating of at least one switch in said set of switches, said disconnect switch being configured to electrically disconnect or limit current flow through a switch in said set of switches.
Specification