Switching Control Circuit and Self-Excited DC-DC Converter

• US 20060290333A1
• Filed: 06/23/2006
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co Limited, Semiconductor Components Industries LLC (ON Semiconductor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co Limited, Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Fukushi, Iwao, Noma, Takashi, Nishi, Tomoaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,379,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 323/277
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/32 Means for protecting converters other than automatic disconnection
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/1588 comprising at least one synchronous rectifier element H02M3/1582, H02M3/1584 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/10 Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes

Abstract

A self-excited DC-DC converter comprises a switching element that chops a direct-current input voltage; a smoothing circuit that smoothes the chopped voltage to generate a DC output voltage; a switching control signal generation circuit that generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element by comparing a feedback voltage of the output voltage and a comparison voltage; an output correction circuit that adjusts the comparison voltage according to an error between the feedback voltage and the reference voltage and, when the output current is in the overcurrent state, reduces the level of the comparison voltage; an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that, when the output current is in an overcurrent state, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element regardless of the switching control signal; and a delay circuit that delays the overcurrent protection signal. Also, a switching control circuit is provided therein.

Claims

1. A switching control circuit that is provided in a self-excited DC-DC converter chopping a direct-current input voltage by turning on/off a switching element and then smoothing the chopped voltage with a smoothing circuit to generate an output voltage of a target level that is different from the level of the input voltage, the switching control circuit comprising:

a switching control signal generation circuit that detects a change in ripples of the output voltage and generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element to make the output voltage follow the target level;

an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that detects the output current of the self-excited DC-DC converter and, when it is detected that the output current is in an overcurrent state where being equal to a predetermined current or greater, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element to make the output current less than the predetermined current regardless of the switching control signal; and

a delay circuit that delays the overcurrent protection signal.

2. The switching control circuit of claim 1, wherein the delay circuit is also used as a delay circuit for delaying the switching control signal to set the switching frequency of the switching element.

3. The switching control circuit of claim 2,

wherein the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit generates a state signal indicating whether the output current is in the overcurrent state or not,

directly outputs the switching control signal input from the switching control signal generation circuit if the state signal indicates being not in the overcurrent state, and

outputs the state signal as the overcurrent protection signal if the state signal indicates being in the overcurrent state, and

wherein the delay circuit delays the switching control signal or the overcurrent protection signal output from the overcurrent protection circuit.

4. The switching control circuit of claim 3,

wherein the switching control signal generation circuit compares a feedback voltage obtained by feeding back the output voltage and a reference voltage corresponding to the target level to detect a change in ripples of the output voltage, generates the switching control signal of one level for turning on the switching element if the feedback voltage is lower than the reference voltage, and generates the switching control signal of the other level for turning off the switching element if the feedback voltage is higher than the reference voltage, and

wherein the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit compares the output current and the predetermined current, generates the state signal of the other level that indicates the overcurrent state being detected if detecting the overcurrent state where the output current is equal to the predetermined current or greater, and generates the state signal of the one level that indicates a non-overcurrent state being detected if detecting the non-overcurrent state where the output current is less than the predetermined current, and inputs a result of logical multiplication of the switching control signal and the state signal into the delay circuit.

5. A switching control circuit that is provided in a self-excited DC-DC converter chopping a direct-current input voltage by turning on/off a switching element and then smoothing the chopped voltage with a smoothing circuit to generate an output voltage of a target level that is different from the level of the input voltage, the switching control circuit comprising:

a switching control signal generation circuit that detects a change in ripples of the output voltage and generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element by comparing a feedback voltage obtained by feeding back the output voltage and a comparison voltage as a comparison target to make the output voltage follow the target level;

an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that detects the output current of the self-excited DC-DC converter and, when it is detected that the output current is in an overcurrent state where being equal to a predetermined current or greater, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element to make the output current less than the predetermined current regardless of the switching control signal; and

an output correction circuit that adjusts the comparison voltage according to a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage to make the average level of the feedback voltage coincide with the reference voltage corresponding to the target level and, when the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit detects that the output current is in the overcurrent state, reduces the level of the comparison voltage.

6. The switching control circuit of claim 5,

wherein when it is detected that the output current is in the overcurrent state, the output correction circuit makes the level of the comparison voltage used in the switching control signal generation circuit be reduced to be lower than a predetermined level of the comparison voltage for the case of a steady state, which is not the overcurrent state.

7. The switching control circuit of claim 5,

wherein the output correction circuit is applied with the feedback voltage and the reference voltage, generates and outputs an error integral voltage to indicate an integral of a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage and to adjust the comparison voltage, and reduces the level of the error integral voltage if being in the overcurrent state is detected.

8. The switching control circuit of claim 5,

wherein the output correction circuit is applied with the feedback voltage and the reference voltage, generates and outputs an error integral voltage to indicate an integral of a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage and to adjust the comparison voltage, and reduces the level of the reference voltage if being in the overcurrent state is detected.

9. The switching control circuit of claim 5,

wherein the output correction circuit is applied with the feedback voltage and the reference voltage, generates and outputs an error integral voltage to indicate an integral of a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage and to adjust the comparison voltage, and reduces the levels of the error integral voltage and the reference voltage if being in the overcurrent state is detected.

10. The switching control circuit of claim 7,

wherein the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit generates and supplies a state signal indicating whether the output current is in the overcurrent state or not to the output correction circuit,

wherein the output correction circuit includes:

an error amplifier that is applied with the feedback voltage and the reference voltage, the error amplifier generating a relative error current of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage; and

a first capacitance element that is connected to a first signal line between the error amplifier and the switching control signal generation circuit, the first capacitance element being charged by the error current to generate the error integral voltage, and

wherein the first capacitance element is charged when the state signal supplied from the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit indicates being not in the overcurrent state and the first capacitance element is discharged when the state signal indicates being in the overcurrent state.

11. The switching control circuit of claim 10,

wherein the first capacitance element is connected in parallel with a series body of a first resistance element for adjusting the discharging speed of the first capacitance element and a first switching element that switches on/off according to the state signal.

12. The switching control circuit of claim 8,

wherein the output correction circuit includes:

an error amplifier that is applied with the feedback voltage and the reference voltage, the error amplifier generating a relative error current of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage; and

wherein a second capacitance element that is connected to a second signal line for applying the reference voltage to the error amplifier is charged when the state signal supplied from the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit indicates being not in the overcurrent state and the second capacitance element is discharged when the state signal indicates being in the overcurrent state.

13. The switching control circuit of claim 12,

wherein the second capacitance element is connected in parallel with a series body of a second resistance element for adjusting the discharging speed of the second capacitance element and a second switching element that switches on/off according to the state signal.

14. A switching control circuit that is provided in a self-excited DC-DC converter chopping a direct-current input voltage by turning on/off a switching element and then smoothing the chopped voltage with a smoothing circuit to generate an output voltage of a target level that is different from the level of the input voltage, the switching control circuit comprising:

a switching control signal generation circuit that detects a change in ripples of the output voltage and generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element by comparing a feedback voltage obtained by feeding back the output voltage and a comparison voltage as a comparison target to make the output voltage follow the target level;

an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that detects the output current of the self-excited DC-DC converter and, when it is detected that the output current is in an overcurrent state where being equal to a predetermined current or greater, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element to make the output current less than the predetermined current regardless of the switching control signal;

a delay circuit that delays the overcurrent protection signal; and

an output correction circuit that adjusts the comparison voltage according to a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage to make the average level of the feedback voltage coincide with the reference voltage corresponding to the target level and, when the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit detects that the output current is in the overcurrent state, reduces the level of the comparison voltage.

15. A self-excited DC-DC converter comprising:

a switching element that is turned on/off to chop a direct-current input voltage;

a smoothing circuit that smoothes the chopped voltage to generate an output voltage of a target level different from the level of the input voltage;

a switching control signal generation circuit that detects a change in ripples of the output voltage and generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element to make the output voltage follow the target level;

an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that detects the output current of the smoothing circuit and, when it is detected that the output current is in an overcurrent state where being equal to a predetermined current or greater, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element to make the output current less than the predetermined current regardless of the switching control signal; and

a delay circuit that delays the overcurrent protection signal.

16. A self-excited DC-DC converter comprising:

a switching element that is turned on/off to chop a direct-current input voltage;

a smoothing circuit that smoothes the chopped voltage to generate an output voltage of a target level different from the level of the input voltage;

a switching control signal generation circuit that detects a change in ripples of the output voltage and generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element by comparing a feedback voltage obtained by feeding back the output voltage and a comparison voltage as a comparison target to make the output voltage follow the target level;

an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that detects the output current of the smoothing circuit and, when it is detected that the output current is in an overcurrent state where being equal to a predetermined current or greater, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element to make the output current less than the predetermined current regardless of the switching control signal; and

an output correction circuit that adjusts the comparison voltage according to a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage to make the average level of the feedback voltage coincide with the reference voltage corresponding to the target level and, when the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit detects that the output current is in the overcurrent state, reduces the level of the comparison voltage.

17. A self-excited DC-DC converter comprising:

a switching element that is turned on/off to chop a direct-current input voltage;

a smoothing circuit that smoothes the chopped voltage to generate an output voltage of a target level different from the level of the input voltage;

a switching control signal generation circuit that detects a change in ripples of the output voltage and generates a switching control signal for the on/off control of the switching element by comparing a feedback voltage obtained by feeding back the output voltage and a comparison voltage as a comparison target to make the output voltage follow the target level;

an overcurrent protection signal generation circuit that detects the output current of the smoothing circuit and, when it is detected that the output current is in an overcurrent state where being equal to a predetermined current or greater, generates an overcurrent protection signal for turning off the switching element to make the output current less than the predetermined current regardless of the switching control signal;

a delay circuit that delays the overcurrent protection signal; and

an output correction circuit that adjusts the comparison voltage according to a relative error of the feedback voltage with respect to the reference voltage to make the average level of the feedback voltage coincide with the reference voltage corresponding to the target level and, when the overcurrent protection signal generation circuit detects that the output current is in the overcurrent state, reduces the level of the comparison voltage.