DC-DC switching cell modules for on-board power systems

• US 20080238208A1
• Filed: 01/22/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Astec International Limited (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Astec International Limited (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Mao, Hong, Potter, Geoffrey
• Granted Patent: US 8,004,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/75
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/08 Three-wire systems; Systems having more than three wires
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/007 Plural converter units in cascade push-pull DC/DC converters with pre-regulator H02M3/3374; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC stage including a high frequency transformer H02M7/4807; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC conversion stage generating periodically varying voltages H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/008 Plural converter units for generating at two or more independent and non-parallel outputs, e.g. systems with plural point of load switching regulators
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/157 with digital control

Abstract

A DC-DC switching cell module includes a switch, a rectifier, an output filter coupled to the rectifier, and an input port for receiving an external PWM control signal from a controller. The switching cell module is configured to control the switch in response to the external PWM control signal to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage. The switching cell module is configured for attachment to a circuit board as a discrete component.

Claims

1. A DC-DC switching cell module comprising a switch, a rectifier, an output filter coupled to the rectifier, and an input port for receiving an external PWM control signal from a controller, the switching cell module configured to control the switch in response to the external PWM control signal to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage.

2. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 wherein the module is configured for attachment to a circuit board.

3. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of pins for connecting the module to the circuit board.

4. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 3 wherein the module does not include an enable/disable pin.

5. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 2 wherein the module is an integrated circuit.

6. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 2 wherein the module comprises a circuit board.

7. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 further comprising a temperature sensor for providing to the controller a signal representative of a temperature of the switching cell module.

8. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 further comprising a current sensor for providing to the controller a signal representative of an output current of the switching cell module.

9. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 further comprising a gate driver configured to operate the switch in response to the external PWM control signal from the controller.

10. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 further comprising a transformer.

11. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 10 wherein the switching cell module includes one of a half-bridge, full bridge, forward and flyback topology.

12. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 wherein the switching cell module includes one of a buck, a boost and a buck-boost topology.

13. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 further comprising at least one inductor.

14. The DC-DC switching cell module of claim 1 further comprising an input filter.

15. A method comprising installing a first DC-DC switching cell module on a circuit board, the switching cell module having a switch, a rectifier, an output filter coupled to the rectifier, and an input port for receiving an external PWM control signal from a controller, the switching cell module configured to control the switch in response to the external PWM control signal to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage, and installing the controller on the circuit board, the controller configured to output a first PWM control signal to the first switching cell module.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising installing a second DC-DC switching cell module on the circuit board, the controller configured to output a second PWM control signal to the second switching cell module.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising installing one or more additional DC-DC switching cell modules on the circuit board, the controller configured to output one or more additional PWM control signals to the one or more additional DC-DC switching cell modules.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising providing a feedback signal to the controller, the feedback signal representing an output voltage or an output current of the first switching cell module, the controller configured to use the feedback signal to regulate the DC output voltage of the first switching cell module.

19. A method of commercializing products for a distributed power system, the method comprising producing a DC-DC switching cell module, the switching cell module including a switch, a rectifier, an output filter coupled to the rectifier, and an input port for receiving an external PWM control signal from a controller, the switching cell module configured to control the switch in response to the external PWM control signal to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage, and selling the produced DC-DC switching cell module as a product.

20. A distributed power system comprising a controller, and at least one DC-DC switching cell module having a switch, a rectifier, an output filter coupled to the rectifier, and an input port for receiving an external PWM control signal from the controller, the at least one switching cell configured to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage in response to the PWM control signal from the controller.

21. The distributed power system of claim 20 wherein the controller comprises a digital controller.

22. The distributed power system of claim 20 wherein the switching cell module includes an output port for providing a feedback signal to the controller and the controller includes an input port to receive the feedback signal.

23. The distributed power system of claim 22 wherein the controller is configured to regulate the DC output voltage of the switching cell module in response to the feedback signal.

24. The distributed power system of claim 20 wherein the at least one DC-DC switching cell module includes a plurality of DC-DC switching cell modules, each switching cell module including a switch, a rectifier, an output filter coupled to the rectifier, and an input port for receiving an external PWM control signal from the controller and configured to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage in response to its PWM control signal from the controller.

25. The distributed power system of claim 24 wherein at least one of the plurality of switching cell modules is configured to generate a different DC output voltage than another one of the plurality of switching cell modules.

26. The distributed power system of claim 24 further comprising a multiplexer, the multiplexer coupled to receive a plurality of output voltages from the plurality of switching cell modules, the controller configured to sample the plurality of output voltages one at a time via the multiplexer.

27. The distributed power system of claim 26 wherein the controller includes the multiplexer.

28. The distributed power system of claim 26 wherein the multiplexer is coupled to receive output voltages from less than all of the plurality of switching cell modules.

29. The distributed power system of claim 28 wherein at least one of the output voltages not sampled via the multiplexer is sampled by the controller via an input port.

30. The distributed power system of claim 26 wherein the output voltages are sampled in a sequence via the multiplexer.

31. The distributed power system of claim 24 wherein at least one of the plurality of switching cell modules is configured to provide a DC output voltage to a voltage bus.

32. The distributed power system of claim 31 wherein the DC output voltage for the voltage bus is an unregulated DC voltage.

33. The distributed power system of claim 31 wherein the DC output voltage for the voltage bus is a regulated DC voltage.

34. The distributed power system of claim 31 wherein one of the plurality of switching cell modules includes a DC voltage input port connected to the voltage bus.

35. The distributed power system of claim 24 wherein at least two of the plurality of switching cell modules have voltage output ports connected in parallel.

36. The distributed power system of claim 24 wherein at least one of the plurality of switching cell modules is an isolated DC-DC converter.

37. The distributed power system of claim 24 wherein at least one of the switching cell modules is configured to generate a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage in response to unmodulated PWM control signal from the controller, the unmodulated PWM control signal having a fixed pulse width.