CONFIGURATION METHOD FOR A POWER SUPPLY CONTROLLER AND A CONTROLLER EMPLOYING SAME

• US 20130245854A1
• Filed: 09/20/2011
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Powervation Limited (ROHM Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Rinne, Karl, Russell, Antoin
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/297
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/156 with automatic control of output voltage or current, e.g. switching regulators

Abstract

The present application is directed at pin programming od controllers for power converters and provides for the programming of a plurality of different controller parameters using a single programming resistor. The value of the programming resistor is used as a pointer to select a table storing a plurality of different settings for the controller.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a controller for a power supply, the controller having a plurality of settings and the controller being provided in an integrated circuit having a plurality of pins, the method comprising the steps of:

a) performing a measurement at a pin,

b) using said measurement to retrieve two or more stored settings, and

c) configuring the controller with the retrieved two or more stored settings.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of using said measurement comprises:

deriving a pointer from the measurement; and

using the pointer to retrieve a reference table containing at least one setting.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising a step of programming at least one setting in the reference table.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the programming step is performed during the manufacture of the integrated circuit.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein the reference table is stored in a programmable memory.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the reference table is programmable through a communications port on the controller.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the communications port is a serial port.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the configuring is performed during a start-up routine of the controller.

9. A configurable controller for a switching power converter, the controller being provided in an integrated circuit and comprising:

at least one programming pin to which at least one external programming component may be connected;

a measurement circuit for performing a measurement of the at the at least one external programming component;

wherein the controller is adapted to employ said measurement as a reference to retrieve two or more stored settings for the controller and to configure the controller with the retrieved two or more stored settings.

10. A controller according to claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to employ the measurement to derive a pointer value and adapted to use the pointer value as the reference to retrieve the two or more stored settings.

11. A controller according to claim 10, further comprising a memory for storing a plurality of configuration tables, with each configuration table storing a plurality of different parameter settings.

12. A controller according to claim 10, wherein the measurement circuit comprises an analog to digital converter.

13. A controller according to claim 10, wherein the pointer is obtained from a pointer reference table using the measurement or a derivation of the measurement as an input.

14. A controller according to claim 13, wherein the pointer reference table is stored in memory.

15. A controller according to claim 10, further comprising a memory for storing the stored settings wherein the memory is programmable.

16. A controller according to claim 15, wherein the memory is programmable during manufacture of the integrated circuit.

17. A controller according to claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to provide for programming of the memory through a communications port on the controller.

18. A controller according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the settings is the set point for output voltage.

19. A method of manufacturing a configurable controller for a power supply, the method comprising the steps of:

a) designing the controller as an integrated circuit with a pin programming feature provided for with at least one pin of the integrated circuit;

b) fabricating the controller with a memory as an integrated circuit package with one or more pins; and

b) storing a plurality of different configurations within the memory, where each individual configuration provides individual settings for a plurality of different operating parameters of the configurable controller, and where the pin programming feature determines the choice of configuration to be used by the controller.

20. A method of pin programming a controller for a power supply, the method comprising the steps of:

a) taking a single measurement at a pin of the controller;

b) using said single measurement to select a stored set of settings from a plurality of stored sets of settings, wherein each stored set of settings comprises a plurality of operating parameters of the controller;

c) setting operating parameters of the controller in accordance with the retrieved set of settings.