High-Efficiency, Low-Power Power Supply Circuit
First Claim
1. A circuit for charging a capacitor, wherein the capacitor has first lead coupled to an output voltage VO node, and wherein the capacitor has a second lead coupled to a GND node, the circuit comprising:
- a full wave bridge rectifier that supplies a rectified voltage signal (VR) onto a VR node, and that supplies a ground potential GND onto the GND node; and
a charging circuit that;
1) decouples the VO node from the VR node when VR is greater than a first predetermined voltage VP and,
2) supplies a charging current (ICHARGE) from the VR node and onto the VO node when VR is less than VP provided that VO is less than a second predetermined voltage VO(MAX) and provided that VR is greater than VO.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A power supply circuit includes a rectifier, a charging circuit, and a storage capacitor. An AC signal is rectified by the rectifier thereby generating a rectified signal VR between a VR node and a GND node. The capacitor is coupled between an output voltage VO node and the GND node. If VR is greater than a first predetermined voltage VP then the VO node is decoupled from the VR node. If VR is below VP then the charging circuit supplies a substantially constant charging current from the VR node, through the charging circuit, to the VO node, and to the capacitor, provided that VO on the capacitor is below a second predetermined voltage VO(MAX) and provided that VR is adequately high with respect to VO. Due to the charging current, the voltage VO on the storage capacitor is restored to the desired second predetermined voltage.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A circuit for charging a capacitor, wherein the capacitor has first lead coupled to an output voltage VO node, and wherein the capacitor has a second lead coupled to a GND node, the circuit comprising:
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a full wave bridge rectifier that supplies a rectified voltage signal (VR) onto a VR node, and that supplies a ground potential GND onto the GND node; and a charging circuit that;
1) decouples the VO node from the VR node when VR is greater than a first predetermined voltage VP and,
2) supplies a charging current (ICHARGE) from the VR node and onto the VO node when VR is less than VP provided that VO is less than a second predetermined voltage VO(MAX) and provided that VR is greater than VO. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method comprising:
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(a) using a full wave bridge rectifier to rectify an AC voltage signals and thereby generating a full wave rectified signal VR, wherein VR is present on a VR node, and wherein VR is a periodic signal and has a cycle, and wherein VR is at times during the cycle greater than a predetermined voltage VP and at other times during the cycle is less than the predetermined voltage VP; (b) providing a capacitor between an output voltage VO node and a ground potential GND node; (c) if VR has a voltage greater than VP then decoupling the VR node from the output voltage VO node; and (d) if VR has a voltage less than the VP then supplying a substantially constant charging current from the VR node and onto the VO node provided that a magnitude of a voltage signal VO on the VO node is below a second predetermined voltage and provided that a magnitude of VR is greater than the magnitude of VO on the VO node. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A circuit for charging a capacitor, wherein the capacitor has first lead coupled to an output voltage VO node, and wherein the capacitor has a second lead coupled to a GND node, the circuit comprising:
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a rectifier that supplies a rectified voltage signal (VR) onto a VR node; and means for decoupling the VO node from the VR node when VR is greater than a first predetermined voltage VP such that no current flows from the VR node to the VO node, and wherein the means is also for supplying a charging current (ICHARGE) from the VR node and onto the VO node when VR is less than VP provided that VO is less than a second predetermined voltage VO(MAX) and provided that VR is greater than VO. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification