Inductor Detection

• US 20180011505A1
• Filed: 09/21/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Turkewadikar, Sachin Sudhir, Agarwal, Nitin, Radhakrishnan, Madhan
• Granted Patent: US 10,534,387 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2813 Checking the presence, location, orientation or value, e.g. resistance, of components or conductors orientation of the DUT with respect to the test fixture G01R1/06705, G01R31/281
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/0023 Electronic aspects, e.g. circuits for stimulation, evaluation, control; Treating the measured signals; calibration G01R33/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/56 using semiconductor devices in series with the load as final control devices G05F1/461 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0045 Converters combining the concepts of switch-mode regulation and linear regulation, e.g. linear pre-regulator to switching converter, linear and switching converter in parallel, same converter or same transistor operating either in linear or switching mode
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/158 including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load

Abstract

A power control integrated circuit (IC) chip can include a direct current (DC)-DC converter that outputs a switching voltage in response to a switching output enable signal. The power control IC chip can also include an inductor detect circuit that detects whether an inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and a powered circuit component in response to an inductor detect signal. The power control IC chip can further include control logic that (i) controls the inductor detect signal based on an enable DC-DC signal and (ii) controls the switching output enable signal provided to the DC-DC converter and a linear output disable signal provided to a linear regulator based on a signal from the inductor detect circuit indicating whether the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the powered circuit component.

Claims

1. A power control integrated circuit (IC) chip comprising:

a direct current (DC)-DC converter that outputs a switching voltage in response to a switching output enable signal;

an inductor detect circuit that detects whether an inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and a powered circuit component in response to an inductor detect signal; and

control logic that (i) controls the inductor detect signal based on an enable DC-DC signal and (ii) controls the switching output enable signal provided to the DC-DC converter and a linear output disable signal provided to a linear regulator based on a signal from the inductor detect circuit indicating whether the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the powered circuit component.

2. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the powered circuit component comprises a processor core.

3. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the power control circuit is configured to be implemented on a motor vehicle.

4. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the inductor detect circuit detects whether a voltage to the power circuit component is substantially shorted to an output of the DC-DC converter that indicates that the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the other circuit component.

5. The power control IC chip of claim 4, wherein the inductor detect circuit asserts a signal at a control node of a transistor in response to detecting whether the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the other circuit component.

6. The power control IC chip of claim 5, wherein the inductor detect circuit outputs an inductor detect signal that characterizes a presence or absence of the inductor.

7. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the control logic provides the linear output disable signal to the linear regulator in response to a signal from the inductor detect circuit indicating that the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the powered circuit component, wherein the linear regulator disables a linear voltage output in response to the linear output disable signal.

8. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the switching voltage signal comprises a square wave.

9. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the inductor is external to the power control IC chip.

10. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the linear regulator is a low-dropout (LDO) regulator.

11. The power control IC chip of claim 10, wherein the control logic causes the power control IC chip to transition between operating in an LDO mode wherein the LDO regulator outputs a linear voltage to the powered circuit component and an operating in a DC-DC mode wherein the DC-DC converter outputs the switching voltage to the powered circuit component.

12. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the control logic filters transient signals from the inductor detect circuit that occur during a predetermined discharge time.

13. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the control logic disables the inductor detect signal prior to enabling the switching output enable signal.

14. The power control IC chip of claim 1, wherein the control logic disables power transistors of the DC-DC converter prior to receiving the signal from the inductor detect circuit indicating that the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the powered circuit component.

15. A method comprising:

operating a power control circuit in a low-dropout (LDO) mode;

receiving, at the power control circuit an enable direct current (DC)-DC signal;

detecting a presence or absence of an inductor coupled to the DC-DC converter in response to the enable DC-DC signal; and

activating a DC-DC converter in response to detecting that the inductor is present.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

deactivating the DC-DC converter in response to detecting that the inductor is absent.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

deactivating a linear regulator in response to detecting that the inductor is present to transition the power control circuit into a DC-DC mode.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the detecting the presence or absence of the inductor comprises:

sensing a short between a between an output of the DC-DC converter and an output voltage applied to an external component.