Active ripple reduction switched mode power supplies

• US 7,233,130 B1
• Filed: 08/05/2005
• Issued: 06/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc. (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: RF Micro Devices Incorporated (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kay, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Bao Q.
• Application Number:
  US11/198,822
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 323/222, 323/282, 323/284, 323/285, 323/286
• US Class Current: 323/222
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/143 using compensating arrangements for reducing noise from the supply in transmission systems H04B15/005

Abstract

A system and method are provided for actively reducing ripple in a supply voltage provided by a switched mode power supply. In general, active ripple reduction circuitry operates to sense the ripple in the supply voltage to provide a signal indicative of the ripple. The signal indicative of the ripple is inverted and provided to the output of the switched mode power supply to substantially reduce or eliminate the ripple in the supply voltage.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a) a switched mode power supply; and

b) active ripple reduction circuitry adapted to;

i) sense an output ripple of the switched mode power supply;

ii) provide a ripple reduction signal inversely related to the output ripple; and

iii) provide the ripple reduction signal to an output of the switched mode power supply, thereby combining the ripple reduction signal and the output ripple such that the output ripple is substantially reduced.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the active ripple reduction circuitry comprises high-pass filtering circuitry having an input coupled to the output of the switched mode power supply and adapted to high-pass filter a supply voltage provided at the output of the switched mode power supply to provide a signal indicative of the output ripple.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the active ripple reduction circuitry further comprises amplifier circuitry having a first input coupled to an output of the high-pass filtering circuitry, the amplifier circuitry adapted to amplify and invert the signal indicative of the output ripple to provide the ripple reduction signal.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the amplifier circuitry has a low-pass filter response such that the high-pass filtering circuitry and the amplifier circuitry provide a band-pass filter response.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the active ripple reduction circuitry further comprises a capacitor coupling an output of the amplifier circuitry to the output of the switched mode power supply to provide the ripple reduction signal to the output of the switched mode power supply.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the switched mode power supply comprises a converter control system and an inductor having a first terminal coupled to an output of the converter control system and a second terminal coupled to the output of the switched mode power supply.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the active ripple reduction circuitry comprises integration circuitry having a first input coupled to the first terminal of the inductor and a second input coupled to the second terminal of the inductor and adapted to integrate a voltage across the inductor to provide a signal inversely related to a ripple current through the inductor.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the signal inversely related to the ripple current is a voltage signal, and the active ripple reduction circuitry further comprises voltage-to-current conversion circuitry adapted to provide the ripple reduction signal based on the voltage signal.

9. A method for actively reducing an output ripple in a supply voltage provided by a switched mode power supply comprising:

sensing the output ripple of the switched mode power supply;

providing a ripple reduction signal inversely related to the output ripple; and

providing the ripple reduction signal to an output of the switched mode power supply, thereby combining the ripple reduction signal and the output ripple such that the output ripple is substantially reduced.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein sensing the output ripple comprises high-pass filtering the supply voltage provided at the output of the switched mode power supply to provide a signal indicative of the output ripple.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein providing the ripple reduction signal comprises amplifying and inverting the signal indicative of the output ripple to provide the ripple reduction signal.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein providing the ripple reduction signal further comprises low-pass filtering the signal indicative of the output ripple.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein providing the ripple reduction signal to an output of the switched mode power supply comprises capacitively coupling the ripple reduction signal to the output of the switched mode power supply.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the switched mode power supply comprises a converter control system and an inductor having a first terminal coupled to an output of the converter control system and a second terminal coupled to the output of the switched mode power supply, and sensing the output ripple of the switched mode power supply comprises:

integrating a voltage across the inductor to provide a signal inversely related to a ripple current through the inductor.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the signal inversely related to the ripple current is a voltage signal, and providing the ripple reduction signal comprises converting the signal inversely related to the ripple current from the voltage signal to a current signal to provide the ripple reduction signal.

16. A system for actively reducing an output ripple in a supply voltage provided by a switched mode power supply comprising:

means for sensing the output ripple of the switched mode power supply;

means for providing a ripple reduction signal inversely related to the output ripple; and

means for providing the ripple reduction signal to an output of the switched mode power supply, thereby combining the ripple reduction signal and the output ripple such that the output ripple is substantially reduced.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the switched mode power supply comprises a converter control system and an inductor having a first terminal coupled to an output of the converter control system and a second terminal coupled to the output of the switched mode power supply, and the means for sensing the output ripple of the switched mode power supply comprises:

means for integrating a voltage across the inductor to provide a signal inversely related to a ripple current through the inductor.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the means for sensing the output ripple comprises a means for high-pass filtering the supply voltage provided at the output of the switched mode power supply to provide a signal indicative of the output ripple.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the means for providing the ripple reduction signal comprises a means for amplifying and inverting the signal indicative of the output ripple to provide the ripple reduction signal.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the signal inversely related to the ripple current is a voltage signal, and the means for providing the ripple reduction signal comprises a means for converting the signal inversely related to the ripple current from the voltage signal to a current signal to provide the ripple reduction signal.