Regulated power supply with multiple regulators sharing the total current supplied to a load
First Claim
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1. A regulated power supply comprising:
- a first regulator having an output configured to be coupled to a load and supply current to the load during a first phase;
a second regulator having an output configured to be coupled to the load and supply current to the load during a second phase;
a first current share circuit configured to be coupled to the load adapted to determine a first average current provided to the load during the first phase;
a second current share circuit configured to be coupled to the load adapted to determine a second average current provided to the load during the second phase;
circuitry in each of said first and second current share circuits adapted to determine an overall average current to be shared by the regulators; and
compare circuits in each of said first and second current share circuits adapted to compare each of the first and second average currents provided to the load during each of the first and second phases, respectively, with the overall average current to be shared by the regulators.
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Abstract
Disclosed is a digital current sharing structure and method in which a plurality of regulators are configured to share the load current. Current share circuits in each of the regulators are configured to measure and compare the average current provided by that particular regulator with the overall average current provided by all the regulators. Each of the current share circuits then provides an output so that the output of each regulator is adjusted to provide the same amount of current to the load. Digital processing with both analog and digital averaging are disclosed. Also disclosed is a programmable hysteresis technique to eliminate relatively trivial adjustments.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A regulated power supply comprising:
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a first regulator having an output configured to be coupled to a load and supply current to the load during a first phase; a second regulator having an output configured to be coupled to the load and supply current to the load during a second phase; a first current share circuit configured to be coupled to the load adapted to determine a first average current provided to the load during the first phase; a second current share circuit configured to be coupled to the load adapted to determine a second average current provided to the load during the second phase; circuitry in each of said first and second current share circuits adapted to determine an overall average current to be shared by the regulators; and compare circuits in each of said first and second current share circuits adapted to compare each of the first and second average currents provided to the load during each of the first and second phases, respectively, with the overall average current to be shared by the regulators. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A regulated power supply comprising:
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a first regulator comprising a first current share circuit and an output coupled to a load; and a second regulator comprising a second current share circuit and an output coupled to said load; said first and second current share circuits being coupled to each other, thereby balancing the current provided by said first and second regulators, wherein each of said current share circuits comprises a compare circuit adapted to compare an overall average current value with the a current value supplied by the regulator. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification