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Inductor over-current protection using a volt-second value representing an input voltage to a switching power converter

  • US 9,178,415 B1
  • Filed: 03/31/2010
  • Issued: 11/03/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2009
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An apparatus comprising:

  • a controller, wherein the controller is configured to;

    detect an over-current condition of an inductor current in a switching power converter using a volt-second value that is representative of an input voltage to the switching power converter and a comparison of the volt-second value to a predetermined threshold value;

    accumulate samples of an input voltage signal received by the controller to determine the volt-second value; and

    determine if an increase in an accumulation of input voltage signal values compared to the predetermined threshold value indicates the over-current condition; and

    during an inductor flyback time, decrement the accumulation of input signal values from an accumulation of link voltage signal samples minus input voltage signal samples taken during the inductor flyback time to determine if the switching power converter is operating in discontinuous conduction mode, wherein a link voltage signal received by the controller represents a link voltage of the switching power converter.

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