Power supply with near valley switching
Granted: April 9, 2019
Patent Number:
10256735
A switched-mode power supply with near valley switching includes a quasi-resonant converter. The converter includes a switch element that is turned on not only at the valley, but also in a window range of ?tNVW close to the valley, where the voltage across the switch element is at its minimum. This advantageously reduces switching loss and maintains a balance between efficiency and frequency variation.
Vertical and horizontal circuit assemblies
Granted: April 9, 2019
Patent Number:
10256178
In a general aspect, an apparatus can include a leadframe including a plurality of leads configured to be coupled with a printed circuit board. The plurality of leads can be disposed along a single edge of the apparatus. The apparatus can also include an assembly including a substrate and a plurality of semiconductor die disposed on the substrate. The assembly can being mounted on the leadframe. The apparatus can further include an inductor having a first terminal and a second terminal.…
Semiconductor device and method therefor
Granted: March 19, 2019
Patent Number:
10236779
In one embodiment, a power supply controller, or alternately a semiconductor device having a power supply controller, may have a first circuit configured to form a sense signal that is representative of a signal from an auxiliary winding of a transformer. A feedback circuit may be configured to allow the sense signal to increase in response to a turn-off of the power switch, to subsequently detect a second increase of the sense signal prior to subsequently turning on the power switch,…
Differential thermistor circuit
Granted: January 29, 2019
Patent Number:
10190919
In a general aspect, a circuit can include a first resistor configured to be coupled to a first terminal of a temperature-sensitive resistance, a second resistor configured to be coupled to a second terminal of the temperature-sensitive resistance and a temperature information circuit. The temperature information circuit can be configured to: receive a first voltage from the first terminal of the temperature-sensitive resistance; receive a second voltage from the second terminal of the…
Clamp voltage detection and over-voltage protection for power supply topologies
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10148188
An active clamp flyback controller includes first and second input terminals, a clamp voltage detection circuit, and an overvoltage protection circuit. The first input terminal is adapted to be coupled to a terminal of a clamp capacitor. The second input terminal receives a feedback signal proportional to a voltage across an auxiliary winding of a flyback transformer. The clamp voltage detection circuit is coupled to the first and second input terminals, and detects a clamp voltage as a…
Resonant ignition circuit
Granted: December 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10145352
In a general aspect, an ignition circuit can include a control circuit configured to receive a command signal from an engine control unit, and a driving circuit coupled with the control circuit. The driving circuit can be configured to be coupled with a resonant circuit that includes a primary winding of an ignition coil. The control circuit and the driving circuit can be configured, in response to a command signal, to drive the resonant circuit at a first frequency to generate a voltage…
Enable and disable comparator voltage reference
Granted: November 27, 2018
Patent Number:
10142751
This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods to reduce power use of an accessory detection device. The accessory detection device can be configured to be coupled to a mobile device having an audio jack configured to be coupled to a mobile device accessory having a send/end key. In an example, the accessory detection device can include a comparator and a switch. The comparator can be configured to receive mobile device accessory information from the mobile device…
Adaptive clamping circuitry
Granted: October 30, 2018
Patent Number:
10116202
A DC/DC power supply system includes a primary side and a secondary side to generate an output DC voltage from an input DC voltage. The power supply also includes adaptive clamping circuitry that generates an adjustable clamping voltage and/or current to limit a Vds breakdown voltage for switches of the secondary side.
Low voltage switch control
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10097084
Systems and methods are disclosed, including, for example, a low-voltage control circuit configured to receive a charge pump voltage, a rail voltage, and a switch control signal, to provide the charge pump voltage when the switch control signal is in a first state, and to provide the higher of the charge pump voltage and the rail voltage when the switch control signal is in a second state. The system can include a first pick-high circuit configured to receive the rail voltage and the…
Power factor correction circuit and method
Granted: October 2, 2018
Patent Number:
10090757
A Power Factor Correction (PFC) circuit includes an oscillator circuit. The oscillator circuit receives a valley detect signal indicating a zero current condition, determines a blanking time according to an operational cycle of the PFC circuit, and determines to initiate the operational cycle according to the valley detect signal and the blanking time. Determining the blanking time includes selecting one of a plurality of predetermined blanking times according to a count of operational…
Optimized current pulse charging apparatus and method employing increasing clamp reference voltages and decreasing current pulses
Granted: October 2, 2018
Patent Number:
10090695
This document discusses, among other things, apparatus and methods to optimize charging of a battery, including providing a first charge profile configured to provide charge current pulses to a battery in a plurality of steps. In the first charge profile, the charge current pulses can be stepped down in the plurality of steps using a comparison of a terminal voltage of the battery to a clamp voltage. When the terminal voltage meets or exceeds the clamp voltage, a high time current of the…
Microelectromechanical pressure sensor including reference capacitor
Granted: September 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10065851
This document discusses, among other things, an apparatus including a silicon die including a vibratory diaphragm, the die having a silicon die top opposite a silicon die bottom, with a top silicon die port extending from the silicon die top through the silicon die to a top of the vibratory diaphragm, and with a bottom silicon die port extending from the silicon die bottom to a bottom of the vibratory diaphragm, wherein the bottom silicon die port has a cross sectional area that is…
MEMS device quadrature shift cancellation
Granted: August 28, 2018
Patent Number:
10060757
This document provides apparatus and methods for cancelation of quadrature error from a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device, such as a MEMS gyroscope. In certain examples, a quadrature correction apparatus can include a drive charge-to-voltage (C2V) converter configured to provide drive information of a proof mass of a MEMS gyroscope, a sense C2V converter configured to provide sense information of the proof mass, a phase-shift module configured to provide phase shift…
Electro-static discharge filtering circuit and method, reset circuit, and electronic device
Granted: August 21, 2018
Patent Number:
10056753
This document discusses, among other things, an electro-static discharge (EDS) filtering circuit and method, a reset circuit, and an electronic device. The ESD filtering circuit comprises a first current dividing circuit and a second current dividing circuit which respectively share a current of a first power source signal and aggregate the shared currents to form a second power source signal upon filtering, wherein a voltage drop of the first current dividing circuit is constant and the…
Method and apparatus for zero current detection
Granted: August 21, 2018
Patent Number:
10054617
This application discusses, among other things, zero current detection. In an example, a circuit for zero current detection can include a compensating circuit and a detecting circuit. The compensating circuit can be configured to feed back a compensating voltage to the detecting circuit according to an output voltage of a DC-DC converting circuit. The detecting circuit can be configured to dynamically adjust an intentional offset voltage according to the compensating voltage, and to…
Micromachined monolithic 3-axis gyroscope with single drive
Granted: August 14, 2018
Patent Number:
10050155
This document discusses, among other things, a cap wafer and a via wafer configured to encapsulate a single proof-mass 3-axis gyroscope formed in an x-y plane of a device layer. The single proof-mass 3-axis gyroscope can include a main proof-mass section suspended about a single, central anchor, the main proof-mass section including a radial portion extending outward towards an edge of the 3-axis gyroscope sensor, a central suspension system configured to suspend the 3-axis gyroscope…
Flyback converter and controller using counter and current emulator
Granted: July 31, 2018
Patent Number:
10038385
In one embodiment, a power supply controller, or alternately a semiconductor device having a power supply controller, may have a circuit configured configuring the PWM circuit to form a first signal having a value formed to be representative of a peak value of a primary current through the power switch and having a duration that is representative of a time interval that a secondary current is flowing through a secondary winding wherein the peak value is the peak value during an on-time…
Reduction of electrical size of bulk capacitors in mobile power supplies
Granted: July 31, 2018
Patent Number:
10038370
A capacitor input circuit for a mobile power supply includes a bulk capacitor and a switch. The switch connects the bulk capacitor to receive a rectified AC voltage from a rectifier when an AC line voltage input to the mobile power supply is lower than a threshold voltage. When the AC line voltage is greater than the threshold voltage, the switch electrically floats the bulk capacitor.
Power supply circuit with secondary side to primary side communication
Granted: July 17, 2018
Patent Number:
10027165
An electrical circuit for a power supply includes a primary-side controller integrated circuit (IC) that outputs a drive signal on a switch pin to control a switching operation of a switch that is coupled to a primary winding of a transformer. The primary-side controller IC places the switch pin at high impedance during a sense window and turns on the switch in response to sensing a dynamic detection signal on the switch pin during the sense window. The dynamic detection signal is…
Self-tuning adaptive dead time control for continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode operation of a flyback converter
Granted: July 17, 2018
Patent Number:
10027235
A flyback converter includes a primary-side switch that controls conduction of current on a primary side of a transformer and a synchronous rectifier on a secondary side of the transformer. A synchronous rectifier driver controls the conduction of the synchronous rectifier by adaptively adjusting a turn-off threshold of the synchronous rectifier.
