Switching controller having frequency hopping for power supplies

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a power supply, and more specifically relates to the control of a switching mode power supply.

2. Description of Related Art

Power supplies have been used to convert an unregulated power source to a regulated voltage or current. FIG. 1 shows a traditional power supply, in which a PWM controller 10 generates a switching signal V PWM for switching a transformer 11 via a transistor 20 . The duty cycle of the switching signal V PWM determines the power delivered from an input of a power source to an output of the power supply. Although the switching technology reduces the size of the power supply, switching devices generate electric and magnetic interference (EMI) that interferes the power source. An EMI filter 15 equipped at an input of the power supply is utilized to reduce the EMI. However, the EMI filter 15 causes power consumption and increases the cost and the size of the power supply. In recent development, many prior arts have been proposed to reduce the EMI by using frequency modulation or frequency hopping. For example, “Effects of Switching Frequency Modulation on EMI Performance of a Converter Using Spread Spectrum Approach” by M. Rahkala, T. Suntio, K. Kalliomaki, APEC 2002 (Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, 2002), 17-Annual, IEEE, Volume 1, 10–14, March, 2002, Pages: 93–99. However, the disadvantage of the prior art is that frequency modulation generates undesirable ripple signal at the output of the power supply. The undesirable ripple signal generated by frequency modulation could be realized by the following description. An output power P O of the power supply is the product of an output voltage V O and an output current I O of the power supply, which is given by,

P O =V O ×I O =η×P IN   (1)

An input power P IN of the transformer 11 and a switching current I P can be respectively expressed by,

P IN = 1 2 × T × L P × I P 2 I P = V IN L P × T ON

Where η is the efficiency of the transformer 11 ; V IN is an input voltage of the transformer 11 ; L P is a primary inductance of the transformer 11 ; T is a switching period of the switching signal V PWM ; T ON is an on-time of the switching signal V PWM .

The equation (1) can be rewritten as,

The switching period T varies according to frequency modulation. As shown in equation (2), the output power P O will vary as the switching period T varies. Therefore, an undesirable ripple signal will be generated as the output power P O varies.

An object of the present invention is to provide a switching controller having switching frequency hopping to reduce the EMI for a power supply, in which the switching controller of the present invention will not generate the undesired ripple signal at the output of the power supply.

A switching controller having frequency hopping for power supplies according to the present invention includes a clock generator for generating a clock signal. A pattern generator generates a digital pattern code in response to the clock signal. An oscillator produces an oscillation signal to determine a switching frequency of a switching signal. A programmable capacitor coupled to the oscillator is utilized to modulate the switching frequency in response to the digital pattern code. An attenuator is connected to a voltage feedback loop for attenuating a feedback signal, in which the feedback signal is utilized to control the pulse width of the switching signal and to control the output power of the power supply. A programmable resistor is connected to the attenuator for programming an attenuation rate of the attenuator in response to the digital pattern code. The attenuation rate is increased as the switching frequency increases. The pulse width of the switching signal is thus reduced, which compensates the decrease of the switching period and keeps the output power and output voltage of the power supply constant.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general descriptions and the following detailed descriptions are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a traditional power supply having an EMI filter.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a switching controller having frequency hopping according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of an oscillator according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a pattern generator according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the pattern generator according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a PWM control circuit.

FIG. 1 shows a traditional power supply having an EMI filter. A PWM controller 10 modulates the pulse width of a switching signal V PWM in response to a feedback signal V FB . The feedback signal V FB is obtained from an optical-coupler 85 . An operational amplifier 80 and a reference voltage V REF form an error amplifier to drive the optical-coupler 85 . Resistors 72 , 73 and the error amplifier form a voltage feedback loop to regulate an output voltage V O of the power supply. A switching current I P of a transformer 11 is converted to a switching-current signal V S through a sense resistor 30 . The switching-current signal V S is provided to the PWM controller 10 for the pulse width modulation of the switching signal V PWM .

FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a switching controller having frequency hopping according to the present invention. A clock generator 400 generates a clock signal CK. A pattern generator 300 is utilized to generate a digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ] in response to the clock signal CK. An oscillator 200 is used for determining a switching frequency of the switching signal V PWM . The switching signal V PWM is synchronized with the clock signal CK. A programmable capacitor 290 is coupled to the oscillator 200 for modulating the switching frequency in response to the digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ]. A resistor R A and a resistor R B develop an attenuator 500 . The resistor R A is coupled to the voltage feedback loop for attenuating the feedback signal V FB , in which a first terminal of the resistor R A is supplied with the feedback signal V FB . The feedback signal V FB is utilized to control the pulse width of the switching signal V PWM via a PWM control circuit 600 and therefore control the output power of the power supply. A second terminal of the resistor R A is connected to a first terminal of the resistor R B . A second terminal of the resistor R B is connected to a ground reference level. A voltage V B at the first terminal of the resistor R B is outputted from an output of the attenuator 500 . A programmable resistor 100 is connected to the output of the attenuator 500 for programming an attenuation rate of the attenuator 500 in response to the digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ]. The attenuation rate is increased whenever the switching frequency increases. The pulse width of the switching signal V PWM is thus reduced, which compensates the decrease in the switching period and keeps the output power and output voltage of the power supply constant.

The programmable resistor 100 comprises switching-resistor sets connected to each other in parallel, in which the switching-resistor sets are formed by resistors R 1 , R 2 , . . . ,R n and switches S 1 , S 2 , . . . S n . The switch S 1 and the resistor R 1 are connected in series. The switch S 2 and the resistor R 2 are connected in series. The switch S n and the resistor R n are connected in series. The digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ] controls switches S 1 , S 2 , . . . S n .

The programmable capacitor 290 comprises switching-capacitor sets connected to each other in parallel, in which the switching-capacitor sets are formed by capacitors C 1 , C 2 , . . . ,C n and switches X 1 , X 2 , . . . X n . The switch X, and the capacitor C 1 are connected in series. The switch X 2 and the capacitor C 2 are connected in series. The switch X n and the capacitor C n are connected in series. The digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ] controls switches X 1 , X 2 , . . . X n .

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the oscillator 200 according to the present invention. A current source I 10 produces a charge current I CHG . A current source I 20 produces a discharge current I DCHG .

A charge switch S 31 is connected between the current source I 10 and a capacitor C. A discharge switch S 41 is connected between the capacitor C and the current source I 20 . A comparator 210 has a positive input supplied with a threshold voltage V H . A negative input of the comparator 210 is connected to the capacitor C. A comparator 220 has a negative input supplied with a threshold voltage V L . The threshold voltage V H is higher than the threshold voltage V L . The positive input of the comparator 220 is connected to the capacitor C. An output of a NAND gate 230 generates an oscillation signal PLS to turn on/off the discharge switch S 41 . A first input of the NAND gate 230 is driven by an output of the comparator 210 . Two inputs of a NAND gate 240 are respectively connected to the output of the NAND gate 230 and an output of the comparator 220 . The output of the NAND gate 240 is connected to a second input of the NAND gate 230 and turns on/off the charge switch S 31 .

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the pattern generator 300 according to the present invention. A timer 310 generates a binary code [b n . . . b 0 ] in response to the clock signal CK. A read-only-memory 320 generate the digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ] in response to the binary code [b n . . . b 0 ]. The address inputs of the read-only-memory 320 are driven by the output of the timer 310 .

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the pattern generator 300 according to the present invention. A plurality of registers 331 , 332 . . . 335 and a XOR gate 339 develop a linear shift register for generating a linear code in response to the clock signal CK. The inputs of the XOR gate 339 determine the polynomials of the linear shift register and decide the output of the linear shift register. Furthermore, the digital pattern code [M n . . . M 1 ] can be adopt from the part of the linear code to optimize the application.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the PWM control circuit 600 according to the present invention. The PWM control circuit 600 comprises a comparator 610 , a D flip-flop 620 and an AND gate 630 . The comparator 610 is used to reset the D flip-flop 620 . The voltage V B outputted from the attenuator 500 supplies a positive input of the comparator 610 . The switching-current signal V S supplies a negative input of the comparator 610 A D input of the D flip-flop 620 is pulled high by a supply voltage V CC . A clock input of the D flip-flop 620 is supplied with the oscillation signal PLS. A first input of the AND gate 630 is supplied with the oscillation signal PLS. A second input of the AND gate 630 is connected to an output of the D flip-flop 620 . An output of the AND gate 630 generates the switching signal V PWM .

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention covers modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.