Multi-phase control circuit, method, chip, power supply circuit and electronic equipment

Abstract

The invention provides a multiphase control circuit, a multiphase control method, a chip, a power supply circuit and electronic equipment, relates to the technical field of electronics, and is used for solving the problem of voltage oscillation of a power supply circuit in a phase reduction process in the prior art. The multi-phase control circuit comprises a compensation circuit, a phase cutting circuit, a pulse frequency modulation (PFM) circuit and a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit, the input end of the compensation circuit is used for receiving load voltage, and the output end of the compensation circuit is connected with the first input end of the PWM circuit; a plurality of input ends of the phase cutting circuit are connected with output ends of the plurality of branches in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and an output end of the phase cutting circuit is connected with a second input end of the PWM circuit and an input end of the PFM circuit; the output end of the PFM circuit is connected with the third input end of the PWM circuit; and a plurality of groups of output ends of the PWM circuit are connected with the input ends of the plurality of branches in a one-to-one correspondence manner.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of electronic technology, and in particular to a multi-phase control circuit, method, chip, power supply circuit and electronic equipment. Background Art

[0002] With the development of electronic technology, power management technology has also been improved accordingly. At present, in electronic equipment, when the power circuit is supplying power to the load, the power required by the load varies greatly. For example, the load current in the heavy load area is as high as 400A+, while the load current in the light load area is only less than 30A. Usually, a multi-phase controller is needed to control the number of working phases of the power circuit to complete the power supply to the load.

[0003] In the prior art, in order to balance energy efficiency and multi-state response, multi-phase controllers usually use autophase shedding (APS) technology to switch the working phases of the power circuit according to the load conditions. That is, in heavy load scenarios, the APS technology is used to increase the working phases of the power circuit; in light load scenarios, the working phases of the power circuit are reduced to reduce the loss of electric energy in the power supply path, thereby improving the energy efficiency of the actual use of power management technology.

[0004] However, when the multi-phase controller is performing automatic phase reduction, especially when the phase is switched from 2 phases to 1 phase, the voltage of the power circuit may oscillate, affecting the normal use of the electronic equipment. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a multi-phase control circuit, method, chip, power supply circuit and electronic device, which solve the problem of voltage oscillation occurring in the power supply circuit during the phase reduction process in the prior art.

[0006] In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solution:

[0007] In a first aspect, a multi-phase control circuit is provided, which is used to control a multi-phase conversion circuit having multiple branches, and the multi-phase control circuit includes a compensation circuit, a phase cutting circuit, a pulse frequency modulation PFM circuit, and a pulse width modulation PWM circuit. Among them, the input end of the compensation circuit is used to receive the load voltage, and the output end of the compensation circuit is connected to the first input end of the PWM circuit. The multiple input ends of the phase cutting circuit are connected to the output ends of the multiple branches in a one-to-one correspondence, and the output end of the phase cutting circuit is respectively connected to the second input end of the PWM circuit and the input end of the PFM circuit. The output end of the PFM circuit is connected to the third input end of the PWM circuit, and the multiple groups of output ends of the PWM circuit are connected to the input ends of the multiple branches in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0008] In the above scheme, the multi-phase control circuit includes a compensation circuit, a phase cutting circuit, a PFM circuit and a PWM circuit. The PFM circuit can output the required wave transmission interval information according to the phase number indication information output by the phase cutting circuit, and the PWM circuit can control the wave transmission interval of the output PWM signal according to the wave transmission interval information, so that the load voltage output by the multi-phase conversion circuit according to the PWM signal changes smoothly, thereby suppressing the problem of voltage oscillation in the power supply circuit, reducing the loss of electric energy in the power supply path, and improving the stability of the operation of the power supply circuit.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the compensation circuit is used to output a duty cycle signal according to a load voltage and a reference voltage; the phase cutting circuit is used to output a phase number indication signal according to output current signals of multiple branches; the PFM circuit is used to output transmission interval information according to the phase number indication signal; wherein, when the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication information changes, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information changes with a fixed step size; the PWM circuit is used to output at least one group of PWM signals according to the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the transmission interval information, and the number of groups of at least one group of PWM signals is equal to the number of phases of the phase number indication signal. In the above possible implementations, the compensation circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the received load voltage and reference voltage; the phase-cutting circuit outputs a phase number indication signal according to the current signals of multiple branches; the PFM circuit outputs the transmission interval information according to the phase number indication signal; the PWM circuit outputs a corresponding PWM signal according to the input duty cycle signal, phase number indication signal and transmission interval information to control multiple branches, thereby making the load voltage output by the power supply circuit change smoothly, thereby suppressing the problem of voltage oscillation in the power supply circuit, reducing the loss of electric energy in the power supply path, and improving the stability of the power supply circuit operation.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, if the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2, and Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first phase number N1. In the above possible implementation, when the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information changes from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size and remains unchanged, so that the load voltage output by the power supply circuit changes smoothly, thereby reducing the voltage oscillation in the power supply circuit and improving the stability of the power supply circuit operation.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the first phase number is equal to 2, and the second phase number is equal to 1. In the above possible implementation, when the working phase number of the power supply circuit changes from 2 to 1, the load voltage output by the power supply circuit changes smoothly, thereby suppressing the problem of voltage oscillation in the power supply circuit, reducing the loss of electric energy in the power supply path, and improving the stability of the operation of the power supply circuit.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the compensation circuit includes an error circuit and a proportional integral differential control PID circuit, the output end of the error circuit is connected to the input end of the PID circuit; the error circuit is used to output an error voltage according to a load voltage and a reference voltage; the PID circuit is used to output a duty cycle signal according to the error voltage. In the above possible implementation, a simple and effective compensation circuit is provided.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the PFM circuit and the phase cutting circuit are integrated together. In the above possible implementation, by integrating the PFM circuit and the phase cutting circuit together, the integration level of the multi-phase control circuit can be improved.

[0014] In a second aspect, a method for a multi-phase control circuit is provided. The method for a multi-phase control circuit is used to control a multi-phase conversion circuit having multiple branches. The multi-phase control circuit includes a compensation circuit, a phase cutting circuit, a pulse frequency modulation PFM circuit, and a pulse width modulation PWM circuit; the input end of the compensation circuit is used to receive a load voltage, and the output end of the compensation circuit is connected to a first input end of the PWM circuit; multiple input ends of the phase cutting circuit are respectively connected to the output ends of the multi-phase conversion circuits of multiple branches, and the output end of the phase cutting circuit is respectively connected to the second input end of the PWM circuit and the input end of the PFM circuit; the output end of the PWM circuit is connected to a third input end of the PWM circuit; the method includes: the compensation circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the load voltage and the reference voltage; the phase cutting circuit outputs a phase number indication signal according to the current signals of the multiple branches; the PFM circuit outputs a wave transmission interval information according to the phase number indication signal; wherein, when the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication information changes, the wave transmission interval indicated by the wave transmission interval information changes in a fixed step size; the PWM circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal, and the wave transmission interval information.

[0015] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, when the phase number indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from a fixed step size to Ts / N2, where Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first phase number N1.

[0016] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, when the first phase number is equal to 2, the second phase number is equal to 1.

[0017] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the compensation circuit includes an error circuit and a proportional integral differential control PID circuit, and the output end of the error circuit is connected to the input end of the PID circuit; the compensation circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the load voltage and the reference voltage, including: the error circuit outputs an error voltage according to the load voltage and the reference voltage; the PID circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the error voltage.

[0018] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the PFM circuit and the phase cutting circuit are integrated together.

[0019] In a third aspect, a chip is provided, the chip comprising a packaging substrate and a multi-phase control circuit, the multi-phase control circuit is fixed to the packaging substrate, and the multi-phase control circuit comprises the multi-phase control circuit provided by the first aspect or any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0020] In a fourth aspect, a power supply circuit is provided, comprising a multi-phase control circuit and a multi-phase conversion circuit provided by the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the multi-phase control circuit is used to control the multi-phase conversion circuit.

[0021] In a fifth aspect, an electronic device is provided, comprising a load and the power supply circuit provided in the fourth aspect, wherein the power supply circuit is used to supply power to the load.

[0022] It can be understood that any of the above-mentioned methods, chips, power supply circuits, and electronic devices of the multi-phase control circuits include technical features corresponding to the above-mentioned multi-phase control circuits. Therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved can refer to the beneficial effects of the multi-phase signal control circuit provided above, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] Figure 2 A curve diagram of load current efficiency corresponding to different numbers of activated phases in a power supply circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a power supply circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of signal changes during a phase cutting process of a power supply circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 5 for Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the change of PWM signal and load voltage Vo when the corresponding phase number changes from 2 to 1;

[0028] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a multi-phase control circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of signal changes in a multi-phase control circuit when the number of phases is reduced provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Figure 8 for Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the change of PWM signal and load voltage Vo when the corresponding phase number changes from 2 to 1;

[0031] Fig. 9 A schematic flow chart of a control method for a multi-phase control circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a chip provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of a power supply circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the structure of another electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The following will discuss the making and use of each embodiment in detail. However, it should be understood that many applicable inventive concepts provided by this application can be implemented in a variety of specific environments. The specific embodiments discussed are only used to illustrate the specific ways to implement and use this description and this technology, and do not limit the scope of this application.

[0036] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0037] Various circuits or other components may be described or referred to as being "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In this case, "configured to" is used to imply structure by indicating that the circuit / component includes structure (e.g., circuitry) that performs the one or more tasks during operation. Thus, even when the specified circuit / component is not currently operational (e.g., not turned on), the circuit / component may be referred to as being configured to perform the task. Circuits / components used with the phrase "configured to" include hardware, such as circuits that perform an operation, etc.

[0038] The technical scheme in the embodiment of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiment of the present application. In the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "multiple" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or its similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c or a, b and c, where a, b and c can be single or multiple. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the quantity and order.

[0039] In this application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in this application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the words "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the related concepts in a concrete way.

[0040] The technical solution of the present application can be applied to various devices of a multi-phase control circuit, the device can be an electronic device, or a chip applied to an electronic device, the chip can be a sensor chip or a chip system. The electronic device can include but is not limited to: a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer, a laptop computer, a camera, a camera, a wearable device, an on-board device (for example, a car, a bicycle, an electric car, an airplane, a ship, a train, a high-speed train, etc.), a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, or an intelligent robot, etc.

[0041] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The electronic device may include: a communication circuit 110, a memory 120, other input devices 130, a display screen 140, a sensor 150, an audio circuit 160, an I / O subsystem 170, a processor 180, and a power supply 190. Among them, the processor 180 is respectively connected to the communication circuit 110, the memory 120, the audio circuit 160, and the power supply 190. The I / O subsystem 170 is respectively connected to the other input devices 130, the display screen 140, and the sensor 150.

[0042] Combine the following Figure 1A detailed introduction to the various components of electronic equipment:

[0043] Among them, the communication circuit 110 can be used to receive data and send data, such as receiving and sending signals during a call. Optionally, the communication circuit 110 can also communicate with the network and other devices through wired communication. Generally, the communication circuit 110 includes but is not limited to at least two antennas, amplifiers, transceivers, couplers, low noise amplifiers (LNA), duplexers, etc. In addition, the communication circuit 110 can also communicate with other devices through wireless communication.

[0044] The memory 120 can be used to store data, software programs and modules; it mainly includes a program storage area and a data storage area, wherein the program storage area can store an operating system and at least one application required for a function, such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.; the data storage area can store data created according to the use of the electronic device, such as audio data, image data, phone book, etc. In addition, the electronic device may include a high-speed random access memory and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage devices.

[0045] The processor 180 is the control center of the electronic device. It uses various interfaces and lines to connect various parts of the entire electronic device. By running or executing software programs and / or modules stored in the memory 120, and calling data stored in the memory 120, it executes various functions of the electronic device and processes data, thereby monitoring the electronic device as a whole. The processor 180 may include one or more processing units. For example, the processor 180 may include one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application processor (AP) or a microprocessor. In a possible embodiment, the processor 180 may integrate an application processor (AP) and a microprocessor, wherein the AP mainly processes an operating system, a user interface, and an application program, etc., and the microprocessor may be used to receive and process data collected by multiple components such as the display screen 140 and the sensor 150, and control the opening and closing of the multiple components. It is understandable that the above-mentioned microprocessor may not be integrated into the processor 180.

[0046] Other input devices 130 can be used to receive input digital or character information, and generate key signal input related to user settings and function control of electronic devices. Display screen 140 can be used to display information input by the user or information provided to the user and various menus of the electronic device, and can also receive user input. Display screen 140 can include a display panel and a touch panel. Sensor 150 can include one or more sensors for providing various aspects of state evaluation for the electronic device, for example, sensor 150 includes a light sensor, a motion sensor or other sensors. Audio circuit 160 can provide an audio interface between the user and the electronic device, for example, for audio data output from processor 180, or for transmitting audio data from the outside to processor 180 for processing. I / O subsystem 170 is used to control external devices for input and output, for example, for controlling other input devices 130, sensor 150 and display screen 140.

[0047] The power supply 190 is used to provide power to various components of the electronic device. The power supply 190 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, or other components associated with the generation, management, and distribution of power by the electronic device. In the embodiment of the present application, the power supply 190 may include a multi-phase control circuit and a multi-phase conversion circuit. The multi-phase control circuit may be used to control the number of working phases of the multi-phase conversion circuit to power the communication circuit 110, the memory 120, the processor 180, etc.

[0048] Those skilled in the art will understand that Figure 1 The electronic device structure shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation of the electronic device, and may include more or less components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0049] Figure 2 The curve diagram of load current efficiency corresponding to different numbers of active phases provided in this application is as follows: Figure 2 The horizontal axis represents the current value corresponding to different activated phase numbers, and the vertical axis represents the current efficiency. The different activated phase numbers can include 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The multiple curves in the figure are used to indicate the current efficiency values ​​corresponding to the current of the power circuit under different phase numbers. When the phase numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, if the current efficiency is kept at ρ min to max The corresponding current values ​​are between I min and I max Between max and 4I min Between, 4I min and 6I min Between, 6 Imin and 8I minAmong them, when the power supply circuit is in the heavy load area, in order to make the efficiency value of the power supply circuit within ρ min to max When the power circuit is under load, a larger number of phases needs to be turned on to meet the power demand of the power circuit. On the contrary, when the power circuit is under light load, the number of phases needs to be reduced to meet the power demand of the power circuit.

[0050] At present, the related technology generally adopts the automatic phase shedding (APS) technology to switch the number of phases according to the load conditions of the load to meet the power demand of the load. Under different load conditions of the load, different numbers of phases are switched to power the load.

[0051] Figure 3 The present invention is a schematic diagram of the structure of a power supply circuit, which is used to supply power to a load. The power supply circuit includes a multi-phase controller and multiple branches, the output ends of the multiple branches are coupled to the input end of the load, and a capacitor C is coupled between the input end of the load and the ground end. Each of the multiple branches includes a first metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) tube, a second MOS tube and an inductor L, one pole of the first MOS tube, one pole of the second MOS tube and one end of the inductor L are coupled, and the other end of the inductor L serves as the output end of the branch. The other pole of the first MOS tube is used to receive an input voltage, the other pole of the second MOS tube is used to couple with the ground end, the gate of the first MOS tube and the gate of the second MOS tube are used to receive a group of pulse width modulation (PWM) signals, and each group of PWM signals may include PWM Hk and PWM Lk , the value range of k is 1, 2, ..., N.

[0052] The multi-phase controller includes a PWM circuit, a proportional integral derivative control (PID) circuit, an error circuit and an APS circuit. The two input terminals of the error circuit are used to receive a load voltage Vo and a reference voltage V ref The output end of the error circuit is coupled to the input end of the PID circuit, the output end of the PID circuit is coupled to the first input end of the PWM circuit, and the multiple input ends of the APS circuit are used to receive the output current i of the multiple branches in a one-to-one correspondence. L1 、i L2 ,…,i LN The two output ends of the APS circuit are respectively coupled to the second input end and the third input end of the PWM circuit. The multiple output ends of the PWM circuit are used to output multiple PWM signals, and the multiple PWM signals are used to control the multiple branches one by one.

[0053] Specifically, the error circuit is used to determine the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V ref Make a difference and get the error voltage V err PID circuit according to the error voltage V err Output duty cycle signal; APS circuit receives the output current i of the multiple branches L1 、i L2 ,…,i LN And sum them to get the current and i Lsum , and according to i Lsum Output the corresponding phase number information and phase information, the phase number information is used to indicate that the i Lsum The corresponding phase number, the phase information is used to indicate the phase of the PWM signal (i.e., the accumulated signal corresponding to the multiple groups of PWM signals); the PWM circuit outputs multiple PWM signals according to the duty cycle signal, the phase number information and the phase information to control the conduction or shutoff of the first MOS tube and the second MOS tube in the multiple branches. For example, when the phase number is 2 phases, the PWM circuit outputs two groups of PWM signals to control the conduction or shutoff of the first MOS tube and the second MOS tube in the two branches respectively; when the phase number is 1 phase, the PWM circuit outputs one group of PWM signals to control the conduction or shutoff of the first MOS tube and the second MOS tube in one branch.

[0054] Figure 4 When the phase number changes from 2 to 1, the load current i Load Schematic diagram of the change in the transmission interval of the PWM signal. Figure 4 In (a), the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents load current. Figure 4 In (b), the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the PWM signal transmission interval. Figure 4 It can be seen that when the power circuit is in the heavy load area, when the load current i Load When the load current is 30A and the number of phases is 2, the PWM signal transmission interval is Ts / 2. At time t1, when the power circuit switches from the heavy load area to the light load area, if the load current i Load Reduce from 30A to 10A and maintain it. At this time, the number of phases can change from 2 to 1, and the transmission interval of the PWM signal is Ts.

[0055] Figure 5 for Figure 4 The schematic diagram of the change of PWM signal and load voltage Vo when the corresponding phase number changes from 2 to 1. Figure 5 It can be seen that when the number of phases is 2, the PWM circuit outputs two sets of PWM signals (i.e. PWM H1 and PWM L1 , and PWM H2 and PWM L2 ), PWMH1 Signal and PWM H2 The interval between the signals is Ts / 2; when the phase number is 1, the PWM circuit outputs a set of PWM signals (i.e. PWM H1 and PWM L1 ), PWM H1 The wave interval is Ts. In this process, the phase of the load voltage Vo jumps from 180° to 360°, and voltage oscillation occurs at the phase jump, that is, voltage oscillation occurs in the process of increasing the load voltage Vo.

[0056] In the above scheme, since the frequency of the total PWM signal output by the multi-phase controller is fixed, when the number of phases of the power supply circuit decreases, for example, when the load current is reduced from 30A to 10A, the number of phases corresponding to the power supply circuit decreases from 2 to 1, and the PWM circuit's wave interval changes from Ts / 2 to Ts. For example, when the load voltage Vo fluctuates beyond the minimum operating voltage of the load, the electronic device will experience a shutdown problem. In addition, in order to ensure the normal operation of the power supply circuit, the load voltage needs to be increased from Vo to the operating voltage Vho. At this time, the power supply circuit will also cause certain losses, reducing the energy efficiency of the power supply circuit.

[0057] Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-phase control circuit, which is used to control a multi-phase conversion circuit with multiple branches. Specifically, a pulse frequency modulation (PFM) circuit is provided in the multi-phase control circuit, and the PFM circuit can output the required wave interval information according to the phase number indication information output by the phase cutting circuit, and the PWM circuit can control the wave interval of the output PWM signal according to the wave interval information, so that the load voltage output by the multi-phase conversion circuit according to the PWM signal changes smoothly, thereby suppressing the problem of voltage oscillation in the power supply circuit.

[0058] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a multi-phase control circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application, the multi-phase control circuit is used to control a multi-phase conversion circuit having multiple branches, for example, the multi-phase control circuit can be a multi-phase controller. The multi-phase control circuit includes: a compensation circuit 200, a phase cutting circuit 210, a PFM circuit 220 and a PWM circuit 230. Among them, the output end of the compensation circuit 200 is coupled to the first input end of the PWM circuit 220. The multiple input ends of the phase cutting circuit 210 are coupled to the output ends of the multiple branches 240 in a one-to-one correspondence, and the output end of the phase cutting circuit 210 is coupled to the second input end of the PWM circuit 230 and the input end of the PFM circuit 220 respectively. The output end of the PFM circuit 220 is coupled to the third input end of the PWM circuit 230. The multiple output ends of the PWM circuit 230 are coupled to the input ends of the multiple branches 240 in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0059] The compensation circuit 200 is used to receive a load voltage Vo and to compensate for the load voltage Vo and a reference voltage V ref Output duty cycle signal. The load voltage Vo can refer to the supply voltage of the load, and can also be called the output voltage of the multi-phase control circuit. The reference voltage V ref The reference voltage V may be provided internally by the compensation circuit 200 or received externally by the compensation circuit 200. ref It may be a standard reference voltage value. For example, the voltage value of the reference voltage Vref may be fixed or may be dynamically adjusted according to the demand of the load voltage Vo.

[0060] Optionally, the compensation circuit 200 may include an error circuit 250 and a PID circuit 260. The first input terminal of the error circuit 250 is used to receive the load voltage Vo, and the second input terminal of the error circuit 250 is used to receive the reference voltage V ref The output end of the error circuit 250 is coupled to the input end of the PID circuit 260, and the output end of the PID circuit 260 is used to output a duty cycle signal. Specifically, the error circuit 250 is used to receive the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V ref , and the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V ref The duty cycle signal is obtained by performing proportional-integral-differential processing. Further, when the error circuit 250 is used to make a difference to the load voltage Vo, the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V ref Perform analog-to-digital conversion, and then compare the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V after analog-to-digital conversion. ref The output error voltage V err .

[0061] The phase cutting circuit 210 is used to receive the current signals output by the multiple branches 240, and output a phase number indication signal according to the received multiple current signals. Figure 6 , assuming that the current signals output by the multiple branches 240 are i L1 、i L2 、……、i LN , then the phase cutting circuit 210 can receive i L1 、i L2 、……、i LN and sum to get the current and i Lsum , the current and i Lsum Can be used to indirectly represent the load current i Load The phase cutting circuit 210 can also be used to adjust the current according to the current and i Lsum Output phase number indication signal. For example, when the i Lsum When the phase number is greater than or equal to 30A, the phase number indication information can be used to indicate that the phase number is 2; when the I Lsum When the current is less than 30A, the phase number indication information can be used to indicate that the phase number is 1.

[0062] The PFM circuit 220 can be used to receive the phase number indication signal and output corresponding transmission interval information according to the phase number indication information. When the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information changes, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information changes with a fixed step size.

[0063] Optionally, if the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first number of phases N1 to the second number of phases N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size, and Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first number of phases N1. Optionally, the fixed step size may be pre-configured. Exemplarily, the first number of phases is equal to 2, the second number of phases is equal to 1; and / or, the fixed step size is equal to Ts / 4. It is to be understood that the above examples of the first number of phases, the second number of phases, and the fixed step size are merely exemplary, and may also be other values ​​in actual applications, and do not constitute a limitation to the embodiments of the present application.

[0064] The PWM circuit 230 is used to receive the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the transmission interval information, and output multiple groups of PWM signals according to the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the transmission interval information. The multiple groups of PWM signals can be used to control the multiple branches 240.

[0065] The duty cycle signal can be used to determine the duty cycle of the multiple groups of PWM signals. The phase number indication signal can be used to determine the number of groups in the multiple groups of PWM signals output by the PWM circuit 230, or can be called to determine the number of branches working in the multiple branches 240. The transmission interval information can be used to determine the transmission interval of the multiple groups of PWM signals, and the transmission interval can also be called a phase. The transmission interval is taken as an example for explanation below.

[0066] Optional, such as Figure 6 As shown, the output end of the multiple branches 240 is used to couple with the input end of the load, and a capacitor C load is coupled between the input end of the load and the ground end. Each branch of the multiple branches 240 includes a first MOS tube, a second MOS tube and an inductor, and the gate of the first MOS tube and the gate of the second MOS tube serve as the input end of the branch. One pole of the first MOS tube, one pole of the second MOS tube and one end of the inductor are coupled, and the other end of the inductor serves as the output end of the branch. The other pole of the first MOS tube receives the input voltage, and the other pole of the second MOS tube is used to couple with the ground end. Figure 6In the figure, the first MOS transistors and the second MOS transistors in the multiple branches 240 are represented as M11 to MN1 and M12 to MN2 respectively, the inductors in the multiple branches 240 are represented as L1 to LN, and the multiple groups of PWM signals received by the multiple branches 240 are represented as PWM H1 With PWM L1 、PWM H2 With PWM L2 、……、PWM HN With PWM LN .

[0067] Exemplarily, the first MOS transistor may be a PMOS transistor, and the second MOS transistor may be an NMOS transistor.

[0068] Specifically, for any set of PWM signals, the phases of two signals in the set of PWM signals are opposite. For example, a set of PWM signals corresponding to the first branch (ie, PWM H1 With PWM L1 ) as an example, when PWM L1 Can be PWM H1 When PWM H1 When high level, PWM L1 is low level, the first MOS tube M11 in the first branch is turned on and the second MOS tube is turned off; when PWM H1 When it is low, PWM L1 is high level, the first MOS tube M11 in the first branch is turned off and the second MOS tube is turned on.

[0069] For ease of understanding, when the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, Figure 7 For load current i Load The following is an example of the change in the transmission interval of the PWM signal. Figure 7 In (a), the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents load current. Figure 7 In (b), the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the PWM signal transmission interval. Figure 7 It can be seen that when the power circuit is in the heavy load area, when the load current i Load for i high , when the number of phases is the first number of phases N1, the PWM signal transmission interval is Ts / N1; starting from time t1, when the power circuit switches from the heavy load area to the light load area, if the load current i Load from i high Reduce to i low After that, when the number of phases changes from the first number of phases N1 to the second number of phases N2, the transmission interval of the PWM signal changes from Ts to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size.

[0070] Combine the following Figure 7 Taking the first phase number N1=2 and the second phase number N2=1 as an example, Figure 8 The changes of multiple groups of PWM signals output by the PWM circuit 230 and the load voltage Vo are described by way of example. Figure 8 As shown in FIG. 1 , before time t1, if the power supply circuit is in the heavy load region, the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information output by the phase cutting circuit 210 is 2. Assuming that the first branch and the second branch of the plurality of branches 240 are working, the transmission interval output by the PFM circuit 220 according to the phase number indication information is Ts / 2, and the PWM signal corresponding to the first MOS tube in the two groups of PWM signals output by the PWM circuit 230 for the first branch and the second branch is as follows: Figure 8 As shown in PWM1 and PWM2 in FIG. 1 ; at time t1, the load corresponding to the power supply circuit switches from the heavy load area to the light load area, and the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information output by the phase cutting circuit 210 is 1. Assuming that the first branch of the multiple branches 240 is working, the PFM circuit 220 increases the wave interval from Ts / 2 to Ts with a fixed step length according to the phase number indication information between time t1 and time t2 and remains unchanged after time t2. In this process, the change of the load voltage Vo is as follows: Figure 8 As shown, the phase of the load voltage Vo smoothly jumps from 180° to 360°, and no obvious voltage oscillation occurs at the phase jump, that is, no voltage oscillation occurs in the process of increasing the load voltage Vo. Figure 8 It is also shown that the load voltage Vo is Figure 5 The phase shear in the illustrated embodiment is schematically and referred to as oscillating phase shear, for comparison with the smooth phase shear in the present application.

[0071] According to the above description, the specific implementation process can be concluded as follows:

[0072] At time t0: the load is in the heavy load region, the phase number of the power supply circuit is 2, the PWM circuit 230 outputs PWM1 and PWM2, and the PWM circuit 230 has a wave transmission interval Δt=Ts / 2;

[0073] At time t1: the load switches from the heavy load region to the light load region, the phase number is 1, and the PWM circuit 230 outputs PWM1 and does not output PWM2.

[0074] Between time t1 and time t2: the PWM circuit 230 outputs the PWM1 at a wave transmission interval Δt=Ts / 2+n×step, where step represents a fixed step length, and n is an integer and increases gradually;

[0075] At time t2: the PWM circuit 230 outputs the PWM1 with a wave transmission interval Δt=Ts, completing a smooth phase-cutting process in which the number of phases of the power supply circuit changes from 2 to 1.

[0076] Fig. 9 A flow chart of a control method for a multi-phase control circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application. The multi-phase control circuit method can be applied to the multi-phase control circuit provided above, and the method includes the following steps.

[0077] S301: The compensation circuit 200 receives the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V ref , and according to the load voltage Vo and the reference voltage V ref Output duty cycle signal.

[0078] The load voltage Vo may refer to the supply voltage of the load, or may be referred to as the output voltage of the multi-phase control circuit. The reference voltage Vref may be provided internally by the compensation circuit 200, or may be received externally by the compensation circuit 200. The reference voltage Vref may be a standard reference voltage value, for example, the voltage value of the reference voltage Vref may be fixed.

[0079] S302 : The phase cutting circuit 210 receives the current signals output by the multiple branches 240 , and outputs a phase number indication signal according to the current signals output by the multiple branches 240 .

[0080] In a possible embodiment, if the plurality of branches 240 has N branches, and the corresponding output current signal is i L1 、i L2 、……、i LN , then the phase cutting circuit 210 can receive i L1 、i L2 、……、i LN and sum to get the current and i Lsum , the current and i Lsum Can be used to indirectly represent the load current i Load The current change is easy to operate, which can improve the detection efficiency and reduce the detection cost.

[0081] Optionally, the phase cutting circuit 210 can directly detect the current and i Lsum , or directly detect the load current i Load .

[0082] S303: The PFM circuit 220 outputs the transmission interval information according to the phase number indication signal; wherein, when the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information changes, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information changes with a fixed step size.

[0083] If the phase number indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size, where Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first phase number N1.

[0084] Optionally, the fixed step size may be pre-configured. Exemplarily, the first number of phases is equal to 2, and the second number of phases is equal to 1; and / or, the fixed step size is equal to Ts / 4. It is understood that the above examples of the first number of phases, the second number of phases, and the fixed step size are only exemplary, and may be other values ​​in practical applications, and do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present application. For example, when the first number of phases is equal to 2, the second number of phases is equal to 1.

[0085] The PFM circuit 220 receives the phase number indication signal and outputs the phase information of the smooth phase cutting according to the phase number indication signal, which can reduce the oscillation of the load voltage in a larger range and improve the power supply stability of the power supply circuit to the load.

[0086] S304: The PWM circuit 230 receives the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the transmission interval information, and controls the phase of at least one set of PWM signals to switch smoothly from the first phase Ts / N1 to the second phase Ts / N2 in a fixed step.

[0087] Among them, if the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size, and Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first phase number N1. Optionally, the fixed step size can be pre-configured. Exemplarily, the first phase number is equal to 2, the second phase number is equal to 1; and / or, the fixed step size is equal to Ts / 4. It can be understood that the above examples of the first phase number, the second phase number and the fixed step size are only exemplary, and can also be other values ​​in actual applications, and do not constitute a limitation to the embodiments of the present application.

[0088] In an embodiment of the present application, the compensation circuit outputs a duty cycle signal based on the received load voltage and the reference voltage; the phase-cutting circuit outputs a phase number indication signal based on the current signals of the multiple branches; the PFM circuit outputs the wave transmission interval information based on the phase number indication signal; the PWM circuit outputs a corresponding PWM signal based on the input duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the wave transmission interval information to control the multiple branches, thereby making the load voltage output by the power supply circuit change smoothly, thereby suppressing the problem of voltage oscillation in the power supply circuit, reducing the loss of electric energy in the power supply path, and improving the stability of the operation of the power supply circuit.

[0089] Based on this, the embodiments of the present application provide a chip, a power supply circuit and an electronic device, which are respectively introduced and described below.

[0090] Fig.10A schematic diagram of the structure of a chip provided in an embodiment of the present application, the chip includes a packaging substrate and a multi-phase control circuit, the multi-phase control circuit is fixed on the packaging substrate, and the multi-phase control circuit includes the above Figure 6 The multi-phase control circuit shown.

[0091] Fig.11 A structural schematic diagram of a power supply circuit provided in an embodiment of the present application, the power supply circuit includes any one of the multi-phase control circuits and multi-phase conversion circuits provided in the present invention, and the multi-phase control circuit is used to control the multi-phase conversion circuit.

[0092] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Fig.11 As shown, the embodiment of the present application also provides an electronic device, which includes a load and the above Figure 8 The power supply circuit shown is used to supply power to a load.

[0093] It should be noted that, for the specific description of each step in the above method embodiment, reference can be made to the description of the relevant devices or circuits in the embodiment corresponding to the above multi-phase control circuit, and the embodiments of the present application will not go into details therein.

[0094] Finally, it should be noted that the above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A multi-phase control circuit, characterized in that: The multi-phase control circuit is used to control a multi-phase conversion circuit having multiple branches, and the multi-phase control circuit includes a compensation circuit, a phase cutting circuit, a pulse frequency modulation PFM circuit and a pulse width modulation PWM circuit; The input end of the compensation circuit is used to receive the load voltage, and the output end of the compensation circuit is connected to the first input end of the PWM circuit; The multiple input ends of the phase cutting circuit are connected to the output ends of the multiple branches in a one-to-one correspondence, and the output end of the phase cutting circuit is connected to the second input end of the PWM circuit and the input end of the PFM circuit respectively; The output terminal of the PFM circuit is connected to the third input terminal of the PWM circuit; The multiple groups of output ends of the PWM circuit are connected to the input ends of the multiple branches in a one-to-one correspondence.

2. The multi-phase control circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The compensation circuit is used to output a duty cycle signal according to the load voltage and the reference voltage; The phase cutting circuit is used to output a phase number indication signal according to the current signals of the multiple branches; The PFM circuit is used to output the transmission interval information according to the phase number indication signal; wherein, when the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information changes, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information changes with a fixed step size; The PWM circuit is used to output at least one group of PWM signals according to the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the transmission interval information, and the number of groups of the at least one group of PWM signals is equal to the number of phases of the phase number indication signal.

3. The multi-phase control circuit according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: If the phase number indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size, where Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first phase number N1.

4. The multi-phase control circuit according to claim 3, characterized in that: The first phase number is equal to 2, and the second phase number is equal to 1.

5. The multi-phase control circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The compensation circuit includes an error circuit and a proportional integral differential control PID circuit, and the output end of the error circuit is connected to the input end of the PID circuit; The error circuit is used to output an error voltage according to the load voltage and the reference voltage; The PID circuit is used to output a duty cycle signal according to the error voltage.

6. The multi-phase control circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The PFM circuit and the phase cutting circuit are integrated together.

7. A control method for a multi-phase control circuit, characterized in that: The multi-phase control circuit is used to control a multi-phase conversion circuit having multiple branches, and the multi-phase control circuit includes a compensation circuit, a phase cutting circuit, a pulse frequency modulation PFM circuit and a pulse width modulation PWM circuit; the input end of the compensation circuit is used to receive a load voltage, and the output end of the compensation circuit is connected to a first input end of the PWM circuit; the multiple input ends of the phase cutting circuit are respectively connected to the output ends of the multi-phase conversion circuits of the multiple branches, and the output end of the phase cutting circuit is respectively connected to a second input end of the PWM circuit and an input end of the PFM circuit; The output terminal of the PFM circuit is connected to the third input terminal of the PWM circuit; the method comprises: The compensation circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the load voltage and the reference voltage; The phase cutting circuit outputs a phase number indication signal according to the output current signals of the multiple branches; The PFM circuit outputs the transmission interval information according to the phase number indication signal; wherein, when the phase number indicated by the phase number indication information changes, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information changes with a fixed step size; The PWM circuit outputs at least one group of PWM signals according to the duty cycle signal, the phase number indication signal and the transmission interval information, and the number of groups of the at least one group of PWM signals is equal to the number of phases indicated by the phase number indication signal.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that If the phase number indicated by the phase number indication signal decreases from the first phase number N1 to the second phase number N2, the transmission interval indicated by the transmission interval information increases from Ts / N1 to Ts / N2 with a fixed step size, where Ts represents the transmission interval corresponding to the first phase number N1.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that When the first phase number is equal to 2, the second phase number is equal to 1.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that: The compensation circuit includes an error circuit and a proportional integral differential control PID circuit, and the output end of the error circuit is connected to the input end of the PID circuit; The compensation circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the load voltage and the reference voltage, comprising: The error circuit outputs an error voltage according to the load voltage and the reference voltage; The PID circuit outputs a duty cycle signal according to the error voltage.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that: The PFM circuit and the phase cutting circuit are integrated together.

12. A chip, characterized in that: It comprises a packaging substrate and a multi-phase control circuit, wherein the multi-phase control circuit is fixed to the packaging substrate, and the multi-phase control circuit comprises the multi-phase control circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

13. A power supply circuit, characterized in that: It comprises a multi-phase conversion circuit and a multi-phase control circuit as described in claims 1-6, wherein the multi-phase control circuit is used to control the multi-phase conversion circuit.

14. An electronic device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a load and the power supply circuit as claimed in claim 13, wherein the power supply circuit is used to supply power to the load.

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