Power supply controller and control method of multi-phase power supply

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a power supply controller of a multi-phase power supply and a control method. The power supply controller comprises a pulse enhancement unit, a transient monitoring unit, a signal selection unit and a multi-phase control unit, the transient monitoring unit is used for monitoring the voltage output state of the multi-phase power supply; the multi-phase control unit is used for providing PWM signals with fixed phase difference based on a constant on-time control principle in a steady state, and providing the PWM signals to a power switch of the multi-phase power supply through the signal selection unit, so that the power switch can perform switching state switching according to the PWM signals to supply power; the pulse enhancement unit is used for providing enhanced pulse signals with the phase difference according to the preset pulse width and number when the transient monitoring unit monitors a serious transient event, and providing the enhanced pulse signals to a power switch of the multi-phase power supply through the signal selection unit; therefore, the power switch performs switch state switching according to the enhanced pulse signal so as to respond to the serious transient event.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of switching power supplies, and more particularly to a power controller and control method for a multiphase power supply. Background Technology

[0002] The statements in this section are merely to provide background information related to the technical solutions of this application to aid understanding, and do not necessarily constitute prior art for the technical solutions of this application.

[0003] Multiphase parallel switching power supplies, or multiphase power supplies for short, are a type of high-efficiency power conversion system that combines multiphase power supply technology with the parallel architecture of switching power supplies. By connecting multiple single-phase switching power supply circuits in parallel and having them work in an interleaved and coordinated manner, they achieve high power density and low output ripple and are widely used in scenarios requiring high current.

[0004] Modern computing devices, such as the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), have high power requirements. Their power consumption changes drastically when switching between active and sleep states, generating large dynamic loads. During this process, the power supply voltage fluctuates wildly. Excessive fluctuations can affect the performance of computing devices and limit the increase in operating frequency. Therefore, power supplies for such devices must have extremely fast transient response capabilities. The multiphase constant on-time (COT) control mechanism is widely used due to its simple loop compensation and fast response.

[0005] In current multiphase COT control mechanisms, when a sudden increase in load causes a drop in output voltage (Vout), the multiphase controller triggers a turn-on pulse and maintains a constant on-time (Ton). To respond to load changes, the off-time (Toff) of subsequent pulses is significantly reduced, thereby increasing the switching frequency to respond to load fluctuations. Compared to traditional voltage / current control methods (where the switching cycle is fixed, i.e., the sum of on-time and off-time is fixed), the current multiphase COT control mechanism can increase the switching frequency by reducing the off-time (Toff) while maintaining a constant on-time, thus quickly responding to load fluctuations and preventing output voltage drops (Vdrop). However, this is essentially a passive, catch-up energy compensation strategy, and its effectiveness in suppressing output voltage drops is relatively limited. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of this, the purpose of this application is to provide a power controller and control method for a multiphase power supply, which can actively enhance the injection of initial pulse energy at the beginning of the most critical transient event when facing load changes, thereby more effectively suppressing the drop in output voltage and meeting the power integrity (PI) timing requirements of high-performance computing devices.

[0007] The objective of this application is achieved through the following technical solution:

[0008] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a power controller for a multiphase power supply, including a pulse enhancement unit, a transient monitoring unit, a signal selection unit, and a multiphase control unit;

[0009] The transient monitoring unit is used to monitor the voltage output status of the multiphase power supply;

[0010] The multiphase control unit is connected to the signal selection unit. The multiphase control unit is used to provide a pulse width modulation signal with a fixed phase difference based on the constant on-time control principle under steady state. The signal selection unit provides the pulse width modulation signal to the power switch of the multiphase power supply so that the power switch can switch the switching state according to the pulse width modulation signal to supply power.

[0011] The pulse enhancement unit is connected to the signal selection unit. When the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event, the pulse enhancement unit provides an enhanced pulse signal with the phase difference according to a preset pulse width and number. The enhanced pulse signal is then provided to the power switch of the multiphase power supply through the signal selection unit, so that the power switch switches its switching state according to the enhanced pulse signal in response to the severe transient event.

[0012] Specifically, for the enhanced pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit based on a severe transient event, the pulse width of the first enhanced pulse is greater than the constant pulse width corresponding to the pulse width modulation signal output by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle.

[0013] Secondly, embodiments of this application also provide a control method for a multiphase power supply, applied to the power controller described in the first aspect above, the method comprising:

[0014] Under steady-state conditions, the multi-phase control unit of the power controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a fixed phase difference based on the output voltage of the multi-phase power supply and the constant conduction time control principle. The signal selection unit of the power controller provides the pulse width modulation signal to the power switch of the multi-phase power supply, thereby controlling the power switch to switch the switching state according to the pulse width modulation signal to achieve power supply. The transient monitoring unit of the power controller monitors the voltage output state of the multi-phase power supply.

[0015] When the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event, the pulse enhancement unit of the power controller provides an enhanced pulse signal with the phase difference according to a preset pulse width and number, and the signal selection unit provides the enhanced pulse signal to the power switch of the multiphase power supply so that the power switch switches its switching state according to the enhanced pulse signal in response to the severe transient event.

[0016] The technical solutions of this application embodiment may include the following beneficial effects:

[0017] By supplementing the multiphase control unit with a multiphase constant on-time (COT) control mechanism with a transient monitoring unit, a pulse enhancement unit, and a signal selection unit, the power supply control system can achieve steady-state operation of the multiphase power supply using only the multiphase control unit and the traditional multiphase COT control approach under steady-state conditions. When load fluctuations occur, the transient monitoring unit can monitor whether a severe transient event occurs at the power output of the multiphase power supply. Upon detecting a severe transient event, the pulse enhancement unit outputs an enhanced pulse signal, which is then actively provided to the power switch of the multiphase power supply by the signal selection unit. This causes the power switch to switch its state according to the enhanced pulse signal, thus responding to the severe transient event. This approach can proactively select to control the power switch of a multiphase power supply with an enhanced pulse signal when a severe transient event occurs, briefly overriding the traditional multiphase COT control logic. While maintaining high-frequency operation, it can qualitatively improve the energy level of the first or first few pulses at the beginning of the transient event, quickly achieving efficient injection of initial pulse energy in the early stage of the transient response. It can effectively suppress the drop in output voltage and meet the requirements of power integrity (PI) timing.

[0018] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and do not limit this application. Attached Figure Description

[0019] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with this application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this application. It is obvious that the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this application, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort. In the drawings:

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the control principle of an existing four-phase power supply.

[0021] Figure 2 This is a schematic block diagram of a power controller for a multiphase power supply provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0022] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the power controller of a multiphase power supply in one example provided in this application embodiment.

[0023] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating a control method for a multiphase power supply provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0024] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the output voltage and inductor current variation trends of a multiphase power supply according to different control architectures, as provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0025] Figure 6 for Figure 5 The example shown is a schematic diagram illustrating the charge required when the voltage drops to its lowest point, based solely on a traditional multiphase COT control architecture. Detailed Implementation

[0026] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the following detailed description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, provides specific embodiments. It should be understood that the described embodiments are only a portion of, and not all, of the embodiments described herein. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application. Unless otherwise emphasized, relational terms such as "first" and "second" in the description of this application are merely used to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations.

[0027] The core working mechanism of a multiphase power supply lies in using a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal with a phase difference to control the switching devices of each phase of the multiphase power supply to work together, thereby converting the power input voltage (Vin) into the output voltage (Vout) that supplies power to the load. In addition, each single-phase power supply circuit operates in parallel to share the larger load current, thereby reducing the current stress on individual devices and ensuring the overall reliability of the system.

[0028] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the control principle of an existing four-phase power supply. Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 The example four-phase power supply has four-phase switching devices, and the multiphase controller provides a PWM signal with a 90° phase difference to control the coordinated operation of the four-phase switching devices.

[0029] Typically, for a multi-phase power supply, each phase switching device involves three parts: the upper transistor, the lower transistor, and the driver. Both the upper and lower transistors are MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors). The driver is used to turn the upper and lower transistors on and off. Specifically, when the upper transistor is on, the power system charges the output capacitor connected in parallel with the load through an inductor, thus supplying power to the load. This state is considered the on state of the phase switching device. Conversely, when the upper transistor is off and the lower transistor is on, it is considered the off state of the phase switching device.

[0030] Constant On Time (COT) control is a control method used in switching power supplies. Its core principle is to drive the upper and lower transistors in the switching device to turn on and off using a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. For any phase, the PWM signal provided by the controller configured with COT control logic can be used to fix the on-time (Ton) of the upper transistor in each switching cycle. After detecting and feeding back the output status at the power supply end, the on-time (Toff, which is also the off-time of the upper transistor) of the lower transistor is adaptively adjusted, thereby adaptively adjusting the switching frequency.

[0031] In some application scenarios, controllers configured with multiphase COT control mechanisms can integrate the driving logic of MOSFETs, thereby directly driving the upper and lower MOSFETs to turn on and off.

[0032] In other application scenarios, the controller and the driver of the MOSFET are separate when configuring the multiphase COT control mechanism. The driver and the upper and lower transistors are integrated into a single switching device (e.g., a DrMOS device). In this case, the controller drives the upper and lower transistors to turn on and off through the driver.

[0033] Under the current multiphase COT control mechanism, the switching frequency is adjustable based on a fixed on-time (Ton) and a variable off-time (Toff). This allows for maintaining a fixed on-time (Ton) and reducing the subsequent pulse off-time (Toff) to increase the switching frequency when the power supply output voltage drops due to a sudden increase in load. This aims to charge the output capacitor through the inductor as quickly as possible. However, the inventors discovered that this multiphase COT control mechanism still has limitations. In the initial transient phase of a load change, the initial pulse energy injection capability provided by the controller is fixed and limited, especially during the critical initial stage of the transient event. Because the on-time (Ton) of the upper transistor is fixed under the traditional multiphase COT control mechanism, the energy transferred by each pulse used to drive the upper transistor to turn on is determined by its peak current. However, during a transient event, due to the DC-passing and AC-blocking characteristics of the inductor, the inductor current cannot be instantaneously established. This results in insufficient charging of the output capacitor by the first fixed-width pulse provided by the multiphase COT controller, causing the output voltage to drop rapidly. Although the switching frequency can be increased by reducing the turn-off time (Toff), the output voltage will still drop significantly before the inductor current builds up enough to support the load. This means that the current multiphase COT control strategy is essentially a passive catch-up energy replenishment strategy, which may result in insufficient initial energy injection at the beginning of transient events.

[0034] In view of this, in order to improve the problem of insufficient initial energy injection during transient response in the current multiphase COT control mechanism, this application provides a power controller and control method for a multiphase power supply. When facing load changes, it can actively enhance the injection of initial pulse energy at the beginning of the most critical transient event, thereby more effectively suppressing the drop in output voltage and meeting the power integrity (PI) timing requirements of high-performance computing devices (such as CPUs, GPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and other chips used to process complex computing tasks).

[0035] The following is combined Figure 2 This application describes a power controller for a multiphase power supply. The power controller can connect to multiple switching devices for voltage conversion, with each switching device corresponding to a power circuit of one phase. This application does not impose a requirement on the maximum number of active phases allowed for the entire power system.

[0036] like Figure 2 As shown in the embodiments of this application, the power controller of the multiphase power supply includes a pulse enhancement unit, a transient monitoring unit, a signal selection unit, and a multiphase control unit.

[0037] The multiphase control unit functions similarly to existing multiphase controllers, providing pulse width modulation (PWM) signals based on the constant on-time (COT) control principle and equipped with multiphase COT control logic. Under the multiphase COT control mechanism, a set of PWM signals with a fixed phase difference can be provided to drive the switching devices of each phase to operate collaboratively. For each phase's PWM signal, the on-time (Ton) of the upper transistor in each switching cycle is fixed. After detecting and feeding back the output status at the power supply end, the on-time (Toff, which is also the off-time of the upper transistor) of the lower transistor is adaptively adjusted, thereby adaptively adjusting the switching frequency. Under the multiphase COT control mechanism, the multiphase controller typically uses an internal timer to set a constant value for the on-time of the upper transistor. When this internal timer ends, the upper transistor turns off and the lower transistor turns on. At this time, the inductor current at the corresponding phase power supply output end begins to decrease. By detecting the inductor current or output voltage, the off-time of the lower transistor is determined, thereby adaptively adjusting the off-time of the lower transistor. The multiphase control unit may contain modules such as a constant on-time (Ton) timer and a minimum off-time (Toff) timer, which are used to set the constant on-time (Ton) and minimum off-time (minimum Toff) in a switching cycle, respectively. The multiphase control unit may also have a built-in sampling feedback comparison circuit, which compares the detected output voltage or output current with a preset reference value to adjust the duty cycle of the PWM signal in the next switching cycle, thereby adjusting the switching frequency.

[0038] Each single-phase power circuit of the multiphase power supply can be connected to the multiphase control unit. The signal output terminal of the multiphase control unit can be connected to the switching devices of each phase of the multiphase power supply, thereby driving the power switches of the multiphase power supply to switch their states.

[0039] In the embodiments of this application, in addition to driving the power switch to switch states through the multi-phase COT control logic of the multi-phase control unit, the power controller can also drive the power switch to switch states through a branch composed of a transient monitoring unit, a pulse enhancement unit, and a signal selection unit. It is understood that... Figure 2 The signal selection unit can be connected to one or a group of switching devices in the multiphase power supply (for example, the signal selection unit can output a set of signals to a group of parallel switching devices). The signal output terminal of the multiphase control unit and the output terminal of the pulse enhancement unit can be connected to the switching devices of each phase of the multiphase power supply through the signal selection unit, thereby driving the power switch of the multiphase power supply to switch its state.

[0040] In some implementations, each phase of the multiphase power supply can be equipped with a dedicated transient monitoring unit, pulse enhancement unit, and signal selection unit. In other implementations, the phase switching devices can share the transient monitoring unit, pulse enhancement unit, and signal selection unit, only requiring the pulse enhancement unit to maintain the same phase difference logic as the multiphase control unit when outputting the signal.

[0041] The transient monitoring unit is used to monitor the voltage output status of the multi-phase power supply. This transient monitoring unit can be directly connected to the output terminal of the multi-phase power supply through an independent voltage sampling structure to detect the power supply output voltage, or it can utilize the existing sampling structure of the multi-phase control unit for voltage monitoring. The transient monitoring unit has dual monitoring functions, monitoring both the voltage sag rate and the voltage sag amplitude. If both abnormal voltage sag rate and voltage sag amplitude are detected simultaneously, a serious transient event is determined to have occurred. If the transient monitoring unit only detects an abnormal voltage sag rate or only an abnormal voltage sag amplitude, i.e., only one type of abnormality is detected, a general transient event is determined to have occurred.

[0042] In this embodiment, the multiphase control unit is connected to the signal selection unit. The multiphase control unit provides a pulse width modulation signal with a fixed phase difference based on the constant on-time control principle under steady-state conditions, and provides the pulse width modulation signal to the power switch of the multiphase power supply through the signal selection unit, so that the power switch can switch its switching state according to the pulse width modulation signal to supply power.

[0043] Furthermore, the pulse enhancement unit is also connected to the signal selection unit. This pulse enhancement unit provides enhanced pulse signals according to a preset pulse width and number when the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event. The enhanced pulse signals are then provided to the power switch of the multi-phase power supply via the signal selection unit, causing the power switch to switch its state according to the enhanced pulse signals in response to the severe transient event. The pulse enhancement unit can be configured to have the same phase allocation logic as the multi-phase control unit; that is, the pulse enhancement unit can output a set of enhanced pulse signals with the same phase difference as the multi-phase control unit.

[0044] The signal selection unit can be configured to select either the PWM signal provided by the multiphase control unit or the enhanced pulse signal provided by the pulse enhancement unit as the drive signal for the corresponding phase switching device in the multiphase power supply, thereby driving the power switch to switch its state. Specifically, the signal selection unit can be configured to preferentially select the enhanced pulse signal provided by the pulse enhancement unit to inject energy into the power circuit experiencing a severe transient event.

[0045] Specifically, for the enhanced pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit based on a severe transient event, the pulse width of the first enhanced pulse is greater than the constant pulse width corresponding to the pulse width modulation signal output by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle.

[0046] Optionally, in some application scenarios, for a multiphase power supply with several switching devices, it can be configured to enable all switching devices to provide multiphase power to the same load, or it can be configured to enable some switching devices to provide multiphase power to one load and enable another group of switching devices to provide multiphase power to another load. The number of phases enabled for the load should not be construed as a limitation of this application; for example, three-phase, four-phase, six-phase, eight-phase, and twelve-phase interleaved power supply can be used. For any phase of the power supply circuit, the control principle provided in the embodiments of this application can be used to enhance the injection of pulse energy.

[0047] Optionally, the pulse enhancement unit, transient monitoring unit, signal selection unit, and multiphase control unit in the power controller can be combined in the form of discrete functional modules to achieve control of multiphase power supply, or they can be fully or partially integrated into a packaged device to achieve control of multiphase power supply. For example, they can be integrated as functional modules into the existing multiphase COT controller. This modular integration method has good compatibility, does not require a complete overhaul of the existing COT control architecture, has low upgrade costs, and is easy to implement.

[0048] In the power controller of this application embodiment, by supplementing the multiphase control unit with a constant on-time (COT) control mechanism with a transient monitoring unit, a pulse enhancement unit, and a signal selection unit, under steady-state conditions, the power control system can achieve steady-state operation of the multiphase power supply using only the multiphase control unit and the traditional multiphase COT control approach. When load fluctuations occur, the transient monitoring unit can detect whether a severe transient event has occurred. Upon detection of a severe transient event, the pulse enhancement unit outputs an enhanced pulse signal, which is then actively provided to the power switch of the multiphase power supply by the signal selection unit. This causes the power switch to switch its state according to the enhanced pulse signal, thereby responding to the severe transient event. This approach can proactively select to control the power switch of a multiphase power supply with an enhanced pulse signal when a severe transient event occurs, briefly overriding the traditional multiphase COT control logic. While maintaining high-frequency operation, it can qualitatively improve the energy level of the first or first few pulses at the beginning of the transient event, quickly achieving efficient injection of initial pulse energy in the early stage of the transient response. It can effectively suppress the drop in output voltage and meet the power integrity (PI) timing requirements of various high-performance devices.

[0049] The power controller provided in this application embodiment can achieve precise initial energy control. By configurably extending the width of the first (or first few) pulses, it can achieve precise control of the energy injected in the initial transient phase. This is something that cannot be achieved by simply reducing the off-time Toff to increase the switching frequency in a simple COT control mechanism or by simply adjusting the peak current within a fixed switching cycle in a traditional current control mechanism.

[0050] In one implementation, the pulse enhancement unit includes a configurable pulse generator, a first counter, and a second counter. The configurable pulse generator is used to output an enhanced pulse signal when the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event. The pulse width of the enhanced pulse signal is determined according to a pre-configured timing period of the first counter, and the number of consecutive pulses of the enhanced pulse signal is determined according to a pre-configured number of pulses of the second counter.

[0051] The configurable pulse generator can be considered a retriggered monostable multivibrator. The configurable first counter can be a configurable register external to the pulse generator. This configurable register defines the pulse width (Ton_boost) of the boosted pulse signal output by the pulse generator within one signal cycle; that is, the timing period corresponding to the pulse width of one boosted pulse can be determined by the value of the configurable register. When the pulse boosting unit receives a severe transient event trigger signal from the transient monitoring unit based on a severe transient event, the pulse generator is triggered and set, outputting a high level to indicate the start of the first boosted pulse. Simultaneously, a configurable second counter begins counting. The maximum value (N) of this second counter can be set by another configurable register to control the number of consecutive boosted pulses output by the pulse generator. After the on-time (Ton_boost1) of the first boost pulse output by the pulse generator based on a severe transient event ends, if the second counter has not reached its configured maximum value (N), a second, third, or more boost pulses with configurable pulse widths (denoted as Ton_boost2, Ton_boost3...Ton_boostN, respectively) can be generated, until N boost pulses are output. The configurable pulse widths (Ton_boost) of these boost pulses can be the same or different. For the enhanced pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit based on severe transient events, the pulse width (Ton_boost) of each enhanced pulse can be configured to be greater than the constant pulse width (Ton) set by the multiphase control unit based on the COT control principle. In this way, the pulse width of each enhanced pulse is greater than the constant pulse width corresponding to the pulse width modulation signal output by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle. When a severe transient event is detected, the energy level of the first few pulses can be qualitatively improved, and the output capacitor can be charged as soon as possible through the inductor connected to the power switch (i.e., the switching device) of the multiphase power supply, effectively and efficiently suppressing the drop in power supply output voltage.

[0052] In the above embodiments, the pulse enhancement unit employs a configurable pulse generator, a first counter, and a second counter. This provides high configurability, flexible control strategies, low implementation costs, and high reusability. Different intensity enhancement pulses can be configured according to the requirements of different load application scenarios to cope with complex load changes and improve the overall power supply system. Furthermore, the independently configurable parameters such as the width of each enhancement pulse (Ton_boost2, Ton_boost3...Ton_boostN) and the number of enhancement pulses N provide multi-dimensional optimization space. Based on this, fine-tuning can be performed for specific, most severe load scenarios and the output capacitor network, perfectly balancing the problems caused by voltage transient drops and overshoot during voltage recovery.

[0053] In one implementation, the signal selection unit is configured to, when simultaneously receiving an enhanced pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit and a pulse width modulation signal provided by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle, select the enhanced pulse signal as the switching control signal for the multiphase power supply. The signal selection unit can also be configured to, when the pulse enhancement unit stops outputting the enhanced pulse signal, restore the multiphase control unit's switching control over the multiphase power supply, so that the power switch of the multiphase power supply can re-switch its switching state according to the pulse width modulation signal provided by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle.

[0054] For example, the signal selection unit can be a selector configured with priority selection logic. One (or a set of) selection inputs of the selector are used to connect to the PWM signal generator of the multi-phase control unit, and another (or a set of) selection inputs are used to connect to the enhanced pulse signal provided by the pulse enhancement unit. The output of the selector can select either the PWM signal provided by the multi-phase control unit or the enhanced pulse signal provided by the pulse enhancement unit as the drive signal for the switching device, thereby driving the power switch of the multi-phase power supply to switch its switching state. When the pulse enhancement unit stops outputting the enhanced pulse signal, the selector uses only the PWM signal provided by the multi-phase control unit to drive the power switch to switch its switching state.

[0055] Based on this implementation, when no severe transient event occurs, such as under steady-state conditions or when only a general transient event occurs, the signal selection unit can adaptively drive the power switch to switch states using only the PWM signal provided by the multi-phase control unit, thereby ensuring dynamic response under steady-state conditions and general transient events. However, when a severe transient event occurs, the signal selection unit uses the enhanced pulse signal provided by the pulse enhancement unit to control the switching state, thereby dynamically responding to the severe transient event by injecting initial energy. This signal selection unit ensures coordinated switching between the pulse enhancement unit and the original COT control logic. The switching logic is that when the pulse enhancement unit has not stopped outputting the enhanced pulse signal (i.e., when the number of output enhanced pulses has not yet reached the configured N), the signal selection unit uses a priority selection method to force the corresponding switching device to conduct according to the configurable on-time (Ton_boost) of the enhanced pulse provided by the pulse generator, instead of using the constant on-time of the conventional COT mechanism. The signal selection unit only cancels the priority selection of this signal after the number of enhanced pulses output by the pulse generator reaches the number pre-configured by the second counter. At this point, control of the power system is returned to the traditional multiphase COT control logic of the multiphase control unit. The conduction time of the switching devices continues to use the constant conduction time corresponding to the PWM signal provided by the multiphase control unit, and Toff is adjusted through the adaptive strategy in the COT control logic to complete the subsequent voltage recovery process. That is, after the initial energy injection is completed through one or more enhancement pulses, the switching frequency can continue to be adaptively adjusted using the COT control logic.

[0056] As one implementation method, such as Figure 3 As shown, the transient monitoring unit includes a voltage sag rate detector, a voltage sag amplitude detector, and a logic judgment unit.

[0057] Specifically, when the load on the multiphase power supply suddenly increases, the power supply output voltage begins to drop rapidly. The transient monitoring unit can monitor the rate and absolute value of the output voltage drop in real time, and perform status monitoring on the sampled power supply output voltage. Through a voltage drop rate detector, a voltage drop amplitude detector, and a logic judgment unit, the transient monitoring unit can perform dual threshold detection.

[0058] Optionally, voltage sampling and calculation can be achieved through a network of components such as high-precision resistor dividers and buffer amplifiers, thereby capturing changes in the power supply output voltage in real time. Those skilled in the art can select the devices used for voltage sampling and calculation based on actual accuracy requirements, or obtain voltage sampling information through existing sampling structures of some integrated devices.

[0059] The voltage sag rate detector is used to detect the sag rate of the power supply output voltage, and when the detected sag rate is higher than the set sag rate threshold, it outputs an abnormal sag rate signal to the logic judgment unit.

[0060] Optionally, the voltage sag rate detector can be implemented using an analog differentiator or a digital high-pass filter to calculate the voltage sag rate dV / dt. This can be achieved using an analog differentiating circuit or a digital differential algorithm. When implemented with analog circuits, a high-speed operational amplifier and a resistor-capacitor network can be used to construct a differentiator (with a bandwidth greater than the power supply bandwidth). The differentiator differentiates the output voltage Vout, directly extracting the voltage sag rate dV / dt. When implemented with digital circuits, the output voltage is sampled using a high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC), followed by a digital filter to calculate the difference between consecutive sampled values, thus obtaining the voltage sag rate dV / dt.

[0061] After calculating the rate of change of voltage sag dV / dt, this rate of change dV / dt can be compared with a configurable rate of change threshold (denoted as VTH_Slew). When dV / dt exceeds this threshold VTH_Slew (i.e., the voltage sag is too fast), a high-level signal can be output to the logic judgment unit as an abnormal rate of change signal. This rate of change threshold VTH_Slew can be set by those skilled in the art based on the worst-case scenario of load transients, and can be set via a register.

[0062] Based on the above principle, the voltage drop rate detector can detect anomalies at a very early stage (usually within tens of nanoseconds) when the power supply output voltage begins to drop.

[0063] The voltage drop amplitude detector is used to detect the drop amplitude of the power supply output voltage, and when the detected drop amplitude is lower than the set reference voltage amplitude, it outputs an abnormal voltage amplitude signal to the logic judgment unit.

[0064] Optionally, the voltage sag amplitude detector is implemented based on a high-speed comparator (with a bandwidth greater than the power supply bandwidth). It compares the real-time sampled power supply output voltage Vout with a set reference voltage amplitude (denoted as VREF_VTH). When the amplitude of the power supply output voltage Vout is detected to be lower than the reference voltage amplitude VREF_VTH, a high-level signal is output to the logic judgment unit as an abnormal voltage amplitude signal. This method can directly reflect whether the voltage sag depth exceeds the tolerance range.

[0065] Typically, a multiphase control unit equipped with COT control logic compares the sampled power supply output voltage Vout with a set normal reference voltage VREF (usually related to the performance requirements of the power system; for example, VREF could be set to 770mV in an 800mV output system). When Vout is lower than the normal reference voltage VREF, it adaptively adjusts the PWM signal (adjusting the off-time Toff) to increase the switching frequency. The reference voltage amplitude VREF_VTH set by the voltage drop amplitude detector in the transient monitoring unit is a value slightly lower than the normal reference voltage VREF set internally by the multiphase control unit (i.e., VREF_VTH). <VREF)。

[0066] The logic judgment unit receives abnormal rate of change signals and abnormal voltage amplitude signals, and performs event judgment. Upon receiving both signals, it determines a severe transient event (meaning a voltage drop that is too rapid and too deep) and outputs a severe transient event trigger signal to the pulse enhancement unit. Alternatively, it determines a general transient event only upon receiving a valid signal from either the abnormal rate of change signal or the abnormal voltage amplitude signal; in this case, the pulse enhancement unit may not be triggered to output an enhanced pulse. The logic judgment unit can be implemented using a simple AND logic gate. However, in some applications, it can be combined with OR logic gates to achieve the same logical judgment. For example, in some applications, triggering the pulse enhancement unit to output an enhanced pulse may be optional upon receiving a general transient event; only the logic algorithm of the logic judgment unit needs to be modified.

[0067] After the transient monitoring unit outputs a severe transient event trigger signal to the pulse enhancement unit through the logic judgment unit, it can continuously monitor the status of the power supply output voltage. Under normal circumstances, based on the severe transient event trigger signal, the pulse enhancement unit will continuously output multiple enhanced pulses with the same or different pulse widths to quickly inject energy, causing the power supply output voltage to recover.

[0068] In this embodiment, the multiphase control unit, based on the constant on-time control principle, provides a PWM signal that can control the power switch to switch on for the same and fixed on-time (Ton) and to switch off for an adaptively adjusted off-time (Toff). Specifically, when the transient monitoring unit detects a general transient event but not a severe transient event, the multiphase control unit, based on the constant on-time control principle, outputs a pulse width modulation signal with a constant on-time but adaptively reduced off-time. This controls the power switch of the multiphase power supply to increase its switching frequency according to the pulse width modulation signal. Here, a general transient event refers to a situation where only an abnormal rate of voltage change or an abnormal voltage amplitude is detected.

[0069] In some application scenarios, the transient monitoring unit can trigger the multi-phase control unit to enable power switch devices with more phases.

[0070] In one example, as Figure 3 shown, the power controller samples the output voltage through a voltage-dividing resistor. The voltage drop rate detector in the transient monitoring unit calculates the change rate dV / dt of the voltage drop based on the sampled voltage, and compares this change rate dV / dt with a configurable change rate threshold VTH_Slew. When it is higher than this threshold VTH_Slew, an abnormal change rate signal is output to the logic judgment unit. The voltage drop amplitude detector in the transient monitoring unit compares the real-time sampled and calculated power output voltage Vout with the set reference voltage amplitude VREF_VTH. When the amplitude of the power output voltage Vout is lower than this VREF_VTH, an abnormal voltage amplitude signal is output to the logic judgment unit. When the logic judgment unit receives the abnormal change rate signal and the abnormal voltage amplitude signal, it determines that a severe transient event has occurred and triggers the pulse enhancement unit to output an enhanced pulse signal. In addition, the multi-phase control unit of the power controller can also compare the sampled voltage with a normal reference voltage VREF (VREF > VREF_VTH) through a built-in voltage comparator. The multi-phase control unit can also, based on the comparison result (for example, when Vout < VREF), control the PWM signal generator in the multi-phase control unit to generate a constant-time pulse according to the COT control mechanism through a built-in switch logic processor (implementing COT control logic), so as to drive the switch device to conduct for this constant time. After the switch device conducts for this constant time, if Vout is still lower than VREF, the switch logic processor drives the switch device to turn off for a minimum off time defined by the minimum off time timer and then turn on again (in some embodiments, for the off time of the switch device in the COT mechanism, the switch logic processor can also be configured to select one of several off time grades set according to the difference degree between Vout and VREF in advance to drive the switch device to turn off once and then turn on again, and each grade of these off time grades is an off time that is a multiple of the minimum off time), until the output voltage is stable. It can be understood that Figure 3 Although the power switch device is simply drawn in the example, in actual applications, the power controller can control a group of parallel-connected switch devices.

[0071] In this embodiment, the transient monitoring unit introduces dual threshold detection (combining the rate of voltage drop and the magnitude of voltage drop) to simultaneously monitor both the rate of change and the absolute value (magnitude) of the power supply output voltage drop. The rate of change detection is achieved through a differentiator or high-pass filter, enabling very early prediction of voltage drop trends. Monitoring the magnitude of the voltage drop ensures that the enhanced pulse signal is triggered only when the voltage deviation reaches a significant level, satisfying both verification criteria. This dual threshold verification mechanism ensures the accuracy and timeliness of triggering, enabling rapid response to severe transients while avoiding noise-induced false triggering and overshoot, thus improving system reliability. When the impact of transient events is relatively minor (e.g., general transient events), the power supply switching frequency can be adaptively increased solely through the multi-phase control unit.

[0072] Optionally, the power controller may also include a phase alignment unit. The phase alignment unit is connected to both the transient monitoring unit and the multiphase control unit. The phase alignment unit can send a reset signal to the pulse width modulation signal generator of the multiphase control unit when the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event. Of course, in some applications, the phase alignment unit can also send a reset signal when the transient monitoring unit detects a general transient event. The multiphase control unit can synchronize the power switches of one or more phases (i.e., change the phase difference; the pulse enhancement unit can also change the phase difference accordingly) based on the reset signal, so that some or all phases are synchronously aligned (the corresponding switching devices turn on simultaneously in the next clock cycle). The phase alignment time can be configured by setting a dedicated alignment timer, digital register, or external resistor. After the timer expires, the interleaved phase operation mode under the steady-state COT mechanism is restored, ensuring optimal ripple and efficiency performance can be recovered. This method can temporarily break the steady-state COT interleaved phase rule, forcing some or all phases to operate actively. Those skilled in the art can set the phase alignment strategy according to actual needs.

[0073] As an optional implementation, the multiphase control unit can be a multiphase COT controller configured with current sharing control logic. If each phase power switch of the multiphase power supply uses a DrMOS device (with built-in current sampling structure) that integrates the switch driver and switching power device (upper and lower transistors), the multiphase control unit can also be configured to use a DrMOS-based current sampling method, outputting a current adjustment signal according to the pre-configured current sharing control logic to dynamically share the current of the multiphase power supply. The current adjustment signal is a pulse width modulation signal with different conduction times. Through the current balance guarantee of the multiphase control unit, precise current sampling technology based on DrMOS can be used during phase alignment to monitor the current of each phase in real time. The multiphase control unit can achieve dynamic current sharing by fine-tuning the conduction time of each phase when necessary, ensuring that all phases share the load pressure equally.

[0074] Based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of this application also provide a control method for a multiphase power supply, applied to the aforementioned power controller, such as... Figure 4 As shown, the method includes:

[0075] S110: Under steady-state conditions, the multi-phase control unit of the power controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a fixed phase difference based on the output voltage of the multi-phase power supply and the constant conduction time control principle. The signal selection unit of the power controller provides the pulse width modulation signal to the power switch of the multi-phase power supply, thereby controlling the power switch to switch the switching state according to the pulse width modulation signal to achieve power supply. The transient monitoring unit of the power controller monitors the voltage output state of the multi-phase power supply.

[0076] S120: When the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event, the pulse enhancement unit of the power controller provides an enhanced pulse signal with the phase difference according to the preset pulse width and number, and the enhanced pulse signal is provided to the power switch of the multi-phase power supply through the signal selection unit, so that the power switch switches the switching state according to the enhanced pulse signal to respond to the severe transient event.

[0077] During the period from steady-state operation to load changes, when the voltage begins to drop and continues to drop, the transient monitoring unit continuously monitors the voltage output status, monitoring the rate and magnitude of voltage drop to determine transient events. Based on the determination result, it triggers the pulse enhancement unit to amplify the pulse signal to drive the corresponding power switch to switch its state, or the multi-phase control unit uses a PWM signal provided by the COT control principle to drive the corresponding power switch to switch its state. In this way, when a severe transient event occurs, it can actively select to control the power switches of the multi-phase power supply with an enhanced pulse signal, briefly overriding the traditional COT control logic. While maintaining high-frequency operation, it can qualitatively improve the energy level of the first or first few pulses at the beginning of the transient event, quickly achieving efficient injection of initial pulse energy in the early stage of the transient response, and effectively suppressing the drop in output voltage.

[0078] As an optional implementation, the method may further include:

[0079] S130: When the transient monitoring unit detects a general transient event but no serious transient event, the multiphase control unit outputs a pulse width modulation signal with a constant on-time but adaptively reduced off-time based on the constant on-time control principle. This controls the power switch of the multiphase power supply to increase the switching frequency according to the pulse width modulation signal. A general transient event refers to a situation where only the abnormal rate of change of voltage or the abnormal voltage amplitude is detected.

[0080] Among them, for the enhanced pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit based on the severe transient event, the pulse width of each enhanced pulse is greater than the constant pulse width corresponding to the pulse width modulation signal output by the multiphase control unit based on the constant conduction time control principle.

[0081] If the transient monitoring unit determines that a general transient event has occurred, conventional COT control can be performed, simply reducing Toff and increasing the switching frequency to respond to the voltage drop, allowing the power supply output voltage to recover to a steady state as quickly as possible. However, if a severe transient event is detected, the transient monitoring unit will send a trigger signal to the pulse enhancement unit to enhance energy according to the set pulse width and number of pulses. At this time, the conventional Ton timer corresponding to the multi-phase control unit (used to determine a constant Ton) can be turned off until the pulse enhancement unit outputs the set number of pulses. This is considered as the pulse enhancement unit having completed its response to the severe transient event and exiting, allowing the power supply output voltage to recover to a steady state as quickly as possible.

[0082] As an optional implementation, the method may further include:

[0083] S140: When the transient monitoring unit detects a severe transient event, the pulse enhancement unit outputs the first enhanced pulse according to the preset pulse width, and counts according to the fixed off time or the adaptive off time. After the off time ends, the subsequent enhanced pulses are output until the preset number of enhanced pulses is reached.

[0084] For the boosted pulse signals output by the pulse booster unit, the pulse widths of each boosted pulse can be configured to be the same or different (i.e., the Ton_boost2, Ton_boost3...Ton_boostN corresponding to each of the N boosted pulses can be the same or different). Furthermore, the turn-off time corresponding to each boosted pulse can be a fixed value or configured using a Toff adaptive adjustment strategy similar to COT control logic. Since the parameters of each boosted pulse can be configured independently, multi-dimensional optimization space is provided. Based on this, fine-tuning can be performed for specific, most severe load scenarios and output capacitor networks.

[0085] To facilitate understanding, let's take a simple application scenario as an example. In one application scenario, this method may include the following process:

[0086] Real-time monitoring: Continuously monitors the rate of change (dV / dt) and magnitude of voltage drop of the power supply output voltage, and compares the monitored rate of change (dV / dt) and magnitude of voltage drop with their respective configurable thresholds to determine transient events.

[0087] Pulse enhancement unit activation: When the comparison condition is met and a severe transient event is identified, the pulse enhancement unit is immediately activated, and the fixed Ton control logic of the conventional COT control is turned off (this can be achieved through the signal selection unit).

[0088] Generating the first boost pulse: The configurable pulse generator within the pulse boosting unit generates the first turn-on pulse (the boost pulse), with a pulse width of Ton_boost1, which is independently programmable. This pulse width, Ton_boost1, is much larger than the constant pulse width Ton of the COT mechanism, designed to inject a large amount of energy into the inductor.

[0089] Enhanced pulse Toff control (used to adjust switching frequency): After the first enhanced pulse ends, the upper transistor of the switching device is immediately turned off and the lower transistor is turned on, but this Toff time is strongly compressed (it can be consistent with the adaptive response of the traditional COT mechanism, or a constant value can be used), and the next switching cycle is started at an extremely fast speed.

[0090] Generating subsequent boost pulses: In the next switching cycle, the pulse boosting unit can generate a second boost pulse with a pulse width of Ton_boost2 (Ton_boost2 can be the same as or different from Ton_boost1). This process is repeated until the preset number of boost pulses N is reached.

[0091] Smooth recovery: After issuing N enhanced pulses, the pulse enhancement unit automatically exits, and the system seamlessly switches back to the traditional steady-state control mode with fixed on time and adaptive off time (i.e., traditional COT control mode).

[0092] For further details regarding the control method of this multiphase power supply, please refer to the corresponding description of the power controller (e.g., the introduction of the pulse enhancement unit, transient monitoring unit, signal selection unit, multiphase control unit, as well as phase alignment, current sharing, etc.), which will not be repeated here.

[0093] Typically, when a severe transient event occurs in a multiphase power supply due to a load change, the inductor current can only slowly rise to the target current (the current required for the power system to operate in steady state). During this slow rise, the current / charge will be provided by the output capacitor, causing the power supply output voltage to drop. The charge that the output capacitor needs to provide when the voltage drops to its lowest point is denoted as ΔQ. Figure 5 and Figure 6 This example illustrates the trend changes in inductor current and output voltage of a multiphase power supply under different control principles. Figure 5 and Figure 6Among them, the curve marked as ① represents the power output voltage change trend of the multiphase power supply facing a severe transient event when the multiphase power supply is controlled according to the control principle of the embodiment of the present application. The curve marked as ② represents the power output voltage change trend of the multiphase power supply facing a severe transient event when the multiphase power supply is controlled only according to the traditional multiphase COT control principle. The curve marked as ③ represents the inductor current change trend of the multiphase power supply facing a severe transient event when the multiphase power supply is controlled according to the control principle of the embodiment of the present application. The curve marked as ④ represents the inductor current change trend of the multiphase power supply facing a severe transient event when the multiphase power supply is controlled only according to the traditional multiphase COT control principle. As shown by curves ① and ②, at the initial stage of the transient event, the voltage will drop, and after responding to the transient event, the voltage will rise. By comparing the voltage change trends of curves ① and ②, it can be seen that the drop depth of curve ① is shallower. That is, according to the control principle of the embodiment of the present application, the continuous drop of the power output voltage can be better suppressed, and the voltage can rise faster. As shown by curves ③ and ④, a severe transient event occurs at time t0. After responding to the transient event, the inductor current needs to climb to the target current (the inductor has the characteristic of passing direct current and blocking alternating current, so the inductor current will drop at some moments during the rising process). By comparing the inductor current change trends of curves ③ and ④, it can be seen that the overall climbing efficiency of curve ③ is higher, and the inductor can climb to the target current in a shorter time (t1 < t2). In addition, according to the charge formula I×Δt = ΔQ, here I represents the inductor current (both need to climb to the same target current), Δt represents the time taken for the inductor current to climb to the target current after a severe transient event occurs, and ΔQ represents the charge that the output capacitor needs to provide when the voltage drops to the bottom of the valley. Figure 5 The shaded area marked in it can represent the charge required by the output capacitor when the voltage drops to the bottom of the valley in the case of responding to a severe transient event according to the control principle of the embodiment of the present application, while Figure 6 The shaded area marked in it can represent the charge required by the output capacitor when the voltage drops to the bottom of the valley in the case of only responding to a severe transient event according to the traditional COT control architecture. By comparison, it can be seen that less charge is required according to the control principle of the embodiment of the present application. Through the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application, the charge that the output capacitor needs to provide when the voltage drops to the bottom of the valley will be significantly less than that required only relying on the traditional COT architecture. The solution of the embodiment of the present application can actively and intelligently enhance the initial energy injection during the transient occurrence, fundamentally improve the transient response performance, and can immediately exit after the response task is completed, without affecting the overall stability of the system, and is easy to implement without completely subverting the traditional multiphase COT control architecture.

[0094] It should be understood that the foregoing embodiments or application scenarios are merely illustrative of some implementation methods and are only examples. The functions or related steps described above in conjunction with the system can be implemented by different hardware modules, circuits, or components, or implemented as part of a control circuit, control logic, or controller.

[0095] The appearance of phrases such as "in some embodiments," "in one embodiment," or "in one embodiment" throughout this specification does not necessarily refer to the exact same embodiment. Furthermore, specific features, structures, or properties can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or implementations. Therefore, a specific feature, structure, or property shown or described in one embodiment can be combined, in whole or in part, with features, structures, or properties of one or more other embodiments without limitation, provided that such combination is not illogical or inoperable.

[0096] Although this application has been described through the above embodiments, this application is not limited to the embodiments described herein, and includes various changes and variations without departing from the scope of this application.

Claims

1. A power supply controller for a multiphase power supply, characterized by, The power supply controller comprises a pulse enhancement unit, a transient monitoring unit, a signal selection unit and a multiphase control unit. The transient monitoring unit is configured to monitor the voltage output state of the multiphase power supply. The multiphase control unit is connected to the signal selection unit, and is configured to provide a pulse width modulation signal with a fixed phase difference based on the constant on-time control principle in a steady state, and provide the pulse width modulation signal to the power switch of the multiphase power supply through the signal selection unit, so that the power switch can switch states according to the pulse width modulation signal to supply power. The pulse enhancement unit is connected to the signal selection unit, and is configured to provide an enhanced pulse signal with the phase difference according to a pre-set pulse width and number when the transient monitoring unit detects a serious transient event, and provide the enhanced pulse signal to the power switch of the multiphase power supply through the signal selection unit, so that the power switch can switch states according to the enhanced pulse signal to respond to the serious transient event.

2. The power supply controller of claim 1, wherein, The pulse enhancement unit comprises a configurable pulse generator, a first counter and a second counter. The pulse generator is configured to output an enhanced pulse signal when the transient monitoring unit detects a serious transient event. The pulse width of the enhanced pulse signal is determined according to a pre-set timing period of the first counter, and the number of continuous pulses of the enhanced pulse signal is determined according to a pre-set number of the second counter.

3. The power supply controller of claim 1, wherein The signal selection unit is configured to select the enhanced pulse signal as the switch control signal of the multiphase power supply when the enhanced pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit and the pulse width modulation signal provided by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle are received simultaneously. The signal selection unit is further configured to restore the switch control right of the multiphase control unit to the multiphase power supply when the pulse enhancement unit stops outputting the enhanced pulse signal, so that the power switch of the multiphase power supply can switch states again according to the pulse width modulation signal provided by the multiphase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle.

4. The power supply controller of claim 1, wherein, The transient monitoring unit comprises a voltage drop change rate detector, a voltage drop amplitude detector and a logic judgment unit. The voltage drop change rate detector is configured to detect the drop change rate of the output voltage, and output an abnormal change rate signal to the logic judgment unit when the drop change rate is detected to be higher than a set change rate threshold. The voltage drop amplitude detector is configured to detect the drop amplitude of the output voltage, and output an abnormal voltage amplitude signal to the logic judgment unit when the drop amplitude is detected to be lower than a set reference voltage amplitude. The logic judgment unit is configured to determine that a serious transient event occurs when the abnormal change rate signal and the abnormal voltage amplitude signal are received, and output a serious transient event trigger signal to the pulse enhancement unit.

5. The power supply controller of claim 4, wherein, The pulse width modulation signal based on the constant on-time control principle can be used to control the power switches to switch on with the same and fixed on-time and switch off with the adaptively adjusted off-time. The multi-phase control unit is configured to output a pulse width modulation signal with constant on-time but adaptively reduced off-time based on the constant on-time control principle when the transient state monitoring unit detects a general transient event but does not detect a serious transient event, so as to control the power switches of the multi-phase power supply to increase the switching frequency according to the pulse width modulation signal, and the general transient event refers to a case where only an abnormal voltage change rate or an abnormal voltage amplitude is detected.

6. The power supply controller according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein The pulse width of each of the enhancement pulses of the enhancement pulse signal output by the pulse enhancement unit based on the serious transient event is greater than the constant pulse width of the pulse width modulation signal output by the multi-phase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle.

7. The power supply controller of claim 1, wherein, The power supply controller further comprises a phase alignment unit connected to the transient state monitoring unit and the multi-phase control unit. The phase alignment unit is configured to send a reset signal to the pulse width modulation signal generator of the multi-phase control unit when the transient state monitoring unit detects a serious transient event.

8. A control method of a multiphase power supply, characterized by, The method applied to the power supply controller of any one of claims 1-7 comprises: Under a steady state condition, the multi-phase control unit of the power supply controller provides a pulse width modulation signal with a fixed phase difference based on the constant on-time control principle according to the output voltage of the multi-phase power supply, and provides the pulse width modulation signal to the power switches of the multi-phase power supply through the signal selection unit of the power supply controller, so as to control the power switches to switch state to realize power supply according to the pulse width modulation signal, and monitor the voltage output state of the multi-phase power supply through the transient state monitoring unit of the power supply controller; When the transient state monitoring unit detects a serious transient event, the pulse enhancement unit of the power supply controller provides an enhancement pulse signal with the phase difference according to the preset pulse width and number, and provides the enhancement pulse signal to the power switches of the multi-phase power supply through the signal selection unit, so as to control the power switches to switch state to respond to the serious transient event according to the enhancement pulse signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further comprises: When the transient state monitoring unit detects a general transient event but does not detect a serious transient event, the multi-phase control unit outputs a pulse width modulation signal with constant on-time but adaptively reduced off-time based on the constant on-time control principle, so as to control the power switches of the multi-phase power supply to increase the switching frequency according to the pulse width modulation signal, and the general transient event refers to a case where only an abnormal voltage change rate or an abnormal voltage amplitude is detected. Wherein, for the enhanced pulse signal outputted by the pulse enhancement unit based on the serious transient event, the pulse width of each enhanced pulse is greater than the constant pulse width corresponding to the pulse width modulation signal outputted by the multi-phase control unit based on the constant on-time control principle.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further comprises: When the transient monitoring unit monitors the serious transient event, the pulse enhancement unit outputs the first enhanced pulse according to the pre-set pulse width, and counts the fixed off-time or the adaptive off-time, and outputs the subsequent enhanced pulse after the counting of the off-time ends until the pre-set number of enhanced pulses is reached.

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