Backup Power Architecture With Shared Switching and Variable Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional power supply systems with backup batteries face inefficiencies and accuracy issues due to the need for multiple independent circuits for boost conversion, battery health monitoring, and charging, which increases costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
An integrated backup power supply architecture that uses low-side and high-side switching elements, along with a transistor device acting as a variable sense resistor, to determine operation modes and enable corresponding control loops, reducing the number of power transistors needed and improving current capability and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent circuits are used for boost conversion, battery health monitoring, and charging, then functional completeness is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple independent circuits (boost converter, battery health monitoring, and charging circuits) into a single integrated power management IC. The controller internally integrates these functions, allowing them to share common components such as the low-side switching element, sense resistor, and control logic, thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining complete functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The power management IC is designed as a universal controller that can perform multiple functions: boost conversion, battery health monitoring, and charging operations. The controller selectively enables different operational modes based on system requirements, allowing a single device to replace multiple specialized circuits and providing multi-functionality in a unified architecture.
2Reliability
If multiple power transistors are used for different operation modes, then mode-specific performance is improved, but the number of components and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The low-side switching element serves multiple functions across different operational modes (boost conversion, battery health monitoring, and charging) by being selectively controlled through different control paths within the controller. This universal switching element replaces what would traditionally require multiple mode-specific transistors, reducing component count while maintaining optimal performance for each operation mode through software-controlled selection.
3Reliability
If separate circuits are used for each function, then functional independence is improved, but integration efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges previously separate circuits into a unified power management IC, enabling functional independence through selective enablement of different operational modes. The controller contains separate control logic paths for boost conversion, battery health monitoring, and charging functions, allowing each function to operate independently when needed while sharing common hardware resources, thus achieving both functional independence and high integration efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A power system includes a transistor device (e.g., one or more NFETs) is coupled between input voltage and switching node terminals, to provide a variable sense resistance. The system may further include low-side and high-side switching elements, with the low-side switching element coupled between a ground terminal and the switching node terminal, and the high-side switching element coupled between the switching node terminal and an output voltage terminal. The system may be configured to determine its mode of operation, based on primary and backup battery voltages, and enable a corresponding control loop based on that determined mode. With a control loop enabled, the system may be further configured to control the transistor device to provide a variable sense resistor based on a given control parameter. The low-side switching element may be shared by the modes, and external to a chip that includes the high-side switching element and transistor device.