Charge Pump Circuit Voltage Regulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional charge pump circuits experience significant power consumption and voltage drift when regulating source voltages to predetermined levels, as all charge pumps are either fully enabled or disabled, leading to inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A charge pump circuit design incorporating controlled and uncontrolled charge pumps, control units, an output unit, and a feedback unit, where controlled pumps are enabled or disabled based on node voltage, and uncontrolled pumps constantly provide charges, with negative feedback to stabilize the output voltage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If all charge pumps are enabled to pull up the voltage to the predetermined level, then the voltage can be reached, but power consumption increases considerably
Solution Approach 1:
The charge pump circuit is divided into multiple individual charge pumps (first charge pump, second charge pump, third charge pump, fourth charge pump) that can be independently controlled. Each charge pump has its own control signal (first control signal, second control signal, third control signal, fourth control signal) that determines whether it is enabled or disabled. This segmentation allows the system to enable only the necessary number of charge pumps to reach the required voltage level, rather than enabling all charge pumps, thereby reducing power consumption while still achieving the desired output voltage.
2Speed
If all charge pumps are enabled to ensure sufficient charging current, then the voltage can be pulled up quickly, but the output voltage drifts about the predetermined voltage to a great extent
Solution Approach 1:
The control signals for each charge pump are dynamically adjusted based on the detected node voltage. The control unit continuously monitors the voltage at node P and enables or disables specific charge pumps accordingly. This dynamic control allows the system to provide sufficient charging current when voltage is low (enabling multiple pumps for fast pull-up) and reduce the number of active pumps as voltage approaches the target level, thereby minimizing voltage overshoot and improving output voltage stability.
Solution Approach 2:
A feedback mechanism is implemented where the voltage at node P is detected and used to control the enabling state of individual charge pumps. The control unit receives the detected node voltage and generates appropriate control signals to enable or disable specific charge pumps. This feedback loop ensures that charge pumps are enabled in a controlled manner to reach the predetermined voltage level and then disabled or reduced to maintain stability, preventing excessive voltage drift.
3Use of energy by moving object
If all charge pumps are disabled when voltage reaches the predetermined level, then power consumption is reduced, but voltage regulation becomes coarse and drift increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the charge pump circuit into independently controllable units, the system can transition from coarse-grained control (all pumps on/off together) to fine-grained control (individual pump control). When the voltage approaches the predetermined level, the control unit can disable specific charge pumps one by one rather than all at once, allowing for more precise voltage regulation with smaller steps, thereby reducing voltage drift while still reducing power consumption compared to having all pumps enabled.
Data Source
AI summary
A charge pump circuit including a plurality of controlled charge pumps (CPs), a plurality of uncontrolled CPs, a plurality of control units, and an output unit is provided. Each controlled CP determines whether to provide charges to a node by a control signal, and each uncontrolled CP constantly provides charges to the node. The higher the node voltage at the node is, the more the controlled CPs not providing charge to the node are, so as to suppress the voltage of the node. In addition, the output unit regulates and outputs an output voltage according to the node voltage by the negative feedback.