Current balancing in a multi-phase power supply

摘要

According to example configurations herein, a controller is operated in a control mode (such as a high-speed control mode) in which the controller controls multiple phases in the power supply to produce an output voltage. The output voltage produced by the controller supplies current to power a dynamic load. While in the (high-speed current balance) control mode, the controller: i) produces, for each of the multiple phases, a respective current value representative of an estimated amount of current supplied by that phase to the dynamic load; and ii) modifies an order of activating the phases based on magnitudes of respective estimated current values produced for the multiple phases.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
operating a controller in multiple control modes in which the controller controls multiple phases in a power supply to produce an output voltage, the output voltage supplying current to power a dynamic load; a) while in a first control mode of the multiple control modes: repeatedly activating each of the multiple phases in accordance with a predetermined activation order; b) while in a second control mode of the multiple control modes: for each of the multiple phases, producing a respective current value representative of an estimated amount of current supplied by that phase to the dynamic load; and modifying an order of activating the phases based on magnitudes of respective current values produced for the multiple phases; while the controller is operated in the first control mode: switching from operating the controller in the first control mode to operating the controller in the second control mode in response to detecting a variation in magnitude of the output voltage, the method further comprising: switching from operating in the first control mode to operating the controller in the second control mode based at least in part in response to detecting that a frequency of a monitored AC voltage component of the output voltage is above a frequency threshold value.