ADAPTIVE LDO REGULATOR SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

An adaptive low dropout voltage regulator (LDO) circuit having low power dissipation, and a method of regulating voltage while maintaining low power dissipation. Power dissipation in an LDO circuit is controlled and held to a low value using an LDO circuit that maintains a constant voltage difference between Vin and Vout; that is, ΔV=Vin−Vout is approximately constant rather than linearly variable as a function of Vin. The output voltage Vout essentially tracks the input voltage Vin with an offset equal to ΔV; Vout increases as Vin, but is kept between minimum and maximum voltage output specification limits.

主权项

1. An adaptive low dropout voltage regulator circuit having low power dissipation, including:
(a) a pass transistor having a control gate, a voltage input, and a voltage output; and (b) an adaptive control circuit, electrically coupled to the control gate of the pass transistor, the voltage input, and the voltage output, for determining a difference ΔV between the voltage input to the pass transistor and the voltage output of the pass transistor, and causing an error signal to be applied to the control gate of the pass transistor to keep ΔV essentially constant as the voltage input varies.