Patent ID: 11888397
Assignee: STMICROELECTRON S.R.L.
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 5:
6. A method of operating a DC-DC switching converter having power switches operable to selectively coupling an output terminal of the DC-DC switching converter to a first voltage or with a second voltage, wherein the power switches comprise a first power switch operable for selectively coupling the output terminal of the DC-DC switching converter with the first voltage, and a second power switch operable for selectively coupling the output terminal of the DC-DC switching converter with the second voltage, the method comprising:
sensing a sign of an output current of the DC-DC switching converter, said output current being delivered by the DC-DC switching converter to a load;
assessing a voltage level at the output terminal of the DC-DC switching converter; and
selectively delaying activation of the first and second power switches depending on the sensed sign of the output current by conditioning the delaying the activation of the first and second power switches depending on the assessed voltage level at the output terminal;
wherein the conditioning of the delaying of the activation of the first and second power switches comprises:
delaying activation of the first power switch in case the DC-DC switching converter is operating in sink mode, sinking current from the load, and the voltage level at the output terminal has not yet risen towards the first voltage; and
delaying activation of the second power switch in case the DC-DC switching converter is operating in source mode, supplying current to the load, and the voltage at the output terminal has not yet fallen toward the second voltage.