Patent ID: 9735678
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: H02M,Y02B

Claim:
1. A multi-phase switch converter, the device comprising: a port for an input voltage (Vin); a port for a reference common ground voltage (Vcom), wherein the switch converter is supplied by a voltage difference between voltage Vin and voltage Vcom; gate voltage driver circuits comprising for each phase of the multi-phase switch converter a high-side gate voltage driver and a low-side gate voltage driver; an intermediate voltage, wherein the intermediate voltage has an arbitrary intermediate voltage level between the supply voltage and the Vcom voltage that is configured, if activated, to enable the high-side gate voltage drivers to switch between the input voltage and the intermediate voltage and to enable the low-side gate voltage drivers to switch between the intermediate voltage and the Vcom voltage, thus enabling reduced switching voltages, wherein the intermediate voltage is dynamically controlled to optimize the efficiency of the switch converter at different loads or output voltages; multi-phase switches connected to the gate driver circuits; wherein the multi-phase switching converter is capable of turning the gate voltage of the gate voltage drivers and in consequence of the multi-phase switches with lower switching voltages to provide lower switching losses and higher efficiency for low and medium load currents.