Patent ID: 7759918

Claim:
A method for inhibiting thermal run-away in a multi-phase power converter at varying load transition rates, comprising: providing the multi-phase power converter comprising: a Pulse Width Modulation circuit having a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs; an error amplifier having an input and an output, the output coupled to a first input of the plurality of inputs; an oscillator having an input and a plurality of outputs, a first output of the plurality of outputs coupled to a second input of the plurality of inputs of the Pulse Width Modulation circuit; and a first power stage having an input coupled to a first output of the plurality of outputs of the Pulse Width Modulation circuit; and operating the multi-phase power converter to inhibit a load step rate from locking onto a phase current of the multi-phase power converter by programming the oscillator to generate a plurality of output signals having predetermined frequency and phase relationships and to adjust an output frequency of the multi-phase power converter so that the load step period and the on-time of the multi-phase power converter are in a changing temporal relationship.