Current Sensing Using Capacitor Voltage Ripple In Hybrid Capacitor/Inductor Power Converters

摘要

A DC-to-DC power converter includes a power stage, an output stage and a ripple magnitude detector. The power stage includes a plurality of transistors, an energy transfer capacitor coupled between at least two of the transistors, and a switch node. The output stage includes an inductor coupled between switch node and a voltage output. The ripple magnitude detector detects a magnitude of a change in voltage across the energy transfer capacitor and determines an amount of current though the inductor based on the magnitude of the change in voltage across the energy transfer capacitor.