US 12,438,463 B2
Method and apparatus for sensing inductor input/output current in a DC-DC converter circuit
Marco La Pila, Gravina di Catania (IT); Giuseppe Platania, Valverde (IT); and Vanni Poletto, Milan (IT)
Assigned to STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Vrianza (IT)
Filed by STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza (IT)
Filed on Sep. 18, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/369,308.
Application 18/369,308 is a continuation in part of application No. 18/225,912, filed on Jul. 25, 2023.
Application 18/225,912 is a continuation in part of application No. 17/748,214, filed on May 19, 2022, granted, now 12,003,177.
Prior Publication US 2024/0006996 A1, Jan. 4, 2024
Int. Cl. H02M 3/158 (2006.01); H02M 1/00 (2006.01); H02M 3/07 (2006.01)
CPC H02M 3/158 (2013.01) [H02M 1/0009 (2021.05); H02M 3/07 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A switching regulator circuit, comprising:
a high side (HS) transistor coupled between a first node and a switching node;
a low side (LS) transistor coupled between the switching node and a second node;
driver circuitry for controlling actuation of the HS transistor and LS transistor in accordance with a duty cycle including a switching on phase and a switching off phase with a first dead time delimiting the switching off phase;
an inductor having a first terminal coupled to the switching node and a second terminal coupled to a third node, wherein a coil current flows through the inductor; and
a coil current detection circuit comprising:
a current sensing circuit configured to sense a transistor current flowing through only one of the HS transistor and LS transistor during the switching on phase and generate a current sense signal;
a first capacitor;
a first switch configured to selectively charge the first capacitor in response to the current sense signal only during the switching on phase.