US 12,113,438 B2
Protection of switched capacitor power converter
Aichen Low, Cambridge, MA (US); David M. Giuliano, Brookline, MA (US); Gregory Szczeszynski, Hollis, NH (US); Jeff Summit, Jefferson, MA (US); and Oscar Blyde, Melrose, MA (US)
Assigned to pSemi Corporation, San Diego, CA (US)
Filed by pSemi Corporation, San Diego, CA (US)
Filed on Jan. 29, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/163,323.
Application 17/163,323 is a division of application No. 16/850,991, filed on Apr. 16, 2020, granted, now 10,938,299.
Application 16/850,991 is a continuation of application No. 15/719,929, filed on Sep. 29, 2017, granted, now 10,666,134, issued on May 26, 2020.
Application 15/719,929 is a continuation of application No. 14/776,939, granted, now 9,847,712, issued on Dec. 19, 2017, previously published as PCT/US2013/078243, filed on Dec. 30, 2013.
Application 14/776,939 is a continuation of application No. 13/838,681, filed on Mar. 15, 2013, granted, now 8,619,445.
Prior Publication US 2021/0152084 A1, May 20, 2021
Int. Cl. H02M 3/07 (2006.01); H02M 1/32 (2007.01)
CPC H02M 3/07 (2013.01) [H02M 1/32 (2013.01); H02M 3/073 (2013.01); H02M 3/075 (2021.05)] 40 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:
a fault detector configured to sense a voltage and/or current at an internal node of a voltage converter, the voltage converter comprising a plurality of switches connected in series between an input terminal and an output terminal, the plurality of switches operable to selectively charge and/or discharge one or more of a plurality of capacitors in successive stages of the voltage converter in accordance with a switching configuration to convert an input voltage received at the input terminal to an output voltage at the output terminal;
wherein the internal node is disposed between a first pair of switches of the plurality of switches; and
wherein the fault detector is configured to detect one or more fault events of the switching configuration at the internal node during operation of the voltage converter and to generate one or more fault signals with respect to the one or more detected fault events.